Thrifty Scores.....

     Remember back in the 90's when everyone started calling Target Tarje? I always thought it was funny. Today while shopping at Goodwill I wondered if we might start calling it Buena Fe or something. That's about the best translation I can muster. Regardless of what one calls it, Goodwill is one of my favorite places for a quick thrift. The inventory is changing all the time and it's a great place to pick up name brand clothing for a fraction of retail.

     Today I spotted this rustic birdhouse which looks great on my mantle. I was at a friend's house yesterday admiring her collections so I was pretty jazzed when this rolled by me on the new inventory cart. Along with the birdhouse today's finds included:

                   

                    1 pair of Prana pants (usually around $70+) for 5. 99
                    1 pair of brown trousers for $5.99
                    2 sweaters for $4.99 each
                    3 cute shirts for $4.99 each


     All in all today's total with the birdhouse was $32. You just can't beat that! I didn't go browse the records as I was short on time but other fun things I spotted were a complete set of English china, a large square leather ottoman coffee table for $20 that looked brand new, a REI snow jacket with tags for $9.99 (sadly not my size) just to name a few. There's so much value in buying used. So, if you are shy to check out a thrift shop you may just have to tag along on my next adventure. I'll convert you, I promise!

Striving for perfection.....

     Think about the homes of your friends. Think about which homes you feel the most comfortable in, the ones where you can walk in, take a seat on the sofa and just relax. I'm betting that those homes you are picturing aren't necessarily perfect. In fact, they might have a touch of clutter, some stacks of papers here or there. The couch may even have a little bit of dog hair.

     Today I've been thinking a lot about my desire to straighten things and have things in order at all times. I'm coming to realize that A. it's not all that realistic and B. it's really not all that important. Now, don't confuse cleanliness with slightly cluttered. I do strive to keep my home clean, dusted, vacuumed and mopped. No, I mean the magazine spreadsheet living room every time guests arrive. I think this might actually make some guests uncomfortable.

     While I won't be turning slovenly tomorrow I do realize I need to ease up on myself every once in a while. If there are a couple dishes in the sink when a friend stops by I hope don't think they'll be judging me. If there is a smidgen of legos littering the fireplace I'm probably won't be criticized, except by myself internally. If you are like me, give yourself a bit of a break. There's a lot going on in a life and that means that not everything can stay perfectly neat. I've added a quote to the family board this week. It says "Our house is clean enough to be healthy and dirty enough to be happy." Now those are words to think on!

Home Tour- Living Room....

     Continuing on with my home tour I'm moving on to our living room/family room. As our house is an open floor plan we spend a huge amount of time in this space. It's small, but very cozy, especially in winter. The fireplace hearth doubles as extra seating. Our love of music is evident both in our framed Sinatra albums and the guitar and record player.

     Storage is a huge problem with a growing family. We used our large Expedit from Ikea to store all of our shoes in the lower drawers. This is great as it's easy to up the pile that accumulates by the door. The desk next to the front door is the ideal spot for storing school papers and extra homework supplies. Baskets hidden on the shelf under the coffee table hide away the toys as does a large bin on the hearth. The sides of the coffee table fold down when we need more room for foot traffic.



     Some of my favorite accessories in this room were found at thrift stores and antique stores or on Craigslist. If you want to redo a room on a budget CL is my first choice for furniture. Often times people are moving and getting rid of some pretty nice stuff. Antique stores are a fun place to look for quirky lamps, kitchy display items and accent furniture like side tables.

Garden update....

squash

     Wow, the last week of August! It's hard to believe that this summer has flown by so quickly. Though we chose to redo the backyard layout this year, build new raised beds, add an arbor and create large side beds we were still able to get in some produce starts. Our squash and tomatoes are going crazy, our beans and grapes are loving life. We should have some fun recipes to share as we harvest our goodies.

tomatoes

     Mr. Rural and I are both excited for next year when we'll be able to use up all the new places we've created. Gardening is always an experiment and we have played around with what we wanted to grow vs. how we wanted our yard to look and feel. I think we have finally found the balance we were looking for. Soon the arbor will lead to our greenhouse and we'll be able to add a larger compost pile, worm bins and an area for corn and potatoes.

The arbor of grapes

Ethel molting

     Our first group of six chickens have survived a year and a half and are producing four eggs a day (two girls are STILL molting). We've learned a lot about small scale/backyard farming. We've gotten dirty, dug holes, planted, planted again when things died, transplanted and harvested. It's been a good year for growing vegetables and plants but also for growing personally. Next year only promises an even more abundant life in more ways than one!

A thrifting we will go.....

     Yesterday I popped over to our small local thrift store for a good browse and to chat with the manager. There were some pretty cool things to be found including a set of ceramic bowls that I gifted to a friend. Sitting on a couch off to the side I spotted a really beautiful antique mirror in a solid wood frame.

     If you've seen my house, visited my house, or just followed the blog a while you'll know that I love mirrors. They reflect light, which no house has enough of in my opinion, they add charm and they are timeless. The solid wood mirror was a cutie and the manager offered it at $7. A total score! I rushed home with my fabulous mirror in hand thinking about painting it.

     Once I gave the mirror a coat of orange oil and cleaned the glass with Windex I held it up in several spaces around the house. I wasn't feeling it. After seeing the beautiful patina on the wood I didn't want to paint it. Finally I bought it upstairs and added it to my layered mirrors on my dresser. Though my room is shabby chic I do have an antique wood clock on my desk so this one other wood piece provides a nice balance and keeps the room eclectic (my favorite). The little mirror is now sitting with friends and adds a touch of charm.

Home tour- dining room

     I have shared so many photos of our backyard and landscaping projects, but realized that I've not shared too much of our interior space. We spend a great deal of time in our dining room. Our table functions as a homework spot, crafting space, painting area as well as being the place we share all of our meals.

     Our dining room started with our large farmhouse table (a Craigslist find) but the chairs that came with the table were far too rustic for our taste. We chose instead some nice, but inexpensive, windsor back chairs from Target. My green hutch came from a local antique store. The interior was painted red and these two colors became the main colors for our downstairs. To keep the downstairs from looking like Christmas I use the colors as accents.

     The large glass demijohn at the back of the dining room was a gift from a beloved friend. The little back table is actually an antique desk which opens up and serve backup as a buffet when needed. We also keep a bookshelf in the dining room as we are often doing research, writing and doing homework at the dining table. Why not have the items readily available? A few farmhouse accessories like my gigantic rooster and an old ladder displaying linens and our dining room is complete.



     Other accessories include an Ikea chalkboard for working on writing and spelling words with Little Rural, a Pottery Barn table runner (I change table runners a lot!), a vintage wrought iron plant stand sitting center and our Grow Food poster from Joe Wortheim on Etsy.

     Does your dining room have duel functions? Does your family gather to eat meals together?

A hiking we will go.....

     This weekend we finally found some time to hike, our favorite thing to do as a family. We set off to Mt. Pinos to do the summit hike which is fortunately right in our backyard. This short (3 mile round trip) hike has an elevation gain of 1000 feet from 8300 to 9300. The hike is shaded part of the way and there are so many things to see from animals to the incredible view at the top.

     Getting outside, appreciating all this beautiful nature we're surrounded by and running into friends makes for a perfect weekend. Of course, the nap when we came back was equally gratifying. Overall a wonderful weekend and one we hope to repeat very soon!

Titus update- 13 weeks

     Our guide dog puppy in training is now 13 weeks old. He has learned to sit (most of the time) and responds to his name sometimes. He's doing well with his potty training. Titus recently went to stay with another puppy raiser and had a blast going to work with his handler. These experiences away from home are so beneficial to get Titus used to different places, people and also work to mentally stimulate a very active puppy.

     Now that Titus is getting better at sit we are working more on down. Titus is also learning to wait longer in a stay before he gets to eat his food. His little tongue still sticks out about an inch in eager anticipation and I'm hoping this little trait doesn't stop. It's so darn cute.

Girl's craft night- origami art.....

     My friend Cindy came over for a little girl time. With my husband at work and her husband asleep it was the perfect time to get together, unwind and work on a project. We chose to learn a little more about origami. Knowing I had a great frame for our adoption room I wanted something girlie. I found a series of Youtube videos to make dresses.



     Hours, laughter and a lot of frustration later we had some cute origami dresses, some lotus flowers and a new appreciation for those than can master the more complicated designs. The finished product is also a huge money saver. The frame was 1 cent at the Aaron Brother sale. The paper was brought by my friend Cindy. A fun project and an easy one too.

$1 Origami Crane Mobile....

     As I continue to finish our "adoption room" (as I'm calling it) I decided I wanted a simple mobile over the bed. Since I can't hang framed artwork or anything that might fall (this is earthquake country) I wanted something light weight but interesting to look at. Reminded of the origami crane birdcage I made for my office  I picked out some cute scrapbook paper to make some for this room.

     For $1 of scrapbooking paper I made six cranes. I then used fishing line and thumbtacks (already owned) to hang these over the bed. I think they are whimsical and fun. The varying patterns will keep a little one intrigued and it gives that barren corner of the room some color. For a great YouTube tutorial click here. Simple, inexpensive and pretty cute.

Creative book storage....

     We've all seen the really creative book racks on Pinterest made from Ikea spice racks. I fell in love with them when I first spied them and was determined to get some for our new girl's room. Off to Ikea we went only to find that they were sold out, backordered and with no reshipment in sight. A quick search of the internet revealed that people had rounded these up and were selling them for triple or quadruple the cost on websites like Amazon and Ebay.

     It's silly when things like this happen as the entire point of the project was that it was affordable. I refused to succumb to the sensationalism and was determined to find my own book rack solution. On a trip to Michaels I found some adorable unfinished wood planter boxes that I thought could work. However, I figured they had to be at least $15 each which was a budget buster. The manager scanned them for me and....... $1.49. NO WAY! I ran to the checkout line before they changed their minds!

     After priming and painting these boxes in two tone my good friend Cindy from Sweetpeas and Butterbeans came over to lend her hand at adding text. Cindy is pretty amazing as she does all her painting free-hand. I chose what I wanted to write and the creative genius was all her. You can check out Cindy's new blog Practical Imperfect Mom here. Follow her for all her creative ideas!



So, if you too have been stonewalled when trying to purchase those cute Ikea spice racks keep your eye out for a secondary solution. This is featured on a very fun link party here.

An adoption update- getting the room ready

     We received a call from our social worker today that we'll be having our first home interview next week. While I am super excited this also put me into hyper cleaning and baby proofing mode. This weekend Mr. Rural and I will be crossing our t's and dotting our i's in hopes of an excellent home interview/inspection.

     One of the ways we are getting prepared is by having a room ready to go. I've called this room many things lately from the sister room to the spare room or the girl's room. Today Little Rural and I painted two frames we found at the thrift store for $1 and Will drew some artwork. We hung these along with some toilet paper roll flowers on one wall in the room. Pinterest has tons of toilet paper roll ideas and this is just one I wanted to use.

      Our paperwork is completed, our fingerprints are finished and our physicals are scheduled. We are making progress on this road to adoption. It's very excited and a little bit stressful, but I do feel like this is the right path for us to be on right now. Hopefully I'll have some more updates for you soon!

Beach day...

     As summer vacation winds to a close Little Rural and I have been trying to check things off our to do list. Though we love to wait for Mr. Rural to be home to accompany us it's not always possible. Yesterday we made a spur of the moment decision to go to the beach. I asked my good friend Cindy and her little one to come along.

     The day was overcast but in that beachy good way that's a nice relief from the relentless sun of a California summer. We went to do a little thrifting in downtown Ventura and then we were off to my favorite stretch of beach. The kids loved it! The beach is like a nice, big, safe park and I forget sometimes how fortunate I am to be within a short drive of so many nice beaches. It's a little crazy that in this part of CA I live where it snows, but am merely a hop to Los Angeles or a skip to the beach. I have the best of both worlds.


     We still need to visit the movies, the history museum, the Griffith Park Observatory and the children's art museum but I think we need another beach trip very soon! What is on your summer to do list?