Goodwill Goodie Finish Friday

Well, summer has finally arrived!  Two days in the high 90s and three trips to the pool!  Softball ended this week and that will free up a lot of our time.  Not much planned for the rest of the summer ~ we went to Disney World at the end of May for vacation, so maybe a few day trips around Iowa.  Swimming lessons will be next week and the kids are excited about that. 

Onto this week's makeover!  I thought about just painting it black, but then decided to use black as the undercoat and give it a top coat of burgundy. 

I couldn't distress it as much as I would have liked because even with a heavy coat of black the original purple kept wanting to show through.  So just a light sanding and some wax, add a pip berry ring, and candle and here's the resulting display ~

Notice the candle board on top of the table ~ it was a previous makeover of a cutting board that I've now turned into a candle board.  Got to love the versatility of these prim makeovers!  I picked up the two crocks at the end of last summer for a steal ~ $5 for the large and $2.50 for the small.  Thought that they work well to prim up my plants.

Hard to believe that the 4th of July is here already.  I did manage to put a few extra Americana items out around the house.  I leave most of my Americana decor out year round ~ there's just something about the red, white, and blue that calls to me.  So much pride in it and for it!

Goodwill Goodie Makeover Monday ~ is BACK!!!

Yes ~ motivation has definitely returned!  Not one, not two, but 6 projects are in the works!!!  I figure that gives me 6 weeks of Goodwill Goodie Makeovers at least.  The pile has gone done slightly, a few have even been weeded out to return to Goodwill. 

So, what am I working on this week?  This ~

Now, I'm sure that everyone is thinking ~ "Why in the world would she change that beautiful thing?"  LOL!  I assure you that it will look even better by Friday.  The paint is dry and I'm going to try to get it sanded today.  Then I need to gather my other additions. 

Oh, does it feel good to get back at it.  With all the stress of buying another house, getting ours ready to sell, re-vamping the new one, showings of our current one, ballgames, practices, dance camps and classes, I needed a stress-reliever!

Motivation seems to have returned

Rain and 70 degrees?  Is it really the first day of summer?  I had planned to take the kids to the pool and spend the afternoon soaking in some sun, but the weather had other ideas.  In fact, it looks like it may be this weekend before it's warm enough to venture to the pool.  So, I've decided to sort through my pile of makeovers-in-the-waiting and see what I want to keep for the new home and what will find it's way back to Goodwill.

I have found a few pieces that I think will fit into the new kitchen.  It will be the first kitchen we have had that has the open tops on the cupboards ~ I'm excited to have that extra display space!  So I'll be putting the first coat of paint on this afternoon.  Check on Monday to see what I'm working on!  It feels good to be back at it!

Extreme Couponing

We just returned from a lovely weekend spent in Branson, MO.  While there, I had a chance to watch a few episodes of TLC's Extreme Couponing.  I can't decide if I'm impressed or repulsed by what I saw.  Yes, the amount of money that was saved was impressive.  However, the, what I would considering hoarding, behavior displayed was not.  I admit, I love getting that great bargain and saving all the money I can on items.  But to have a "stockpile" worth $75,000 and continuing to buy more and more because it's an awesome deal, is something that I have a problem with.  Dumpster diving, sneaking around at night going through other people's recycling bins in order to get more and more coupons, and stealing coupon inserts from people's newspapers sitting on their front porch ~ and making children help ~ signal some major problems.

I've clipped coupons, and sometimes actually use them.  My family is not brand-loyal.  The majority of the time, the generic is cheaper than the brand-name with a coupon.  Maybe it's because around here, our grocery stores do not double or triple coupons and don't have any type of loyalty card benefits.  It would be near impossible for me to duplicate what these people are shown doing on the show.  Not only that, but I don't think that I would want to.  Their houses are so full of items, it would take years to use everything that they already have, and yet they keep buying.  They spend hours and hours every week clipping coupons, hunting down coupons, surfing the web for coupons, and planning the next shopping trip.  What about their family?  I wonder how much time they actually are spending with their spouses and/or children, outside of couponing together.

They spend so much time planning, that some actually pre-order massive amounts of an item so that they won't clean the store out.  One lady purchased 400 boxes of cat food, 500 containers of yogurt, 150 boxes of cous-cous (which, by the way, her family had never eaten before), and 50 bottles of hot sauce.  Also included were bottles of sports drink, infant formula (her children appeared to be 5 and 7), and packages of pre-made noodles ~ 300 to be exact.  She had to separate everything into 8 carts so that the register didn't freeze.  Then as everything was being scanned, she stood there shaking and sweating and completely exhausted.  She had spent 24 hours planning this trip, searching the neighborhood at night with a flashlight going through recycling bins.  She hadn't even slept.

I wondered just how much time tracking down one coupon on the internet would take, so I gave it a shot today.  Two hours down, and I still can't find a single coupon.  I did find a toll free number that I can call once a month in order for coupons to be sent to me.  I was on hold for 10 minutes, so I hung up.  Maybe I'll try again tomorrow.  I'm sure that it's because I'm new at it, but I won't spend my entire day searching for coupons.  My family is too important. 

Couponing is great, I still will use one if I come across it, it is something that we actually use, and it makes it cheaper than the generic.  However, the behavior I witness on the show is not something that I want to duplicate.  Saving money is a good thing, but it is not worth dumpster diving for that 55 cents off the 353rd box of cat food.

M.I.A.

I'm still here!  I thought once the kids were at home on summer break, I would have a moment or two to start blogging again ~ yeah right!  Softball started the day after school let out, and it has been crazy ever since.

Big news to share ~ we are moving!  It has been a tough decision, but DH is now working 80 miles from home and will be at this dealership until at least the end of the year.  Then we don't know what he will be doing for the company, but it most likely will involve more travel.  Also, the Lord has been working hard on both of us on several things ~ I'll share in later posts.  Lots of praying has been going on and DH asked for a sign that we were moving in the right direction ~ and a house came up for sale that fit what we were looking for.  We looked at it, put in an offer, and the sellers accepted it.  Talk about a sure sign from up above!  So the acreage went on the market this week and now we are praying for a quick sell.  It would be great to be moved in by the time school starts in August, but we trust that it will sell in His time and not ours.

It's about half the size of our current home, so that means some downsizing has to take place.  I'm okay with that ~ it forces me to clear out the clutter, but it also means that I may have to retire my makeovers :(  So my blog may have to undergo a makeover.  Not sure yet ~ the makeovers may just have to take a leave of absence for awhile until we get all moving in.  Time will tell.

For now, I may just stick to sharing how the Lord is working in our lives during this transition.  Although, I'm not sure I can give up the Goodwill trips altogether :)

Another hard loss in the family...

Just a quick post to ask everyone to keep my husband's family in your prayers ~ one of his first cousins passed away suddenly yesterday.  She was 52 and a blood clot went to her lung causing her to die instantly.  She leaves behind her husband, 4 grown children ~ the youngest just graduated college last weekend and will be getting married in a few weeks, and 3 grandchildren.

All prayers are greatly appreciated.

I'm still here......

Ugh!  It's been waaaaaayyyy too long since I have posted, but please stick with me.  The last few weeks have been filled with too much sadness in my area ~ several deadly car accidents leaving children without their fathers, the passing of a family friend from cancer, and the passing of my dear grandpa.  I'm planning on a post dedicated to him shortly.  Knocks the wind out of a person.  These are the days that I am truly grateful for a loving Father and a strong faith knowing that He has everything in control.

There have been a few rays of sunshine though, and I plan on sharing those as well.  The makeovers are still on the back burner and begging to be moved to the front :)  If this crazy weather ever remembers that we are in April and not December ~ snow and sleet today, schools north of us let out early! ~ I could get back at it!

Please don't give up on me ~ I cherish each of my followers and your comments!  Let me know that you are still here!!