The simple things

The simplicity of this bottle is what I fell in love with.  Not to mention it has one of my favorite inspirational words across it: "Dream"

I saw it at Michael's for 50% off and ended up taking the long way home from Raleigh a few days later to pick it up.  I perched it next to a purple vase with flowers on my nightstand. Once I paint our bedroom wall blue, the white will really look beautiful as an accent piece. 

Photo blog

I have a second blog for photography. If anyone is interested, you can see some of my works at trboulton.blogspot.com.

Easter Eggs

One of my favorite holiday traditions is dying Easter eggs. We went over to a friend's house this morning where she had 5 dozen eggs and six different packages of dye for us to decorate with. 

The boys had a great morning and were able to get pretty creative:

Don't worry. None of these eggs will go to waste.  There will be plenty of deviled eggs for everyone tomorrow before Easter dinner. 

Mezzacappa Motorsports

Congratulations to Dan (& Marissa) Mezzacappa on the grand opening of Mezzacappa Motorsports!  These are a couple of our closest friends and we are so happy to Dan's dream of owning his own auto shop come true.  (Added bonus: another one of our closest friends is the receptionist.)  To top it all off, his ribbon-cutting ceremony scored a spot in the local paper.

Emergency

**Update** Austin is doing so well!  It has been a week and the wounds are healed over.  He has been such a trooper taking his yucky antibiotics, dealing with Mommy cleaning them with hydrogen peroxide and having band-aids ripped off every night (he doesnt like just gauze because its not secure enough for the spot they are needed).  All the while having no fear of dogs (well, the ones he knows at least).  Praise God!



For the second time, our son Austin was attacked by a dog.  When he was two years old our own dog turned on him and he had over 100 stitches put in after facial surgery.  Fortunately, this time was not nearly as severe.

He was invitied into the neighbor's yard to pet the dog along with his friends who are next door neighbors to the dog.  Austin reached to pet it and the dog bit his shoulder and arm.  There was a deep puncture wound in his back, a bad gash under his arm and scratches on the inner arm and back.  We took him to Urgent Care and they decided not to stitch him to prevent infection. Austin currently has his arm and shoulder wrapped in gauze. We go back in two days so the Dr. can look over the wounds again and rewrap him.  He has antibiotics and fortunately we found out the dog is up-to-date on shots or else Austin would have gotten 5 rabies shots tonight as well.

Needless to say, its been an exhausting evening. However, I am so thankful for what it is knowing how much worse it could have been.  Austin is a strong, brave boy who didnt cry a tear. When the Dr. asked if it hurt, Austin just winced and said, "A little bit. But not too bad."  I am confident it will heal completely without any further issues.

Bookcase Transformation

While I should be making lunches for tomorrow, I am going to brag about a project I actually completed in ONE morning.  Even my husband was impressed.

 I really needed a smaller project I could tackle right away to satisfy some of my creative hunger.  So I tore apart my son's plain, white bookcase, cleaned it and added decorative paper to the backing.

I used wallpaper I purchased over 3 years ago on clearance at Lowes for $5.00 and pasted it to the beadboard backing.  And to think I almost sold it at our upcoming yard sale!  Jacob loves it.

Spring Cleaning

Its time to buckle down and "fix up" the house.  Jacob's birthday party is Saturday and I have to get it show worthy.  My prime target is the boys' bathroom since it is also the main bathroom in the house. (I wanted to give them the master bedroom when we moved in so others didnt have to experience the disgusting mess that is my sons' bathroom.) 

The current situation is paint EVERYWHERE. I allowed my then 4-year old to help paint and while it was fun and precious quality time, it wasnt exactly quality work.  I've lived with it almost a year and for some reason, a week before Jacob's party, I have an itch to either touch it up or repaint (I think repainting would be easier.). Either way I have to buy more paint but that wasnt exactly in the birthday budget. 

I have been thinking for a while of changing the decor to a less kid-oriented theme. I kind of like the bright colors though as the rest of the house is more muted and adult.  What do you think?



If I do change the decor, it will probably be a beach theme. Nothing is more inspiring than nature itself.  Plus I have lots of sea life photos and shells from our many trips to the ocean I can incorporate.

Meal Deals

I love Harris Teeter's meal deals.  This week you can get 1 pkg of Ballpark franks, 1 package of Nature's Own whitewheat hot dog buns, 1 gallon of Lipton tea, and 1 bag of Lay's potato chips for $5.98.  I happened to have a $0.75 coupon off of 2 pkgs of Ballpark franks so I threw another package into the cart.  Since Harris Teeter doubles coupons up to $0.99, I was able to get an additional $1.50 off PLUS the Ballpark franks are BOGO.  So I really got all of that for $4.48!  I purchased everything for the regular price of ONE package of Ballpark franks!

Gillette Score!

I played the couponing game today and am so proud of what I came home with!  Men's Gillette body wash is BOGO at Walgreens. I had one coupon for Buy 1 deoderant Get 1 bodywash free and one coupon for Buy 1 bodywash Get 1 bodywash free.

 So, here is how that played out:

Gillette deoderant : $4.99
Gillette bodywash :   4.49
                            $9.48
FREE bodywash  -4.49 (from coupon)
                          $ 4.99
50% discount       -2.25 (from Walgreens bodywash ad)
                          $2.74

Gillette bodywash: $4.49
Gillette bodywash:   4.49
                             $8.98
FREE bodywash:   -4.49 (from coupon)
                             $4.49
50% discount         -2.25 (from Walgreens bodywash ad)
                             $2.24

Overall, I saved $22.46 from manufacturer coupons alone!

Ups and Downs

I keep typing, then deleting. Typing, then deleting. Typing, then deleting. So much to say but I'm just not sure what is "worthy" to go on here. Then there is putting it into words.  I guess its just one of those roller coaster weeks...

Walgreens Photo Deals

I love Walgreen's photo deals!  They are running special for a free 8x10, today only. You can also get 50 4x6 prints for $5.00. I selected pick up and scored 1-8x10 and 50-4x6's for $5.40.  Not too shabby!

Thrifty Decor

I am cheap. I despise paying full price for anything and I have set in my mind what I will or will not pay for an item.  Even if I do find something for the "right" price, I tend to put it back unless I can find an absolute need for it. 

However, I have become so inspired by all of these DIY and home decor blogs that I decided buying a few items here and there for finishing touches would make my house feel like more of a home and expression of us than just a place we eat, sleep and bathe.  And when I started to plan my living room decor around navy blue curtains that were given to me (I am not a fan of navy blue.) just because they were given to me, I knew I had to change my thinking a smidge.

My mom and I took a trip to a consignment/thrift store very close to the house.  I went with a purpose, to find a few trinkets to display above my kitchen cabinets and to find a bookcase for one of the boys' rooms.  Their prices are very low to begin with, but this particular day you could spin a wheel and get double the stated percentage off!  I found a plate and metal flower pot for a total of $2.10 (after my 30% off):

I have been searching for a utensil container but refuse to pay $20 for a plain canister from Kohl's. I found a mustard yellow magazine holder that works perfectly.I bought it for, once again, $2.10:

While searching for the bookcase, which I did not find, I came across these great green containers.  They were $7.00 for both originally, but with the discount I paid $4.90:

The purple flowers do not match what I have going on in there, but once I get rid of the navy blue curtains, I think it'll work just fine.

With two boys and two dogs, its a little difficult to have decor items on the floor. I was able to tuck these in the corner and hide a hideous, broken socket at the same time.  No one seems bothered by them and I haven't seen them knocked over yet, so I think I'm good with the placement.