I'm Such a Scrounge...

Scrounge - Seek to obtain at the expense or through the generosity of others or by stealth

We had some people move into a rental a few doors down about 3 months ago.  She works in the field of chemotherapy as a doctor.  She couldn't find a job here so they packed up and moved to Texas.

Hidden Springs had our annual yard sale a few weeks ago so I wandered over to see what the neighbors might have.  I came to find out that they evidently shopped at Pottery Barn - a lot.  They had a beautiful sisal rug that was 8 x 10 that I really wanted for our living room.  I talked to them on Friday night and they wanted $150 for it (looked it up on the website and new it sold for $300 - on sale).  So, I waited.  Near the end of the day on Saturday, I went back over and the price was down to $100.  I offered them $60 and they took it!  I love how it looks in the living room.

Yesterday as I was heading to work at 7am, I noticed that they had left several pieces of furniture behind and the realtor taking care of the place had put them out on the driveway for the Arc to come and get.  NOOOOOOO!  One item was a rocker that I had sat in and tried out during the yard sale.  It was incredibly comfortable but I didn't feel like I needed to spend any more money.  When I saw they had left it behind I was thrilled.  So, I called the realtor and asked if I could have it and naturally he told me I could take whatever I wanted, but I'd better hurry because the Arc was coming that day.  As soon as another waitress got to work, I told her I needed to run home.  I bolted out the door hoping that the Arc hadn't already come and picked up my treasures.  As I drove up, there he was, loading my items into his truck!

ACK!  I told him the items I wanted and he graciously helped me unload them and put them back on the driveway.  When Ival got home, we walked over and packed it all home.  What a score!  As we carried the rocker home, I noticed the tag said "Pottery Barn Kids" so I Googled to see what kind of rocker I have.  As it turns out, it's a Lullaby Rocker that sells for $600 new.  It's in perfect shape although I'm not fond of the denim blue colored slipcover. 

But I love this cream-colored one.  But, they don't make the slipcovers anymore.

They also had a bench with a rattan seat (in perfect condition) and the tag says "Ballard Designs."  I looked it up and they don't have the exact one on their website, but something similar sells for $569.    Who would spend that kind of money for a bench????  But free?  I'll take it - and paint it white.  I'll put it on our wraparound porch at Jacob Springs.

Last but not least, I got these too.  An outdoor coffee table and side table.  The coffee table is the only thing damaged, it has a small piece of wood out of one of the planks, but I'll paint this too and use it on the porch with the little matching side table.  

SCORE!  How I love to find a bargain - especially when it's free.  I'm not, and never have been a label shopper.  I'm much too cheap.  But, if it's free from the wealthy neighbors, I'm certainly not above scrounging.  So, $1,500 worth of stuff for a mere $60 - which I paid for the rug.  Now if we just had a home at Jacob Springs... 

See This?

I'm going to order one of these.  This will be for our new house.   I may have to correct the punctuation error and put a comma after shit, however.  I don't think I could look at it every day with a punctuation error and not have it drive me crazy.  I guess I was a secretary for too long.

I love it.  Don't you!?

Werkin' At The Merc...

I get up early every morning.  Always before 6am, usually around 5.  Don't ask me why, my alarm clock is obviously off somehow and has been for years.

Thursday night I got a call that someone wanted to see the house on Friday.  After Ival left for work, I went up and cleaned the bathroom and made the bed.  I had planned to clean slowly and have it done by noon.  Enter Murphy's Law...

At 7:40am, I got a call from my boss.

"Did you know you're supposed to work today?"

"No I'm not."

Yes, you are."

"No I'm not, I never work on Friday."

"Yes, you are.  You are the opener today."

"Damn, I haven't showered or anything.  Give me 10 minutes and I'll be there."

So, I did what I could with the bad hair, threw on some makeup and drove the 1 minute to work.  I hate when that happens.

It was a pretty busy morning, as Fridays usually are, and exactly why I only work Monday and Tuesday.  I have my routine, and I don't like to stray from it.  But, around noon a nice couple came in and sat down.  I went over and the "nice lady" said, "Hi Jodi."  I must have given her the look, because she said, "I'm BoisecommaIdaho."  Damn!  I've read her blog for several years (although she's gotten a new job and hasn't posted for a while - a loooong while) and had never met her! 

So, meeting Kristen made the discomfort of straying from my normal routine worthwhile. 

It was nice to finally meet you Kristen.  You're just as awesome as I knew you'd be!

A Much Needed Mini Vacation...

My daughter is going to see her cousin in Portland this weekend.  They've been best buddies since they were born.  They were only 3 months apart and they grew up only being about a mile away from eachother.  I feel so glad to know that even though they now live hundreds of miles apart, they still remain close.

Jacki has a small home daycare and watched Lisa's baby, Koby, for the first year of her life - until Lisa moved to Portland.  Sniff, sniff.  But tomorrow, Jacki leaves to go see her baby for the first time in almost a year.

Isn't that just about the cutest child you've ever seen? 

I hope you girls have a wonderful time!

Ranking Pixar Movies...

We all love Pixar don't we?  Well, except mom.  She's never seen a Pixar movie.  Someday, I'm taking Finding Nemo or Up over to her house and we're going to see a Pixar movie!

The powers who be - whoever they might be, have ranked the 11 Pixar movies and here's their list. 

11. Cars
10. The Incredibles
9.  Bugs Life
8.  Toy Story 2
7.  Monsters, Inc
6.  Finding Nemo
5.  Toy Story
4.  Up
3.  Ratatoulle
2.  Toy Story 3
1.  Wall-E
 
Hmmmmm.  That's not how I'd pick them.  Here's my ranking...
 
11. Toy Story 2
10.  Ratatoulle
9.  Toy Story 3
8.  Wall-E
7.  Cars
6.  The Incredibles
5.  Bugs Life
4.  Toy Story
3.  Up
2.  Monsters, Inc
1.  Finding Nemo
 

It was hard to decide between Finding Nemo and Monsters, Inc.  I love them both. But then again, I also really loved Up, A Bugs Life, and the original Toy Story.    Hmmmm.  I just thought of something.  Maybe we need to rent a Pixar movie to watch while we're in Oregon for mom's 80th birthday.  Wait!  I know, how about a Pixar marathon!
 
What's your favorite?

Do YOU Believe?

For several years, Adam had some friends that lived in an old shack up a draw just across Seaman's Gulch from Hidden Springs.  The twins and their parents lived there for years.  One day, a friend gave their dad a hand carved wooden figure (supposedly with real ruby eyes).  It was given to him because the guy who had it previously said that anyone who had the figure in their possession had really bad luck.  Supposedly, one guy died and when the twins' dad received the figure, he broke his leg.  They believe the carving was Native American.

So, rather than pass it on, the dad took the figure and put it in a wooden box and took it up the hill from their house and buried it.

Now, I don't know if this is true or not (the story as told to Adam is true, I just don't know about the "events" that surround this figure).  Adam told me today that he wants to go find the burial box the next time the twins come to visit. 

Naturally, this started me thinking.  Would I let Adam try to locate the box?  If he did, would I let him bring it home?  If I did let him bring it home, would I be brave enough to rip the "ruby" eyes out of it and put them in a ring?

I guess I'm wondering how superstitious I am.  I think you have to believe in some kind of afterlife in order to be afraid of something like this.  If you didn't believe in that, it wouldn't bother you at all to take possession of some mysterious, deadly figurine would it?  Kate/Casey, if he finds it could I give it to one of you to "keep" for a year or so to see if it's safe?

How do you feel about things like this?  Should I let Adam search it out and bring it home?  I'd be really pissed if I died because he brought it home.  What would you do and do you believe in this kind of thing?  Casey and Kate, I need feedback from you non-believers.  Is that creepy to you?

No Longer A Logger!

My brother has been a logger for 40 years.  He wakes up at 3am to go to work driving logs for hundreds of miles and gets home at about 5 or 6 in the evening.  40 years of 15 hour days in a bumpy logging truck that ended up ruining his back.

After all these years, he has taken a job that pays less but something he so deserves.  He went to work for a wonderful farmer in his small town of Genessee, working 8 to 5 hauling grain to Lewiston.  It makes me so incredibly happy to know that he finally has a job that isn't killing him.  I love him so much.

I'm proud of you brother for finally deciding it's time to take care of YOURSELF.   It was time for him to quit letting people suck the ever livin' life out of him!

First Dirt...

The Cat was delivered today.  Elliott took it off the trailer and made one sweep before he had to head home to do some chores.  He's going to level some of the property behind the tent (where the house will eventually be) and start on the pastures.  The other big piece of machinery to do the pond should be arriving from McCall this week. 

I never would have thought I'd be excited by something like this!

I Love Sarah Palin!

Compare this...

"He who warned the British that they weren't gonna be takin' away our arms by ringing those bells, and makin' sure as he's riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be sure and we were going to be free, and we were going to be armed."

To this...

"I personally believe that US Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our nation don't have maps, and I believe that our education like such as South Africa, and the Iraq, everywhere like, such as, and I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., or should help South Africa, it should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future, for our children."

And Kate still can't find anything to blog about?
Damn, that's funny!

Just For Fun...

Last night we all got together and had a little picnic up on the property.  The property which I will now refer to as "Jacob Springs."  That's the original name given to it before we purchased it, and since we just happen to have a son named Jacob, we thought it would be fitting to leave the name.  I want to have my brother make a nice sign we can put up at the entrance.  He's so artistically talented and I know he can come up with something awesome.

It was a wonderful evening, light cloud cover and a slight breeze...

Packing a Box For Dad...

Today we took Grace to the Veterans Resource Network to pack a box for her to send to her daddy for Father's Day.  Heather sends Jake boxes of goodies fairly often but this was the first time they had gone to the VRN to pack a box.  It's a wonderful organization with local Blue Star Moms as volunteers.  Local businesses and individuals donate all kinds of items.

You walk into a big room and there are table after table of boxes full of items and you get to "shop" for whatever you want to put in your box.  Grace, with the help of her mom, great-grama and sister, had a great time shopping for things to send to daddy.

They have all kinds of goodies like jerky, cookies, candy, tuna, peanut butter, movies, books, socks, batteries, games, notepads, toiletries, shoot just about anything you'd want to send to a soldier.  They have a group that knits hats and mittens (we didn't choose any of those - I guess it got to 125 there are few days ago).  Grace had a wonderful time and wished she could send him a box every week - but we'll make sure we get there every month before he comes home.

Halia is "signing" the Father's Day card for her daddy.

I have a feeling dad's going to like this box.

Starting to Work on the Pond...

I spent the evening last night riding part of the property on the UTV with the hubby.  Ival has a route he travels with buckets of water for all the things he's planted.  We have trees, ferns, flowers, and bushes mixed in with all the natural habitat.  He's taken lots of starts out of our yard and transplanted them to the property.  It looks like deer have been eating some of the leaves off the smaller tree starts we've put in.  We don't mind.  Since we have no well yet, they all have to be watered by hand.  He loves doing it right now but I have a feeling it may start getting old about the end of July.  Lots of the grasses from the reseeding after the fire are up about 8 inches.

In about a week, we have a guy who's going to do some dirt work for us.  We're going to make the pond a little larger and deeper and put in a culvert that will drain water into an old concrete container that was put there many years ago to water livestock that has grazed on the property for a long time.  I'm concerned about all the frogs that live in the pond - and we now have polliwogs.  But it has to be done, if we don't we'll have a huge mosquito breeding ground and nothing more.  We'll plant some fish once we find out what will do best and hopefully they'll held keep the mosquitoes down as well.

We have some natural wetlands below the pond that we'll leave as they are (taking water from the concrete container) but below that we'll have him take some of the soil from the pond and build up some pasture land on both sides of the driveway.  I have a feeling that the pasture will grow wonderfully in the old soil we dig from the pond.  We're really happy with the soil on the property.  Here in Hidden Springs, our dirt is very dense clay.  Up there it's nice rich soil with quite a bit of sand which makes it easy to dig and has great drainage.  As much as I'd like to have the pasture planted right away so that we can get horses on the property, it won't be possible until we get the well drilled.  If only we knew how deep we're going to have to go to get water.  I have a feeling it's not going to be as deep as we originally thought and that would be great.

So, for now, we do what we can afford until the house sells.  Ival spent the night in the tent as he does almost every weekend.  It's such a beautiful piece of property and we're so incredibly lucky to have it.
 

Court Watching...

Don't ask me why I'm fascinated by things that most people find disturbing.  I spent the day sitting in the courtroom at the murder trial of Daniel Erlich - accused of murdering his stepson Robert.  I spent a day volunteering to search for Robert when they had people out looking for him when he disappeared.  I knew it was fruitless and that he was probably dead, but I also knew that if it were my child I'd want as many people out looking as possible.  It's a horrible case and just so you know, I couldn't have sat and listened to them describe what he did to Robert before he died.  However, I do find it fascinating to listen to the other evidence, watch the jurors and the accused - and wonder what they're thinking as people testify.

Our justice system leaves something to be desired.  I think prisoners should be brought to court in their lovely jailhouse outfits.  I was happy to note however, that Daniel seems to only have one shirt.  He wears the same one every day - unlike Casey Anthony who has a new outfit (neatly buttoned to her neck) everyday.  This, after seeing her dressed in nothing but an American flag at a party while her daughter was "missing."  I wish they'd make her wear that one day to her trial - wonder what the jury would think of that.

One reason I decided to go is because I've always wished I had been 15 years older, and 15 years wiser when we sat through Claude's trial.  I would have paid more attention to who was sitting where.  At the time, I don't think I realized Claude's brothers were there.  I would have paid more attention to that type of thing.  I would have been more involved - I know I would.  We had never been through anything like that and I look back on it with regret that I couldn't have done more.

So I find it fascinating to watch our justice system work in similar trials.  I noticed that none of the family members were present.  The sign on the door said that witnesses were excluded from the courtroom - is that the reason they weren't there or why would none of the family members show up?

I found it interesting at how quiet his attorneys were, compared to Mike Donnelly and Bill Mauk.  Interesting.  Although Shannon, who went with me (we used to work together at ISP and now serve together on the Board for the Memorial) thought they spent too much time objecting.  They were very subdued compared to the other trial I sat through.

We'll definitely go several more times - even though we got in trouble for whispering to eachother at one point.  The Bailiff sitting near the back door "politely" asked us to refrain so that we didn't take the attention of the jurors - who spent much of the day rubbing their eyes and yawning. 

It was interesting and I definitely want to sit in on closing arguments.  I think I could be a professional court watcher...