Casting Crumbs

Yesterday we went to Grandma’s house for a special surprise – Punkins! The kids were so excited about their own little pumpkins and wanted to come straight home and carve them. However, it was too late and I promised them when Julian came home from school today we would have a carving party.

All finished! Evely’s is a cat if you can’t tell. The boys picked out semi-scary faces.

Here is a really funny thing that happened recently. It reminds me of my birthday, which will be tomorrow – the 18th! It will be a ho-hum drum sort of day. I will enjoy my time with the kids and since Tom has school tomorrow night I think I will go get me a good movie to watch and hole up with some popcorn after the kiddies go night night. So if anyone out there has a good movie that would be good for a Mom doing “single” on her special day – let me know!!

(My parents and I had a ball celebrating Tuesday night and Tom is taking me out on Friday. So technically this is a birthday week!.

So here is my story:

About 3 years ago I happened in a Goodwill store and found this awesome set of Wexford glasses, wine glasses, tumblers and more all in a big box. It wasn’t marked and I asked the guy how much it was. He was perplexed for a moment and said “How ’bout five bucks?” SOLD!!!

Since my wonderful find and my enjoyment of my Wexford Ware, I have begun to add many pieces to my collection. Candy dishes and small dishes, creamer and sugar, etc. Then one day a couple years ago my Mom and I went to a garage sale where we found this beautiful Wexford pedestal bowl. I hot-footed it over the table to get a close look only to discover that the lovely pink tag on the bowl said $15. NO WAY! (You have to understand my extreme cheapness to understand my passing up this little gem. You see I squeek when I walk and I’m proud of it. Part of the enjoyment of an item is to know that I got it really cheap. I feel this is God giving me special gifts along the way. He can take care of even my wants without having to pay a lot for them.)

So my Mom and I have kept our keen eye out for one of these treasured little beauty bowls since the day we spied that one. I would run across them from time to time at an antique store but the price tag was always too high.

Then about a month or so ago Mom and I made a stop in the Goodwill store. There sitting on a lowly shelf was THE bowl. Someone had tried to paint it gold but upon careful inspection and a few scratches of the fingernail, I could see that with a brush and some elbow grease that it could be cleaned up. So I turned the bowl over to see the price and there wasn’t one. Upon taking it to the lady at the counter she said it had to go back to the back to be repriced and re-shelved. It would be able to be sold tomorrow. crud. But I left the store with patience in hand. I’d waited a couple years, I can keep waiting.

The next day I went back in to check on the bowl. . .and there it sat just waiting for my purchase. I picked it up and turned it over and lo and behold, there was NO price again! So I took it to the counter and explained the situation hoping they would have mercy and price the thang so I could buy it. No such luck. Must be sent back to the back, repriced and reshelved. double crud.

Two days later I went back and the bowl was gone . . .forever.

So last week I stopped at this garage sale (you see the pattern with me here) and nestled among a bunch of dirty vases was the bowl!!! It smiled when I walked toward it and winked a shiny glimmer at me. The lovely price tag adorning the rim screamed $2.00 and I almost laughed and cried as I carefully lifted my prize and paid for it. I couldn’t wait to show Mom!

I met up with my Mom later that afternoon and as I lifted my prize from the van and held it up for her ecstatic cry of elation – well, there wasn’t one. A look of shock went across her face which she quickly replaced with a wan little smile. I was a little surprised at her lack of enthusiasm (no tears, jumping up and down or hand-clapping) but I went on showing her the other winnings from my morning of treasure hunting.

A little while later she says to me “Okay, you want to know what I really think about your bowl!!?” She then goes on to explain that she was the one who purchased that bowl from the Goodwill store, that her and my dad had spent a lot of time scrubbing all that gold off of the bowl until it smiled and shined just so. That it was now sitting on a shelf in her closet waiting for my birthday. She had been so happy to have something that she knew I wanted and she knew how surprised I would be at the gift.

Too funny! We both had quite the laugh that day! We were both surprised but not in the least way that we thought we would be.

My Mom said that by the time they had the bowl cleaned up, she was pretty attached to it. She had told my Dad it was so pretty that she would have to look for her one. So now we BOTH have a bowl and a good memory to boot. Isn’t God good. I think he was laughing up there and saying “this one is gonna be good!”

I know you are dying to see my bowl, so here it is:

tah-dah!!!

Yes, it is already in full use. It has an orange salad in it and I was too tired to clean it up to take it’s picture. Besides, I think it looks good being used too.

Okay, so I did some research on the “wooly” worm and ran across a site that spoke of these fuzzy worms. They stated that many people watch them to determine the length of winter. Their name is the “Wooly Bear Worm” – which made sense why we call them wooly worms!

Most people say that the length of the brown area located in between the two black ends tells the length of winter. The longer the area, the longer winter will be, etc.

I just thought that was an interesting tidbit to share.

The other day we found our first wooly worm of the year. No, we don’t call them caterpillars around here. They are bonafide “wooly” worms. Each fall we see the first one and then ensues the conversation of the coming winter.

This was too cute to pass up putting on here.

My new friend CAT tagged me to participate in the Crazy Eights. I don’t often do these so decided to play along! Feel free to write some of YOUR crazy eights. AMBER, I’m tagging you for this one!

8 things I’m passionate about:

* Jesus – the one that gets me through life. He is real.
* My hubby –
* My kiddos
* My family
* My friends
* Garage sale-ing and Thrift storing
* Scrapbooking
* A good cup of coffee and Cherry Pie

8 things I want to do before I die:

* Go to the beach again – want to take my kids there too.
* Write a book
* Finish my scrapbooks and the heritage album my Mom and I started
* Finish college
* Get my nose pierced – this may happen soon!
* Take a painting class
* Drive a little red sports car
* See all my children follow Christ

Those were hard. . .there are sooo many more things. Those aren’t even my top 8 I don’t think. Just some of the first that came to my mind.

8 things I say often:

* Oh Really!
* Crap! (I try not to say this around the kids too much)
* Holy Cow!
* What in the world!
* There went the cat. Shut the door!
* Stop jumping on my bed.
* Can you please pick up your shoes.
* Shhhh!

8 books I’ve recently read:

* Perpetua – Just finished it, it was phenomenal!!
* Amazing Grace
* The Ragamuffin Gospel – Working on this for Wed. nights
* Buoyancy – almost through this one too
* What Teacher’s Do After you Leave School – read to the kids
* Hedgie Takes Off – Also read to the kids
* Eat This Book – Just started this one the other night.
* Judges – for Sunday School

8 songs I could listen to over and over:

* Heaven (Bob Carlisle)
* I’ll still be loving you (Restless Heart)
* What Hurts the Most (Rascall Flatts)
* I Will Wait (Jason Upton)
* More Than Enough (Passion- anything by them)
* Anything by Watermark, Rita Springer
* Anything by Allies
* 80′s Hair Bands
* Anything classical on occasion

(Couldn’t narrow down the songs – there are just tooooo many!)

8 things that attract me to my best friends:

* Silliness
* Likes to Laugh
* Balcony people (cheer from the balcony, don’t bring me to the basement)
* Time spent together
* Depth of insight – not afraid to really hash stuff with me.
* Positive outlook
* Encouraging
* Faith

8 things I’ve learned this past year:

* Don’t ever smell a kids finger when they say “hey, smell this.”
* If someone wants to give you a lot of money to mail something, It’s a scam.
* When your kids wish for animals on their birthday. . .they will come.
* How to get rid of a lot of responsibilities and just do a few smaller things much better.
* How to enjoy each day more fully.
* If you go to a different church every week for three months, you can still see God in many ways and in so many new people.
* I can now go to a pool with all three of my kids and be relatively safe.
* God is faithful to me, even when I lose faith

This week was busy getting ready for Jaden’s birthday. I can’t believe he is four years old! My how time flies when you are having fun. . .or just really busy.

Saturday was the big day. Jaden awoke to the house decorated with “Happy Birthday” banners, balloons and a pile of presents. Julian stayed up late helping us get it all done the night before. We headed out for breakfast at Neighbors (a great little hole in the wall). Jaden enjoyed his cinnamon roll and that was all he would eat.

Then off to Deanna Rose Farmstead for some family fun. We fed the animals, petted them, played on playgrounds, panned for minerals, milked cows, and fished.

It was so hot out! Everyone was pretty worn out by the time we left. We came home and prepared for the family coming over for a party. Jaden loved his gifts and everyone singing “his” song for the day. My pics of that part really didn’t turn out very well. . .sorry.

Last night he could hardly function without crying he was sooo tired. When I went to bed I went over everything Jaden ate yesterday (Mom’s do that, ya know).

Here is the list:

Cinnamon Roll and Chocolate Milk
Peanut M&M’s and Candy Corn
QT slush
Bubble Gum
3 bites of a cheese sandwich
Punch
Orange Pop
Cupcake
Ice cream

What a great day to be a kid. I think I would have hurled if that was all I ate for the day. No wonder he could hardly function!

The cutest thing he said: Friday at Mother’s Day Out they sang “Happy Birthday” to him. On the way home he was telling me about it and said “Mom, can we please sing ‘my’ song tomorrow too?”

He He He!

My Brother-in-Law, Kenny, sent me this picture and it’s too funny not to share!!

Another Chinese Toy Recall