I am almost embarrassed on how pathetic my fall decorations look, but this is my first year to decorate for fall so the plan is to start small and build throughout the years. This year I am just focusing on the outside of my house and I am proud to say that I am the only house on my block that has decorated for fall so at least I have that going for me.
I planted orange mum's and I am hoping they will bloom soon, that will really add some color to my front porch.
I have feeling for Christmas I will be going all out on my decorations...and by "all out" I mean outside lights!
On another note, Jesse's dad came for a visit this past weekend. It was a Saturday and Sunday full of watching football for the boys. I enjoy some football but not 2 day's worth which is why I finally got motivated to decorate for fall. We all had a great time though, always love it when family gets to visit. Thanks Mike for coming out to see us, Kim we missed you!
I think this is the first time in two weeks I have had time to check my blog, e-mail's, facebook, etc. OK, so that may be a little exaggerated, but not by much. I have been working my tail off at work recently. The past two weeks I have been getting to work by 6 a.m. and some night's not leaving till 8 p.m.
The good thing is I love it! It's fun work. I am not pushing papers at six a.m., I am setting up for a golf tournament or a breakfast for volunteers and my evening work consists of having a street party, socializing, eating yummy foods and listening to music. But somehow it is still exhausting. There is a lot of behind the scenes work to prepare for these fun events and at the end of the day I am beat.
To sum it all up, I am tired! I have never felt so tired in my life. I have developed an eye twitch which I have always heard it due to lack of sleep and stress and my poor right eye can't even open for a few minutes while I have a "twitch episode."
This weekend it no work but Jesse and I are volunteering for an organization called Family Health Care Clinic in order to raise money for women who can't afford yearly mammograms. And then in the evening we are attending a YMCA event. Should be fun, but no rest. I plan on catching up in December when work calms down, until then I will have an eye twitch.
First of all I have to say I LOVE Ikea! And I have grown more fond of it ever since we got a house that we needed to decorate. This past weekend Jesse and I went to Dallas, TX to visit his uncle and aunt, which they happened to be conveniently located close to an Ikea which was a major bonus.
We got to his uncles house late Friday night (no thanks to traffic), so we pretty much said our hellos and then crashed. Saturday was fun and eventful. We went to Ikea, ate at 5 guys burgers and fries (which Jesse loves), watched football, walked/drove around their beautiful neighborhood and went to a neighbor hood block party. Sunday we went to church with them and went downtown to eat and visit the place where president Kennedy was killed. We left Sunday afternoon to head back to Oklahoma and Monday we just relaxed, cleaned and got caught up before work started again.
Out and about in their neighborhood
X marks the spot...unfortunately this is where Kennedy was shot and killed.
Our new chair from Ikea, surprisingly really comfortable.
New lamps (Ikea) for the bedroom- we got the black and white shade.
I added some pops of color in our guest bathroom and I love it!
Recently, Jesse and I have been trying to think of ways we can cut back on what we spend. Here is what we have been doing so far:
1) Cut off Netflix
2) Take packed lunches to work instead of going out to eat
3) Only eat out one time a week ( I still refuse to cook after church on Sundays)
4) Turn the air condition up to 80 while we are gone during the day
5) Cut coupons for groceries
This last one has been a challenge. I have to be really careful what coupons I use because half of the time it is stuff I would not usually buy, so in the end I spend more! I mean come on, do I really need to try that new type of ice cream that is 10 cents off its regular price? I don't think so.
So I started looking into other options and that's when someone suggested I shop at Aldi.
I was curious so I checked it out. First of all they provide almost all of the same groceries you would find at any small grocery store but at lower prices.
If you plan on going, there are a few things you might want to know:
1) Take a quarter. You need a quarter to get a shopping cart, but you get it back when you are finished with it. Sounds crazy, I know, but part of them offering lower prices is by cutting back on staff. The customers are in charge of maintaining the carts rather than having a cart boy.
2) Bring your own shopping sacks (they can be from Wal-Mart). You have to bag your own groceries and believe me its not that bad. This is another way they can offer their customers lower food prices.
3) They almost always carry off-brand stuff.
The best part, other then the lower prices, is that there is hardly ever a crowd! I hate the crowds at Wal-Mart, I always feel rushed and frustrated and end up forgetting things on my list. Am I the only one that feels that way about Wal-Mart?
Anyway, here is what I have started doing even though it is a bit more time consuming. I first go to Aldi with my grocery list and get what I can there. Since they are small, they don't always carry everything on my list. Then I go to Wal-Mart and get the rest. This last time, I decided to do some research. Listed below are the foods I bought at Aldi and their prices versus what I found at Wal-Mart (Great Value or any off-brand):
Grocery Item
Aldi’s
Wal-Mart
Strawberries
$ 0.99
$1.88
Whole Carrots
$ 0.99
$1.48
Bag of Salad
$ 1.99
$2.38
5 lb sack of potatoes
$ 1.99
$2.97
Tortillas
$ 0.99
$1.38
Loaf of Bread
$ 0.99
$1.78
Rotini pasta
$ 0.78
$2.08
Eggs
$ 0.99
$1.18
½ gallon of Milk
$ 1.77
$1.98
TOTAL
$11.48
$17.11
These are just a few comparisons. You can make the decision if you think its worth it.
Check out their website: www.aldifoods.com. They have a one week food shopping challenge and a meal planner that I think are cool.
I am still looking for ways to cut down on costs so if anyone has any ideas that don't include cutting off the air condition completely, let me know!
First let me say, that right now I would really like to complain, but my husband sweetly reminded me that I was "one of the happiest people he knows and I should not complain on my blog and make myself seem like an unhappy person." So sweet, and sometimes completely not true, but I do like to think of myself as a happy person for the most part.
So I have completely rewritten my blog to not sound as complaining as it was.
Anyway, our bedroom furniture is here! To those of you who don't know the whole story you may think I am crazy and that this is nothing to get excited about, but it has been quite the ordeal. We ordered our furniture back at the end of April, we were told it would be here at the end of May and it arrived the end of July! So I have had to think happy thoughts about our furniture for a long time.
Here it is:
Now, I know the newest thing is to not have matchy furniture, but I guess I am not creative enough to pull together things that don't match and yet still go together.
In the end, Jesse and I love our new furniture and we are very happy to have settled into our completed bedroom.
