Couple Frugal Things.....

So while I've always considered myself pretty thrifty and making sure I'm getting the best deal - there is always room for improvement.  I started reading "The Frugal Girl" blog 4 or so years ago.  I like seeing how she manages her family on one income.  What I really take away from her posts is the ones where she repairs something that is still functional.  Before I started reading her blog I would have thrown something away that had a flaw/defect.  But now I look for ways to repair it before I let it go if it still has a function in my life.  Will repairing it be cheaper than replacing it?  She replaced a button on her jeans after the first one came off.  I would have in the past totally thrown the jeans away, but these fit her great and the only defect on it was the button!  It cost her $5 or so bucks to fix it after she got a kit that she can use again!

She does freezer challenges where she will eat the things in her freezer before she goes shopping again, or plans meals around the things that NEED to be eaten in her freezer before they go bad.  She has taught me to be more intentional about spending money.

Enter my closet!

 Like most of you I'm sure, you have watched the Marie Kondo show on netflix.  I binged it over a weekend and cleaned out my closet.  I got rid of that entire section!  HUGE pile I took to Clothes Mentor.  They offered me $37 for the items that they wanted to sell, I took that in store credit and then treated myself to a brand new pair of Lilly Pulitzer shorts that totally Sparks Joy in my life!  I still have money left over too.  The clothes they wouldn't be able to sell I went ahead and had them donate. They were still usable clothes just WAY too big for me now.

My favorite sunglasses...

 I'm sure you have seen a ton of pictures of me in these sunglasses on my blog.  They are my favorite.  I love glitter and rhinestones.  Recently they fell off my head and had a piece come out.

 Insert sad face!  There was definitely a chunk missing I couldn't get them to touch even if I wanted to glue that seam together.  Because I didn't want to damage them further I hadn't been able to wear them the last couple of weeks.

I realized the other day that I could repair them with my UV resin.  I'd been dabbling in this craft recently.  I don't have a picture of me placing the UV resin in the space with a Popsicle stick because it was a two handed job.

 My first cure, the resin shrinks a little during the curing process.  Once it was done (about a minute later - I always add time to it just in case.  I filled in a few small spaces - very carefully I might add, because I didn't want it to be all over the place and noticeable.

 From far away you cant even tell I did a repair job.  And if you are close enough to tell I did it, then you are WAY too into my personal bubble!  :)

 Close up of my handy work.

I'm so happy that they are fixed and I'm able to wear them again!!!

Back to School - First Day

My kids started back to school this morning!! I now have a 3rd grader and a 9th grader!! OMG I'm the mom to a HIGH SCHOOLER!!!! How did this happen?

There is this new service in Columbus called "Sign Gypsies" they were giving away one of these awesome displays (they come and set up the night before and you get to enjoy it for 24 hours).  Our tri-city area has a TON of elementary schools and the elementary school in our county is very small at only 200 students.  You had to keep voting for your school in the post but I knew our little 200 kid school was never going to make the cut!!  So I went ahead and contacted the company for pricing.  They were having a back to school deal, so I went ahead and paid for it out of my pocket.  It was a secret between the Principal, Assistant Principal and myself.  It was awesome to see the kids get excited for it!

 My 9th and 3rd grader!!

 Cale with the sign!  He was so proud that we made it happen!  We also added a sign for the county wide hashtag.

 Now I couldn't let the middle/high school go without something! (they are a combined building - 6-12th grades)  So yesterday I was feverishly making signs to make them smile as they came into school.

 Kennedie helping stake signs!

 One of the "missions" of the school year.

 Bless my son's heart.  He just wanted to be apart of helping put something together.  I woke up an hour before the kids to fill up balloons.  I was getting the car ready to get the balloons in, and out comes Kennedie with one, great I think.  Then out comes Cale with THREE of the bundles in one hand.  I knew the minute I took them back out of the car it was going to be a mess.  Took us about 10 minutes to untangle this mess!

Kennedie in front of the middle/high's picture sign!!

 I think the toulle was too heavy for the balloons.  I was trying to make it look cute, and they just ended up looking wimpy!! :(

 As I was leaving I took a picture of how the signs looks in the drop off line.

  I realized after I got back on the road I forgot to get her 1st day of school in front of the mascot picture (something we have done for every first day of her school years!) so I texted her and told her to meet me by the panther.

I hope everyone has a great first day back when it's their turn!!!



mobile craft table

So it's not secret that in military housing you sometimes  have to get creative with space.  Since I've had my cricut now OVER a year, and I'm literally on it practically every day, it's been camped out in our dining room where I can craft and see the kids in the living room playing and watching tv.  Well till about a month ago it's been an eye sore, as it's been just a plain grey plastic 4 ft table, with tubs underneath it and in that green hutch you see used to hold all my paper and other machines.  I work for MWR and we have a property sale about every three months - which simply means property that company doesn't need anymore and they are selling it at TERRIFIC prices.  Now that I have a table on wheels I'm able to roll it into the laundry room and close the door.  Here is what it looks like when we are having a party....

 ....and here is my table in all it's glory!  Isn't it great?

 You can tell I spray painted it (and you all know if you can't spray paint it it's not worth having) and left the inside because I don't care what the inside looks like because I'm the only one that has to look at it.  I got this peice for $20!!!!!!  It even has a table that extends out that i probably won't ever use but I've got it if i need it.  Now the green hutch can hold appliances that I don't use all the time but surely don't want to get rid of!