Thrifty Ornaments 2011

I had lots of holiday crafts and plans that didn't happen this year. I decided to make them crafts to do throughout the year so they will actually be done for Christmas 2012...a book wreath (semi completed), homemade snow globes, and time capsule ornaments! I did find many cute ornaments at thrift stores this year right around Christmas day for 50-75% off making them around 50 cents a piece. I started following the blogs Goodwill Haunting and Living the Goodwill Life and found out you can resell many Hallmark ornaments on Ebay for $12+. Since Ebay started offering 50 free posts a month I may look into some reselling this year.

Value Village had several ornaments bagged together, so I found a few cute ones grouped together like the Winne the Pooh Hallmark ornament above and the Hallmark New Home Ornament below. I am keeping that one in hopes for the 2012 tree. We spent last Christmas in Hawaii, so I snagged a hand painted shell ornament to commemorate that at the St. Paul de Vincent thrift store. I am adding my own hand painted dates and details on some of the ornaments to note their meaning.

I was thrifting with my sister-in-laws at the Share House near Ann Arbor, MI and found this adorable little girl ornament that was screaming Zoraida. It captures the essence of her toddlerhood. A side note, the Share House had these amazing framed butterflies in glass cases that I immediately asked the clerk,"How much are those?" and of course they were sold. She has also been in love with Penguins after watching Happy Feet, so I got her S.S. Iceberg Hallmark Penguin ornament from Value Village.

On a thrifty note, I was going back and forth at a Goodwill in the furniture section deciding whether I should get an Ethiopian inspired table that was very cool but had little current function for my home. The hard working employees in back then brought out two mint condition bookshelves priced at $12 a piece. We are in dire need of bookshelves so that made my decision easy with limited trunk space. This is why I love Goodwill, it is ever changing and sometimes things just fall in your lap.

Essence of Toddlerdom- Share House, MI

S.S. Iceberg Hallmark Penguins- Value Village

Hand painted Hawaii Shell Ornament- St. Paul de Vincent Store

Baby's 1st Christmas- Value Village

Carlton 1994 Caroling Ornament- Heart to Home Thrift Store

Hallmark New Home Ornament- Hoping this has special meaning in 2012!

Too Good to Be True

Cyber Monday has come to a close. My adrenaline started flowing yesterday around 8 pm when I saw Half Price Books Marketplace would be offering free shipping on everything. I pulled up my Amazon Wishlist and started searching. I was delighted to find many books for 99 cents!

The endless possibilities of books I could get for thrift store prices shipped to my home started flowing...was this really going to work. When the deal went live at 9 pm I had 15 books in my cart and clicked BUY. The deal cleared and I think I uttered to Wyatt I can't believe it and I will probably be up all night searching. Alas the dream was short lived and as I continued to search all the prices that should have been 99 cents were 4.99. (they had added the shipping cost to the book prices making the deal a scam in my opinion)

Wyatt said I should be thankful for getting the 15 books at rock bottom prices. I am giddy thinking about all these books currently in route to my house from around the country, but I can't help but be disappointed about all the ones that got away.

On another book related note, Zoraida and I have gathered all our Christmas books together in baskets for this month. I have amassed quite a few mostly from thrifting. Here is the list:

• Messiah: The Wordbook for the Oratorio, George Frideric Handel
• A Christmas Testament, Phillip Kopper
• The Christmas Day Kitten, James Herriot
• The Snow Tree, Caroline Repchuk
• Cookie Count: A Tasty Pop-up, Robert Sabuda
• Lift the Flap Nativity, Allia Zobel-Nolan
• The Newborn King, Cindy Robertson
• The Christmas Cross, Max Lucado
• Frosty the Snowman, Hallmark book read by grandma
• The Polar Express, Chris Van Allsburg
• Journey to Bethlehem: the story of the first Christmas, Dorothy Van Woerkom
• One Wintry Night, Ruth Bell Graham
• Religious Christmas Stories for Children, an Ideals publication
• The Carols of Christmas, an Ideals publication
• Nativity, Winston Press
• A Child's Book of Christmas Carols, Illustrated by Masha
• The Kingfisher Book of Classic Christmas Stories, selected by Ian Whybrow
• Norman Rockwell's Christmas Book
• Usborne Lift-the-flap Nativity

Do you have a favorite Christmas book?

Building a Library

Its been about three years since we stuffed a van cab with a handful of boxes, dropped them off at curbside checkin and flew to Seattle to find an apartment, buy a car and start new jobs in a few days. Out of those few boxes, 2 were full of books. After 3 years, we have gone from a couple hundred books to 1287. The number is probably 70 higher, but I didn't count each volume of our 1953 Encyclopedia Britannica, Tyndale commentaries, and Calvin commentaries as separate books in the catalog.

Being 30 plus weeks pregnant, I decided it was the perfect time to channel my organizational energy into cataloging our growing library. I kept it pretty simple to start by using Excel to record the title, author, year, awards, and category. Wyatt has grand ambitions to now alphabetize the books in each category.

The majority of our books fell into Christian (537 books) and Childrens (349 books) categories. I plan to further refine these later into subcategories. Our oldest book is an 1879 New Devotional and Explanatory Pictorial Family Bible. Wyatt acquired it for $25 at a Half Price Books using a 50% off coupon. I found an 1884 book titled Historical Records Concerning Jesus the "Christ" Messiah at a Woodinville library book sale. I will pick up anything older than 100 years just to have it as a piece of history. We do buy new books too, the most recent a Father's Day present for Wyatt entitled, The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims on the Way (2011) by Michael Horton.

The most prolific author we have is Dr. Seuss with 27 entries. Wyatt thought it would be one of his favorite theologians, which I guess if you count Calvin's commentaries as separate books he would win with 30 books. Other authors with more than 10 books include Graeme Base, F.F. Bruce, Eric Carle, C.S. Lewis, John Piper, Plato, R.C. Sproul, and B.B. Warfield. We also 32 Bibles, so you could say God is our most prolific author.

We had 41 duplicates, so I may be selling some on Ebay to free up bookshelf space. Having gone through them all, the duplicate buying should decrease since my memory is pretty solid, ha! Right now we have bookcases scattered throughout our home. We have dreams to have a dedicated library someday when we are homeowners.

Thought for the Day: You can't get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me. ~C.S. Lewis

Avocado Smoothies and Asian Spareribs

Summer is the perfect time to do some simple cooking with the help of kitchen appliances. I ended with two extra racks of ribs after making oven roasted bbq pork ribs for father's day, so I searched for an easy recipe on Crockpot 365 blog and found this recipe. Since I already had some kalbi sauce in the fridge I substituted it for the sauce she uses. The jalapenos added a really nice amount of heat and the ribs were really tender and delicious!

Wyatt and I were craving bubble tea the other day and reminiscing about the amazing Joy Yee's tea in Chicago's chinatown. I loved riding the El down to Chinatown with some girlfriends on the weekend to get my favorite avocado bubble tea at Penang. It then dawned on me I could make this at home. We actually would make bubble tea at home in Chicago, but I never have made the avocado. I bought bubble tea straws and tapioca pearls at wonderful new Uwajimaya in Bellevue.


Slow Cooked Asian Pork Spareribs

2 racks spareribs
1/2 cup kalbi sauce
2 jalapeno peppers

1. Add all ingredients to slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours.
2. Turn ribs over half way through cooking.


Avocado Smoothie

1 ripe avocado
1 cup milk
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
3 Tbs Honey
4 ice cubes

1. Scoop out avocado into blender and combine with all ingredients until smooth.
2. Add more or less ice depending on preferred consistency.

Half Price Finds Today

I am currently cataloging all our books, so I added these to the list today. Today's entries make the total 756 with about one room left to do. A blog with all the statistics will be coming shortly. We happened to be near a Half Price Books today and took a peek. Of course, we both walked out with a few finds.

Tracy's Cart: (All from the Clearance Sections)

• Illustrated Robinson Crusoe ($1) - I already have a nice copy of this book, but the illustrations are really well done in a Japanese print-like style by artist Felix Lorioux, so I couldn't resist.
  
• Galapagos: Discovery on Darwin's Island ($2) - I was slightly obsessed with the Galapagos Islands in my teen years and had a really hard time finding books about it back then. Now they are prolific and this one has beautiful watercolors of many of the unique animals found here.
• The Timechart History of Jewish Civilization ($3) - I actually had the Timechart of World History and Biblical Times on my book list to buy, so I got this one to check out the series more closely. The fold out time line looks will hopefully help me get dates straight!
  
• Master Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago ($3) - Wyatt and I have many fond memories of this museum from our time in Chicago, so this was a nice find to reminisce.
  

Wyatt's cart: I am proud to say he actually stayed around $3 a book.

• Jesus the Jew : A Historians's Reading of the Gospels by Geza Vermes
• The Courage to Be by Paul Tillich
  
• For All God's Worth by N.T. Wright
  
• The Essence of Christianity by Ludwig Feuerbach
  

An Edwardian Note

What will today's era be called? In terms of my decor, I would go with the Craigslistian period. Happenstance has again weaved together my interests. I think that shopping at thrift stores, following rabbit trails from books, and reading an array of blogs lends itself to these wonderful coincidences.

The Edwardian period is where my latest trail has led. The all knowing Wikipedia labels the Edwardian era as the time covering the rule of King Edward VII from 1901 to 1910.

I recently read Teaching the Trivium by Harvey and Laurie Bluedorn. By the way, the authors also have a blog Trivium Pursuit that is quite helpful. One recommendation the Bluedorns make for teaching young kids science is keeping a nature notebook. They recommended the Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady by Edith Holden as a great example of a nature notebook.

Whenever a book is recommended in my reading, I immediately stop and go add it to my library hold list and amazon wishlist, so I do not forget it. The Diary came in from KCLS and I was blown away by the talented illustrations in it and inspired by the monthly notes that Edith Holden made. I then ordered Edith Holden's The Nature Notes of an Edwardian Lady used from Amazon and The Country Diary Book of Days is currently in route to our home. Zoraida and I go on nature walks near our home, so I started a notebook myself. I am working on identifying and illustrating everything we see thanks to the wonderful wildlife guide provided by the city here.

I have been spring cleaning and recently dropped off some bags at the local Goodwill and of course did a little browsing myself. I came across an Edwardian Dollhouse: A Three-Dimensional Book in the kid's book section. It was in mint condition with all the paper dolls still not punched out. Zoraida has really enjoyed the house especially using staircase as you can see from the photo above. A portable dollhouse that folds into a book is a genius idea.

We do not have a TV or Netflix, which I have blogged about before, but I do love film. I get my contemporary film recommendations from a little podcast called Filmspotting (see earlier blog for more details). We primarily get our movies for free from the library, where I manage a queue of them on our hold lists. A blog I follow recently listed their top 10 movies most of which are suitable for kids and one was Miss Potter, a movie about the life of Beatrix Potter. And of course Beatrix Potter lived during the Edwardian period, so it was another glimpse into the era.



Thought for the day: From The Nature Notes of an Edwardian Lady ~"Saw a little grey Lizard come out of a hole in a wall, he didn't seem frightened but sat on a stone blinking his eyes at me and basking in the sunshine. The bogs here are full of small white Water-Crowfoot; but I have seen no signs of Bog-bean, nor Butterwort nor Sundews, such as you find in the Welsh and Scotch marshes." Edith Holden, May 8, 1905.

Second Hand Store Finds

I may be addicted to deals which would include shopping at thrift, second hand, and consignment stores. We may have gone to a few Goodwills on our honeymoon for instance. My regular list of places I treasure hunt at include Value Village, Goodwill, Half Price Books, Forget-Me-Not Consignment, and Treetop Consignment.

I hope to blog about some of my finds. Today I am featuring wall hangings from the kid's room. Admittedly, I am not much of an interior designer. My childhood room by design had the iconic picture of Seinfeld's Kramer on teal green walls with metallic foil vintage butterflies flying out of it.

One thing I love about thrifting is you often find out of print materials. I am in love with maps and will buy about any book that has interesting maps in them. At the Bellevue Goodwill, I found this over sized (3' by 2') cardboard Atlas of all the countries of the world called, It's a Big Big World Atlas. It goes for $42 new on Amazon or $12 used and I snagged it for 99 cents in the kid's book section. It is easy to hang and flip on a daily basis. I like to keep it on the map of area we praying for from the Operation World book that day. April has been focused on regions of China, so Asia has been the focus lately.

We are doing some rearranging in preparation for baby boy Houtz. We got a twin bed for Zoraida to free up the crib. Coincidentally, Zoraida climbed out of her crib for the first time on Sunday announcing when we opened the rattling door "I got out!". She now is now able to reach my alphabet prints from Graeme Base's book Animalia, another reason to have cheap art in a kid's room! I found an extra copy of this book at Value Village for 69 cents. Not only are their children's books super cheap, they are buy 4 get 1 free. I cut the pages out and mounted them on free foam core I recycled (took out of the trash) from the architecture firm downstairs.

Black and white are the only colors babies can focus on for about the first 2 months. I read about these Wee Gallery Flash Cards for babies in a recent baby magazine. They retail for $13, so I was surprised to find them on clearance at Half Price Books for $1. I doubt if I will ever be using them as flash cards for a 2 month old, but they make a great temporary gallery installment.

Click on any of the pictures for a closer view and happy hunting!

Split Pea Soup Success and Slow Cookers

One of my fond food memories is from an Alaskan cruise Wyatt and I took in 2008. Our tour included passing through Glacier Bay National Park. Icebergs float along in the water and hump back whales breach alongside the boat while you are surrounded by breathtaking glaciers. Holland America chooses this moment to serve Dutch pea soup deck side. You find yourself enveloped by beauty sipping delicious soup while it is cold enough to see your breath.

I soon after tried making split pea soup and it was a disaster. It just tasted of sweetness and I could hardly eat a few spoonfuls. Our Best Bites, one of my favorite food blogs, recently featured a split pea soup recipe. Their recipes are usually dead on, so I decided to give it another go. I was intrigued by the malt vinegar in the recipe and indeed that was key! I love malt vinegar and dose my fish n chips and fries in it. I suggest adding more to top your bowl if you are a fan of it as well. The soup is savory and smokey and using my homemade chicken stock gave it extra depth of flavor.

The recipe calls for using a slow cooker. I had gone without a slow cooker for years, since I have a Dutch Oven. Dutch Ovens are so versatile since they will brown your food and go between stove top and oven for slow cooking perfection. The downside is mine weighs about 15 lbs and I was looking for a more transportable dish to bring to monthly potlucks at our small group. I have been happy so far with the 6 quart Hamilton Beach Slow Cooker with clip tight lid.

Also check out these gluten free Quick Brazilian Cheese Rolls, which are super simple and yummy. A great side for the soup!

Sweet Potato Buttermilk Whole Wheat Pancakes: A Recipe

Pancakes are one of Zoraida's favorite foods. She will almost always eat them, so they have become a staple. I like to make a larger batch at the beginning of the week and then have leftovers to reheat easily for quick breakfasts. They are even great to take on the go and eat them cold!

I typically make blueberry buttermilk pancakes, but have been trying to pack more nutrition into them. I had some left over baked sweet potato from dinner, so I thought I would try adding them into the batter and behold success! I had heard of sweet potato pancakes, so I thought it would work. I added cinnamon and brown sugar since they are a perfect pair with sweet potato. I love it when my experiments turn out!


Dry Ingredients:
3/4 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 Tbs. Sugar
1 Tbs. Brown Sugar
1 Tsp. Cinnamon
1 Tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 Sweet Potato
A pinch of salt

Wet Ingredients:
1 1/2 Cups Buttermilk
1 Tbs Butter (melted)
1 Tsp. Vanilla
1 Egg

1. Heat cast iron skillet over medium.
2.Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet in another.
3. Pour wet ingredients into the dry and combine.
4. Spray pan with canola oil.
5. Use a 1/4 cup measuring spoon to ladle pancakes into pan.
6. Wait for bubbles and flip. The buttermilk should make them puffy.

Enjoy!

Thought for the Day: In a big family the first child is kind of like the first pancake. If it's not perfect, that's ok, there are a lot more coming along. ~Anthony Scalia

Tandoori Chicken and Mango Lassi Recipes

These are quick and easy recipes for tandoori chicken and mango lassi. I buy a lot of whole chickens and like to have something in my pantry that I can use to mix it up.

I find most of my Indian ingredients at Saagar Groceries in Kirkland. The owners are very friendly and helpful. On Saturdays, they sell homemade warm samosas and baklava which are unbelievable. They recently switched Tandoori pastes brands from Deep to Laxmi. The brands have different spices and tastes, but I like them both.

Quick Tandoori Chicken

1 Whole Chicken
1 cup plain yogurt, preferably Greek
1/2 cup Tandoori Paste
Sea Salt
Lemon

1. Spatchcock the chicken (Cut the back out of the whole chicken with kitchen scissors so it will lie flat.) I freeze the backbone because its great for making stock.
2. Remove all the skin from chicken.
3. Score breast and thighs so the marinade can get further.
2. Mix tandoori paste with yogurt and cover the chicken in it.
3. Marinate in refrigerator for 4 hours to overnight.
4. Lay the chicken flat on a broiler pan. I sprinkled a little sea salt and pepper on top. Broil for 40 minutes or until internal temp is 165 degrees. Depending on how hot your broiler is you can optionally cook at 400 degrees instead.
5. Squeeze fresh lemon on it if you like.

Mango Lassi

1 cup Mango Pulp
1 cup Plain Yogurt, preferably Greek
1/2 cup milk
1 Tbs. Rose Water (optional)

Blend all ingredients and enjoy!

Amazon Fresh Review and Homemade Cleaners

I have been wanting to try out Amazon Fresh for a while, so when I got a $50 off $100 coupon from Amazon Mom I got the motivation I needed. I have also seen random promotion codes for this same deal for first time customers. If you can get 50% off, I would definitely jump on the deal.

The prices were pretty close to what you would find in a typical grocery store without any sales. First I purchased items I needed to fill out my meals for the week. Shipping is free if you order over $75 and I was able to schedule my order for the next day.

The produce was very fresh and good quality. If you have the mentality its 50% off, then the prices were very good and beat most sales in store. Wyatt loves pork, so I got two 10 oz. french cut bone in center cut pork chops. It is actually hard to find this cut in stores in Seattle. We had these grilled for dinner last night and they were superb.

My 7th Generation stockpile was dwindling from the last Fred Meyer 50% off sale and I have had making my own cleaners on my to do list for about 2 years. I ordered Castile Soap and Borax from Amazon Fresh. The prices were actually cheaper than any I have seen in store. I plan to use the recipes for all purpose cleaner, glass cleaner, mopping liquid, etc from the Wholesome Mommy blog. She even has labels with the ratios you can print out. My Whole Living magazine had a recipe for DIY Sugar Scrub this month. I am a bath person, so I bought raw sugar and lemons to try out this for myself!

Finally if you need to fill out the $100, the wine prices are really good. Several local wineries from Woodinville are featured on the site. I really like going to the Novelty Hill/Januik winery in Woodinville for tastings and they have affordable delicious wine. The Novelty Hill Royal Slope Red is only $11.99, which is the cheapest I have seen it priced. Overall, I think Amazon Fresh is a great option to have on those weeks when you don't want to venture out to the store.

Book Log

Wyatt suggested I start a book log that I can add to in one place, so this will be it. I often don't get through my inter-library loans in the 3 weeks allotted, so I need to keep track of the page I left off as well. My husband has his book list here.

The King County Library lets you elect to keep track of your check out history if you set it up online. It is helpful for keeping track of books as well. I welcome recommendations for reading!




2012

1. Holcomb, Justin and Lindsey, Rid of My Disgrace, 288 pgs

2. Driscoll, Mark and Grace, Real Marriage, 256 pgs

3. Keller, Timothy, The Meaning of Marriage, 288 pgs

2011

1. Rockness, Miriam Huffman, A Passion for the Impossible: The Life of Lilias Trotter, 232/368 pgs
2. Spurgeon, Charles, Come Ye Children, 160 pgs
3. Ryle, J.C. The Duties of Parents, 34 pgs
4. Oberlander, June R., Slow and Steady Get Me Ready, 338 pgs - In Progress
5. Pitamic, Maja, Teach Me To Do It Myself: Montessori Activities for You and Your Child, 165 pgs
6. Bauer, Susan Wise and Wise, Jessie, The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home, 864 pgs - In Progress
7. Tripp, Tedd, Instructing a Child's Heart, 43/200 pgs
8. Mandryk, Jason, Operation World: The Definitive Prayer Guide to Every Nation, 978 pgs - Ongoing
9. Case, Andrew, Prayers of an Excellent Wife, 239 pgs - Ongoing
10. Hardage, Rachel, RealSimple: 865 New Uses for Old Things, an encyclopedpia of innovation ideas for everyday items, 180 pgs
11. Bluedorn, Harvey, Teaching the Trivium: Christian Homeschooling in a Classical Style, 637 pgs,
12. Dodds, Elisabeth, Marriage to a Difficult Man: The Uncommon Union of Jonathan and Sarah Edwards, 264 pgs
13. Eldred, Gary, 106 Homebuyers Make (and How to Avoid Them), 320 pgs
14 . Holden, Edith, The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady, 1906, 176 pgs
15. Marshall, Collin and Payne, Tony, The Trellis and the Vine, 196 pgs
16. Wilson, Elizabeth, Books Children Love- A Guide to the Best Children's Literature, 300 pgs
17. Lewis, C.S., The Abolition of Man, 128 pgs
18. Machen, John Gresham, Education, Christianity, and the State, 181 pgs
19. Simkin, Penny, 4th Edition Pregnancy Childbirth and the Newborn, 479 pgs
20. Holden, Edith, The Nature Notes of an Edwardian Lady, 191 pgs
21. Abbott, John, The Mother at Home, 184 pgs.
22. Gaskin, Ina May, Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, 315 pgs



2010

1. Hunt, Gladys, Honey for a Child's Heart, 256 pgs
2. Bennett, Arthur, Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions, 223 pgs
3. Trotter, Lilias, Parables of the Cross, 48 pgs
4. Trotter, Lilias, A Blossom in the Dessert: Reflections of Faith in the Art and Writings of Lilias Trotter, 256 pgs
5. Carmichael, Amy, You are My Hiding Place, 128 pgs
6. Wilson, Nancy, The Fruit of Her Hands: Respect and the Christian Woman, 109 pgs
7. Wilson, Nancy, Praise Her in the Gates: The Call of Christian Motherhood, 105 pgs
8. Wilson, Douglas, Reforming Marriage, 144 pgs
9. Wilson, Douglas, Standing on the Promises: A Handbook of Biblical Childrearing, 168 pgs
10. Elliott, Elizabeth, A Path Through Suffering: Discovering the Relationship between God's Mercy and Our Pain, 201 pgs
11. Tripp, Tedd, Shepherding a Child's Heart, 211 pgs
12. Tolkien, J.R.R., The Silmarillion, 35/365 pgs
13. Murkoff, Heidi, What to Expect the First Year, 806 pgs
14. Murkoff, Heidi, What to Expect the Toddler Years, 928 pgs
15. Ezzo, Gary, On Becoming Babywise- Parenting Your Pre-Toddler Five to Fifteen Months Book Two, 135 pgs
16. Farro, Elvira, Montessori on a Limited Budget, 247 pgs
17. Wilson, Douglas, The Case for Classical Christian Education, 256 pgs
18. Chattin-McNicholas, John, The Montessori Controversy, 240 pgs
19. Keller, Thomas, The French Laundry Cookbook, 336 pgs
20. Korte, Diana, The VBAC Companion, 208 pgs
21. Ruhlman, Michael, Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking, 272 pgs