Black Friday Thrifting Finds

Well, Luke is napping (cue Hallelujah chorus), so I thought I’d show some thrifting finds.  My mom, sister, and I always head out to Goodwill on Black Friday, because everything in the store is 50% off.  If you get there between 7 and 9 am, you get an extra 10% on top of that.  60% off at the thrift store? You better believe my butt is in line at 6:45 waiting patiently outside! :)

Half of these pictures were taken outside or inside our storage unit, since we moved 3 days later.  Yes, I was snapping pictures in the storage unit.  My husband really, really loves me. :)

Anyway, on to the pictures!

My most absolutely favorite item was this Pier 1 indoor wicker chair….for TWENTY BUCKS!!! I just want to sit and pet it, I love it so much.  It needs to be re-stained, but I just don’t care.  It’s lovely.

   

It came with this cushion, which unfortunately got smooshed before I got a good picture of it:

I also purchased two soft pillows:

A beautiful curtain that hopefully my mom will help me make into pillows whenever it is that we finally end up getting our own house someday:

Super-soft kids-size sleeping bag and green easy chair slipcover:

Giant mirror that I will hopefully use above a mantel (sideways, of course):

Caddy (great for storing markers and crayons); super cheap toys and book for Luke.  Some of his Christmas gifts are thrifted.  Hopefully that makes me a frugal mom and not a cheap one. I figure it will be years before he realizes that they’re not from the store, and they will bring him just as much joy!  (Don’t worry, I Clorox everything I get from there.  Even the board books can be wiped down.)

I love love love this wire basket – it was only about 15 cents on sale!  The birdie may get a spray paint of white and the wooden caddy will also probably hold crayons in a playroom in its future life. 

Cutie pie lamp and curtain rod:

 

Cool circle frame and 3-picture frame.  I am envisioning this “Together” frame spray-painted apple-green or bright orange, for some reason??

I keep finding these woven wicker balls!  They are so fun and Pottery-Barnish!  Loving them! 

Lastly, I couldn’t resist this print (even through it’s crooked and I have to shift it) of a little blonde boy painting at the beach.  Too cute.  Perfect for a playroom, which hopefully we will have soon!

Speaking of a playroom, we found a great house…only to find out that it’s a short sale.  EW.  If you know anything about short sales, you know that the name is highly ironic, because they are anything but short.  We love the house so much that we decided to go ahead and put in our offer last night….however, the bank doesn’t have to respond back to us until FEBRUARY 28TH.  And even then, they don’t have to respond; we can just legally back out of our contract then.  THAT’S SEVENTY-ONE DAYS FROM NOW.  I love my parents but I need to be in my own place again, and I need it SOON.  So Chris and I are going to wait until after the holidays and then talk about getting a month-to-month rental.  Our realtor said he has one that we could rent. 

The frugal side of me knows it would be really smart to save money and stay here, the mommy side of me wants to keep Luke here so he has one less transition in his life, the wife and homemaker side of me really wants her own house to decorate again, and the rational side of me just keeps saying that even if they respond then, we are easily looking at mid-April by the time inspections and all that are said and done and we are moved in. 

The house is worth waiting for…it’s just a question of where we wait….for possibly FOUR MORE MONTHS.  Ahhhhhhhhhh.

Anyone feel like sharing their opinion?  I’m all ears.  Or eyes.  Whatever.  :)

Weight Loss and House Updates

As far as the house situation goes, we are good to go!  We got a call on Saturday night that our buyer decided NOT to re-test; she is going to “chance” it and move in anyway!  Is that not craziness?!  I said to Chris, “It’s literally like God is moving her right into our house for us!”  We are still scheduled to close on the 29th. More good news is that our attorney’s office called, and they’re fed-exing (yeah spell-check does not like my new word) the documents to us this week.  All we have to do is sign them in front of a notary, fed-ex them back, and we don’t even have to attend closing!  This is also wonderful news because the attorney’s office is nowhere near my in-laws; we were either going to have to pray Luke survived a good hour or so in the offices or leave him with my in-laws and drive in the opposite direction to go back and pick him up. 

So my house is actually selling.  MY HOUSE IS SELLING! No more pregnancy tests needed for me!  For real, I feel like I’ve lost about 50 pounds of worrying.  I am a much more fun person to be around this week.  haha

Speaking of weight, I told you all that I had a goal of 4 pounds lost by Thanksgiving.  Well, as of today I’ve lost only 2.5.  I got a really bad cold/sinus infection last week, and it’s still lingering.  My ear is still blocked up pretty bad, so I’m not sure what I’m going to do about that.  Anyway, all that to say that I did not do Zumba like I had planned, and I know that would have helped.  My current goal is to just maintain my weight through this weekend (I have to survive TWO Thanksgiving meals!) and then start Zumba when I’m back and feel totally better. 

Us and our little Turkey last Thanksgiving

I can’t believe Thanksgiving is only two days away! It truly is my favorite day/weekend of the year.  Thanksgiving for me involves watching the parade on tv with my sister, eating my mom’s delicious meal, then going to a big post-dinner party at a family friend’s house with a bunch of families I’ve known my whole life.  We play games and eat desserts and it’s a lot of fun.  The only early-morning line I stand in on Black Friday is the Goodwill line – our local Goodwill has 50% off EVERYTHING in the store that day!  It is a madhouse but it is so much fun.  Then we usually come home and help my parents decorate for Christmas. 

This year we’ll be hopping in the car on Friday night (so Luke will sleep), loading up the U-Haul in PA, and driving it back on Monday.  We’ll celebrate Thanksgiving with Chris’s extended family on Saturday.  It will be a whirlwind, but still so much fun. 

And when we come back, I can finally play Christmas music without feeling like I’m cheating on Thanksgiving! hahaha

I won’t be posting again til next Tuesday because I’ll be so busy with everything.  I want to thank those of you who have told me via comments or e-mail you’re praying – it means SO much to me!  Have a WONDERFUL holiday, everyone!

So……….

I think when your life is so stressful and you feel so nauseated every day from worrying all the time that you actually think you’re pregnant and then you take a test and it’s negative and you realize that you’re actually nauseous from all the stress……

it’s time for a vacation. 

Oh, good gracious. 

Last Monday, we were told that all of our buyer’s inspections had passed with flying colors.  On Wednesday, we were told that there had been a paper-work mix-up, and there was actually a biiiiig problem with one of the facets of our home.  We traveled back to PA this weekend to pack up our entire house and to try to fix the problem.  It is getting re-inspected tomorrow.  If it doesn’t get fixed, we most likely won’t be able to close on the 29th.  Honestly, I’m not sure what we’ll do if it doesn’t get fixed. 

If you know me in real life, please don’t mention this to my parents – I don’t want them to worry.  The problem sounds very scary when you say it out loud!

We need a miracle tomorrow - and most importantly that this inspector does a better job than we were told he did last time!  I would so, so appreciate anyone who is willing to pray for us.  At this point, our buyer does not want to back out; she is confident the problem will be fixed (as is our realtor and Chris).  Mostly I think I’m the only one who’s getting an ulcer over here. 

Our buyer actually stopped by the house on Saturday since she saw our car in the driveway, so we got to talk to her for a few minutes, which was a good thing.  It reminded me that she is a real person, not just the negotiator on the other side of the contract who is getting our house for a steal plus all of our brand-new appliances which we (stupidly) wrote into the seller’s disclosure instead of using them as leverage. 

It took me a while after moving here before I realized that I needed to start praying that God would use our house to bless another person and meet their needs – not just ours.  Our buyer is a single woman with two college-aged kids who just got told she had to leave the apartment she was renting because it changed landlords.  I still feel that this house would bless her, too, so I am trying to stay confident that God will see this through. 

I won’t be back until Friday, mostly because I’m joining the Favorite Things Party at 320 Sycamore and even though I feel overwhelmed, I loved participating last year and I don’t want to miss it.  So I’ll see you then, and hopefully with good news!   

P.S. My blog is under construction, so bear with us while things get switched around temporarily!

Miscellany Monday {3}

1.  We’re here in sunny Connecticut.  I am surrounded by boxes and boxes of items that still need to be unpacked.  So, clearly, I am blogging. 

2.  On August 15, 2008, we were in an attorney’s office, signing the papers to close on our house.  On August 15, 2010, we locked our house up to move.  Isn’t that freaky?! 

3.  My situation here could probably best be described as a domestic adventure.  I have no idea exactly how this is all going to work out – with all of the possessions that we brought crammed into our bedroom and Luke's little room.  It is forcing me to be creative with space, which is never a bad thing.  It’s crazy to me, though, when I’m traveling somewhere, to realize how I can survive with so much less.  But will that stop me from yard-saling?  Ha!  What do you think? ;)

4.  It was so interesting to me to read all of your different opinions about what to do with my cabinets!  2 people said beadboard, 7 said chalkboard, and 7 of you said definitely-not-chalkboard, go with art.  The fact that so many of you were so adamant against the chalkboard paint made me feel even more uneasy about the decision to do it – and then I was really freaking out!  lol

Thankfully, Lindsay saved the day!  I have a Nester-style wall of plates in my dining room, and she just suggested I add more white plates to the sides of the cabinets.  I absolutely loooooove the way it came out!  The girl is a genius.  :)

 

{Please know that this is totally a staged picture for the realtor.  My house is never that clean in real life.  hahaha}

5.  Have you all tried Starbucks’ “perfect oatmeal”?  It will change your life.  I am a loser if I’ve been thinking about that oatmeal for 3 days, right? 

6.  Lastly, just for fun, one of all-time favorite YouTube videos. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OBlgSz8sSM

Happy Monday!  I’m off to attempt to organize my life. :)

Packing Up and Leaving

These past few weeks have been totally, utterly insane at our house.  We have been working non.stop. on the house in preparation for the realtor coming today.  On a positive note, our house is cleaner than it’s been….well, ever. 

The number he gave us today was lower than we were both hoping for, but he’s been in the business for 30 years and he told us he wanted to price it aggressively.  After initially bawling my eyes out to my husband (after the man left), I’ve realized (since Chris talked me through it, lol), that it is probably the better move for us.  We’re staying with my parents until our house sells, and while I love my family, the faster, the better!  Extra money would have been nice, but a couple thousand dollars can make the difference between a house selling in 6 months or 2.  I am still not 100% happy with the number, but I am at peace with the decision. 

It’s the last few days in our house, and I’m definitely starting to get sentimental.  We have put our heart and soul into this place over the last two years, and I’m going to miss it.  We have literally changed almost every surface in this house.  Chris and I have both said before that it basically feels like we built this house, for all the changes we put into it.  Anyone who comes to see it always comments on how crazily different it looked on the day we moved in.  It was – and always will be – our first home, and the place we brought home our first baby.  I think I will probably bawl my eyes out again at closing when we have to hand the keys to the new owners. 

Anyway, tonight we are finally taking it easy.  We ordered pizza and we are just going to lay around and do nothing and probably watch a bunch of episodes of Seinfeld when Luke goes to bed.  The rest of the week will be spent seeing friends, finishing up a few projects, and then my parents will be here this weekend to help us move and prepare to leave on Sunday. 

So, other than a giveaway (come back tomorrow!!), I won’t be around the rest of this week. 

However, within the next two weeks, you can expect the following posts:

- how to get started with clean eating
- healthy fats and misconceptions about them (wow, I sound like a PBS special)
- Luke’s birthday, part 2
- hopefully a whole bunch of house before and afters!

See you on the flip side! ;)

Design Help!

Okay guys, I could definitely use some opinions here. As you know, we are in the process of super-speedily selling our house to move to CT.

So before I go on and explain my design/decor problem, let me just say that we have *no time* to paint our kitchen cabinets - otherwise I would have done it, b/c clearly that would have solved my problem.

So, here goes…

The dipwads (trust me, it’s merited – wait ‘til I show you the before and afters) that lived in this house before us thought it would be a great idea to hang those crappy sticky-poster-hangers on the sides of the crappy veneer/fake wood/whatever it’s called cabinets.

When they left the house, they also left us with this:

Now, here’s my problem. Clearly, it needs to be covered, but I’m not sure what my better option is. I can only think of 2 solutions so far.

1. Paint both sides with chalkboard paint (which I already have, so I wouldn’t need to buy it). Chris isn’t crazy about this idea, and I understand his point – someone might hate that.

2. Try to find two matching, long photos/pieces of artwork that we could hang/tape/whatever over the sticky marks. The downside of this is that our realtor is coming to take pics on Tuesday, and we have a serious lack of extra money right now.

So if it was you, what would you do?? Go bold with the chalkboard paint since you already have it in the house, and risk your homebuyer hating it? Or spend who knows how much time and/or money to go with the safer option? Or go with a third option that you are going to share with me in the comments? :)

I should also mention that today is our 4-year-anniversary. We spent the whole day sweating, painting, and stripping wallpaper. It’s okay though, because my DH has promised that we can go to the Cheesecake Factory in Providence together next month after we’ve moved. I can handle anything if there’s a 7-Layer Chocolate Cake in my future. :)

Our wedding day, 8/5/06Atlantic city, 7/19/10

Happy anniversary, sweetheart! I love you!

If you have advice on my kitchen problem, I’m all ears!

Or eyes. whatever. ;)

My Beach-Inspired Summer Mantel

When you grow up in New England, you spend a lot of time at the beach. I was very lucky to grow up in Coastal Connecticut, and then every summer we took vacations to Mount Desert Island, Maine (home of Acadia National Park – if you’ve ever considered vacationing in Maine, this island can’t be beat!).

Through the years, I’ve collected a lot of sea glass, shells, sea-smoothed rocks, and even driftwood. My bathroom has a year-round “beachy” feel to it; I love being reminded of home every time I’m in there.

I alluded to this on Sunday, but I wanted to show you guys my summertime mantel:

Every natural item (except for the moss) was collected personally by me. Since most of these items came from God Himself :), it really cost me hardly anything when all totaled up.

I collect these glass jars with corks; they’re so easy to find at yard sales and flea markets. Mine have cost between $.25-$1 a piece. Usually these four are upstairs in my bathroom with the rest of my collection, but I decided to bring them downstairs for the summer. Some I leave empty, some I like to fill with shells of one color, and some I like to fill with various bigger items that have caught my eye:

I found this great old jar at a yard sale last year for $3.75. Normally I would never pay that much, but I thought it was too cool to pass up:

Here’s the other side of the mantel:

The two blue-green jars were yard sale finds ($.10 and $.25):

For the jute wrapped-jar, I just took a thrift-store glass that Lindsay found for me (for $.45 on sale!) and wrapped some twine around it. These are all over Ballard Designs’ spring and summer catalogs.

I saw distressed white candlesticks in the Spring Pottery Barn catalog, and I knew I could easily replicate it. I took my original candlestick (you can see it in this post), gave it a very rough coat of Heirloom White spray paint (that I did on a very windy cold day so it looks totally horrible) and sanded it down:

I am in love!

You’ve already seen my thrift-store “greenhouse” that I filled with moss:

And underneath all of the items I just chucked my last scrap of burlap left over from all of these projects.

But the “piece de resistance” is my lovely piece of driftwood, straight from the shores of Maine:

Isn’t it so beautiful? I love how rugged and curvy it is at the same time.

(I am all about being a responsible beach-goer; this wood was away from the beach, closer to the pavement, and it’s the only piece I took.)

So, there you have it! My serene, beachy mantel. :) I shopped the house for everything, but even if I had purchased all of these items, I still would have come in for under $10. That’s the way I like it! :)

Linked to:

Frugalicious Friday @ Finding Fabulous
Weekend Showcase @ Tatertots and Jello
Sunday Showcase @ Under the Table and Dreaming
Mantel Party @ The Stories of A 2 Z

My French-Inspired "Mantel"

I use the word mantel loosely above because I don't actually have a fireplace. Nope, just a found-on-the-side-of-the-road entertainment center (ha! I use that word loosely, too!) that houses our tv and accessories. My husband and I don't have cable, so we couldn't really justify spending a bunch of money on entertainment center. Although that's not to say I don't wish all the time that we had something nicer.......

Moving on!

As I went through most of my Valentine's decorations this year, I realized that most of them were incredibly cheesy and just weren't "me" anymore. I only saved about two or three things. My mantel has just a hint of the pink and sweetness needed to make it "Valentiney" without being overkill.

Even though it needs to be spray painted come spring, I am in love with this great Eiffel Tower I found at a thrift store last week, and it gave me the "Frenchy" idea.

I went through my stash of ribbon and saw this pink piece of tulle and wrapped it around my candle holder, securing it with a straight pin.

The XOXO acessory was from TJ Maxx a year or two ago and one of my fave finds ever (only $7.99!). I added my strand of pearls around the bottom to girly it up a little bit more.

I took my $1 apothecary jar and filled it with white and pink vintage buttons from my stash. I put a piece of dried hydrangea in it and cut out the word "France" from a piece of 25-cent scrapbook paper I got this week on sale at Michael's.

It's funny how you can put anything in glass and it adds such a touch of elegance to it!

All combined, it makes me feel like I'm in a little French ballerina's dressing room every time I look at it. Simple and girly without being overkill - works for me!

Find more great "mantels" every Friday at Beth's party!

Also, find other pink ideas at Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound!

Check out other great home ideas at Finding Fabulous!

My Stop on The Nester's Tour of Homes

Welcome everybody! I'm so glad you're here to visit! About 95% of what you'll see in my house was purchased at yard sales, Goodwill, or the flea market, but if I did buy something at a "real" store, I'll be sure to let you know which one!

I am excited to sit down later this afternoon and drink a cup of coffee and check out everyone's links! I love using my 25 cent snowman mug (it's the little things in life, right?!) - if you enjoy coffee, check out my friend Kathy's fabulous Pumpkin Spice Latte recipe (made in the crockpot)!

While we're in the kitchen, here's the counter by the stove. I love the way those fat peppermint sticks (from the Dollar Tree!) look in my glass jar. Credit for this idea goes to Melissa from 320 Sycamore.

By the toaster, I mixed some jewel-toned ornaments (40 cents from Goodwill on Black Friday!) with one of my long pearl necklaces.

On top of the stove:

Hopping upstairs to the bathroom:

Moving on to the dining room, we have my yarn trees with a 25 cent tree that came with its own mini ornaments and lights!

I love this little tree and will let Luke have it in his room in a few years.

I've had this garland for years and still like it.

I know there are much cuter ways to display Christmas cards, but my mom always taped them to our kitchen door frame growing up and I've always done the same (just on our living room entry instead).

Above the bookcase, I wrapped the yard-sale tree with burlap. The two deer are one of my favorite yard sale finds ever.

Side table (bright ornaments are from Wal-Mart):

Other side table:

I found this pillow for $1.20 at Goodwill on Black Friday (don't worry, I washed it!).

I used to waitress at Cracker Barrel and I was able to purchase my Willow Tree set for only $13! It is one of my most favorite things and I like the juxtaposition of the sparkly ornaments with the rustic feel of burlap.

(Champagne ornaments - 12 for $1 at Dollar Tree)

This will be our last year of having a real tree for a while - I'm kinda sad about that but know it's for the best to avoid ingested needles and spilled water since next year Luke will be walking!

(Ribbon is $4.99 at Target this year.)

The ornaments are a mix of new and very old - a lot of them are very sentimental, either from old students of mine or places Chris and I have been or ornaments from Chris's childhood.

Two of my favorites are residing in clearance ornaments from Target - the very first two pictures of our baby, taken on December 2nd and December 11th last year.

They'll always hold a very special place in my heart.

That's the majority of my Christmas decorating!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a fabulous Christmas!