Thrifty Finds on Fairview Ave

Getting Old...

2012-02-13T16:08:00.000-08:00

I can tell we're getting older. Hubby and I were offered a night out tonight without miss baby, we hemmed and hawed and finally both agreed we would rather stay home with our favorite girl and have chicken pot pie and a glass of wine. Wow back in the day we would have been out whooping it up any chance we got!

This weekend my parent came up, we celebrated my dad's 100 days from his bone marrow transplant! I also got to do some couponing and thrifting!

I found some thrifty clothes for Miss Baby at a $1.00 a piece

My mom came up and gave Miss Baby this little people Ark she found at the dump after a hot soak in some water and bleach I thought this was quite a deal since they retail around $30.00

Mom also came up with some left over valentines and a learn to read kit for my kiddos at school.

I got all this ( and another bag of pb M&Ms that never made it to this picture) for $9.00. Pretty good considering the diapers alone retail for $9.00. And that is 216 wipes behind the diapers. We will have a clean baby butt for a while!

Miss Baby is keeping us on our toes, she is walking now ( more like running) and nothing is safe in our house. Peek a boo behind our bar in the basement is her new favorite game.

Saturday Sales

2012-01-21T11:53:00.000-08:00

So Here are my two fabulous finds today at the grocery store. I have to laugh because they are both not food related.

For a whopping $1.75 this is what I got

Glade Apple and Cinnamon Candle 3.99 50% off 2.00 and then I had a .75 coupon that Shaws doubles to $1.50 candle was $.25

Cover Girl mascara $9.99 was 75% off. That brought it down to $2.49 and I had a $1.00 coupon off which brought it to 1.49.

So for less than a dunkin donuts coffee I can have a nice smelling house and beautiful eye lashes.

Miss Baby is up from her nap. (isn't her little purple track suit cute?? Second hand of course and perfect because i have to pry her away from crawling on the treadmill) We are off to get our free fribble at Friendlys.Happy Saturday!

A Nice Change

2012-01-15T04:00:00.000-08:00

So usually in the mail we pretty much get bills. Junk mail and bills. But look what we got in the mail today....

No bills, no junk mail!

I had admired a friend's toiletries bag after going away for a night together. She explained her mom had the website and would get me the information. Low and behold in my mail ended up this beautiful bag with my name embroidered on it. What a wonderful surprise. My friend's mom is so sweet and truly delightful. She lives in Virginia and whenever she comes up she is just so sweet.

My best friend also sent me coupons. You know you have the best friend in the world when she sends you coupons.

Hardcore Thrifter...Thrifts in Below Freezing Temperatures

2012-01-14T17:41:00.000-08:00

Today was cold... really cold. But I was having withdrawals from doggie thrift store which i hadn't been to in forever! So while Miss Baby got her beauty sleep, hubby let me sneak out. I was bundled up like an Eskimo off to thrift.

The thrift store was packed! I guess everyone else decided to brave the elements too! The thrift store was picked clean but I managed to spend a whooping $7.25.

Brand New Neutralizer Mary Janes $2.00

Hubby and I love board games to play in front of the fire in the winter.Battleship was $1.00

Picture Frame. I love that it looks like bead board im going to paint it a crisp white $2.00Red

Turtle Neck I think the brand is Dry Goods it is so soft and i love that it is stretchy $2.00

A book for Miss Baby $.25

As I was checking out I had a great conversation with the woman volunteering about how frugality is in right now. I explained to her that I was thrifting before it was cool.

I hope everyone is staying warm im sitting in front of my pellet stove with the hubby Im blogging while he watches The Patriots. I've perfected ducking from his impromptu arm flails and jumping around. Good thing Miss Baby is a heavy sleeper :)

Snow Day

2012-01-12T10:54:00.000-08:00

There is only one phone call I like getting before 7 am and that's the snow day phone call. I've never been so happy to hear the superintendent's voice on the phone.

Miss Baby had a little touch of the flu last night and is on the mend. So we decided to relax in our jammies today and get some stuff done around the house and play.

The hubby put up the chalk board and Miss Baby loves it. We are going to frame it out soon. Today I also made another drop cloth pillow and came to this understanding...

Im alwful at sewing and it's sad that I have to use liquid stitch to get through one pillow. It looks great just dont look to close :)

Big CVS Savings whoot whoot

2012-01-09T06:00:00.000-08:00

So I decided to get back in the swing of couponing. After seeing a fellow couponer in Walmart this morning I forgot how much I miss it. So i grabbed the paper cut my coupons and ran to CVS this afternoon. This is what I got:

4 Hershey Bars for $2.00 (I bought two for a $1.00 a piece and then had two bogo coupons)

4 Suave deoderants $2.00 ( they were on sale for $1.00 a piece and I had 2 $1.00 off two coupons)

Xmas kisses on sale $.74 for two bags (clearance for $.87 cents a piece and had a $1.00 off two coupon)

Hair Dye $1.99 (clearance for $4.99 had a $3.00 off one coupon)

Hallmark Recordable The Night Before Christmas Book $5.49. It was on clearance for $7.49 but had a 2 register reward

Grand Total: $11.84

Saved: $45.32

I saved about 80%... Oh couponing how i missed you :)

New Year Projects

2012-01-07T16:53:00.001-08:00

Im linking up to debbie dos party!! http://debbie-debbiedoos.blogspot.com/

Miss Baby, the Mr., and I had a wonderful visit with my parents today! It was so nice to see them. Of course the topic of house projects for the year came up!

So with the start of the new year of course I have some new year's house projects I would like to do.

Miss Baby for her first birthday got alot of really fun magnets. Unfortunately where the fridge is positioned she is constantly in the way while I cook dinner when she is playing with them. The Mr. is going to get a piece of metal tomorrow we are going to spray it with chalk board paint and frame it. It is going to go here:

My next small project is going to be to sew more of these pillows: I made them from drop cloths and I really like them. Durable, simple, and cute.

I caught Miss Baby in the tub last night. She was a tad surprised can you tell?

Before and After pictures to come!

My New Year's Resolution... Is to blog more!

2012-01-01T16:23:00.000-08:00

Okay after my 4 months + hiatus i've decided im going to blog more! Miss Baby and I had a chat and we decided that we just need to be much more diligent taking pictures and blogging. We love to read all of your blogs so we need to do a better job at updating this one!

This week has been a blur.. Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Miss Baby's 1st Birthday, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, and Miss Baby's first birthday party. Wheww we are exhausted but happy. This year the holidays were harder than ever. We didn't get to see Gramie and Pepe Dupuis because Miss Baby had a cold and Pepe can't be around anyone sick. Well we are on the mend and can't wait to see them soon! Here are some pictures of Miss Baby's first Christmas and birthday. (We are just not a photogenic family ... sorry)

This year has been one hell of a year but im excited to see what 2012 brings us. I know for me it will be alot of home improvement projects ;)

This is what $18.75 got me today!

2011-08-26T12:36:00.000-07:00

Miss Baby and I are enjoying our last days of summer by thrifting them away! I have to return back to work on Tuesday :( boo. We went to two of our favorite thrift stores today and got this loot: Sorry the picture is not that great!

2 new magazines July/Aug 2011 .50 a piece

A workbook for my kiddos .50

2 packages of pencils 1 was .25 1 was .50

3 bibs $1.00 a piece

1 fisher price toy for Miss Baby $2.00

3 picture frames one was $1.00 two were $.50

2 brand new packages of diaper genie trash bags brand new! (this was a super exciting deal for me I got them for $1.50 a piece at walmart I pay $6.00 a piece!)

Nuby sippy cup for $.50 also an exciting deal because these retail for 5-6$$ a piece

3 onsies $1.00 a piece

2 pairs of pants for Miss Baby .25 each

Express Pants the Editor fit 1.00

Brand new banana republic shirt with tags still on it 2.00

What a great deal!!

I also am still doing ebay and making $$$$. I found brand new in their package magic mesh screen doors. I didn't know what they were I googled them www.buymagicmesh.com and saw that they retail for $20.00 plus 7.00 shipping. I found them on ebay selling for $34.00. So I am ebaying those babies. Hubby has stopped complaining about me bringing home things from the dump anymore... I knew it wouldn't take long :)

Digging In The Dump Store

2011-08-21T10:49:00.000-07:00

Miss Baby had a fabulous overnight at her grammie and Pepe's house over at http://acornhollow.blogspot.com/ this weekend. So while she was off having fun I decided to shop the dump store on Sunday morning. Not much there. But here is what I did find: Of course the price was right being FREE :)

Brand New with the plastic wrap still on it Skateboarding game. Im going to donate it to our auction at school the kids will love it.

An adorable Tails book for Miss Baby

A coloring book with only two pages colored in.

Christmas book

An old trading spaces book but I love to look at the pictures for decorating ideas.

Also in this picture is my other thrifty buy from last Christmas. This tablecloth was 75% off after Christmas at TJ Maxx. I paid $2.00 for it. I don't think it looks christmassy so I use it year round. I always scour the after christmas deals sometimes you find things that are not christmassy that are great deals!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Princesses, Parties, Preused Toys, and Pressure Treated Decks.

2011-08-20T07:35:00.000-07:00

Wow August 20th already! Wheww what a summer! Miss Baby sure was on the go a lot! We went to StoryLand for the first time! Miss Baby sure did love Cinderella!

We also went to a few birthday parties for Miss Baby's friends and did some yard saling

Here are our recent yard sale finds.

For $3.00 I couldn't pass up this stand and play toy. It comes apart so Miss Baby can play with it now.

I also bought a toy that sticks to the table for .50 shorts for myself from Nike $1.00 and a box of pencils for my kids at school $1.00
Hubby and my father also built us a brand new deck his summer!! It is beautiful I promise there will be pictures to come, it was also a thrifty build! (well as thrifty as a deck can be!) My last thrifty find was this old garden hoe. For $20.00 I thought it was cute. It dresses up my dead plants. (I'll work on gardening next summer ;) )

Im linking up to Rhoda's party at
www.southernhospitalityblog.com

A Thrifting We Will Go

2011-07-29T10:15:00.000-07:00

So Miss Baby and I went to the doggy thrift store today and spent a whopping $1.75

.50 for a book to hopefully help me to organize

.75 for four small containers. Perfect size for Miss Baby's homemade baby food

.50 for two small baby toys

Miss Baby got to spend some time with her best friend at the park yesterday. We had a great time strolling around town in this double stroller.

We are hitting some yard sales tomorrow... we'll let you know what we find!

Wipe your baby's butt with this

2011-07-28T10:51:00.000-07:00

$.74 for this ....I love walgreens. They were on sale for $2.49 I used .75 off 1 manufacturer coupon and 1 walgreens $1.00 off one tub and that's how i got them for .74. Im sure you're just as excited as I am :)

Dump Shopping, Baby Food Makin' Kinda Day

2011-07-26T10:42:00.000-07:00

Hello there! I've got some great treasures to share with you from our favorite place.. THE DUMP !

Miss Baby and I were out Kalouping this morning. She drove us in her little red wagon.

Miss Baby and I took a visit to our local recycling center and found some great stuff. A ton of clothes from J Crew and H&M for our friend who is a skinny mini and some great clothes for her son from Old Navy about 12 pieces in all. Our loot included this fabulous wool jacket from JCrew. Our pile has clothing pieces ranging from skirts to dresses and tops. I also found a candle stick with a price tag of $13.95 from Pier One. A couple of magazines, and a bath toy from carters for miss baby.

The pictures were taken hastily it was lunch time for Miss Baby and when that girl wants to eat she wants to eat NOW. After Miss Baby settled down for a snooze to dream about all of our great finds, i steamed some fruits and pureed them. Baby food is way to expensive and I like to know what my kiddo is eating so that is my frugal mom attempt. Im glad the heat has broken maybe I can attempt to do one of projects on my to do list.

Busy Busy Bee

2011-07-05T10:38:00.000-07:00

Hey there blog friends I am still alive I promise! Things have been busy here on Fairview Ave. Miss Baby and I have been spending alot of time doing this: Playing outside with Bailey, and swimming.

We also have been doing alot of home improvements lately. When my foot decided to fall through the decking hubby convinced me it was time to put new decking down. Let me tell you he got the motherload of all deals, he got all the banisters, spindles, railing pieces (composite decking) an $1100 for $68 on clearance. I think my frugalness is rubbing off on him! Here is the before.... The after is soon to come!

I did have a chance to hit up the dump today. Now im a tad bit upset. This dump picking thing is a new trend. Let me tell you i've been picking the dump for years and have never seen it this busy! Here is what I got today: No its not a webber but its in damn good condition. I had to crawl alittle into the metal pile and I may need a new tetanus shot in my hand but it was worth it. Miss Baby also got some new books at the dump store. I wiped them down with clorax wipes and they're good to go. I may keep the Easter one for her Easter basket next spring. It looks brand new!

Well I'll leave you with a picture of my thrifty fourth of July decorations. I bought them at yard sales last year. Aren't they cute??

Saturday Morning Finds

2011-06-11T09:48:00.001-07:00

Hubby and I hit up a few yard sales with Miss Baby today. We found a few good items.We also did some coupon/retail shopping at Staples/JC Penney

Bath Sign $2.00

Yankee Candle never used $1.00

Electric Fall Candles $2.00 for both

Baby Outdoor play yard $3.00

8 rolls of paper towels from Staples Org. $4.99 had $3.00 coupon = $1.99

Not shown two new pillows from JC Penney $8.00 for both

Under $20.00 not bad :)

Thursday Finds and Family Time

2011-06-09T17:20:00.000-07:00

So Miss Baby and I went to visit my family today. While Miss Baby "slept" (for all of 10 minutes and then had Pepe time) Mom and I went thrifting. We found so great stuff! This isn't even everything we found.

Atkins recipie book (im attempting some low carb meals) $.25

Reading for Understanding worksheet book for my students. $.25

Fun toys for Miss Baby $.50 a piece and the battery operated ones still have working batteries. We also got a bunch of teething rings not shown.

A great life jacket- not shown $2.00.

My mom found got some great clothing for me. The best piece is the Ann Taylor dress with the tags still on it for $1.00.

After we got back from thrifting, the sky turned black, the lights went out and my parents had a very windy, very rainy kinda crazy thunderstorm. You probably can't tell from this picture from their bay window but the trees were sideways! Miss Baby and I camped out for a while and then headed home.

Disappointments All Around....

2011-05-28T13:46:00.000-07:00

I was extremely disappointed with the yard sales in this neck of the woods.There were alot of them but they were awful (at least the ones I hit). A majority of the stuff was overpriced and dirty. So here is my "haul" according to my husband. I think he's been watching a bit too much extreme couponing lately

A Zipper notebook for my coupon binder(more about my extreme coupon attempts later) .50

Ugg Boots $5.00

Never Been Opened a gallon of martha stewart white paint $2.00

Basket, infant swim trunks (for a friends), Baby Toy, and infant toy $8.00

Two outdoor pillows $2.00

Pencil Case from L.L.Bean also for my coupon binder $1.00

Large pine cone $.10 (some reason I thought it was cool)

Two infant toys $.25

Garden Ornament Snail 1.00

Sports Bra- I wasn't to into looking at sports bras at a yard sale but the woman swore she bought it and got it home and it didn't fit and was too lazy to bring it back. It looks brand new so for $.50 I figured why not.

Free place mats from Crate and Barrel and Free magazines.

Grand Total $20.35. Not a great "haul" but I got some cute stuff. By far the best deal were the Ugg boots and unopened gallon of paint.

I hope you had better luck than I did!

Heaven

2011-05-27T16:21:00.000-07:00

Yes this is heaven...... These lilacs smell fabulous and came from the lilac bush out front of our house.

Our Memorial Day weekend is filled with lots and lots of yard saling and family time. I have the best husband in the world. He printed all of the yardsales from the paper and arranged them by location. Isn't he fabulous! He also installed a ceiling fan in Miss Baby's room, because it is hot hot hot here. I really am a lucky gal! We are going to enjoy the rest our evening with wine and hope that these huge scary thunderstorms will pass us.

I can't wait to see what the Memorial Day yardsales have in store. I have a list of things my friends are looking for. Check back for our treasures!

Please Keep Us In Your Throughts

2011-05-21T11:20:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't blogged all week. My family received some very upsetting news about my father's health. He will fight and get through it but right now he needs all the good thoughts he can get. Here is a picture of him and Miss Baby from last weekend. Now that is truely love right there. My mom has a better one of her resting her arm on his tummy and listening to him.

Miss Baby and I did some yard saling today. We didn't hit too many we are saving our money and time for next weekend. The mother load of all weekends. For some reason today everyone thought that their crap was worth more than it was. I looked at these adorable bathroom pictures 4 to be exact. The woman priced them at $40.00 for the set. I turned them over and saw a $1.99 price tag from xmas tree shop on each, and they still smelled like her bathroom... yuck. Here is what I did mange to find:

A brand new yankee candles with a tin topper $1.00

A big towel with princess embroidered in it for $1.00

Skirt $1.00

Baby clothes $1.50 for all three (my friend is having a baby boy so this romper was cute for $.50)

Cat's Meow village figure $1.00. If you've never heard of Cat's meow, it is a company that creates figures of historial/local places with a black cat painted on them. This one is of a beautiful covered bridge two towns over from us.

Grand Total of $5.50

Our first yard sale was an indoor yard sale for a house that had just sold. I fell in love instantly it was built in the early 1900's and was so cute and quirky. It was situated on 2 acres of land and looked like a lake cabin. It had tons of built in cabinets and an adorable set up. My husband was horrified that I fell in love with it so fast. I love older fixer upper houses with character he likes brand new ready to move in houses. (Also this house was right across the street from his aunt and uncle, which i had to remind him is not a deciding factor in our next house considering half our small town is related to us somehow). Im off to go plan my attack for next weekend's yard saling extravaganza!

Woah Where Has The Time Gone??

2011-05-14T06:16:00.000-07:00

My last post was March 22nd WOAH! Right before I went back to work. Well Miss Baby and I promise that we are going to try really really hard to post at least once a week. Now that yard saleing season is upon us I will have some great finds to share. Miss Baby promised that she would go to bed every night at 7pm so I would have some time to blog.

We hit up four yardsales today and all but one of them was a bust! We even got to see Auntie Donna and Uncle Joe.

Here is our load for $8.00

A little step stool for miss baby $7.00 (the top opens on the top step for storage soo cute)

Picture frame .50

two crate and barrel bowls for .50

nothing too exciting but all that yard saleing wore miss baby out!

We're off to the grandparents house tonight im sure you'll see tons of pictures over at my mom's blog after this weekend. Http://acornhollow.blogspot.com

This is what I did today.... dollar days

2011-03-22T08:30:00.000-07:00

Today is the big day! Hubby and I made a hugeeeee purchase and it is being delivered today! We bought a sleep number bed!!! Im extremely excited, hopefully the sleep I do get will be much better thanon my $199 mattress. Miss Baby and I ran some errands today, here is some photos of what we did.

First stop the dump... Nothing in the dump store today.. Darn it! In the summer Tuesdays are the best picking days! The only thing in the dump store was some old doggie toys, and a coffee maker. I need neither of these things so we went on.

Our second stop the dollar store. I love the dollar store. I bought some much needed items

all for $7.00

Our third stop. The overpriced (in my opinon) thrift store. We didn't get anything there today. I think I might have to take this one off my rotation, I rarely find anything good decently priced. It is run by an elderly community. I think they are trying to make their retirement off their old, musty smelling clothing. Every once in a while if the stars align I find something good there if someone's grandchildren have donated some good clothing, but not usually. I prefer the doggie thrift stores.

Our fourth stop the doggie thrift store, Retails. I got two new magazines for $1.00. I almost bought a used watch which was cute, and along with it came a free installed watch battery from the local jeweler. When I asked how much the watch was the woman said how about $8.00. No offense for a used watch not even made from very high quality material $8.00 seemed a tad pricey. We have friends that are very involved with the humane society, I may have to inquire about their thrift store pricing :)

Our fifth and final stop the green closet located in the Children's Museum. I found this adorable pair of shoes for Miss Baby for $1.00 soooo cute! This store is new to our rotation. I was given advice by a friend's mother to head over and see their cute clothing. Pretty much everything is a dollar.

My total purchase for $7.00

2 new magazines $1.00
new shoes for miss baby $1.00
tupperware-I needed new ones I have the same kind as my inlaws and they keep stealing it so this is my non stealable new tupperware, gloves, garlic powder, tissues, q-tips for miss baby.

My Dear House...

2011-03-18T11:10:00.000-07:00

So hubby and I had a realtor come look at our house, just for fun to see what price we could get for it if, we were to sell. If the price was right hubby and I would consider looking to put our house on the market. Well the price was WRONG, the realtor came back with a listing price, that was basically how much we owe on our house, so no profit there. So there goes the idea of selling our house for a few years. Isn't it cute?? We've since gotten rid of that ugly wishing well. This was when we had first bought the house.

Don't get me wrong our house is cute, and we've done some major improvements. I just would like to have more land, and privacy from the neighbors. We live in a nice neighborhood, and have a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home. So I can't complain. Let me tell you there are two things I absolutely HATE about this house. One of them being the dark trim EVERYWHERE (but there is a different story for a different post)

I am here to complain about my downstairs bathroom. My hubby says it is leaky, creaky, and smelly. Yes, Yes it is.

It is small. It is very green, and yellow. The sink leaks, I think there is mold somewhere around there. I didn't take a picture of the shower, it is even uglier. Tiles are falling off, and have been make shift placed on. So folks I need your help folks. What would you do to make this bathroom look bigger? Color ideas? We are redoing it this spring with the help of my handy dandy father.

It's Raining Money

2011-03-12T18:56:00.001-08:00

So coming out of my favorite coffee shop with hubby and miss baby I found a $1.00 bill on the ground. Last week hubby's parents found $8.00 on the ground. Is it raining money??Gosh I hope so, if it starts to i'll let you know!

Where Does The Time Go?

2011-03-11T10:36:00.000-08:00

Miss Baby and I have been thoroughly enjoying our maternity leave, so much that i've forgotten to post our fantastic finds! Today we spent a whopping $1.00. We are watching our finances as usual, (especially after just investing in a sleep number bed).

2 Everyday Food Magazines $.25. Compared at $2.95 a piece

1 new Monopoly card game for $.50. My kids at school love card games as rewards so I'm always trying to pick up new fun ones. I'm going to try this one on hubby first!

We also have been bringing Miss Baby's clothes to the baby thrift store in Plymouth for store credit. We got $42.00 in store credit and some extremely cute outfits in the next size up.

It is a rainy yucky day, and I can smell spring in the air. Think SPRING!

This is what $3.25 can get ya

2011-03-02T06:00:00.000-08:00

Miss Baby and I spent a whooping $3.25 at the doggie thrift store on Tuesday. We dropped off a big bag of stuff to clear out of our house and couldn't help taking a peak.

Earrings $1.50. These earrings called to me for some reason they are heavy and turquoise with irises on them.
A piece of heavy upholstery fabric for $.25. It would be great for a chair seat.
February 2011 Marie Claire $.50
PJs for Miss Baby $1.00. I couldn't pass them up they, they had a zipper instead of snaps. I'm obsessed with zip PJs, it makes my life 500 times easier at 2 am. I know they are a tad boyish but Miss Baby told me she could get in touch with her masculine side.

Miss Baby is getting her first shots today, wish the poor dear luck!

I bet you've never seen one of these before....

2011-03-01T15:19:00.000-08:00

Everyone in our family has been on vacation lately except for us! My inlaws just got back from Florida and my family is currently down there. Miss Baby and I are extremely jealous especially since we are on leave from work right now too! My in laws brought home this gift for me they found in Florida. When I received it it was holding my favorite bottle of wine. It can hold a vase in it or you can wear it as a hat. A very ingenius idea. Miss Baby forbid me from wearing it as a hat on our walks, but I think it willbe a cute vase.

Useful Yard Sale Finds

2011-02-28T07:10:00.000-08:00

My last few posts have been about how I overbuy good deals, I never use what I buy blah blah blah. I want to show you the items i've bought second hand or at yard sales or dragged home from the dump that I use EVERYDAY!

Here are my top ten finds

1.We got Bailey when we were living in our apartment in North Conway. Our sweet land lords said we could get a dog as long as he came from the humane society. They were kind enough to give us their old dog crate ( I think they did this in their best interest). Bailey uses it everyday and we crate him when we're at work so he stays out of the trash and it saved us from buying one for $100 +

2. This cat feeder is for the T.C.F.H. and it is a lifesaver. I paid $1.00 for it and it was brand new. Our 15lb. cat eats A TON and was always out of food and attacking me for more food constantly. This cat feeder has allowed my scratches on my ankles to heal and T.C.F.H is happier.

3. I paid $20.00 for this brand new in the box never opened digital picture frame. I love it because you dont need to keep your memory stick in it and can download pictures right off your computer. It came with a remote and is an HP that goes for over $120.00 on the internet. I was going to give it as a Christmas gift but kept it for myself. Sorry i was fighting with blogger so no photo.

4. This brand new queen size electric blanket in the packaging with dual controls was purchased for $5.00. Is it an ugly blue, yes but brand new for $5.00 and it has dual controls I couldn't pass it up. I love having an electric blanket on the bed to make it warm and toasty before I get in there. Sunbeam electric blankets can go for $50.00 + so this was a steal.

5. From the same yardsale I purchased a brand new scrabble game still in the wrapper for a quarter. Hubby refused to play for a while, but then realized that he was better at scrabble then I was so we play all the time. .25 for hours of entertainment not bad! Sorry no picture!

6. This diaper genie came from the dump. It was in the dump store and was in fabulous condition no smell no stains with the booklets attached. I dragged it home and bleached the hell out of it. It works fabulous and miss baby enjoys her room not smelling like poo.

7. The Keurig machine I got for $3.00 at a thrift store in Maine. I'm still becoming accustom to the coffee, but I use it a few times a week. So for a machine that costs over $100 for $3.00 also a good deal and I do use it with my Green Mountain Coffee Cups.

8. Sorry this picture is not that great this is a 2 for 1 picture. I got the lamp at the dump with a working light bulb last summer. (I haven't had to replace the bulb yet!). I got the bear table at a yard sale for $10.00 I thought it was adorable and goes perfect in our basement! The woman was also selling a hearse, I couldn't convince hubby that I needed a hearse to go yard saleing in (imagine the furniture you could get in that baby!)

9. This bowl sits on my coffee table. The bowl is hand carved and I got it for $5.00. The candle is a three wick candle and I got it for $1.00. The wicker balls came from xmas tree shop for .10. They were originally on a broken string of lights but I took them off and filled the bowl with them.

10. This is my favorite find and we use it at least 5 times a day. Miss Baby's rocker. We found this at a yard sale for $35.00. It still had cheerios and stains on it but I took off all the covers washed it down, and it came out fabulous. I didn't know we were pregant at the time we bought this we were going to clean it up and give it to our friends as a baby shower gift. But we found out we were having Miss Baby before we gave it up. By far my favorite deal! These can be close to $200.00 at Babies R Us with the footstool. Of course T.C.F.H had to get in the picture. The basket with the stuffed animals was also a dump find that I spray painted white.

What is your favorite yard sale find?

Cheap Vs. Frugal

2011-02-27T09:38:00.000-08:00

Hubby, Miss Baby, and I spent some wonderful time with friends yesterday. We did some early cocktails at our favorite watering hole and then went back to their house for some delicious pizza, and wine. We had a conversation what is the difference between being cheap and being frugal. Cheap just sounds like such a negative word. Cheap to me is something made of poor quality or a person who is not willing to pay their share. Now frugal to me is someone who watches their money wisely and buys things on sale, and lives well below their means. If someone called me cheap I would be horrified, but if they called me frugal I would be pleased.

Hubby and I have really been evaluating how we live lately. We want to pay off some student loans, and in the next few years consider buying our dream home (which we'll find somewhere around here). We've often talked about how we could live more simply. This morning Miss Baby took a nice nap so we decided to do some early spring cleaning. It was interesting spring cleaning out closets together, because Hubby would say "oh I remember you had to have that at the yard sale we went to last summer" or "oh was that the thing that was on sale that you got because it was a "good deal" and now it is going to the thrift store." It really put things into perspective for me. We also looked around at the things we got from yard sales that we use everyday, and could not live without (but that's a whole other blog). This morning really showed me that even though I had been "frugal" with my purchases at the time, in the end it was a waste of money because many of the things I bought were never used and stored in a closet for a "someday project". Maybe it was times like that I should have been cheap and not bought the item because it was a good deal :) Maybe being cheap in some cases is not such a bad thing!

The World's Worst Cook Is Getting Better??

2011-02-26T02:00:00.000-08:00

So i've heard all about these Ziploc omelets. I've been a little hesitant to try them I mean boiling water and plastic seems like a recipe for disaster at my house. I was getting sick of oatmeal so I figured what the hell, it's snowing out and I was craving a broccoli and cheese omelet. *Side note i've never had a broccoli and cheese omelet which scared the hell out of me that I was craving one.

I will say it was the best omelet i've ever made. Super easy clean up and it was delicious. I had 3 eggs, shredded cheese, broccoli, parmesan cheese, and fresh garlic. Yum Yum. I boiled my bag for 15 minutes and it came out perfectly. Please excuse the yellow plastic college plate that I refuse to throw away for some reason....

Stocking Up For The Big Storm With.. Chocolate

2011-02-25T06:00:00.000-08:00

So Miss Baby and I decided to head out yesterday and run our errands because we knew today we would be getting snow.

My first stop:

I had a sweater I bought during pregnancy that I had planned on loving after pregnancy. Well I didn't love it after pregancy. One of my goals this year is to not let brand new clothes sit in my closet without being worn, and then a year from now hauled off to the thrift store. So I dragged the sweater back to Eddie Bauer and returned it for a useful long sleeve shirt and socks. I only had to pay $.78 overage, but a much better deal for something I will definitely get use out of. I never buy red, but I thought it would be a nice change.

Second Stop:

Walgreens. I love walgreens. The store is fairly new to our town, and I think i've been there more than any other drug store in town. Yesterday Walgreens had a deal that you could get an 8X10 collage for free. I made one and picked it up at the store, it is adorable! I also got free dove deoderant, hair elastics for $.75. My favorite buy was the lindt heart box of truffles. 48 truffles per box they were on clearence from $14.99 to $3.74. BUT WAIT I also had a $1.00 off coupon so that made them $2.74 a box. That is even cheaper than the Lindt outlet in town!

All these goodies for a total of $7.00 not bad at all!

Wednesday Finds

2011-02-24T06:00:00.000-08:00

So Miss Baby and I had to venture out into crazy February vacation week alone, Gramie couldn't make it up this week. We didn't find too much at the doggie thrift store

2 brand new magazines for $1.00 and a shirt for $2.00

How I'm Being Frugal Right Now

2011-02-23T07:29:00.000-08:00

It is the time of year that I hate. Right after the holidays, and it is cold and snowy. My bank account this time of year is always low, due to holiday overspending and retail therapy for the winter blues. My new year's resolution is to be more frugal and simplify my life. Here are the ten things I am doing right now to live frugally.

1. Shopping at thrift stores. For $7.00 I got a banana republic button down blouse (looks brand new), brown ann taylor work pants, a black sweater, and two books. This was from the doggie thrift store so all my money went towards my favorite animals. I couldn't have even bought the books for $7.00 at borders. After retail shopping the other day I had to get back to my roots.

2. I'm not buying magazines full price anymore. I can get them "used" at the thrift store for .50 or even better for free at the library. Our library has great subscriptions you can take out for 3 weeks at a time. Example: Glamour, Oprah, Consumer Reports, Martha Stewart, Rachael Ray, In Style.

3. Im using coupons for things we use. I got these dryer sheets for .52 with a coupon. Did we need dryer sheets no, but we will soon, i only bought one box so it wasnt a waste of $$ we'll use 'em.

4. I'm wearing slippers. This is from my mom telling me my whole childhood to wear slippers, it keeps the wear and tear on my socks down and my floors in better condition from winter shoes.

5. Im learning how to make a good cup of coffee. Don't laugh I make the worst cup of coffee ever! Too strong, too weak I can't get it right. Then I end up buying a D&D coffee for $2.09 so im attempting to save that $2.09 every day .

6. Miss Baby is wearing second hand clothes and playing with second hand toys.

7. I'm making our dog food. Our dog has a gluten allergy and needs specific food that is very expensive. Every week I make his food for a fraction of the cost. When Miss Baby is on solids I also will be making her food too!

8. Hubby and I are not eating out as much. If we do eat out we go for lunch which is cheaper, and a happier time of the day for Miss Baby.

9. We are only buying what we need for the week from the grocery store. I'm famous for letting vegetables, meat, and cheese go bad, which in turn is a waste of money.

10. Im not buying things I don't need because it is a "good deal". Im slowly getting better at this!

What are you doing to live frugally?

Retail Shopping

2011-02-22T06:00:00.001-08:00

As you know I do not retail shop alot. But for Christmas I got gift cards to the retail outlets in our town. So hubby was gracious enough to go with me and take care of Miss Baby while I tried on clothes. I forget how much I hate brand new clothes shopping, it is not as rewarding as finding that perfect shirt for $1.00 that fits you perfectly! This is what I got for $38.00. Which is a ton of money to spend on clothes for me, but I didn't spend a cent :)

Everything I got was from Banana Republic

Grey Dress Pants $12.00

Sunglasses $6.00

Cardigan $20.00

It has been chilly here on Fairview Ave. Here is Miss Baby in her cheetah fleece vest and her Uggs. Yes real Uggs, They were hand me downs :)

Stay Warm!!

Sunday on Fairview Ave.

2011-02-20T18:06:00.001-08:00

Im sitting here in my cozy living room reading blogs. All of a sudden I stop because I can hear this noise.... I think to myself what the hell is that noise, and it hits me the whole house is snoring. I can hear Miss Baby snoring peacefully over the baby monitor. Hubby and the T.C.F.H are snoring on the couch, T.C.F.H gets up and makes his way to the dog's bed and continues to snore there with the dog. There is not a more peaceful time on Fairview Ave.

It has been a busy day. Miss baby and I went to visit Gramie and Pepe today. They head to Florida next week for vacation so we wont see them for a while. I am so jealous I wish I were flying somewhere warm next week! It is so cute how much they both love her, and how content she is at their house.

Hopefully I'll get some thrifting in this week. I've been trying to clean out my house and live more simply. I am the type of person if the item is a "good deal" or free I take it, even if I will never use it. Then I let it sit in my house, and hubby complains how it is collecting dust. So my goal this year is to only buy or take from the dump things I will absolutely use. Wish me luck with my new year's resolution, I think it is obtainable, just might take some self control :)

Baby Brain

2011-02-17T08:37:00.001-08:00

So yesterday was gramie Wednesday. Miss Baby and I had so much fun with gramie, we went to two different thrift stores, and out to lunch at our favorite cafe. On the thrifting scene we didn't get too many items. I got a how to live frugally book, a magazine, and a Ralph Lauren wool sweater dress. Well I had a wool sweater dress.... having the baby brain that I do I threw it in the washer... on high. Now the dress fits Miss Baby, oh well at least I donated $2.00 to the church thrift store.

Speaking of baby brain. I've been home on maternity leave and have been obsessed with food network. I especially love the Barefoot Contessa. Unfortunately I cannot cook for beans. Well I attempted to make one of her steak dishes that looked so easy to do on TV, needless to say I didn't do so well. The steak was soso but i dropped one my aunt's homemade potholders in the oven and didn't realize it.... well the whole house filled with smoke, and I had no idea why the oven was smoking until I opened it up.

So I guess I will never have a cooking show of my own. I guess i'll have to stick to blogging!

Thank You!

2011-02-14T11:38:00.000-08:00

Kim over at http://touchofnostalgia.blogspot.com/ was so sweet and awarded me my first blog award! As part of the award you are suppose to share 7 things about yourself. Hummm where to start:

I recently had a baby girl (6 weeks ago) and am loving every minute of motherhood!
I am obsessed with looking at other blogs and getting great ideas!
I have a huge place in my heart for dogs and cats from the humane society, if hubby let me I would have 20 cats and dogs.
I loovee to yard sale and have been known to bring home stuff that I never use because it was "such a good deal" Im working on that this year.
90% of my wardrobe is from second hand stores.
I dream about having a house that looks like it came straight from the pages of pottery barn and then have to remind myself that catalog is my definition of "house porn" my house will never look that perfect.
I hope someday that I can own my own second hand store/coffee shop.

I am suppose to then choose 15 recently discovered great bloggers. I can't choose so sorry I wont be able to pick just 15 I LOVE them all!

Thrifty Finds

2011-02-03T11:49:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, Miss Baby and I decided to take advantage of our sunny day and went out thrifting. We went all the way to our favorite thrift store to remember it is closed on Thursdays!! Oh what a mommy brain I have! We went to two other thrift stores and walmart. Miss baby loved the two thrift stores and screamed her head off in walmart. She takes after her mother, I hate walmart and always want to scream my head off in there too! I hate going in there with her, whenever we are in their weird people touch her without asking and are always mauling her. We try to stay away from there as much as possible!

Anyways here are my two finds for the day a total of $5.00

A pretty spring skirt from the limited for $2.00

A nice wool heavy pair of mittens for $3.00, perfect for walking the dog!

We were going to head out to our favorite thrift store today, but I have a flu ridden husband and a cranky baby. Maybe next week!

Snow Snow and More Snow

2011-02-02T10:02:00.000-08:00

For some reason all these storms have decided to hit on Wednesdays, which of course screws up my mom's visiting schedule! Miss baby and I miss her visits when it is nasty outside.

Because of the snow I have no new thrifty finds to share with you. Miss baby did have some pictures done at Sears last week. Out of 11 pictures 3 of them came out okay. Here is one of my favorites. Yes she is smiling, but the only way she would smile is if hubby held her. So here he is holding her from behind the sheet. We went to thd Dr. today she is a whopping 9 lbs 1 oz and 22 inches long.

Miss baby and I are going to venture out on Friday to the doggy thrift store. Hopefully we'll have some more finds to report back.

Thrifty Finds!

2011-01-26T15:29:00.000-08:00

I love Wednesdays! My mom comes up to visit and Miss baby gets to enjoy time with her gramie!

We braved the busy church thrift store today. I spent a whooping $1.00

$.50 for a cute metal container that hangs. Im going to put dried flowers in it and hang it on the bathroom door.

$.25 for a book about the romans. I teach 6th grade special education and my students do a project on the romans every year this is a great book!

$.25 (not pictured) a Racheal Ray magazine for my mom!

We had such a wonderful day (that was much needed!).Miss baby decided to have a party last night and was up from 12:30-5:00am. So a day with gramie was exactly what we needed. Here is a picture of Miss baby and I BEFORE the night partying began!

CVS Deals

2011-01-24T05:00:00.000-08:00

So yesterday was hubby's last day on paternity leave. So he let me run out to CVS with my coupons in hand to get some great deals without miss baby.

Here is what I got for $4.42

4 pkgs of cadbury mini eggs (sorry only 2 are pictured hubby and I got to them before I could take the picture) $.50 each
2 Revlon mascaras at $2.35 a piece
L'oreal shampoo and Conditoner at 1.24 a piece
Covergirl Blush at $2.50
Revlon Powder $3.49
Revlon nail polish *free with coupon*

Everything was either 50% or 75% off. I had coupons for everything and a few left over Extra Care Bucks. A total savings of $48.25

Baby It's Cold Outside

2011-01-23T06:43:00.000-08:00

The forecast for the next few days on Fairview Ave is suppose to be down right fridgid. Miss Baby, Hubby, and I are going to be hunkering down in the basement with the pellet stove on high and watching some movies.

Movies from the redbox will be free for us (and you too!) if you use these codes before 2/28/11. WXM52MD or XXR3N4Z (remember you can use these codes once per credit card/debit card)

Stay Warm!

Saturday Events

2011-01-22T12:41:00.000-08:00

So hubby went out to Walgreens and had his first couponing experience. I will say with a little direction from me he was a pretty impressive couponer.

Here is what he got:

2 Homemade Kraft Mac and Cheese

2 things have toothpaste

2 dawn dish soaps
6 rolls of bounty paper towels

1 thing of honey
Total: $11.29 With a savings of $26.65

My parents also came up to see Miss Baby

Pepe and Gramie are in love :)

Cold Winter Days

2011-01-19T03:15:00.000-08:00

It has been chilly here on Fairview Ave. Miss Baby, Hubby, and I have been snuggling in front of the pellet stove and watching movies and eating comfort food.

Hubby and I watched the movie Social Network, which was an interesting look at how the website Facebook came to be. Hubby made a delicious beef stew to cap off our "snowday". Im not a huge fan of beef stew but hubby sure can make one! I love Hubby's beef stew because it is never the same twice! To accompany our stew was my free rolls from Pepperidge Farm. They had a rebate form, and were found in the freezer section. They were overpriced, so this family wont be buying them too often. But free is in my vocabulary, they were yummy, nice and crusty and hot from the oven.

I got my maternity leave paperwork from school the other day. 3 Months out of work is more money than I thought, so im going to be getting back into the couponing scene. My first couponing deal was the other day. Baby wipes for Miss Baby's bum were $3.00 on sale, I had a .75 coupon that they doubled so the wipes ended up being $1.50..... not a bad deal. More deals to come later :)

Cleaning Out

2011-01-17T10:03:00.000-08:00

So I decided to clean out my clothes today. Put some of the maternity clothes back in the upstairs closet (thank god), and weed out some of the clothes I have (the what the hell were you thinking when you bought these clothes). So two huge trash bags later, that weigh a ton a piece off to the thrift store. Hubby even got into the mood and cleaned out his clothes (it took him 10 minutes as opposed to my 3 hours.)
I got some gift cards for christmas so now i can justify buying more clothes with them :)

Classic Clothing Pieces

2011-01-16T14:12:00.001-08:00

So hubby was sweet enough to let me run into the church thrift store real quick on Saturday morning while him and miss baby read the paper and enjoyed the morning sun in the truck. One of my new year's resolutions is to add more classic versatile pieces to my wardrobe. I found these great items all for $5.50.I didn't have alot of time to look or even try things on.

Grey workpants straight leg with a cuff on the bottom
Two white button down shirts 1 Ann Taylor Loft with great seams and a light weight Gap button down
A denim Eddie Bauer Skirt (I didn't realize it was brand new with tags on it until I got it home original price $29.50)
An adorable cream sweater with black swirls on the bottom with a black ribbon belt

A couple of the items are a tad tight im hoping when the baby weight starts to come off more they will fit like a gem.

And of course im starting my Christmas shopping for next year :) If you didn't remember my side of the family always has a mission to get everything in each other's Christmas stocking second hand.

A woodworking magazine to go in my dad's stocking
A board book that looks brand new for Miss Baby. The sticker on the back of the book said it was originally $6.99

Our First Thrift Store

2011-01-15T05:00:00.000-08:00

Baby, hubby, and I went out for a coffee at our favorite coffee house yesterday. Fortuneately right next door is one of our favorite doggy thrift stores. So I decided it was high time miss baby had a trip to her first thrift store.

Unfortuneately I didn't find anything too exciting. Her grandparents are coming up today so maybe gramie, baby, and I will be able to slip out and have better luck at the other thrift stores.

I did find the Feb. 2011 copy of Country Living for $.50 less than I paid for my coffee! What a great deal considering youbuy it off the newstand for 2 0r 3 dollars. I am a magazine addict but hate to pay full price. (I get the magazine addict part from my mother over at acorn hollow) Hubby and I had no money on us so I scrounged $.48 and the thrift store lady let us have it for that. I"ll have to go donate to the puppies for such a great deal!

After Christmas Sales & Chocolate Thieves

2011-01-14T06:13:00.000-08:00

So I was in the hospital having a baby so I was not able to hit up as many after Christmas sales as I would have liked. Hubby did get to go out and peruse Walmart without me. He came home with a candy cane filled with hot tamales for $.25 and 4 boxes of chocolate covered cherries for $.23 a piece. (I personally choose to look at the Christmas decorations, while hubby chooses to look at the food items :) ) We had to buy the chocolate covered cherries A). because hubby is obsessed with them and B). Bailey ate a whole box of chocolate covered cherries at hubby's parents house (on top of a loaf of bread, and two muffins) while we were at the hospital.

Im going to start calling him iron stomach. He didn't get sick, but has been jonesing for chocolate ever since. Every time hubby opens the chocolate cherry box, the dog wakes out of a dead sleep and comes running. Don't let looks be deceiving he looks cute, but is sneaky as hell!

New Baby

2011-01-13T13:48:00.000-08:00

So our little bundle of joy is FINALLY HERE!

She was born on Dec. 29, 2010 6 lbs. 11 oz.

She was two weeks old yesterday, and doing wonderfully! She left the hospital at 6lbs. 1 oz. and is already up to 7 lbs. 5 oz. My little peanut will not be little for too long. We are still trying to figure each other out, but we are eating every 4 hours at night, and getting on a routine! I hopefully will bring her out thrifting and sale shopping starting next week so stay posted!

But lately we've just been doing alot of the above! So once we are all rested we'll get back to posting!

One Long Month....

2010-12-02T17:45:00.000-08:00

Oh my gosh has it really been one whole month since I last blogged?? Sorry things have gotten extremely hectic here on Fairview Avenue. Baby is on its way. She is in the lock down position, and I guess im having contractions but I can't feel any of them yet. Hubby keeps joking we'll be having her on Dec. 25th, I'm determined to not have the baby jesusette.

So here is some decorating i've been doing to keep myself from going insane in the mean time.

Last year we got a fake christmas tree at Walmart the day after Christmas for $50.00. Everyone on the Danforth side was completely against it. The Dupuis's have always had a fake tree, so they were use to it. I love it no mess, no watering, and it is prelit. Plus I can keep it up for as long as I possibly can! T.C.F.H still considers it real and bounces off the side of it and eats ornaments any chance he gets.

Here is my little village. I had it as a kid growing up and my mom and dad passed it on to me and the hubby. I love setting it up!

Here are our stockings hung by the chimney with care. Brynlee even has one up there!

I promise I'll try to blog more... I'm 36 weeks as of yesterday......... so my little one is on her way :)

Doggy Thrift Store Finds

2010-11-02T05:00:00.000-07:00

Hubby and I have almost all of our Christmas shopping done! Can you believe it! I figured I would not want to be walking around some crowded stores at 9 mos. pregnant so we figured, why not get a jump on it!

In our travels we stopped at one of my favorite thrift shops.. Retails. All the proceeds go to the humane society and they usually have some great stuff.

Here is what I found:

Gooseberry Patch Gift Mixes book $1.00. It has some great ideas that I can give this Christmas with my yard sale mugs and plates!
Cute Metal earrings 1.00
Brand new never read November Glamour -suppose to be .50 but the woman gave it to me for free!

A Few Last Yard Sales This Season

2010-11-01T05:00:00.000-07:00

So hubby and I found two more yard sales to hit up last weekend. (I think we were just trying to get out of raking leaves longer)

The first yard sale we went to was an indoor yard sale to benefit a preschool. They had a ton of stuff that was unmarked and all they asked for were donations. They had a brand new car seat in the packaging! ( I considered buying it but felt bad for how much I would have offered $5.00 $10.00 max) I bought some plug in christmas lights for all of our windows, and a grey maternity cardigan. I got the lights home and NONE of them worked..... well good thing I only paid $2.00 for everything.

The second yard sale had a ton of baby girl stuff. Nice clothing and cute baby stuff. It was $5.00 a bag of clothes so i bought a bag here is some of the clothing I stuffed in my bag....

But our last find at the yard sale was my favorite.....

This cow puppet that moos.... how adorable!

My Hubby's Thrifty Find

2010-10-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

So I am super impressed on how i've worn off on my hubby. My hubby found this shelving unit for free outside his work. It is going to go in one of our closets to help us organize (please ignore the mess behind the unit).
Now if only he'd pick the dump for me :)

Thrifty Weekend

2010-10-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

I was lucky enough to do some thrifting this weekend. I went to the new store Savers in Portsmouth. Now you southern ladies have told me about savers but i've never been there, nor seen one for that matter. Well one came into a town near us and WAHOOO that is my new favorite! First of all I think the prices are better than Goodwill, ( I love goodwill don't get me wrong) and it is extremely organized. Sorry I didn't take pictures, but I bought a pair of pregnancy jeans for 2.95 and a pregnancy skirt for 2.95. What a deal!

I went to see my family on Sunday, we had a wonderful Sunday dinner! My mom and I made a stop at her local thrift store. I just looovee when thrift stores are open on Sundays :) Here is what I got:

Ironing board/Iron holder 1.00 brand new
Home Alone CD .50 (I'm always looking for xmas music to download to hubby's ipod)
Super comfy shoes that look like they've never been worn 2.00

Total of 3.50... im a big spender!

My Favorite Place

2010-10-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

So last Tuesday I had to take some time off to go to the Hospital and have my sugar levels checked for the baby. It was not a fun process, I had to fast (who makes a pregnant woman fast???) and get blood taken every hour on the hour for three hours. I guess I should stop my baking marathons and get my sugars in order.

I rewarded myself with going to my favorite place! THE DUMP!

Here are my great finds

A hard cover James Patterson book (which my mom had not read, and said was fairly new)
An adorable hanging heart
Another basket for Brynlee's room
2 egg cups for my mom
The Secret Life of Bees book
A small plastic bat (for our halloween costume this year.. I can't tell you it's a surprise!)

Free Free Free

2010-10-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

So on Sunday I got all of this stuff for free from Rite Aid... I love Free :)

Sucrets Cough Drops
Blistex Lip Balm
Shea Butter Lip Balm
Green Giant Frozen Meal
Pedicare Gentle Vapors plug in
Utterly Smooth Hand Cream

How I got this for free is. I bought all this stuff with money out of my pocket, then I signed up for Single Check Rebates at Riteaid.com and at the end of the month they'll send me a check for what I bought... Easy as that.

Thrifty Finds

2010-10-11T06:00:00.000-07:00

I didn't do a lot of thrifting this weekend. I stopped at my favorite thrift store, they had been having a dollar a bag sale for quite a while so there was not much left. I did find these two brand new halloween dish towels for $.50 a piece.

I had just wiped my hands on them sorry they're wet!

I didn't go yard saling because there were just wayyy to many people out there. The traffic was backed up in every which direction. To all my engineering friends out there, anyway we can design a few roads around our little town to lessen the chaos???

Good Old Country Fair

2010-10-10T16:15:00.000-07:00

I just love three day weekends, especially with beautiful fall days attached to them. This weekend was a busy one. We went to the Octoberfest up at Attash Ski Area on Saturday. We had a nice time, it was beautiful out and hubby got to drink some of their delicioius beers. Sunday we went to the Sandwich fair with both the Dupuis and Danforth families. This is the second year we've done this and we had fun!

Here are the men eating their fair goodies. My hubby is on the left, his dad in the middle, and my dad on the end.

This was the 100th year for the Sandwich Fair and I had to laugh at this booth.... I don't know about you ladies but I haven't used a scrunchie since 1985. Maybe this is where my old scrunchies went to live.

The last thing we did was watch the parade

I love the old carriages, and the paper mache person was wicked cool. My favorite parts of the parade were the over the hill climbers club ( I am extremely impressed how inshape all of these old time climbers are) and the float that had a local couple who had gotten married on 10/10/10 (they went as the ball and chain, she has alot to learn :) )

How Do You Save Money?

2010-10-06T17:17:00.000-07:00

I consider myself quite a frugal gal. Here is how my hubby and I choose to save money

Many articles say to save money you should eat in instead of eating out all the time. Hubby and I love to eat out, but we buy alot of our certificates at restaurant.com a $25.00 gift certificate can cost only 1.75 or we get $50.00 gift certificates for $25.00 off the radio on 50/50 Fridays. We also have been eating in and only having drinks out.
I buy 85% of my clothes at the thrift store. I do have the occasional urge to go to the outlets. But overall most of my clothing comes from yard sales and thrift stores.
I make my lunch every day. Lunch at school has gotten over $2.50 for a teacher. If I bought lunch everyday I would spend $450 a year
I use coupons all the time! I think of a coupon as just money just sitting there.
I use the library alot! We rent movies and books for free!

So how do you save money??????

Fall is Here!

2010-10-03T14:45:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted alot lately we've had alot of celebrating to do here on Fairview Ave. First to celebrate was a new baby in our circle of friends. Im so excited for the little guy to be here, he is absolutely adorable! Second to celebrate was hubby's 31st birthday this week, we enjoyed dinner, and spending time with families. And last but not least to celebrate is my parent's 35th wedding anniversary TODAY! Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

So i've been doing some Halloween decorating around here. All of my decorations were either given to me, found at the dump, or on extreme clearance

The wreath on the right hangs from our bathroom door and was $2.00 on clearance at Christmas Tree Shop last year. I found the metal web with the spider at the dump and decorated it with my free spider webbing. Last summer Shaw's had a free cart of Halloween decorations they couldn't sell. Most of it was just crap, but I did find 5 packages of free spider webbing. I may add it to my wreath.

My mom made the black cat hooked hanging on the left. It is absolutely adorable. I snagged it a few years ago as I was walking out her door. On the right is our front door and how it is decorated. Don't mind the cornstalks they've been hit by rain, but the cute little trick or treat sign was $1.00 at Christmas Tree Shop.

Im off to go digest my fair food from the Fryeburg Fair. I hate to admit it but I couldn't help but try the deep fried cheesecake... oh my god so good, but definitely heart attack material!

Oh the mall...

2010-09-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

So I am definitely not a huge fan of the mall, but hubby and I had a few coupons to stores we dont have here, so we headed over to the portland mall on Sat. for an afternoon. We were trampled by droves of 16 year old girls, giggling and texting. I got a little overwhelmed with the prices of some of the clothing.

I had to laugh, my favorite parts of the day were:

Enjoying our free hamburger at Ruby Tuesday (a coupon sent to your email during the month of your birthday when you sign up on their website).
Spending my $10 gift certificate from Victoria Secret on their super soft t-shirts. When you have an angels credit card(which I never use!) they send you a $10 gift certificate on your birthay. I love that they wrap everything in ridiculous amounts of pink tissue paper. Immediately when I leave the store I take it out and fold all of it, and reuse it in gifts. I haven't bought tissue paper in a few years because I do that with every store that uses it.
AND... Purusing pottery barn for decorating ideas, and scooping up their free magazines to look through.

Sad when I can even make the mall look thrifty :)

Back to Nature and Dump Finds

2010-09-26T14:55:00.000-07:00

This was going to be a relaxing weekend for the hubby and I. We had no definite plans and we were excited to just spend time together. Our friends were out of town so we babysat their dog Abbey. We figured why not take the dogs around Pudding Pond. Pudding Pond is approx. a two mile nature walk around a pond, and is a great trail to let the dogs loose and enjoy the scenery.This is how the crew looked before our walk.
Our walk was going quite well, the dogs were running, and enjoying each other and hubby and I were chatting away... WELL.... the dogs found ran ahead of us and ran right through a ground nest of hornets, all of a sudden hundreds of hornets were swarming hubby and I. The dogs had at least 20-30 on them. We all started running, I was screaming for the dogs to go in the river, hubby was yelling at me to not exert myself and hurt the baby. WHAT A MESS. I've never been a nature girl and now I know why, I think hubby and I will stick to walking our poochies in the neighborhood from now on. I got stung once on the stomach and hubby a couple of times on the hand and neck.The poor dogs were covered. So being an emotional pregnant woman i started bawling about the dogs and hornets and hubby. I bawled the whole 1omin drive home from the trail.

Thankfully my Saturday started off with some great thrifty dump finds.
(Don't mind the messy house in the background)

Here is my loot:

Graco booster seat in great condition. Looks brand new and retails for $24.99 at Toys R. US

Wreath

Black plastic cauldron-great for halloween decorating

2 glass snowmen with tea light holders. One of them is broken so it is
headed back to the dump.

Plastic green tub-great to put my drinks in for our summer bbqs.

Not pictured-new baby book never used.

This is my favorite piece and it deserves a picture of its own

Isn't it so cute?? It is a shutter with a metal star hanging on it. It's from foreside company store, which is a store out of Gorham, Maine. It still has its' $28.00 price tag on it.

Craft Project From Hell

2010-09-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

So I was reading my free Women's Day Magazine this weekend and saw some adorable halloween decorations to make. They were super cute so I ran out bought 2 styrafoam balls, and some candy corn. I thought this will be a breeze. WELLLL it was not a breeze, here is the finished project of ONE of them on my mantel. One ball took me an hour and a half.

After I had hot glued the candy corn on they started to randomly fall off. So after some crisis control I made it work. Now hubby and I are sitting in the living room and every few hours one will bounce off onto the rug. Bailey is sitting under it he thinks it's the greatest thing ever almost like it's raining candy corn. So when I find another hour and a half of my life to waste i'll make another one! I guess Martha Stewart will never have to worry about me taking her job! Sorry for the bad angle of my picture I was too lazy to get off the couch. A picture of my fallish theme mantel.

Dump Finds

2010-09-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

Wahoo hubby and I made it to the dump today and let me tell you the dump store was packed with leftovers from the yardsale I had stopped at the day before. I was sorta excited, I haven't had some good dump finds in a while.

A basket which im going to spray paint white and put in my little girl's room
Children's Place purple sandals that look like they've never been worn
Christmas material (at least 2 yards of it)
Maroon sparkley beaded placemat for my table for the holidays
Brand new cloth Old Navy bag with tags still on it
Latern for candles
Aeropostale tank top
White metal candle holder which will be spray painted another color.

Oh the dump how i've missed you so!

Yard Sale Season Is Winding Down

2010-09-18T13:28:00.000-07:00

So here in NH yard sale season is winding down. The air is getting crisp and no one really has any motivation to do anymore yardsales here.

Hubby spotted a huge yardsale today on the way to the thrift store and even turned around without me begging (dont you just love him). We found the deal of the day there! A lupine harness for Bailey that matches his leash exactly! Wahoo, i've wanted a harness but am not willing to shell out $25.99 for one. Lupine is an amazing brand that is made right here in N. Conway. If any of their stuff breaks or is chewed through they have a lifetime guarantee, you dont even need the receipt they will just replace it with a brand new one for free! So I thought $2.00 was a steal! It is in the bottom left hand corner of the picture.

We also hit up the thrift store today, and low and behold it was $1.oo bag day. This sale had been going on for a few days so there was not alot left to pick through but I did find some good stuff.

Nine West High Heels Size 10-- definitely going on ebay
2 XL Greg Norman Golf Shirts that have never been worn-Also ebay
A flat sheet for my mom's king size bed with a pretty lace detail
A brand new white t-shirt --who doesn't use white tee shirts???
Brand new button sandals still in the packaging
A pair of capris pants and a skirt for post-pregnancy
Pregnancy shorts--good for my pregancy clothes lot going on ebay after January :)
A cute blue and white top that hopefully fits my pregnant belly!
A cute cotton black dress a little short but it would like cute over leggings

That averages .10 cents an item. Wahoo

The leaves are starting to to turn beautiful shades of red and orange. I just love fall!

Another Year Older

2010-09-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday To Me

Today I turn the ripe old age of 27. For some reason this birthday has not been as exciting to me as other birthdays. Maybe because im pregnant or maybe I just feel old.. who knows.

I love taking time on my birthday to look back to the year, I had.

My parents came up yesterday to celebrate with hubbster and I. It was a rainy nasty day, but we had a great time sitting around drinking tea and hot chocolate and chatting. We had a delicious lunch complete with homemade mac and cheese, hot dogs, and teriyaki chicken AND my mom made a delicious red velvet cake for me. yummmmm.

My parents surprised me with a WONDERFUL birthday gift.

I absoultely love it! They took an old dresser painted it black, put wheels on it and made the top of it a cutting board! I can wheel it around my kitchen and use it as a butcher's block, and have storage for all my linens and holiday plates. I absolutely love it, and the black goes perfectly with our kitchen.

What's in My Mailbox Today

2010-09-08T13:51:00.000-07:00

So usually my mail is very boring. Bills, junk mail, and more bills. I occasionally get the free magazine, but this week my mail was very exciting.

This is what my mail consisted of (not including the junk mail and the bills)

$200 gift card to Lowes. Remember all those shingles we bought well if you bought so many shingles you got a $200 gift card, and yes we qualified for the $200 gift card

$20 check for Chase Rewards. Hubby doesn't really use his Chase card but he is enrolled in the rewards program so every once in a while one of these babies shows up.

A $23.00 check from the consignment store in North Conway. I buy 99% of my clothes at second hand shops, and when im sick of them, or they dont fit due to pregnancy I sometimes (when I dont donate them) sell them to the consignment store in North Conway. The woman that runs the store is extremely sweet, and I usually get back 100% (sometimes more) for what I paid for the clothes.

It's a nice change to see all this money taking up space in my mailbox rather than bills :)

Retail Shopping

2010-09-07T07:00:00.000-07:00

So Fairview Ave. is located 10 minutes from some great outlet shopping. I try to stay away from there as much as possible because it is very dangerous! I did stop by Stonewall Kitchen last weekend and scored some great deals! They were having 25% off all of their already clearenced items.

I picked up some Mocha Expresso Sauce that sounds extremely yummy on ice cream, two boxes of peanut butter cookie mix, and a champagne mustard all for $6.69 what a deal!

Oh I almost forgot here are the items I bought the other day from the doggie store, my mom finally coughed them up :)

ebay power sellers book .50 Coach baby changing pad 2.00

The Cat From Hell Finally Gets It

2010-09-06T11:51:00.000-07:00

As you all know I am a step mom to The 15lb.Cat From Hell (T.C.F.H.), unfortunately this little beast came with my husband and I really liked him so the cat had to stay too. Well, Bailey and the cat have a decent relationship, they snuggle and are civil (I think Baily just puts up with him). Well the cat finally showed Bailey his true colors and Bailey showed him who was boss.

I had already left for work one morning and the hubby noticed the animals acting strange, he pulled out the video camera and got this on tape. (Don't worry nobody was hurt, you can even hear hubby yelling at them to stop in the background).

Well T.C.F.H. hid his fat behind under the bed all day. I think that taught him not to be a jerk, to the dog. (I love the look on the Cat's face before he jumps Bailey, and afterwards how Bailey just wags his tail and walks off.)

Small Town Girl Yard Sale Finds

2010-09-06T11:12:00.000-07:00

Happy Labor Day To All!
I hope you had a wonderful weekend and was able to enjoy it with friends and family. Hubby and I spent the day in Boston on Saturday with his family. We did alot of eating, shopping, and chatting. Hubby and his sister had bought his dad tickets to the Red Sox for his dad's last birthday, so the men enjoyed the game while the women shopped and went out to dinner. It was fun, but it reminded me why I only like to visit the city and not live there. Here is a picture of me and my sister in law out to eat in Boston!

I did get to hit up some yard sales on Sunday and Monday. There were not a ton of them around Fairview Ave. but I managed to get some good loot.

11 Do It Yourself Magazines from Better Homes and Gardens. My mother at http://acornhollow.blogspot.com/ is obsessed with books, I got that obsession but for some reason it went towards magazines not to books. $1.00. (approx. 9 cents a magazines)

White V-Neck T-shirt, the teenage girl at the sale said she bought it and never wore it $1.25.

3 smencils- these will be great for school, these are smelly pencils and the kids love them, Apple, Rootbeer, and bananas. $.25 a piece

Decorative latern with a candle inside $1.00

Cute decorative christmasy plate $1.00

1 pair of mittens $1.00- I was so excited when I found these gloves they are brand new never worn and very snuggly. I got them home and was showing them to hubby and realized one is quite a bit larger than the other. Jeez.... well they'll still be good for recess duty.

Monday was less productive.

Two pictures that are going in my hall way for a $1.00 a piece

Brand new scented drawer paper $3.00

Total Yard Sale Finds: $11.00

Where The Wild Things Are

2010-09-02T11:40:00.000-07:00

So sleeping when you are pregnant is difficult but sleeping when you hear weird noises just doesn't happen!

Here is the story: 2:30am hubby and I wake out of a dead sleep to screaming. It sounded like a woman or a small child screaming bloody murder. We do have some weird neighbors so I thought one of them had committed a murder. Hubby and I crept to a window and look, no lights on anywhere in the neighborhood. The screeching goes on for another 2 minutes and then completely stops.

By this point im army crawling around the house looking for the "killer" outside and wanting to call the cops, but hubby isn't convinced we are having a murder on Fairview Ave. He convinces me it was an animal.

Now i've lived in NH my whole life and never heard an animal like this. It was a fox, and we found this on Youtube.com. Sounds just like what we heard. If we had heard this camping I would have been convinced that the Blair Witch Project was out in the woods!

I couldn't get the video on my blog but go to Youtube.com and type in fox screaming and you'll see what I mean!

Thrifty Finds and Shopping with Mom

2010-08-31T17:25:00.000-07:00

So my mother and I went out thrifting on Monday. We stopped at two different thrift stores and Christmas Tree Shop. Our first stop was a church thrift store in Fryeburg Maine. It mainly has clothing so my pregnant butt didn't find too much. But I did find this brand new shirt with the tags still on it for $3.00 an X-large (which if this is really an x-large i'd love to see their small) fit my pregnant bump well. Plus I lovveee lilac.

The second store we went to was the doggy thrift store in Bridgton Maine. I found two items (sorry no pictures my mom took off with my loot so I'll have to get back to you on that one when I collect it.) I found a Coach (yes a real coach) baby changing pad that had come out of a Coach Diaper bag (would love to see where that baby ended up) it was brown and looked like it had never been worn plus im a huge sucker for Coach $2.00. I also bought a book on how to sell on ebay, I hoped it would up my sales $.50

My last find was at Christmas Tree Shop and was the cheapest of the day. I found a strand of lights with little wicker balls on them. I had originally been given a hit on these babies by a friend of mine and I loved them so I bought them at full price ($5.99) well this strand was on clearence for $.10 yep folks $.10. Well you get what you paid only half the lights worked. So I decided to take them off the lights and put them in a bowl until I can find a small strand of lights

Im off to put my feet up first day of school killed my pregnant feeties :)

Baby Room Savings Dresser Redo

2010-08-29T11:06:00.000-07:00

My hubby is pretty darn handy. We've been getting the baby's room ready for our little baby girl. My wonderful brother and sister in law gave us a beautiful crib and changing table in honey oak color. We had this nice hardwood dresser that came with our house it was a super ugly color. See the free Diaper Genie in the corner :) Yes it does have all of its drawers sorry for the picture.

I refuse to shell out $300-$800 for a dresser to match the set. So my wonderful hubby stripped the ugly paint off and re stained it. Wahla..... this is how it came out! We found the handles for .19 at Lowes on clearance. It cost us at most $10.00 to refinish this dresser we got for free with the house.

Squeezing in a little bit of thrifting time

2010-08-24T12:21:00.000-07:00

So sorry Tuesday dump finds have been put on hold until next summer. I luckily had a half day of work today (they break us teachers in easily). I tried to do one more Tuesday dump find blog, So I stopped in the dump store today, there was nothing in the dump store today, actually I couldn't access it because the front loader was cleaning it out... boo

But I did stop at my favorite doggie thrift store and spent a total of $1.25.

*16 Brand New Christmas Cards .75
*Better Homes and Gardens Decorating Book .50

Welcome to my two new followers im so excited to have you ladies as part of our community!!

Back To Work

2010-08-23T17:34:00.000-07:00

Im back to work tomorrow... Booo..... So I there wont be as many thrifting adventures to partake in. I will still be hitting the occasional yard sale and weekend thrift store.

At a recent yardsale I was informed that in some of the southern states that yardsales are held everyday of the week. Awee... heaven.

Rainy Sunday

2010-08-22T10:08:00.001-07:00

Today Im linking to Rhoda's party over at http://southernhospitalityblog.com/

It's raining here on Fairview Ave. I honestly think this is one of the few rainy weekend days we've had in a while.

I was lucky enough to do some thrifting Friday and Saturday.

Friday, after a scrumptous breakfast with two (and a 1/2) of my favorite ladies, we went to North Windham to check out a children's resale shop called Kidsstop. One of my friend's mom had found it by accident one day and wanted us to check it out. So we piled in the car and off we went. The store was chucka blucka full with kids clothing and toys. Alot of the stuff was brand new with tags on it! We had a great time picking through the stuff.

Here is what I got

Three onesies- one is brand new
Two sleep sacks- brand new
A sleeveless fleece sleepsack-brand new

Graco Snugride- brand new

But my favorite find there was this: A Graco pack and play lite travel system. It is absolutely adorable! Having three levels in our house I decided we might need an extra one. This was only $28, but we also had coupons so i think it ended up being $23. It looked like it had barely been used, and it retails for $89.00 brand new. Sorry this is not the exact same color I got, but same style but im too lazy to set up the thing again.

Saturday I did some yard saleing and came up with almost nothing. I did find some baby shades for the car for .50 a piece, a cute kitty piggy bank for 2.50, a couple of books for .20 and a potatoe masher for .10

I've been looking on Craigslist alot at babystuff, these kids barely use any of the stuff given to them. The things we dont get for our babyshower will definitely be bought off craigslist!

Dump Finds

2010-08-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

Bailey and I went to the dump a few times this week..... I think I have a problem, like a huge problem, I LOVE THE DUMP! I can't help it there is something about digging around and finding great treasures for free. I was just getting ready to leave empty handed when two trucks backed up to the shed, wahoo the thrifting gods have finally put me in their good graces I've had a dry spell for a few weeks. I was so excited I called my hubby at work. ( I think he's worried I'll become a horder and have my 15 minutes of fame on Hoarding Buried Alive on TLC). (Don't worry I am not a hoarder or could live like one, i just love to decorate with FREE stuff :))

Old El Paso Tray - Ron and I host a superbowl party every year and i've always wanted one of these because it looks like a football field
Large tupperware container with lid- perfect for storing baked goods
3 Tier china serving tray- I think this would be adorable with mini cupcakes or petiti fours on it, it might stay at my house or travel to my mothers :)
2 Blue And White Porcelin Eggs- I have a picture frame that matches these eggs, im going to put them in a bowl and put them in the spare bedroom with the picture frame.
Brand New April Cornell Coasters- These are going to go on Ebay
Powdered Sugar Container- I've been looking for one of these Hubby loves powdered sugar sprinkled on his french toast.
Card Holder- Im going to put all of our Christmas cards on this little tree.
Garlic Keeper- I've been looking for one to hold my garlic
Brand New Pfaltzgraff Pie Plate- I may try my hand at baking a pie this plate claims a perfect crust with perfect filling everytime. Or it may go as a Christmas gift with the ingredients to make a pie :)

And of course it was all for free :)

Thrift Store Finds

2010-08-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

I went to the church thrift store yesterday, and it was my favorite day there $.50 clothing day. Unfortunately I had Bailey with me who yap yap yapped from the car the whole time so i didn't stay very long. But here is what I got:

Brand new with tags still on it tan t-shirt from Old Navy $.50
Brand new with tags still on it red size six little girls April Cornell t-shirt $.25
Blue flats that are adorable and look like they've never been worn $.50
AND my favorite Nine west ADORABLE sandels! $.50

$1.75 not bad, I may have to go back on Saturday if they're still having the sale! (Without Yappy pants)

Nesting to the extreme

2010-08-18T06:14:00.000-07:00

So this baby has started to move around ALOT! she decided to start using those Danforth legs of hers and start kicking my abdomen. I figured this was a sign to kick my butt in gear and clean the house before I go back to work on Wednesday.

Yesterday I cleaned the main bathroom from ceiling to floor. (Does anyone else have an abundance of spiders at their house too?) then today I decided to wash my kitchen floor.

Now, I always wash my floor by hand on my hands and knees and I do it at least twice. What a chore, I've tried mops and mr. clean and nothing gets my floor as clean as it is when i wash it by hand. Ladies please tell me your secret, if you use a mop or mr. clean or anything else and get your floors sparkling, PLEASE let me know! This by hand stuff is such hard work!

Tuesday Dump Finds

2010-08-17T11:40:00.000-07:00

So I headed out to the dump today, I haven't gotten good pickings in a while so I had a feeling maybe today would be the day. Well.... there was a ton of stuff at the dump store but also a ton of people to go with that ton of stuff. Okay people why aren't you all working? I know that you ALL cannot be school teachers! This one woman even took an almost brand new baby toy out of my hand and goes "this would be cute for my grandson" and walked off to her car. I was so flabergasted that I was speechless, (which does not happen often). I had to leave the dump store right then and there. This is what I got before I was accosted:

I love the big red cup for my noodles, I know i'll be eating alot of those this winter at work.

I always pick up christmas dishes, after I bleach them I keep them on hand they're adorable for parties or to put cookies on to give to friends, and co-workers, the mug I thought would be cute to put hot chocolate in with some candy canes.

I love Suze Orman i've seen her on Oprah a few times Im going to give this book to my dad who retires next year :)

The parenthood book is cute (although the girl on the front looks about 14 which scares me lol)

To regain my composure after the dump I headed to one of my favorite thrift stores. The doggy thrift store in Conway. It is always so quiet in there and the women are so sweet. I spent $3.00 and found some great things.

These shoes are so cute and flats for work they look like they've hardly been worn (1.00)
A rug hooking book for my mom (we made a pact last year to get a majority of our christmas presents for each other from thrift or yard sales, this will go in her stocking)(1.00)
I always pick up decorating books for ideas, our library doesn't have very many so I check out the ideas, and donate them afterwards (1.00)

Big News and More Thrifiness

2010-08-15T09:42:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't been blogging. Hubby and I have been out celebrating our news! On Tuesday we found we are having a ....

We have some great 3D pictures of the little lady bug. She was a mover and a shaker she kept moving around and flipping around while we were in the ultrasound. We are tweaking the name so that is to come later. Okay on to thriftiness....

Hubby and I went to STAPLES today. I got all of this for $24.00

6 sprial notebooks .01 each

pens 1.00

dry erase markers 1.00

electric pencil sharpener 15.99

2 reams of paper 4.98

around 28.00, used a 20% off coupon to get it down to 24.00 (coupon not good on paper reams)

THEN... Staples was having rebates on the electric pencil sharpener which made it free, the reams of paper which made them 1 cent a piece. So they are giving me $26.00 in rebate check back!

STAPLES PAID ME 2.00 TO BUY ALL THIS STUFF!

Thrifty Finds in Boothbay Harbor

2010-08-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

So I did some thrifting in Boothbay harbor. Didn't find much. We went to the Rotary Auction and Flea Market. We found a vintage christmas book for $1.00. Sorry no picture. The place was insane so we left.

I went to thrift shop Saint Andrews Hospital Auxiliary Thrift Shop and found a gem for $3.00 Yep a Keurig Special Edition Brewing System in fabulous condition. The women didn't know what it was. I almost felt like I was stealing it. But they were happy to sell it for $3.00 (and $.15 with maine tax :) ) Im super psyched. I brought it home and ran some vinegar through it, works like a charm. Now just gotta get some hot chocolate and decaf coffee K Cups. On the website it goes for $139.95. Quite the deal

BoothBay Harbor Weekend

2010-08-09T08:00:00.000-07:00

Hubby and I had a fabulous weekend in Boothbay Harbor. Hubby found a wonderful little resort called Boothbay Resort. It was a family owned resort with adorable quaint cabins. On the premises there was the 1828 Vintage House wine and cheese shop. I love wine, so it was kinda a tease but the cheese was phenomenal maybe next year we can go back and sample the wine!

We went to Ocean Point and walked on the rocks, and poked around.

Here is my first pregnant belly picture. I've been pretty self conscious about my belly but I figured at almost 5 months I should flaunt it.

The rocks were fun we even found a guy practicing his violin. I thought he was wonderful, he told us this was a much better place to practice then the garage. I couldn't tell if he was the owner of this huge house on the water he was sitting in front of or not. The views were wonderful.

Hubby and I even had some Calamari. How cute is he! To make this photo make more sense, hubby and I are not seafood lovers but I was craving some fried calamari and he tried some! This huge boat was docked out in front of our restaurant. This picture does not do it justice I think this Yacht was bigger than our house! We kept watching the staff get on and off the boat and they kept switching shoes. Must be a super clean place!

What a wonderful weekend! I highly recommend Boothbay Harbor as a vacation! Don't worry we even got in some thrifting!

100th Post!

2010-08-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

Wahoo I've hit 100 posts... I must have a lot to say !

Here are some of my thrifty finds from the church thrift store last week. I found a first at the thrift store last week........a shirt for hubby! Wow never thought that would happen, he is super picky and only likes Van Heusen short sleeve button up shirts for work. Well luck had it I found one in his size at the thrift store for $.50. This is a huge savings the shirts are usually $36.00 but you can find them on sale for $14.99. It had a ring around the collar but I soaked it in my favorite OxyClean(that stuff can get out anything) it looks brand new and hubby definitely approves!

Ok.. on to my other finds. Black button down gap maternity top, blue and white v Neck maternity top, and super cute white top with belt.

All for $3.50. I refuse to buy expensive maternity clothes so any tops that fit and look cute, I snatch up.

Book Review

2010-08-07T08:00:00.000-07:00

Ron and I are in Boothbay Harbor this weekend celebrating our 2nd anniversary. I'll be back on Sunday. In the meantime here is a review on a great book I just read.

Lately, I haven't been a huge reader, but I was reading a fellow bloggers post the other day about how wonderful the book Be Centsable How to Cut Your Household Budget In Half By Chrissy Pate and Kristin McKee.

I headed over to the library and checked it out. This is a wonderful book all about couponing and money saving strategies. I liked this book better than other budget books i've read because these women are both married with children and have realistic strategies to budget. Some of the books i've read are a bit extreme in how to save money, but these ladies have a streamline way of cutting coupons, and saving money. I suggest that anyone looking to cut their budget read this book!

Tuesday Dump Finds

2010-08-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

Sorry im a little late on the uptake I hit up the dump Tuesday, right after I saw the newest love of my life. Our friends Doug and Amanda had their little baby girl! She is just absolutely adorable! She was born on Aug. 2, 2010 at 11:13pm. Another cause to celebrate August 2nd!

So here are my dump finds from Tuesday

Tuesdays have been extremely busy at the dump, I had to wade my way through people and tons of stuff. There were alot of grouchy old people there, and one old man even blew his horn multiple times because he couldn' t get his truck close enough to the dump store that he wanted. Wow.

Safety 1st Family Room Child-Proofing Kit - 46 Piece (I didn't get all 46 pieces but the pieces I did get were brand new in the packaging, outlet covers etc.
Martha Stewart, Vogue, Shape, Family Circle, Better Homes Special Edition 2010 magazines.

It's August Already!

2010-08-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

I told Bailey that I would have to go back to work at the end of this month...... He got really sad, this face alone would make you want to be a stay at home doggie mommy.

Last Weekend's Dump Finds

2010-08-04T08:00:00.000-07:00

Im partying over at Southern Hospitality today! http://southernhospitalityblog.com/

So with the ripping out of all the new carpet my hubby has made several trips to the dump, and of course he needs company!

This is what I found Sunday.

Okay before you get all excited. The diaper genie was in great shape no marks, no stains no smells, and it had all of its 'booklets. I took it home and soaked it in the tub with some bleach and antibacterial soap and steaming hot water for 2 hours. That alone I saved myself at least $25.00 (if you dont know what a diaper genie is it is a fancy trash can for baby diapers that twists the garbage bags in a way that the diapers dont smell. I loved the huge glass vase and have a smaller one similar to it. im going to fill it with god only knows what and put it in my living room :)

I love the smell of new carpet!

2010-08-03T08:00:00.000-07:00

I haven' t been out yardsaling or thrifting in FOREVER. It is probably a good thing, my house needed a break from all the stuff. Life at the Danforth household has been upside down lately. On top of getting a new roof, we also have redone a spare bedroom for the babies room, and with that came new carpeting through out the house.

I was extremely impressed that hubby and I could carpet the living room, two bedrooms, a hallway, and stairs for $1100. That included everything! Lowe's was running a great special on carpeting, so we snatched some up. Of couse to save money we ripped up our old carpet and moved our own furniture. It was worth it. All in time for Aly's babyshower! (Barely, but that is another story, another post!) Bye bye brown carpet.

Sorry no befores just afters. Our whole house is painted a faint yellow, so we've slowly been redoing rooms.

Spare Bedroom (sorry dont mind the curtains) The bedroom set came with the house so I painted it black and wala looks great!

Babies room with no furniture, we will know in 8 days if the baby is a boy or girl I just love blue I figured it could be for a girl or boy.

Hubby did the whole babies room, wainscotting and all doesn't it look fab? I painted the spare bedroom with some help from the hubby.

It's funny after all this work, i've stopped looking at houses online. I think I've finally started to get the feel that this is our house. Maybe we'll be here longer than we think :)

A Time of Celebration

2010-08-02T08:35:00.000-07:00

Two years ago this guy decided that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me :) Hubby and I are celebrating our 2nd anniversary today! (isn't he adorable :) )

There has been alot of celebrating around the Danforth household. Our second anniversary, impatintly waiting for January 5th, and also two other mommies to be in our circle of friends.

On Saturday I had the pleasure of hosting a baby shower for a dear friend Aly. Aly is due the end of September, with a little baby boy. We had such a great time on Saturday, the weather was beautiful and her family and friends were a blast. Here is a picture of us three pregnant ladies at her shower. Im due early January, Aly is due late September, and Amanda is due just about NOW :) I can't wait for baby Danforth to have all these great friends!

Tuesday Dump Finds

2010-07-27T07:27:00.000-07:00

Not much to brag about here, just a few finds. The dump has gotten busy on Tuesdays, I wonder if everyone is reading my blog :)

I have an antique metal angel chime that the candles will fit perfectly into.

An older book of curtains, slipcovers, and upholstery, I may attempt to try one with my new sewing machine.

A hand made Christmas tree ceramic box, I think it would be cute to put some jewlery in and give as a gift at Christmas time.

Picking and Nesting

2010-07-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

Hubby and I are nesting. He has spent all weekend working on the baby's room. It is a tropical blue with white beadboard and berber carpet. I'll have pictures up when its completed.

I borrowed my grandmother in laws carpet steam cleaner and cleaned the carpets in our house we were not replacing. It completely grossed me out what came out of our bedroom carpet, I dont know why we have black pets.

Hubby had to bring some stuff to the dump today, and I tagged along. I got a couple of cute things.

These red sox baby pants are soo cute, and had no stains on them so i took them home and washed them up. They're adorable, and I thought very gender neutral. My best find was this Radio Cart, it was just hanging out by the metal pile. I think it is made by the Radio Flyer company. It looks kinda old. Is in great shape, and both wheels work. Maybe i'll try to con my mom into selling it in her booth for me.

Saturday Finds

2010-07-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

Im linking up to Rhoda's party over at http://southernhospitalityblog.com/

Hubby and I did some Yard Shopping this morning. We hit up five sales and didn't find too too much. Alot of people were trying to get rich off of selling their used stuff, I think I may start a class that is based on you cannot make millions of dollars at a yard sale on your used crap. Here is the run down:

HP 10.4 Digital Picture Frame brand new $20.00

Shop and Play mat and shopping cart pad $5.00

Free Hair High (rip off of the bump it)

Vintage Xmas Table Cloth $1.00

(Not Pictured) Pfaltzgraff mug $.25

I googled the picture frame goes for around 140-150 new.

The baby Infantanio Shop & Play mat goes for $16 new.

So I got some pretty good deals!

How Long Does It Take To Become A Good Seamstress?

2010-07-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

So I decided to try my hand at sewing again. I jumped into walmart real quick and found this fabric I had been eyeing on sale for 3.97 a yard (down from 9.97) so even though that is a tad expensive for me I figured why not. So I started sewing some pillow cases for the ugly valour pillows in our basement. I do fine until I have to sew the pillow into the case. I've resorted to sewing in Velcro. One so I can wash them if needed and two, I didn't leave enough space to sew the pillow into the case. Sorry for the awful picture, the fabric is yellow with splashes of coral, looks great with my brown couch.My other project is an old tool box my mom gave me. I love it! So I sanded it down and spray painted it black of course. Im going to put some plant pots in it.

Adorable!

My, How Time Flies

2010-07-23T06:24:00.001-07:00

I can' t believe it is almost August, summer has flown by. Sorry I haven't posted in a while, the roof is finally done and my job is to clean up the job site. How fun picking up pieces of shingles and using a magnet to pick up thousands and thousands of nails and staples.

This week I went to the dump on Tuesday and didn't find much, just some Taste of Home magazines for my mom. (Maybe I should be reading them, my cooking is not that great!) Sorry no pictures.

I went back to the dump yesterday for shits and giggles and found some great wooden coat hangers, and also a futon in FABULOUS condition. I didn't take the futon home but really really wanted to. I cursed for not having a truck, and promised myself if I found a little one that ran I would totally buy it this summer.

I went to the church thrift store and found some great clothes and a tin tray. The green sweater is banana republic, the white shirt is gap with the tags still on it. (29.99) the pink and white top is Rue 21. I thought this green short sleeve sweatshirt was adorable but hubby politely told me it was not flattering.

I was never huge into these little tin trays but this one was cute with the flowers on it. I started seeing them when I went Kalouping with my mom and her friends a few weeks ago.

Thrift Store Grand Total 3.50

Have a told you I LOVEEEE FRIDAY YARDSALES.

There was only one today, so Bailey and I hit it up bright and early. The woman use to own a florist shop downtown and was cleaning out her old inventory. I think she still thought she could get top dollar for her stuff. It was cute but not that cute. Bailey spent most of the time barking, I think he was trying to tell me the prices were too high. But I did find this beauty for $2.00

Ron and I use a drying rack alot in the winter, and ours has seen better days. This one is in great shape for $2.00. Those are the wooden hangers from the dump. Please ignore the tornado in the background I call my husband's junk. Anyone else notice T.C.F.H in the lower lefthand corner of the picture??? This is right before he tried to swing acrobatics from the bars of my new drying rack.

Things I love

2010-07-21T05:15:00.000-07:00

This is the first summer since I was a little girl that I have been fortuneate enough not to work. After some convincing hubby finally agreed I needed a restful summer. He warned me though I might get bored. Im amazed I haven't been bored at all this summer! My great friend Amanda also is pregnant and has the summer off so we've spent some time hiking with our poochies, and hanging out in the river. This summer i've been able do some soulsearching and do the things I really do enjoy:

Spending time with my family
Blogging
Thrifting
Eating toasted banana bread with peanut butter (this is a new addition to the list and im doing it right now so i had to add it :) )
Revamping older pieces with spray paint!
Decorating
Reading
Walking and spending time with Bailey

I've known all along that I love to do these things, I just haven't made time to do them until this summer. I think this summer i've learned even if you dont have alot of time on your hands you have to do something at least once a week that makes YOU happy.

Not Much To Brag About Here

2010-07-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

Saturday I hit up a few yardsales before my friend Amanda and I went for a walk with the doggies and a nice cool swim.

Definitely not much to brag about here.

Colonial America Learning Activities Book .25. (our fourth graders do a whole unit on colonial america and it has some cute activities.

Already threaded bobbins .50. I have been sewing lately and realized that these babies are extremely useful and $2.75 at Walmart.

On Sunday I went to the dump with the boys (once again love home improvement projects). Well I found an adorable dresser but after looking it over it needed much more love then I could give. So we dragged it back to the wood pile. I did find this for my mom though. I dont think its very old but its kinda cool. Would be useful in her antique booth maybe?

Thrifting While The Boys Work

2010-07-18T08:29:00.000-07:00

Im linking up to Rhoda's party over at http://southernhospitalityblog.com/ you should check it out!

So I can't stand to be around the house while the boys are on the roof. Im either telling them to drink lots of water, put on sunscreen or be careful. I think I drive them all nuts! So I try to stay out of the house or in our nice cool basement as much as possible.

On Friday there were a few yardsales (I love Friday yardsales!) So I headed out to see what was out there. I didn't find too much.

A CD with old school hip hop music on it for $1.00 (great to download onto Ron's Ipod)

Word Puzzles for my kids at school $.25

The stuffed dog is actually the coolest find I found. (Aly if you're reading this please just act surprised when you see it at your babyshower). The woman at the yardsale was a teacher and was telling me her and her family donate to the humane society. I guess with one of their donations came back this cute stuffed dog. Well they never played with it it just sat on a shelf and then came to live at my house for $.25. My dear friend Aly is having a baby and we are throwing her a shower on the 31st. Her nursery theme is doggies and her and her husband are very involved in the humane society. I thought what a great addition to her shower gift.

I went to another tent sale (another tip from my dear friend Aly). It had some okay stuff. I mostly checked out the clothes. They were 3 items for a $1.00 but the guy working the sale told me that the clothes were his friends ex which he never liked so he tried to get me to steal them! I guess this guy was not such a good friend. I refused to steal them but he gave me a great deal. I got 7 clothing items for $2.00. I didn't take a picture of all of them. But they were all brand name items like Banana Republic, Gap, etc. I did take a picture of this great sweater from there though. I think im going to sell it on ebay for $2.00 to get my $$ back. Beautiful Ralph Lauren sweater, I think its barely been worn. Its not really me, but I think its beautiful. Be on the lookout on ebay if you're interested.

Thrifty Finds

2010-07-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

So mom and I went out last weekend to do some dump picking and thrift storing. I love picking with my mom at the dump, she always finds the best stuff. Im still trying to convince her it is safe to crawl up the wood pile, to get great wooden pieces. Here are my finds. A super cute 4th of July wooden sign, two brand new packs of playing cards still in the packaging, and my favorite find an old green wooden box that says Poland Springs on it. Im going to paint it green and put my outdoor cushions in it.

We then out to the Flea Market out in Fryeburg. My mom found a tin picnic basket that goes with her collection and a great decorating book. I found squat. The next stop was our favorite doggy thrift store

Country Gardens magazine for .50
Round pillow (with a $20.00 tag on it) for $2.00
Yankee Candle Tapers $1.00
Gingerbread cutting board $1.50

Total $5.00

Decoration Redo

2010-07-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

I painted that thing I got at the dump an antique white and put it on the mantel .. what do we think?

BEFORE

AFTER

Hubby says after a while our house will just be black and white. I agree with him but I can't help it, i love how clean and crisp it looks.