The Cup is Half Full

Yesterday I bought a coffee in the afternoon. On the cup it said "Today is a cup half full kind of day."

It was! Danny gave me a day all to myself as a Valentine's Day gift and yesterday was the day to cash it in. Oh yes it was.

My day started out with me having a pep talk with myself on my way to Ames to garage sale. It went something like this: "It doesn't matter if you don't find anything you need today, this is a day to relax and just have a nice kid-free day."

I tried a few deep breaths (insert yoga breathing techniques). Make no mistake, my blood pressure was still elevated at the sheer anticipation of great deals awaiting me.

I went to the first sale and saw a friend there. At the first sale I spent $7 and ended up with a pair of twin sized sheets for the girls room, 2 pairs of girls sunglasses, a lamp for the girls room a doll high chair (which I had been looking for for 6 months!) and a small shelf! BAM! It was AWESOME!

On to the second sale, I saw my friend again and we decided to go to the rest of the garage sales together, so I climbed in her vehicle and it was twice the fun! LOVED IT! Two and a half hours later we had mostly filled up her vehicle...oh dear. Here are some of the highlights:
black spring short trench coat: FREE (woot woot!)
bed rail (so that Cece does not fall out of her bed): .50
brown sandals for Pearl: $2
new Terrasoles shoes (still in box) for me: $4
princess scooter (not pictured): $5
2 tutus: $2
signed book from Eric Carle: .25 (yes, it is really signed by the author!)

Weeeeeeeee! I think I'm still high from the deals I got!

After a stop, to buy me and the girls some clothes, it was off to Borders for some coffee and a book. Finally I rounded out the day seeing the movie, "Something Borrowed" with some friends.

I cannot explain how happy I was at the end of the day and how thankful I was to have a day which was fun and full of great friends! I LOVED IT! I will go ahead and say it was the most economical and most fantastic gift Danny has given me! After all of the fine treasures that I brought home, he may not give this very special gift ever again....poo.

The Record Book

We had a flood last August and among the many possessions that we lost was my 10 year 4-H record book. If you are not familiar with a 4-H record book, it is where you document your goals and progress of every project. I had pictures along with documentation - which I had hand written from the time I was 9 years old. It wasa lovely walk down memory lane every time I cracked the book open. If there is one thing that a flood forces you to do as a person, it really helps you disconnect from your possessions and evaluate all the "stuff" in your life. Even so, disconnecting myself from my record book was a hard one. Friends, blogging has become my new record book. Here is the latest on my dresser project:

The top is now all stripped as you can see (with the exception of the decoration on the top). Yesterday I made really good progress on one side and was able to start stripping the drawers. As I was working yesterday I thought to myself, "I'm really good at stripping!" That thought really went through my head. Then it went through my head again...Um good at stripping woodwork...

I'm getting closer! As a side note, I got a new lens for my camera and was

attempting to use it in these pictures (I fully realize the picture to the right is blurry). I'm not so good at manually focusing as you may have guessed. I just need some practice...preferably on subjects that hold still. My children do not. Just when I think I have them in focus, they move to the other side of the room or right next to me. It's not good practice. Well, it will be good practice after I know what I'm doing.

Dresser update: As with most projects that I do, if they are not done in a day my motivation starts to deflate. This is one of the primary reasons that 4-H was so good for me, it kept me accountable and I knew that all projects had to come to an end in the middle of July for the fair. Hopefully this blog will keep me going. Oh and remembering how cute it will be. It didn't seem so cute as I was scraping it over and over and over again last week.

I realized that I did not have before and after pictures up close so I am posting those. I have gotten a little farther with the top and on the side but I still have a long way to go! I really need to rally (yes, I need a rally already)!

On the topic of drawer pulls. I originally envisioned dainty glass pulls. Since then I've found some beautiful mother of pearl pulls on ebay. Very unique. Simply stunning. Very unfortunately, there are only 8 of them and I fear I would not be able to find another 2. Boo. I will just keep searching for the perfect drawer pulls.

On a separate note, it's Mother's Day. Each year I think I grow to appreciate my Mother in different ways as I experience motherhood. I still can't fully wrap my mind around the things that she sacrificed and gave me as a mother.

One thing that I can't shake from my mind lately as I think about my Mom, is how compassionate she is. I have been thinking about my aunt Naomi and how my mother cared so deeply for her. My aunt had myotonic dystrophy and as she deteriorated, my mother stopped in to visit with her at her apartment and later, as the disease progressed, she regularly visited her in the nursing home to talk, to play games, to sing, to bring her a break in her day or take her out. I remember as a small child having to go to the nursing home every Saturday. Selfishly, I didn't like it. I didn't like being around all the elderly people. They were scary. I didn't understand the love of a sister. Now I understand. In retrospect I can understand how my mother was just loving her. All through my childhood, my Mother cared for various people in this way. I can only hope that some of her compassion has carried on to me.

I love my Mom. She is a rock who has always been there and taught me much about love and being a mother myself. Happy Mother's Day to my Mom and all you ladies who parent in any way - your pets, your friends, your children. We all are nurturing something in our lives.

PS
Just got the latest cd from Gretchen Parlato. Love it! If you like a contemporary jazz (Diana Krall - like), this will really give your ears a tickle.