Thrift Shops

I go to the thrift shops on average once a week.  Our suburb has several thrift stores.  The one I most frequent is Goodwill.  Main street has a nice new store (built in 2007) with drive up donation.  They have a HUGE quantity of sweaters, so much so that they have large bins throughout the store brimming over with what doesn't fit on the rack.  I also, on occasion, travel south to another burb with a different Goodwill.  It is a smaller shop but still has plenty, and  I have found wonderful items there, including Isabel's little brown cowgirl boots.

The other store I like is call CCA Resale.  CCA stands for Christian Community Action.  It is the organization that gave us services last year.  They have a food bank, give people clothing from their stores, have a housing project, full service clinic, back to school and Christmas shops, etc.  They have several shops.  One is small and dark and dusty, but everything there is $1.97 or less.  It sells the rejects from their other stores, either the things that didn't sell or the less desirable items.  It is at this store that I can find vintage things like this lace dress and lavender pillbox hat.  The other store is priced much higher but has very nice clothing and lots of furniture and everything else.  This store is where we bought Clara's Trek bicycle.

Raw Food

In an attempt to get our family to consume a greater quantity of raw vegetables, we have adapted the typical lettuce based salad.   Inspired by the Pei Wei lettuce wraps, we (well, Damian actually) created what we call a lettuce burrito.  We use organic Romaine leaves as the wrap and shred what ever veggies we want for the filling.  Veggies like carrots, cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli work well (anything that's not too juicy, like making coleslaw).  We then let the individual choose their favorite salad dressing.  If you like you could put dressing in the slaw and mix it up.  But this way everyone in the family is happy.

Oliver and Isabel like ranch dressing (I buy an organic variety.)  Clara, Damian and myself are in love with Annie's brand Woodstock.  Our local Sprouts stopped carrying Woodstock, much to our dismay, but we were able to special order a case (6 bottles).

You Are What You Eat

You may have noticed the photo to the right titled Food Matters.  Damian just purchased this amazingly informative video.  It is an eye opening experience to watch.  Now that we have a copy we are happy to share!  It talks about the food industry, pharmaceutical drugs and supplements, and what our bodies really need regarding nutrients.

Did you know, 106,000 people die each year from pharmaceutical drugs, taken correctly?! Over the past 23 years there have been 10 cases of death from supplements.

Feel free to click on the photo and browse their website and watch a movie preview. -->

Christmas in February?

These past weeks of the new year have meant much brainstorming and goal setting for my Prairie Path Etsy shop.  It seems as though the Christmas stocking business is the niche that I have found.  Unfortunately, that limits the cash flow throughout the year for material buying, etc.  Nevertheless, I am determined to make this coming autumn and Christmas season a fantastic (and hopefully less frazzled) one.

Back in Texas after holiday, I began working on stockings in a variety of designs including, white on white lace; fair isle patterns; hand applique designs of stars, snowflakes, alpine trees; and something I call elf stripes.  I am still deciding how I want to do the hangers for my stockings.  I did have one complaint, so I figure if one person didn't like last year's hangers than maybe more people didn't like them either, they just didn't voice it.  There is ALWAYS room for improvement and I take even one disappointment seriously!

Last autumn, not knowing what to expect, I was frantically making stockings as fast as I could because customers were buying them up.  I had numerous special orders, and am counting on more this year.  But if I can work up to a large stock throughout the year, I can devote more time to special orders when they come in the fall.  By the way, it's never too early to special order stockings (Mom, I haven't forgotten your request)!  That is my plan and (not to rush the year away) I can hardly wait until September.

This past week has given me several prospects that I was not expecting.  Within a week's time I received 3 emails regarding selling in (physical brick and mortar) shops.  Stay tuned for more info on that subject as the details become a reality.  I also have a special order for a twin sized cashmere blanket in these colors:

I can hardly wait to get started on this one!

Brotherly Love

I have often found Oliver and Isabel in this position when they are using the computer together.

In keeping with the Valentine's theme, this week Clara orchestrated a "concert" and poster for us.

Snow Day

Who would have guessed it's snowing in Texas!  I don't know when it started, but it has been snowing all day long.  School was canceled.  Damian got out at noon.  The snow is wet and fluffy...GORGEOUS!  We made a snowman and fort and threw snowballs.

Random Things

Clara has begun piano lessons with Micah, a friend from church.  He is doing this free of charge, but I am taking them something edible each time we go.  Clara is super excited about the lessons.  It is amazing how after one lesson the "doodling" on the keyboard has completely changed!

Here Isabel is "walking her dogs"

We are trying to stay healthy.  All the kids had sinus issues this past week.  Clara even stayed home from school on Monday because she had a slight fever and headache.  Otherwise our health is good.  A major part of my day is to plan and feed these hungry animals.  My favorite cookbooks right now are Vegan Planet (thanks Phil and Zandra) and The Ultra-metabolism Cookbook.

Also on the subject of staying healthy, the kids are going to the student clinic for adjustments by a student who loves kids and sought out kids of students for her patients.  She is really great with them.  Her name is Jana (like our aunt Jana...Hi Jana!) so the kids had no trouble remembering her name.  We realized our situation was pretty good when we learned she drives 2 hours one way from Oklahoma to come to Parker every day.

Now is a slow time for the Etsy shop.  I'm using this time to work on new designs as well as start stocking up on my Christmas stocking inventory (pun intended).  I'm especially enjoying decorating some of these stockings with vintage lace, linens and buttons.  The few I made were a big hit in the fall, so I plan on making quite a few more for this year's Christmas season.

This little birdie in the tree is just a small wall decoration.  It would be really cute in a kid's room!