Gratitude Challenge - Day 10

Today I am thankful for yard sales.  Recycling at it's finest.  Last weekend we were able to sell some stuff we didn't use, and today we went and bought things we needed at a greatly reduced price. 

My favorite find for the day?  A practically pristine King size mattress, with box springs, and frame... all for the low, low price of $10.  When we found it we were in our Fiat so of course we thought about strapping everything to the roof (for like a second - cause it would be funny to see). 

So we went back home, got the truck and went back to pick up the mattress set.  Have you ever tried fitting 2 twin box springs and a king sized mattress into a truck with a topper?  It doesn't work.  So we had to strap the mattress to the roof of the topper.  Unfortunately, we were short on bungees and tie downs so we pieced together 3 small ones to make one large enough to reach across the mattress and the top of our truck.  The place where we found the mattress was only 1.5 miles or so from our house and the speed limit was never over 40mph so we figured we'd be ok.

WRONG!

About half way there, the middle bungee snapped and the mattress skittered off the back of the truck in the middle of a 4-lane road.  Luckily there was no one right behind us and we were able to stop the truck and get the mattress out of the road before someone ran over it.  We were eventually able to get everything home but needless to say, our mattress is no longer practically pristine.  Now it has scuffs and rips that I will be sewing closed tonight after the kids are in bed.  But hey, it's all good.  We only paid $10 for it.

Searchin' for a Deal = Quality Family Time

The last couple weekends the entire family has piled into one of our vehicles and gone hunting for deals.  Apparently this time of year, the snowbirds are coming back "home" and are realizing they have things they want to get rid of so there are yard sales EVERYWHERE.  So far we have gotten, 2 adult bicycles, some electronic stuff hubby hopes to repair and sell, a few items for the kitchen, and storage bins (lots of them). 

This last one is particularly important to me.  My regular readers are aware by now that my son is a builder.  His favorite material for building is K'nex.  In fact, there is hardly a day that goes by where he isn't building with K'nex.  Unfortunately, they tend to get all over the house and I step on them all the time (luckily they are not as painful as Legos).  Anyway, I've been trying to figure out a way to organize his K'nex so that 1. He can find the piece he wants without dumping the (large) box on the floor thus making a HUGE mess and 2. He can leave partially completed projects out without me stepping on them.

My solution was two fold.  The first was to rearrange part of the sun room so that there is a building / crafting area.  The second was to sort his K'nex into the drawer storage bins that hubby found at a yard sale.  The day we got the storage units, the kids and I spent a couple hours sorting the K'nex and to say my son is please with the arangement is an understatement.  This Mama is pretty happy too.  No K'Nex under feet for a week now! 

Technically we have more drawers than we need right now, but I know something my son doesn't.  He's getting more for Christmas.  A LOT more.  I found 2 bargains on ebay and my parents found something too, so the boy is going to be swimming in K'Nex soon.  I'm pretty sure he's going to hole himself up for days after opening them.  But you know what, he will have a blast, and he will be learning in the process so I'm cool with it.

Not only that, but we've been able to spend quality family time together the last few weekends and it's been great!  We still have Christmas stuff to find, so there's a good chance we will be back out again soon.  Looking forward to it!