random things i like

I like that despite my best intentions at being intentional…I ‘mess’ up all the time. I left early Saturday morning and forgot to remind Chris to have the boys set the Stamp Out Hunger bag by the mailbox. When I got home the mailman had already come. The boys and I drove to the post office and dropped off our bag…it kind of defeats the ‘easy’ factor when you have to drive to the post office!

I like my parents & in-laws.

A blogger’s cookbook, a flea market gift certificate, a Starbucks gift card….my mom & mother-in-law are pretty thoughtful.

My dad made me chocolate dipped strawberries & pretzels for Mother’s Day. I liked eating those.

I like having so many roses that I can cut 15 for the house and not notice them missing outside. I like roses that require nothing but sun and water.

I like laughing, clapping babies. I like that her oldest brother is the one making her laugh and clap so hard. I like that the other brothers aren’t as impressed. I like that their daddy randomly kisses them on their heads. I like their daddy…I like when their daddy kisses me.

I like estate sales. Some moms want massages for Mother’s Day. Some moms want a morning to dig through other people’s stuff.

I like estate sales, but they make me a little sad too. It was a bit surreal to walk through someone’s house and just go through their stuff.  I kept thinking about all the years they spent collecting their stuff…then they died and strangers bought what they wanted. One lady had tons of amazing quilts that had never been used. It seemed like such a waste to me…to keep all those quilts in her closet instead of sharing them with others. She never got to see the joy her quilts could have brought someone. Now she’s gone and strangers are buying her handiwork. Just sad to me.

If you want some great tips for garage sale shopping check out this guest post on Smile & Wave, by Mandi of Here’s Lookin at me kid

My favorite find…a $5.00 chair that is in great condition, doesn’t smell, barely worn…just dirty. It was actually $10.00, but I talked him down. I talked him down on everything. It was love at first dust-covered, dirty sight – this chair and me. I will clean her and she will be gorgeous (that is what I keep telling Chris – he is not so impressed with my chair). Until then, she is really dirty so why not throw her in the field for a few pics?

Photo Tip: For the photo below, I smashed all the grass down leading to the chair (by laying down on it). I then used a toy wagon to prop my camera on (getting my tripod would have required walking all the way back in the house and searching for it). I focused on the top corner of the chair, put the camera on the self-timer and ran to jump in the picture. The camera settings were: 85mm lens, ISO 100, 1/2000, f/2.8

Using the f/2.8 setting allowed for the grass close to the lens and behind the chair to be blurry. My face looks hazy because there is actually a blade of grass close to the camera covering my face. Because it is so close to the camera it appears more like a hazy section than an actual blade of grass.

My $5.00 chair. She is in great shape, just really dirty. I’ve already gone to town on her with an upholstery steam cleaner. She is looking oh so happy – oddly I find great joy in cleaning really dirty things and making them look new again. Soon I will make the difficult decision of where she will go. (the chair is a ‘she’ because…well it just looks like a ‘she’ more than an ‘it’)

Happy Monday. I hope you find lots of things to like about today.