I wonder all the time how I plan on doing several of the things that I have on my list daily that I just have to get done. I also wonder why does my list seem to grow instead of getting smaller? Well this weekend seemed hotter than ever but really it wasn't and of course painting furniture in a garage in 110 degree weather isn't a good idea no matter who you are. But of course that didn't stop me for doing just that.

I had picked up these to bookshelves from a garage sale last weekend and I had really regretted getting them until I bought paint on Friday. I mean they only cost $10 for both of them, which was an amazing deal since I needed something to hold my scrapbooking supplies and start to work on getting the office set up. And when I pulled up to this garage sale I looked at them but immediately knew that I didn't like or want them. But the lady having the sale really needed to get rid of her stuff because she wasn't able to load them in her moving truck. And of course like so many families here she was moving to the midwest. But I said no, although she really was making the deal sweet because I was getting a lamp, a picture with a bamboo looking frame (which is why I was looking at the frame because it matches the tropical retreat theme of our bedroom), a lamp and these two bookshelves. I kept saying no I don't want or need them, but when she said $10 for both of them, I had to get them. And I even paid the full price she stated for the other things because you can't beat $10 for 2 bookshelves even if I planned to use them in the garage.

But then I was looking in my hallway and decided that I couldn't take it any more, my scrapbooking stuff needed to get out of the entrance hallway. I hate that all my craft stuff was in the office in the sun so I moved it to the hall. And that was supposed to be until the curtains/blinds got put up. Well that was done three weeks ago and nothing had changed because I really had no furniture to use to put stuff in.

So here are the shelves/cabinets now...I hate that once again I didn't get a before photo of them. I love them! I mean really love them! I almost love them enough to put them in our family/great room but I think that I would have to convince the hubby of that.

I still have much more to do to get them where I feel like that are amazing. And also while out garage sale-ing, I got a table (which I am going to use as my desk) and a L shaped desk. Well the L shaped desk is now going to stay in the garage so that I can use if for my own garage sales an painting projects. But my plans are to paint the table this week too. Well the 2 tables/desk I got for $32 which is a lot to be honest but I got a couple of other things too that I can use in the office.

And then I got a call from someone who I had contacted from craigslist for a desk and she said that they had also moved and that I could go to their house and pick up the desk that I was going to get this weekend for free! That was such a blessing. I mean I could have paid the $20 for the desk but getting it free was really nice. I think that sometimes when you are nice and do things for others you get blessing for no reason. I am not saying that God provides you with material things for going good works but it's nice when people are nice for no reason.

I wish that I could share in great detail what I am talking about but I often think that it if you share some things that God tell you to do to bless others it might seem like you are bragging. And so I don't want to do that at all.

But on another note, my oldest has decided to run for student council. I am wondering if he will have too much on his plate this year. I mean it is his first year of highschool and all his classes are AP classes and he wants to do basketball, student council and football. Not to mention several other things that he has going on. I don't want him to be a slacker or anything, but I hate that his school only allows for 1 elective. And that to me makes no sense whatsoever. Kids need more things that are fun in school but I guess.

I have plans on getting more painting done (cabinets, table and desk) and get the painting on the wall of the office so that I can take a photo of the area. Well I am off to bed... Goodnight and have I hope you all have a great night/day! Smiles, Tracy

I am so excited to share on my blog this week, I have so much that I want to share and I have decided that I "need" to post more often because otherwise my post seem to get really long. Well I still haven't really scrapbooked but I have painted some wall paintings for my kids bathroom and I am also working on a frame for our wall calendar. I know I know. The other one that I had was not that old at all and that is ok, especially since the frame was purchased at a thrift store and I can recover it at any time to use it for another project but I will get photos of the one that I got from a garage sale for 68cents.

And here is a photo of the family(great) room and the kitchen now. I am only showing them again because I wanted to show that I picked up 3 very large Copenhagen wall paintings from a garage sale that I stumbled across. I could barely get them in the van cause I had just left Lowes and had 4 blinds in the car for the rooms.

My mom asked me what the green thing for. I have to say its my "buffet" (an old dresser) and it isn't green at all. I don't know if it is the lighting or something but it is a very dark teal. And it is use for extra storage. When we moved in I realized just how small the island was in the room and decided that sitting at it really wouldn't work for our family but putting the "buffet" right next to it would work great for additional storage. Right now I have tools, birthday/party celebration/wrapping paper, newspapers (for paint projects), silverware, and place settings in there. It is perfect. I just hate that the real island isn't the same height and width because it would cover the back (which isn't painted). But I am looking for a solution to that issue and if there isn't one then I will most likely move it to the main hallway and get another something that will be the right width and height so that it looks as though they go together. And of course I will paint it the same color, or will I?

Well there is much more to be done in the rooms. Like removing the old love seat, and selling it this week at our first garage sale,hanging the curtains for the patio door and the wood blinds for the back window today or tomorrow. I want to paint this weekend also but I don't think that I like the paint now that I already bought. So I am still debating on that. I haven't even tested the color because I am sure that it isn't the color that I want. Plus I might wait until we have the leather sectional delivered and the built in wall unit done before I paint. I am going to rethink the paint, I think that I was just so sick of neutral colors that I picked a color that I really didn't love. So I am thinking maybe terracotta color would work better than a bloody red color.

Well I plan on posting more photos of my progress next week. I just have tons of stuff that I am working on since the kids are now in school and the unpacking is almost done, now its time to really get it together. Especially cause my hubby has been going nuts, he wants people to come over to see the house all the time and I have been hoping to have some time to really get things together before that all starts.

But I have a question for you all, can you tell me if you think that contemporary and traditional can be combined to look well together? I am just wondering because I have so many things that are traditional like the wall unit, a sofa table (not pictured its in the office right now) and the wall hangings are all modern/contemporary to me. They aren't my style at all but when I saw them they were perfect, for my spaces. They allow Vele's style and my style to merge. I am just wondering what it will all look like once its put together?

Stopping in really quickly today to post a picture of my "stash/stockpile" of cleaning/personal items. Mostly because I have been couponing for a while and I don't think that I am anywhere close to an extreme couponer but our little stash is so perfect for our big little family of six. Our stockpile has been chipped away at a lot the last couple of weeks because we have been cleaning two places basically. And of course that means that my stash of 16packs of papertowels are now 9 (not including the 3 open packs- 1 in the kitchen,1 in the master bathroom, and 1 for the other two baths).


Well here it is...

This storage is in our very small laundry room. I am not at all complaining but just letting you know that our laundry room is small. Especially compared to the one that we had in MN. But honestly that is just what I need. Smaller space= less room to have dirty laundry collect=laundry being done daily. And with 6 people you basically have to do a couple of loads a day or you will get buried in laundry and be washing all day one day a week. And I prefer a couple of loads a day cause there is very little chance that something stains. Plus I got these two shelves for $20 off Craigslist and they are from IKEA and cost $50 each. I knew that I needed 2 shelves but that they couldn't really take of too much square footage cause I was only working with 48 inches from the washing machine and dryer to the wall.

I wanted this table/kitchen island

but it wouldn't fit and allow me to have storage for my stockpile. So I sort clean clothes and fold on the dryer.


Also this photo doesn't show my massive stockpile of washing powder, stain remover, personal items, deodorant for Vele and I. Those things are really hard to get a good photo of but there is a lot of it. LOL We have over 21 bottles of liquid washing detergent and 4 boxes of powder.


I know I know all this talk about stockpiles such a different topic but its something that I was asked to share from a thread that I read each and everyday on a couponing site. I don't have nearly the amount of some people's stashes but I am just so happy to not have to purchase toilet paper, papertowels or even washing powder. I haven't purchased any since the Staples $3 coupon which was around the second week of June. To me that's an accomplishment cause I usually have to purchase papertowels, toilet paper, and hand soap every week. Which gives me more $$ to spend on groceries! Which is always a plus when you have four kiddos to feed.

So speaking of feeding those little ones I got a recipe from another couponing site that I altered it a little to include pepperoni. And I have made it a couple of times and the family loves it. So here is a photo, sorry I don't have a recipe for it but you could check it out on krazycouponlady.com and get the one that she offers, I just added a couple of other items in mine. YUMMY!

Hello everybody, I just wanted to get on here while I had a moment to update my blog. I am so glad that I can get on the internet. Yesterday I spent four hours working on my internet connection after we got our new services installed. I just don't know if the new service is something that I will love but maybe I can grow to love it. We ended up running to Walmart to pick up a new wireless router and setting that up and getting it all set up with our three family computers. And just as soon as I was so happy about completing that, our wireless printer wouldn't connect to the computer for anything so I had to uninstall and re-install it and then go from there. And honestly that wouldn't have been a bad thing if I had actually been able to locate the printer disc but I didn't. But all is well and its all completed.

I really don't have anything to share just yet, well other than we are doing whatever we can to get the house organized and everyone settled into their own spaces. It truly does feel amazing cause the kids all have their own spaces and it seems as though having their own space has made them a little closer. I love it cause the last couple of days the boys have volunteered to read to the girls at night. I love it cause it gives me a chance to get all the things that I need to get done at night and also a little time to talk to my hubby before he goes to sleep. I just realized that school is coming really soon and that I have to get the kids registered and that is my next set of things to get done. I am considering letting our 4 yr old head off to head start so that I can have some one on one time with the little one. She would love to be able to go to school and since she is learning her letters and writing her name it would be nice to have her in a school environment. But I also think that I want to homeschool her too but I just don't know yet.

But on another note our front yard is finished. I love how it looks but I can't wait to get our backyard started/finished...But here is a photo of the front yard....

Well I called to get the kids enrolled into school and that will be a challenge again. Since DS#1 is heading into his Freshman year of highschool, we just realized that we will most likely have to work to get him into 11th grade math (I am not sure what that is here--pre-cal, maybe) because of the way that schools are set up here.

In MN when you go to an accredited school/public school, you don't have to prove that you are able to handle the work if you have a transcript that reflects that you took the previous class and passed. I mean really an A+ in Geometry on a transcript means that you have to test him to see if you can allow him to have the next level. Oh well, whatever, we will make sure that he gets the testing done. The sad part is that we did the same exact thing last year, but because he is now entering highschool they won't it done again. Never mind is state testing shows he is above the 99%, nope. We still have to prove it. So we will and I won't fuss to much about it and it will all work out or at least that is what I believe.

DS#2 is entering 4th grade and although I am fine with him going to public school I keep missing homeschooling him. It wasn't easy with two other little ones at home, but we loved the one on one and he was able to keep moving on books and all that. Now although he is in the 4th grade, we had testing done for him last year and he was able to have several 4th grade classes so this year he will be in the 4th grade doing 5th grade stuff. I just am going to make sure that he is learning something and being challenged cause for several assignments last yr I felt like really this is 4th grade work, we could so do more than that. I in fact, made he do several other things for a report that the teacher told he had only to write one sheet on. Really one sheet.

But I hope that everyone is

Hello blogger friends, how are all of you doing out there in blogland? Well I am doing ok although I am sitting here debating if I am about to head to the ER cause my finger is cut really bad. But I am ok I guess cause if I weren't then I would have left by now or would I? But I am hoping that it will stop bleeding and then it should be ok.

We are all moved in and for the last couple of days I have been cleaning our old rental. It was really hard work too. But I really think that it just seemed so hard because I was there cleaning without any central air. I had called and had it transfered and never thought about what I would need when it came to cleaning.

I love the summer but it can get really hot here, in fact it was 110 on the day we moved, 112 the day I decided to clean the rental and today it is 100. But I am nice and cool. I have been slowly but consistantly unpacking boxes. I am glad to finally be able to see each room coming to a point where I can say I like how it looks. I just don't know why but clutter, lots of boxes really make me feel as though we are messy so I had to get that started cause it was driving me nuts. There are alot of things that I have written down that I want to do and a lot of window shopping online to see what there is out there to get. But I am not going to put us into debt trying to get them all right away. I am going to take my time and get things slowly.

But here is a photo of the kitchen as it right now. My disclaimer...I have only lived in our new house for a week and I am unpacking and organizing 6 people. LOL. So its not even close to being done or decorated but its coming along.

Our new kitchen table should be delivered tomorrow. Well we hope because if it isn't we will have to wait until next Wednesday. It seats 10 without a leaf ( cause it is a pretty big table) and there isn't a way to add a leaf either. Which I love. I have a few more things to spray paint (mostly frames) to add to the walls and a huge metal sign that sames home cooking.

Here is a picture from a few days ago of our front yard being installed. It is all done now and it is beautiful. I just haven't found my camera cord just yet so I can add the photo yet. But it will be coming shortly.

So in my window shopping I came across an amazing bed that seems to be almost what I want for our master suite retreat. I like it but the posts are alot smaller than I wanted them to be so I have that one bookmarked and I am still searching for the perfect one. Hopefully I can find it.

I hope that everyone stays safe and have an awesome evening! I am so glad that it's almost Friday!!

Hello everyone, I am so glad that I have internet access again! It has been really hard being off the computer for the last two weeks while moving and all that. We have moved! I am so excited to share that news, well actually we aren't really completely done with moving but we plan to be this week since this is the last few days of our lease.

But our new house is amazing! We love love love everything about it. The kids are busy giving more suggestions of what they want their rooms decorated like. But I haven't even thought of starting any of that just yet. But I don't have any decent photos of the inside of the house just yet because we have been so busy shopping for blinds and ceiling fans (which are needed 100% now that we have had well over 100 for the temp that last week), but here is a photo of the view from the hallway (kids' bedrooms hallway) and you can actually see the buffet/dresser that I recently refinished so that it can go in the kitchen underneath the island. I haven't done any real decorating yet but had been putting together the ideas and notes for a while.

This is the before and after (well not a full view but you can see it)...

I love because it actually extends our kitchen island and its not allowing our space to walk around the island to be cut off at all or interfere with any of the entrances. Well hopefully between the packing and setting up the new crafting space/office I will have my chance to get some crafting done, but if not....until next time.

Quick update

How many posts have I started and not finished this last month...lets just say its at least 10. I think that I am going to go through my posts and delete those but every time I start reading them I think that they are perfect for record keeping. So they still are sitting in my post box and not published.

On to other topics...today marks the beginning of the 7 day count down to the day that we actually close on the house. And I am so excited. And I bet you all think that I am packed and ready to move...and you'd be absolutely wrong. LOL. I haven't packed really anything up. Honestly besides my mini stockpile of items that I have gotten for our family since April, I haven't packed too much of anything. Well in my defense I have packed all the extra glass dishes today.

I also spray painted some lamps that I plan on using in our bedroom. I love the paint color that I got although I think that it was too expensive.

But I am sitting here thinking how do you pack 20 packs of papertowels. I know that you will all be like why does she have 20 packs of papertowels...well if you don't know we have 4 children (5 all together) that live with us and they use a ton of papertowels. And since I got a bunch of them from Staples for 1.99 how could I not stock up on them? I mean I only got 20 for the price that I would have gotten 1 pack from Sam's Club. And honestly it is awesome to have something that we use so often for so little.

But I promised myself that I wouldn't start talking about stockpiles and couponing that much on my blog but honestly how could I not when there are so many awesome deals out there. I don't plan on stockpiling tons of things but when you can get All for 1.99 a bottle after coupons why wouldn't I got 10 bottles. And there are other things that we have gotten for cheap or free that we need but I am hoping to master the skill of getting cheap/free pull ups next.

So because I can't just type on this post without adding a photo here is what I got for free last week from Staples using their $3 coupon deal. We actually got much more than what I have pictured but those items were for the kids own personal stashes of school supplies and arts and crafts items.