I am stuck on band-aid brand cause band-aids stuck on me

Thank you Barry Manilow for that catchy little tune...

A few days ago Midori was in a bit of a snit - i'm beginning to think mating season is never going to end - I picked him up to put him back in his cage and he sort of took a flying leap from my hands and bit me under the chin. 

Let's just say that's a spot that bleeds. A lot. I've been going thru Band-Aids like they're going out of style. I even ran us out of ones that were large enough to cover both marks...which are of course close enough together that I can't use two bandages and they can't be sticky around the pad. Lovely.

Lucky for me, CVS has a Band-Aid & Neosporin ECB deal this week! I'm good on Neo, but I did need to restock the bandage supply. So after sitting in the dark for 2 hours at work yesterday afternoon and not accomplishing a darn thing (we have some really ugly weather this week if you haven't seen it on your local news) I stopped by CVS on my way home since they appeared to have power.

Evidently, the power had been out because the Magic Coupon Machine was stuck on "updating please wait" and they couldn't take credit cards...oh and ECB weren't printing. 

Anywho - the deal is spend $10 on Band-Aid and/or Neosporin products and get $5 in ECB. Of course they're all on sale so you have to buy more than you might actually want to hit the $10 mark. Fine...so I grab 3 boxes. 

1  45pk assorted size clear strips

1  20pk assorted size "plus antibiotic" (the hubs likes these)

1  30pk assorted flexible fabric (these seem to work best on my chin)

So she rings them up and one rings up at $.01. Now while that is awesome...she can't figure out which one it is AND it means I didn't hit $10. So "hold please" (they weren't busy) and I ran back to grab another box...yippy this means I can use my other $2/2 combo coupon (online printable for listerine, band-aids, neosporin) Sooo

$.01

$3.49

$4.49

$4.59

=

$12.58

-

$4.00 in coupons

=

$8.58

+ 

$5.00 in hand written ECB by the manager

=

$3.58 for 4 boxes of Band-Aids

and I would bet that since it didn't print my ECB since stuff was jacked up due to the power outage, I can probably swing another deal (it's limit 1 per card).

Even if it doesn't generate another ECB it's still a pretty darn good deal (just printed 2 more coupons from my home computer).

So if you need Band-Aids or Neosporin...now would be a good time to stock up!

On that note...i'm going to head out into this horrible weather and see if anything happens at work today. Tornado watch until 1pm today (so far), tornado warning until 8:45 this morning. Power went out around 4:30 yesterday due to a tree falling on the other side of the block - ripped the power lines down. They got it back up just after 1:00 this morning (mental note - when you go to bed with the power out, it's a good idea to make sure the light switches are all in the off position...just sayin'....cause when all the lights come on in the middle of the night, it's a little freaky...and bright...and interrupts your sleep) so yippy for hot water for a shower...

Weekly shopping at BJs

Well, it's not really weekly anymore since going to the budget. We still go in order to fill up my little sports car with that pricey juice, but unless we NEED something, we don't go into the actual store. It's a good thing.

It's been about 3 weeks since we last bought anything other than gas. So today was an IN day - woo hoo! 

I got:

1 - 9 pack of multi-grain English muffins

• $2.99

3 - boxes (36 count) granola thins (you know the ones...dipped in dark chocolate on one side...mmmm)

• $7.99 each

1 - gallon of skim milk

• $2.89

1 - box (12 count) single serve deep dish pizzas

• $11.99

1 - 1.5 lb jar of shredded Parmesan cheese

• $6.99

1 - 3 lb bunch of bananas

• $1.49

1 - big box of whole mushrooms (24oz maybe?)

• $3.79

1- jug of Gain fabric softener

• $9.99

1 - 12 ct Venus razor refills + a handle

• $31.99 (Seriously...SERIOUSLY? WTH? Are they gold plated?)

1 - 3 pk Satin Care shave cream

• $5.99

1 - 30 pk of Scott extra soft potty paper

• $18.99

Total $121.07 + $4.36 in sales tax (that's $125.43 if you don't want to do the math)

But wait...you  know I had coupons.

$.55/1 Satin Care (too bad I didn't have 2 more)

$3/1 Gain liquid fabric softener

$1/1 Red Baron Singles pizza

$1/1 Scott bath tissue

$5 off 3 products from a given page in the ad magazine (in this case, the granola thins)

$5.99 free Satin Care when you buy any Venus razor refills

$5 off Gain liquid fabric softener (which I don't think is right).

Grand total $103.89 and Mr. Paisley is fired from doing self check out because my coupons are always screwed up!

There's 1 missing and 1 that is wrong.

There should have been a $3 and $4 off the Gain (one manufacturer, one BJs), there should have been a $3 and a $1 off the Scott's (one manufacturer, one BJs) - I don't know what the other $5 was for, I know I only had 1 $5 coupon. So i'm missing $1... DISLIKE. 

Yep, he was a bag boy in high school and he's fixin' to become bag boy at BJs when we use the self check out. That's twice that i've looked and found missing coupons. Grrrrr....

Project Progress...

It has to get worse before it gets better right?

 

from the kitchen...yeah, that's one of the iguana cages blocking the doorway, so I have to go out the front door and around to the back to get to the other half of the house.

 

the view from the kitchen...UNDER the iguana cage LOL

 

Mr. Paisley leaves deposits wherever he goes...this is on the front porch

 

This is the side porch...more wood, tack strips, carpet and padding rolls...

 

new toy...

 

from the back door...

 

from leaning over the couch...

 

from leaning over the couch looking toward the kitchen

 

random iguana shot...he's eating off the shelves that go over the windows in the family room - they still need to be painted

 

the other side of the toy...and a reminder to myself that the yard is in BAD shape and it's time to kick the annual fix it up for the party mindset in gear!

I've binged...it's time to purge.

Did you ever watch Clean Sweep with Peter Walsh on TLC? Peter comes in to help a family clear out the clutter and get organized. They shame them by putting the entire contents of 2 rooms on tarps on the front lawn so all your neighbors can see just how much crap you crammed into - what seems like your house, but in fact is only 2 rooms.

I feel like i'm living that nightmare. I swear it has been two weeks that my house has been totally turned upside down and I jus can't deal with it much longer. Mr. Paisley swears that the flooring will be done this weekend. I don't buy it...but we'll see. He just left for the 2nd time to go to Lowe's for seam tape for the underlayment. This morning he cut all the door jams, vacuumed and moped the floor.  Who has 4 freaking doors in one room? Oh me. Right. What a nightmare. If this room is done before our big Memorial Day party, I will be shocked. I will be thrilled when the contents of the family room are once again in the family room and not scattered throughout the house - a la the Clean Sweep feeling. On the plus side, the more I look at it, the more I want to purge. Purge is good.

I've been up since 6:30 this morning. I've made myself breakfast, done 4 loads of laundry, feed the iguanas, listed two items on ebay (and already have a bid - woo hoo), filled up the inside recycle bin (paper, magazines, junk mail, etc), dealt with AT&T trying to get Mr. P's new smart phone fixed (yippy! now he can play Angry Birds on his own phone and leave mine alone), emptied and reloaded the dishwasher AND cleaned out my email box. Did I mention Mr. P got up at 9 and only then because he got a text message that he had passed $100 in data charges (fixed, handled, AT&T neglected to switch the plan over to the data plan from the old one - even though it's required when you buy a smart phone). Needless to say he was pretty grouchy after that. 

In an attempt to finish the living room that was started in September and get some better storage in a house that has none, I scored an Ikea Expedit 4x4 cube bookcase on Craigs List for $90. Cheaper than new AND already put together. It's also the same dark finish as the 2x2 one that I got for Christmas and am using as a console table inside the front door - in the same room. The guy I bought it from also lived right next door to where I work. Convenient! Right now, it's on my front porch. 

Nice right? It is going to replace the yellow (still) bamboo dresser where I currently store my "stockpile" - which I have not been adding to for months. Instead i'm trying to just use it up and then i'll just keep it to 3 or 4 of each item. Still good deals, just not having to store them in the house.

 

What's in my stockpile you ask? Disposable razors. Hair care products. Toothpaste. Deodorant. Foaming hand soap. Cleaning supplies. Body spray. Hand sanitizer. Lotion. Body wash.  Stuff that i'm going to need bins or baskets to conceal...not really my style of "decor" for my open shelving system. Guess that means WHAT?! Trip to IKEA for baskets and containers and such! Oh the torture!

I guess i'll have to find another home for that chair beside the dresser. Don't think it's going to fit the bookcase there. I've lived here since 1997 and I still don't know what those 2 light switches go to...man I really LIKE that dresser. Where else could I put it? I did want to pick up a tall chest for the cabin to replace the antique Singer sewing table that the upstairs TV is sitting on...

Think it will fit? The door to the bathroom is angled and the sewing table sticks out past where the flat wall ends.  Plus I had planned to use the sewing table beside the fireplace for the downstairs TV. Obviously the yellow still needs to go away. Maybe i'll paint it black and distress it.

To quote Kermit..."it's not easy being green"

I decided I wanted to paint the family room green. What I had in mind was something olive-y. What I ended up with was a color match to Kermit the Frog.

Here are the paint chips I picked up that were in the green family.

These are the same colors as above, only without the flash turned on

The ones that I couldn't decide between were the two on the bottom and the one on the bottom of each of the cards at the top. 

Everyone said go with the one on the top right. Not one I had thought about, but I went with it. Worse yet, I went with it and DIDN'T get a sample jar to try it out. Nope, just jumped right in and bought it.

I hate it. Here are a few shots of the room in progress. Note how much LESS green and MORE "tansy" it looks on the cards...with and without the flash.

 Yep...it's green alright.

Actually, to be fair to Sherwin Williams and "Tansy Green", I don't hate the color. I actually like it and it's pretty much exactly what I wanted...for the guest room. A nice mossy green. There's nothing "tansy" about this green...except when you look at it on the card. It is indeed an exact match to the card, but it's a lot more...ummm...avacado? when there's a gallon of it on your walls. 

Mr. Paisley finished painting the room anyway, even though I told him after the first wall was done that I hated it for this room. His theory was that IF (ha ha...yeah, there is no IF on this one hon) we paint over it, the new color will have the same base. Ummm ok...yeah, like primer? Because after this fiasco, green is out. I don't care what shade of green it is. Of course this is all right after we put ourselves on a cash budget and I just tossed $45 worth of SW paint right out the window. If he had just quit when I told him I hated it, I could have used the 1/2 gallon that was left to do an accent wall in the guest room, but no...and this room, for having ZERO solid walls, took an entire gallon of paint. There's enough for touch-ups and that's it. Not that there will be any touching up. 

I'm sooo annoyed with myself on two levels. 1 for going with the popular vote on a color I had no interest in and 2 for not spending $5 on a sample jar to confirm my original choices were the way to go. 

*ugh* I know it's just paint, but i'm really ticked off about the whole thing. Mr. P says it will look different when the wood floors go down (says he's starting that tomorrow after work). Right...it will indeed look different. Right now there's a darker tan floor, next weekend (with any luck) the floor will be natural bamboo...hello yellow tone. We'll go from avacado to lime. Yeah, that will help. And by help I mean, speed up how long it takes me to get my happy arse to the store and get a can of I dunno what. I'm thinking a color called Harvester. It would flow much better with the kitchen (which you can see a peek of the orange that's in the 2nd photo above) and the soon to be installed flooring.

Here is the paint chip

And here is the floor sample (yep, I don't need no stinking color-match machine, I can color match in my head without even trying.)

When I showed it to the hubs he said he liked the green and didn't want the walls the same color as the floor. Well, it's not THE SAME, it's just one of several shades that are in the wood. And frankly, I picked the color off the chip based on the color of the kitchen without looking at the floor sample with it until just now when I scanned them both. Honestly, I didn't even realize it was the same color chip with the ceiling and trim color on it until I scanned it and went to add the arrow for Harvester. Imagine that, I picked the one 2 shades darker than the ceiling. Hello...

So with all that out there...here's the finished paint. The sofa got moved back and the blinds were put back up, but that's it until the floors are done. Pay no attention the ceiling fan. It will get a make over on the verdigris parts no matter what color the walls end up.

Seriously. Someone please comment...one way or the other.

Inspired by Gina

I was catching up on my blog reading and came across this post at The Shabby Chic Cottage. I thought - hey wait a minute, i've read this book before!

Gina turned a luggage rack into a side table. Why yes, I have totally read that book!

I've said it before, but i'll say it again. I bought my house the same month I graduated from college. I was young...and single....and making less than $10 an hour. Needless to say my decorating budget left a little something to be desired. 

I was lucky enough to have an AWESOME mom who bought a lot of stuff for me, but we were still on a budget and much of it was not new. A nearly new sofa being held hostage by a bitter soon-to-be-ex spouse. A vintage blender and toaster from yard sales (I still have AND USE those by the way), a vintage dresser and night stand from a friend of a friend...that sort of thing. Then we went to The Big Peach antique mall in Byron, GA for the first time on a girls weekend trip and there she bought me a large rattan trunk that I was going to use as a coffee table, a roll of old rusty barbed wire (that I turned into a wreath) and two mismatched luggage racks.

Now being the crafty, resourceful, cheap thrifty, gal that I am, I had scavenged and saved this n that over the years. Including some beveled glass table tops that one of my dad's former tenants left at one of his rental properties. Two pieces were from side tables. Fabulous! Easy peasy lemon squeezey - slap a glass table top on a luggage rack and voila - end table.

Ok, get ready to laugh. First, it's a picture of a picture, because I haven't hooked up my new printer, scanner, chopper, hopper, slicer and dicer yet. 

Yeah...college decor at it's best...circa 1995. Evidently it was Christmas time because there is a Christmas pillow on the couch. Along with the cheesy wolf throw blanket. Sweet. I'm sure there's another photo somewhere in a box (pre digital days), but you can see one of the luggage rack end tables. Sort of.

I left them as they were - one was sort of a matte metallic gold with fancy floral ribbon. The other was ivory with gold tips and a tan and brown ribbon with baskets of flowers on it. 

Eventually I got married and got some real furniture. The tables were dismantled, folded up and tucked in a closet with the glass tops for several years.  Then Mr. Paisley and I bought the cabin. Now on a budget for other reasons (like two house payments LOL) I pulled out my beloved luggage racks and glass tops again.

I spray painted the ivory and gold one burgundy (which is too raspberry pink for me, but I haven't bought more paint yet) and replaced the ribbon with upholstery ticking. Here it is in the downstairs bedroom at the Nest.

The gold one is still in it's original state - or at least original when I picked it up. It sits on my side of the bed tucked into the rafters doing what side tables do. Holding a lamp, the remote, a book...some dust.

I still love these somewhat makeshift tables. So if you need a cute side table, follow along with Gina and me and turn a vintage luggage rack into a side table or a night stand.