Tired of being tired?

Five simple things

The weekend! Yay! We have had the sun shining all week until Thursday when the sun hid behind the clouds. The Bean has been swimming after our homeschool class lets out and The Mr. and I have been enjoying the garden and sitting outside just soaking up the warm temperatures. We are still wondering where the hot temps are because we've only had a high of 90 so far. We are sure it will hit us soon, but for now, we are really enjoying the 75-80 temperatures. The Mr. is thinking of breaking out his charcoal grill for this weekend. He always cooks on a gas grill, but we have a lot of camping charcoal that needs to be burned. Maybe pop the tent up in the backyard, cook on the charcoal grill, and pretend we're camping? We'll see what the rest of the weekend brings. Here are the things that made this week awesome!

1. Black Birds

Since the beginning of spring we've been placing bird feeders and bird houses around in different places throughout our yard. We've had so many birds come and hang out with us because of that. Black birds, blue jays, chickadees, starlings, and even an owl that likes to hang out in the big cherry tree right at the fence line.

2. This Sign

This sign was seen in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, during our recent trip to Arkansas and I couldn't help but share it. Car wash, BBQ, and a barber-Multitasking at its finest!

3. This Lavender


We've been cutting and bundling lavender a lot this week for the shop. I had to place my shop on "vacation-mode" on Etsy just to get all of the orders so far fulfilled. The Mr. and The Bean have been a great help and we are almost done with all of the orders placed so far. I am so grateful for everyone that has helped keep my passion still afloat. You can check out both of my shops here and here and by the end of July they should be combined as one and back up and running, so keep in touch!

4. This Camera


This was my first digital camera and I won it from a photo contest held by the local Bi-Mart store. I recently found it while cleaning out a hall closet and getting rid of things. The Mr. and I have been on a mission to downsize and live more simply. Unfortunately, this camera had to go.
The picture that won me the contest was the one below.

The Bean was just a little guy,


5. This Thought

Recent violence has made me rethink where I stand with some issues that are happening lately. It's hard to think that someone could get so angry at another person that they actually hate them and want to cause harm on them physically or emotionally. I've never hated anyone so it's hard for me to understand how someone else could. My thoughts about hate have really been brought into prospective over the last year when someone told me they hate me. The person was a close relative and since that time it changed me. It changed me in a way that made me hurt deeply knowing that there is someone out in the world that could hate so easily. The Mr. is able to move on and be able to close this person out, but I don't function mentally that way. I feel horrible for whatever we did to cause this person to hate so quickly, but on another aspect, I feel they need to change their way of seeing things in order to stop the hate they feel in their heart. The reasons they give for the hate don't justify the actions they have caused us in pain over the last year. With that said, even though my experience with personal hate doesn't compare to recent hate, I still feel that people cause themselves to get to a point of hating another for reasons that are only temporary. Hate leads to bitterness and bitterness ultimately is your own demise. I don't normally talk about issues in the news, or politics on my personal blog, but the more we speak out the better others will understand that the world doesn't operate on hate and those that hate others, saying they hate others, or showing they hate others will fade away. Praying that there is change isn't working, action is what is needed now. We must all do what's right, even if it's not particularly joyful.


Extras:
  1. Ultimate first aid kit.
  2. Snooki has her own Etsy shop? 
  3. Eat Clean Bro. Wish they served around here.
  4. We are loving our Amazon Fire Stick. Check it out!
  5. Movie gift cards!
  6. Homemade bean dip.
  7. Organic ketchup.
  8. Ron-Ron Juice?
  9. Square fire pits.
  10. "Coherence" the movie soundtrack. If you haven't seen this movie, it will definitely make you rethink life. -If you have Amazon Prime, it's free!

Road Trip: Arkansas (Arkansas Railroad Museum and Flight Home)

May 13-On our last day in Arkansas we took a tour of the Arkansas Railroad Museum in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. The Bean and The Mr. were in train heaven and The Mr. found a lot of fire engines that had him swooning over the place. The lady that gave us the tour, Miss Elizabeth, was super nice to us and allowed The Bean to take his time looking at every piece of train equipment, all of the engines, and she even gave him a lot of railroad memorabilia. She really made our tour of the place a lot more special for a bunch of train lovers like The Bean and The Mr.



The entire museum is wall-to-wall trains. 

The Mr. and The Bean were in train-loving-heaven.



819 SSW St. Louis Southwestern Cotton Belt in the process of being restored.


Rail Speeder




Miss Elizabeth and The Bean.

Luggage case that I absolutely loved and a red caboose.

Inside the red caboose.




Train station bench.


Train car dishes from the dinning car days from the 1950s.



These windows on the museum are great! 



The Bean and The Mr. loved the Arkansas Train Museum and we all had a great time visiting and learning about the history of the trains that were housed inside. Miss Elizabeth was great in telling stories from the days when these trains were in their prime. Check out The Mr. and The Bean's train blog here.

May 14-On Saturday we woke up and headed into Hot Springs to do some last minute shopping and prepare for our flight out of Little Rock. We stopped by a girlfriend's shop, The Lofthouse, to pick up a duck phone I had purchased from her online shop a few months before. The Lofthouse is a fun shop that carries handmade, vintage, and original art pieces. It's located right in the heart of the Lake Hamilton area and is definitely worth a visit.

Isn't it great! It quacks when someone calls!

 
On our flight home I got to try out the Carry On Cocktail Kit from Birchbox. While I was enjoying my Carry On Cocktail Kit The Old Fashioned The Mr. had him some Fat Tire. Leaving Arkansas is always a sad thing for us, but with these drinks it made the flight home less of a bummer.


The Bean and The Mr. crashed out hard after we boarded our flight from Vegas to Portland. 

Clouds are always so interesting from an airplane. We've seen so many different cloud formations from our flights to different places. This one was a first for us though. Not sure what this cloud formation is called, but it definitely caught our attention.



Passing over the Painted hills.




We got another great view of the Vegas strip on the way home, too.




We had a great Arkansas visit this trip and we covered a lot of ground. We were sad to leave, but know that we will see everyone again real soon. Plus, coming to Oregon and chumming around with us here on the Pacific Coast is on the books next. Can't wait!


Road Trip: Arkansas (Crater of Diamonds and Birthplace of William Jefferson Clinton)
Road Trip: Arkansas (Lake Fort Smith and Train Ride)
Road Trip: Arkansas (Fort Smith and Trolley Museum)
Road Trip: Arkansas (Out and about in Little Rock)
Road Trip: Arkansas (Mother's Day and Vista Trail)
Road Trip: Arkansas (Birthday Surprise)