Patio Score!!

Look what we just purchased for our empty patio:

It's a wrought iron patio set including a round table with four chairs.  Sure, the table is green and the chairs are black, but for the price of $60 for the whole set (via Craigslist), we felt that we could work with it.  We're very eager to get an umbrella and have a nice family meal outside!

Good Morning Sunshine!

Toddler Bed Head. 

I've never seen his hair like this before.  It was just wild.  I loved it.

Weekend Snapshot

Busy weekend.  Enjoy the pictures:).

Charm's Room.  Notice the missing crib?  Wow.  I need to make a mood board for this room, once I figure out what computer program to use to make a mood board.  Very exciting!

The Mood Board for Charm's Room is likely to include this score imported from the U.P. of Michigan from my sweet Ma. (Can someone say Jenny Lind Bed for the low price of $40!  Siderails included!)  Thank you!  Oma visited us late last week and we had so much fun!!

Target Run: Total cost for everything pictured: $8.22 (Rain boots were $3.74, Lucky Shoes were $2.48, T-shirt was $1.50, and wipes were $0.50).  Target Gift Card Balance: $22.85

Project Time.  Here's a nice before shot:

 And During:

More on this project (or two) later this week.

Leftover Fabric for a project for Lucky's Room!

Wall Art Project which probably won't be finished anytime soon, even though I really want my the floor in our bedroom back!  I'm too indecisive right now:).

Another Clubhouse addition: potted plants!  The planters were $1 each at Walmart.  I like the bright yellow (go figure!), and the plants were either chosen by the kids at Walmart this weekend (from the 90 cent section:)) or were fundraiser plants.

And here was the least intelligent decision we made this weekend  month  year.  Picture it: it's 8:15pm on a Sunday night, and we want to plant a strawberry patch.  There is a lilac tree in our way.  Our decision: get out a shovel and move the tree.

Brilliant!

But not really brilliant at all.  It looks reasonable here, but that tree had long, deep roots.  We were very, very careful with the roots to keep them intact, as best we could.  15 minutes into the process, it started to thunder.  16 minutes into the process, it started to pour.  Our baby monitor was saved.  The jury is out on my camera (no more during pictures)...it was out in the rain a bit longer before I remembered it.  18 minutes into the process, our shovel snapped in half.  I so wish I had a picture of it in 2 pieces.  We had another shovel, so we continued on...in the cold, hard rain.  I was pulling at the tree so hard, I was actually laying in a pile of dirt.  There was a long stretch of time when we took turns shoveling and pulling at the tree.  Then, the decision was made that we needed to saw off the roots that went straight into the ground, because we needed to be done already.  (So much for being root conscious.)  I'd say about 30 minutes into the process, I ran to get a bow saw.  38 minutes into the process, the tree was free.  We dug a hole and plopped the tree ball in the hole (about 4 feet from it's previous location--see the clay pot on the ground in the photo, that's where the tree is now.) and buried the roots as best we could.  We were done just about an hour after starting.  Sadly, the strawberries never got planted.  They will though, very soon!  And here's hoping our tree makes it after all that work!

Window. Sitting. Pretty.

As a girl, I had a bay window with a window seat in my room.  I loved it because it was such a cute, sunny spot in my room.  Cats in our house also loved it, but that has nothing to do with this post.  I decided that I really wanted to create a nice window seat for Lucky in her room too.  She does not have a bay window, but she does have a nice, large window that would allow for a window seat beneath it.  We didn't do anything fancy like a built-in window seat.  Instead, I found inspiration in these images:

 via

 via

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Then I bought a 1 x 5 Expedit bookshelf from IKEA for 60 buckaroos.  Here is the room with the bookshelf/window seat in place, along with a few baskets that I picked up at Joann's on clearance.  The blankets and pillows in the shelf/seat were items we had on hand already.

I decided that I wanted a padded seat cover for Lucky as well, which is where this sewing machine post came in.  I went back and forth over whether to attempt to use piping on the seat.  I ended up going for it after finding this pre-made piping product:

We picked up some 2 inch foam and cut it too size with an electric knife we picked up at Menards for $10.  I've seen pictures of people trying to coat through thick foam with razors and it didn't look fun.  It actually looked like quite the opposite of fun, and was apparently time consuming.  We cut through our foam in about a minute and half with our new knife.  Easy Peasy.  And now we have an electric knife for future projects:).

Knife, measuring tape and markers

The foam fit almost perfectly on our new bench in the dining room!

I cut the fabric to size, and after many, many hours alone (and in Charm's company...he was my helper) with a sewing machine:

There must be an easier way.  Experience will teach me perhaps? 

Here is the final result:

Cost Breakdown:

2" Thick, 2 Yard Long Foam Insert: $22.50 at Hancock Fabric's (50% off sale)
2 1/2 yards of Fabric: $12.50 at Joann's (50% off coupon)
10 yards of premade piping: $5.20 (on sale at Hancock Fabric's)
Expedit Unit: $60
Clearance Baskets in Expedit: $19 (70% off and then an additional 25% off coupon at Joann's)

Total: $119.20.  Definitely not the cheapest thing in the world, but impactful, practical and pretty, I think.  It took me about 5 hours to cut the fabric and get it all sewn together.  It wasn't the most fun thing I've ever done, and it took about 4 sewing 'sessions' over the span of a week.  I'm not nearly as intimidated by the sewing machine anymore.  Progress.

Next up for Lucky's room:  Wall art. Cheap wall art.  I have a project that I'm working on and lots of options for pre-owned art.  Wall art is the trickiest thing for me to do in a room, partially because of the 'hole in the wall phobia' we have around here, and partially because there are just too many arrangement options.  We'll see how things end up being pulled together.  We are getting very close to calling this room done!

Another Yellow Update and A Goodwill Challenge for You!!

While at Goodwill this week, I stumbled upon several interesting items.  One of them was this pretty yellow bird print in a nice wood frame for the low price of $4.99.  I love it, and the price is awesome!  (Usually, our Goodwill has pictures like this priced much higher, and I couldn't find any damage on it whatsoever.  Even for the frame and mat alone, $4.99 is a great deal!):

Now, I need some help for one of the last yellow touches for our May Family Room.  (After completing this project, I'll post pictures of the room all pulled together.)  I have a very small amount of money left in my budget ($1 to be exact) and a little yellow spray paint left.  I went searching at Goodwill for a piece that I could spray paint and add another yellow touch to the room. 

Here are my options:

Purple Polka Dot Polly for $1.99

Can somebody tell me what these are?  Hat Stands?  I'm not sure, but they were $2.99 each.  I was originally looking for some sort of neat, old finial, and these are sort of along that track.  What would this look like bright yellow?  Would it scream for a smiley face and a hat?

$2.99 brings this lovely lady home.

Howling Wolf Bank for $2.99

Yellow might look nice on him.

$1.99 for this Wood Duck in Flight.

$3.99 for the owl.  Pricey, no?

'World's Best Mother' Figurine for $1.99.  I was laughing so hard at this, I could barely take the picture.  Who makes this?  And who buys it?:).

Obviously, all of these options break my budget by $1-$3, but that still keeps me pretty close to budget if you ask me, and I'm okay with any one of these.  I just don't know which to choose.  Thoughts?  Place your vote for the one you think is the best, and maybe it will appear in my family room all gussied up in a glossy coat of sun yellow paint! 

Leave your vote in the 'comments' box by Tuesday, and I'll post an update by the end of next week!

Finding Yellow

I continue to hunt for yellow additions for our family room for the month, even though the month is over half over:).  Here is what I found at the grocery store:

 Lemons!! 

I spent $4.50 on lemons, and plopped them in a bowl.  The result: an instant burst of sunshine yellow!

I also found this flowering plant at Walmart for $3.50 last week:

I put it in a planter that I already owned (a gift from Mom).  I've never used it before, and I'm not sure why because it is such a cool pot!

Check out a close up:

Here are a few more flower pics:

I love the simple yellow blossoms.



I'm loving all the yellow that's in our home now!  See this post and this post for other recent yellow additions.  As for the $30 budget...here's the update:

$11 Lamp
$5 Pillow
$8 Flowers/Lemons

Total Spent: $24
Total Remaining: $6

$50 Target Challenge

For my birthday this year, I received a very generous $50 Gift Card to my favorite store, Target.  I haven't used it yet, and it's time I do.  I've decide to make it a challenge to see what I can purchase for $50 at Target. 

I went into the store this week with this coupon stack in hand:

 And I left the store with these goodies:

 2 Tank tops: $1.12 each, 1 skirt: $3.24 each, pair of shoes $3.74, Charm shirt $2.24

Dentyne gum $0.04 per pack with coupon, Revlon tweezers and files: -$1.86 (coupon overage), Sally Hansen nail files: FREE with coupon, Aquafresh kiddo toothbrushes $0.49 each with coupons

Murphy's Oil Spray $0.99 with coupons, Cutter Bug Spray $0.99 with coupons, kiddo hair wash $0.62 each with coupons, Hydrogen Peroxide $0.12 with coupon

Rubbing Alcohol (we needed some of this) $0.99 with coupon, Nail Polish Remover (again we were out of this) $0.47 each with coupon, KC BBQ sauce $0.42 with coupon, Soy Sauce $0.42 with coupon, Pampers Wipes $0.99 for container (we needed a plastic container for some weird refills we got on sale at Walgreens earlier this month) with coupon, Up and Up Liners $0.14 each with coupons.

My total for everything was $18.93
Gift Card Balance: $31.07

FYI: Many of the coupons I used can be printed from the Target Website via this link.

Also a quick Rainbow and Walgreens update

Rainbow:

I actually went into Rainbow this week with with just 2 coupons in hand.  That's it.  I stuck mainly to a quick list I made, and even with just a couple coupons, I spent $80.47 and saved $67.68 by purchasing mainly items that were on sale. 

Highlights from the photo above included a fantastic soda deal 5 packs for $9, Skippy PB for $0.98, Coffee Mate Creamer for $0.56 and GE CFL light bulbs for $1 each.

Walgreens:

Again this week, several items that I wanted to purchase were out of stock.  Bummer.  I did find 4 Reach Toothbrushes for $0.99 each.  I had a $2 off 2 coupon, and when you purchased 4 brushes, you received a $4 register reward, so I made $2 there.  Also, Scotch tape was on sale for $1.99-Buy 1, Get 2 Free.  I had 2 $1.00 off manufacturer coupons that resulted in FREE tape.  I purchased the Dove bar for $0.39 so I could use an old register reward and I ended up spending $0.81 out of pocket (or close to that...it was eighty-something cents.  I don't have the receipt handy right now.)