Small Home Renov Pics

Our house is beginning to look more polished and more fabulous each day! Here are a few pics of the latest changes: continued Pergo flooring in the living room (we just carried over the same of what was already down in half of the downstairs instead of ripping that up) and no more green cabinets. Now, I loved my John Deere green cabinets, but white just makes it more polished (even though I HATE almost all white in my kitchen--oh well!) :) I have brown curtains to replace the worn striped curtains over the sliding glass doors, and I think I'm going to paint the round table between the two chairs black.

We moved the TV to the center of the back wall and put the entertainment center in the corner to camouflage all the cords. We're also adding frosting film to the glass doors to hide cords inside the entertainment center as well.

I LOVE the beige and dark brown rug I found at Walmart.com for only $99! It's perfect for the space!

It's SO WHITE!

In Disguise--Slipcovers

There are many wonderful home renov/updates taking place in the Rogers household. First, we sold Gabby The Galant this past Saturday. She sold after only being listed two days! YAY! We're using the money made from Gabby's sale to put back into the house. Those pictures of those changes will come later.

I'm currently fighting the good battle of sewing slipcovers for our couch and oversized chair. I'm quite excited about this project. Not only will it polish off our worn (but still shape sturdy furniture), but I'm able to do it for a decent price. Prefabricated slip covers aren't cheap and they wouldn't look so great on our giant couch and chair. Plus, we're wanting to polish up our bright colors.

I found a rust colored fabric at Hobby Lobby. Still in the red family, just a tiny bit more subdued. I wanted a print or pattern, but a very muted one that would work well with other prints and patterns. I lucked up with my chosen fabric--I love the faint small diamond pattern mixed with the green and maroon itty-bitty dots. PERFECT for what we already have--tons of green accents throughout the downstairs. On top of that the upholstery fabric was only $10 per yard, quite cheap for such a heavy fabric. AND on top of that, it was 30% OFF! I had to order an entire bolt of fabric for the couch, but was able to bring some fabric home to start working on the chair. I'm quite excited that I spend only $170 to recover two large pieces of furniture--way better than buying new furniture, especially when ours is only 5 years old. The dogs have just reeked havoc on the cushions. I will have to spend a little bit more because I'm creating completely new back cushions due to the smushed and gnawed cushion corners.

I'm sewing these slipcovers as pieces, so that the finished look won't be so slouchy like many slipcovers can be. The first piece I've worked on is the base, with the seat and back cushions to follow. I wanted the hardest part done first! I'm quite surprised with how well it turned out. I just pinned the bottom hem and only have one mishap to fix. It's already passed the daddy-seal-of-approval! :) I can't wait to get this chair completely finished, but looks like it won't be until next week--Knox and I are headed back to AL/TN for the next few days, leaving Daddy to fend for himself for a bit. Don't worry, he'll be busy with those other home renovs I mentioned earlier! YAY!

This is the best color pic of the fabric--isn't it fabulous???

You can tell that I haven't hemmed it yet--the front will hang more flush once it is hemmed. Can you see the boo-boo?

I'm thrilled with how the arms turned out!

This is the boo-boo. I'm completely happy with only one mistake and should be fairly easy to fix. Besides, once the cushions are in place it won't be noticeable anyway! ;)

A Belated Weekend Recap

I meant to do this on Monday, but Wild Man was still ill and stayed home from school--resulting in a near mommy melt-down from day-long whining. :)

We were blessed with a visit from Grammy and Grandaddy over the weekend, and had an amazing time as usual. We went to Stone Mountain State Park, and mainly drove around. We ended up at the covered bridge and took a short "hike" through the woods there. Knox was thrilled to see ducks on the water, but our (my) fun was slightly dampened by the dead (?) baby snake Knox and Grammy tried to play with when they thought it was a night crawler. Eeee! I get the eeby-jeebies just thinking about it. We got some great shots of three generations of Rogers men in the end, though!

Our next stop was at the Yellow River Game Ranch just about 5 minutes from Stone Mountain. Knox was in heaven--outside with tons of animals you could just tell he wanted to go squeeze. We were "those" people saying the name of EVERY animal we saw, quickly followed by the appropriate animal noise. Funny, we were never around the same people for an extended period of time. Haha! :) Knox was so worn out by all the excitement, he fell asleep mid-motion in the car on the way home. He has NEVER done that, but he was also diagnosed with this third ear infection of the year on Friday, so he wasn't quite up to par and that could have had something to do with it (on top of the fact that he STILL has a cold).

Anywho, a great weekend was had (Saturday was topped off with a super yummy dinner at the Japanese steakhouse!!!) We love having company, and when company is family, it is just that much sweeter. :) :) :) Thanks for the great weekend, Grammy & Grandaddy!

Desperately wanting to throw rocks.

All I have to say is, "AW!" :)

Aw! Again

And say it with me now, "AW!"

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture--Grammy, I will get you the hi-res version. :)

These next set of pics I like to call "Wild Game--Up Close & Personal." I used the GIGANTIC lens Keith loves to use (me, not so much) so it was hard to scoot back far enough, but then again I love those up close and personal pics anyway.

This silly billy goat had his head stuck through the door of this feed shoot (?)

Grandaddy, Knox and the silly billy goats

He's sticking his tongue out at me! :)

Oink, Oink, Oink!

Look into my eyes...this was a Knox-sized pony

Whatcha lookin' at gurl?

I LOVE peacocks, but never got a decent shot. :(

Raccoon running his wheel

This chipmunk/squirrel just cracked me up with his scrunched up face!

What A Fabulous Giveaway!

http://knoxrogersneighborhood.blogspot.com/2009/07/what-fabulous-giveaway.html

SICKIES--again!

As Knox and I hang out at the house today with yet ANOTHER case of the sickies, I thought I'd write a little note to self:

When feeding sweet baby boy a jelly biscuit...

put a top on the biscuit. :)

I haven't felt up-to-par to recap our great day visit to Chattaboogie for Sweet Jill's 30th birthday party, but she has lots of pictures I took posted on her site. Our only down side of the visit was getting hit head on (at only about 15mph, THANKFULLY) and just ONE HOUSE from Jill's. We're so very thankful we were in the SUV, but sad since we've only had that vehicle since late March. Oh well, at least it was only cosmetic damage to the vehicle and NO ONE WAS HURT--praise God!

A for Effort in Health & Fitness

At the beginning of this year, I was "gazelle intense" with a workout regime, though Knox made it a wee bit difficult most days with crying a decent amount in Kidz Klub. So as I always do, health and fitness got pushed to a back burner--sadly. Now that we are wanting to expand our family someday in the near future, I think it's important I get back in gear.

I'd like to report that I have started to get it in gear again as of Monday. The pups and I have walked each morning for about 35 minutes. Lately, Knox has become infatuated with the Wii which is a blessing and a curse. Blessing because it entertains him and we are up getting some exercise, and curse because he throws a horrid fit when we turn it off no matter how long we've been playing. Yesterday I unlocked a new item on the Wii Fit called Free Run. I'm basically running in place and my little Wii character is just running on the screen with other little Wii people, but I know I'm trying to beat my previous score. That competitiveness in me gets me going. I throw on my iPod for some musical encouragement for a few extra 10 minute segments, and before I know it have had an hour of cardio for the day broken into two sessions. I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I got a side stitch yesterday while doing my Free Run! Ha! Guess that's how out of shape I am!

Food's a little more difficult when eating on a budget, but definitely do-able. I'm also logging my food intake by using this great website tool. Perfect for me since I'm at my computer a lot during the day. My current favorite breakfast has been a Kashi Go-Lean 7 Grain Waffle (on sale with coupons) with reduced-fat PB (on sale) and half a banana (Aldi for 49¢/lb.) smeared on top of the waffle. Like a PB and 'nana sandwich, just with waffle instead of bread. YUMMMMM-O! AND I guess the added protein of the PB and whole grains of the waffle have me filling much more full through out the AM. Plus I've been downing some H2O, so I know that helps.

Last night's dinner was a complete success in terms of yumminess, healthfulness and family satisfaction. I was in the mood for some southern cooking, but obviously wanted it healthy. Yeah, right? Well, this is what I did. I had dried pinto beans (SO CHEAP!) and did the quick soak method on the package (I had Publix brand, but any brand works). To finish cooking the beans (according to the directions) I used the chicken stock I made last week--and nothing else besides salt! And they were DELISH! I only made a half bag thinking we'd have leftovers, but they were completely gone by the end of the night! Knox devoured a cup or more, I had a cup (I actually measured for once!) and Keith had the rest in two sittings! The only fat was from the chicken stock, and beans are so great for you--tons of protein and fiber!

In my world, if you have beans you have to have cornbread. It's a must. An unwritten law. I had some self-rising cornmeal and randomly looked up recipes. I found one on cooks.com and altered it a bit. This is all it read, but my alterations are in parenthesis:

Corn Bread

1 c. self rising cornmeal (cheap to begin with!)

1/2 c. vegetable oil (I used 1/4 cup oil and 1/4 cup No Sugar Added Applesauce)

2 eggs (I did use real eggs--79¢ at Aldi, but it could easily be subbed with Eggbeaters)

1 c. cream style corn (I didn't have creamed corn, but did have TONS of cans of regular corn--on sale with coupons.)

1/2 c. sour cream (I used reduced fat--on sale with coupons)

(I added 1 T. Splenda--on sale with coupons--and one large pinch of salt)

Mix and bake at 350 degrees until browned. (I tried that for 25 minutes but wasn't set up in the middle. Package read 375 degrees, so I upped the temp and backed for probably 10-15 more minutes. I would probably start temp at 375 next time.)

It was one of the most yummy and moist piece(s) of cornbread I've ever had! Don't be scared of the applesauce, you don't taste it AT ALL! A great way to cut down oil in most any baked good, but be sure to use some oil. For the corn, I used my hand emersion (sp?) blender right in the can after I drained almost all of the liquid out. Plus you get the added benefit of the regular corn, so you get a few more veggies in without knowing it!

I added a salad to all this yumminess for a complete healthy, vegetarian meal! Plus Hubs and Wild Man were full and satisfied! YAY!

The Not-So-Secret World of Couponing

My fun sorority sis, Kristy, made a comment about coupon savings on a recent post. I thought I'd share my small amount of couponing knowledge to those who frequent my page, and aren't already couponing goddesses. Again, with the goobiness, I know, but that's just me! haha!

First, I have to say this. If you live in an area where there isn't major chain grocery stores, it will be difficult to save tons of money, simply because you don't have the options (ie. Flo-town, my hometown). It is also somewhat difficult if you don't have access to major newspapers like the Atlanta Journal Constitution or Birmingham News (?), but there are ways around it. You just need a computer and a printer. Newspapers are my main source of coupons, and I always buy at least four at a time. You need multiple coupons to save more money since you buy whatever is on sale, using your coupons matched to lower your price even more. The goal is to buy groceries only when on sale, so you kinda need room to stockpile. Another key to "successful" couponing is organization so you can actually find the coupons when you need them--see my pics below.

To some of you I may sound crazy at this point, but it's a whole other culture to this couponing. Check out this blog for some amazing samples in how in depth people get--and how much FLIPPIN' money the SAVE!!!

I just added a blog roll to the right hand side of my blog with the blogs I check on a daily basis for the most part. Dave Ramsey is just our starting point of reducing debt, which in turn got me into couponing. SmartSource is just one of many sources to printable coupons, though most times, you can only print two per computer. Quantity needed for stockpiling. The Coupon Clippers are a source when you need tons of just a few coupons. There is a very small minimum order, but you more than make it up buying on sale with coupons.

The other sites listed are where I make my grocery list from, though you have to wiggle it to fit your area. I typically use Southern Savers to create my shopping list each week. What's great is that they list where you can find the coupons--either the SmartSource or Red Plum inserts from the paper, or printable, or some other random site. (I set up an email specifically to use when signing up for the random coupons, so they don't junk up my normal email.) I know it helps to create meal plans each week to use the groceries that you have, but I "wing" it and throw stuff together. This is one area I want to work on. I also want to have a cooking day, where I get several meals made and frozen for an anytime meal--plus I LOVE using my vacuum sealer. Sad, I know. Oh and one more thing about coupon/sale matches, Southern Savers lists several Target coupons you can supposedly use on top of manufacturer coupons and Publix coupons, but the Publix I shop at won't accept them--this is where there has to be wiggle room.

For personal items like razors, toilet paper, shampoo, etc, I tend to get these items at CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid. Money Saving Mom has a great section teaching you how to "work" the CVS and Walgreens--it may be intimidating so just try baby steps, but she explains really well. Look on her page, scroll down a bit and the links are on the right hand side under Start Here.

So in a nutshell, for successful couponing (and by that I mean cutting your grocery bill in half--or more!), I think these are key items:

• Coupon resources/multiples

• List of sales marked with coupon matches

• Place to store stockpiled items

• Knowledge of how to stack coupons at grocery stores, and "work" CVS, Walgreens & Rite-Aid.

My first means of keeping coupons, before being well "versed."

My next attempt at keeping organization. Don't freak--half is sales papers, receipts, etc.

My latest method, that I love oh-so-much! A little more work up front, but totally worth the time it saves in the end.

I know that's a ton to absorb, but please feel free to contact me with any questions! If I can't answer your question, I'm sure I have a resource that can! Happy Couponing! :P