Princess Four Is Moving On Trusting in God

I mentioned we had a family reunion this past week. It was on our way to the college where Princess Four is headed and where Princess Three is leaving. Princess Three worked the summer there and finished working last Friday. Princess Four has to be at an ambassador Retreat next Monday. The reunion was this week so instead of making several trips back and forth, we figured a way to make one trip for all the events. 

Having to pack one for college and also pack for camping with all the girls and grand-baby, it got a bit crazy trying to work it all out. We had to get permission for Princess three to stay where she was for a few extra days and pay by the day rent. We had to get permission for us to move Princess Four's stuff in a week early as well. I had to pay extra to store our trailer a night earlier than the reunion so I didn't have to haul it the extra to the college and back to camping and then back to move Princess Three out and back to pick up the trailer from the park on the way home.

I thought it was quite brilliant that I was able to figure and work it all out and was very grateful for the inspiration as the gas for the trip was really expensive and if I had to do it two or three times, it would have been much worse. 

The other issue we had was that Princess Three is headed to a college much further away and I didn't want to have to haul a desk and bookshelf, and end table etc. all that way and since Princess Four was moving in and the desk matched what she has for decor, I figured it was smart to just give Princess Four the items from Princess Three and buy her some closer to where she will live or one's that break down into smaller units for transport so I don't have to take the suburban the 11 to twelve hour trip to move her to college.  


Since Princess Four is an ambassador, she gets cheaper rent than normal and so we went with this unit as they gave her a good discount and the other girls said it was a good place to live. They also didn't charge us to move in early due to her ambassador retreat as she has to help others move in on move in day, they have been really wonderful that way. 

About a year ago, I felt like it was important for me to start getting things ready for Princess Four to go to college. 

I thought it was a bit early but as the time got closer, I could see that with all that was going on with Princess Four graduating, sterling scholar etc, it would have been a bit crazy to get everything together and also, with Princess being so young, she has had more reservations about heading to college and tells me often that she is too young to be heading to college and she is nervous about knowing how to cook things or do her laundry etc.

I've noticed that the younger the girl in the family line up, the less they remember when it comes to chores and how to do things. I think somewhere in their head, they think they deserve to be taken care of since they are the youngest or something and have that expectation so it gets frustrating at times to have to repeat instruction over and over. 

I think this is part of the reason she hasn't felt prepared to go to college. 

If you remember, when Princess Three headed to college, I purchased stuff that was "African" to decorate her room as she went there on her service mission. Click here to see her room.

Since Princess Four went to Thailand, I tried to purchase items that were of that style for her room as I know Princess Four loved the room we did for Princess Three so over the past year, I have been buying items that fit an earthy, natural fiber, things from nature theme. 

She also LOVES being called "Princess" so I got her Princess stuff for her bathroom. I would show her everything I purchased as I got it for her apartment so she could start gearing up for moving on to college. 

When she was little, when we wanted to leave the park or some other place where she was having fun to go somewhere else, she would get upset if I told her it was time to leave. If I gave her some warning that it was coming up, she would then gear up to it and not be as upset when we did leave. So, I would say, "In fifteen minutes or 1/2 a show of Barney, we will be leaving." and she would be a bit sad but would realize I was giving her a few more minutes. 

I would then continue down in five minute increments until we got down to one minute and I would have them put their shoes on to leave at that point. It made leaving so much more bearable as they had time to process the change. It also kept them from asking for "five more minutes" or bargaining for more time.

By buying the items needed over time, I was able to find items that would match her room style and found her two comforters that matched. I found the cutest monkey lamp and grassy shade, bamboo tissue box, leaf shaped bowls, pottery pencil holder, candle holders, dishes that are earth tones, framed real leaves and shells etc. 

I was also able to find her serving items and pans for the kitchen at second hand stores. It gave me time to find frames that I liked that matched and print up pictures of her in Thailand and frame them for her apartment.

By doing it this way, she knew she had all the comforts of home and could allow herself to relax and not be so worried that she didn't feel ready for college. 

We spent hours getting her moved in and washed all the dishes in the dishwasher, put away all the cans and food as Princess Three cleaned out hers from her apartment, we didn't have to pack much. We were going to use all her decorations in her room but since the beds have the drawers under neath, we couldn't use her side table so we put it out by the couches in the common room and stuck a new soft blanket in it and boxes of tissues everywhere as well as all the extra's like the dvd/vcr player, power strips, nightlights and vacuum. 

She was VERY happy with everything by the time we left. I put several of the pictures around the apartment as they matched the end table decorations as well and we figured if the room mates want to have them gone, we can easily put them back in her room but we wanted it to look nice when her roommates arrive next weekend.  

I called the manager to thank her about letting us in early and tell her of a few minor repairs needed and she told me that her husband said, "I like the girl moving in already.... I've never seen such a cutely decorated apartment." She told me that he doesn't notice things like that as he is the "Handy man" but she said he noticed and liked what we did. 

I told her that I was out for hire if any parents wanted to fund me decorating their kids room or apartment. :-) She said she looked forward to seeing it since he isn't into those type of things, it must be nice. I explained why I did it that way and that Princess Four is now excited to move in there. 

Of course, on the way out of Princess Three's apartment, as we were walking to my car, there on the ground were two pennies. I noticed the one when passing to go to my car and as I pointed it out to Princess Four, we noticed the second. It was just such a perfect way to start the day. 

She had a job interview while we moved over the big items from one apartment to the other that is why she looks so cute. Funny how we get "feelings" and I have been around people in the past who would make fun of my "feelings" but they serve me well. I didn't have a good feeling about the job interview and shared that with Princess Three but didn't want to freak Princess Four out. I just felt that she needed to be somewhere else. I said a prayer that if she wasn't supposed to take the job that it not be offered and that we would be led to a better job for her. She didn't get the job and I wasn't really happy how they handled notifying her as they knew our schedule etc. So, she got a call today from Princess Three's boss asking her to come in on Monday morning before her retreat to interview for an office assistant position. 

It reminded me of when we were looking for a job for Princess Three and tried the library and I had a bad feeling about it and told her we needed to go back to a building we had already been in and entered a different door, walked up the stairs, looking into an office, saw a man and he became her boss and she worked there for two years. He now retired and they don't need new people as they hired several last year knowing they were losing some this year. So, Princess four is interviewing with her other boss for a different job which I think she will be better suited.  

I wanted her to have foods that she would feel at home eating and know that she was loved so I made a frozen dinner which I put into her freezer so she could take it out when she needed to feel like she was safe and I also had her pack a box of her favorite foods and snacks today to take. She was excited about the items and it gave her choice in it and she will have everything she needs to succeed. 

I sent her with the "vitamins for stress" items she would need as every single girl at college called me crying saying they were stressed out and couldn't handle finals and working etc. 

I tell them to take their vitamins and they are fine in a day or so. Here is a link to that page on my blog.

We were a little sad about how small the closet is and she has to share it with a roommate and it isn't deep enough to put bins because of the metal thing in the middle, we couldn't hang a second bar down for skirts and shirts either so she is having a hard time deciding which shirts to take. The four small drawers under the bead don't give enough space for clothes, three pair of jeans would fill it up. I think a dresser would be smarter than the desk at this point but I'm not going to worry about it as she can stack t-shirts on her bookshelf. 

I will miss Princess and am glad she is living so close so we can visit often! :-) 

Grandpa's 80th Birthday Reunion

I have been at a reunion for the past three days and moved one girl into a college apartment and moved one out of a collage apartment and will post more later but I am SO tired and burned I am going to bed. It is 3:30 a.m. and I still only have half of the stuff put away from camping so hope you have a great day! Check in tomorrow for the wonderful details and pictures of the moves!

Lots of Little People - It Takes a Village

I posted a few months back about Princess Two and her love of "Fisher Price little people." Her very favorite toy when she was little was the "Little People House." Click here for that post. I have video of her playing with ours when she was about 3. I wish I had the ability to transfer video over from VHS but I am not at that point in my electronic abilities. 


Actually, I have the ability but not the resources. I know how to do it but my computer isn't working that well so I will have to wait until I have the funds to upgrade the system. 

We do our inheritance a bit differently than others, we have a lottery system for who picks first and then rotate picking items because if we did it by who got the item as a gift, everything would go to the first child or two because we had one of everything by the younger children.  Click here for a post on how we work that. 


During that process for dividing up the toys, Princess One picked the Fisher Price toys. Princess two was sad about that so I found her a house for her birthday and this past two weeks, I was able to find her an airport, barn and a small fire house that is actually match box but looks like "Fisher Price." 


I found a bus awhile ago and also founds some barn fences not too long ago which was great. 

The airport was $2. The fire house was around a dollar and the barn was probably under $5 but how sad it is that I don't remember back to last week when I bought it. 


It has been such a crazy time as I get Princess Four ready for college and we have a family reunion this week I am doing lots for so I am a bit scatter brained. 

Today, my head was hurting as we were getting rain and I was driving and Princess Four was pouring me a coke into my cup and spilled a few drops on her toes, I said, "Oh, use a potato to wipe it up." 

In all fairness to me, I think I  was thinking paper towel and had just finished making a potato salad, but, we had wipes and tissues and napkins in the car, not paper towels but I laughed and I know the girls will NOT let me forget that one. We laughed all the way to our destination where they promptly shared it with Princess Three and as we got out of the car, Princess Four said, "Oh, no worries, I have a potato right here I can use!" everyone laughed. 


Then, Princess Three told them how I asked her last week if she wanted a gluten free wallet" when I meant "Waffle" so with LOTS of headaches and stress these past two week, the girls have gotten some good laughs at my expenses. 


I am blogging this as we pack up Princess Three and have two car loads full of stuff to move Princess Four into her apartment in the morning. It is a busy week but an exciting one as I will have two in college again. 

How quickly they move on.... I will miss them both. 

The Return of an OLD Friend - Crissy

I was at a second hand store the other day and in their collectable case was this "Crissy" doll. I knew immediately what it was. This toy was one of my earliest memories. Her hair grows when you push on her belly button and gets quite long and then to make it go short again, you wind a button shaped thing on her lower back. 


I called my sister from the store and asked her if she remembered the doll. She did. I also asked her if she remembered the doll we had that would change the eye color when you would do something to it's back and she said she did. 

She then related the story about how that doll was no longer our doll as one of her friends really wanted it so they traded her for another toy and my mother was not happy as that was a VERY expensive doll. 


I remember three of my early toys. I remember Crissy, the eye changing colored doll and my nursing kit I got after all my hospitalizations. (Click here to see the post about that.)


They were asking $20 for the doll but that was more than I was willing to pay. 

Also, someone had painted her face with makeup. She is missing her shoes but I was thrilled with the condition of the dress and she still has her hair ribbons.
 
I loved that the original price tag was on the box and that it came with the box. Someone used lots of packing tape on the box so it isn't in the best condition but it still is fun to have.

The doll sat in the case for a few weeks and so I asked the manager if he would come down on the price so I got "Crissy" in the box for $8. 

I think it would make a great birthday present for my sister but I may just put it on the shelf in the toy room with some other vintage toys I have as she is so cute and her hair is still in great condition as well. 
 
Just looked on eBay and there is a similar one with four bids and is at $10.50 and she is missing her shoes as well. 

The original price in the sixties was $11.99. I figured me getting it for less than the original price was a good deal considering the doll is my age, she is in better shape than I am at this point! ;-)

Puzzle By the Number

Just over a year ago, I shared about purchasing a puzzle at a second hand store and upon opening it, we found that they had numbered the puzzle on the back to make it easier to do. Here is a link to that post.
 
I shared that we had gone through all the puzzles we had in the house and got rid of the one's that were missing pieces and I have purchased several new puzzles as we have been enjoying doing them together in the evenings trying to enjoy family time before Princess Four leaves for college in a week or so. 

I purchased this old puzzle of the Eiffel Tower for us to do. I like the older puzzles as you can see. I opened it to find that it had been numbered. I wanted to do the puzzle like regular but Princess Five complained about it as every piece is almost exactly like the next. There was little variation in this older puzzle so she got discouraged quickly and with that, I told her I would do the puzzle by the numbers so she would join us in doing it. 


Twice, we got the outside edge done only to have it fall off and break apart. One problem with this puzzle having the shapes all the same is the pieces didn't lock well and fell apart easily. I was surprised one day to come home and find that Princess Four had done most of the puzzle. I got the outside and started sorting the inside pieces but I don't like doing it that way as it was boring to me. 


I gave up and Princess Four finishing it in a day or two. The problem then was how to flip it so we could enjoy looking at the picture. 

I tried rolling it in the felt carrier but to unroll it, the pieces fell out as you had to unroll it upside down and into itself which didn't work. 

We got a large sketch book and put it on top but the felt was under it and to try and flip it, we lost most of the outside pieces. 


Princess Four started putting it back together but since we are packing her for college, we both gave up and put it back into the box. It did have all it's pieces but I really didn't enjoy doing it by the number and probably wouldn't do that again if we got another that way. 

I guess we all enjoy doing things differently. I enjoy visual so for me, the picture is more fun! How do you like to do your puzzles? 

Snoopy De Dupper Puzzle

Princess Three has a "Snoopy" collection. You would think with how long Snoopy has been around that she would have a huge collection. For some reason, they made lots of Snoopy things but not many of the other characters like they did with Sesame Street or Pooh. They have all sorts of characters and everyone has their "favorite" character that they collect.
 
I think that because those other groups are all animals, that is why they had such appeal. In Sesame Street, it was the animals that were the big draw as in Pooh, they were the draw more than Christopher Robin or the actual people that were on Sesame Street so perhaps, that is why Snoopy is the big pull in the Peanuts group. If he would have made the same story with animals in the place of the people, my guess is there would be more stuffed animals etc.


After we finished the puzzle I posted about yesterday, we did this Peanuts puzzle I found at the same time hoping all the pieces would be there.

The reason I loved this puzzle was that it is unlike any other puzzle I have ever done. It has three types of pieces so that all ages can do the puzzle at the same time. In all my years of doing puzzles, I have never seen that. I would think I would have at least seen one at a store somewhere, but no.


You can see on the box how they have the different sized pieces listed. I also like that they have the larger pieces on one end and the smaller on the more difficult end so that families with little one's can do it at the same time. 

It is a brilliant idea and I do hope it takes off as I think Princess Five would be more apt to puzzle with me if she could do bigger pieces on a difficult puzzle. 

We were disappointed to see that the puzzle was missing a piece. I figured I would put my puzzle piece making into action as we could keep the puzzle for her collection and do it with the grand-kids etc. 

I used the same method I did on the other puzzle and made a piece but since I needed to color it, I used a white piece of cardboard hoping that the white would take the color better than a brown piece. I used the box of the flag puzzle and cut out the piece size I needed and then I thought I could use the Sharpies as I have so many colors, I figured one would match. 

As you can see, one looked promising and I used it to fill in the piece. However, it was dull as the paint on the puzzle was shinny. I then had the thought that I could just mix paint and paint the piece to match and so I went to my paint bin and pulled out all the little paints I had from the "paint by number" sets that we have done.


I found one that was the perfect color. If you need it a little darker, add black and if you need it a little lighter, add white. 

Somethings I have learned when I purchase my miss matched paint for the house. They always add white or black to lighten or darken the paint. 


Here is a link to a post I share about that. It is one of my favorite posts as it is so true. I hope you enjoy that post. 

I found the exact color of the paint as you can see in the bottom bottle in the picture. I go ahead and paint it forgetting that as paint dries, it gets darker. 
 
By the time I had painted it and it dried, I think I would have been fine to just leave the Sharpie painted one but I am learning with each now thing I do. 

I could have tinted the paint lighter and repainted the piece but I gave up as I don't think she would ever display the entire puzzle and it would be more for just doing for fun with the family so I didn't worry about it. 

It isn't perfect but from far away, I think you would have to look hard to find it. I just thought I would share the options of markers, colored pencils, paints or crayons to color puzzle pieces. Have fun however you decide to do it. :-)