ALLY TURNS EIGHT!

 

 

It's hard to believe my youngest child turned eight!  We are simply crazy about Disney's lastest movie "Frozen" so Ally decided she had to have a "Frozen" birthday party.

 

After visiting the local Party City and finding out they were sold out of any and all "Frozen" party supplies, we checked online and soon realized this was going to be harder than just making some purchases since every website was sold out of what we wanted.

 

The party turned out great and included a painting party where we painted portraits of Olaf from "Frozen" and had a "Frozen" sing along.

 

 

 

 

First we made "Frozen" plates by printing out an image of Elsa/Anna and taping it between two clear plates

 

 

 

We had seen these wonderful snowflakes in the window of a mall store around Christmas time.  I found a tutorial on YouTube and we made several of them to hang from the ceiling

 

 

 

The party room decor included a white linen table cloth, ice blue chevron table runner and pink/white tulips (great price at Trader Joe's)

 

 

 

Ally already had all the dolls and I bought the castles at Wal-Mart.  Ally enjoys playing with her dolls in the castles and they also made great table decor

 

 

 

Cupcakes from the local grocery store topped with homemade cupcake picks

 

 

 

Ally had the little figures already so we got a "Just My Size" cake at the local store and set them right on top

 

 

 

After all the food was gone and the presents had been opened, we commenced to painting!

 

 

 

Ms. Shelley is the director of Ally's after school program at her school.  She also just so happens to be a former art teacher and has had the kids do projects like this at after school.  She is a gem and brought everything we needed to make awesome portraits of Olaf the Snowman

 

 

 

Time for a sing along while we are waiting on our painting to dry

 

 

 

Found this awesome Olaf cardboard standup at OrientalTrading.com.  Added some of our homemade snowflakes and a wrapping paper background and we had a photo booth of sorts

 

 

 

Look how awesome they all did!  It was a truly special birthday!

 

 



My $20 Rug!

Those of you who know me know #1 I love a deal...more than just about anything and #2 I love estate sales.

So we went to an estate sale run by Plum Estate Sales on Saturday.  I do not enjoy being in the crowd waiting to get in...I've done that a few times and it's just not worth it to me.  So I try to wait at least an hour after opening to  let some of the hardcores get on out of there.

I entered the house and walked through the dining and living rooms and didn't see anything that caught my eye.  Then I went to the family room...and there it was.  An 8 X 11 Jacobean wool rug...straight from Target..just like my runner I have in my entry hall.  They want $100 for it.  I quickly look it up on my phone and find that it sells for a mere $379 online...I knew there was some reason I only bought the runner.

I grab the ticket and pay for it.  I ask the woman running the sale to assist me in getting it.  She moves the corner of the couch and it is then we discover...

...the chewed up corner.

Dang!  I should've known it was too good to be true.  I told her I no longer wanted the rug.  She offered it to me for $80 and I still couldn't chance it at that price...I declined.  She stood there for a second and said how about $20?  Heck yeah!  I'll figure something out for $20.  So we rolled it up and hauled it out of there.

When we got home, we rolled it out and I knew I had made the right decision!  The chewed corner was only 4 1/4" into the rug so we decided to cut it.

I knew my trusty Cutco scissors would be able to gut through all of it

Ron set up the laser level so I could get a straight cut.

And I commenced to cutting that rug!

Look at that $20 rug!!!!! I LOVE ESTATE SALES!!

Craigslist...don't be afraid!

A friend of mine said the other night that she is afraid to shop on Craigslist.  I have both bought and sold items on Craiglist and have met fabulous people.  People trying to make or get a deal...just like me.  We have all heard of "The Craigslist Murder" and unless you are selling massages in hotel rooms, that is unlikely to happen to you.  I did recently hear of man being shot multiple times selling his fiance's necklace.  He met some shady characters in a non-public area and then ran after them when they grabbed the necklace and took off.  Hence my rules for Craiglist transactions...

Rule #1 - It is best to meet in public, if the item allows.  If you must meet at your home or theirs, take someone with you.

Rule #2 - Don't meet them unless they are willing to give you a phone number.

Rule #3 - ALWAYS get a picture first.  There is NO reason for someone not to have a picture.  Doesn't everyone have a cell phone with a camera?

Rule #4 - never deal in anything except cash transactions. 

I have gotten some FABULOUS things from Craigslist ads.  Most recently I found my new bedroom chairs  from this previous post...upholstered swivel chairs that look BRAND NEW for $200 for the pair.  I don't know if you've price upholstered chairs lately but they run anywhere from $300-700 each.

These classy doors my dear husband installed were absolutely FREE.  They even came with the crystal door knobs. The free section is awesome and I check it daily.

My couch and loveseat were purchased from a Craigslist ad.  I did spend a little on new foam cushion inserts but it was still a third of the price I would've paid for them new.

And my coffee table.

My daughter's bedroom furniture came from a Craiglist ad...it was sort of a pickled color but it was cheap and I loved the curves and details.  I painted it white and it is now fabulous.  You can see my post about painting it here .

I have also sold MANY items via Craigslist and have never had a problem with anyone.  You are smart...just go with your gut.  If the person sounds shady, just say thanks for your time and go on to the next ad.

Happy New Year

The beginning of a new year always makes me take a look around at my unorganized life and attempt to fix it. 

I organize the junk drawer, clean out the kids' toys and plan some sort of home improvement project.

I moved the desk out of my bedroom into the guest room and gave myself a place to sew and scrapbook.  Right now my sewing consists of mending and hemming, but I want to do a project...a pillow or a jumper for my daughter...I'm not sure, but I'm inspired by my new space!

And this gave me lots of room in the master bedroom to redesign.  I searched for a month on craigslist and finally found the perfect chairs.  They look brand new and I grabbed them at $200 for the set.

I paired them with two new bookcases from Target and artwork I got at a yard sale a couple of years ago...

And I have a beautiful new sitting area where I can enjoy my new Nook!

It's a new year and I have a new resolve to blog and open up my etsy shop again.  While I didn't make much money, it was a lot of fun to look for vintage items. :) 

My next blog entry preview:  Craigslist...don't be afraid.

Honey, I Painted the Car

A few  years back, some auto makers started using plastic to make bumpers and trim on their cars.  I imagine this was a way to significantly lower their cost of producing automobiles.  The only problem is this plastic fades over time from going through car washes and being exposed to the sun.  Our 2002 Ford Explorer is one of the makes that has the plastic trim.  It was looking really terrible.  So I had the idea to use the new plastic spray paint that came out a few years ago to give it new life.  Honestly, it couldn’t have made it look any worse.  And I was actually pretty pleased with how it turned out and thought I would share what we did.

The before pictures...

The paint we used is Rustoleum for plastic.

We taped off the trim using “Frog Tape.”  This is the latest in paint tape and sticks much better than the old blue kind.  It gives really cleans lines and doesn’t allow the paint to seep under the tape.

We started off taping and using newspaper.  I would recommend this method if you are not a proficient spray painter.  Spray paint oversprays quite a bit and the newspaper keeps it from getting on the metal part of the car.

I ended up being impatient and just used the tape around the wheels.  There was obvious overspray when I took the tape off, so I used one of those dandy Mr. Clean Magic Erasers to get rid of that.  Those things are nothing short of amazing.

After two coats of spray paint (it took nearly two cans to cover), we have a brand new-looking truck.

Thanks for reading!

Amazing Phone Apps

I thought I would go off the beaten path for a moment and talk about how much I love my new Android phone.  I was already loving the navigation app, being able to receive and send e-mail, check Facebook and Craigslist…all through apps. This week I have discovered three new apps that are awesome. 

First up in the Walgreens app.  I scan my prescription bottle barcode and the app uses my GPS to tell me the closest Walgreens location.  I then tell it I want to refill the prescription I just scanned and it is ready in 24 hours for me to pick up. 

Next is a food diary app called “MyFitnessPal.”  It starts out by entering my age, height, weight, goals and then tells me how many calories, fat, etc. I should be eating per day and anytime I enter a food or exercise, it adjusts my daily tally to tell me how much I have left.  This app not only has an extensive food database so I can look up nutritional information to put into my diary, it also has the ability to scan a pre-packaged food’s barcode and finds the nutritional info and automatically plug it in to my diary.  I am in love with this app. 

To go along with the food diary app, I found “CardioTrainer.”  This app uses your GPS to show you where you have been.  It tracks the miles, steps you have taken and rate at which you are going.  You can save your workouts and compare them down the road to see how you are increasing your distance and rate.  I am excited about using this app with my daily walks (and eventually my daily runs).

Thanks for reading and I’ll be back soon with more finds!

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

I have to share a story about the reusing aspect of my ideology.  A couple of weeks ago we had a really windy Saturday.  The kids and I had gone to Upward basketball/cheerleading that morning and returned to a tree down on our fence.  We live in a woodsy area and it got me thinking about the potential for other trees falling.  We had two VERY large dead trees that I knew were going to have to come down eventually but when is there ever extra money to do such preventive things?  Being the obsessive personality I am, I decided it had to be done right then.  Our neighbors had some gigantic trees cut down to make way for a pool so I asked for a reference from them.  The tree cutter came out and gave us an estimate.  He could cut them down and leave them for one price or he could haul them off for double that price.  We debated because at the price he wanted to take them down AND haul them off, we could only afford to have one taken down.  He was willing to cut them into pieces we could pick up so we decided it meant more to have the trees on the ground than potentially on our house and went with the option of leaving them for us to clean up. 

My husband dreaded the thought of hauling all that wood off and to where?  I decided I would put it in the free section on Craigslist and see if I had any takers.  The ad read…

Firewood

Does anyone have a need for trees we had cut down and now need to haul off? Two really big dead trees but I'm not sure what type. Thought I would post just to see if there is any interest. They are cut up small enough a person could pick up the sections as is.

Thanks!

And added these pictures…

Within half an hour I had to take down the ad because I had SIX people contact me wanting it.  The first person came out the next day and hauled off seven truckloads and came back the next day and hauled off four more!  They were TICKLED to get the wood, as they heat their entire house with a wood stove.

The moral of the story is no matter what you have that you think is just a nuisance to you or worthless, it could be something someone else really wants or NEEDS.   I believe we can sustain ourselves if we work together.  We saved a lot of money by not having those trees hauled off by the tree cutter and they saved a lot of money by not having to buy firewood.   What a wonderful blessing!

P.S.  If anyone needs a tree cut down at a very reasonable price, let me know and I’ll give you his number.