What did I get myself into?

So I bought a old table in need of some work and it came with a leaf and four chairs. But I did not like the chairs. I found chairs I love at Irca a hotel consignment shop with great deals on used furniture. I got four chairs that came with a table. Oh boy! Now I have three kitchen tables and twelve chairs. Yikes. So I am selling one today and I will sell the other when I can.

Back to the table and chairs I am keeping. Since I have a leaf the table can seat eight so I decided to keep and spray paint the original chairs so we have them around. I spray painted to chairs from the consignment shop as well. They look great. Oh and I got a little buffet type of table thing for the kitchen as well. That got spray painted. Now I have to sand the paint off the table and stain it black. I am staining and not spraying it because it will turn out better. Besides the wear and tear on a table with kids will likely take the paint off. With a stain I can put a lot of sealer on it.

This is turning out to be a big project but I am excited to have it done. I just went to World Market today and got these really cool looking tea pots for decorations. They are so cute and they were only 8.99 each. I have pictures for the wall. So once I put it all together I think it will look nice. I will put pictures up when I am done.

So this is what it is like to only have one kid

Yesterday morning my daughter had a doctors appointment, so I had my husband take her so I could get stuff done. She is a super clingy baby and only lets me get about five minutes of housework done at a time before she screams and cries. So when my husband left I did laundry, dishes, and a couple of other things around the house. It seamed so unreal. I had not realized that I have not been home without Jasmine since she was born. I thought having only one kid is peaceful. My son was hanging out with me. He is a really good independent kid. But I would not trade having two kids for the world. Just would not mind having a few hours a weak to get stuff done without having my leg tugged at by a yelling 10 month old. Oh and when she is playing good she gets what she is playing with taken away by the big brother. Then she comes and tells on him.

We went to build a bear

Today we went to Build a Bear. My son had such a good time. We used our $5 off coupon and spent less than $10 total. My son now has Patches a cute puppy that he has not let out of the box. He is taking a nap he says. I am going to have to go back and get Jasmine one because she is very interested in her brothers. I thought that she was to young but she already wants to do everything her older brother does. They fight over toys. The funny thing is they don't say a lot yet so when they fight they both just yell MOMMY, MAMA, or MOM.

On another note we went to the Pumpkin Patch Sunday and had a good time. Oakley picked his own pumpkin and we will carve it or paint it later this weak. We went to a cute little farm in Chino Valley.

$5 off of $10 printable coupon for Build a Bear

So I see coupons that are wonderful all the time. But this is a great deal. $5 off of $10 I might just do this on Monday with my son. I am so excited we have one about ten minutes away. Just go here.

$.25 coffee mate creamer

I love coffee, and I love a good deal. So when I saw that Albertson's had Coffee Mate creamer for $1 I had to dig and find a coupon to make it a better deal. I found if you go here and sign up for a account they give you a coupon for $1.50 off of two. That means 2 Coffee Mate creamers for $.50. I also got 5 bags of goldfish, 4 apples, 2 cans of soup, 1 oatmeal, 2 bags of shredded cheese, three Tree Top 100% juices, 1 package of corn tortillas, a candy bar and milk for $17. It was a shining moment. I guess I don't live a exciting life so saving money for me is like a accomplishment as if I were getting a raise at work or exceeding my projected budget. This is how I can afford to stay home I use some of the time to find good deals. If you have a Albertson's in your area check out this deal.

Swagbucks

I am so proud of myself! I do not like to buy my husband gifts with money he has earned and I do not work a lot so I have to find creative ways to save for his gifts. I use swagbucks to search the web. I bought my hubby a playstation 3 for Christmas with cash from work and a $100 kmart gift card from my credit card points. Then today I got him a game he wanted for a little extra Christmas bonus and a comic book as well. I bought it with my amazon gift cards I have gotten from swagbucks. How it works is every time you use their search engine you have a chance of winning swagbucks. I usually get around 2 to 3 a day. After I collect 45 I trade them in for a $5 amazon gift card. Not bad for something I would do anyway. Most of the time I get the website I am searching for at the top of the list. There are many other ways to earn. You can recycle phones for swagbucks and search for codes. I have earned about $50 in gift cards in the 5 months I have used swagbucks. Give them a try by clicking here.

Stocking the freezer

Well I have had a busy few weeks. I have been running but not as much as I need to for a half marathon. The car broke down and my wonderfully talented husband fixed. We went to the train park and had a great time.


When we get so busy sometimes that is when our family has a hard time eating healthy. So I decided to have one of those stock the freezer weeks so that we can have better and cheaper eating habits. last night I made vegetable fries and froze half. Today I made homemade muffins and froze them and a batch of granola. The granola goes great with frozen blueberries and fat free vanilla yogurt. I plan to make my marinara, whole wheat flax seed pancakes and chili next week. I may even squeeze in some homemade vegetable soup. I love this because I have made up all of these recipes on my own so I like them! I know they are healthy and they have no crap like high fructose corn syrup or any of the other questionable crap they put in food. Oh they save money and time when I do not have to cook on a busy day. I have been wanting to put some of my wonderful recipes into a ebook but with a infant and toddler to take care of it is hard to sit and concentrate well enough to do it. I still plan on doing the book I am just waiting for Jasmine to turn one and not want to be in my arms at all time. This will give me time to enjoy her in my arms without wishing I could work on my book. But I have a large amount of my recipes out there on ehow if you are interested in looking I am jbechtold on ehow.