Burried Treasure

I missed both my last two deadlines. I usually blog on Fridays; but July 20, Molly and then Milli woke up vomiting. Ed and I spent the entire day nursing sick babies. They both felt better by bedtime (although, Molly had a relapse just as I put her down) and were fine on Saturday. Molly broke out in a rash on Sunday, so we had church at home. Then this past Friday, I had a garage sale. I say "I had" because, while Ed helped me set up and take down and fetched things for me, I ran it. He doesn't feel comfortable with strangers and really hates selling things. 

In between these events, Ed and I cleaned out our shed. We found buried treasure! Well, sort of. Here is a list of some of the things we found: a barely used box of 4x4 white tiles, a box of ceiling tile, part of a box of linoleum, a vacuum cleaner (almost new), a 4 cup coffee maker (almost new- with box), lots of decent tools and parts, curtain rods, ceiling fan sconces and blades, light fixtures, wall trim, some decent pieces of wood, a partial box of ceramic fire place wood (the rest is in our fireplaces), a dog gate for an SUV or Jeep, a full tackle box, window blinds in great condition, a dead rat (yuck!), an antique spittoon, and an old chair.  

I did some research on the chair. Turns out, it is a Larkin Chautauqua Morris chair. It was made between 1898-1905! Considering it was in our shed under a bunch of junk, it wasn't in bad shape. The wood is sound, the small bit of fabric has no bite marks in it, and the springs still work. The hardware is a bit rusted and it needs new finish- but it was still a pretty good find! Completely restored, these chairs run about $1200. Not sure how much I can get for this one, but I have it listed on Craig's List to see if I get any interest. 

Most of these treasures went into the garage sale. I sold the tackle box and a few small things, but most of it ended up being donated to The ReStore. We kept the tile, some of the better tools, the spittoon, the firewood, and the chair. Here are some pics of the chair and spittoon: 

This is the chair before cleaning.

From underneath.

Tweety Mats! Sold to the first customer.

Birdcage, sold to the last customer.

Fishing chairs- sold.

Spittoon. I think the old owners used it as an ash bucket for the fireplace.

Pretty clean!

The garage sale yielded a total profit of $162.30. $150 of that was made the first day and only $12 the second. Turned out a key sign had been stolen and no one could find us. That irked me, but I still made my goal. I needed $99 to become a Jamberry Nails consultant. My next blog entry should be all about the Jamberry business I am going to start. I am waiting until August first because then I have two months to earn the first bonus instead of one and a few days. I'm so excited! And I still have treasures to sell!

New Things!

 It has been a week of new things at the Hamilton house! We found the chrysalis of a variegated fritillary butterfly on the leaf of one of our tomato plants and within days is opened! the chrysalis looked really cool- it was white with gold spikes on it! Google image it- it is sweet! It was white for a couple days, green for one, and brown just before this guy popped out. He was set free in our garden and we have seen him or one of his sibs several times in the last few days. Milli thought it was the coolest thing and wanted the butterfly to come out right away! But I think she had fun watching the stages, too.

 We also had seven of our downstairs windows redone while we were in Michigan. They are a little larger than the ones we had before and they are so beautiful! We have already noticed the difference in temperature downstairs and we no longer have to worry about our kids around the lead based paint that the old ones had. We also bought some curtains and rods to replace the junky shutters. And we had the kitchen window replaced a couple of weeks before we left. I put the picture with these because it is still pretty new.

 The next new things is that we are foster parents to five puppies! Ever since we found out that our Reggie's siblings were all euthanized, we have wished we could have adopted one more. I put myself on the Human Society of East Texas facebook list so I would get updates. These five lab/shepherd mix pups were a few hours from death when we rescued them! There is a rescue who will take all five of them off of our hands tomorrow. We were hoping that we could get Reggie to like one, but being a Staffordshire, he has a prey mentality and just looks at them like he wants to shake them to death.

 Now that Molly is a little more independent and will play with her sister or by herself, I can actually get some projects done! This one is an accessories closet! I bemoaned the fact that I have so much jewelry that I don't wear because I don't have time to untangle the necklaces or look through my jewelry box for what I want. I forgot I had some of this stuff! But now, all my scarves, jewelry, and hair accessories are in one place- and so close to a large mirror.

I also moved my craft area and Daddy got his game room back.

That is what is new in my life. I am off to a nails and margaritas party with girls from my crochet club! Hope you have as much fun as I will!

Hamilton Family Vacation 2014

 Every year but one of my life as a Hamilton, the family (or, as much as can) gets together during the summer for a vacation. Each year is a little different, but most years we gather at a cottage on Lake Platte in Honor, MI. This year, only our small family and the Sr. Hams could make it to the cabin; but the girls joined us in Grand Rapids afterwards and we all made a trip to meet with Beth and Teddy for lunch one day. Sadly, Jim was in Baltimore and could not join us.

It was nice to leave Texas heat and travel north. It was actually chilly on the lake! We loved it! It rained some of the first two days but was nice enough at times to get Milli out in the canoe ("Just like Fred and Ted!") and do a 5k.

To the left is Milli getting ready for our trip. She is stylin' in Daddy's favorite tie.

 Some other noted events in Honor: Ed and I saw a double feature at the drive in; we ate pie; we played Firefly 5 times; we ate more pie; we did a 2 1/2 hour kayak trip across two lakes; we wanted more pie but abstained; we spent some time at the beach (pictured below); I read a thick book plus 1/2 of a short story by Tolstoy; we bought books at a bookstore that we can't help but buy books at every time we go; we ate fusion food; we ate ice cream; we ate a lot (but I didn't gain a pound!); the girls got lots of Nana and Pop time; Nana and Pop got lots of girl time; we ate at the Cherry Hut; Molly only woke once each night we were there!

I can't think of anything else. 

On our way back from Honor, Ed, the girls, and I stopped at the farmer's market in Big Rapids to see some friends. We then went to see their 80 acre farm and walked the entire thing!

Pop shows Milli the lake.

The water was cold!

Independent Milli wanted to walk herself- no hand holding for this 2 1/2 year old!

At Lake Michigan. I think I want a paddle board!

Milli loved the beautiful white sand of MI!

She really, really loved it.

Our car is still sandy.

I showed her how to bury her feet.

Nana and Pop chillin'.

This poor little guy got 1/2 of one of his wings torn off by a bird. He was soft and beautiful. It's a cecropia moth.

Molly had fun playing peek-a-boo!

Once back from the lake, we met Aunt Keoina and Cousin Lauren for dinner.

 We didn't see a great many people not related by blood on this trip. We had lunch with the VanderZand clan before leaving for the lake and I got to see one friend for breakfast the day we left. When we got back, I HAD to see my cousin Lauren (on pain of death!) because she had yet to meet Molly! Lauren is moving to Arizona at the end of July, so it was her last chance to meet Molly while she is still a baby. The next time we see her will be whenever we go to Phoenix; and we aren't sure when that will be. Aunt Keoina joined us for dinner. 

I spent some time with my mother and sisters at Bizarre, Bizarre in East Town on Saturday. It has been forever since we had a girls' day. We also ate yummy Thai food! Later that day we played Firefly with friends and the DeGraws came over for pizza. 

Sunday, we drove east to meet with Beth and Teddy! We ate some yummy food and played at a park. Some recent transplants from North Carolina were walking their dogs and were stopped by adoring children for about half an hour. Later that day the girls and I went swimming at Nana and Pop's hotel.

Monday, we went to the museum and planetarium! We watched a lovely little show called "The Little Star That Could." Milli loved it! She saw Saturn and yelled, "That's a planet!" and later "That's where stars are born!" You could tell that she helped me with my homework during my recent astronomy course. We also rode the carousel, but Milli didn't want a horse that went up and down. We chose a deer that stayed stable. She kept yelling, "Now we're having fun!" And we were! Later that day, Uncle Jeff and Uncle Michael came over for another round of Firefly.

Other noted events from GR: Ed and I saw Captain America in 3D; my brother and I saw Divergent; I read 1/2 of another book; we played outside on soft grass; we took walks; the girls played with their cousin, Ada; Ada read to Milli; Molly woke only once each night except one while we were at Nana's; I had some good wine.

I'm learning about the old City Hall. One phone was not loud enough.

All the Hamilton (Whipple) cousins!

Look! Grass you can sit on without finding fire ants or scorpions! Also, it isn't pokey!

 We had pretty good drives up and back. On the way up, we had a hard time finding a hotel with vacancy, so we ended up getting all the way to Michigan City the first day! Check a map- that's far! I left Longview at 7ish (after waking before six) and drove until Midnight. That did make a very short day the next day, though. The girls were golden and Molly even slept all night in the hotel! On the way back, there was a little more fuss, mostly on the second day. Molly slept the entire night in the hotel AGAIN! We did two almost equal days, though. I was so tired by the time we got home that all I wanted to do was sit- but we had to empty the car and buy groceries before that could happen. 

The big event at home was the departure of Dr. Ball. He has been living with us since four days before Molly was born (over 9 months). He will be spending the next 6 months in Vancouver, BC Canada doing a sabbatical teaching stint there. We pray he has a good trip and that God uses him there. Now, our house feels a little more empty. But we are enjoying the peace of it- if you can call a grouchy baby girl screaming "peace."

I'll leave you with a selfie from Molly. She is getting really good at them. I even have one on my phone.