Saving Pennies

Due to buying a house and acquiring the very long list of things that come with buying a new house: mailbox (check), landscaping (in our case), window treatments (for a lot of windows-big big windows), gutters, insurance, bills, etc. we are trying to cut corners whereever possible.

We are doing things like maximizing the library for books and magazines, forgoing cable for using hulu.com on the internet to watch shows right now and trying to priortize what we really need vs. what we want. We ask everywhere possible for military discounts and this town is great for that. They really support the military here. In fact, I previously posted the story about the lady at Walmart paying for Geoff's groceries one day when he was in uniform. To add to that, we just received a postcard in the mail stating that we needed to register our dogs...and since we didn't we had a late fee attached as well. We didn't even know we had to do that. So when Geoff just went to pay it...she waived the late fee and only charged the renewal rate vs. the initial rate. SO nice. I think it's because there isn't a large military presence here. So when someone sees someone in the military, it seems as if they go out of their way to thank them.

As for the point of this blog...we decided it was time to learn to cut the boys' hair ourselves. I did it for a long time with scissors when they were smaller...but I couldn't get the clean look around the ears and at the back of their neck without clippers. So Geoff just bought some fancy ones and I told J and W:
"Mommy and Daddy are going to try to cut your hair because these clippers were the same price as one haircut for both of you."
And J promptly shouted:
"We get candy when we get a haircut. I want the candy."

Silly Billy. =)

Paint Predicament

I decided it was time to paint the playroom. Our house has a nice color but it is all the same (and there is a lot of it) so I really wanted some different colors to warm up the space a little. I am starting with the playroom because it is at the front of the house and the ceilings aren't so high.

So I have been pouring over paint swatches for weeks. I found one I was certain I loved (a Restoration Hardware color I kept from last fall) but when I painted the sample on the wall...it looked too band-aid-like (too much pink in the brown). I had a great color in FL that I loved but I cannot find the swatch I saved. And I think I bought it at Lowes (Eddie Bauer) and there isn't a Lowes here.

Last Saturday I was extremely motivated to put a warm latte-cappuchino-like color in the playroom. I went to Home Depot and Sherwin Williams and agonized over the swatches...I even used their light machines to make sure I was certain.

I was 100% positive I would love the color "Heath" by Martha Stewart. But when I put it on the wall I was not in love. It had too much green it it...and it looked flat...it looks a lot like the color of wet cement. I was so disappointed!!

I am wondering if the base color effected the color...who knows?

I NEED ADVICE!! Does anyone have a favorite paint color in the warm neutral brown/beige category. I am not afraid to go darker...or any other painting tips??

This is the color I liked in FL - I am looking for somthing like this...I know they can color match but I don't think it would be accurate from a picture on the computer? I don't know.

Help!

300

It is hard to believe this is our 300th post...and more hard to believe that we started this blog in June of 2007--almost three years ago. It sure doesn't seem that long!

Geoff wanted the boys to help plant a tree while the landscaping is still going on. So they hleped plant a tall pear tree today. It was very cold - and windy - and the boys have a cold - and J was feeling a little grumpy. That works out to a very fast tree planting!

Digging the hole:

Throwing the fertilizer in:

J helping Miss Claudia cut the plastic holder off the tree:

About to plant:

Watering:

The finishing touches are going in on the yard. It looks so different! If you look in the background there are two guys on ladders...we decided to put gutters on the house and here you can see the mini boulder wall in the front:

Some terracing near the stairs in the front:

It is coming along....

aLpHaBeT

We are definitely in an alphabet phase right now. The boys know the alphabet and letter sounds but we have been working on writing and reading. It is funny, J and W have made letters out of trains, pencils, pretzels, sticks, trucks, etc. but we just haven't spent a lot of time writing them.

For fun, I love the cinnamon alphabet/number crackers from Trader Joes. We used them in a "special treat" dessert the other night to spell their names.

And a few weeks ago we made fruit trays for yogurt smoothies and I put a dusting of wheat germ (yes, wheat germ-a.k.a. "sprinkles") on their tray and drew their initial into it...fun and easy! Can you tell we have letters on the brain?

And chalk boards and etch-a-sketch boards are great for practicing too. Here is J showing me

his "smashed T" the other day. Not just normal everyday T's around here...folks...we do it right. Smashed Ts.

And W tracing letters in a dry erase book:

We found a great book from the library called "Alphabet City" by Stephen Johnson and each picture is a photo of something like a park bench, or a bridge, or a building that highlights the shape of a letter. ABCDEFGHIJKlmnopQRSTUVWXYZ

Our happenings

The boys and I have been trying to keep busy since it is Geoff's work weekend. We went to the traveling commissary sale they had at the fairgrounds yesterday. And got these fun bowls...

...and lots of good deals on cereal. And you can see J and W got creative making trains with some of the food and drinks containers after we returned home.
Fuel/tanker cars:

Box cars:

Another fuel car:

We also went to a garage sale this morning and got some fun things. I told the boys that we used their Valentines Day (I know..that was awhile ago) money to buy the trains, books, and animals we found.

W said: "I want the toys and the money too."

Me: "Well, if you want the money, then we have to go take all of this back to the garage sale."

W: "I don't want the money."

Then at the exact same time, the boys woke early from their nap. They were even on different sides of the house. And they both were grumpy. And had very runny noses. And were sneezing. And were coughing. Full-on colds. Healthy as horses this morning and out of nowhere this cold appeared. Miserable. I told them at the store we could get them some Jello since they weren't feeling good.

After W had one and a half containers of Jello he said "I need more Jello, I still have a cough." If only Jello made coughs go away!

And now Geoff is home...we had some yummy Mexican lasagna for dinner and are enjoying the sunset.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous today. I am loving this weather. I do not miss the FL humidity one bit. We are enjoying all of our new trees. Hopefully this week our landscaping job will be complete. Just plants, gravel, mulch, staking the trees, and finishing touches left to do. They will plant one more larger tree after our gutters go in on Monday. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Once Upon A Time....

....there were two toddler boys...and one was making obnoxious slurping sounds out of a cup his daddy was holding for him...while the other was looking on laughing joyously. Giggling uncontrollably. Cute enough for a youtube sensation if I do say so myself.

and fast forward several months...to a time when two toddler boys decided to hold mama's spices and spin around the room (don't ask me why). When one toddler boy gets so dizzy he crashes right on his face from all the crazy spinning. And the other toddler boy thinks it is so funny he wants to snuggle with him. Enjoy. The end.

I Can't Believe It...

So the last time I worked on the couch...it looked like this:

With about 50% of the ink left. I was dreading the top where W had warmed up with the pen and his marks were noticeable darker. Well, late this afternoon I went and did a little more work with Walmart's version of Windex and when I stopped the ink marks were lighter but definitely more noticeable.

I just went over to do another round and it was gone! All marks completely gone. I.am.amazed. In fact, I think I probably could have sprayed the stuff on and it would have evaporated. God sure taught me a lesson - I am so glad I didn't explode and lose it over this couch. Because right now it looks as good as new.

Awww, back to enjoying our couch.