Happy Father’s Day! Today we gathered with some family for barbecued steak. Eating steak reminds me of a story about my dear old dad. Since it’s Father’s Day, and his birthday is coming up this week, and he is about to retire from his job as college professor for 45 years(!), I will share this memory of him.
When I was 9 years old my family traveled to Massachusetts from upstate New York to celebrate Thanksgiving. I can’t remember exactly what we did on Thanksgiving Day, but it didn’t involve sitting at home eating turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and pumpkin pie. We spent that week touring Plimoth Plantation and Boston and NYC on the way in or out, or both, I don’t really remember.
What I do distinctly remember about that trip is being in downtown Boston. We toured Lexington and Concord Greens, the Boston aquarium and the Boston Children’s Museum. It was now time for dinner. My dad offered to take the 5 of us children to any restaurant we wanted. I’m sad to say that all we wanted to do was to go to McDonald’s. He was offering us steak, or Chinese food, or fish and chips, or Italian, or whatever else the fine eating establishments of Beantown had to offer. What did we do? We declined any of those wonderful opportunities and instead picked the same fast food that we could have had at home.
It was years later that I realized that we sorely missed out because of our childish immaturity. I’m so sorry about that. I don’t want to ever make the same mistake again. I think that’s how Heavenly Father feels sometimes. Like my dad, he is offering us steak, and we want to settle for chain food hamburgers. He is offering the riches of eternity, and we sometimes turn Him down and settle for less. He offers all that He us, which we can receive if we make and keep covenants with Him through the intermediary power of His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. On this Father’s Day, it gives me pause to wonder what I can do differently to receive the best that my Father has to offer.
One of my latest and greatest thrifting finds: a Jane Austen board game! Plus, sparkly golden frames that seem like they were meant to be bought together with the game!
I love, love, love to shop at thrift stores, commonly called “thrifting.”
Here are the 10+ greatest treasures I’ve found thrifting. I’m showing these to inspire you to go find some useful and beautiful items for your family, friends, and yourself. It’s so fun! plus, it saves money.
So here not in any particular order are my favorite things found from thrifting. Some are particular items and others are categories.
1. Rotating Spice Rack
My first treasure is the spice rack in the photo above. It lacked the jars and was maybe $3 at the Provo UT Deseret Industries (DI). I don’t remember exactly as this was a year ago right after we moved. I’ve always wanted a revolving spice rack, so I was thrilled to find this. I measured the holes, found the jars on amazon and made sure they would fit the holes of the rack, bought the jars, and filled them up with my herbs. So, I’ve upgraded from my cardboard spice risers I show over here. I just love how I can have this rack on the shelf in my kitchen just to the upper right of my stove and quickly grab what I want to add while cooking. I also wanted my daughter to be able to reach spices while she’s cooking, and the cupboard above the stove is unreachable for her. It doesn’t fit all my spices, just the most used. I have the rest of the spices in a cupboard right above the stove. (I’m not a 100% crunchy mom concerned about light going through the glass affecting the spices, but if you are, you can get amber glass jars.)
It’s been a year since we moved from our cozy cottage on the corner into our cozy little bungalow two blocks away. It’s a tiny cube house, whereas the previous home was kind of like a tiny Dr. Seuss house with a weird layout because it had been added on to. It also had a cramped loft that couldn’t accommodate bookshelves because of a sloped ceiling. This “new” house we moved into is a starter home from the 1940s. It’s the same type of home that some of my relatives lived in the 1970s-1990s. Whenever I visited them, I always thought it was such a small house. I never thought I would actually live in such a home but here I am! Just goes to show that sometimes life is full of surprises!
When we moved, I got rid of about 10-trips-of-the-minivan-worth of stuff to the thrift store plus more stuff. Since moving, I’ve added things from the thrift store. I gave away a full upright freezer to a friend, two chairs to a friend, a refrigerator to a friend, a rocking chair to a friend, a couch to a stranger, and bags of clothes and shoes and toys and games to DI. Since then, I’ve added a spice rack, baskets, couch, a desk and chair, books, games and clothes. Cue the music, “The Circle of Life” from Lion King, LOL. Give stuff away, bring stuff in, give stuff away…it’s how God meant it to be! The Give and Receive Cycle, to bless us all! As it says in Doctrine and Covenants 104:17, “The earth is full and there is enough and to spare.”
Some examples of great thrifting finds, all in the categories listed below: books, games, and clothes.
This house has a different configuration so we had stuff that wouldn’t fit, hence I gave stuff away, like the rocking chair I bought when I was pregnant with child #1. I gave it to a friend, so I didn’t feel bad about that. I also gave away two amazingly beautiful white leather chairs that were sleek and contemporary, so they looked so glamorous. I just didn’t have room for them here. I threw stuff away too. Because of the different configuration I needed and wanted different things that fit. So that’s part of why I have been thrifting this past year, on top of my natural desire to do it. I also thrift because I love to find interesting books and games for our family homeschooling library that I want to benefit not just my children, but my grandchildren. Then I also thrift to find inexpensive clothing and shoes, kitchen gadgets, housewares, and even gifts. It’s just so much fun!
If you are a human, especially a mom, homemaker, and/or homeschooler, and don’t have unlimited money, then you could benefit from thrifting too! It just feels so fun to find unusual or even common items that fit a need or a want and cost so little. As I’ve said before, it’s like going hunting without killing anything. It helps you create a beautiful home culture with less money. So, I hope by sharing these photos and videos you will want to go thrifting too! If you want a quick summary of reasons watch the video below. The woman in the video is Toni, of Our Thrifty Homeschool. She loves homeschooling and loves thrifting just as much as I do!
See that cute turquoise basket in the photo with the spice rack, also shown just above? I found it thrifting recently. Yes, it’s plastic so it’s not crunchy mom natural wicker but I love it anyway. I love it because I love turquoise/teal and it totally fits in with the Pioneer Woman theme of my kitchen with the color and the perforated lacey design. I like putting mail on that shelf and needed something pretty to contain the mail. It looks beautiful and hides the clutter. So this works perfectly! Score! The stickered label on the bottom shows it’s from Dollar Tree (Greenbrier International) so it was $1.25 new. I think I got it for $1 so not a huge savings over retail but I think this pattern at Dollar Tree has been discontinued so I count it as a score.
Above is one of my grandsons looking at one of the board books I keep in a basket I found thrifting. His first visit to our home was last Thanksgiving when my son and his little family came from TX. I was so excited to pull out this basket for him! Most of the books are from his dad’s childhood, with a few that I’ve found thrifting since then. I adore the polka dot lining! Sometimes baskets come with lining and sometimes they don’t. If they do, just wash it. Be sure to do it on cold so it doesn’t shrink and make it hard to put back on.
I didn’t really get turned on to using baskets for storage until moving back to Utah from AZ. I wish I had started this a lot sooner. They just look so pretty, holding dry good foods, books or toys. I even found a heart-shaped basket! I also like having baskets for my desk to stash office supplies and random stuff.
When we moved into the bungalow I had fewer usable cupboards than the cottage. There are some above the fridge but who wants to use those? They are so out of the way, even though we did buy a stool. Anyway, what to do? Baskets on top of a hutch! I found these baskets on a few different thrifting trips to fit the bill. I love square baskets because they utilize space better. I keep napkins in the smaller square basket on the upper right in the photo above so that they don’t get squashed amidst the other stuff. I’m totally OK that they all don’t match.
Baskets are just such a great pretty way to contain stuff, after you’ve dejunked, so that even though it’s stuff you want for sure, your space doesn’t look cluttered. Below is my latest round of basket buying. I almost got another one that was flat and square, which had been painted. I decided it wasn’t worth paying over $5 for it. I got these at Savers and used my 20% off coupon so these were all less than $5 each. I prefer to spend $3 or less on a basket, which they are usually are when I get them at D.I.
I feel like I’m getting a bonus when I find a basket that has divisions in it. Such is the case with the basket in the upper left of the above photo. See it down below? I love that it’s divided in half. I’m going to fill it with books for my grandsons and me to tote out to the hammock in the backyard this summer to read aloud together in the shade.
Then this basket has dividers for utensils (the small divisions) and paper plates (the large division) to use for my potlucks and picnics. It’s just like one my mom has used for decades for extended family dinners. It was $2 at the Provo D.I.
3. Pretty Picture Frames
So that’s baskets, now on to picture frames! I was so excited to find this multi-stripe and multi-colored flower frame above at Savers. I knew the purple in it would match the purple dress I’m wearing in the photo with my husband. It was $3, looked brand-new, and had a Target label. It just makes me happy every time I see it in my kitchen!
I was thrilled to find both of these Pioneer Woman picture frames at Savers at the same time. I think they were $3 each? I can’t remember. Now they are on my piano with a family photo in each. They retail for around $14 at walmart.com. (Credit for images goes to walmart.com)
I just love them so much!
4. All the Narnia Books on CD
When I lived in Arizona, I found this full set of all the Chronicles of Narnia books on CD by Focus on the Family at a thrift store in Phoenix. Thrift stores in Phoenix are amazing. They abound and they are full of great stuff! This was still in the shrink-wrap, brand-new, for only $7! This is probably my favorite find of all! The stories on CD are fully dramatized with different voice actors and orchestral music. We listened to these in the car as we drove back and forth to our homeschooling co-op held once a week, that was in Tucson. The drive was 90 minutes one way. I have such fond memories of this! It probably took us a year to get through all the CDs. It looks like Focus on the Family doesn’t even sell this anymore, just digital files, shown over here, for $70! What a major thrifting find!!! I bought it in October after my visit to see my first new grandbaby, and then saved it for a Christmas gift for the family. Finding this treasure just made my heart so happy!
I started out with one Narnia hard copy book that I bought new, early in my homeschooling journey, decades ago. We borrowed the rest from the public library until I eventually found the rest while thrifting. My children have all read and love these books. You can tell they are well-loved! More on books to come in this post!
5. Beautiful Clothes and Shoes, including Designer Boots that Retail for Over $100!
The picture above shows the very first outfit of clothes I found after moving back to Utah in August of 2020. Thrift stores had been closed for months because of the plandemic. At a moms’ class for my homeschooling co-op, a new Katie, Katie C., shared her thrifting tips.
D.I. had just opened up again in October or November that year with limited hours. I was so excited to go and try out Katie’s thrifting tips, and this is what I found. It was such a fun fall outfit for me!
As you can see, I love stripes, florals, gingham, and polka dots, in spring colors, and black and white, with the occasional paisley. It’s time to cull some of the clothes though as they are getting too squashed and wrinkly. My cup overfloweth!
Tops, Dresses and Skirts
This one above was brand-new, still with the sticker, and only $3, Croft and Barrow brand!
Photo Credit: ebay.com
In this photo above we see a Pioneer Woman top. I’m always on the lookout for PW clothes. The tops are sized generously (meaning they are for us middle-aged moms as they go long to cover mummy tummies), are super comfy and high quality. I love that this top goes with so many of my different cardigan sweaters: red, green, yellow, tan, white, and turquoise.
This skirt below looks like the Pioneer Woman design but it’s not. One of my recent finds! It looks so summery! It’s Croft and Barrow brand, only $5. I view it as a consolation prize for volunteering at the Provo DI on the last day it closed for remodeling this summer. It was still there when I was done with my shift so I got it. Yes, I’m going through withdrawals with the Provo DI closed.
This dress below I just found this week. It kind of looks like Pioneer Woman too. On sale with 30% off coupon at Savers for $5. It’s not the best quality as it’s Shein but hey at $5 I will enjoy it.
Then here’s my favorite thrifted item of clothing I’ve ever found, this dress below. Only $5 at the Provo D.I.
Sweaters are in their own category, see below.
Pants
I’m not showing all the pants I’ve bought thrifting, just know that I have bought a lot of them and love them. My favorite are the white capris I got at the Provo D.I. right before my second honeymoon trip to Key West. They still had their Nordstrom tag on saying they were $60 retail, and I got them for $6!
Boots, Shoes, Sandals
Last winter I found one of my greatest deals! A pair of brand-new Franco Sarto black ankle boots. They looked never worn and were $17! They retail for over $100. I was so happy about this! It was time to replace my black boots (bought at the Odgen D.I. in the fall of 2020) for something more stylish and this pair fit the bill!
Last week, I bought these super high-quality sandals for my son at Savers for only $12! They are Chacos, so they retail around $80-$100 or upwards. Such a tremendous bargain! My son found them! For years, every summer, I’ve asked him if he would like some sandals instead of athletic shoes to wear in the summer. Athletic shoes with socks look so hot for summer! I’m so glad we finally found some that he liked that are so high-quality and so affordable!
Speaking of sandals, I have found some super cute sandals at D.I. on a regular basis. Born on Concept is my favorite brand. A few years ago I found a pair exactly like these below that looked brand new for only $5. They are just so cute and comfy and go with so many of my summer outfits! Last summer I found a similar pair in black. This brand is also very high-quality. The soles are thick and sturdy.
6.Books, Books, and More Books!Hooray!
I have found so many delicious books at thrift stores that it’s too hard to pick one that is my favorite. So I’m lumping them all in the category of books. How can I be a homeschooler and not love books?
I have a bunch of collections of books I like to add to: family traditions books, holiday picture books, Little Golden Books, Pioneer Woman cookbooks, Uncle John Bathroom Readers and other trivia books, Dummies books, Bit Fat Notebooks, and songbooks, among others.
I love holiday-themed books, either books that detail family traditions, like the Christmas ones above, or holiday picture books. All three shown above came from the thrift store for less than $3 each! Here we have different faith traditions represented. The far left is written by a member of my church (a short review is here), then the middle one is by Ann Voskamp, who believes in a different flavor of Christianity, and then the far-right one is by Susan Branch, who seems to be neutral towards any one particular religion but maybe believes in God, I’m not sure. It’s actually part cookbook and part memoir of her family life growing up as the oldest of 8 children, with little stories and memories of family traditions sprinkled amongst the recipes.
Here is my “family traditions books” collection.
I bought Gathering Home by Emily Belle Freeman brand new at Deseret Book but everything else above, except for A Christ-centered Easter, is thrifted.
I was so delighted to discover Roots and Wings, seen below. I checked that book out from the American Fork UT public library as a teen, read it, and loved it! It’s a lovely book by Helen Bateman about LDS Christian-based family traditions, which she wrote in the 1980s. You can read it for free here. The Christ-centered Easter book is written by one of my husband’s cousins, Janet Hilton Hales.
My biggest holiday picture book collections are Christmas and Easter. Then I have a handful of Thanksgiving and Independence Day books.
I was so happy to find the book above, To Witness Easter, written by another one of my husband’s cousins, Lynne Hilton Wilson, Janet’s sister. For $2 at the Springville DI! The illustrations are gorgeous!
One of my books I display during June and July for Independence Day. For Morning Basket I read aloud about one signer a day. After years of checking this book out every year from the public library I found this at Savers!
I have lots of fun displaying and rotating the books on a certain shelf in my home, to create my “shrine to beautiful holiday and seasonal picture books and children’s chapter books.” All of these books I got from thrift stores. I finally got the Easter ones down, weeks after Easter, and will get up my patriotic, Independence Day books soon.
After so many years of thrifting, I now have more than 25 days of Christmas picture books to do a Christmas Picture Book Advent, and most of these books came from thrifting.
I don’t go much for the cartoony Christmas picture books. Mr. Willoughby’s Christmas and Santa Are You For Real? are as cartoony as I get. I mostly go for the classic Christmas stories with beautifully realistic illustrations. They usually come one at a time on my thrifting trips, all through the year. I also look for classic Christmas chapter books, like The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. I know I have a copy somewhere else, but last year I saw the one above for 75 cents at DI and got it.
This particular haul shown below was grand because I added to my trivia books collection, my Christmas picture book collection, my Little Golden Book collection, and my games collection.
(By the way, the pretty white background above holding the thrifted treasures is one of the chairs I gave away to my friend Katie. It always made a great stage for my thrifting haul photos.)
This haul of books above included Hinds’ Feet on High Places. My longtime girlfriend Katie H. of foundationbuilderguide.org had us (some friends and me) read it for her moms’ book club. I was so happy to find this and give it to her for a birthday present! It has such a beautiful cover and beautiful illustrations inside. It was only $2 and looked new! It’s around $14 on amazon.com.
Little Golden Books
I have one Little Golden book from my childhood, plus two from when my oldest was little that were gifted to him. Just about ten years ago, I discovered that my mom, a former kindergarten teacher, loves LGB and collects them. She has about three wide shelves on a bookcase full of them in one of the basement guest rooms of my childhood home. Then I found out that one of my Veggie Gals girlfriends collects them too. So, then I decided to join the party. Above and below is part of my collection, with all of those shown coming from thrift stores, where I pay 50 cents to a $1. I especially love vintage ones, with artwork from Eloise Wilkin. I love it when my grandsons come over and ask me to read from these books! I have them on a low shelf and they can just pick whatever one they want.
Susan Branch Cookbooks
These are so lovely!!! If you want to know more about Susan Branch books, go here and here. They are just so fun to read.
Pioneer Woman Cookbooks
Ree Drummond’s cookbooks are also so fun to read with gorgeous full-color photos accompanying step-by-step instructions. I don’t eat food mad from these recipes because they aren’t keto. I keep them to inspire the children left at home for when it’s their night to fix dinner because my children don’t eat keto. They all love her lasagna recipe.
Random Fun Books
I also love to get random fun books. These include trivia books, Usborne books, and books about pop culture, including Legos and Star Wars. It was so fun to find the Disney Who’s Who book at the Provo DI for only $2, after seeing it for retail for over $12. The Marvel Avengers book was $2 at a DI as well. If I’m ever going to win on Jeopardy!, I’ve got to increase my pop culture knowledge with books like these, LOL.
Below is the haul that included the Disney Who’s Who.
My husband loves Car Talk so I’m saving that one for Christmas. My son-in-law was just telling me he wants to learn more about making bread with his breadmachine so I excitedly gave that to him. The Narnia book replaced a different one that didn’t match my Narnia collection. Now they all match with the same kind of cover and spine. I got the cross-sections book because I just love books like that, for the whole family, including the grandchildren.
7. Cozy Yummy Sweaters
Above and below, you see some of the sweaters I’ve found. Fun sweaters make Utah winter so much more bearable for me. I love finding cute combinations with cardigans and tops.
I don’t often find piano music because I forget to look for it. When I do remember I occasionally find some gems. Over a decade ago I found the Dr. Seuss songbook above at the Layton UT DI. It has so many fun songs like “The Super Supper March” and “Let Us All Sing.” Then just a few years ago I found the LDS Songbook for All Occasions at an estate sale for 50 cents. Most of the songs I’ve already seen but it had a few new ones that are so delightful.
The orange book below was the children’s songbook for my church when I was little. It’s old but the copy still looked new, hardly used. I have a ton of fond memories singing the songs in that book as a child in Primary (the children’s organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). The Good Shepherd was 75 cents and has original songs about Jesus, new to me, including a few Easter ones. All written by Kristen Randle. The Versatile Pianist is full of popular, familiar songs. I play the piano and occasionally sit down and play songs and just love it.
9. Unique Board Games, including Gardening Scrabble
I love board games and I love thrifting so the fact that I can find board games at thrift stores just doubles the pleasure! I’m always on the lookout for unique board games. I pass up on common boring, chance-based ones like Aggravation and Sorry! to find unique ones, especially educational ones. I use these for gameschooling. Here is a sampling of what I’ve found. (If you want to learn all about gameschooling, go here.)
Gardening Scrabble is so much better than regular Scrabble. It has cards that give you special powers, like the ability to “fertilize” your word and triple the score, or “rototill” your garden and get rid of all your tiles and get new ones. The game below is when one of my adult sons played the game with me over Christmas break. He was such a great sport to play with me when everyone else wanted to play Catan, which is not my favorite but another son’s favorite. I got it for $4! The seed packet cards with special powers fit in the pockets of this adorable gardening tools basket. Then you draw the tiles from the inside of the basket. So fun! Now I want to find Cooking Scrabble when thrifting!
Moods is such a fun game! If you ever find it a thrift store, grab it! It’s out of print. We played it at one of my girlfriend cabin retreats and had so many laughs. It impressed my sister-in-law so much when she and my brother-in-law and niece visited from North Carolina when we played it with two of my married children, that she bought it on ebay when she got home. It’s a great way to hone drama skills! My miracle of finding the game is detailed here. You have to have the right crowd to enjoy it though, with people who are willing to act and be good sports.
Just last week I found the deal of the year! It’s the Jane Game shown above. It’s a Jane Austen-themed game! I also found two new matching pretty sparkly golden picture frames, on the same trip, at Savers. They all look like they go together, especially with the gold beige blanket, don’t they? This game looks similar to the Marrying Mr. Darcy game one of my sons gave me for Christmas a few years ago, but even better, because it combines trivia involving Jane Austen’s books, plus the role-playing of the characters in courtship, like in MMD.
Not found thrifting, but given to me by my oldest. It was a perfect Christmas gift for me. I love it! Credit for image here.
The Jane Game is just so pretty!!! I might give it to my married daughter for her birthday. With a 30% coupon at Savers and then my rewards discount it was only $2.90! Her birthday isn’t until November so I don’t know if I can wait that long!
I opened it up to make sure it wasn’t empty. It had the board and instructions, but I didn’t count all the pawns or cards because I was in a hurry. I’m pretty sure it has all the pieces. I just love the gold and aqua coloring! It’s just so gorgeous! I feel so blessed!
I’ve also found LOTS of other fun games while thrifting, for $1 to $6 each. Some of my favorite educational ones are Call to Adventure (storytelling), Funglish, Huggermugger, Code Names (which I got for only $1.50, brand new in the shrink wrap, story is here), Taboo (also new in shrink wrap), Periodic, Into the Forest, Spontuneous, Encore, and lots of history and geography games.
10.Mini-Games, Quiz Cards and Puzzles for Mealtime Learning and Connection
I love finding quiz decks of trivia, or flash cards, to review basic subjects, cards with conversation starter questions, and puzzle books or tiny games to break out at the dinner table. These are all to beef up our cultural literacy and help us connect. First, we start out dinner with each person sharing a highlight and lowlight for the day, then if we have time I pull out these cards. I keep these in baskets on shelves right by the dining room table. I found all of these items shown below while thrifting, and all were $1-3.
11. Small Portable Toys and Games for Travel and/or Read Aloud Time
I love finding little toys suitable for fidgeting/keeping hands busy during read aloud time or traveling. These are also for use for my grandsons to play with on the couch by the dining room table when they finish eating Sunday dinner before the rest of us. That Bananagrams book above was completely unused, looked brand new, for only $1! I’ve loved using it on my last few airplane trips. It’s perfect for slipping into my carry-on bag with a small pencil and fits perfectly on the airplane seat table. The Swish Jr. game came with a little bag to make it easily packable for travel. I found most of these goodies right before my trip to NYC/Boston/Maine last summer. I also found a Kanoodle puzzle a few years ago for $1.
I also sometimes get basic phonics based readers for my grandchildren. I found the Rainbow Valley book from the Anne of Green Gables series so now my collection is complete again. Balance is restored!
12. Beautiful Tablecloths
The background fabric in the photo above and below are some of my tablecloths from the thrift store. (I got the books and games thrifting too, now my Anne of Green Gables series is almost complete again. I’m still looking for #3. I used to have all of them, having bought them in my teens, but somehow two went missing in all of my moves.)
Anyway, aren’t these tablecloths beautiful? They are actually bedsheets! Yes, my secret for finding beautiful tablecloths when thrifting is to look at the twin bedsheets at the thrift store in my favorite colors and prints, then reuse them as tablecloths. This works as long as you have a rectangular table that seats 8. No one will ever know the difference! I learned this trick from my dear mother. Not the thrifting part, just using a twin bedsheet for a rectangular tablecloth. Growing up, whenever we went on picnics or camping, she would pull out a cute Raggedy Anne and Andy bedsheet/tablecloth.
The bundle of fabric in the upper right is a flat twin bedsheet. Down below you see it as a tablecloth. I’m sorry/not sorry it’s not ironed.
Talking about tablecloths leads me to the next category of home furnishings. Tablecloths are part of that I suppose but I don’t want to change what I already put above.
13.Other Home Furnishings
Shelves
After moving into the Bungalow, I needed more shelves. The Cottage had built-in book shelves that I couldn’t take with me. Last summer, I found two basic brown tall shelves for $15 each at the Springville DI. I also found a black Ikea Kallax 2×2 for $15. Then I was able to find a 3X4 Kallax on ksl classifieds for $50. So combined with a brand new Kallax 2×2 I have put these all in our downstairs office to organize my homeschool supplies, and arts and crafts. Combined together they make a uniform set with beige Ikea fabric bins and drawer inserts.
Desk and Chair
Right after we moved to the Bungalow, I decided I really wanted a desk. After 50+ years of life, being a dutiful scholar as a teenaged daughter of a college professor, passing lots of AP classes in high school, getting a scholarship at and graduating from BYU, getting my children desks whenever they asked, seeing them use desks, blogging and writing books, and never having my own desk through all of that, I decided it was high time for me to have one! In high school I used the dining room table, and in college I studied on my bed or at the university’s library. I found this pretty one below on ksl classifieds, but it didn’t come with a chair. I purposely went to the Provo D.I. with the intention to find a beautiful white chair to go with it. I was so ecstatic to find the one in the photo below as soon as I waltzed over to the chair section. It matches the desk perfectly with the curved back and legs. It has a Pier 1 imports label and was only $10. It was one of those moments where I felt like angels were singing and bells were ringing! (Ignore the plastic magazine holders on top. Soon I will be painting those white.)
(That yellow basket in the photo in the lower right is what I use for Morning Basket. I keep all the read-aloud books of what I’m currently wanting to share with my son of what’s good, true and beautiful in the world, to read from every morning for our homeschooling. If you want to learn more about the Morning Basket, go here.)
Rugs
When we moved into the Cottage on the Corner, our master bedroom had a tile floor. Ugh. That’s not what I want to kneel on at my bedside when I say my morning and evening prayers. It’s so uncomfortable for my old knees. So I went to the Provo DI with the purpose of finding “prayer rugs” for my husband’s side of the bed and my side. Once again, the Lord provided right away! He doesn’t always do that, but this time He did! Right after entering in the store, I immediately found a matching pair of thick heavy-duty rugs, with a beautiful floral pattern, yet still kind of neutral. See above. They were new with the tags on, never used. I felt so incredibly blessed. They looked like they were meant to furnish the temple! I think I paid $5 for each. They served us well for almost 5 years in that home. Then when we moved to the Bungalow, I didn’t need them for kneeling on, as my bedroom has carpet, but I repurposed them for a bathroom rug and a front door rug. I love how the gray in the rug matches the gray of my bathroom floor.
This overstuffed chair below was for sale at the Springville D.I. If I had room in my home I would have bought it! Alas, I had to just take a photo of it. It looks straight out of Strawberry Shortcake’s home! I texted a photo of it to my married daughter to see if she wanted it as she has a sofa and chair that look similar. She liked it but said no, probably because she doesn’t have room. I hope it went to a great home that will enjoy it! That’s just another example of the darling stuff you can find thrifting!
That leads me to my next point…here are some treasures I’ve seen thrifting that I haven’t bought, but almost. Just for the record, I don’t buy everything I see. I don’t buy everything I want. Sometimes I feel the Holy Spirit telling me to leave the item for someone else, probably because there’s someone else out there who could benefit more from it than I would. Here are some examples:
I came really close to buying a collector’s edition Etch -a-Sketch. It was brand new in the box still sealed like the one above, for $5. It was so tempting as I loved this as a child, but I just felt like it was a no, so I walked away from it.
At the Saratoga Springs DI, I almost got a super cute navy and white polka dotted rain jacket. Then I saw my friend Katie wearing one the next week. That would have been fun to be twinners with her. I hope someone bought who loves it!
At the Provo DI I found a remote-controlled meat thermometer, still brand new, in the box and sealed. I guess it’s to use when you want to leave your meat on the BBQ grill and go inside your home for a bit and monitor the temperature. If my one son who loves to grill were home and not on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I would have bought it for him. I just wasn’t sure if my husband would like it if I bought it for him, so I left it for someone who for sure would love it. I didn’t even know there was such a thing! When you go thrifting, you find all sorts of cool gadgets! Thrifting
14.Gifts
Almost last, but not least of my categories, is gifts! Here are some wonderful things I’ve found that I’ve gifted away, in addition to the Hinds Feet on High Places for Katie that I mentioned above.
I found a like new, Book of Mormon Journal edition, just like the one above, completely unwritten in, for only $2! It’s so pretty! I gave it to my mom for her birthday. I found it in the spring or summer and saved it until her December birthday. It’s extra big and has wide margins with lines for the reader’s journaling notes that relate to the scriptures. Such a treasure! It retails for around $25.
Decades ago my husband and I stumbled upon the Curly Girl book. Since we both have wavy/curly hair, we both read it and loved it. It inspired us to stop using shampoo and use conditioner for washing. That made a huge difference for his hair. Then a few years ago I found the revised, expanded second edition at Savers and got it for his birthday. Of course it was for me to enjoy too. I’ m still figuring out the best way to enhance my waves.
My husband is an attorney so I was excited to find the above game at Savers for his birthday one year. It’s based on Ruth Bader Ginsberg, an attorney who was a Supreme Court Justice.
Then for this coming Father’s Day I got the books below. He never reads my blog so he won’t know!
Just last week, the same day I got the Jane Game, I found the above books. I went with the intention to find books for my husband for Father’s Day. I had the 30% coupon, which I got in my email (tip- sign up for Savers’ Super Savers rewards program so you can get coupons emailed to you). Plus, I took advantage of the “buy 4 books, get 1 book free” policy of Savers. I really wanted to find some kind of book on BBQ/grilling. I didn’t find it right away and just kept looking and looking and finally found it! See above. I wanted to find a funny book too and The Prehistory of the Far Side was so perfect! He loves the Far Side. He was into listening Garrison Keillor before we got married so it was so fun to find the Garrison Keillor novel. It turned out to be half off! The Great American Bathroom Book II I’ve seen off and on for years at thrift stores, along with Volume I. I’m pretty sure I got the Vol. I years ago for Father’s Day but haven’t found it. So, I might eventually get that one too if I confer with DH and decide that it’s lost. I see it all the time at thrift stores.
I know finding a birthday gift at a thrift store doesn’t always work. You can’t always find stuff that the birthday person would like in good enough condition. But when you do, it’s so satisfying! If the birthday person likes books, you can often find books in great like-new condition that match the person’s interest. A few years ago, I wanted to find some books for my second son’s birthday. I had just heard a podcast highlighting the book above, so I was tickled, as my grandma would say, to then find it at a thrift store, like new. It seemed like a great gift for a soon-to-be college grad who loves learning about time management and success. I do buy most birthday gifts for my people not at the thrift store. If I got wish lists from all of them, kept it with me on my phone, and put more effort into looking for them at thrift stores, I’d probably find more gifts while thrifting.
We did find this cool electric guitar for another son at a pawn shop, which is kind of like a thrift store. It looked like new and was only $100 instead of hundreds of dollars. That was a happy day! I had a jam session with me on the piano, that son on the guitar, and my other son on the drums. So fun!
Then for my dad for Father’s Day, I got this book above, for only $3. My son-in-law asked for the same book a year ago for Christmas. It was on amazon but took over two weeks to be delivered even though I had prime, so when I found some copies when thrifting I snatched them up. I also got the Eric Dowdle camping puzzle below. We often put together jigsaw puzzles at his and my mom’s cabin on a mountain, and he loves camping. Next time we go I hope to do it with him.
15. Puzzles
So that leads me to my last category, jigsaw puzzles. I never did puzzles as a young mom, but now that my children are all pretty much grown, I have found puzzles much easier to do. I don’t have to worry about little fingers messing them up. I keep them under a plastic tablecloth on my dining room table. Then I put fabric tablecloths on top of that. Jigsaw puzzles are vehicles for conversation with other people who work on it with you, like after Sunday dinner, or when I go to the cabin with extended family, or for listening to audiobooks or watching some enlightening YouTube videos, especially gospel-centered ones, or Relative Race, on the Sabbath. They are great for relaxation. I’ve found tons of Dowdle puzzles at thrift stores, usually around $4-5. They retail for $20 or more. I like to get those as well as Norman Rockwell puzzles.
If you have made it this far to the end of this long post, you get a bonus prize for reading so long by getting to watch these videos below!
These are by Toni of Our Thrifty Homeschool showing that you really can find cool stuff good enough for birthday gifts at a thrift store.
Happy thrifting!!! It’s so fun to find beautiful, useful, and educational items to create your family culture that embraces the good, the true, and the beautiful, while saving money at the same time (as long as you aren’t spending recklessly on things you don’t really need or want).
This photo shows one of my latest hauls. I was excited to find the Jewish holidays books. I can’t wait to show it to Katie H. because she loves all things Hebrew.
Wow!!! I had the most amazing Sabbath Day experience last Sunday listening to this devotional talk below by Dr. Lili De Hoyos Anderson. I listened while I worked on an Eric Dowdle 1000 piece puzzle (Salt Lake City in the winter, which I started in January and haven’t finished and here it is summer now!). Then I kept listening as I prepped Sunday dinner after church. Lili is one of the Come Follow Christ vloggers I follow. The video below is her sharing the talk she gave to the Weber State Institute students of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Ogden Utah. This talk is so wonderful!!! It’s just the best!!! She calls it “(Some of the) Things I Want My Grandchildren to Know.” She covers 10 truths.
These are also things I want my grandchildren to know, as well as my children, my siblings, my parents, and everyone! After almost every sentence of Lili’s, I felt like clapping, cheering, and saying, “Amen, amen! Preach it sistah, preach it! Go Lili go!”
Today’s post involves Part 1, which has 4 truths. Watch below, learn, love, and live it! I’ve posted excerpts from it below the video with the 4 truths/messages with some of her quotes.
She has a gift of putting into words what I have felt for decades about motherhood. She says she was so honored to be a stay-at-home mom for her 8 children. She loved being their first teacher. (There’s actually a book about that, over here, which I bought when my oldest was a baby and devoured.) I love how she says that God doesn’t work in win-lose situations when he offers the riches of eternity to us. In my words, he doesn’t ask women to be mothers at home, through His prophet, with words here, and then have the result be crumbs. Being a stay-at-home mother does not mean you are relegated to a lower class doing menial labor and brainless work, and that you are forgotten, alone, and ignored. She says being a SAHM was very fulfilling, an honor, way harder than getting her PhD and the most soul-expanding experience she’s ever had. As a mother myself, of 7, who has been at home, homeschooling, since my oldest was born, almost 32 years ago, this just resonated so much with me! (She didn’t homeschool but was she as a SAHM until her children were raised and she went back to school to get her master’s, then a PhD.) Now she is a licensed clinical social worker and marriage and family therapist.
She says when she taught the above message at BYU and then at the Weber State devotional people gasped. The natural reaction is “Shouldn’t we marry a celestial person?” She answers, “Good luck finding a celestial person!” She goes on to say that that is impossible. She says that a temple recommend is the threshold for a person being Terrestrial. It’s not a guarantee but a guide. People don’t always stay on that path because of agency. But generally, they do, with exceptions.
Wow, this part about the body being the test is so fabulous!!! She says that it used to be that the church handbook said “No treats should be given at Primary.” She followed that rule when she was Primary President. She says she is dismayed that the rule got taken out of the handbook, because it was ignored, and that people give treats at Primary. This always bugged me too when my children were in Primary. Once I was attempting to heal my son’s cavity and then I found out he was being given sugary food at Primary! You can bet I complained. I agree with her that we have to learn how to master our bodies. It starts as parents, teaching our children that they can get through church without having something in their mouth every ten minutes.
She also says that fasting is the way to increase mastery over the body, and that fasting is a “spiritual weight room.”
Sister Lili came up with this chart above. Isn’t it genius at explaining life???? We get to choose which glory we live in, now on earth and eventually after earth life.
She explains what it is like to live in each of the realms of glory, shown below.
The favorite false doctrine of members of the Church, she says, is “Don’t judge.” She explains that the scripture, Matthew 7:1, has a Joseph Smith Translation footnote that says that what Jesus actually said was, “Judge not unrighteously, that ye be not judged; but judge righteous judgment.” We have to judge righteously to succeed in life. Not judging, as well as judging unrighteously, leads to moral relativism which leads to evil and misery.
I highly recommend you watch her video above and share it! Stay tuned for Part 2 starting with Message #5.
Want more of Dr. Lili?
I blogged about her here where she talks about Jesus being the greatest alchemist.
Her book is shown below, with the summary of it copied and pasted from her website.
“Choosing Glory considers the doctrine of celestial, terrestrial and telestial realms, suggesting that here on earth we deal with all three kinds of individuals, behaviors, institutions, and ways of life. Dr. Anderson applies a three realm perspective to daily choices, dating, marriage, parenting, stress and progression. She offers concrete tools to help us find safety from telestial elements that threaten our peace and reminds us that we were meant for more than a good terrestrial life. This book invites us to recognize that every day we are in fact choosing glory.”
Father’s Day is soon! I focused a bit on mothers last month with some gift ideas here and here and highlights of some different moms who I admire. (Go here, here, and here for those.)
Now I’ll share about dads.
First for my 2025 dads series is this video from Dr. Jordan Peterson. Watch and learn!
I love how he says that the most challenging and rewarding thing you can do in your whole life is to be a parent. I agree! He also says that moms tend to focus on the present needs of children and dads focus on the future. I overall agree with that too.
Want more of Dr. Peterson? Go here to hear him talk about diet with Dr. Bikman.
Want some great dad stories and songs and poetry about dads? Go here to my Celestial Family Devotionals Ebook, and turn to the June section.
As summertime is upon us, with the overall fair conditions for sightseeing, at least in the Northern Hemisphere, I’m sharing one of my favorite places on earth, Orchard House, the home of the author of Little Women, Louisa May Alcott. I’ve been wanting to blog about my visit for months! With the school year over, I finally have the time!
I hope every Little Women fan who reads this gets to go tour it! Such a visit will make your life more magical. I got to go there last year as part of my visit to see my sister in Maine. (You can read about that miracle here.) It was a dream come true for sure! I planted the seed of the dream in my mind, when years ago, I saw the trailer below, for the documentary called “Orchard House: Home of Little Women.” Since then, I’ve seen the full documentary and love it. You can watch in amazon.com here.
To tour Orchard House with one of my sisters, one of my daughters, one of my sons, two nieces, a son-in-law, and two of my grandchildren was the icing on the cake of the visit. If only my mom, other sister, other daughter, other nieces, sisters-in-law and daughters-in-law, all could have been there it would have been perfect! I remember so fondly my mom reading Little Women to my sisters and me when we lived close to New England, in upstate New York. We even lived in a wooden two-story gabled house kind of like Orchard House, a far cry from the brick one-story rambler we had moved from in Utah the previous winter of 1979.
The door is open to welcome you!
We toured the House on Thursday, August 15, 2024. (After my visit to NYC, Boston and Maine.) We got there almost an hour early, so it was almost embarrassing to be seen as overeager fangirls with a few somewhat-interested-but-mostly-feeling dragged-along token males in tow. We left my sister’s home in Maine shortly after 7 AM. With her leaden foot and her expert weaving through Boston rush-hour traffic, in a 15-seater Ford van, no less!, we arrived around 9:15 AM. It didn’t open until 10. I didn’t think ahead about calculating the ratios of hours in car to size of my bladder to amount of liquid drunk before and during the trip, so let’s just say I was more than eager to find a restroom as soon as we parked in the mini-parking lot up front. I hope we didn’t appear like yokels falling out of a turnip truck as I burst out of the car and walked as well as I could with a full bladder up to the office/gift shop, on the side of the house, converted from the Alcotts’ lean-to. The workers/employees/volunteers (I’m not sure if they are paid) were super kind and gracious, immediately directing me to the restroom, which is in the Museum Store (gift shop), even though the place wasn’t officially opened up yet.
So that’s the first thing to know before you go, that the restroom is inside the museum store, on the side of the building. It is a tiny room, single use restroom. Even if you arrive before opening time, (within reason) the nice people setting up for the day will let you use it if you are like me and overestimate your bladder capacity on a two-plus hour road trip across a state line to get there.
Here are 10 more things to know before you go to Orchard House, aka the Little Women House, along with a recap of my visit.
2. Why would you want to tour it? Because this home is where Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women. Need I say more?! She wrote the book in only 3 months: May, June, July of 1868 while living in this home. There’s just something indescribable about being in the very place where a great book was written. You can see the very desk, built by her father, where she wrote the book. If she was the J.K. Rowling of her day, which she was, this is like seeing the napkin where J.K. first wrote the basic plot of Harry Potter.
It’s as if you can feel Louisa watching over the place, sending encouraging wishes and confidence to all aspiring authors as they tour her home. Note, this is not the place Louisa lived in as a girl. Most people know that Little Women is a story loosely based on Louisa’s own family. She had three sisters, just like Jo in the book. Jo is modeled after the author, Louisa May, Meg is based on Anna, Beth is based on Elizabeth, and Amy is based on May. In real life Elizabeth died just as Beth died in the book. The family moved into this home when Louisa May was in her 20s, after Beth had died. In Jim Bob Duggar fashion, Bronson took two buildings and put them together to make this home. It was by an orchard of apples, his favorite fruit, so he named it Orchard House. This isn’t just a visitor’s center. It’s a museum full of artifacts and stories, a total rich cheesecake slice of American history!
If you want to know why Little Women is such a great book, read my post here about finding God in Little Women. Then Listen to Sarah Mackenzie’s podcast episode interviewing the executive director of Orchard House, Jan Turnquist here.
If celebrated author L.M. Montgomery of Anne of Green Gables fame made it a point to visit Orchard House, then any aspiring writer should make it a point to visit as well! See the story of Lucy Maud’s visit here.
The home is historic in its own right, not just because the Alcotts lived there. It is amazingly old! It was built in the 1660s and housed five generations of the Hoare family. So, it was almost 200 years old when Bronson Alcott bought it in 1857 along with the 20 acres of apple orchard it sat on. The seller assumed Bronson would tear down the house and build a new one, but in true Bronson fashion, he went against expectations. It also has a cool connection with the local Native Americans who had become Christians and were being persecuted. The Hoare family gave safe shelter to them during a war. Read about all the history here. Because of all this it is a Registered National Historic Landmark.
Alcott Road is just to the east of Orchard House, intersecting with Lexington Road.
Plus, it is a remarkable testament to the successful feat of restoring an old home as the Orchard House Documentary shows. People in charge of it had a new foundation put under it to make it last much longer.
3.Where is it? In Concord MA, about a 35 minute drive from Boston. I quote from OH’s website: “Orchard House is located at 399 Lexington Road in Concord, MA, which is accessible via the major routes of MA-128/US-95, MA-2, and MA-62. The MBTA commuter rail also stops in Concord (Purple Line, to Fitchburg), with Orchard House being an approximately 25-minute walk from the depot on Thoreau Street. (If possible, please use our street address with a map app on your cell phone or GPS device).”
4.When to go: again, from the website: “From April 1st through October 31st, we are open weekdays and Saturdays from 10 am to 5 pm, and Sundays from 11 am to 5 pm.
“On third Thursdays in June through December 2025, Orchard House will also be open till 8:00 pm as part of Concord’s “Third Thursdays” initiative. No reservations are required for our tours/events held on these evenings, but tickets may be limited. Check specific dates on our Events calendar or social media sites for additional details.
“From November 1st through March 31st, we are open weekdays from 11 am to 3:30 pm, Saturdays from 10 am to 5 pm, and Sundays from 1 to 5 pm.
“Special year-end (Thanksgiving Week – first week in January) Hours of Operation are found here.”
If you are lucky, you might be fortunate enough to happen to visit on a free day. On the day we went, it just so happened to be such a day, when a third-party organization was paying everyone’s admission for the day! The whole group of us saved over $100, hooray! See the sign on the lower left of the home above? That’s the sign saying that “August Adventures” was happening. It meant that admission was free. So positively providential! I don’t know if such a thing will happen again. It’s worth asking on a phone call or email. Just note, at least when I called, I could never get a live person, after multiple calls.
5. What can you expect to see? If visiting in spring or summer, first of all, expect to see a lovely flower garden as you walk up to the office in the museum store to buy your tickets if you didn’t buy them online, or use the restroom after a long road trip, LOL. The entrance to this is on the side of the home. Be sure to take time to behold the beauty of all the flowers, and notice the sections marked by signs for each of the sisters, and how the flowers in each marked section fit each sister.
The garden has a sign with an excerpt from the LW book that tells what flowers each girl planted.
Second, expect the tour to start not in the actual home, but in the outbuilding, a bunch of yards to the west of Orchard House. This is Louisa May’s father’s “School of Philosophy” building. This is where the schoolroom scene of the 2019 version of the LW movie was filmed. Inside the school, you will be shown a video. Bronson used to host meetings here with his Transcendentalist friends.
The video tells the story of Louisa May and her family and her writing of Little Women. Below is an excerpt of the video, featuring Jan Turnquist.
Then you will be escorted by a tour guide into the actual Orchard House. It has two levels. On the ground level, you will first see the kitchen. I loved hearing how Louisa May used some of her earnings from her bestselling book LW to buy a better kitchen sink for her mother, which is still there, which you can see. She yearned to give her mother all the comforts of life that she could. I just love that.
Then you will be taken into the parlor, as well as Bronson Alcott’s study with his actual books. After that, you get to go upstairs. There you will see the bedrooms, including Lousia’s desk, where this lovely sisterly story of family life with its ups and downs, love and laughter, was spun. After the girls’ room you will see the parents’ bedroom and the nursery. This is where the little boys of Anna (Meg in the book) slept. Anna and her boys came to live with the Alcotts after Anna’s husband passed away.
The tour guide said that about 80% of the objects in the home were owned by the Alcotts. Amazing! They and their descendants apparently hadn’t heard of Marie Kondo yet. You will see the boots that LMA wore to be Roderigo, just like Jo in the book, for the play that she wrote and performed with her sisters. You will also May/Amy’s art on the wall because her parents were OK with her drawing on the wall, as well as her framed art, and then of course, Louisa’s desk that her father built for her where she wrote her famous first bestseller.
6. How can you make your visit more fun?
-on your drive to or from OH, listen to some Little Women music! The theme song from the soundtrack of the 2019 movie is here and the soundtrack from the Broadway musical is here. Oh my, the theme song to the 2019 movie is just so gorgeous. It feels like Thanksgiving and Christmas and Valentine’s all rolled up together into a superbly lush, romantic, auditory feast. It’s even called “Orchard House.” So yummy!
-sign the guest book and enjoy reading the lines above your signature seeing where all the other visitors hail from. The guest book and sign were on a table being set up outside when I arrived in my desperate situation. So I signed it later of course.
My grandsons and niece playing on the grass in front of Bronson’s school
-scamper on the lawn with kiddos, breathing the fresh clean air of the town of Concord, where the spirit of ’76 took form! Imagine seeing LMA’s niece Lulu (Amy/May’s daughter) and nephews Freddy and Johnny running around.
-see if you can engage the tour guides in a friendly debate about just how feminist LMA was. I just heard this podcast here (sorry I can’t remember which particular episode) from one of my favorite homeschooling mom podcasters, Jennifer Pepito. She said that when she toured OH she felt the tour guide was misrepresenting LMA as an ardent feminist.
-see if you can stump the tour guide with some tough questions about LMA’s life. I so badly wanted to do this but knew it wouldn’t be wise. We were on a tight time schedule, as we were flying out of Boston in a few hours and still wanted to go tour the Revolutionary War battle site of Concord. I knew however longer we spent at OH talking would be less time at the Concord green. So, I bit my tongue and resisted.
Here’s what I would have asked:
“Did LMA ever find love, specifically with a young man in Europe?” (I read about this possibility in a biography about her. So far nobody knows for sure if the relationship was romantic.)
“Did LMA really like Little Women, or did she just think it was a way to make money, one of the books she wrote which she called ‘moral pap for the young’?”
“Did LMA resent the fact that her father never fully provided for his family, and that LMA had to step up and function as ‘husband’ to her mother and ‘father’ to the family by providing for them things that Bronson never did?”
“Why did Bronson not fully provide for his family? Was he mentally ill or just lazy?”
-dress up in old-fashioned clothes like my nieces did when they visited with their cousins on the other side of the family tree, who live in Boston. It was part of a family reunion. They visited OH dressed up, after they had learned some 19th century skills like dancing the Virginia reel and making butter in a butter churn. This is just something fun to do, so please don’t feel like I’m adding a task to do your travel checklist. It just sounds fun, but not if it stresses you out. Jennifer Flanders of flandersfamily.info mentions how her family loves to dress up when they tour historic places. Oh, the fantasies I love to entertain!
-have a picnic on the grounds, or just down the street, across from the Wayside home, where the Alcotts lived before Orchard House. Nathaniel Hawthorne lived there at one point as well as Margaret Sidney, author of Five Little Peppers. This is what we did when we got there so early; we had a brunch, across the street from Wayside on a picnic table.
7. Then here are the things to do before you visit Orchard House:
Me with a copy of Little Women, gifted to me by my dear girlfriend Michelle
-first and foremost, read the Little Women book if you haven’t already! That way you will enjoy seeing the house so much more. You will also have more questions to ask the tour guide. The audiobook is below, with text to go with the audio.
-learn to say the “Alcott” name properly. According to Jan Turquist, it’s “All-cut” not “Awl-cot.”
-read picture books aloud to your children about LMA and her life in Concord. Above and below are some.
-read the compilation of letters and journal entries of Louisia May and her mother, Abigail May Alcott. It’s called My Heart is Boundless. My review is here.
-read the biography of Louisa May and her mother, Abigail. My review of that is here.
-watch the movies, at least the 1994 and 2019 versions. The 1994 version is better, but I still enjoy watching the 2019 version, just because it’s pretty. I do, however, have some serious beefs with it. My review of the 2019 version is here. It is definitely not as good as the 1994 version.
My BYU-attending son actually requested we watch the 1994 version at our last family cabin trip. So all the males on the trip watched it. I was so happy about that!
The repeated flashbacks in that version is confusing. I pretty much agree with the commenter in the video below about the 2019 version, except I did like the costumes. I’m not wise enough about period costumes and hair to know they did not look authentic. So many people say the casting was perfect for the 2019 version, but I respectfully disagree. I didn’t notice until watching the video below and hearing the commenter pointing it out, but now I agree that Emma Watson did not act or look like the wisest, biggest sister role of Meg. She was not great in that role. Florence Pugh should not have been cast as Amy, as she was too buxom for a 12-year-old and her voice sounded like a male chain smoker!
-read my explanation here of how you can find God in Little Women. God is definitely in the novel but was completely left out in the 2019 movie.
-if I had little girls, I would definitely check out my resources over here. Over there you will find a link to print LW paper dolls, and a link to the Little Women Cookbook. I’d do a unit study of Little Women with my little girls before I went. We would cook every recipe in that book. The authors listed every single dish mentioned in the LW book and found a recipe for it. I hope to do this someday with granddaughters!
-take this fun quiz to see which Little Women sister you are. I was surprised to come up as Jo. I feel more like Meg or Amy.
-check out the Orchard House Facebook page, where you can get the latest news on the House and see videos and photos of the House through the seasons of the year.
8. Anything to beware of? First, it’s best to buy tickets, what the staff calls “timed- entry reservations,” ahead of your desired day of visit. You do that by going online, here, to make sure you can get in. 6 AM is the deadline to buy tickets the day of. They do say they take “walk-ins” if they can accommodate them. Because the home is relatively small, admission is limited to a certain number of people per time slot. This place can’t handle the traffic of Disneyland. When we were there, we had about 20 people in our group, 10 in our family and the others were random strangers. For the day we wanted to go, because it was a free day, we couldn’t buy tickets online ahead of the day.
The website did not explain why. I kept clicking on the day and nothing would happen. It just said it was August Adventures Day and wouldn’t let me reserve tickets. (See August 15 above.) What in the heck did that mean? Did it mean only people who were part of “August Adventures” could attend because AA had reserved the place all day for some exclusive event like a party? The page had no asterisk or footnotes. When I called to ask about that the day before, from Maine, I just kept getting a recording that didn’t answer my question as to why I couldn’t buy reservations. So, we went on faith hoping we would get in, and we were happy to discover admission was free because of August Adventures. An aggravating problem that turned out to be a surprise blessing in the end.
It was a big day when we were there for this event sponsored by OH and this other organization. They had people dressed up, acting out historical roles. Jan Turnquist was also there. Lots of people were socializing. It definitely felt festive!
Here’s the executive director Jan Turnquist. If you read the history of the neighboring house, the Wayside, over here, you will learn of the connection between Orchard House and Native Americans.
Second, you are not allowed to take photographs inside the building. That’s why you don’t see any from me here in this post. But you can see some photos of the inside here.
Third, there’s no elevator. Unfortunately, that means you can’t access the second floor with a wheelchair or stroller, just the ground level. The tour guides can provide a notebook with photos of the upper level if asked.
9. What to ask the tour guide about? The sky’s the limit! The more you read about Louisa and her family before you go, the more questions you will have to ask.
10. Is there anything in the Museum Store, aka gift shop, that I should buy there because it’s not available anywhere else?
If you are a huge fan of LMA and LW, It’s so tempting when walking into the gift shop to want to buy everything! Take a breath and realize the following. Most of the books and DVDs sold there you can probably find online, like on amazon.
So if you are limited on luggage space, it would be easier to order on online from amazon and have them shipped to your home.
The cute T-shirts, socks and pencil bag with the Anna Bond design from Rifle Paper Co. you can find here. They are easy to fit into luggage. I had fun buying those. I got the shirt, socks, and T-shirt for me, the pencil bag for my artist sister and the tote bag for my daughter. (I had already bought my sister a calendar from a bookstore somewhere in Maine and also planned on getting her an apron from amazon when I got home, because I couldn’t find a blueberry apron less than $50 on the trip. I really wanted to give her a blueberry apron! So I sent one from amazon when I got home.) I saw a few items that I’m guessing are unique to the store, mainly the jewelry that appeared to be made by a local artist, and the posters of Bronson’s Alcott’s teachings.
My sister also got the socks and the shirts for her daughters for Christmas. Fun!
This picture book below was available. I had never seen it before but since then I’ve seen it on amazon here.
I got the book of Bronson’s teaching philosophy, which can be found on amazon here. It’s very small and slim. He was definitely a pioneer in acknowledging that children have different learning needs than adults do. It’s hardcover and little like I said so will easily fit in your luggage if you decide to buy it. You can see the maxims here. You can see these ideas resonating with what you read about Charlotte Mason and Montessori. He was definitely a man ahead of time! I especially love his #18 maxim, “To teach, in imitation of the Saviour.” I love that he recognized LMA’s talent for writing and provided a desk for her, going against the popular notion of the day that women shouldn’t be writers because if they did they would get sick.
The postcards are probably something in the store that can’t be bought on online. I bought one of Jessie Willcox’s print, below. Now I have it framed on my desk. I wish now I had bought the postcard showing Orchard House.
I felt a bit like the LW when we made candles out of beeswax for Candlemas last February. They probably made their own candles, right?
11. What else is there to do on the same day or trip while in the town of Concord?
-visit the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery just down and around the bend from OH on Lexington Road, where the Alcott family is buried. This is what we did while waiting for the place to open. You will also find the gravesites of other famous authors at the Authors’ Ridge section of the cemetery: Emerson, Hawthorne, and Thoreau and their families.
Louisa is buried by her parents, sisters, and John Pratt, who is John Brooke in LW, married to Meg (Anna in real life).
The Alcott family section at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
Above is the Alcotts’ section, with LMA’s grave below. She has a flag because she served as a nurse in the Civil War.
-check out Walden Pond, where Henry David Thoreau lived and wrote his book Walden
-visit the Old Manse, where Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau all lived at one point
-be sure to visit the Concord battlefield, part of Minute Man National Park, where “the shot was heard around the world” to start the American Revolutionary War.
I so wanted to tour the visitors’ center, but all we had time for was to walk to the battlefield, cross the famous bridge, and see the Minute Man monument.
Whew! We wanted to linger at the Concord battlefield and finish our conversation with the tour guide. Where exactly did the battle take place? on the grassy field, on the bridge, on either side of the bridge? We left not knowing exactly what the tour guide’s answer was. Anyway, we had to leave and made it to our plane on time and flew home. As you can see, one could easily spend a week in Concord exploring all these historical sites!
L.M. Montgomery said of her visit to Concord, “Concord is the only place I saw when I was away where I would like to live, it is a most charming spot and I shall never forget the delightful drive we had around it.” Undoubtedly, that’s in part because Orchard House is there and she visited it!
I hope you arrange to go some time! It’s definitely worth a visit, again and again!
You can explore so many Orchard House/LW resources here.
Ever since I watched the video I shared over here, I’ve been wanting to read this book. So I requested it through my public library’s interlibrary loan program a while ago. The ILL system delivered this time. I don’t always get the books I request, but this time, I did! I finished it this past week. It’s so good!
When Jason, the subject of the story, was 14, he heard about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ from his friends in junior high who were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). He lived in Scottsdale AZ. Since he was raised Jewish, he started talking about Zion and the Messiah with some of his friends in jr. high. His LDS jr. high friends shared with him what they believe about those topics. He was impressed that he saw them living their beliefs, especially when one of them refused to look at pornography when some guys in jr. high tried to get him to look at some. Then these LDS friends gave Jason a Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ.
He didn’t want to read it at first. He wanted to get rid of it because he didn’t want his family to see it since his mom is Jewish and his dad is Lutheran. He decided he would burn it to get rid it. Just as he was about to put the flame to the book from a cigarette lighter, he heard a voice in his head say “Don’t burn my book.”
So then he read it. He was immediately captivated by it, especially when he saw that on the title page it saws that its purpose is to testify to Jews and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God.
Thus began his conversion. He finished reading the Book of Mormon when he was 14 or 15. He took Moroni’s invitation to heart in Moroni 10:4-5 and prayed to know if the book is true. After he prayed, he said that he felt a beautiful comforting witness from the Holy Spirit, from the top of his head to his toes. After waiting until 18 to get baptized, he served a mission to Morristown NJ. He felt blessed to be able to do that because that mission has the highest concentration of Jews in the US. That was confirmation for him that the mission call came for the Lord who knows him personally. He then went on to study at BYU, live in Israel for an extended period of time, and get his PhD from Brandeis University.
I just love that reminder from reading his story that the Book of Mormon was indeed written for the “convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations—And now, if there are faults they are the mistakes of men; wherefore, condemn not the things of God, that ye may be found spotless at the judgment-seat of Christ.” (from the title page, here.)
You can read a sample of Jason’s book, Chapter 2, where he attempts to burn the Book of Mormon, over here.
The Book of Mormon is full of so many truths. I testify that reading it brings a person closer to God more than any other book, as Joseph Smith said. (From the introduction to the Book of Mormon over here.)
I just noticed today that it also says, in Mosiah 27:30-31, my new favorite scripture, the following beautiful truth…
This is Alma the Younger telling us that Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, “remembereth every creature of his creating, he will make himself manifest unto all. Yea, every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess before him. Yea, even at the last day, when all men shall stand to be judged of him, then shall they confess that he is God; then shall they confess, who live without God in the world, that the judgment of an everlasting punishment is just upon them; and they shall quake, and tremble, and shrink beneath the glance of his all-searching eye.”
I just love that! I invite you to ponder how Jesus the Redeemer is manifesting Himself in your life. Then share your stories with family or a friend. Write them down and keep it for posterity’s sake. Add to your writings every day in your journal.
You can see more truths from the Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ over here. These truths are priceless, more precious than jewels!
Want to learn even more about the Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ? Go here. I’ve even got a Book of Mormon-themed Wits and Wagers version here.
Then here’s a story of how a copy of the Book of Mormon did not burn in a house fire, even though everything around it did. Amazing!
You can also listen to more interviews of Jason here and here.
Want to hear another story of a Jew converting to Jesus Christ? Go here for the story of my husband’s aunt through marriage. She also wrote a book of her story with “burning” in the title, called The Burning Bush.
I found this mommy/grandmommy blogger last fall. Ever since then I have thoroughly enjoyed reading her gems of truth. It all started when I came home from my trip to New England last summer to visit one of my sisters. (Read about that trip here.) Sister Emily lives an idyllic life as a wife, mother to 6 children, and artist, in a big colonial home tucked in a forest. See her website here with all its artistic, nature study vibes and you will see what I mean. After returning home from that glorious vacation, I was just a little sad to be leaving my sister and her family and all those old-timey patriotic New England feels. I don’t know exactly how to describe it. All the colonial history that took place there, all the dense forests, and deep appreciation for the heritage of old-fashioned America and country living was what I was picking up. After being immersed in New England and NYC for ten days, coming back to desert Utah felt like being dropped into a barren cultural wasteland, LOL. I’m sure that’s how my pioneer ancestors felt when they entered the Salt Lake Valley and probably anyone who visits for the first time from the centuries-old cultivated East. But Utah does have its own cultural charms, that eventually emerge, plus the amazing mountains.
Anyway, I wanted to find some kind of website or blog about life in New England that captured this feeling. Something involving a homeschooling family with lots of daughters, to also feel that Little Women old-fashioned family home culture home education vibe. So, I did a search for something like “blog about mother and daughters in New England” and I came up with Leila Lawler’s blog. It has been an absolute joy to learn from!
If you are a traditional housewife and mother, you will love her! As a mother of 7 and grandmother to 21, she is just brimming with wisdom. I’m not Catholic like she is, but regardless of the difference in our theology, I find we have a lot in common. We each have 7 children, we each believe in old-fashioned mothering (being open to having babies, breastfeeding, enjoying the seasons of a mother’s life, as in, having your career be your children until they leave your nest, family rituals like dinner together and family traditions), homeschooling, and saying “no thank you” to feminism.
As an only child who was raised by feminist parents, she has has seen the bad fruits produced by feminism. She says that her father encouraged her to have a career outside the home after her college education. She resisted that and chose to be a SAHM after marriage. She thoroughly enjoys her life and radiates love and joy.
She does a weekly podcast with her husband Phil here. I don’t always understand all the Catholic terms, especially when they were talking about the new Pope, but I enjoy it, nonetheless.
Listen to her podcast interview in two parts with Carole Joy Seid of homeschoolmadesimple.net. It is so delightful! Part 1 is here, and Part 2 is here.
-the fact that new washing machines don’t work as well as the old ones, with their new water-use regulations. She says they don’t get clothes thoroughly clean, which is why when you are in the market for a machine you should buy a used one. Read all about it here.
-how to celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas, which for her starts on Christmas Day, read here. Sounds right up my alley with my love of family traditions, especially at Christmas!
-why modern libraries aren’t the best because of a pervasive movement to remove great books, and what to do about it, this involves her Library Project, which you can read about here.
-she even has a 3-volume book set about how to be a domestic goddess in your role as wife and mother, shown above, which you can buy here.
Just call her Auntie Leila and cozy in for tutoring in all things wifely, and motherly, and homemakingly, all done for the glory of God! Thank you Leila Lawler for your example and sharing! You are an American treasure!
Want more about about other great American mothers? Go here for Jan Bloom and here for Sally Fallon Morrell.
I just discovered another great resource for studying the Doctrine and Covenants Come Follow Christ scriptures this year! It’s called “Start Here Study with Kristen Walker Smith.” You can find her YouTube Channel of that name here.
I love pictures and visual aids, so I love that her videos are short summaries of the lesson each week. It’s fun to watch the pictures being drawn as she narrates the summary, and then see the whole picture at the end. Here is her explanation of the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ.
I always watch Brother Jared Halverson’s videos each week, about 30 minutes a day at his Unshaken Saints YouTube Channel. I do this while I get ready for the day after I listen to the Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ for five minutes and one General Conference talk. I usually finish Brother Halverson’s video by Friday or Saturday. Sometimes I watch Sister Lili de Hoyos Anderson’s Choosing Glory videos, over here or the Pickerings’ Come Follow Christ videos. I watch those while I exercise instead of just listening because I don’t want to miss their charts with all the visual aids and pictures.
I think I’m going to start my family watching Sister Smith’s on Sunday or Monday night each week to kick off the new week’s study. I love finding new resources that are so helpful!
This movie came out about 20 years ago, and as with most movies, I never saw it when it came out, being in the throes of young motherhood. I just discovered it a few weeks ago. I watched it last week on a night when I was feeling super grumpy. I wanted to decompress after a family-circus type day when something disastrous happened right before a big plane trip the next day. Sometimes you just need movies like this.
If you have read my blog for long you know that I yearn for and enjoy watching movies about marriage. Movies that celebrate marriage for what God intends it to be. I’ve found some that do this, you can see my list here.
This movie isn’t about that. It is about romance though. It’s about a woman who wants to be married but has bad judgment in dating men. It stars Hillary Duff as the female lead, a teen daughter who decides to take over control of her mother’s unlucky love life to find the perfect man for her mom. Heather Locklear is the mom.
It’s entertaining and has some moments for thinking about what makes a perfect couple, so it’s not pure fluff. The acting is great, and I enjoyed it for the most part. I didn’t enjoy the common action in many popular plots. This is where the main character causes mayhem including property damage and a destroyed marriage, and then isn’t shown having to pay the consequences, ever. Not to mention lying for most of the movie! So that for those reasons I give out 3 out of 5 stars. So, if you can get past that, and if you are in the mood for some escapism but still want a movie about searching for marriage, sacrificial motherhood, and strengthening mother- daughter bonds, you might enjoy it. I loved that the mom acknowledges that she wouldn’t give her daughters up for anything and doesn’t regret sacrificing her dream career for her children.
Here’s the latest update on the Ezra Eagle Prophecy, first popularized by Michael Rush. This video is by Rhonda and Farrell Pickering. I enjoy learning from them! Go here to their website to learn all you can about prophecy, Isaiah, and the last days. Their timeline of the last days is most interesting!
I’m not sure why in the video they interrupt the prophecy interpretation update to show footage of a recent trip to Israel. It’s enlightening, nonetheless.
Anyway, could Trump be the first eagle head? See what Farrell has to say below.
Tree of Life Mothering 