I get to...

I heard this saying recently and I found myself mumbling throughout the day trying it out for size.  It actually DOES put things in perspective.  

For instance, we are making our downstairs into an apartment for my Mom.  

Tomorrow I GET TO haul furniture up 2 flights of stairs in 100 degree heat. Then I GET TO pick up a moving truck, go to Home Depot to buy appliances, cabinets, etc., bring them home and haul them down 2 flights of stairs in 100 degree heat.

See doesn't that sound better?

It does make you think about things a little differently though.

You should try it out.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Hey, Boo...

Last week my most favorite book of all time, To Kill a Mockingbird, celebrated its 50th Anniversary. 

I loved Scout, I wanted to be Scout, and I pretty much was Scout as a little girl.  Nothing frilly for me thank you, I would rather swing on a tire, run barefoot around our farm, try to hang with my older brothers, and wear overalls instead of a dress. Not to mention her cool name.  

I am also intrigued by Harper Lee and her anti-spotlight life, I find it quite likable. There is a new documentary available on DVD called Hey, Boo: Harper Lee and To Kill a Mockingbird which I just ordered from here. Click on the trailer below for a preview:

Here's a link to a quiz at Garden & Gun about the book.  It was fun, I only got 5 right answers though, waw, waw, waw.....(*Note: Garden & Gun is my new favorite magazine, thanks January I found it on your FB page!)

I think I'll go find my copy of To Kill a Mockingbird and be 10 again.

a quote & awesome genes

"Out of clutter find simplicity; 

From discord find harmony; 

In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity"

~Albert Einstein

I'm not a quote-a-day person but I do come across some great ones in all of my daily wanderings.  After the storm ordeal in April it was like a landslide of change in my life (including this blog!) A few of the biggies: my job has had some major changes, we are renovating our downstairs into an apartment for my Mom, and I've given up my OCD mentality when it comes to thrifting, buying, and selling.  

And just because... I'm including this pic of 1/2 the good stock I come from. The matriarch in this photo is my great great grandmother Annie Hennigan.  She came over from Ireland in the early 1900s as an indentured servant and she was just a teenager.  She left Ireland on a ship with her brother but the records show her arriving alone. It's a mystery in our family - noone knows what happened to him.  I can only imagine her state of mind and her will to succeed in America. 

She and my great great grandfather Nathan are sitting in the middle and the rest of the bunch are three generations of their offspring.  (oh, and that's my cute little mom sitting at Annie's knee with a big ol' bow in her hair).

~simplicity, harmony, and opportunity~ 

Thanks for the reminder Mr. Einstein and thanks for the inspiration Annie. 

 I keep this picture in my office and I give her a smile every day.

jump

I love Pinterest, who doesn't? I wile away the hours looking at creativity, inspiration, and just plain ol' awesome photography.  Sometimes when I see a picture a single word comes to mind and I develop a board from it on my Pinterest site.  This one is [obviously]  Jump!  Who jumps anymore? I can't remember the last time I did.  Do we lose this urge as we get older? I wish I had a lake to jump into! 
I think I will go take a leap through my living room, you should too.

Source: flickr.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Source: imgfave.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Source: thismodernlifestyle.tumblr.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Source: theplacesyouvebeen.tumblr.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Source: ffffound.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Source: monk3y.tumblr.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Source: 25.media.tumblr.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Source: 25.media.tumblr.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Source: stumbleupon.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

found it: Dutch Baby

What I made this morning... 

I have never heard of a Dutch Baby until last week.  I stumbled across a picture of one that caught my eye and I just love the name!  So I did a little research and apparently they are quite popular. According to Wiki a Dutch baby was originally served as a set of 3 smaller ones but eventually morphed into one large pancake.  It said they were introduced in the 1900s at Manca's Cafe located in Seattle who owned the trademark for them but they closed in the 1950s.  Here's the Wikipedia  link if you want to learn more.

It's basically, flour, eggs, butter, sugar and salt.  I used a recipe from The Food Network courtesy of Melissa d'Arabrian [remember her? she won The Next Food Network Star].  Mine didn't puff up as much because I had to use gluten free flour (husband is allergic to gluten).

I love home fries so whipped up a batch - mmmmmmmmmmmmm

The Baby was HUGE so you can definitely split it up among a few people.  It was a dense but fluffy and flaky pancake.  Now that I've followed the recipe I have some ideas of how I would dress it up a bit.  Bananas, blueberries, strawberries, or raspberries would be a good start.  We had ours with a little bit of maple syrup and I nixed the confectioners' sugar.

Have you ever had one? 

found it: craigs list

We all know Craig's List is chock full of great finds and I for one peruse it daily.  I generally just look through furniture because if I wander into say farm+garden I will be longing for those darling little baby ducks for $1 each or a 1,500 lb horse I am SURE would fit in my patio area.  


This beauty is my most favorite find:

I bought it for $40!! 
My husband says it looks like it belonged on some wagon train - a U-Haul of sorts back in the day (yes those are wooden wheels!).  I asked the man why he was selling it and did he know anything about it?  He said his ex bought it and his current girlfriend wanted nothing to do with it. Personally if it were me I would've quickly gotten over the petty fact that it was the ex's and given her a nod for good taste in furniture.  He said she bought it at an antique store that imports from India and Morocco. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I was the winner in this transaction.

If you don't find exactly what your looking for at least the reading can be quite entertaining.  

I think some people believe they will get more bang for their buck (ummmm.. it's free) if they list a bunch of stuff in one ad, which is fine, but they should title their ad accordingly.  How would one know you are selling a beautiful French chair and a vintage buffet if all the title says is "Couch $25".  Most people would skim over it as they visualize some velour country scene brown and orange beauty that smells like cat pee.

My other pet peeve is SIMPLE spelling and grammar.  I know I'm not an English teacher and am sure you could pick apart my blog on occasion but COME ON. I know the difference between the words sale and sell.  

Actual ad:  "I need to sale this couch by tomorrow or it's going to the dump".  mmmhmm

Forget about using the search bar.  If you're lucky you might get 50% of the actual sofas, sofah, sofe, sofahs, that are for sell.

Have you ever seen a fight on Craig?  I have! Between a yard sale-ee and a yard sale-er. 

I stumbled across it as I was looking at the garage sales Saturday and I see all of these "KICK ASS" ads from Friday. 

Huh? Must click.

The first ad I read was from the yard sale-ee, angry because she got to this place and they weren't ready to start sale-ing. So she gets home and posts this ad calling out TO THE MOST KICK ASS YARD SALE.  Yup, that's the name of her ad, because you guessed it (I scrolled back to find it) the yard sale-er posted her ad as just that. THE MOST KICK ASS YARD SALE DON'T MISS THIS ONE!! 

Yard sale-ee proceeds to post this big long opening argument about everything that was wrong with the sale and that she drove 30 minutes to go to the most kick ass sale that wasn't even worth it, wasn't even ready, blah, blah, blah.  

Well Kick Ass must have got wind someone was dissing her so she pops back on and posts her ad TO THE RUDE PERSON WHO LEFT MY KICK ASS YARD SALE. In her rebuttal she proceeds to rip lady shopper and explain that there were 40 MPH winds that were breaking lamps and she was busy dealing with that, that's why she wasn't ready. 

I hate confrontation, especially about stupid stuff.  Have you ever been at a yardsell and seen people argue?  I beeline it in the other direction.Those kind of people scare me a little. 

And yes I am aware of the incorrect usage and made up words I used for my own silly amusement :)

found it: red, white & blue

Some people are pen people.  Me, I'm a pencil kind of gal and love the old school #2s, does anyone else? Or have you moved on to the mechanical kind? I'm always buying them, I can't help myself and found some awesome blue & white (my favorite color theme) ones the other day.  I have used a manual pencil sharpener forever (you know the one that you use to sharpen your eyeliner?) but came across this cool modern looking one for my desk, super zippy!

blue & white pencils

Staedtler Rally; pack of 12 / $2.99 @ Office Depot

Westcott iPoint Curve $12.99 @ Office Depot 

I like to find my initial on things and I thought this journal was cute (and cheap).  I bought an e one for my daughter too.  I love that $1 isle at Jo-Ann!  I have this by my bed and write ideas down when they pop in my head as I'm drifting off to sleep.  Does anyone else have this disorder?  I swear I do my best thinking as I'm winding down for the day.  It used to drive me nuts but I decided to use it to my advantage and now that I write things down, it's not so bad :)

$1.00/Jo-Ann Fabric

Happy 4th of July everyone!