Second hand treasures

Hello friends!
As I child, my mom would drag me from garage sale to garage sale. It wasn't because we couldn't afford new things, but rather she liked going through things that people were getting rid of, in the hopes that she would find something she really loved.
I'm sure that she could comment so many times about the treasures that she has scored at a garage sale! I remember sitting in the car when I was younger, praying nobody would see me. And then in college, actually getting out of the car to look, but was quite embarrassed when somebody I knew saw me. But as I've gotten older, I have begun to LOVE going to them! Anderson and I get up every Friday morning and set out for the sales. He loves them too! If we go by one and he doesn't get to go in, he will tell me "garage sale...go in". Ha! Now, he is able to recognize many of the homemade signs and will alert me of them and then throw a fit, if we aren't able to go. :)
Lately, we have gotten some pretty cool deals.

We got this 7 and a half foot pre-lit Christmas tree for 15 dollars...plus the lighted garland to go on the mantle.
Then, we got 20 of these light up candy canes for the yard during Christmas for $5(they are $8 at Lowes for 3 of them)
Today, was my most favorite and I HAD to share it with you. Our bedroom is completely Japanese. We found these beautiful silk framed prints for......are you ready........$1.00 a piece!!!!!
Anderson was SUPER happy too, because he scored a little horse for 50 cents!!
Hope you have a great weekend and get out there and go to a garage sale!

Thank you Papa

Hello friends!

Happy Veteran's Day! My Papa Ivey served in WWII in the Pacific Theater, his troop did some island hopping during a 4 year time span.He was in the artillery...he operated the big cannons. He has an awesome picture with him and two of his buddies and a Hawaiian girl in his lap. Ha! I wished I had that picture. That was before he and my grandmother were married.Note, the picture is not very good, but it's all I've got. My grandfather stayed in the U.S. Army for 20 years and retired as the highest enlisted rank...First Sergeant E-8.

They married and had twin boys (my daddy and my uncle Richard) and then Wilson who is 5 years younger than the them. They have a band called The Ivey Brothers Band. I used to be embarrassed about the band when I was little, but now I think they are rather cool.:) A shameless plug for them...email me if you wanna book a wedding or a holiday party or whatever. susivey@yahoo.com ;)

America has sustained so many wars, The American Revolution, The War of 1812, The Mexican-American War, The Spanish American War, WWI, WWII, The Civil War, Korea, Vietnam(which was never officially declared a war...but so many people died:(, Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom. So many lives scarified and ALL at the cost of our great country and defending our freedom. Every time we go to the airport to pick up somebody the terminal is by the USO and their are so many young boys and girls too that are headed overseas...I get so teary just watching them.

Say thank you to a veteran or active military member today, their contribution to America is immeasurable!

The Hills are Alive

Hello friends!
We been doing some cleaning around this place. It's amazing what two shedding beagles can do to one house! Anderson helped out by brushing Annabelle. She wasn't too pleased. He's a hard brusher! With all the hair that came off of her, it could have covered a small chihuahua.

We went outside and enjoyed the 70's again today. It should start getting pretty cold here soon and so we go shoeless as long as we can! Anderson could swing for days and days. And he wants me to sing while we do it. So we sing "It's a Small World" over, and over again. The weather has been so beautiful, that I wanted to break out into "The hills are alive with the Sound of Music" Even the puppies enjoyed being lazy in the warm sunshine. My chubby Annabelle(who was our very first baby, is now a senior doggie...she's 8)!And sweet Gus still follows me around is 7! It makes me SO sad that they are getting older. They are so good and patient with A!
And speaking of the hills are alive...Anderson and I watch the Today Show on NBC and they interviewed all of the Von Trapp children and Julie Andrews from "The Sound of Music". This movie is one of my favorite movies ever. I even made my kids at the middle school watch this one day before Christmas break. It was really funny to hear African American kids singing, "I am sixteen, going on seventeen" in the hallways! Can you believe it's been 45 years since this movie was made! Click here for the clip from this morning interview with the Von Trapp Children and Julie Andrews. If you are a fan...you'll love this. I did!

They really should pay us...

Hello friends!

When I talked to Nanny (Adam's grandmother) this a.m. she said "I was gonna call you, I thought something was wrong cause you've haven't blogged since Thursday"! I laughed and told her that I had just....run out of things to say! Ha! Imagine her surprise and mine too....I always have something to say! :)While, I haven't thought of much to say...I'm always up for some good rambling(guess that's why I was a good teacher).

Do you know that it is ONLY 16 days until Thanksgiving? I better get my behind in gear if I'm gonna decorate for Christmas. Adam doesn't know this yet...he will when he reads this. But, I think I'm gonna start decorating the week before Thanksgiving(the inside of the house) because with 4 Christmas trees to put up, that's a heck of a lot of work for such a short amount of time.

Today, Anderson and I went to the Ft. Worth Zoo again. I get embarrassed to tell ya'll that, because we go like every two weeks and I feel kind of freak-ish! But, A loves it and we have annual passes so it averages about $2.50 every time we go. It wasn't too hot today...76 it felt a little like Fall. But, we'd like it to be much, much cooler. We saw the gorillas and I busted out laughing because when I took this picture of the gorilla on the other side of the filthy looking glass, he turned his head and put his hand over his eyes, as if to say " I hope no one sees me". Anderson LOVES the white tigers, I think they are called Siberian? Whatever, my brain is on animal name overload. We fed the parakeets and A would feed them for just a second and then snatch the seed stick away from them and they would lose their balance and almost fall. It was kinda funny, but then I'd have to step in their with that mom-ish lesson on why he shouldn't taunt the birds or anybody for that matter. And I start to feel a little like the adults on Charlie Brown sounded "waawaawaawaa" I wonder if that's how kids hear us?

Finally, we did some more stalking today of the older Ft. Worth neighborhoods. This is downtown Ft. Worth,not the neighborhood. This one is called Mistletoe Heights and if I had to guess I would say these homes were built in around the 1920's maybe earlier?? Craftsman style houses, not really sure? But oh how you know I love these tree lined streets.

Life in a Bookstore and Harvard

Hello friends!
Anderson and I have been to the mall(it's Thursday). We never buy anything, we just go to the playground and ride the carousel and go to Barnes and Noble. They have an AWESOME children's book section. We usually never buy anything there either...but today, we did. A really wanted a book. Like he doesn't have 217 and yes, that's an accurate number, I counted yesterday. Sad...sad. Hopefully, he's gonna go to Harvard and our investment will pay off. Actually, I think we could pay for one semester at Harvard, for what we've spent in books. ;) We've already check on Harvard and are pretty sure A is going to have to start hitting the books NOW! We need to start saving now too! ;) The estimated yearly cost at Harvard College is around $56,000 per year!
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On another topic,I would still love to open up a children's book store, like The Shop Around the Corner from the movie "You've Got Mail". I'm pretty sure Anderson would never want to leave! Adam, Anderson and I went to Toys R Us last Saturday and got A's Christmas present. No...we didn't get him Jeffrey the giraffe. This is what we got him.I had one of these when I was little and I think Adam did too. I LOVED this horse and rode it constantly, and remember the neat galloping sounds it made.

I know that I am excited about Christmas, but what the heck happened to Thanksgiving? While we were at the mall today, they already have their Christmas tree up...really?

This is for Gami- I know you were wanting to know some books Anderson wanted. He saw these books and really loved them. Or another one of the "bugs" books.
Or anything that is a Golden Classic Book, those are always great!And I really liked these books for A too. Especially the"Gingerbread Friends "book or the "The Gingerbread Pirates" book!

Tree lined streets and a museum

Hello friends!

Anderson and I took a little jaunt over to Ft. Worth to go to the Kids Science Museum. It's really a neat place to go, expensive, but neat nonetheless!

On the way over, there is such an awesome neighborhood called Arlington Heights. It REALLY reminds me of the movie Big. There are so many big beautiful streets that line the streets.
And the houses...OH the houses!Which reminds me, have you looked at one of the blogs I'm reading called Hooked on Houses? She does a fabulous job with her pictures and showing houses. Especially cozy movie houses, which I LOVE!!

And off the subject, but is anybody else REALLY getting excited about Christmas yet? I am...at least decorating for Christmas. It's my most favorite time of the year. Also, this is our first Christmas in our new-ish house. When I lay down at night, I try to picture how we are gonna decorate the house and yard! Crazy...I know!
Finally, after all the slow driving and being creepy by taking pictures of people's homes, we arrived at the Science Museum. :)
Anderson had a BLAST! He played with the tornado tube(is that what it's called)? And thought that was the greatest thing ever! Hopefully, I have a little scientist on my hands! And did a little grocery shopping in the kids super market. Ha! I love that he can identity all of these veggies and will eat a lot of them too!

One year, when I was teaching seniors, I showed them the movie "Super Size Me"( I tied it into the chapter on corporations for Economics, if you were wondering) and hardly any of the kids in that movie could identify that many vegetables. But almost all of them could identify all of the fast food restaurants signs...ugh!

It's a whole lot cooler in DFW and we are oh so happy!! Our high is 61 today!! It makes this ole' girl happy too! Hooray for cold weather!! Now, I've just got to get A to wear socks and shoes. I tried it this morning for the umpteenth time and he kicked and screamed...so he wore Crocs again. Oh well...can't win them all. But, I keep trying!

Please vote for us!

Please vote for us in the Disney Family Costume Contest!!! You can do it by clicking here. I think you have to register with them...but it only takes about a minute. :)

Thank you!

We have had a great day...but are on candy overload! See ya real soon! ;)