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Monday, August 1, 2011

Weekend Finds #7 and Tons of Fun!!

Wow, what a fun weekend this was!  After not having my car for just over a week, I was more than ready to get out and find some deals!
Our weekend fun started on Friday, we picked my car up early, and Hubby treated us to donuts for breakfast too.  Little Monkey loved that!  We came home to clean up and get ready for the day and noticed a rather large pile of trash next door.  Since Friday is trash day, I decided to inspect it quickly before it was gone!  Boy did I find some good stuff!!!  Our neighbors are moving, sad to say.  They have been the best neighbors for the last 5 years, we are sorry to see them go!
Little Monkey and I combed over the pile of stuff and brought all this home.

I also pulled out 5 rolls of home decor fabric and gave that to a friend.  She makes all kinds of stuff with it, hand woven rugs, bread cloths, jar cap covers, pillows, etc.  My neighbor saw us digging, and told me there was a pile of cloths in the moving van that were going to Goodwill, and I should go through it and see if I find anything I like.  Here's what I brought home.
There were 2 leather jackets in all this!

After our trash digging, we went to Goodwill and found all this.

Not all of it is for Little Monkey, some of it is for her cousins, and one dress is for a friend.  This was Little Monkey's Goodwill find.

She was so funny!  She saw this little dresser (?) and said "Mommy this is so cute, it would be so perfect for all my dolly cloths!! I could keep them all picked up if I had this!"  Do you see the manipulation here?  This is the kind that makes me laugh.  She was right of course, it is perfect for doll cloths, and it will also fit in her play house.  So....yeah, she got it.  I want to repaint it to match her kitchen , yes I am still working on it, but she loves it as is.  Since it will be in the play house, I can live with that.

Next up, we went to Yoder's Country Market in Madison, VA.  Little Monkey's Aunt K works there, so it is always fun to visit.  On this visit we were here to meet a peach delivery!  Yep, is that time again!  This year I ordered 3 bushels of peaches!  I know, I am thinking I might be crazy.
When the peaches arrived, they were all packed in antique wooden bushel boxes.  We had to transfer them to our own boxes.  Normally not a big deal, on Friday however it was 105 degrees!!!  With the humidity the real feel temp was 110.  Let me tell you, it was HOT!  Here are a few pics of the process.
Don't they look fabulous?!!

For those who are wondering, the people who brought the peaches are Mennonite, not Amish.  Yoder's Market is also run by a Mennonite family, they are very sweet people.  They also have a bunch of animals at Yoder's.  Chickens, peacocks, turkeys, guinea hens, dove, quail, and goats.  Little Monkey had so much fun looking at the animals.  She even got to pet a nanny goat!
LM thought this was the funniest chicken ever!

the nanny goat


After the picking up our peaches and some canning supplies, we headed to deliver one bushel to a friend and stopped at a local "hang out" for home grown veggies!  This is a small park in the middle of town where people can set up tables and sell their produce any day of the week.  I picked up these yummy goodies.
That large yellow tomato was big enough to make 4 sandwhiches! It was SO good!

After all this, LM and Mommy were tuckered out!  We came home and LM napped while I picked up and tried to find some energy!

Saturday we went to Papa and Granny C's house and picked blackberries!  Well, I picked.  Little Monkey picked a handful and then decided it would be more fun to go inside and talk to Papa and Granny.  While she entertained them  I picked about 3 or 4 quarts.  The best part, these are thornless berries, so it is much nicer to pick them!
A portion of the blackberry rows. There are 2 rows, don't know how long they are, but its a lot of berries!


We came  home and made Peach Blackberry Jam, Peach Jam, and canned 7 quarts of peaches.  Little Monkey was a big helper!  She loves to help me load the dishwasher, so she helped put the jars in, and then helped stir jam, and put peaches in the jars.  It was great fun!

Unfortunately, I finished the last batch of jam at 2:30 a.m.  After doing a bit of clean up, I finally got in bed around 3.  Won't be making that mistake again!  Sunday LM was up at 7:05 a.m. and she had a very grumpy mommy.  I don't do well on less than 5 hours sleep.  Thankfully, we all got naps on Sunday afternoon.  Mommy included!  I rarely nap, but I was so tired, I slept for 3 hours!  I was the last to wake up, I couldn't believe it!!  Needless to say, my attitude was much improved after the nap.  I did try not to be grumpy, but apparently I failed because LM told me I must have had a good nap because I was happy now.  Leave it to kids to tell you the truth!

I hope you all had a great weekend as well! Thanks for stopping in for a "chat".
Melissa

5 comments:

  1. Wow! What a fun weekend! I can't believe all the "trash" you found! It must have been the weekend for buying clothes because I found a lot for myself while I was out thrifting too. And all that fruit...yum! It sucks that I'm allergic to peaches though :(

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  2. What wonderfun former neighbors to let you have all that "stuff". It is great to be able to can fruits and vegetables. Doesn't it make you feel just like a virtuous woman?

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  3. I am so envious of you and your homemade goodies. Yummy.

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  4. Wow you have been busy! Some great finds and a some great produce!

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  5. Busy girl! The peaches do look wonderful. I just picked up a bunch of cherries at Aldi for $0.69 a pound. I've thought about making jam but they are just so good to eat by themselves that I don't know if the jam with ever get made. ;) My garden is major suffering so I think I'm going to have to go to our little farmers market to pick up some produce. So much better than the store. Have fun with your mom & sis when they get there. Wish I could come too.

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