What I Saved: Time to get ready for Super Doubles!

My Sunday's are starting to develop a really nice rhythm. I get up, check out a few couponing blogs, get ready for the day, get my Raleigh papers at Books a Million, then there is Church and lunch with Darrin and finally grocery shopping and cooking dinner.

I'm sure that may seem boring to some, but I am really liking the way my weekends flow!

I mentioned last week that people show up and stand in line for the 10am opening at Books A Million.  I got there this morning at about 9:15am and even though it was POURING down rain, a woman got out of her car at 9:22am to stand in line!  Honestly, my first words to her when I jumped in line was "Really, you didn't want to stay nice and warm in your car??"

I got my three newspapers though and had fun chatting with some of the other couponers in line.

My savings this week were pretty decent and break down something like this:

Total value: $179.43
Out of pocket: $61.53
Savings: 71%

I didn't go anywhere but Harris Teeter this weekend and I also did not use ONE printable coupon.  I find it pretty amazing that I was able to save that much with just the coupons I get by buying a few Sunday papers.  It makes me feel a little better about the insanity that is standing in line for 40 minutes in the rain!

I forgot to take a picture of what I got today, but here is a look at a few of the things I was able to pick up on Saturday!

I'm also super excited because (and unless you're living under a rock, you probably already know this) Lowes Food's is having a Super Doubles event starting Wednesday and Harris Teeter is having their Super Doubles event starting the following Wednesday!  I can't wait to see what sales they having to go along with those events!

Well it's time to go cook some wings for the hubby while we watch football.  Although I'm loving being in the kitchen since I was able to get this made last night:

Pretty new cafe curtain! 

I'm starting to feel very domesticated!  Maybe this whole wife-thing isn't as hard as I thought it was going to be!


Did you do anything fun for the Superbowl?  Did the team you were pulling for win?

And It's Done!

So a few weeks back I mentioned my plans to paint a dresser we had in our garage.

Darrin had this piece of furniture before we got married and it's a nice piece...it just did NOT go with our house.

He wanted to keep it though.  And since I take up almost all of the closet and drawer space in our bedroom I realized he had a point (SHHHHH, don't tell him I said that!)

I was going for a shabby chic look and it was a surprisingly easy project and VERY inexpensive.

I started with the doors:

The design work was the hardest thing to clean!

I removed them, took off the hardware, cleaned them pretty well and sanded them just a little with fine sandpaper.

Then I took them outside and SPRAY PAINTED them.  Yep, that's right, I used spray paint.  It was so easy and it really let me achieve the distressed look I was going for.

From there it was a breeze.  I did all three drawers next.  Again, removing the hardware, cleaning them and doing a bit of sanding. Then just spraying on the paint.

Finally we took the base outside and after cleaning and sanding I started painting.  I wanted to make sure I really achieved the distressed look on the main part of the dresser so I took a little bit more time, but not that much.

When all of the pieces were finished and starting to dry I started working on the hardware.  Honestly, this was the hardest part.  The pulls are brass and difficult to get the paint to stick. I used spray paint intended for all types of material but I couldn't get it to stick that well.  I ended up with a very blue hand!

After a full night of drying we were able to put all the pieces back together.  Take a look at the finished product!

The finished product

I'm really pleased with the way this project turned out!  Honestly, while it took me two weekends to get this finished I really only spent about an hour and half total on everything and the total cost was about $15!

Up next...a cafe curtain for the kitchen window!

Any fun projects you've been working on around your house?  Anything you've been putting off? 

Houston We Have A Problem...

...or rather we HAD a problem! 

And that problem was taking on too much and therefore neglecting my very loyal readers (yes Mom and Gram I know that's really only you, but hey I've got to make myself look good, right?)

But now the wedding is over!!  I'm officially a married women and I'm loving it.  We've been home and back in our new normal routine for a week now.  The DVR is empty (or as empty as it can be the number of shows I record), we're back to home cooked meals (bye bye 8 pounds I gained on my honeymoon), and the house is presentable again (dust bunnies be gone!).

That means I have the free time to try this whole blog thing out again.  So here goes!

I'm currently undertaking the task of decorating the house.  And by that I mean hanging things on walls!  I've started with the hallway.  I found the best picture frame at TJ Maxx or Marshall's or Home Goods...it was one of those stores but they're really all the same to me.  Anyway, the frame was 7 frames all put together into one.  I got it not really thinking about how it would work and ended up loving it.  BUT that meant that I had to continue the theme through the entire hallway.  So I've spent days searching for very cool, but not expensive, frames to add to the wall.  I don't even have the pictures yet but I'm just buying and hanging the frames.  I'm up to 15 so far. 

So I get home last night and start showing everything to Darrin and he's starring at me like I have three heads - which is actually a pretty common reaction when I start showing him things I've bought!  I go through this 5 minute monologue about how excited I am to do this and how cool I hope it looks and how I can't wait to add old family pictures and our wedding photos.  After all of that I get..."But they don't match?" Now, at first I was really impressed that he even really noticed something like that - this is the kid that wore a shirt covered in dirt to run errands tonight - so I explained to him that it was meant to be unique and not match.  His response - "How many times do you think you're going to have to explain that one to people?"

Now all this makes me do is start second guessing myself.  I spent a good hour today searching sites like thenest.com and the HGTV website trying to figure out if people are going to think my hallway looks interesting and good or ugly and mis-matched.  I mean, there isn't much I can at this point - the holes are in the walls and there is NO WAY I am getting out the wall patch and paint!  So for now I'm going with it...but that brings up the question -

How much say does/did your spouse/significant other have in the decorating of your house?

I'm trying out a new crock pot recipe on Wednesday...See Previous Post...so check back then for either a recipe or a warning not to try it!