WOOOOO!

WE ARE FINALLY FULLY LICENSED FOSTER PARENTS! I have the license in my hot little hands! Its official. Now if the phone would just ring. . .

New comforter

When dh and I combined stuff we went with his quilt because he loves it. His green quilt. I detest green. I've dealt with it for 5 years. But no longer!!! Our plan is to paint the room purple, we have purple curtains over the windows and a dark brown curtain over the closet. A purple Comforter might be a bit much on top of all of that. I found this comforter at the nex, on clearance. Normally $120, on sale for $60! I had to check with dh first. It's his comforter too! And its over our $50 limit, anything more then that we check with our spouse. He approved it and thankfully it was still there later. I LOVE it! Its so pretty and fluffy. No more tugging the quilt from each other in the middle of the night. Apparently his quilt was only a full, NOT a queen. Last night the cats wouldn't have anything to do with it, they were fighting over the skirt i left on the bed. You can see they've come to terms with the change.



My plan is to give this room a complete makeover.To get rid of the dressers replacing them with a really big and tall one to share. A new night stand on my side, and to paint the one on Dh's side. I'd like to add a comfy lounger and small reading table. Not to mention painting it purple, and replacing the cheapo carpet. If only I had 6 hands.

Rite aid deals August 24-30

itch X-GEL w aloe $5.99 sale $3.99 free after rebate
Certain dri feet pads $7,59 sale $4.99 after rebate .99
Ez start clear tape $3.69 sale $1.50 free after rebate
Pert plus $4.19 on sale $2.99 used $3 coupon, free
Pert plus $4.19 on sale $2.99 used $2 coupon, after $2 rebate Free plus $1 overage
2 vive men shampoo $9.98 sale bogo $4.99

Full price $33.23
Sale prices $21.45
After coupons $16.45
After rebate $4.98
If pert peelie works $1

There is a peelie on the pert for a $3.99 rebate. I don't have much luck with manufacture rebates. I'm going to send it in anyway, and if I do get it back that would make everything $1. TOTAL. That's wonderful!

Laundry cheat sheet

My simple laundry project.


I clipped the wheel and chart from the April 2008 issue of Real Simple magazine. I don't usually buy this one its expensive $4. I splurged for our plane ride back in April. I kept it to cut out the laundry charts.

Close up of wheel.


I stuck a brad in the center of the wheel to allow it to turn for easy reading. The scrapbook paper came from my stash. The 'this is the life' sticker also come from my stash. The 'dream' sticker was part of a pack from the dollar store. I used a puff pen on the flower, also from my stash. You can see the mark my coffee cup made when set on it. Twice! lol. I think its a cute little project that looks nice in our little laundry room. Maybe now my husband will stop shrinking my clothes!


Close up of chart.

To sit? Or not to sit?

I had a baby sitting interview today. It would be nice to have extra cash for house projects. I want to baby sit for only one family, 2 kids max. Would prefer 1 child. My main goal is to have something to focus on besides the foster wait! But this one is up in the air because the baby is not used to animals. We have a few. . She liked them but was unsure. I wouldnt be terribly heart broken because the mom pays by day and not hourly, and not as much as i would like. But if they choose me, i'll do it.

If i manage to keep dh home tonight that will be 2 no spending days in a row. I would really love to go an entire week without spending money but it never seems to work for us. Especially when were up in our ears in home projects! I had leftovers for lunch. Leftover fondue. lol but it still qualifies right?

Waiting, waiting

Still waiting on the adoption front. The longer it goes the harder it gets! Seems like pregnant women and babies are everywhere! I posted an ad on craigslist for baby sitting. I think it would be good for me, and the extra money could go into the house account. For projects or a new roof.

Frugal fence.

Unfortunately our over protective big dog feels the need to leap over the front retaining wall to bark at people passing by. He never bites but he does growl and i imagine its very frightening to people who don't know he's a big licking goofus. The several foot tall retaining fence should be a good enough boundary for him, but its not. So in dh's limited free time we're building a 3 foot fence. For several months we have had a 2/3 foot wire fence on the side of the property to keep them from running into the street. Its low enough he could easily jump it or rip it down. But he doesn't. The boy just needs a visual boundary.

Fences are very expensive! Thankfully the back of our property is a very tall retaining wall, and one of the sides is already fenced. All we have to fence is the front and one side. We looked at some of the pre-made panels, the one we liked was $70 a panel. We would need 4 on the side and probably 6 in front. $700 plus we would have to buy concrete and corner posts. I'm almost positive we've bought everything we need to build the fence.

Its a very simple fence, we used 4x4s for the corner posts 8-10 feet apart,cemented into the ground, then screwed 2 2x4s between the corner posts. For slats we're hoping to use the wood from pallets. Its the right height. The only issue is when we try to hammer them apart we end up splitting several boards from the pallet. Or all of them. lol We're going to try taking it apart with a saw. If we have to buy the slats it will greatly increase the product cost!

So far our fence total is $276. Including a post hole digger, brackets, and cement mixer for the drill.