Mama I'm Coming Home

I've had Ozzy's songs, "Mama I'm Coming Home" stuck in my head for two days now. Really only the title is applicable to me right now. LOL. It's my Bestie's 29th-once-removed birthday so my husband has graciously offered to give me a ride to Bellingham to spend a couple of weeks "home". They say home is where the heart is and although I expect that over time Sunnyside will feel like home to me...for now Bellingham is still home. I've needed this little vacation.

See you in a couple of weeks!

Momma's Helper

Day 2 of craft room extravaganza was super fun. I had my little helper with me today:









We scraped...



...and hammered...




...and scraped...




...and hammered...




...and scraped...




...and hammered some more.

Not much to see for today other than that. Tomorrow I will be filling in all the imperfections and prepping for paint! Oooh the thought of painting is so exciting to me!!!

Blessings,
Woman

Demolition Derby

So after Christmas I decided to start cleaning the room up and get it functional. But every time I sat in it, I couldn't help but stare at that paneling. So I stopped operation-get-the-room-functional-for-now. It was a stupid idea anyway. I had grand visions for what the room could be by tearing out that paneling and ripping up the carpet to reveal the retro blue with gold speckled linoleum. And after seeing all those fantastic rooms out there in which I coveted (yes, I sinned...and one of the 10 commandment sins too...forgive me Lord), I just couldn't function until it was right.

So Yay! I finally got to tackle my craft room! Ok... it's far from done but with the help of two friends we were able to clear the room out, demolish the old 70's panelling, and rip up that carpet! Remember what it looked like over Christmas?



I wish I had an in-between photo so you could see where we actually started, but we were so excited to get to demolition that I forgot to take some better pictures for you.

And here's what it looks like after day 1:



No more paneling!!! But there was some glue which will need to be scraped tomorrow.



See the pretty linoleum? It doesn't look like much yet but you'll see the potential soon!




And glittery gold specks!






I'll keep you posted on the progress!

Blessings,
Woman

Things that were said today:

1. My son repeated my worse version of "dang it"...guess I have to work harder on that sailor mouth of mine.

2. I have adopted the phrase, "Do it" from Starsky and Hutch the movie. I've said it for years...actually since the movie came out. When I asked my son at the dinner table if he could chew his food and then swallow it he said, "Yup" and then "DO it".

What a funny day.


As for the 31 day challenge? I have been fighting a cold for 4 days now! It's not full-blown but it's enough to completely exhaust me. But I have gotten a few things accomplished like I picked out the paint color for my crap room. Oh! I named it, "The Crap Room". Let's see, what else have I done....oh I got this awesome beauty of a hand crafted wooden drawer thingy. I really have no better way of explaining it so I will take pictures tomorrow and show you. My husband had one of those, "What did you bring home????" looks when I pulled it out of the truck. After almost 11 years of being together, he still hasn't figured out that I can make anything look pretty. I actually saved this really awful tissue paper holder just to prove to him that I can take it from looking really really ugly to absolutely spectacular. (I'll post pictures of that too!) And actually it's not me that makes it pretty it's Krylon Spray Paint....

Anyway I have a lot of exciting things I can't wait to share with you! But for tonight I continue to leave you in suspense. :)

Day 1 of 31 day challenge...

Why start today when you can procrastinate tomorrow? Lol. I think that's how the quote goes. I had a productive day however none creative. I did make my official to do list for this week though. I'm excited to get started in the morning with scratching one item off of it. Good night all!

Blessings,
Woman

Something Creative

I'm literally going insane. I haven't been able to create my heart out since the move! I'm working on my art/craft studio currently. I have almost all my boxes unpacked. However, it's still not functional. We inherited wood paneling on the second story and every time I go upstairs to work, I end up pulling a piece of it off. I'm serious. The funny part is that whoever put the paneling up, put it on top of drywall...why? Isn't paneling supposed to be in place of drywall because is cheaper and easier to put up? It can't possibly be because it's a design element. Thank God for paint! Or should I be scared of finding a "reason" the paneling was put up so as to hide a real big problem. Probably the latter. So I'm pulling off that paneling and painting it so it's light and airy, while still managing my family, couponing, cooking meals, changing poopy butts (well...just one butt...although I might have to change my husband's when he finds out I'm ripping the paneling off of the parsonage house without leadership approval...I go by the philosophy that it's better to ask forgiveness than permission...). Let's just say I'm taking lots of naps these days too. Do you dream creatively? I do so hard that it wakes me up at 4am. I have a lot of pent up creativity festering inside of me right now. So watch out! When I get that room done...oh man...you'll be in for some seriously overwhelming artsy blogging from this woman.


I did get to work on a scrap book right before Christmas (I have been inspired by Dollar Store Crafts which inspired my winter scrap book. I'll be posting what I did soon). I started out on the couch/coffee table...


...because my room looked like this:


After about a half hour of that stupid idea, I decided I had to find a temporary functional solution. So behold, my plastic drawers and an old piece of wood.
(Notice how bluetiful the upstairs is! Tee hee hee)

It was really late at night but I HAD to create so a coke and some chocolates did the trick.


Woops! How'd that one get in there? See - I told you I change butts. ;)


Anyway, I'm jumping on the Marion Smith bandwagon and starting my 31-day challenge. In the next 31 days I'm going to post what I did to get this room put together and get all of my creative ideas productive.

Here's my to do list:

Finish building desk. I had a great entertainment unit that I used in our previous home but the ceiling is so low upstairs that my old unit was too tall!

Make paper storage rack. I salvaged an old crib from the church nursery. Can't wait to share with you how I do this! I'm so excited!!!

Finish pulling off paneling

Rip up the carpet. There's some vintage vinyl underneath that is light green and light blue. It's actually pretty cute. And I don't want the carpet to become paint-i-fied with all that pent up creativity harboring. It's just tacked down with staples so this will be a pretty easy job to do.

Paint

Hang Curtains

Scruff up an old shelving unit I salvaged from the church. It's painted white but there's some pretty light blue under it. I'm hoping to sand it down and let that blue show it's true color *pun*.

Put up shelves

Put up pegboard

Organize

Organize

Organize

Create

Create

Create

Well...that's enough on my list of things to do right now. See you tomorrow! (Now that you're keeping me accountable...)

Blessings,
Woman

Couponing From Your Android Phone

Okay, so you can't print coupons from your phone unless you have a wireless printer (which is on my wishlist * eh hem * honey, if you're reading this...take note), but you can cut the time you spend on your computer down by following blogs through your Google Reader application on your smart phone. This way, your phone shows you when you have new posts instead of starting up your computer, opening up the internet browser, waiting for your RSS feed reader to pop up.... bla bla bla. Plus you can do it anwywhere! I was in Rite-Aid at the check out stand a couple of weeks ago. I pulled out my phone to do a little blog reading to pass the time. I saw a new great Rite-Aid deal post from one of the couponing blogs I follow. I promptly turned my cart around and snagged up the deal! This saved me a trip back to the store...or more appropriately I wouldn't have gone back to the store and would have missed out on the deal altogether. Also, I have used my phone in the store if I need to take a second look at a blogger's post about a deal again. I love my phone!

I've ran into a few people who have smart phones but don't know how to use them for things other than e-mail and a phone call. I'll walk you through the process starting from scratch!


PART 1: Setting up a Google Reader Account

If you're reading this, you're probably already a blogger and you'll know how to create a google account for free and what RSS means. If you're not, send me an e-mail and I'll walk you through those steps because you'll need a google account to do google reader.

Once you're in your Google Reader you'll see a place to add a "Subscription". This means you are subscribing to a blog via RSS feed. Click here to read about RSS. You cannot simply "Follow" someone's blog because the Droid App doesn't recognise when you "Follow" a blog, only when you "Subscribe" to it.




After you've clicked on "Subscribe" add the url of the blog you wish to subscribe to and vioala! You've just subscribed to that blog.


PART 2: Setting up your Google Reader Android Application

If you don't know about the Google Reader Application, you can check it out here.

Now, onto the phone side of things :) (This is the fun part). Go to your Android Market and search for "Google Reader" by Google Inc. Click on it, download it and you're in business. Open it up and read the blogs you've been missing out on!



A little note on following blogs. I only follow 7 blogs for couponing. I follow 2 local blogs, 4 non-local blogs (one of which is just for Rite-Aid shopping), and one organic blog (Who I just added and have been looking for so thank you Organic Deals!). It's best to find a couple of local blogs so you find the best deals in your area. I just moved to Sunnyside, WA so "local" to me is Yakima or Tri-Cities. I think limiting myself to less than more blogs is more time efficient. On top of Couponing I follow friends and family, crafters, home remodelers and recipe bloggers (all of my interests), so I have enough to read already. I only subscribe to a blog if I find I've been on their site for more than 10 minutes reading. If so, they keep my interest so they go on my feed! This is my downtime reading before bed, or while watching TV. And thanks to my phone, I can catch up on blogs while standing in line (especially while at Costco or Fiesta Foods! Those lines are crazy!) which makes me a happy shopper for the check out ringer upper who's just dealt with a million not-so-happy shoppers, which makes them nice to me in return even though I have a million and one coupons in hand :) Quid Pro Quo, Tit for Tat, What Comes Around Goes around right?.

Here's my list of couponing blogs:

* Happymoneysaver.com (local to me - Kennewick, WA)
Beautifulfrugallife.com (local to me)
** myfrugaladventures.com
iheartriteaid.com (Rite-Aid shopping only)
** forthemommas.com
krazycouponlady.com (AS seen on TLC's "Extreme Couponing"!)
organicdeals.com (ORGANIC!)

(*) blog includes printable shopping lists for each store which has been so helpful for me!
(**)blogs include printable coupon databases!

Here are some other blogs you might be interested in:

Lifeasmom.com (for frugal living and encouragement)
moneysavingmom.com

I'm building a list of blogs that do meal planning. This will help the, "Honey, what do you feel like for dinner"..."Idunno"... scenario. :) Plus it will help with my grocery list.

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave me a comment. I'm not computer or smart phone saavy but my husband is and if I can't answer it, he will! :)

I hope this saves you tons of time couponing!