First Day of Fall

Today marks the official first day of my FAVORITE season.... Fall! Unfortunately, true Fall weather in Kansas is entirely too short.

So to celebrate, I'm posting my favorite Fall picture of all time. :) My nephew, 2008.

Happy Fall!!!!

An Unidentified Article of Clothing

It's a purse! It's a hat! Nope, it's a skirt.

I'd like to introduce you to the skirt we found yesterday while thrift store shopping. And lest you think it's a toddler's skirt, it was a ladies size 8 (and I use the term "ladies" loosely!)... the same size skirt that my niece is wearing in this picture.

As my late father-in-law would say: "I hope you didn't pay full price for that, because they left out half of the material."

Frugal Friday: Yard Sales/Thrift Stores

I would love to resurrect my weekly Frugal Friday posts, but I haven't been very inspired along those lines lately.  I have been saving tons of money and getting several free items by CVS-ing and Walgreens-ing (the term "Walgreens-ing" just doesn't have the same ring to it), and will probably post something one of these Fridays about that, but other than that, nada.

However!  Today I am frugally inspired again.  The kids and I had a VERY productive day at two garage sales and one thrift store.  I was THRILLED to find MANY books to use in homeschooling (plus a ton of candles and clothing).

We purchased the following books: a dictionary, The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America, Selected Poems & Letters of Emily Dickinson, a thesaurus, The White House: An Historic Guide, The Presidents of the United States of America, All About the States Search-A-Word Puzzles, Flip Quiz Geography ages 11-12, The Fighting Ground, Heroes Don't Run: A Novel of the Pacific War, Spanish Dictionary Student Notebook, Adventures in English Literature, Flight (a book about aviation), the Scholastic Encyclopedia of Space, and The Visual Dictionary of the Universe.  I also bought an almost hundred year old dictionary that looked like an extremely worn Bible at first glance. 

Did I mention that I was thrilled with these purchases???  :)  I think my total spent on the books was about $9.00.  (I also got several recipe magazines,  TONS of candles [all of them brand new except one], and the kids and I all got "new" clothes at the thrift store.)

The moral of this story?  Don't forget yard sales, church rummage sales, library book sales, etc. as possible sources of curriculum for your home school! 

Stay tuned for other blog posts inspired by this day of frugal shopping: My thoughts on the church rummage sale that we went to today, and a cell phone picture that will rival my pastor's "hoochie mama" pictures (if you dare, you can see his here and here).

Sixteen Lessons to Learn About Sin

I'm not sure where I originally found this list, which I probably printed off years ago... but I just found it while going through some papers, and plan to go through it with the kids. (I did an internet search so that I could give credit to the person who compiled the list, but he isn't familiar to me, so the mystery as to where I found the list remains!)

1. Temptation can come when I least expect it. I must always be on my guard.
2. Sin often happens when I am not positively engaged in godly activities (when I'm not doing what I am supposed to be doing).
3. I usually have a chance to stop myself if I would only take it. (1 Corinthians 10:12)
4. Sin has a way of finding me out... it will be brought to the light.
5. Trying to cover up my sin only makes things worse.
6. One sin often leads to another.
7. Sin tends to harden my heart.
8. Even if no one else is aware, God is aware.
9. It is easier to be outraged at someone else's sin than my own.
10. To sin is to look for good outside of God's perfect provision.
11. Sin never satisfies.
12. Sin always has consequences.
13. Heartfelt repentance is the only appropriate response to sin.
14. While my sin has many manifestations, it has only one root -- a heart that craves something more than God.
15. Because of the cross, God does not treat me as my sins deserve.
16. While sin affects my life, it need not ruin my life.

Source: A sermon by Mickey Connolly on lessons to be learned from David and Bathsheba.