A new dress

A couple weeks ago I went to the Just Between Friends sale to see what kind of spring clothes I could find Kiera.  I came across this adorable dress and I think it was priced at $10 which ended up being my splurge purchase because it was too cute to pass up.  And when I went to check out everything was 20 or 30% off so it only cost $7!  Uh spending $10 on a dress really isn't a splurge but when it is a consignment sale I consider $10 quite pricey.  When I came home to show Kiera everything I bought I showed it to her last.  She was in love and it was the winner for her spring/class pictures this week.

It was a little chilly that morning so she didn't want to put her hands down.  I make her go outside for the sunlight that is lacking in the house during early morning.  Not to worry, I sent her to school with a jacket on and she was fine.  

I would love to take her out and get some pictures of her out and about but she just doesn't want to listen to me when I try take her picture.  Maybe I will have to find a photographer to get some pictures of her...or take her to JC Penny's like she begs every time we are near the studio.  We shall see.

Bedroom Curtains

I have mentioned that I am on a mission to change up a few things in our house to make it more of ours instead of the people that previously owned it.  Not that we didn't love how they had it decorated/painted we (maybe just I) wanted to make it more of our own.  here is our bedroom now.  The only thing that is the same from when we moved in is the fan, paint and headboard thingy and lamps. 

 

One of the things on the list was to replace our bedroom drapes.  I bought them in 2003 when Jimmy moved in together for the final time when we decided to get married the next year.  They were in our living room and when we ought our house in 2006 they went up in the bedroom since our house came with living room drapes which I already switched out.

(The curtains above are the same below to the left)

  Since I have added the new-ish nightstands and comforter they really weren't meshing with the rest of the room.  I knew I wanted a bold type pattern since everything else is pretty simple and I contemplated making some curtains but never made it out to to a fabric store since I would have to drive to Tulsa.  Yeah I work in Tulsa but I don't take a lunch since I spend my lunch hour taking Kiera to school in the morning.  Hobby Lobby is the closest thing to our house and I just wasn't feeling what they had in stock.  So one day in Target I came across these. 

They were $24.99 a panel.  Sheesh, I know most panels cost that much but thinking of spending $100 for curtains hurts.  At least I found something I liked.  Then next day I went online to see if they could have been cheaper and they were by $2.  I decided to measure the windows to see what size I would need and decided that I could probably get away with just buying 2 since they were wide enough to cover each window and then some.  By now I was obsessed with the curtains and went back online to check on them the next day.  Guess how much they were...$12.49 a panel!  Are you freaking kidding me?  Half off?  Immediately I asked Jimmy's mom if I could use their credit card to purchase them since we have no card of any sort.

After they arrived in the mail I immediately hung one up in Jimmy told me the one curtain looked stupid and I needed to buy 2 more.  Dang it!  So the next time I got smart and looked around for a promo code online and found one for 10% off.  It only took like $2.70 off my purchase but that is better than nothing since I had to pay for shipping again.

While waiting for the 2nd set to arrive I went to town on making a ghetto blackout curtain (we like it dark at night) since the new panels aren't lined and I didn't want to tamper with the actual curtains.  This was my sewing practice.  I had a spare lonely cream colored flat sheet that I decided to cut  fit to the inside the window, and by using the edges of the sheet I only had to sew 4 out of 8 sides.  I left open a slit at the top part of the sheet so I could slide it over a tension rod.  It worked out perfectly.  If you look close enough in the second picture you can see my horribly crooked seam.  Like I said, practice. 

The light is blocked out at night but still lets light in during the day.  Overall I am very happy with how the bedroom is looking now.  (These pictures were taken at night with flash) 

I really do love the curtains though.  They have a nice subtle pattern which is what I wanted.  .  

garage sales

Last weekend I got out of the house nice and early to get gas in my car and grab my loooong awaited Toffee Nut Mocha from Starbucks.  I decided to hit up some garage sales since I was ALONE and knew there would be quite a few in town.  

It was a wonderfully lovely 1.5 hours of garage sale-ing. 

I ended up bringing home...

Camp Chair (our favorite kind)

Car Visor (for my car)

Fake lemon tree

1983 Christmas tree

Yellow Jar

Glass Vase

Mini Skeletons that Kiera lovingly decorated the Christmas tree with

I spent a whopping $5.75.  I only had $9 cash on me that way I don't just buy crap to buy it.  Not that I needed some of that stuff but I really wanted it.  And I am happy I got it all.   

lovely garage sale finds

While everyone was still asleep Saturday morning I went to pick up some donuts for the family as a surprise.  While I was out I decided to check out some garage sales. I was all alone and it was very lovely.  OK I had Berkley with me but that is alone enough for me.  And I went to just one garage sale.  I am a big driver by of garage sales to see if I actually want to stop or not.  I saw like 5 other garage sales but nothing looked like it was worth me stopping except for the one.  I always feel bad if I don't buy something from the people so I would rather not put myself in that situation.    

The very first thing I picked up was this semi truck with animals for Kiera.  I though she would love it because she could drive all the animals around.  She does love it.  She wants to take it everywhere.  

It wasn't until a while later that we realized it takes batteries.  The thing actaully makes noises like you are in the jungle.  If you have ever been to a jungle and know what that sounds like.  I never have but I would guess it sounds like bugs and the occasional elephant.    But the truck lights up lights up too!  The eyes on the side in the grass, the head and tail lights, and the green part inside where the animals are.  Pretty awesome for only $1!!

Then I picked up this full flat sheet to use as a tablecloth or something, you just never know.  It was too cute to pass up.  Gah the color sucks in this picture (since I cannot take pictures without daylight) but its baby blue and white gingham.

I got a new cover for my iPhone.  Zebra print really isn't my style but my other one was nasty and wouldn't stay on.  I can deal with zebra print 2 bucks. 

I also snagged this little bench for our front porch.  She only wanted $2 for it so I loaded that sucker up too.  She had another rickey one that pretty legs on it for $1 and I should have bought too but didn't .   

I'm not that crazy about the bird houses but Kiera loves bird houses so I will probably leave them.  I do plan on making a cute pillow on top to hide it.  Hopefully I can do that next weekend.

When I went to get the bench out of my trunk I grabbed a hold of something weird.  I turned it over and somehow didn't freak when I saw what it was.

Yuck.  Luckily nothing was in it.

What else was there, oh and a plaid summer dress which I wore that day but I don't have a picture of me in it.  

So I spent $7 all together.  They had a lot of other cute stuff but I wasn't in love with any of it so I passed on all of the rest and went home.  I never spend a lot at garage sales either.  I usually spend 10 bucks or less and I am good.  I try to only get stuff that I want badly and don't get things just because it is cheap.  Oh and I do not haggle the prices either.  I suck at it.  Alright I have never tried it because that just isn't me.  If you put $10 on something I will either buy it or I won't.  It doesn't even cross my mind to offer say $5 for it.   That's the whole shyness part of my personality coming out to rear it's ugly head.  

crafting like crazy

 Oh my goodness did I craft up a storm this weekend! 

First off I took Berkley to the vet Saturday morning because he has had a staff infection on his belly that just won't go away (he's all good).  On the way home I stopped by this Antinque store in Collinsville and make a quick run through and when I say quick I mean 15 minutes.  The have a ton of stuff in there.  I came across this cute little guitar.  When I was paying for it the sweet old lady said "Doesn't it remind you of Elvis?"  Ha!  I was happy she didn't jump to conclusions and think that I didn't know who he was.  Oh and I painted it with wall paint.  I do not own a single can of spray paint.  I know I am missing out on a great thing.  I have plans to buy some for a Christmas project!

Later while K-Dub was taking a nap I ran to good will to look for a couple shirts to recover one pillow and create another.  I found some shirts to use plus shirts for me to wear and a couple other little things for the house.  This first pillow was given to me by my friend Sarah G. in 2003 for throwing her a bridal shower.  She got it to match bedding that I just bought.  I used one seam of the shirt for one edge and hand sewed the rest.  Yep all hand sewn...even the ruffle.  No, I still haven't brought out the cabinet of a sewing machine that is hiding in K-Dub's closet.  All 3 of us love how it turned out!

 

Then came along this sweater pillow.  Jami posted it on like Thursday over at her blog and I fell in love with it.  What is even better is that I found the exact type of fabric I wanted in the exact color that I wanted at Goodwill!!!  SCORE!!!  I even made it the same way as her.   Hot glue and all!  It's just something to look pretty, not to be functional.

Don't they look lovely together?

 

Then I found this touch lamp that I also fell in love with.  I have been wanting to put a night light in Jimmy's bathroom in hopes that Kiera will just use the bathroom by herself in the middle of the night instead of waking me up.  We will see if it works.  

I have been wanting a hurricane style vase and found this one along with bag of random balls! 



So as you can see Goodwill had some awesome stuff just waiting for a new home!  Now I just need to bring out some stuff to donate back that I don't really need/use anymore.   

Boy Do I Know How to Shop

Last weekend we went to Claremore to check out the antique stores only they were closed because of the massive amounts of snow.  We decided to check out the Goodwill there since we have never been to that one before.  The prices were way lower than the one in Owasso.  We basically stole these items...

1.  BRAND NEW Columbia zip up hoodie Regular $48.00 - cost $4.99!!!!

2.  Angel fall decoration - Prolly cost $10 somewhere ~ paid $1.50

3.  "Vintage" (lol) Tupperware container that you can hardly see in this picture for our camp box silverware - $15.00 in the 1980's ~ paid $2.50

4.  Brand new frame from Kohl's $14.99 ~ it cost $1.00

That stuff could have cost us $87.99 and we only paid 10 bucks!  That was including tax people! 

I took the pictures in our wash room since it was night time and it has the best lighting.  I need to find something to use as a background though.

Property and Bargains

Last Saturday Jimmy, Kiera, and I headed back up to the property to hang out for the day since it was 70 degrees outside.  We climbed a hill, cooked hot dogs over the fire, took a walk, threw rocks in the river, relaxed.  We should have just camped.  It was great.

 

 

Let's play "Where's Berkley"

 

We also stopped at a number of junk stores that day to look for odds things to add to our camp box we are putting together.  This place rocked. 

Top right: Tablecloth (for camp box) 75 cents; Left: Pillow case (I plan to cut it up) 75 cents; Bottom left: Sheer tablecloth $1.00; Hot plate $3.00 and peeler 25 cents (both for camp box).

 All that for $5.75!!!!  That is sooo my mind of shopping!

Wonky Treasures

 So I never thought in my life that I would actually say this but I like thrift stores.  I can't tell you how many weekends my mom drug my brother and I to them when we were younger.  We would impatiently wait for her to finish looking through every stinking rack of clothing, and ask countless times "Are you finished yet?"

But hey, I was a teenager and of course it was so not cool to shop at the thrift stores.  At least she did luck out and find us lots of Abercrombie, Guess, etc.  So if anyone asked "Where did you get your shirt" we could always answer "Oh, I dunno my mom bought it.  It's Guess"  Whew, dodged that one.  

Now that I am older I have come to appreciate the awesome things you can find there.

Like this... 

 Jimmy absolutely hates the bird.  It's about 6 inches long and 4 inches tall and I paid $1 for it.  She is perched on our wine rack looking into the kitchen. There were 2 more like this that I wanted to get and place in random spots on top of our cabinets but decided against it.  Shoulda got them.  

Then there is this light (actually there are 2 of them).  I found them in an antique store, took a picture and show it to my mother in law.  She got them for me as a Christmas present 3 or 4 years ago.  They are still in a box in our attic.  They are the coolest lights I have ever seen.  Why aren't they hung?  A. Because there are can lights where I want to hang them and we would have to do some rewiring or something or buy $60 converter thingys and B. Because Jimmy thinks they don't match the house.  Everything in the living room/kitchen is some shade of green, dark red, and gold I think they would go just fine.    

Can't you just imagine how great they would look hanging over the bar?  I sure as heck can! 

Oooh, or the green decanter you see below to the right of the PS3.  It is from 1968 or something and I bought it about 9 years ago at a thrift store for $1.  I was actually able to find it somewhere online and it was worth like $18 which is probably what it sold for back then, but at least its held its value right? 

Shopping Day

Today was my 2nd favorite day of the whole year to go shopping (my 1st favorite is Black Friday).  I usually purchase items that can be given the next year as small little additional presents but  I also buy Christmas decorations for the tree or other random things.  It also gives me a morning completely to myself, to run around and take as much time as I want to just LOOK at things.  Everyone is usually just waking up by time I get back home.  Perfect! 

First off I get to Wal Mart at 6am.  I bought some random things, some of it was for us and some of it was for other people.  One of the things I bought for us were new red candy cane lights to go along the front walkway.  All 7 of mine had died since last year so I bought 7 more today.  I love them.

Target is where I buy the lights for my tree which are these adorable satin finish button lights.   I think they are on the verge of being discontinued so I grabbed 4 boxes, though I should have grabbed all 7 or 8.  I also got 2 of  the cutest little light up deer, and by little I mean 18 deer, that are wearing a Santa hat and scarf to put out in the yard next year!  I am standing in line and looking over my Wal Mart receipt and notice that they candy canes rang up at regular price not half price.  BOO!  So, I grab a Peppermint Mocha from Starbucks and head back to WalMart to get the difference back.

There I was back at Wal Mart and the lady who is getting ready to adjust the price whips out her phone and starts to calculate something.  I was hoping she wasn't figuring up what half of  $2.50 was.   Then I thought that maybe she was trying to figure out what the total difference was, but she still needed a calculator.  To me its simple math but I guess not everyone can figure it up in their head.  Here's how I do it...7 candy canes should have been $1.25 each so 7 = $7.00, 25 cents x 4 = $1, the that leaves 3 @ 25cents = 75 cents which totals 8.75 plus tax refund!  Go me!  

Today was a play day !