Monday

Mondays are hard.  

Hard for me to get out of bed.  

Hard to get the kids out of bed.  

Today it was pouring down rain.  

Nothing worse than a rainy, dark Monday morning.  

After some coffee, I made it through the day with 19 kindergartners.  

Home to snuggle with my little people 

by a warm fire was just what we all needed.  

Yes, this is how he fell asleep.  On the couch cause he was "scared" in bed.  In his undies.  

Two nigh nights perfectly folded under his head. 

He must of had a long day at school too. 

********************************************************************************

Adele...my favorite. 

 Love.

 

Sunday.

Our Sunday started with blueberry pancakes.  Yum.

 We are still enjoying our blueberries from the summer.  

They are almost gone.  Perfect for pancakes.

My girl is all about fashion.  She is constantly drawing dresses and asking me which one I would like her to make for me.  We have been talking a lot about Fashion Design and the process, etc.  (I'm no pro.  My Hills episodes are actually paying off.)  She started her own "sketch book" this morning making dresses and putting them into her journal.  

Pretty. Darn. Cute.

 Jett's car and spider.  

 Sunday = LAUNDRY!!!

Here is a peek at what my bed looks like every week.  I HATE IT!  

I take that back.  I LOVE washing it and folding it. 

 I HATE putting it away.  

 Aren't my bright flowers from my friend Grace so cheery.  

THANK YOU GRACE!  

It was nice seeing you and your cute little people today!

 Look!  I put the laundry all away BEFORE the day was done!  

That is good for me.  

 I honestly can't remember the last time I relaxed on the couches downstairs (my favorite place to rest).  Today I think I got a good 10 minutes of relaxation...with my Henry of course.

This is what I saw.  

This little man zooming back and forth to the playroom.  

He was making his "house".  

Spiderman's house, that is.

 My little lady was working on MORE fashion.  

This time superhero outfits.

 My "art gallery" in the making.  

Can you tell how high I can reach.  

Pretty funny.  

Bath+Jammies+Books = both babes asleep by 7:30

Another Happy Sunday.

I am turning into my Mom

Growing up and still to this day my Mom is all about the deals and buying things years ahead of when anyone might need them.  I have never done this.  I always buy for the present time...thinking I won't like it 6 months or a year from now AND don't want to store it.  

Well...today was the day.  Today I bought a winter coat for NEXT winter.  Yep, Jett now has a winter coat that will probably last him for 2 more years.  Can you believe I have never done this?  I am all about the bargains, but can't get myself to think that far ahead.  

We headed to TJ Maxx this afternoon to find this Mama a purse.  We left the store with nothing for Mama (story of my life.  Why does every purse I love cost over $150?) but check out the deal for the day.

I got this adorable coat...

that used to cost this much...

for this much!

DEAL!

What my kitchen looks like

on a regular basis.



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In the spotlight...again!

My two cuties made it into a local magazine for the second time!  

 Here is Seri showing off her spider hat we made in October.

 And here is my little man.  This was when he was 18 months in our old house.  He created an awesome painting on a canvas...and the floor...and all over himself.  

Isn't he cute?  Miss that little baby face.

This was the beginning of my little artist.

You can check out the whole magazine here.

Wednesdays

I hate going to the grocery store...especially after work.   

But...I do love my new receipt holder and the $10.00 I saved on groceries.

Gotta love Etsy!

*One of my goals this year is to use coupons.  Not just cut them out and then never use them.  Actually USE them.  I have been really good about them for almost a month now and it is amazing how much money you can save.  Especially when good old Walmart honors all of them.

My weekend, My kitchen, Mr. Home Depot and Me

While my sister and I shopped this weekend at Home Depot, we ended up meeting Mr. Home Depot.  Well, that's not his real name but it could be. He was FULL OF INFORMATION.  We drug him around the store for over an hour asking questions.  Once Tori was done asking all of her flooring and cabinet questions, I hit him up with some of my kitchen questions I have always wondered.  

Like...How can I tell if my kitchen floor tiles' grout is sealed?  This lead him to showing me the commercial cleaner I should clean it with...not anything in the cleaning aisle.  Here is it.

  

It's amazing.  Spray it on the grout.  Let it sit for 15 minutes.  Scrub it with a brush.  Wipe it clean.  

AMAZING!  

Soooo...my kitchen floor has always bothered me but I didn't really know what to do or how to clean it.  I guess over time I just got used to it.  Honestly, I am kind of embarrassed to show these pictures because of how bad it was now that I see how clean it can be.  

WOW!  2 hours of hand scrubbing later, my arms are SUPER sore, but my floor is SUPER clean!  

Everytime I walk into the kitchen, I feel like I have a new floor.

So, here it is.  I forgot to take a completely BEFORE picture, so this picture is half and half.  The part on the left I did a quick trial clean. The right side is the FILTHY side.  Gross!

AFTER

Here is it...all nice and clean.  Such a difference.

  

My second question for Mr. Home Depot was how to change the color of grout.  I told him about my back splash grout that is salmon.  (I am sure to match the salmon colored moldings and fireplace there once when I moved in.)  I hated it.  I have thought about taking a bleach pen to it, painting it, anything to change it.  Well...come to find out there is grout dye!  $11.00 later, I had this little bottle of magic.

Before

Here is my pink grout.

I used a paint brush to wipe on the dye into the grout.  I didn't have to worry about getting it on the tile, because 10 minutes later when it had dried just a little, it wiped right off the tile, leaving my ugly pink grout....white!!!

After

I love it now!  

Before

After

Soooooo much better!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU Mr. Home Depot!  

For $20.00 my kitchen got a HUGE facelift!

Up next on my weekend list, sealing the ugly cracks in the top of our kitchen table that were full of glitter and playdough.  

Followed by a nice fresh coat of white glossy paint.  

so. much. better.

As I sit here typing, my arms are absolutly 

killing me from all the scrubbing.  

Ugh.

I need to go to bed.  

Thank goodness there is no school tomorrow!

I leave you with a picture of two little happy feet wearing his new rain boots I found at an estate sale this weekend...

for a mere .50 cents!

My Thrifty Finds This Week.

I found this for $3.99 this week.

A gold lilac on a fake piece of wood.  

Pretty ugly, but knew it had potential.  

*I love the strange looks I get from people when I am buying crazy things that I plan to paint.  

I just smile like I am in love with it how it is.  

Little do they know it will have a major transformation.

I painted it white.  

 Now I love it and it looks great with the one down the hall.