Road Trip

 This shower cake tasted as good as it looks.

 Piles and piles of perfect gifts. Everyone knew the bride so well. The majority of the gifts were for the kitchen! Ha She was thrilled, wonder if her Mom will fight her for some of the shinny new kitchen must haves! HA

 Pretty tables for everyone to sit and visit after a tasty southern lunch.

 Mother of the bride made a set of 4 tile coasters for each guest along with a home made cookie tucked in a beautiful hand made envelope

 Mom also made the Cupcake center pieces for each table.

A delicious true Low Country lunch. I tried shrimp and grits for the first time ever after hearing the other ladies rave that they were the best ever to have passed their lips. I am just not a shrimp and grits girl, everything else, out of this world!!

AJ and I are lounging in the motel room for one last morning, I am not ready to go home!! It's been a long time since I have traveled with my furry little friend, she has been sweet as pie but... Running in and out to potty is a pain. Most of the time she didn't really need to potty but the urge to be a typical hound dog and smell ever square inch of the property took over her good manners.

Spending time with a friend for life and her family, celebrating a young woman's upcoming wedding, and meeting so many ladies I have heard about over the years has been just what I needed to lift my spirits after this VERY stressful summer. How cool is it that in a room full of ladies (40-50?) you have never meet before you feel like you are with friends. Women are really amazing. Sharing the beginning of a couples journey unto "Until death to we part" with like minded people was so heart warming.

Back to the real world now with more must do's than there are hours in the day, nothing new with that right! Ha

$20.00 Shower Gift

 How sweet is this invitation? The Mother of the Bride is an incredible scrapbook/card creator and all things cute. My "Go To" Bridal shower gift for many years has been a recipe scrapbook loaded with recipes pages from the bride and grooms family and friends. Always a big hit! While taking with my friend (the mother of the bride) she shared that she was working on a scrapbook cookbook for her DD. Well now, what to do? Our girls and their friends have really enjoyed the table runners I have been making all from my scrap stash hummm. Why not make table runner's for the Bride to be for each season. After running the idea by our DD's I got busy pulling scraps together for the past few months to complete my gift with a budget in mind.

 Valentine's Day

 St Patrick's Day

 Easter Carrot

 Splash of sunshine for summer

 4th of July

 Halloween, spent $9.95 for this pattern. First of the spending

 Fall

 Last but not least Christmas

 DD#1 found this idea on Pintrest. Everything was tucked into this box with a poem about each season attached to the lid

No need to wrap as the box was cute enough on it's own. This box was the last of the spending. I found it for $9.95 at a local store.

Sew what do you think? The Bride To Be was thrilled to have something special for her table for each season of the year. YAAAA!!


I wasn't trying to save money on this gift it just worked out that way. I started with a plan, and of course a list. I love me a list. I knew I wanted to make her something for each of the major holiday's but before I went shopping I shopped from home. One by one they began coming together during the year. That is until Halloween, I was stumped. I had lots of Halloween scraps but no idea's for a pattern. Don't you know I ran into the perfect pattern one day while at the fabric store, BINGO!!! Tucking it all in the box idea DD shared with me was the perfect finishing touch for this gift.

I think I might just have my new "Go To" gift for extra special Brides. Sew fun to make, such a frugal gift, and truly made from the heart.

If you are like me in that I like to make our gifts partly to save some cash but mainly to give something of yourself but have people on your gift list that might not appreciate all the love and hard work you put into it give this a try. When making your list of hand made gifts try sticking to a holiday theme for people who might not want something hand made around their home. Giving a holiday themed gift it gets your gift receiver off the hook of having something they don't really enjoy on a day to day basis. By sticking to holiday themed things the receiver can pack up your creation with her/his holiday decorations to enjoy only once a year a win/win for you both.

Day 4 Powder Room

 I didn't want to do away with these pictures from Charleston SC many, many years ago. Time for some repurposing

 The frames were primed then painted black. I used the wall paint to update the mats. The frames are fine, the mats...I'm not crazy for them. Mats are plenty cheap, might replace them in time.

 This one only needed the frame painted, its gonna be fine.

 I also bought tiles for the back splash.. I might hire this part out as I am not sure about tiling in such a small area. I've worked to hard to mess it up now!!

 Yesterday was WILD and crazy keeping up with Kara, getting the house in order, paying bills, then loading all these cute gifts up for a road trip

 Everyone decorated there gifts with some sort of kitchen accessory. This one has chip clips on top, Cute right?

AJ the beagle and I finally settled in our motel room at 9:00 last night. It was a long hot day.

I have high hopes that this little road trip will be just the ticket to get my energy level back!! If nothing else the motel has an AC unit that is cranking out the cold air 24/7.

AJ and I enjoyed breakfast in bed this morning as well as a second cup of coffee....ahh. On the To Do list for the day, attend a Bridal shower for a BFF's Daughter who is also a wonderful old friend of our own DD's. I think this will be a just what the Dr. would suggest To Do!!

Soooo excited. The Bride has no idea that she will be showered with gifts, well wishes, and love come lunch time today. One of her sisters from Washington state flew in late in the week and has been hiding out for the surprise, so many friends from over the years are tucked around town in motels. Her Mom has knocked herself out planing this special day, from hand made invitations, all of the decorations for the day, planning a lunch menu fit for a princess and her court. I know Miss L will cry like a baby, heck we all will! Ha

I will share photo's of my gift tomorrow, along with a photo of gift wrapping idea that DD#1 found on pintrest, really cute!  I think me and my furry friend will enjoy a stroll to pick up a pastry and yet one more cup of coffee. No sand paper, primer, or paint for me today!!!

Day Three Powder Room

 

Before I got all hot and nasty working on the powder room this morning I made a quick trip to the fabric store for some decorating sewing supplies

 I needed/wanted some new hand towels for the bath. This set from Pottery Barn caught my eye, simple, homey, and cute. Hummm, Ticking isn't very expensive. I do have a sewing machine and I don't mind using it. Monogramming, no problem I can do that at home as well.

 In no time at all I had the first hand towel was completed. I have lots more of this fabric to use for 3 additional towels and what I hope to be a happy surprise that I didn't have time to finish. Grand total $12.27 for four hand towels, and a little something else that just might be cute as all get out. Taking time to sit at the sewing machine priceless! Ha Not sure if I want a monogram on the towels or not, what do you think?

 This afternoon Kara and her Daddy got busy installing the new faucet. I must say having a plumber in the family is mighty handy!!

 Kara was pretty happy with the progress

 FYI counter tops are HEAVY!!!! Removing the original counter top took more hours than I want to remember , lots of elbow grease, and a few not so lady like words. Once SIL arrived today we still had to bring out the crow bar to pry the thing off. It took DD#3, myself and SIL to finally  remove the old top. Was it worth all of that work?  By golly I believe it was. I love the clean lines of this counter and the square sink.

Slowly but surely it's beginning to come together. I went with a off the shelf counter to save money. Our vanity is of course like everything else around here 23 years old. I couldn't find anything that would be a perfect fit unless I had a custom counter made. This counter has a 3 inch over hang instead of what should be only one inch. I can live with the extra 2 inches since it saved us HUNDREDS of dollars.

I won't be meeting my goal of finishing the powder room today but at least the hard part is out of the way. In the morning I will be able to do some touch up work then get the paint cans off the kitchen counters before the little girls arrive. The cabinet doors are still a little sticky so I am going to wait an additional day before I reinstalling them. Here is whats left on the To Do list

Replace the toilet -SIL
Install new electrical reciprocals - have to wait for Hubby
Install new light fixture - Also for hubby
Repurpose the picture frames/mats - me, who knows when
Install toilet paper holder - me, maybe tomorrow
Install new hand towel ring - me maybe tomorrow
Finish hand towels - who knows
Finish what I hope to be cute project - FOR sure tomorrow
Make wall art with the grands - Sunday dinner one weekend
AND added to the list
Install a back splash! grrrr - Who the heck knows, need some u tube time

As is always the case when you start an update/remodel project something unplanned always pops up. Of course those pop ups cost money. The new bath counter doesn't have a back splash. I could just putty, sand, putty some more and keep sanding until I repair where the old back splash was but I know in no time at all the walls would be in a mess. Our powder room takes a lickin for sure. It's the only bathroom on the first floor, yep it gets lots of action. Of course our grands are no different than any other little ones in that they lose their collective minds as soon as water starts running. I haven't started checking the price of tiles, mud, grout and whatever else will be needed.

 We are going to be OVER budget :( There is no turning back, nothing to do but plow forward. For a change I am not freaking out by being over budget. We need to do any remodeling, repairs and all before hubby retires, this is one more step towards that goal. By doing the work ourselves while we can still get around (sorta) we are saving a whole lot of money. I think by the first of next week the spending will be done and I will be able to share the numbers.

Off for now, I need to do a clean sweep before bed to make sure I have all of the tools cleaned up and whatever else the little girls might want to get into tomorrow tucked away.

Day Two Powder Room Facelift

 Brought in some male help this morning, who couldn't use another painter.

 Can you believe this is little Mason Man!!! He is talking up a storm now, still the sweetest little boy ever. After DD#1 and Mason man left today I was able to get the second coat of wall paint completed

 All of the drawers, cabinet, and doors have been sanded twice, primed, then two coats of paint. New hardware has been installed.

 I am now ready to pull the old counter top out. Note to self, NEVER EVER do this DIY again. This step is best done by a professional.

 After hours and hours of digging putty, adhesive, maybe even a bit of grim from the past 23 years I think I have the counter lose enough to remove. This will be no easy task!! I can't get to the back splash below the mirror frame to remove the grout, putty and whatever else holds these things in place. I have fears that the mirror will not hold up to the physical man handling that is coming up. Thought covering the mirror in tape would at least keep large shards of glass from silting any ones throat. This step has been put off until tomorrow evening when SIL #2 can come over to help.

 I can hardly sleep at night knowing this hot mess is what I will wake up to each day :( Until the new counter and toilet are in I can't begin to clean this mess up as there is sure to be lots of touch up painting that will still be needed.

Bucky the deer, hubby's pride and joy is resting peacefully on the family room floor. Our DD's refuse to let me hang him back up in the powder room. I have no idea where to put hubby's treasure. It is so yucky to me that I don't want it anywhere that I have to look at it. The garage is out, I already ran that by him. NO WAY is he going in our bedroom. How crazy would people think we are if it was hanging in the living room. I spend lots of time in the family room, sharing with AJ the beagle is one thing, Bucky is quite another.

I felt like I was spinning my wheels for most of the day. Two more trips to the home improvement store, really 3 if you count the trip to an additional store for some price comparison's. Everything is at a stand still until the new counter top and toilet are installed. I can go ahead and start painting the trim tomorrow although it was not on the To Do until next week. Looks like that will be moved up on the list. I sooo wanted to have everything finished and put back together before I have the little girls starting on Thursday. If we can't complete the work by tomorrow night all the crap covering every surface in the kitchen will have to be moved out to the garage. Keeping up with the grands is hard enough, doing it with power tools, paint, sandpaper, crow bars and such laying around is just asking for trouble.

I was pretty excited to find the hardware I really wanted at the second home improvement store today. Not too sound snooty but I really wanted what I wanted for the drawer pulls they cost $1.00 @ more than what I was going to settle with from store #1. I am sure a heck worth the extra $6.00 if I do have to say so myself!! Ha

 I had set our budget at $600.00 for the total in the powder room, well it ain't gonna happen :( One thing that is going to put us over budget has been paint. What the heck is going on that paint now cost $34.89 a gallon? I have had to purchase 3 gallons :( I only needed 1/2 gallon for the wall paint but it cost $8.00 more if I would have purchased 2 quarts, grr. One gallon of primer, I have use maybe 1/3 of the can, it's only sold buy the gallons. An additional gallon of black paint for the woodwork, again maybe have used 1/3 of that. I can not STAND leftovers!! Our guest bathroom is another area that could use a face left, the leftover paint will be used in that room for the vanity, might even move on to the master bath with it. I think I have a friend that would like the wall paint for her master bath, SOLD just as long as I don't have to help!! Ha

I have been playing around with numbers this evening for the renovations. I figure we will be over budget by $200.00 with the additional spending I still have to do, seems like a whole heck of a lot of money for such a tiny room to me.

Time for my nightly scrub to remove paint, primer, and of course lots of sweat.

"Cake Walk Week" Two and a BIG DIY

 Sew here it is week two of my "Cake Walk" Challenge/Sew along. If you would like to join in here are the VERY lose rules from week one's post. I don't want the designer Lori Holt to get lost in all the chit chat!! If you like/love this pattern as much as I do go ahead and order one for yourself it's perfect for some winter sewing fun. I have my eye on a few more patterns in her line, soon, very soon.

As I shared last week I am using ONLY scraps and fabric stash for this quilt. For a change I am making very few changes to the pattern!! Ha I decided I wanted to do a few different things for the cake topping's The candle on this one would have worked a lot better had I not used braid for the frosting :(  Lori included three topping templates in her pattern but....I pulled out my Cricut to cut a few more different ones. I tell ya that Cricut has turned out to be a very versatile tool in my creative endeavors over the years

 Second block of the week is not complete. I planed on finishing it up this morning but...It was time to get busy on the powder room.

 Let the spending and HARD work begin. A few tiny deals were to be had. Got a free towel ring if you bought a new faucet. Works for me, both were on my list. $5.00 rebate on each gallon of paint. $10.00 will be in my pocket in 4-6 weeks

 This was my inspiration piece, I had thought I would use this single panel drape to make a throw rug, lamp shade and maybe trim some hand towels. Still thinking that over, I might just return it and get my $25.97 back. The new wall paint will match the lightest grey in this fabric.

 Now the hard work begins. Lots and lots of hand sanding on the vanity.

 I almost had a heart attack when I walked back in the kitchen to see all this paint on the floor!!!! It was nothing more than dried up paint from the painting tarp I was reusing. WHEEEE

 Two coats of primer on the vanity and mirror frame, moving on to prime the walls.

 Hubby had called after I had finished sanding the vanity to tell me where he had his palm sander in the garage. "Honey use that, no need to wear yourself out sanding" THANK goodness I noticed the frayed cord before I plugged the durn thing in!!! Wonder if he intended on killing me?

 All the walls, vanity, and mirror are primed. I was HOT, HOT,  HOT. No central AC downstairs remember?

 Drawers and doors have taken over the kitchen. They too are now primed and for the most part painted with a first coat.

 How can remodeling one room turn the whole house upside down. AJ the beagle is none to happy with me.

 

2nd and what I hope to be last coat of paint on the vanity and mirror frame. DD#1 has offered to paint the walls for me tomorrow so I can have some play time with Mason man.

 

What a way to start the week! I so want to complete this room in the next 3 days but I will have to have help from the SIL's to remove the counter on the vanity and install the new one along with all the plumbing. Toilet will also be replaced along with the light fixture all of which are over my pay grade! Ha

 

First thing in the morning I will hit the home improvement store yet again for the wall paint, vanity hardware, light fixture, and vanity counter. Money, money, money!! I had thought all of the painting would be complete by tomorrow but now the trim and crown molding is looking  shabby so looks like more painting will be needed. Isn't that always the way it goes?

 

I hope to repurpose the frames and picture's with some paint, maybe new backgrounds or mat's as well. Rug and towels I'm still up in the air with. I need to see if I can find something on sale around town when I have the time as I don't think I want to take on much more for now. The hardware is crazy expensive, we need 8 handles and 4 hinges. I have some picked out but I want to price check one additional store just in case I can find a lower price. DD#1 and I were shocked to see some handles cost as much as $54.00 each!!! who in the world would spend that much. As it is we are looking at close to $5.00@ which to me seems high :(

 

Off for the night to shower, need to wash off the sweat and paint before I hit the sack. AJ the beagle doesn't like a stinky Mom. Dear Lord please let my body still be able to move tomorrow, so much more to do!!

More Pantry Happenings

 After studying the sale flyer's for this week I decided to do a bit more stocking up. I have spent more over the weekend on groceries than I have spent the entire summer put together!!  The deals were just to good to pass up. Old fashion oats were $1.00 of each, hard to ever find oats on sale. Trash bags $2.50 off. Soda 1/2 price, we don't drink much soda but its something I keep on hand for company, our big kids, and vacation. Freezer bags $1.50 off, I use these bags for lots of things around the kitchen and house. Toilet paper BOGO. Spreadable butter $1.00 off. A few more bags of noodles and rice both were 75% off. Junk cereal for the grands to snack on as well as fruity snacks (if they can be called that) all BOGO. The oddest thing is the swimming noodle that was marked down to $.50 original price $2.99. I have big plans for this purchase but that post is a long way off!! Every single thing on this table was on sale, I also had a a few coupons to sweeten the deal.

 When I put away the cool whip, 10 for a $1.00 I found two containers of hot dog chili I had forgotten to vacuum pack :( I know this chili had not been in the freezer for more than a couple of months and already it was looking freezer burnt to me. It makes me nuts when I do something silly and wasteful like this

 True confessions, this magazine was not on sale, nor did I have a coupon. Man alive magazines as so darn expensive! This one was $11.99!! Just check out that yummy looking cover. "103 home style dishes..ready and waiting" "Come home to baked Ziti and garden Veggies" She was speaking to me, in the buggy it went.

We were totally out of precooked chicken and really low on chicken stock. On Sunday's one of our grocery stores have their whole roasted chickens for $4.99 each. Celery was on sale for $.89 a bunch, it was meant to be, a match made in heaven!!

And the stocking up/spending continues....I knew I wanted to pick up some roasted chickens today since they were on sale and we were out. Along with everything pictured above are 5 cases of 32 pack's water @ $3.99 are stacked in the garage. Also the rice, noodle deal was so good why not pack the pantry a little deeper. I hit up our two local stores to cash in on the loss leaders only, what a pain in and out of stores in this heat :( Once home I got busy working up some of the food so I could spend the evening with my feet up.

By tomorrow I should be able to share the bang for your buck you can get from these two roasted chickens and four bunches of celery. Celery will always have a soft spot in my heart as It was leftover celery that pushed me to hit the "Add to the shopping cart" button for our dehydrator. The kitchen is now closed for the day. Dishes washed, tools back where they belong, pantry stuffed to the gills, fans going on FULL speed ahead. Have I mentioned lately it's HOT!!!!

OK here is the total damage done to the checking account today

Total bill - $277.18  - Deep breath
Sales/coupons - $101.20 - Yes!!!
Total out of pocket - $176.18 - Ahhh