I Love A Good Bargain

I mean who doesn’t love a good bargain, right?! And I love a good bargain even better when I’m not expecting it. I don’t know how many of you out there are “thrifters” – aka, people that love to bargain shop at second-hand stores – but I have been on a roll this month! My all–time favorite thrift store is located in Downtown Wichita, KS. I learned about it over 7 years ago when Caton and I started dating and he and my mother-in-law took me there. I tried to look it up online, but I honestly have no idea how to search for it. I have never heard or paid attention to the actual name of the store because I have only known it to be “The Boutique”. It earned its name because, although the rest of store could probably be compared to every other thrift store/DAV store/second-hand store by a passerby on the street, the front of the store has its own special counter and display section called, none other than, The Boutique.

My second favorite (although just recently a favorite) thrift store is new to the Kansas City area. Savers is located in a former Big Lots in Overland Park, so when I first set foot in the store I thought it was going to be just like Big Lots, but I was wrong. It is such a fun, expansive, and upscale thrift store that offers massive amounts of clothing and shoes for men, women and children, a huge housewares and bed/bath section, books, furniture and more. If you haven’t been, I would suggest you check it out!

As I mentioned in this post, I am waiting for some sunnier/warmer/less-windy/less-freezing weather to get my spray paint on in the backyard, and here is a little preview of what I plan to spray spruce up.

Look at all of this stuff! I found these stools (more to come on those later), the amazing white wooden picture frame, the candle sticks, the ceramic cross and the ceramic pot all at Savers over the last few weeks. What a deal!

I found these few great deals at The Boutique when we were visiting the in-laws a few weekends ago and I am still so excited just thinking about it!

Banana Republic sweater.

Forever 21 shirt (that still had the tags on).

And the last, but not least, items I found at The Boutique were this awesome glass vase and this amazing handmade Christmas sign. How cool is that?! Kay (my mother-in-law) and I were doing our last few minutes of searching over by the tablecloths and super discounted holiday décor when I happened to spot the corner of a pained wooden sign. I bent down to the bottom shelf, dug under some Christmas ornaments and garland and pulled out not one, but TWO of these signs with the adorable hooks and glass nobs. The first one I pulled out had music notes all over it and I just knew my MIL had to take it home (she’s an amazing singer and piano player), so I was even more excited when I pulled this second sign out and realized that I would get to take one home as well AND that the colors would go perfectly with our furniture, décor and decorations. They will be so fun to get out around the holidays and have for years to come.

Ok, back to my stools. We love our dining room table. It’s a rectangular bar-height table that has four black leather chairs and is so us, but it creates quite a dilemma when it comes seating family and friends. We have had many instances where Caton and I end up standing around the table to eat dinner or play games with our families because it only allows for four people to sit down. I have been on the lookout for a few years now for simple and inexpensive barstools that will provide us with extra seating that can easily be stored in a closet or the basement when we don’t have company over. I’ve had my eye on these for quite some time, but I just haven’t been able to bring myself to pay that much for a couple of stools that will be stored away when we don’t need or use them. So when I found these bad boys at Savers one evening I was beyond excited and quickly threw them in my cart (well, I was able to fit one in the cart and awkwardly carried the other under one arm while pushing the cart with the other) and ran (well, walked as quickly as possible while pushing a cart with one arm and carrying this huge and fairly heavy stool under the other arm) to the checkout line before anyone could try to steal the deal away from me.

And check out that price tag. What a deal!

Now, even though I LOVE the color blue for anything and everything, I wasn’t a big fan of this color combination. I haven’t decided exactly what I will do to fix them up, but I love this! This color would be so perfect for our home and all of our dark espresso furniture. I can’t wait to explore some options for making this transformation before our next family gathering.

So there you have it; my bargains for the month of February! I’ll leave you with a quick breakdown of my total spending for the month. Thrifting sure makes it easy (and fun) to stay within my spending cash budget for the month. Let me know if you want to join me next time!

Bar stools - $6.99 each

White frame - $2.99

Candle sticks - $1.99 for the small and $2.99 for the large

Ceramic cross - $0.99

Ceramic pot - $2.99

Banana Republic sweater - $5.95

Forever 21 shirt (with the tags on) - $3.99

Glass vase - $0.49

Wooden Christmas sign - $4.95

Grand total for February - $34.32

I love a good bargain!

Happy Friday

I just wanted to send out a little message...

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Our family just received the wonderfuly-amazing-heart-warming-prayer-answering-smile-inducing news...

JACK IS ON HIS WAY HOME FROM AFGHANISTAN AS I TYPE THIS MESSAGE!!!

More to come later... :)

I'm Back!

Wow! I have been out of the blogging loop this past week. Things have been heeectiiic! We have been busy with...

A trip to Wichita to visit the in-laws that was filled with lots of relaxing, catching up, eating wonderful food, playing card games, thrift-shopping with my mother-in-law (more to come on my great finds at our favorite second-hand store) and just hanging out as a family.

A super-busy work week that had both of our heads spinning (one day last week I forgot to eat lunch until after 2:00 pm in the afternoon).

The start of our new workout routine, thanks to the purchase and delivery of our brand new treadmill, that allows us to get our run on morning, noon or night in the comfort of our own basement (with a TV to provide entertainment, thanks to our Valentine's Day gift to each other). By the way, if you're in the market for a treadmill, we would definitely recommend a ProForm. We have had it a few weeks now and are in love! The size and fold-up design, a 2.25 CHP gym-quality motor and features (including an in-console fan, 12 quick-button workouts, 1-10 MPH quick-speed buttons, iFit workout card technology and an iPod port that plays your music though the in-console speakers) are all perfect for us and have surpassed all of our expectations.

Dealing with our first home owner renter issue when our basement drain started to back up over the weekend. It was a bit of a disaster, and definitely a mess, but we survived and were able to laugh it off since we are renting and haven't yet taken the plunge into home ownership.

Spending time with my family and being super-excited for our son/brother/uncle/brother-in-law to come home from Afghanistan. Yes, that's right! He is getting out of that hell-on-earth and coming back to The States. We can't even wait until he is officially back on US soil (more to come on Jack's whereabouts as he makes his way half way around the world)!

So, that wraps up the last week of our lives. Whew! I'm tired just thinking about it, but I have some fun things I want to accomplish in the week(s) to come. Kansas City was blessed with some wonderful 70+ degree weather at the end of last week and part of the weekend, but that came and went in the blink of an eye and they're expecting rain, sleet and possibly even snow later this week. Talk about a tease! Anyway, once we get some of that warmer weather back, I have a few fun projects in store that involve a little bit lot of this:

 Source

Until then, have a wonderful week!

Happy Valentine's Day

Hearts. Roses. Chocolate. Pink. Red. Purple. Valentine’s. Hugs. Kisses. Love.

LOVE!!!

As you’ve heard me mention a few times over the last few weeks, I love Valentine’s Day! I also love finding out the history of special holidays like this, which you can read about here. It’s a day of LOVE and really, what could be better than a day dedicated to expressing how much you love your spouse/parents/children/siblings/nieces & nephews/extended family/friends?! I’m sure there are many critics out there that are not only annoyed with my love of the Love Day, but also disgusted with the fact that I totally, whole-heartedly, 100% give in to another one of Hallmark’s money-making days. I know… I get it… I understand your argument. But I don’t care. I love Hallmark. I love giving cards to my parents, siblings, grandparents, and parent/sibling/grandparent-in-laws. It’s my thing. It’s what I do. It’s what I’ve always done and will continue to do, hopefully for the rest of my life (assuming I can still continue to afford stamps as the years – and rates – go on and up). I love being a Platinum Card Member at Hallmark and I love walking into that amazing store before each and every holiday, birthday, announcement and event… and sometimes those just-because-you-need-it days. But this Valentine’s Day I’m doing something I’ve never done before…

Yes, I’m still sending cards. But no, they’re not coming from Hallmark. Dun dun duuun!!! This year, I was won over by my beloved Shutterfly. I’m totally guilty of succumbing to the peer pressure of their amazing email discounts. *Side note: Are you a member? I would definitely suggest signing up today so you can start taking advantage of their great online deals and savings (and no, Shutterfly has no idea I’m saying this about them, I just really love them that much)!* Anyway, so I received a great email offer for 10 free photo cards and I knew the second I received it that I wanted to us them as my Valentine’s Day cards this year. Parents and Grandparents love seeing pictures of their children and grandchildren, right?! Plus, all I had to pay for them was the shipping and handling; so I got a killer deal compared to what I would have spent at Hallmark for 10 cards.

Here are the deets. *Another side note: has anyone else started using the term “deets”, as in short for “details”, except add an extra –e and drop the –ails. It makes me laugh every time I read it, and I’ve recently caught myself saying it. Doesn’t it make you chuckle?!* Anyway, here the deets, or details, of the cost breakdown, for those of you that are interested. If I would have purchased the 10 cards from Shutterfly without a coupon, I would have had to pay $2.39 each, plus over $6.53 shipping + handling and tax. If I would have purchased the 10 cards from Hallmark, I would have had to pay $3.00-$6.00 each – we all know how expensive Hallmark cards can be these days, but I still love them! But all of those are a big IF, because after plugging in my handy-dandy coupon code, I paid $0.00 each and $6.53 for shipping + handling and tax. I don’t know about you, but I would much rather pay $0.65 each any day of the week AND have these super-cute cards to send out to our family members!

The front of our Valentine’s Day card:

The inside of our Valentine’s Day card:

So, with a few x’s and a few o’s, I’m wishing you a wonderful and love-filled Saint Valentine’s Day!

XOXOXO,

Kat

Hearty Crafts

No, I’m not referencing Campbell’s Chunky Soup. Although, I will admit that I do love a hearty meal (or bowl of soup) as much as the next person. I’m talking about hearts… love… Valentine’s Day!  I mentioned in this post that I had a few Valentine’s Day crafts I wanted to make at home, very inexpensively, to decorate and spruce up our house for the holiday of love.

My first project was pom pom garland. The entire project cost a whopping $3.00 and maybe 30 minutes. I love it. It is so fun to walk through the house and see the colorful strands hanging in the middle of our dining room.

The next few projects were made possible thanks to one of my favorite places, The Target Dollar Spot. You know the place; those 2 wonderful isles at the front of every Target store that sell some super cute (and some super weird, but we’ll take the bad with the good!) items for $1.00 - $2.50 each. Love! After a trip to Target over my lunch break one day last week, I came home with these wonderful finds.

I used the colorful paper and pink letter stickers to make this Scrabble-like word frame. *Side note: Caton and I (along with other siblings, cousins, and friends that have the iPhone) are officially hooked on the app called Words with Friends. Haven’t heard of it? Check it out. Now! It is so much fun and provides endless hours of entertainment, but at your own speed. You play scrabble on your phone against another person (or multiple people) but each person plays at their own pace. So, if Caton plays a word and I don’t have time to check my phone for a few minutes (or hours) the game will be on hold until I make my next move and it allows him to play again. So addicting and so competitive. * Anyway, so we have been playing this game and it has my mind on letters and words at all times. I have seen a few other people/blogs do things like this with Scrabble letters from the actual game and I definitely plan on taking on that project once I find a super-cheap game or letters for sale at a thrift store of some kind. As for the frame, that was a clearance item that was spray painted black a few months ago that I had laying around just waiting to be used for the perfect project. 

Isn’t it cute?! And yes, it’s totally and completely and purposefully a play on two things close to my heart, the song Forever And Ever, Amen by Randy Travis and the book Love You Forever by Robert Munsch. I just love both of these. The 1998 hit by Mr. Travis is a classic; at least it is in my book! It’s still hard to believe I was in 8^th grade when this song was released. It has always been a special song to Caton and me. So special, actually, that it was a front-runner for our 1^st Dance at our wedding. Ultimately, Cross My Heart by George Strait was chosen as our song, but we still made sure to play Forever And Ever, Amen during the reception and two-stepped to it together. Ah, the memories! And I’ll never forget my Mom reading Love You Forever to us countless times while we were growing up. It is such a special book and message. This post has just turned into a wonderful trip down memory lane, hasn’t it?!

Ok, back to my Dollar Spot finds. I used the large glittery red heart, the foam ‘LOVE’ and the foam heart to make a few more pieces of “heart art”. My favorite thing about these decorations is that they consist mainly of things I already have around our house, which makes it inexpensive and convenient. From the frames, to the patterned paper, to the hot glue, it was all extremely cost efficient.

My last project gift was inspired by my adorable nephew, Scotty, and this blog post. Scotty is obsessed with all things super heroes right now, especially Spiderman. He’s a 5-year-old Spidey wannabe. In the last year we have had a Spiderman-themed Christmas, birthday, and any other special-little-day (or regular-old-day) so I thought why not carry it on through Valentine’s Day?! Here they are in all of their heart-shaped, red-iced, black-webbed, Spidey-loved glory.

They were a huge hit, and pretty tasty as well! Oh, and if you ask Scotty, the 'S' stands for Scotty, not Spidey. Don't mind the chocolates in his mouth or his baby brother, Aiden, jumperoo-ing in the background trying to get our attention.

Well, that wraps up my DYI Valentine’s Day décor. Did you find any heart-shaped inspiration this year? Come up with any fun projects to help celebrate the holiday in your home? Please, share the love! J

I know I’m looking forward to spending Love Day with My Love!