Arkansas Diamonds

Last year my neighbor in Savannah, Georgia came over after her Christmas break to show me her latest adventure find. She had went diamond hunting in Arkansas during the holiday and found a 2 carat diamond! After living most of my life in Arkansas I couldn't believe that I had never been diamond hunting.

It sounded like so much fun. Sun, mud, and shovels...plus the possibility of finding diamonds. What could be more fun. So over spring break I talked my sister Casey into going with me. So we drove to Murphysboro, Arkansas in search of the sparkly girls best friend..our in hopes of finding our kids college fund!

We rented the whole shabang, bucket, shovel and sifter. They had a great set up with several places to sift dirt, wash yourself and tools and of course a gift shop full of refreshments.

We search and sifted for about 3 hours while our kids played off in the distance throwing mud and burying each other in the dirt. We never did find anything that looked worth anything, but someone from Bentonville, Arkansas found a 6 carat black diamond!

It only cost about $35.00 and we all had a great time and I am glad I drove my husbands car because after spraying off Cristoir and Justice they were still covered head to toe in dirt and I couldn't convince them to ride back in their undies so his car had to have a major bath when we got back.

I guess better luck next time.

Summer Days

This summer is the first summer I get to spend with Cristoir without working, so I decided that if we were going to spend the summer together I needed to get myself a bike.

Last week we hit all the local thrift shops in search of two second hand bikes for Chris and myself. Within a couple of hours we found JUST what we were looking for. One of the bikes was in mint condition and a very expensive bike...we got it for $20.00! It even had the stickers on it from the bike store in town where it was originally purchased. I could hardly believe our luck. The second bike needed new paint, tires, and chain...price $6.

So we rushed home and immediately went to work taping things off and started painting the second bike. After it was all done my husband decided that it didn't look very good, so we took the whole bike apart, and sanded it down. The next morning we headed to wally world to pick up new tires, paint and new chain....total cost 50.00. While I was there I strolled down bike lane and found a 10 speed on sale for 65.00! After all that work and it was going to cost about the same amount to buy a new one. So we bought the new one instead.

For the past two weeks we have all been enjoying our daily bike rides. I even bought a little basket for mine (I am a girl you know!) and our little dog Natalie gets to enjoy the bike rides too.

The total cost for our new bikes , and basket was $103. The daily rides together as a family... priceless.