Flowers

 Last week when I was feeling sad and tired and discouraged... my dear husband decided to cheer me up, and brought me some flowers. Isn't he sweet?    I love him. 
     JMB

Our Goings On

I guess most of you know that we've been spending a good deal of our extra time this summer working on a sideline business.   We call it Treasures_Etcetera, which is our Ebay username.   It's also a play on words because one of the main places we pick up things to sell on Ebay is a local thrift shop called Et-cetera.

We decided to try using Ebay as a source of income (as opposed to only a place to shop) in July of this past summer.   The first day Jenny went garage saleing with a mind to purchase things for re-sale, she found a nice Strawberry Shortcake set of bedding for a toddler bed.   The whole works, pillowcase included.   She bought it, and we took nice pictures and listed it, not sure if this would prove a venture in futility or not.   We were gratified when the set went for $25.00, netting us ten dollars.   Hmmm, is it really that easy to pick up ten dollars?  

It's addictive, finding nice and/or valuable things to turn around on Ebay.  Some of the more memorable things we've found:

A set of vintage York dumbells in the local thrift shop, purchased for three dollars and sold for seventy five.

A set of Haviland China, bought for five dollars at a garage sale, and sold for, well, I'm not going to say.   But the last set of two cups and saucers just went for about 25.00.

A like-new Petromax lantern.   It was a chance stop at the thrift shop again, but that stop netted me a days wages.

Today we loaded up and went to the city of Wilber garage sales.

Here is what we came home with.

 I'm not going to list it all, but the following pictures show a closer look at the table.   There are a few things worth noting.   The nice double boiler my wife found (it's on the right).   The one garage sale had a LOT of nice vintage toys, you can see them sort of, look for them to go on Ebay right after Thanksgiving.   The linens under the whole pile are my wife's favorites of the day, I think.  

 I thought these elephants were cute.

 My wife couldn't believe finding the Snowman plate (with all those stacked up cups behind) for $2.50.  They may get sold or we may keep them, we haven't decided.

 Let's see, vintage toys, Mudd shoes, alarm clock...

 My favorite, the Winnie the Pooh lamp.   Both the bear and the balloons light up.  

 This rocking puppy is pretty neat, but will probably go on Ebay.   I might keep that saw, or sell it, not sure yet.

 Oh, some nice old dishes from a thrift store.

 See this?   Yes we have the full 78 piece set.   That purchase may or may not net us anything, we may have spent too much for it.

Gwen liked her boots, you can't see them but she's wearing them.  And there are probably a few odds and ends I didn't point out or remember.  

All in all it was a fun day, and hopefully a profitable one!  

The whole point of this post is simply this:   We aren't especially smart, talented, or lucky.   But anyone can do this with a camera, an ebay user account, and a little motivation.   It's fun, and we enjoy it!

Thanks for looking, and be sure to check out my other items!

(Sorry, I've been typing too many ebay listings lately)

~Gabe

Bountiful Harvest

 Our garden is starting to produce lots of fresh veggies for us to eat. It it so much fun to go out and collect things and then enjoy eating them. Right now we have kohlrabi, cucumbers, sweet onions, shallots, garlic, sweet banana peppers, carrots, broccoli, and potatoes. Gwen can eat a whole cucumber by herself, no problem. I am very pleased with my carrots this year. I have tried to grow them before, but they were always a grand failure.
  Abbey gave me the 'Hazen' apple tree and this is the first year it is making apples for us. We were worried that the would be not be resistant to cedar rust, but they are looking simply delicious so far!
  I am enjoying gardening more this year than I have in the last few years, since my children are at a more independent age. I still think I have to have flowers, so I spent quite a bit of time babying and weeding the few different ones that managed to come up. I am a little disgusted because I cannot seem to be able to get strawflowers and statice to grow.
   Gardening is only part of our life right now. Gabe is teaching VBS this year. We are on our second week of that, and it isn't as bad as I thought it would be for me at home all evening with the babies. Today I went with Gabe on a truss delivery, so I got to spend some time with him that way. I must go now... next time I post I would like to tell about the delicious onion rings I made this evening. The were yummy, I thought, but I am rather partial to onion rings ;)  There are more pictures on picasa, just click here!

                                               We will have sweet corn to eat before too long!

Shallots, Carrots, Onions, Peppers, Kohlrabi, Cucumbers, Broccoli....

Hazen Apples!

The biggest sweet onion that Gabe has pulled from his patch so far this year.

A Long Picture Post

     We went camping with the Young Marrieds and these are a bunch of pictures from our weekend. It was fun, but camping with little children is hard work!

 Myles didn't enjoy the swing as much as he thought he would :)

 Gwen did though

 Gwen and Connor

 Watching the dog. Gwen called it "Lassie"

 A sign we saw

 

 Abby and I, talking and watching babies

 Playing with the children

 This slide was rather tall and scary, but Gwen and Connor loved it.

 Justins

 Jordans

Blakes