One Kings Lane

I heard about One Kings Lane (OKL) from the Nester, and several of my friends have boasted of their beautiful finds on this online store that seems to me like a very upscale TJ Maxx. The various stores and companies they feature change every day, and their items sell out fast. Sometimes they have some designer finds that are outrageously expensive, but of course are "steals" because they have knocked several hundred dollars off the price of that beautiful lamp. But there are almost always fun finds for those of us whose budgets can't fit a 75% off $200 lamp. Almost every week they offer some items in the under $25 range.

One of the great things about OKL is their referral program, so if you refer someone to their store, and that person makes a purchase, you get $25 in credit. So a few weeks ago I found myself with $50 credit...not a ton, but $50 more to spend on my house than I was expecting.

I probably should've spent the credit on a bigger item, but I was enamored with the store, Bob's Your Uncle.  They have a lot of quirky and fun gifts. I ended up getting two packs of these:

 
And two packs of these (set of four, each plate is different, and this happens to be the only color I'm not crazy about)

I really wanted to get these for my globe-trotting brother:

It would have been funny, but it didn't seem like $15 of funny.

If I purchased these things off the website, it would have been a grand total of $80, and only because the plates are now on clearance. The other 4-packs of melamine plates are $40! That would have been $120. Ack. Anyway, they accidentally sent me four packages of plates instead of the two I ordered, so it turned into a super sweet deal for me.

So, if you are interested in looking around, sign up (it's free) and use my referral link. And remember that you don't have to actually purchase anything to refer friends. Sneaky, I know.

Why wait?

Is he reading yet? Can he work equations? Is his handwriting clear ? What grade is he in? Those are not the questions of my intentions in the early childhood years. I close my ears to them. Because they are not true to my own sense of what is valuable for our family.

Elizabeth Foss, from In the Heart of My Home wrote so well on the ideas and philosophies behind lingering when it comes to schooling your 3-6 year olds. It is a long article, but if you have pondered when and how to start homeschooling your younger children, she perfectly sums up my thoughts on this subject. Cooper will be six in a few weeks, and we will begin one more year of "kindergarten." His last year was full of experiences and relationships I would never want to exchange for more refined reading skills or advanced abilities in math. He did learn to read last year, and we read aloud more chapter books than I ever zipped through in one year. We memorized poetry and worked on math as it came up in daily life. But none of it happened with a strict school schedule.

But I will let her say it better.

home grown

No apologies for my absence. I started this post weeks ago, but that's just how things are going these days. As you can see, we've been busy growing and making all kinds of things around here.

 

Pigs and chicks...future food, not pets

 

                                                400 water balloons at Molly's 13th birthday party

                                                       A homemade tiara makes her official

                                                                              July 4th

                                        Blackberry crumble from the berries in our back pasture

                                        Homegrown Beet and carrot slaw via Deborah Madison
                                                    (do you think she's a VA Tech fan?)

                                              Green beans are on the menu every 3 days or so

  

Lazy summer days for this cowpoke

                                                      The basil plants were huge, but no more

                                                                 Baby #4 is on the way!