A NINE DAY ADVENTURE...Part Five: four awesome days with two awesome grandkids!

Continuing my musings about our trip to SC in early September, I'm feeling a little emotional as I remember our sweet but all too short time with two of our grands, Deacon, age 4 and Owen, age 2. While we do get to see them every couple of months, it's just not the same as if we lived nearby, and any grandparent in this situation knows exactly what I mean.

Andy and Ellie left late on Tuesday night to do their thing, and the boys were already in bed. Wednesday morning was the first day of Pre-School and so that was extra-exciting as we all got up, got dressed, got breakfast, and got them to the church. They were all smiles, and we told them we'd be back in three hours to pick them up.

I'm a firm believer that "routine" works best for children...and so we tried to have a rhythm to the four days so they would know what to expect. Deacon went to Pre-School Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday mornings, and Owen just went on Wednesday and Friday. After we ate lunch each day, we had a rest time. The boys share a bedroom, and so each day we made it dark enough in there that we could play "I-Spy" with the flashlights I bought them. They had to stay in their beds while we played, and then after 20 minutes or so, they had to be quiet and I left the room. Each day Owen slept for about an hour or and hour and a half, and Deacon rested quietly.

Owen having a mid-afternoon snack...

Bathtime in the evening became a fun part of our routine too.

Not only did we find these cool "bathtub crayons" at the store, but also "bathtub paint" that turned the water colors.

At bedtime, we usually repeated the routine of playing "I-Spy" with the flashlights...and after the boys were asleep, we enjoyed our own quiet time, relaxing in Andy's and Ellie's beautiful family room, which they totally redid since we were here last.

On Thursday after nap-time, we ventured out to a local park, taking Calvin our grand-doggie with us...

After dinner on Thursday, we had craft time and made some great creations out of clay...

On Friday I decided we needed to do something with some of the apples we had picked earlier in the week, so we made pie...

Owen made an appearance every few minutes, but Deacon stayed right with the project and had a great time...

Finally, the pie was ready to go into the oven, and it baked while we ate supper...

it was SO GOOD!!

Next ~ a train ride to Discovery Place in Charlotte, NC for the grand finale!

(Note: Five Aspects of Woman Series in progress at my other blog, www.mistressofmydomain.blogspot.com Scroll back to Aug. 29 and read forward)

I came, I saw, I thrifted...

Wednesday happens to be "half off" day at our local thrift store. I found myself "in the neighborhood" with two hours that wasn't spoken for, and the rest is history! I almost never shop for thrifted clothing, reason being I'm very hard to "fit" and I usually have the grandkids with me, so it's too much trouble to try things on. But yesterday I was by myself, and I took notice of the large dressing rooms with mirrors. I decided to make a stab at it. I made a mental note not to spend more than $10. Did I?

First I'll show you the incidentals that I couldn't pass up...

*The tin candle scounce goes with several other pieces I already have. Can you believe, 25 cents?

*The small display hanger was 15 cents. I have black iron accents in my kitchen, so I'm sure I can find something to hang on it.

*The larger hanger I'm thinking is supposed to be for a bunch of bananas. For 99 cents, I picked this up to give to my mom, who also has black accents in her newly remodeled kitchen.

*The candle holder in the middle of the photo is dark blue speckled tin. It's a cup with a handle attached to a bowl. I thought it was well worth the 75 cents I paid for it, even though I changed out the decorative ring and added my own candle.

I'm totally in love with this soft leather purse, which measures about 8" x 6". It is in perfect condition with a nice silky lining and a working zipper. My cost? 50 cents!

Now for the clothing...

This will be my first attempt at wearing a vest. I liked the color, and it fit well even when it was zipped up. I have a cream colored, collarless, long sleeved T-shirt that I think will look nice with it, either with jeans or black slacks. The vest is a combination of cable knit and suede and the color is something in between rust and burgandy. For $2.00, I thought it was worth the chance.

I was really happy to find this green sweater with the black trim, especially for $1.50. It is in beautiful condition and I wear black dress slacks a lot. I just read yesterday that the "in" color this season is black, paired with darker shades of greens, blues, reds, etc. instead of the bright "neon" colors that have been popular the past couple of years.

This is a more casual shirt, but the fabric is heavier than a T-shirt, so I think I can wear it either with jeans or slacks and it would look nice either by itself or with a casual vest or jacket. It's by Sonama, and well worth the $1.50 I paid.

This blouse was my real gamble. It doesn't quite fit me well enough to wear it yet, but I really love it. I'm pretty sure I tried on something like this at Coldwater Creek a couple years ago and it didn't fit at all...plus if I recall it was something like $50...which was totally out of the question. But I loved the style and the feel of the fabric. When I tried this on yesterday, I made a pact with myself that if it still didn't fit a year from now, I will donate it, but I think if I can lose one size it will work. I bet $2. on it. Have you ever done anything like this--bought something you really liked but couldn't wear? How did it turn out for you?

All of these items together came in under my $10 limit. But one more item called my name! I debated with myself, but finally caved in.

This is a faux suede lightweight jacket from Briggs, that is machine washable & dryable. It fits well even when zipped, with the exception of the sleeves, which I can easily hem up. I know I will get a lot of use out of this basic jacket, especially as much as I'm in and out of the car, where I hate to wear heavy coats. So the $4 put me over my self-imposed budget, but I'm not feeling too guilty.

Grand total, including tax: $13.64

A Nine Day Adventure...Part Four: a relaxing day for just the two of us.

Andy and Ellie and the boys left the Love Shack on Tuesday morning after helping to tidy things up. We stayed a little longer to wash and dry the sheets and towels we had used. We had no idea how to thank our benefactors for allowing us the use of their home for three days, so I wrote them a thank you note and left it on the kitchen counter with a bottle of Rodeo Red, our favorite Ohio wine.

So, we said "good-bye" to the Love Shack, but before we drove the two hours to Andy's and Ellie's home in Rock Hill, SC, we spent some time at the home of Carl Sandburg in Flat Rock, NC near Hendersonville, which is a National Historic Site. Among other things Sandburg is known for, he was a Pulitzer prize winning biographer of Abraham Lincoln.

This photo was taken from quite a distance away, as the home is located on 30 acres and while only 1/3 mile up the road, has an elevation of 110 feet. And we walked it. Here are some of the views along the way:

We signed up for a tour, and while we waited we planned to walk around the grounds. That's when I saw THIS sign:

Thankfully, we didn't see any black bears, but we were surprised to see these:

We learned that Mrs. Sandburg, whose name was Lillian, raised champion dairy goats. Descendants of her prized herds live on the farm today. I really never knew there were so many breeds of goats! Some more of my favorite shots are these:

By the time we finished visiting the goats, we were ready for the house tour. I'm not sure what we were expecting, but we were pretty amazed at what we saw! Not only was every room in the house filled with hundreds of books, old typewriters, and magazines, things were on display pretty much as they were when the Sandburg's lived there, and everything was quite unpretentious...

The kitchen actually reminded us of our own childhoods!

The Sandburg's lived in this home from 1945 until 1967 when he died...and he wrote about a third of his works while living here. It was interesting.

After stopping in the gift shop, where I bought (what else?) a couple books, we left the Sandburg home and stopped to eat a late lunch, then headed to our real destination of this whole trip! Andy and Ellie would be leaving that night, and we would be on our own with the two boys for the next four days!

Next ~~ A very special time with two very special grandchildren!

(Note: Five Aspects of Woman Series in progress at my other blog, www.mistressofmydomain.blogspot.com Scroll back to Aug. 29 and read forward)