I’ve been off from work since Good Friday, April 15. It’s been glorious I must say. One of the perks of working for the DOE. We celebrated Easter this past Sunday with a family brunch and that was nice. We didn’t make plans to go away, we never do. I don’t want to be away for the whole week and then jump right back into work you know? Besides I like being home for the week plus how many days. It sounds odd but it’s a good feeling to be able to keep up with laundry, vacuum up after Riley my ever shedding dog and get things done around the house that I put off because I’m working. Plus I’m able to spend time with Lelly and Samantha and my husband after he returns home from work. Samantha is home this week as well.

In a weird way being home is a reminder of when I was a stay at home mom except today I have a lot more freedom. Samantha at 15 doesn’t necessarily “need” me and that’s ok. I don’t miss the days of being totally needed. I don’t miss the days of everyone young. At one point I had 4 kids 10 years old and under. Then as Samantha became a little older I had 4 kids in 4 different schools. Fun times I tell you. I wasn’t unhappy when everyone was younger, it’s just that life was harder then than it is now. I don’t have to explain myself those of you with older children understand and those of you with younger children; well you think these years will last forever. They don’t. I really identify with the saying, “the days are long but the years are short”. With my girls I feel like I turned around and here they are married, turning 21 and soon to be 16. Incredible.

I’ve read somewhere that when you can help someone else through their traumatic experience you have healed from your own trauma. I also believed that if you can tell someone your traumatic story without crying you have healed. I don’t know if any of that is true for sure. There are times I can talk about Thomas being violent with me; which happened 7 years ago; without so many emotions, and there are some times when I speak of that trauma in my life I will become upset at the memories. Its a fine line I would say. However I don’t let that time in my life define me or dictate what direction my life takes.

I’m proud of how I have healed. I’ve proven that I am resilient. Seven years ago I was broken, so broken. But God put me in the hands of a wonderful physician and an equally wonderful therapist. And working with them both set me on an amazing path that helped me to come out of an all encompassing storm.

God has his hands on us all. Even when we don’t feel it. As my wonderful friend Louise once said to me, “I see God’s fingerprints all over you.” That gave me tears of joy because I really needed to hear that and it is such a powerful visual. And God’s hand was really holding me up. He’s still holding me, I’ve surrendered my life to my Savior and I know He’ll never leave or forsake me. And for whatever reason I needed to go through a very tough storm to arrive where I am today. I’m working as an RN, a position I swore up and down that I was finished with. But guess what? God wants me to work as a nurse. I knew this in the past and I realized it fully when those jobs were the only ones that worked out, whether it be the money I was earning or the hours I was slated to work. Both were uncanny in their perfection of how they fit in my life.

No matter what the storm we have to trust in the Lord. He will set you on the right path if you ask him to. Pray for wisdom and direction. He will answer you when you find yourself taking a path you would never have dreamed you would take. God is so good!

I’ve been thrift shopping for about the past 10 years or so. I’ve been a yard sale’r all my life thanks to my family on my Mom’s side. Although if my dad were here he would speak up about his frugal mother and that I also take after her because she was a regular at the thrift store. So I guess you can say thrifting and yard sale-ing is in my blood. When my kids were younger I used to love to put them in the car on a Saturday morning and hit the yard sales. Thomas was the best he loved it. He would always ask what are we going to buy? And I would always answer, “I don’t know… you never know what you’ll find at a yard sale”. And Thomas would agree. It’s one of my favorite memories with him.

So lessons learned at the thrift; what’s yours is meant to be yours. You can’t look at other peoples finds and wish you found something first, it wasn’t meant to be yours to begin with. Keep your eye on your cart! One time at the Sal Val this woman emptied my cart and walked away with it! I was so angry and was looking around when this woman quietly pointed at another woman and there she was with my cart; I knew it was mine because she left a handbag I found in the front seat. I went up to her and said, “You took my cart!“ I was pissed. The woman said oh yes, yes in broken English and gave me back the cart and tried to keep the bag! Unreal! So I said hey, and the bag, that’s my bag! She wasn’t happy about that part but she gave up the bag. So from then on I never take my hand off whatever is holding the stuff I find.

Google is your friend!! If you are not sure something is a good deal; google it (after you put the item in your cart). I’m a self admitted bag whore so I am always on the look out for designer bags and I’ve been quite blessed in my finds. But nothing has been found all at once. There are days I’ve left there without a bag, some days I leave with 2. I’m also a designer denim whore. And again sometimes I find a pair or two, other times not so much.

To thrift you have to have a lot of patience to comb through the racks. The best treasures are usually amongst things you wouldn’t look twice at. But I love thrifting and I love going through rack after rack. My girls say I have this facial expression that’s like, “I’m busy here…no talking..”. Haha. I love the thrill of the hunt and that you truly don’t know what you’ll find. I’ve found Lladro statues, Lenox bowls and vases, the list goes on. But not one group of items were found all at once. You have to decide what you really like, does the item need repair? Is it worth repairing, hemming, gluing, etc? Sometimes the answer is no and you have to leave something really cool behind. Same thing if you find a really cool piece of clothing but totally the wrong size. Too big? You could have it altered, but too small? No.

I wish all my fellow thrifters and yard sale-rs the best finds this spring!!