An odd title, I know, but it’s what this weekend has been about.

A Saturday Morning Yardsale
The weekend was good. Even though I had to work on Saturday, I started out my early morning with a yard sale which was on the way to the local all-natural grocery store and farmer’s market.

There was a ton of Barbie stuff that all looked brand new and the clothes to the Barbies were all good stuff, as in long “princess” dresses. You know, the more modest stuff, if you can consider Barbie modest. Anyway, we do play with Barbies here.

Princess of the Universe awoke soon and checked everything out right away. I knew she’d look at the horse and rider first. It’s Fisher Price. The horse neighs. Princess of the Universe was showing me the difference between a walk, trot, canter and gallop. I was impressed! And glad she still likes to play.
Buying and Cooking Whole Foods

After the yard sale, I bought some fresh vegetables and all-natural bagels and muffins for the children to have when they got up. (Yes, I made an early morning trip without children. It’s one of the advantages of having older children. They watch the younger ones.)
I washed and layered in a large pot in this order:
- red potates, one large sweet potato, one large rutabaga
- several peeled whole carrots
- broccoli
I filled the pot with water up over the carrots and then put on the stove on medium-high and covered. The water boiled, which cooked the potatoes, rutabaga, and carrots, but just steamed the broccoli. I kept a close eye, taking the broccoli out when it was tender. (Pretty quickly.) The carrots came out not long after. When the potatoes and rutabaga were tender, I drained the water and put all the veggies back in the pot. Along with a side dish of wild rice that had been cooking in another pot, this was what we ate on all day. What beautiful, delicious, brightly-colored vegetables! (Vitamins!)

I also bought some sausage patties from locally raised pork. Talk about lean. And good. Yummy with a fried egg and Wisconsin cheddar cheese on a whole grain English muffin. :)

I also decided last week to make my own English toffee cake, and I’m just getting around to showing you how marvelous it turned out. Make two chocolate cake layers. Ice with homemade chocolate buttercream icing. Melt caramels to drizzle between the layers and on top. Use a food processor to grind up a Heath bar and sprinkle between the layers and on top. It was OUT OF THIS WORLD.
Doll House Adventures
On a doll house note, we have been playing and redecorating. We have even done some decluttering of the doll house.
Hey! Even dolls can only move around and function so well when there’s too much clutter. Of course, it won’t do to throw out something you use from time to time, even if you’re in a decluttering frenzy. Now, that’s a lesson to teach!

You’ll see the fancy dog bed that Princess of the Universe made from a little tin from the thrift store and some fabric scraps. That dog has a nice bed!

She put a couple of pieces of wood on the “fire.” Of course the fireplace was drawn on paper and then decopauged to the wall.

The bathroom was also moved to a room with a fireplace (made from a cardboard papertowel roll), and yes that’s the man of the house in the bathroom currently. Ahem. I desired to edit this out, but Princess of the Universe insisted it should stay in. It is real life, after all.

How would you like a huge, round bathtub which allowed you to step out and dry in front of a roaring fire? Could be dangerous. But it could be warm.
Shopping Tip
One thing we’ve been doing is to clip any coupons we see for Michael’s or A.C. Moore, especially the ones for 50% off any regularly-priced item. That cuts the price of a set of dollhouse furniture in half!
In The Garden This Morning
There was what I think is a cabbage butterfly sitting on the nandina.

The bee balm, or Monarda didyma (below), is starting to bloom. It is also known as Oswego Tea. As a lesson to tie in with your Colonial studies, you can share that the Oswego Indians told the immigrants how to use bee balm for tea. Tea was scarce, remember, after the Boston Tea Party.

After a heavy rain (and storms) last night, the basil looks so bright and green this morning. I love to stroll through the garden after a good rain.

A new rosebud on the Knockout Rose.

A parsleyworm sits on the parsley. I did note a black swallowtail fluttering around it last week or so. I guess she was laying eggs.

The wind sent petals flying from the white-blooming crepe myrtle so that it looked like snow. It was pretty then and pretty afterwards.

The red clover, one of my favorite herbs for infusions, is blooming prettily this morning and spilling over the rock border.

I think I should pick a bowl of raspberries today.

I hope your week has started out wonderfully. Princess of the Universe was pretty sick this weekend (think stomach virus), but I think she’s on the mend. We survived the storms, even though the phones are out this morning. I can’t believe the DSL is working, but I’m glad it is.
I’ll leave you with a quote that came to me after decluttering the doll house:
“Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” William Morris
Happy Monday,
Lynn