family

More bedroom...

Oh, did I have the best night's sleep last night.  I was dreaming about my newly designed bedroom.  Is it perfect?  No...If I had my way, I'd buy all new furniture.  Since that isn't going to happen any time soon, I am just going to look past it...

Here are a couple more photos I took this morning.  Nothing special, just bits of my dresser.  I'm trying to decide what to put in that pitcher.  Hydrangeas?  And don't you just love that frame?  I bought it yesterday at Home Goods for $7.99, along with the birdie for $4.99.  I have never really liked how the dresser was decorated before...a couple of 8x10 photos of me and Keith from at least 14 years ago.  Lovely, huh?

 

 

So, now that the bedroom is almost complete, I am already thinking about our dining room.  :)

Re-Design

Whew!  I'm exhausted.  Why did I choose the last two weeks of school to start my bedroom redesign?  I've have been up til midnight all this week, my mind swimming with thoughts about our master bedroom.  Seven years ago I LOVED the dark red color that I painted my walls and have loved them everyday since then...up until about a month or so ago.  And so began my quest for a new "look" for the master bedroom.  I love getting inspiration from magazines and online...and my eye has been drawn to the "coastal" look lately.  It goes perfectly in our home as we do live in The Sunshine State.  After having such a deep dark color for all these years (7?) I decided to go to the opposite end of the spectrum with a light, light blue.  So, without further ado, here's our new master bedroom...

Here is the "before" photo

 

During...That is primer on the walls.  I can't believe how awesome the paint went on over top of it.  I only had to do one coat.  I'm way too impatient for two coats.  I bought the Lowe's brand of primer for covering dark paint and I totally recommend it.

 

Ta-da!!!  The final product!  Of course I still need to add some finishing touches and that candle thingy over the bed needs to be screwed in better because it's practically falling off the wall, but hey, I needed a quick photo.

The bed:

 

 

Here is the breakdown:

Bedding from Ballard.  A total steal at just about $100 for the quilt and euro shams.

Throw pillows from Pottery Barn and Pier One.  I also got the chocolate brown throw at the bottom of the bed at Pier One.  It was on clearance.  :)

Reading chair:

Don't you just love that little white pillow?  I picked up that little baby at Home Goods today for $16.99.  I also will be receiving this adorable little nugget any day now.  Can't wait to put it in my favorite talking-on-the-phone chair.

 

And my all-time favorite thing about my new room is the drapes...these are canvas painters dropcloths I purchased at Lowe's for under $10 each.  They measure 6 feet by 9 feet.  The edges are even hemmed...all I had to do was clip them onto the hooks.  I love love love how they look!!!  Yes, I realize they need to be ironed and properly arranged but for now I am going to leave them so I can keep staring at them lovingly.

 

And one more photo...

Oh ya, the paint is from Lowe's.  Both colors are Olympic Paints...Morning Fog on top and Bone White on the bottom.  I have a few more little details to show off but I'll do that later this week.  Thanks for humoring me.  :)

Money-saving Monday

Well, I got through Monday without spending any money.  Wahoo!!!  I did, however, spend money yesterday.  I went to SuperTarget and ran through McDonald's drive-thru.  :(  Here's the run-down:

What I spent:

$9.49 - McDonald's

$147.80 - Target

I will end up saving about $28 because I am returning a pair of boots I bought for Kenadie's costume for the book character parade today.  The boots I bought were $17 and I was going to spray paint them red.  I ended up using a pair of $5 boots that I bought for Kayleigh a couple years ago.  I am also returning something that I thought I had a coupon for...turns out that I didn't read the fine print.  I was too lazy to look through the bags at the check out, so I'll just return it with the boots.

How I saved:

I saved $28.60 with coupons at Target.  I was armed and ready to shop.

I also refrained from buying these:  I think they just may be a little too beachy for the look I am going for.  I went so far as putting in the credit card numbers...but then I canceled the sale.  I don't want to get ahead of myself.  Proud of me?

Also, I got $75 in Amazon gift cards today.  We have an Amazon credit card that rewards you with GC's.  :)  And you know that you can go through Amazon to buy almost anything! I am thinking that I will use the money to put towards our master bedroom makeover.  :)

MONTHLY TOTAL: $303.24

 

My perfect afternoon

Ha!  Another perfect post.  Seriously, our lives around here are far from perfect, but this afternoon I think I came as close to it as I could.  There I sat (uninterrupted) on the sofa with coffee in hand watching the Sex and the City movie (my new favorite!!! I cried through the entire thing) and poring over various home decor magazines and catalogs.  I've got my master bedroom on my mind.  I think I've convinced Keith of my color choice.  Here are my design-inspired rooms courtesy of Pottery Barn and West Elm.

Oh and the not-so-perfect portion of the day was when we were cleaning up Kenadie's room and Keith found a giant Easter egg (you know, the one's you put candy and goodies inside?) with unrine in it.  Yes, my four year old girl urinated in an Easter egg today.  The gross thing about it was that I wasn't even going to pick up her room tonight but it was such a mess because the girls built a fort in there this morning.  Can you imagine the smell if I would have left it overnight?  We never thought we'd have to tell our children (or anyone for that matter) that Easter eggs are not for urinating in.

A perfect day

Today was a perfect day.  Even Kayleigh told me that this was her favorite day so far this year.  Then she added that she might have a better day when we're on our Disney Cruise in June.  Haaa!  Keith's work had a team that participated in the Tampa Dragon Boat Races today.  It was lots of fun watching the races from the Marriott Waterside.  The girls and I did not get to see Keith's third race because Kenadie had soccer at 2:00...and boy was it a scorcher!!  We all came home and napped, then we went to Outback for dinner.  YUM!!!  I can suck down those Wallaby Darned drinks like there's no tomorrow.  But I was good and only had one. 

 

 

 

 

Sooo, on to the budget.  I did terrible.  I'm so ashamed.  It all started when I went to park and the garage was charging $5.00.  Well, I never have cash on me so I had to drive around looking for a downtown bank that actually had their lobby open.  Of course the bank I found charged me $3 to take $20 out.  Then we get there and want something to eat.  We all walked around looking for food and by the time we found what we wanted and had paid for it, Keith finds out that we could have eaten for free at the Marriott.  Good-bye $16.  Here's how it breaks down:

May 2

How I saved:

Did not go to Starbucks...in fact I didn't even have coffee this morning at all.

What I spent:

$20 gas

$23 ATM

$16 food

$13 Snacks for soccer...it was my week to bring it.

$68 Outback

TOTAL:  $140

TOTAL THIS MONTH: $145.95

Money Saving May

So, it's the first of May and this month I am challenging myself to see how little I can spend...of course things like the mortgage, electric, etc, are a must.  I know I could be saving a lot more each month if I tried a little harder.  I thought I'd share some of the things that I plan to do to save a little moolah.  I have some home decorating to do this summer!

1.  Post my goals...for right now it's to spend less and account for each and every thing I spend.

2.  No Starbucks!  That's an easy one...I like my coffee at home just as much.

3.  Use coupons.  I've been doing this for a few weeks and I have to admit, it's kind of fun.  Sorta like a game I play with myself to see how much I can save.

4.  Eat more meals at home...I'm already saving money with the coupons, right?  This will save us lots more.  We spend way too much on food.

5.  DIY...I'm going to start doing more things myself.  I even gave myself a pedicure the other day...I can't remember when the last time I did that.  It was cheap and quick and I got to watch The Real Housewives while I did it. 

6.  Make lunches at home...no more school lunches this year. 

I'm sure there are TONS more I could do to save myself (and Keith) money.  What are some of your money-saving tips?

I know that a couple people have already told me they are going to do this with me.  Be sure to post your progress on your blogs.

May 1

What I spent: $5.95 on another month's subscription for Club Penguin for Kayleigh.  I could have bought a 6 month or a year membership, but I didn't even want to spent the one-month subscription price.

How I saved: 

• Returned our library books ON TIME today...no late fees for us this time

• Found two Starbucks giftcards in a purse I haven't used in a while...I may have money on them.

Spent this month: $5.95

            

Long Time No Post

So, is 6 months a long time to go without posting?  I don't know what has kept me so busy...I even had a student teacher in my class for the past four months.  Yesterday was Ms. Jones' last day so we had a little celebration for her.  Each student brought in a new book to help build her classroom library.  I added the notecards and book labels.  :)  (Oh, I got the idea for the notecards from an Etsy store.  I hope it was okay that I borrowed her idea.)

  

Yesterday was also our volunteer appreciation breakfast so I made what I make best....CUPCAKES!  Who doesn't want to eat cupcakes for breakfast???  They can't be any worse than cinnoman rolls, right?

 

I am going to share two more things I've got going on this month in a little bit.  Happy Friday!!!