My first DIY!

Before and After... well... ok there will be an after. *sigh* I'm not the brightest and I completely forgot to take a picture of my before lamp. Basically it was a wicker cylinder that was falling apart and kinda gross looking.



A lot like this... only uglier... and on an ugly metal base. :) Anyway, I picked up the beauty at my grandmother's house (ready to go out to the trash) along with some spray paint in a fancy named color I will call "white." Now of course things can't be too simple... so this few hour project has turned into half a week so far. It's not my fault though! The weather was a sunny 90 degrees when I got started... and now it's 40 something and raining! ugh! Anyway, after pictures to come, my loves!

Thanks for stopping by!

Sneak Peek:
Here's what's coming up!
30 days of Thankfulness!
My first attempt at reapolstry (with before pix I promise)
Before and after pictures of the bathroom, the back door and the fireplace
And much more love!!!

Have a great Wednesday y'all!

Me? A Sponsor?

Ok, I'm in tears. I'm at work and I'm in tears. I was just reading over at The Gypsy Mama (yes I know it's from September... I'm a newby blog addict!) and my heart is fluttering in my chest. I can't give monetarily. I am going through a difficult time "living like no one else so that later I can LIVE like no one else!" and GIVE like no one else. But for now I'm sticking to what I can. I tithe (don't judge but this is new to us... and what a blessing it has been). I've also been giving of my new found couponing skills (free toothpaste and dish soap to the lady who watches Braden... I was surprised how grateful she was). On top of that, I have been giving on my home. I am decluttering, and taking bag upon bag to the Benevolance Center up at church. But now, I'm on the phone with Compassion waiting to speak with a representative on how I can become a child correspondant. This is so exciting!

Mental Health Day

Those of you that know me personally know I am dealing with some hard things in my personal life. All health related, and none about my personal health. Anyway, yesterday I decided that I needed a "mental health day" to recharge my batteries...

IT WORKED! WOOO HOOO!

I woke up this morning. Got in a fight with the husband. Tried to force him to talk about it. Cried when he left for work. Pouted for about 5 minutes while eating a muffin (thank you hip2save.com for your wonderful holiday challenge). And then I got on with my life. *lol*

The first order of business was painting the back wall. This past weekend we did a huge renovation and took out our old fashioned brick fireplace (thank you 1978!) and ugly nasty sliding glass door. The fireplace is now tile on a wall, patiently awaiting a mantle. The new back door is my pride and joy! With the help of my father-in-law we landed a ~$800 super special and wonderful french door for $90! It's HUGE and ENERGY EFFICIENT (so they say... our last back door didn't close so anything would be more efficient than that) and PPPPPPPRRRRRRREEEEEEETTTTTTTTTTTTTTYYYYYYY! (can you tell I think it's pretty?)

Anyway, step one of mental health day was to get some paint on the walls. I took the paint color we used in the nursery (a gorgeous tan color) and brought it in. Then I got out our 3 rolls of painter tape and got to work. After a trip to Home Depot for MORE tape (please tell me why we have three rolls with less than 6" of actual tape on them?!) I was ready to go. And after half a wall I was out of paint. *sigh* Oh well. At least I got a start. I took the shiny navy/greenish color we used on the front door and put it on the wall next to the brown... just to see. It works well with the colors, but with the lighting that corner gets it looked more like black lacquer than anything else! Oh well, something else for me to paint over. I'm just happy we agreed on a color at all!

After cleanup I headed off to do some grocery shopping. I had coupons for Kroger and Walgreens both. Kroger isn't an issue for me, but I D-R-E-A-D going to Walgreens. There is only one anywhere close to us. It's not in the nicest part of town, and the workers think a coupon is equivalent to a ski mask and a pistol. *sigh* So I was super nervous heading that way...but it was all for nothing! No problems what so ever! And I left with 2 of the Enfamil refillable tubs for less than forty bucks! Woo hoo! Kroger was even better! First of all, I had more coupons that I should have been allowed to use (4 of one and 5 of another). I also was using my first ever rain checks (for $1 toothpaste and $1 dish soap... the sale ended yesterday). I was a little nervous but the Walgreens victory had given me a little bit of confidence. So I went to Kroger at about 10am... that's my new favorite shopping time! 2 transactions, 8 tubes of toothpaste, 4 bottles of dish soap, 2 gallons of milk, 1 dozen eggs and $2.76 later I was out! SUCCESS AGAIN! So after that I was pretty much on top of the world! :) I love how powerful successful couponing makes me feel.

We had a lady coming by to buy bar stools from us so I headed home to meet her. I got $38 for a pair of bar stools I have sat on *maybe* 10 times... ever. Not too shabby! She was in the coffee selling business, and I'm in the makup selling business... so I invited her in for a chat. She brought in samples, I got out samples, and we had a really nice visit for an hour or so. She left me a few more sample of her yummy coffee and I gave her some Satin Hands samples to take home. We also left with the understanding that, while we both really liked the products, neither of us had the money to spend right now. We'll be in touch! Hehe!

So other than that, I got little things done around the house. I puttied up the fake paneling on our hall cabinets. The plan is to make it look like not-paneling and then paint it (Friday). I also blanched/froze some zucchini and eggplant we were given by a friend. I don't really know what to do with them, but now I have a few months to figure it out. Laundry... Dishes... ANTM... 16 and Pregnant... I mean... Ok! It's true! I actually rested a little on my rest day!

So here I am, watching the Rangers in the World Series (did anyone ever really think I'd say that?!) and feeling like my cup has been refilled. I'm ready to go back to work tomorrow. I'm ready to take care of my family (like that little one that just started fussing in the other room). I'm loving life again.

Here's to mental health days!

A Place to Start From...

Aloha! Ok probably not aloha since I have never been to Hawaii... but my boss just got back from Hawaii last week so I've got the islands on my mind!

I am not a blogger. I have another blog. I write in it faithfully... about once a year. I also change the topic of my blog faithfuly once a year. So here's to a(nother) start (again).

My husband and I are in reno-mode. We are renovating our home, our finances, and truly our lives. That's what I'm going tot alk about. Me, me, me and MY family! haha! But really, what you can expect from me is a recount of what's new within the Griggs household. I will try to keep updated on developments within our financial overhaul (thank you Dave Ramsey), our remodeling of the house (a big thank you to my husband and father-in-law), and the changes I am making to my personal life in the process. Oh! And couponing! I've been doing it for a month and I LLLLOOOOVVVEEEE couponing!

My family is at a cross-roads. Dere and I were married in April of 2009. Our son was born in February of 2010 and all of a sudden things changed. The cute little house we have with the nice sized yard suddenly was in a horrible school area. What does that mean? It means we have 5 years(ish) to get out of this neighborhood and into a home I want my son to grow up in. There is a cute little country town about a half hour from us now and that is where we plan to go. The problem... debt. Don't I just sound like every other spend-happy American out there?! Ugh! So in a few short weeks my husband and I grew up. We need to get a handle on our finances. We need to get out of debt. And we need to get out of our little "'hood" (affectionately named of course).

We are 8 months into our journey. Some things have come to light that I did not anticipate. Namely, my spiritual life. My husband and I both grew up in the church, but it wasn't until Braden was born that we were baptized. We now attend service regularly on Sunday and Wednesday. I am trying to learn how to be a good Christian woman. I am learning to be submissive to my husband in a biblical sense, without feeling like (or becoming) a doormat! I am learning about raising my son with strong Christian values and being a good example to him. There is so much to learn!

So join me on this journey! We have four and a half years to get out of debt, find a new house, sell our current house, and lay the groundwork for the rest of our lives!