Ruby Begonia

Where were you when the world stopped turning?

2011-09-10T22:13:00.001-05:00

I hear that song by Alan Jackson every once-in-a-while and those memories still come flooding back. Every generation has at least one event that is burned in their memory so vividly that they remember exactly where they were and what they were doing at that time. September 11, 2001 is one for my generation.

I was working for Southern Company Services on the Trading Floor located in the Alabama Power building in downtown Birmingham. We always had several televisions on the floor watching the news, financial channels, etc... to see what might affect the power and gas markets. That morning, we were watching the news when they started reporting that an airplane had accidentally hit a building in New York City. I called my boyfriend (now husband) at home and told him to turn on the television. We were standing there watching as the second tower was hit. We now knew that this was no accident.

I remember being scared. We were at the power company! If this was a terrorist attack on the whole country, would we be a target? We had co-workers stranded in New Orleans because all flights were cancelled. Some were able to get a bus ticket to get back home. I remember one had his in-laws drive down to pick him up. There were no rental cars to be found. We were sent home early because no one knew what was going to happen.

I sat on my couch in my little one bedroom apartment, watching television, crying, and wishing that someone, anyone, was there with me. I would call my boyfriend at work and my mom at her work because I just needed to know that the people I loved were OK. I had to go gas up my car because it was low and the lines were horrible, prices already rising.

For days, I watched everything I could to try to figure out why. I was sick over all of the lives lost. I finally had to just turn it all off. I couldn't turn on my TV at home. I had to wear headphones and listen to music at work so I couldn't hear the constant news reports.

The events of September 11, 2001 brought back Patriotism. People were proud of their country. American Flags were flown everywhere. All of a sudden, everyone knew the words to the National Anthem and sang it with pride. To this day, I can't hear the National Anthem without getting goosebumps and all teary eyed. It's one of those things that changes you deep down inside and you're never the same...

Photo source: Able Engravers

When a deal goes south...

2011-07-16T13:56:00.000-05:00

My sales for the week of July 4th just keep getting worse. I only sold two items that week and one of them doesn't count because the buyer never paid!!! I sent a couple of invoices reminding the buyer of my "payment within 7 days" policy. I never heard from them. I opened a case after the 7 days were up. I never heard from them. I closed the case 4 days later. I still never heard from them!!! I can only guess that this buyer has fallen off the face of the earth. I mean, it's the only logical explanation. I looked up their feedback and they had over 1000 positive feedbacks with comments like "Quick Payment", "Immediate Payment", "Great buyer", so that falling off the earth thing has got to be the only explanation.

Oh well... Sales did pick up a little this week with a whopping 6 items being shipped out. Since I really still consider this a "hobby", I shouldn't let the numbers get me down, right? So here's a look at the top sellers...

This XL Men's Chaps Cashmere Blend sweater sold for $14.99. I picked it up at Kohl's on the clearance rack. It's actually the third one of these I've sold. The other two were red. I have one more in XXL that hasn't sold yet, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

This Jerry Garcia tie was another item picked up at Kohl's. This is the sixth Jerry Garcia tie that I've sold and the third one of this print. As long as they keep selling, I'll keep picking them up on clearance! :)

And here is my surprise sell...

It's an Express Tricot Granny Square sweater. Not exactly my style but for fifty cents, I decided to pick it up and give it a shot. It sold for $9.99! I'm glad I took that chance.

Thanks to the ladies over at My Dear Trash and everyone who links up the the linky party! It's great to read all of the experiences, tips, and trials as I get my "hobby" off the ground.

Weekly Winners

2011-07-09T17:19:00.000-05:00

Was it just me or was ebay business slow over the 4th of July holiday? I only had 2 items sold last week. Of course, most of my items were re-lists so that didn't help things. Oh well, may as well be thankful that 2 sold instead of none!

The first item was an old necktie that was hanging around from my Grandfather. No sentimental attachment, so off it went for Ninty-nine cents.

The second item was a Jerry Garcia Tie that I'm still waiting on payment for. The pattern is "Hand Hold Blue" and was picked up from Kohl's clearance rack.

I'm certainly hoping that business picks up this week! Although, thanks to the Alabama heat & humidity, the yard sales really haven't been that good the past couple of weeks either. I guess this week I'll try getting some stuff listed on Craig's list. We'll see how clearing out the "junk" that's been stored in my basement works!

Linking up to My Dear Trash's linky party!

Weekly Winners

2011-06-30T10:11:00.001-05:00

I've posted before about selling on Ebay. I did GREAT with it the first few months of this year. Then the tornadoes devastated my home state and selling on Ebay didn't seem quite as important any more. Well, I'm back on the Ebay bandwagon and it's doing pretty good. It fuels my (and my husband's) desire to actually wake up early on Saturday mornings and hit yard sales! The other thing that my husband has loved is that we can "shop" for families that we have heard about that lost everything in the tornadoes and are trying to "set up housekeeping" in their new-to-them homes. He loves the thrill of finding great deals for others without more stuff cluttering up our home!

So, after MUCH inspiration from the girls at My Dear Trash, and those who've joined the linky party the past couple of weeks, I'm sharing my top sellers for the past week.

Back in April, I found this Diane von Furstenburg skirt at a yard sale for seventy-five cents and I was absolutely giddy! I couldn't wait to call my sister and share my find. I listed it for 2 weeks and no bites. So, after the time off, I relisted it with a starting bid of $19.99. I got an email from a potential buyer and agreed to a Buy It Now price of $30! Unfortunately, while packing it up, I realized it was supposed to have a ribbon/something through the waistband to tie on the side and I hadn't mentioned it in the description, so I refunded $5 for the oversight. After fees, shipping, etc... I still made a profit of over $17! I *heart* yard sales!

My next best seller was this GAP white stretchy jacket. It was a great jacket to wear over summer dresses, unfortunately, not in my size. It was another seventy-five cent yard sale find and sold for $12.99!

While I'm no where near the "pay for major expenses" level that some are at, I'm happy with the little extra money I'm able to bring in for my family. I guess if it's covering my yard sale habit, we're good!

Linking to My Dear Trash Linky Party

Top Sells of the week

2011-01-04T22:47:00.000-06:00

Over the past few months I've decided to try selling on eBay. I started out with a few things around the house that I'd been wanting to get rid of, just to get the feel for it. When my New in the Box collectible Cookie Monster sold for over $50, I was hooked! It's fun to pick up bargains and turn them into a few bucks. For me, clothes are the easiest thing to list and ship, so I've started hitting the thrift stores and yard sales looking for items to turn into cash.

A while back, my sister turned me on to the blog My Dear Trash and I love it! I've gotten so many tips from these ladies on selling, buying, pricing, packaging, and on, and on! I love to check out their "Top Sells of the Week" posts so I thought I'd do one of my own. Now, these ladies have been at this much longer than I have and list MANY more items than I do so they have a much better chance of a "big sell". Out of about 35 items I had listed last week, I had 5 to sell. Since I'm only making $5 - $10 on each item, this is far from a Goldmine for me. But, like I said, it's fun to see what you can do. And the fact that I'm bringing in a little extra cash to our one income household doesn't hurt either.

I had two items that made me very happy last week. The first was this Liz Claiborne 100% Silk Blouse. I purchased it for a whopping 50 cents. It sold for $9.99. Isn't it cute? If it had been my size, it would have been a keeper.

The other item was this Ralph Lauren Black Houndstooth Men's shirt. Again, I picked it up for 50 cents and resold it for $9.99.

I have no idea if I'll have the patience or "Stick-to-it-ness" to make this a long term venture but it sure is fun for now!

New Year's Blues

2011-01-01T18:43:00.000-06:00

The New Year is here! It's a time of renewal! It's a time to wipe that slate clean and make a fresh start! Out with the old, in with the new! A new beginning!

Unfortunately, it's also a time to experience what I refer to as "The New Year's Let-down". It's a time to be completely overwhelmed by all of the things that you should have done this year that are still sitting here staring you in the face.

For me it's that Master Bathroom renovation that still isn't complete and the guest bedroom that I couldn't get a guest into if I tried and the office that looks like a Staples store threw up. And on, and on, and on... I crave organization! I need things orderly so I can think!!! I look at all of these things and think "What in the world did we do this year?"

That's a good question...what DID we do this year?

We went to the beach twice, an experience that my little boy absolutely loved. He still asks every week if we can go back. We went to several different zoos. We went to the Atlanta Aquarium. My little boy had his first limo ride, train ride, and Ferris Wheel ride. We made new friends and enjoyed spending time with them. We went to Football games, weddings, and my brother-in-law's PhD graduation. We enjoyed the fire station, pumpkin patch, and 3 year old's school parties and programs. We spent more Saturdays than I can count hunting treasures at yard sales (thus my guest bedroom problem). We had fun. We lived.

Wow. That makes me feel better about all of those things that are still undone. I could have spent those Saturday mornings working on my house to get it organized but then I wouldn't have the memory of my little boy finding the perfect car for his collection or that bucket of Lego that he couldn't believe someone would sell. He wouldn't be learning the value of his $1. If I spend it now, I won't be able to buy something even better later. I wouldn't trade that for a fully organized house any day.

How about you? Do you get the "New Year's Let-down"? What is on your to-do list for the New Year?

The Bogie and the beast

2010-01-28T18:56:00.000-06:00

My little one will try absolutely anything to get out of going to bed at night. I mean, we all get the "Mom, it's too dark in my room!" and "MOM, I neeeed a drink of water!" but I think my kid takes it to the next level sometimes. Take last night for instance...

The hubby puts C down for the night. A few minutes later he appears at the top of the stairs waving a Kleenex around saying "Mom, I have a bogie in my nostril!" So, mom cleans his nose and sends him back to bed. A few minutes later he appears at the top of the stairs again, another Kleenex in hand saying "Mom, I have a bogie in my other nostril!" So, mom wipes his not so dirty nose and sends him back to bed. Minutes later he appears again brandishing yet another Kleenex. "Mom, I think you need to blow your nose." Now, I have had a cold lately but I'm pretty sure that my 2 yr old was not concerned in the least bit about the state of my nose. It took several more tries and several more Kleenex before he finally stayed in his bed.

So, make me feel better...what crazy things have your kids done to keep from going to sleep?

Fireplace Before and After

2010-01-18T15:00:00.005-06:00

Since moving into our new house, I have been trying to make do with what we have as far as decorating. Yes, I bought new furniture, but with smaller things, I'd rather "redo" than buy new. If I don't have what I need, I'd rather scour the thrift stores or yard sales to find something that will work, even if it needs a little TLC.

This "lovely" fireplace enclosure came with the house.

Brass really isn't my thing so it's been bothering me quite a bit. The weather has been so cold or rainy lately that I haven't been able to get outside to do any spray-painting make-overs. So, I took advantage of our wonderful sunny day today and got busy.

Now, one can of High Heat Black Spray Paint later, it's much more to my liking!

I did all of this while the hubby was at work. I wonder how long it will take him to notice...

I'm joining Kimba over at A Soft Place to Land for her DIY day!

Remembering...

2009-09-02T22:09:00.003-05:00

Today has been a day of remembering. It was 4 years ago today that we lost my father-in-law. It was a senseless tragedy caused by greed and drugs. The man that robbed and shot my father-in-law hasn't been brought to justice yet...he's been sitting in jail for the last 4 years. Today, however, I'm not going to let that mar my thoughts.

I've been remembering the good times that we had with him. I'll never forget how he used to introduce me as the daughter he'd waited 59 years to get. I think he was happier on my wedding day than I was! If John and I were going down for the weekend, he always made sure that there was Bama Mayo in the fridge and one of my favorite "Kid cereals" in the pantry. One morning, he presented me with a toy Grover that he'd gotten out of the cereal and saved for me. It sat on my desk at work until I stopped working. I remember going to Braves games and UA baseball games with him. He was a HUGE fan of baseball. He and his brothers would drive miles to watch a college or Post 34 baseball team on which they knew none of the players!

Alabama football was another passion. I can't count the number of football games I either went to or sat and watched with him. I don't think any of us will ever forget our trip to LA in 2000 to watch Alabama play UCLA in Rose Bowl Stadium. There were so many stories that came out of that trip that still make us laugh today. The hotel we stayed in, the restaurants that we ate in, and remembering that the tickets were laying on the bed at the hotel when we had already been sitting in traffic for an hour, all of it was typical "Johnny Windham".

Everyone who knew him has their own Johnny Windham story that they can share and most of them are quite funny. There was a serious side too though. He was a man of God who would help anyone who asked and some who didn't ask. He loved Hale County High School and would do anything for the Athletic Department. He loved to cook fish for people and cooked for the "Rolling Oldies" car show in Moundville each year to help send kids to Camp Smile-A-Mile and for the Hunt Oil Company Picnic.

There are so many good things that we can remember, but I think that the things I miss the most are the things that I can't remember. I'll never get to remember the first time he saw his grandson. I'll never get to remember him taking Cliff to his first baseball game or football game. I'll never get to remember him teaching Cliff to throw a baseball. I'll never get to remember Cliff going to the store to see Pop Pop. All of these things I can see in my mind's eye but I'll never be able actually experience them.

Pop, we love you and we miss you more than you could have ever known.

I kicked the bucket...

2009-08-12T21:50:00.004-05:00

I'm editing this post to link up with Rhoda's Thrifty treasures!

I was in the thrift store one day with my mom and I came across this pitiful looking bucket. It was an old brown wooden bucket with a handle but it was on three legs. There were screws poking through the bucket's bottom where the legs had been attached. But something about this bucket spoke to me and for $3.88 I had to bring it home. The bucket sat in the garage for a couple of months while we were trying to sell our house and then got moved to the storage unit where it sat, lonely and forgotten. On our first trip back the the storage unit after we bought the new house, the bucket just jumped out at me and I knew it was going to transform into something much more beautiful that just an old brown bucket...

I had a vision in my head of this white bucket lined in a beachy fabric setting next to the commode in my guest bathroom. That's right, this bucket was headed for greatness...it would be the holder of the toilet paper! I finally got started on it this weekend after I found the perfect fabric at the thrift store last week. I sprayed it with white spray paint (just cheap-o $.97 a can from Wally Mart) and made a liner with a $.99 piece of fabric from the thrift store and $.29 worth of elastic from Hancock's. Now it sits proudly in my guest bathroom because it knows that it has the most important job there! (Well, close to it anyway!)

Here's a look at the new beauty...

Hopefully I can get some more projects finished up soon and show you all the progress. And maybe next time I'll remember to take a before shot!

Until then...

Treasure, Treasure, Got to find the treasure...

2009-06-28T16:34:00.008-05:00

Moving into a new house has given me an excuse to look for things for the house. You know the drill, the rooms are different sizes, they're laid out different, you don't want the same colors in this house, etc... So, I've been looking at yard sales, thrift stores, and clearance racks trying to find a low cost fix to my decorating problems. Also, Rhoda over at Southern Hospitality is doing her Thrifty Treasures party and I'm going to link up! Here are a few of my recent finds...
First is one of my Lowe's clearance finds. This fixture was marked $18.88 but was on the 75% off shelf. So, for $4.75 I have a new fixture to replace the ugly gold one over the stairwell. And the best part is, that my lovely hubby has already installed it!

I love this adorable lamp! I found it at the thrift store a few weeks ago for $3.88. The clown is supposed to be holding a bouquet of balloons but that doesn't matter to my 2 yr old. The Balloon stand also has a night light behind it. The cute blue shade was found at Ross just the other day for $2 and it matches his bedroom walls. Now, if I could just get him to understand it's to look at, not to touch! :)

I thought I'd also show the table that the lamp is on. It was a yard sale find probably 5 or 6 years ago. There were several people "minding the shop" and the closest was the husband of the table's owner. I asked what they wanted for it and he said $5. His wife's friend overheard and said "No! Your wife bought that at an antique store and paid waay more than that for it!" Then the wife got involved and said $25. Well, it was obvious I wasn't paying that much so she said $20. I walked off and the husband said "Give me $5 and take it with you." So, I handed him $5 and sent the hubby to the car with the table before anyone could change their mind!

Here's another addition to the little one's bedroom. His face just lit up when he saw all of the different colored lights on this lamp. It's now our lamp to use when reading bedtime stories. It was a great price too! The hubby picked this one up while doing a little curb-side shopping! :) Can't beat free!

And below are a couple of things I found at the thrift store this week. The throw pillow covers were 59 cents each. They still had the tags on them and were from pottery barn. The complete pillows (covers and inserts) originally sold for $40! I went to the pillow bin and found a couple of throw pillows to fit inside. For $5 I have 2 $40 pillows! Now, I'm not sure where to put them, but I couldn't pass it up. I also found the cute magazine rack for $3.88. I'll put it next to the chair in my guest bedroom.

That's all I have for this week. Head on over to visit with Rhoda and see what treasures everyone else found!

The blueberries are here!

2009-06-18T20:17:00.005-05:00

I'm so excited that the blueberries are ripe enough to pick! The little one and I packed up last night and headed to my MIL's house to do some berry picking. She only has about 10 bushes but that always gives me more than enough berries for the year. I still have some in the freezer from last season so I'd better get busy using those up first! These bushes are out in full sun and get some of the biggest and sweetest berries that you have ever wrapped your lips around! I had to try to beat the birds (and the heat) this morning, so I was out at the bushes at 5:45 this morning. At 9:30 I had to wave the flag of surrender. It had gotten so hot that even the wet towel around my neck and my glass of ice water wasn't enough to help. Let me tell you, I was a sight! The berries were certainly worth it though! I like to wash my berries before I put them in the freezer (some people don't) so that was this afternoon's project. Here are some pics of those wonderful berries!

Batches 1 and 2 drying on the table.

The last batch washed and waiting to be spread to dry.

No exaggeration when I tell you that some of these berries were as big as grapes!

If anyone has any good blueberry recipes, send them on! I can't wait for homemade blueberry muffins with berries straight from the bush!

Settling Down...

2009-06-14T21:09:00.002-05:00

Wow! That pretty much sums up the last couple of weeks! It's been so busy around here and I've been without internet access for a week so I haven't been able to update my blog. Let's see if I can do a quick summary of what's been going on...

Friday, May 29th - Closed on the new house
Saturday, May 30th - Met with the painter to decide on colors for the interior of the house.
Tuesday, June 2nd - Painters began work. Had them to tear out all interior doors and replace with 6 panel doors and paint all of the house except the master bedroom and the hall bath. The hall bath, I like the color that was already there, it just need some touch ups. The master bath is gutted and has to be remodeled so we will take care of the master bedroom when we get all of that done.
Saturday, June 6th - Picked up the moving truck and started loading it up. My sister, her husband, and two kids arrived that afternoon to help with the packing and moving.
Sunday, June 7th - Moved 2 moving truck loads plus my Explorer and my mom's truck full of stuff to the new house. Got the little one's room set up and a bed set up in the master bedroom. We spent Sunday night in our new house!
Monday, June 8th - My mom came up to help keep an eye on the little one so that we could get things unpacked. There was still a lot to be moved from the old house, but the big items had been taken care of. The hubby is taking off half days all this week to get it done. Got the guest bed set up downstairs so that my mom didn't have to sleep on the floor! :)
Tuesday, June 9th - Still moving stuff from the old house, mostly the garage. While the hubby and my mom were at the old house, the guy came by to do the wood infestation report on the house prior to our closing. He and the hubby were talking and he offered to let us use his trailer to haul more stuff over to the new house. So, we went and picked it up that evening. We'd never met this man before...ain't it great how God puts the right people right where you need them?
Wednesday, June 10th - Mom went back home today. My sister's hubby took off half a day to come help finish up the move. You've got to love family that will stay at our house until 10 at night to try to get your washer and dryer hooked up because you're running out of clean clothes! BIG Hugs to you Ben!!!
Thursday, June 11th - We've got to get everything out of the house today! We're still there cleaning out the garage when the new owner got there to do her final walk through. She seems really nice and hopefully she will enjoy our house as much as we have. My MIL came today to help with the little one.
Friday, June 12th - Closed at 10 in the morning on the old house. Now that is over and we can focus on the new house. Sooo much still to do. Curtains to hang, boxes to unpack, floors to clean, and on and on...
Saturday, June 13th - Took a break and went to the farmer's market in Helena to pick up some fresh veggies to cook for supper. I think we're a little burned out from this past week because progress is starting to slow down.
Sunday, June 14th - The MIL went home today. We worked on tearing out a raised flower bed against the back wall of the house. It's a great idea but there are currently problems with water under the house and we've got to tear it out to waterproof and fix the drainage. Maybe we can do something similar again after everything is fixed. We were ran inside by the rain. By that time, we were all so worn out that we showered, had lunch, and took a nice nap!

Hmm...guess that wasn't so quick. Hopefully I can get on the computer more often this week and can actually get some before and after pictures up here!

Workin' out the details...

2009-05-27T20:55:00.003-05:00

Sorry I haven't blogged this week. Things have been so busy around here! Yesterday I met with two different painters at the new house to get quotes on painting pretty much the entire interior of the house. I had no idea it cost so much to have someone else paint your rooms! I've picked the one I'm going with (the one who painted the outside of our current house a few years ago) and will meet him Saturday to go over paint colors.

The other thing that has been going on is surprises with the mortgage and appraisal. The house we're buying is a tri-level or a split level with a basement. One side of the house is the "basement" that has a garage, den, guest room, and full bath. On top of that is the master bed/bath, laundry, two bedrooms, and another bath. The main level that is on the other side of the house is the living room/dining room and kitchen over a crawl space. (I hope that made sense.) The appraiser said that they don't count "basement" space as actual living space, no matter that it's finished. So, with the master bath completely gutted, they decided it was only a one bathroom house. They wanted the master bath to be completed before we closed on the house. HELLO!!! We're closing on FRIDAY!!! That's impossible!!! We knew that the master bath was gutted and that was reflected in the price. This way we can finish the bathroom the way we want it! So, our poor realtor has been fighting with the appraiser and the mortgage guy to try to work things out. The final decision was that we are going to have to get a different loan, an ARM, for 6 months and then refinance. That should give us enough time to get the bathroom finished. I just hope that interest rates don't skyrocket in the next 6 months!

The thing is, we know that this house is where we are supposed to be. We're just wondering why these little things keep popping up at the last minute. After seeing what our realtor has had to deal with this week, I don't think real estate is a profession I want to venture into... So, keep us in your prayers and maybe we can actually close on this house on Friday! Anybody want to help us move??? :)

I'll leave you with a picture of my baby driving the train at Tannehill. This was at April's Trade Day weekend.

Pasta Salad Recipe

2009-05-22T22:37:00.002-05:00

My mom is having a get-together for her brothers and sisters this weekend. Now, those that know my mom know that she comes from a very large family (18 of 'em)! So, I decided to go with my go-to recipe for feeding a lot of people. I got this recipe from a lady that I worked with in a recipe book that my co-workers gave me as a wedding gift 6 years ago. John and I love it and it's super easy to double the recipe to feed a lot of people. We usually use tri-color Rotini in this but you can use whatever you have on hand. Hope you enjoy!

Pasta Salad

16 oz Rotini Pasta (Cook & Drain)
2 TBS Seasoned Salt
3 TBS Lemon Juice
4 TBS Olive Oil

Mix all ingredients together and marinate over night.

Add to mixture:

1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1 small can sliced black olives
1 small jar of sliced green olives
1 small jar chopped pimentos
1 1/2 cup mayonnaise
Garnish with Celery Seed

Toss all ingredients together and chill 6 to 8 hours before serving. Keeps for several days.

Coupon crazy!

2009-05-21T22:27:00.003-05:00

Lately I've been following a couple of coupon blogs, Two Thrifty Sisters and Southern Savers. They have become excellent resources for finding sales and coupons. I've tried to keep a "diary" of sorts to see just how much I am saving with coupons. Most weeks I can average a 33% savings on my grocery trip to Publix, not including savings due to sales.

This week I sent the hubby since I wasn't feeling well. (I'm afraid that I'm coming down with whatever Cliff has!) He was amazed when he saw the total start falling! :) The total started out at $36.63 pre-tax and ended up at $13.99 pre-tax! Here's a list of the items that we ended up with...

2 gallons Publix Milk
2 boxes Betty Crocker brownie mix
1 box Rice Krispies
1 box Corn Pops
1 box Froot Loops
4 bottles Coffee-Mate Liquid
1 bottle Kraft Balsamic Vinegar dressing
1 box Publix tea
1 Can Crisco Spray
2 jars Ragu Pasta Sauce
3 bottles Kraft BBQ Sauce
1 Can Baker's Joy spray

...all for $13.99 pre-tax! That's a savings of 62%! (If I did my math right!) Since that's 20 items, I averaged 64 cents for each item bought.

I'm learning that you should buy things when they are on sale, not just when you need them, and to save those coupons for a sale so you can stock up! It takes a little more room to store things, but as long as it's things like cereal and BBQ sauce, they aren't going bad before you use them up. Take a look at the two sites above and maybe they can help you save some money at the check-out.

It's always something...

2009-05-20T19:28:00.003-05:00

This week is once again busy buy for totally different reasons than last week. I mentioned in my last post that the inspector was coming to look at our house on Monday. So far we haven't heard anything from our prospective buyer which I'm hoping is good news. Yesterday we took the hubby to the dentist since his car was in the shop. When the hygienist was flossing his teeth, a crown popped off. So, he had to wait on the dentist to come in and fix that. Then we were off to meet the inspector at our new house. He found a few things wrong that we hadn't noticed before. One of these was water standing in the crawl space of the house! Well that's got to be fixed! The gas guys had also tagged the water heater with a note saying it was improperly vented...another thing to be fixed.

On top of everything else, Cliff woke with a fever yesterday. Since we were so busy, I didn't take his temp but started him on the Motrin/Tylenol rotation. He was feeling so bad that he fell asleep in my lap while we were at the new house but it didn't last long. I put him down for his nap when we got back home because he was walking around holding his blanket and whimpering like a puppy. When he woke up, his temp was 103.5. Of course, I'm panicked and called the Dr. The nurse told me to keep up the Motrin/Tylenol and call back today if he was still running a fever. He woke at 5:30 this morning for some reason and at 6:30 his temp was still 102.5. Needless to say, I had the earliest appt that the Dr had open, 10:00. The Dr said Cliff's throat looked awful and did a strep test that came back negative. That means that this is viral and there's nothing that we can do but ride it out. The biggest problem that I'm having is that Cliff got strangled on the Motrin this AM and threw up. Now my very good medicine taking baby refuses to take his medicine. I'm sure that all of you moms can relate. It's no fun trying to hold a little one down and force medicine down his throat.

I'm hoping that the fever will be gone when we all wake in the morning and things will begin to calm down a little before the weekend. If anyone has any tips on how to cope with the medicine deal, I'm more than happy to listen. I hope you all are having a better week than we are! :-)

Monday, Monday...

2009-05-18T21:58:00.006-05:00

This week is starting off just as busy as the last one. Since we tend to veg on the weekends, there was tons of laundry to be done. I had to wake Cliff up from his nap, which I always hate to do, because the inspector was coming at 3:30 to go over our house for the potential buyer. Cliff wasn't happy about having to get dressed and leave the house, even if he was going to one of his favorite places (the library). I'm sure that tomorrow we'll be getting a laundry list of things that the buyer wants us to fix/change. This should be interesting... Tomorrow we have to take the hubby to the dentist since his car is in the shop and then meet the inspector at our potential new home. I hope he doesn't find too much because I don't think that the sellers are going to do anything except sell it! Apparently they are getting divorced and just want to get rid of the house asap.

Since there's not a lot of interesting news to share right now, I'll just share a few pictures we took of Cliff Mother's Day weekend at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover. They have a Hydrangea sale every year for their fundraiser and my boys let me pick out 2 for my Mother's Day gift. I got one that should have beautiful blue blooms and another that will have bright red blooms. I'll post pics as soon as they are in full bloom! Hope you all have a great week!

Treasures

2009-05-17T10:10:00.004-05:00

I'm joining Rhoda over at Southern Hospitality for Today's Thrifty Treasures. Here's some treasures that we picked up last week at a neighborhood sale. Even though it was rainy day, it didn't dampen the enthusiasm for this sale. There were tons of people there! Here's a look at the treasures we snagged...

This cute table was $5 and will probably be used as a bedside table in the guest bedroom. I'm not sure yet if I want to paint it or leave it white.

This all came from one sale. The chalkboard was 75 cents and will probably go in our kitchen. The soccer ball will go in the little one's room and was 50 cents. I'm not sure yet where my $1 basket will go (you'll notice I have a thing for baskets). The scrabble games will be used for crafts. And the 2 loafs of bread are for the little one to play with.

At this sale I found a terracotta pot and 2 saucers ($2) for planting herbs on our new patio and a large iron trivet($3). They threw in the crate for free. I'm not sure yet what I'll do with the trivet. It could go on the counter, table, or the wall...

...and a few things for the little one. I paid a little more for the train than I normally would have, especially considering he has one already, but he really loves to play with trains.

For a look at some of the treasures others have found, head over to see Rhoda at Southern Hospitality.

Thrifty Treasures

2009-05-17T08:50:00.023-05:00

I've been following several blogs for a while now and am getting all kids of inspiration for decorating our new house. Well, maybe not decorating because I'm not that good with pulling it all together, but inspiration for getting out and finding great gently used things to use in our new house. One of my favorites is Rhoda over at Southern Hospitality because she's a great gal that lives here in Birmingham and gives me ideas of new places to hit! The hubby has been excited to join in the hunt because he hates paying retail too! We've hit a couple of sales over the last two weeks, so I'll only post a few finds for now and save some for later.

Last weekend there was a community yard sale in Alabaster at Veteran's Park and these are some of the things we found there.

I got this cute basket for $1. Later that day I took the bow off and made it into a gift basket for a friend's graduation. (See I don't keep EVERY basket I buy!)

These little boxes ($1 for the set) will look so cute in the niece's new bedroom.

This jingle bell wreath was $3 and will look nice on the door at Christmas.

And this cute Summer purse was just $2. I haven't decided yet if I'll keep it or give it to my mom.

And a couple of things for the little one... He loves playing pirates and looking for clues, although usually not at the same time! :)

To check out the Thrifty Treasures that others have found, go visit Rhoda at Southern Hospitality!

The Lord works in Mysterious Ways...

2009-05-15T21:04:00.002-05:00

Welcome to my first ever blog entry. I've thought about doing this several times but never knew if I could really write something that others would want to read. Or, if I started it, would I be able to keep it updated. Well, I decided to stop worrying about all of that and just write. And this week seemed like as good of a time as any to start.

This week has been a whirlwind for us. John and I started looking for houses in January of this year. I think that all of the Christmas presents that had no where to go is what started this crazy wheel into motion. We put our house on the market the first of March which just added to the crazy stress. Anyone tried living with a 2 year old and having a realtor call to tell you that people were going to be at your house in 2 hours to see it? Anyway, we found a house that we really liked in Helena a couple of months ago and put in an offer. We weren't 100% sure that it was where we needed to be but decided that if it was meant to be, God would work it out. The couple that owned the house had moved to another town and the bank was about to foreclose so we were looking at what's called a "short sale" to avoid the foreclosure process. Well, someone at the mortgage company talked the couple into taking the house off of the market and refinancing. Long story short, we didn't get the house.

Fast forward a couple months and several house showings later...we had narrowed our search down to two different houses. One house was built in 1973 and needed a lot of work to update and the other is basically move in ready. We'd almost decided on the older one, because we could get more house for our money, when our Realtor called and said someone else had put an offer in on that house. Soooo that leaves us with the other house to make an offer on. John had fallen in love with the yard at this house already and I liked the neighborhood. We decided on Tuesday of this week to go ahead and make an offer. Again, if this is where we were supposed to be, God would work it out. We met our realtor at lunch Tuesday to fill out the paperwork to make the offer. We got a call that afternoon that someone wanted to come look at our house again because she'd narrowed her search down to our house and one other. John jokingly said "I guess we'll really know we've made the right decision if we get an offer on our house today." Well, at 10:05pm the realtor called and told us we had an offer! How's that for God giving us a Big Neon Arrow??? Of course there have been back and forths and contracts to sign and initial and mortgage people to meet with, but it's finally happening! I'm not too sure how Cliff is going to adjust to all of this since he's not very good with change.

Hopefully, I'll keep you up-to-date on all of the goings on. I look forward to sharing with you!

(This is a pic of the house we're buying!)