I’ve got to say, I do not ever remember a Memorial Day weekend that was ever this cold. I’m currently wearing jeans, a long-sleeved tee, and I’m considering throwing on a cardigan, too. Nevertheless, we’ve been having fun!

Yesterday morning we headed down to the Creek Meeting House where the Clinton Historical Society was holding a tag sale. Despite the cold rain, it seemed like they had quite a few people coming through! Not one of us left empty-handed! Jake found a brand-new Wii skateboard and Tony Hawk game, Noah was smitten with a Strolling Bowling game, Laura found a little bear to “adopt,” Drew scored on a pile of books and CDs, and I found just a couple vintage treasures.

I love enamelware, but I never find it at a good price. This small pot was only 50 cents! I really liked the braided place mat and thought they looked nice together. And, of course, I couldn’t leave without buying a mini-loaf of my friend’s homemade rhubarb coffee cake!

After the sale we decided to head to the diner for an early lunch. We weren’t home for long before the power started blinking. The wind was whipping, so when we lost power… well, no one was really surprised. It wasn’t a big deal, really. We all made the best of it.

We played some music.

We built a fort.

We read a bit.

But when 4 o’clock rolled around and power still wasn’t back on, we decided on a dinner plan — pizza & PJs! After picking up pizza and soda, everyone changed into their pyjamas. I moved the coffee table over to the side and got the kids cozy. Drew built a fire. And we put a movie on my (fully-charged, thankfully!) laptop.

Power-outage pizza has no calories, you know

Maybe 10 minutes into the movie I suddenly heard our fridge alarm beeping (it beeps when power returns after an outage), so we decided to watch the movie on the TV, but otherwise we continued with our plan. In fact, the kids still chose to camp out in the living room last night!

This morning I made myself a nice cup of coffee and slathered cream cheese on that delicious rhubarb bread, and we all decided to take the canoe out even though the morning was still quite cold and a little drizzly. 

The kids had a great time and now, finally, the sun is shining — yay! Although I want to just be lazy this afternoon and crochet, I should probably finish up the laundry so we can relax tomorrow after the parade. Hope you’re having a great weekend, too!

Happy Monday, everyone! I’m getting back in gear after a very busy week/weekend. We had lots of school event going on, including Jake’s final elementary school concert. It seemed that there was something every day and so much driving around it was making me edgy.

Noah made his First Holy Communion on Saturday and it was a very busy time — preparing, celebrating, cleaning… It was lovely, though, and so great to share it with our family.

Last night I finally felt relaxed. With little to do this week, I didn’t need to make lists or keep track of anything. We put on a mindless movie (Tommy Boy, which I haven’t watched in years) and I browsed Pinterest while Drew check out DW drums from Musicians Friend. 

Today I’m just focussed on getting things in order: menu planning (lots of leftovers that require I get creative), culling paperwork (no more show choir for Jake or CCD for the boys — well, until next year), and reorganizing some things. They day just flew by! The little ones are currently in bed and Drew and Jake are playing one last game of Magic.

As for myself, I’m going to get ready to wind down too. Hope to be back with photos later this week!

I hope everyone enjoyed a nice Mother’s Day on Sunday! I certainly did. The kids lavished me with sweet, homemade gifts and we all enjoyed a nice day together. Drew’s mom and aunt came up for a visit, so it was all very laid back and relaxing.

Laura went home with the ladies for a sleepover, which gave me time to not only grocery shop and run about a million errands by myself, but I was able to hit the thrift shop this morning, too! You can see that I found a few little treasures.

The tray caught my eye as soon as I walked into the shop. And though it’s really nothing special (complete with “made in China” sticker on the back, it’s still pretty and fills up an empty space above my kitchen cupboards. It’ll also be useful for serving, too. Then there’s the little prim tin candle holder. I just love these kinds of things! So cute.

And of course, that old lunch pail (which immediately caught my dad’s eye when he saw a pic on Facebook). Dad and I had just been talking about a similar lunch pail he had in the 70s when he started working. This one is actually a reproduction by a company called Burning Lotus. There was no Thermos in it, but it was so cheap I grabbed it as an impulse purchase.

Then, I found a bundle of 10 cloth napkins. I washed and hung them out to dry, hoping the sun would bleach them but I think I need to do a little more work on them, as there’s still some yellow spots.

This old measuring cup is my favorite item of the lot, though! I think it was like 50 cents and this one is definitely vintage. I think it will look so sweet with some flowers stuck inside. I came out spending less than $10 for all of it, so I was pretty happy.

I managed to get a lot of other things done today, too, so I feel totally justified with my lazy girl plan for the night… tea, crochet, and TV. I’m not working on anything much… just a dishcloth. Mindless enough to work on while watching a show, yet I still feel like I’m doing something.

Well, time to get my water boiling. Hope your week is off to a good start!