The Value of Determination*

There are a few thrifting "gems" I am always on the look out for. Dishes to match this set. Vintage Hawaiian dresses. Those nesting Japanese coffee mugs all the cool people have (as yet undiscovered),

and these books. Wow. Talk about a trip down memory lane. I think I read all of the books from this series that were published through 1985 and were available at my elementary school library. The books chronicle the lives of famous people, and have a common theme of assigning a value to that person.

I have been looking for these books in thrift stores and online. The only problem was - I couldn't remember the "value" part! I knew there was something that unified the books, besides their cool style, but not knowing what it was, it was pretty useless to try to do a search for them online.

But, as soon as I saw this book about Cochise, I knew I had found them. Currently scouting Ebay for more.

* In case you were wondering, Helen Keller's story depicts the value of determination.

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Favorite of the day: I wanna move to France!

Working on: Gifts for parties we are attending this weekend

Pickles!

Most of our CSA shipments this summer contained expected summer fare: watermelons, corn, tomatoes, etc.

There occasionally were some surprises, like pickling cucumbers. I ordered packets of refrigerator pickling spices the same day we received the cukes, and today I made pickles!

Stored in Fresh and Easy spaghetti sauce jars with hokey homemade label made in haste before Hank totally lost it, using his vitamin box as a template.

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Recent favorite: Alphabet wall

Working on: Packing for a weekend trip!

Hank @ 10 months

* Says a few more words, including mama, dada, Hank, dog, cat, duck, and tree. He also signs "hungry," "more," "milk," and points up in the sky when an airplane goes over (which is like every 15 minutes at our house)

* Stands unsupported for 10 seconds or so, crawls like a speed demon, cruises between pieces of furniture, and crawls up onto chairs if you'll let him

* Loves for us to chase him in his horribly unsafe walker (bad parents!)

* Plays ball, and throws it back to us pretty well

* Has a shorter attention span for books than he used to, but we can usually get through a board book. He likes to turn the pages.

* Sleep status? We don't need to go there...

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Favorite of the day: If I knew it was that kind of show...

Working on: Craft room decor

Give me an inch

In our rental - you know, the one where I ripped up the bedroom carpet - our platform bed set on the wood floor allowed for some storage underneath. Now, with carpeted bedrooms, the amount of space under the bed is only about 5 inches.



Since we need every ounce of storage we can get in our tiny house, and the average under bed storage container is 6 or 7 inches high, it was time to get creative.

For our personal items, I found these large but low profile baskets at Target. Oh, did I mention we no longer have room for our bedside tables? So the baskets were necessary to house bedside essentials.

Another item I had stored under the bed was wrapping paper. Previously I used a soft sided storage bag, but either it was taller than 5 inches to begin with or I overloaded it, but either way we needed another solution. BT designed a board with bungee cords to hold the rolls in place. I *hope* the rolls don't get too dusty under the bed, but for now out of sight out of mind.

We still have some potential storage space under the bed to spare, so I'll keep looking for low profile storage solutions!

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Favorite of the day: The homemade bubbles with chenille stem bubble wands are just about the best thing ever.

Working on: File organization

Not that I promote laboring on Labor Day

But if you must, might I suggest these chocolate croissants from Trader Joe's?

You leave them out to proof overnight

and in the morning bake for 20 minutes for a fresh yummy treat!

Enjoy your day off, friends, laboring at the things you enjoy most.

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Favorite of the day: Silhouette pendants? Yes please! (via poppytalk)

Working on: Craft room organization