Out With The Old . . .

It's amazing how much one accumulates.  I've always been a shopper.  Every time I see those TJMaxx commercials, I think, "That's me. . . I'm a Maxxinista."  It's just so hard to resist.  My sister always says, "If you don't go, you don't know!"  She's right.  
I think I've said before that I like to rearrange often, not really furniture, just accessories.  I've never really had great attic space for storage; our old house didn't even have an attic, but now I'm stuck with all of this stuff!  Stuff I might use again.  Stuff I really love.    
When we moved, we rented two large storage units.  We sold quite a bit of our excess furniture right away and were able to consolidate into one, but the second one has been a little harder.  I'm determined to do something with all the stuff because I'm paying $75 a month rental.  WHEW!  What would Dave Ramsey say?  
Luckily, a friend of mine introduced me to a local group on Facebook to buy, and more importantly sell, stuff!  So since October, I've been buying and (mostly) selling my "stuff" on Bowling Green Shop and Sell.  
BG SAS works like this:  take a picture of your item, post it with a description and price in the newsfeed of the group, and wait for someone to comment that they want it.  If it's a great item at a great price, it's gone in minutes.  After it sells, the buyer and seller arrange a pick-up time and place through personal messages.  It's just that simple.  
I made a rule for myself as soon as I started selling on SAS that I couldn't spend the money on anything other than a SAS purchase.  I've stuck to it and now have over $500 in the fund.  Now what would Dave Ramsey say about THAT?  
Since I'm technically selling stuff that belongs to everyone in the family, it seemed only right that the family get to decide how the money was spent.  So one day while the kids and I were waiting for someone to meet us at the mall for a SAS pick-up, we decided we'd spend the money on our pool.  (You've seen the pictures, right?)  
I think it's been quite the lesson for all of us about spending money.  I realize I still have too much stuff, and the kids realize you never get as much money for something when you sell it as you when you paid for it.  
Luckily, we've got a few more months to work on our fund before summer!

It's Suppertime!

This is one of my favorite cookbooks I own.  My kids go to Rich Pond now and are in Kindergarten and Second grade, but I've had the cookbook for several years.  It has tons of quick fixes in it, and it's kind of neat that I now work with a lot of the students who submitted the recipes.  (I'm at the high school and Rich Pond is one of our feeder schools.)  As you can see by all of my page tags, there are several recipes I've marked.  Since we got out of school a little early today (for ice or snow or something that never came), I had a little extra time and thought I'd try the Buffalo Chicken Enchiladas with Creamy Ranch Sauce (Wow - That was a mouthful!)

1 can of cream of chicken

1 c. sour cream ranch dip 

2/3 c. green onions, chopped (I omitted these - we're not fans)

3 c. chicken, cooked and chopped (I used two of the frozen chicken breasts, thawed them, boiled them and cubed them and also added a can of diced chicken.  This provided plenty of chicken!)

3/4 c. buffalo wing sauce

1 pkg. flour tortillas for soft tacos and fajitas

3 c. shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 350.  Spray 13/9 inch glass baking dish with cooking spray.  In small bowl, mix soup, dip and 1/3 cup of onions.  In large bowl, mix chicken and buffalo wing sauce until coated.  Spoon 2 T soup mixture down the center of each tortilla; set remaining mixture aside.  Fill each tortilla with chicken and a little cheese.  Roll and lay seam side down in baking dish.  Spoon remaining soup mixture over filled tortillas.  Cover tightly with foil.  Bake 40-45 minutes until hot and bubbly.  Remove from oven.  Uncover, sprinkle with more cheese and bake for an additional 5 minutes.  

Let cool and enjoy!  You can definitely heat things up with this dish depending on the type of buffalo wing sauce you buy.  I bought the Kroger brand in mild and decided it even it was a little too hot for the kids.  

Overall, it's a really simple dish that makes great leftovers the next day.    

TTFN!

Jenny

Tag Sale Find(s)

For my local friends, if you've never been to David Hardcastle's monthly tag sale, you're missing out!  When I lived on that side of town, it was super-duper easy for me to shop.  Now, I have to plan out my trips.  (My kids HATE going anywhere after school, so when I need to run errands, I have to bribe them with candy and treats - I know, I know.)
Anyhow, when we moved, very little of our furniture fit in our new house and NONE of our bedroom furniture fit.  We managed to get the queen size sleigh up, but to get the closet door open, the bed had to be pushed up against the wall.  If I had trouble getting my husband to make-up the bed before, there was no way he was going to now!  I lived with it as long as I could (about two weeks), and ordered a headboard and frame.  (This is not a tag sale find; however, it is a Target sale find, and I - Love - It!)

(Yes, I realize that nightstands, even if they are mismatched, should be the same height, but this is what I already had.)

Then I had to find a solution for my Daryl's storage problem.  It had to be small and still provide plenty of storage for all of his t-shirts.  So, during one of my monthly visits to David Hardcastle's tag sale, I ran across the cutest desk.  It was a three-piece corner desk, but the middle piece was just the right size and had three drawers.  It was perfect!  Even better, the piece was made by Ethan Allen and was only $50!

I knew I wanted to paint and distress it and had some leftover gray and black paint.  I started by sanding.  I didn't sand it down to the bare wood but did rough it up pretty good.  Then I gave it a couple of coats of gray satin paint (leftover wall paint).  I read that using a foam roller left fewer brush marks.  It really did.

After one coat of paint.

After my two coats of gray paint, the temperature dropped about 20 degrees.  I had to finish my project in my kitchen.  So, I don't have anymore pictures of "the process", but these were my materials.  

I chose this for a couple 

of reasons: 1. I've used Valspar before and really like it.  It has the paint and primer all mixed together, so even though I was sanding and putting two undercoats on, this couldn't hurt.  Finally, it was cheap!  It's just a quart (I know, pictures can be deceiving, but it was just $2.00!)

I did a lot of research, mostly on blogs, on painting and distressing furniture before I attempted this little project.  Several DIY sites recommended using the Minwax Paste Finishing Wax.  It was a little pricey, about $12 for the can, but a little goes a long way and it left a great finish on the dresser!  I need to see what else I can use this for because I have quite a bit left over.  

If I had it to do over, I wouldn't have painted the two coats of gray.  Instead, I would have just let the underlying wood come through when I distressed it.  The look of it is okay, but the gray comes off as silver, creating a much more modern look than I was going for.

The other problem was I couldn't find any drawer pulls that really worked with the black and silver gray.  And even if I could have, I don't think I could have AFFORDED them.  WOW!  Those little buggers are ex-pen-sive!  So, I ended up buying a $4 bottle of spray paint and just painting the original pulls silver. 

   

The finished project.  I'm still trying to decide on the mirror sitting above it.  Just can't make-up my mind.  

Overall, I'm happy with my first painting project.  Start to finish, the project cost me around $65, including the piece of furniture.  Not bad.

Here's another tag sale find.  I bought this when we were at our old house but didn't have a place for it there, so it sat in our garage for about two months until we moved.  I love the primitiveness of it and the storage it provides.  

I must remember to straighten that lamp shade!

First Pics

These were some of the first pictures I took of the house.  They were taken with my camera phone, so they're not that great.  In retrospect, I wish I had taken a lot more so I could have some really nice before and afters.  

 I can't wait to get a hold of this landscaping.  It's so bad.  

The three above are of the converted garage.  It's actually a master with an on-suite, which makes the house a four bedroom, three bath.  It also makes it GREAT for resale.  It's a great size, has a wood-burning fireplace, and huge walk-in closet, and a 3-piece bath and laundry at the back.  We're using it as a den/playroom, and I use this closet and bathroom since I get up much earlier than everyone else.  

 View of living room from the kitchen.  

 Kitchen

 I think this picture was taken the day we got possession of the house.  It was unbelievable how quickly our construction crew got things ripped out.

 Since we went from a two car garage to no garage, this shed was essential.

 More demo!

 I just close my eyes and imagine I'm floating.

 This has potential, lots of potential.  

But it will need a little work.  

Home

This morning on my way to school one of my new favorite songs came on the radio, "Home" by Phillip Phillips.  This song really strikes a chord with me because my family and I are rolling down our own unfamiliar road, and there are lots of times I need to be reminded that I'm not alone and to not pay any mind to the demons that fill me with fear and to SETTLE DOWN!
A couple of years ago when my new job took me across town, Daryl and I began throwing around the idea of selling our home, buying something smaller, saving money and then building (again).  I was starting to get on board with the whole Dave Ramsey philosophy, and I knew if we were ever going to have our dream home, we would have to sacrifice for awhile.  My excitement came in waves; I would scour the internet, beg for Sunday drives, design our house and then realize it just wasn't the right time.  
After lots of late night talks with Daryl and visualizing myself in a much smaller house and putting things back on the shelf that I really wanted but didn't need, we decided to take the plunge.  Long story short, we found five acres in a great location, had our house under contract within a week, found a foreclosure and began making that house our (temporary) home.
The month that we spent packing, moving, sleeping on mattresses in a rental, renovating the new house, and moving again are really a blur.  I do not ever remember being that mentally and physically exhausted (not even childbirth!)  Every time I could, I would tell my children about sacrificing now for something better later.  (I have to tell myself that quite often, too.)
This dream that we're working toward kind of drives everything that I do in my spare time, whether it's clipping coupons or working on projects at the house.  I know that we'll get there, and in the mean time, I'm holding on!

The little (and inexpensive) things. . .

This Christmas was all about finding deals and using things we already had to decorate for the holidays.

I love the antler sheds hiding in the mantle decorations.  Our old mantle was much deeper, so I had to separate the two "strands" of garland I previously used at the old house.  I also had some beautiful red glass ornaments that I used in the mantle, but would you believe I broke ALL of them when I was trying to place them in the garland?  THAT is why I detest glass ornaments!  

This sweet ornament was a gift from Daryl's boss.  It's personal and whimsical and doesn't match any other ornament on our tree, but I don't care.  I like it, and it makes me smile.  : - )