A Little Crazy

Well hello there, Snickelfritz Lane a.k.a "poor little neglected blog."

I know. It seems we haven't spoken in weeks. 

I'm not mad at you.  You have just dropped very low on my priority to do list.

Why?

Well, there's been this little thing called Luke's ear infection, a visit from Grandma and Papa Charlie, a Spelling Bee at Fletcher's school, and just life in general.

Oh and one more thing....

We found out last week that we are moving.  Kevin got a promotion at work.  He is now "Vice President of Operations."  I keep telling him I will make him a cool name tag with his new title to wear to work, but he's not taking the bait.  When I call him at work, I ask him why he doesn't say, "Kevin ______, Vice President.  How many I help you?"  He was not amused.  But I am very, very proud of him and his accomplishments.  His company knows a good thing when they see it.

Anyway,  we won't move until after Fletcher finishes school.  So probably early June.  We have a very sweet, very qualified lady in our church who happens to be an awesome real estate agent and she is going to help us put our house on the market.  We spent a large part of Saturday and Sunday decluttering and packing up nonessentials to put in a storage unit so our house looks ROOMY and SPACIOUS and UNCLUTTERED.  Just like you see on those HGTV shows.  However, I don't think any of those people on those shows have two little boys with 19,348 Legos and several or 23 "big machines" filling up our playroom that used to be a dining room. Oh, and I'm pretty sure the HGTV people don't have a dog that sheds so much hair we have dog hair tumbleweeds rolling down our hallways the day after everything has been vaccuumed.  So we could use your prayers that our house will sell quickly in spite of our severe shortcomings in the tidiness department. 

We did tell the boys. They seem to be doing ok with it.  Fletcher goes back and forth from thinking it will be a fun adventure to knowing that he is really going to miss his friends and his school and his church.  Luke is just glad we are taking him with us. 

So over the next few weeks and months, I'll try not to neglect you too much, Snickelfritz Lane.  You get to come to our new (rental) house too.  As long as you don't play with Legos and don't shed. 

P.S.  I think there is a way to sign up for updates so that when I do put up a new post, it notifies you in your email.  I just don't know how to do it.  Maybe you have to "follow me" which sounds a little creepy and stalkerish.  Does anyone know?  Anyone?  Bueller?

The Big Reveal

Family Room - Before

(Bought the chairs off of craigslist knowing that I was going to have them recovered.  We've had that denim sofa for almost 12 years.  I love the style and the height and the comfort of it, but the denim was looking very worn and faded.)

 Another angle.  The walls look green in this picture, but they are really just a beige color. 

 The beloved purple chair in the playroom.  Made by Ethan Allen.  Again, the perfect size and comfort level, but the embossed purple palm tree pattern didn't go with our playroom.  The kids love that chair (I do too) so I knew we had to keep it. 

 Some friends of mine gave me the name and number of a guy who reupholsters furniture for a very reasonable price.  I got in contact with him.  He came and loaded up all of my furniture and the fabric I picked out.  Then brought it all back four weeks later. 

Drum roll please.....

Ta da!!!  (I didn't get the job taking photos for House Beautiful or Southern Living.  When you see the pictures, you'll know why.)

The furniture guy made the ottoman based on a picture I gave him.  It is huge - 4' x 4' and covered in a chocolate brown faux leather.  We love it!  I found the sofa table against the window at a consignment store. My friend Teresa helped me find the accessories for it.   I'm taking a risk putting breakable items on the sofa table.  The book ends are wooden fleur de lis - a salute to my Louisiana heritage.  The balls in the bowl each have a word and scripture verse on them - a reminder of our spiritual heritage.   (Don't look too closely.  I still haven't taken the price tags off of everything). 

Since Kevin likes playing his electric guitar and leaving all the equipment out, I found the smaller chair by the fireplace to be a perfect accent. The fabric goes great with everything else. 

I love all of it, but I think my favorite things are the chairs.  The fabric is just so fun and funky and bold.  We played around with the arrangement of the pieces which is why these chairs are in a different spot.  Kevin was just thrilled when I asked him to move them back to their original position.  (See Luke having his snack in the background and the bags for all the accessories on the kitchen snack bar.)  My friend is painting the little accent table for me.  It is a little too gray. 

 

This is the playroom chair.  It is now covered in denim which will work great in the playroom!  I found the fun pillows at Pier 1.  They remind me of giant hacky sacks.  Can you tell Luke loves his new chair?  Fletcher and Kevin decided that the chair would still be referred to as "the purple chair" even though it isn't purple anymore.  The ottoman was taking up too much prime floor space in the playroom so we moved it to Fletcher's room.  I think it does double duty as a boat, stage, Star Wars battle ship and kung fu platform. 

Tree!

We are absolutely fine.

However, Tuesday night a big storm came through our area.  Lightning hit a tree in our backyard.  The tree fell and took out the railing of our back deck and the outside corner of our house and some of our patio furniture.  It knocked off the gutter, a few shingles, and some of the roof decking.  It did not mess up any of the interior of the house or any of the trusses. 

Kevin and his friend from work got the chainsaws out and cut up most of the tree. 

Our internet and house phone are also out until later this week.

I'll post pictures later this week.  I am just so thankful it fell the way it did.  At a slightly different angle it would have fallen into the house or into our master bedroom. 
I am just so thankful we are all ok.  Everything else is replaceable.

I Big Red Puffy Heart Craigslist

I mentioned a few weeks ago when I posted the trampoline video that we were essentially turning the dining room into a playroom for the boys.  I thought I would just take the leaf out and make our dining room table into a smaller circle and leave it in there.  But the more I thought about it, I didn't think it would work.  It took up too much space.  Plus, a certain older brother likes to play with his legos on the table and a certain younger brother likes to knock them on the floor because they are just at his eye level.  You can imagine how much frustration this causes the older brother. 

So I started looking for a possible solution on craigslist not sure what I was really looking for. 

Then I found it. 

This lady was selling her solid wood (pine, I think) counter height desk, cart and extremely heavy stool. Because it is rectangular, it can go against the wall.  It looks nice on all sides so it could also float in the middle of the room.  Because it is counter height, Fletcher can play with his legos a little higher up where a certain someone might not mess with them as much.  Because it has an overhang on both sides, the boys will both eventually be able to sit and do homework there later on down the road.  We can put puzzles in the drawers, baskets on the shelf and park some of Luke's big machines underneath it.  It is also small enough to fit in Fletcher's room if we ever decide to turn the room back into a dining room. 

The best part?  It was only $500 for everything and it is in excellent condition.  She said she paid over $1800 for it from Pottery Barn. 

We still have some work to do in that room -- maybe a rug and some pictures on the walls.   I'll post pictures when we get it finished. 



Done!

It may not seem like a big deal, but it was a HUGE accomplishment for me. 

Bottom shelf (left to right): pens, pencils, scissors, erasers, piggy bank, box of crayons, box of markers.
Next shelf:  Cuisenaire Rods, Alphabet stamp set and ink, trays with coloring books, drawing books, colored paper, construction paper, writing paper, stickers
Upper shelf:  foam sheets, envelopes and cards, mini drawers with glue, Christmas stamps, odds and ends like shells, buttons, beads, googly eyes, green bin of yarn, string, acrylic paints, Christmas stickers, blue bin of paint & miscellaneous stuff, cookie cutter letters and numbers

Fletcher is not allowed to touch anything in there until the year 2023. 

Here We Go

I am not good at home decorating. At all.

I try not to compare, but I see catalog photos or pictures of other people's houses and start to feel inadequate.

We moved into our current house the day we brought Luke home from Florida.

Literally.

I had a newborn in one arm and rooms full of boxes everywhere.

It was a little overwhelming to say the least. Unpack, feed, change, sleep, repeat.

I tried to put together a few "decorative" things here and there, but nothing major since I'm not sure what goes well together. I also acknowledge the fact that I have two boys. Two boys who like to have light saber fights in the living room. And wrestle. And jump on the furniture when mom is not looking. Those reasons alone are why we have nothing on the coffee table, nothing on the end tables and no lamps. Luke shattered one of them when he first started learning to walk. I learned my lesson quickly. I need functional, fun, durable, not fussy, but cute and stylish. That's overwhelming too! I enjoy the searching and shopping part when I know what to shop for. Therein lies the problem.

Well, help is on the way. I hope.

A former college student from our college ministry days got her degree in interior design and she is starting her own virtual design consulting business. I love her as a person. Really like her sense of style too. So I'm going to try her services. I'll send her room dimensions, photos, likes and dislikes, what has to stay, what can go and she'll send me an assessment, suggestions for furniture placement, accessories, etc.

I'll let you know how it goes. Hopefully, with before and after pictures.

Just Call Me Martha

We needed a new something(????) for our front door since we took down the giant candy cane from Christmas. I didn't really want a boring wreath (although I have a few of those). I saw a cute idea on another blog and thought I'd try to copy it.

Here is the finished product (please disregard the dirty Crocs on the front porch):

Of course, my project got a little complicated. I am not very crafty and most crafty things I try seem to run into various challenges so I should expect it. Or maybe I should stop trying to do crafty things altogether. I bought a cheap picture frame from Garden Ridge Pottery. The plan was to take the glass out and spray paint the frame. But (there's always a but) in MY frame the glass had been glued in place. I've probably purchased 50+ frames in my lifetime, maybe more. Never once has the glass been glued in place. But of course, the one and only time I need to remove the glass, it is glued very securely in place. Grrrrrr. So my additional step in my craft project involved a hammer and broken glass. I probably should have used wire ribbon too since my bow making skills are a little lacking.

Since I am from Louisiana and the Saints are going to the Super Bowl (!!!!!), I think this project would look cute in Saints colors with a fleur de lis instead of an initial. Or a heart and red, white and pink colors for Valentines Day. The possibilities are endless. Maybe I should start my own business.

Or maybe not.

Decking the Halls

Thought you might like to see what Christmas decorations look like when you have a 5 yr old and a 1 yr old.


This is our front door. The candy cane is new. I was tired of the wreath we normally put up.


This is our skinny tree. It is fake. We bought it when we were living in the townhouse waiting for this house to be built. We didn't have much room in the townhouse so we picked a skinny one. We debated about getting a real tree this year. However, we are traveling (but our vicious killer attack dog will be here); we are trying to sell the house (hello wood floor damage when the real tree stand leaks water); we have a 1 yr old (no additional commentary needed. We put up nonbreakable ornaments with no hooks. Please note the severe lack of ornaments on the lower third of the tree. Someone keeps pulling them off. Someone's older brother keeps asking me to put his precious ornaments like the handprint he made three years ago in preschool up higher so they won't get damaged. The tree skirt is not so much a skirt. It is a round tablecloth. I keep saying that I am going to buy a real tree skirt at an after Christmas sale. But it just doesn't happen.




This is our mantel. We couldn't put the stockings on it because the stocking holders are made of heavy ceramic (purchased pre-children). If Someone were to pull on a stocking the holder would knock him out cold. I do love this nativity set. Although a few years back Sadie had a run in with two of the wise men and their robes and beards have never been the same since. There are also Christmas storybooks that we are trying to keep out of Someone's little hands.



This is our coffee table. This Fisher Price nativity set has more pieces but we only got out Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus and the angel. Joseph is currently MIA but Santa is filling in for him. And then there's the Star Wars toy. These books are the board books that Luke can look at without tearing them up.



Here is where we decided to put the stockings. It actually works well.



This is the kitchen counter. I won the moose at our neighborhood white elephant party. It was the only decent thing to steal. Fletcher has been having fun counting down the days on the little chalkboard. The basket has our Christmas cards, Fletcher's birthday cards and maybe even the electric bill. The little tree thing is a countdown calendar from Starbucks that some friends gave to us. There are chocolate truffles behind each door. Yum. The nightlight is from Grandma and Papa Charlie.



The only thing we didn't get to do this year was our Jesse Tree. We did it last year. Maybe we will try again next year.

We leave Monday for Louisiana. I will set up some posts to magically appear while I am away. Be prepared for a few fun videos. Most of the Christmas photos will have to wait until we return.

Lump In My Throat

Our realtor and friend Gina came over today to take a few pictures of the house and drop off some paperwork. I looked out the front window and she was putting the For Sale sign in our yard.

I got a little lump in my throat and teared up. I guess when the sign goes up, reality sets in. Fletcher wanted to know why there was a lock box on our front door.

I made myself feel better by doing some online Christmas shopping.

Let's pray we get a buyer soon!

Another thing I thought I would never do on this blog

Many of the readers of this blog (oh who am I kidding - all three of you) have followed my adventure of trying to save money on our grocery bill. In my search for good deals, coupon tips, and other money saving ideas, I've run across several blogs in which people post pictures of the things they buy and the deals they made. The first time I saw this I thought it was the most ridiculous thing ever. Who wants to see a picture of what you bought at the grocery store? I just didn't really understand.

Until today.

Triple coupons at Lowe's Food. I had never heard of Lowe's except for the home improvement store until we moved to NC. This Lowe's is a grocery store. I think they are only in the Carolinas. This is the first time in over a year that they have done triples.

I had heard the triples rumor late last week so in preparation I cut and organized my coupons. I researched prices. I planned my attack. They only allow 20 coupons to be tripled per day so I had to be smart. I had several goals. First, I would only buy coupon items since I had already done our weekly shopping on Sunday night. Second, I would only buy the things that would be free or close to free after coupons. Third, I would spend less than $20.

A moment of silence please.

Now cue the drumroll.

I bought all of this for $16.87. Between triple coupons and store specials I saved $35.43! I am amazed. I think my parents would be proud. Several of the items were completely free after coupons: the toothbrushes, the toothpaste, the tea bags, and the Tabasco sauce. Some of the other items were just a few cents - the Hefty zip freezer bags were .34 each. The Softsoap was .45. A few of the items were ones that I might not normally buy or even try (pizza rolls, CPK frozen pizzas, new Pillsbury Savorings, Pepperidge Farm Fruit and Grain Bread) but they were very inexpensive after the coupons and sales. Even if we end up not liking them, I don't have to feel bad about spending alot of money on them.

(I have to add a disclaimer here - There are some SERIOUS coupon women in my town! Normally, I would do this kind of shopping without the kids so I could concentrate. However, because there were several good deals, I knew I had to try to go as early as possible or the stuff would be gone. I had to take Luke with me. He got fussy at the end so I had to rush.)

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming. . .

And a special Happy Birthday to my niece Brittany and my niece-in-law Katie (is there such a thing?). I hope you are both having a great day. And one more to my nephew Bradley whose birthday is Saturday. We love you!

A whole new world

I have to admit that I usually fly by the seat of my pants when it comes to grocery shopping and making meals. I've developed a bad habit. I usually have enough on hand to put something together, but often I go grocery shopping and get a bunch of stuff and then come home without the ingredients for a complete meal. I end up running to the store a few times during the week which is a bit ridiculous! I find myself staring into the pantry at 5:30 pm wondering what's for dinner. Kevin comes home at 6 pm.

Some of you are thinking, "Hellooooooo. How old are you? How long have you been married? How long have you had kids? Did you take Home Ec in high school?" I know, I know. It is really pathetic.

Kevin very lovingly pointed out that our grocery bill was out of control. For a family of four (one who still eats baby food and one who doesn't really count as a full person), we were way out of line with our budget.

So I'm trying to turn over a new leaf. First, we are planning our week of menus. Not just dinner, but Fletcher's breakfast, lunch and snack as well. I let Fletcher choose a dinner meal, Kevin picks a meal and then I add one or two more knowing that we'll have leftovers at least one of the nights. I'm also starting to go grocery shopping once a week for the entire week once our menu is planned and ONLY getting what is on my list. I've cut coupons before but I end up letting them expire before I use them. Now I am trying to match coupons with specials and match meals with what is on sale. I've gone shopping on the past two Sunday afternoons while the boys were napping. It is not my favorite time to go, but at least I can take my time. My goal is to plan things two weeks out and only go shopping in between for things like fresh produce or milk or bread if we run out.
My sister-in-law Stacie is doing the Grocery Game and is starting to save alot. I've heard you can get great deals at CVS with their Extra Care Bucks but I'm not there yet. Baby steps, right?

The menu is posted on the refrigerator so everyone can see it. So far Fletcher has really liked it. He told me the other day, "Mama, I like making lists with you." A boy after my own heart!

I'll let you know how things go. I also welcome any suggestions, ideas, tips, tricks, checks, cash, etc.

Here's a shout out for the cool calendar on the right on the refrigerator. The artist name is Kris-10. She sells other stuff too, but I really love her calendars. I don't know her personally. These make great inexpensive but very practical teacher gifts for Christmas. They are beautiful & very colorful. Each month has a Bible verse with it. I suppose if your kid's teacher is an atheist this wouldn't go over so well. But I love mine and plan to get more for 2009.