Design Dreamin'

I'm feeling a little unlove for my house right now. It's not the house itself. It's the design inside...or rather, the total lack of design. So, this afternoon, while I was enjoying my "day of rest," I was looking at pictures from House Beautiful online and thought I'd share some I liked.

I found it interesting how just looking at pictures made me realize that my idea of good design has changed in the last few years. Maybe it is living in a small house, too. I love color, always have. But I find myself more drawn to a dominant background of white, with large punches of color to break up the white. What gets my attention the most is a combination of bright, crisp whites, warm wood tones, and plenty of color to complete the look. The following pictures are all from the House Beautiful website and while none of them are my ideal spaces, they all have elements that I would love to use in my own home.

Love the yellow chair and all the natural light!

I'm a sucker for classic farmhouse.

Those bar chairs are so inviting, and I like the yellow-green

wall color against the white cabinetry and tile.

Modern, but fun! Love the green fabric on the drum shade

and chairs. I wish my island did double-duty with storage shelves.

This is just fresh, with the farmhouse sink, green canister, pops of blue and yellow and grass growing inside. The green glass subway tiles are so nice against the white cabinets.

I want to grow a patch of perfect grass inside!

These living rooms all have a common design theme. 
White or neutral background,

neutral furnishings, colorful accessories (or colorful accent furniture).

The effect is light, spacious, calm.

Did you enjoy this little tour of homes? Did it make you think about your own design style? Even if your own home is already decorated "just as you like it" it's always fun to take a peek into someone else's home...you never know what might catch your eye!

Grace Got Glasses!

Okay, so I know my title is not very grammatically correct...but who cares??? This is all about the cute pictures of Grace, anyway! And who can say she isn't super-cute is these glasses she picked out all by herself?

Her mommy tried to get her to pick out something more, uh, subtle. I mean, these are black on the outside and a brilliant shade of blue on the inside. But this girl knew what she wanted...and besides, she's the one that gets to wear them, right?

Looks like she made a smart choice...smart girl!

What Makes Us (Almost) Late to School, Part 2

Rise and shine...it's going to be a bee-you-ti-ful mornin'!

What? Not so easily convinced?

Come on, I see you peeking at me a little!

 Open those eyes...do I need to bring the dog in here???

Money Saving Methods...and Coupon Craziness!

I used to think I was pretty good at saving money. You know, a pretty frugal person. I clipped my coupons, looked for sales, shopped at thrift stores and hated to pay full price for anything.

I still feel that way. It's just that I have recently discovered that there are so (and put a bunch of o's after that) many places and ways to save money that I never knew about. In fact, I think I still have only uncovered but a fraction of what's out there. I am having fun looking for them and saving money, though!

There are countless websites and blogs devoted to helping you find deals, print coupons, and reduce your spending. For me, that primarily means on groceries and household items like paper goods, cleaning products and toiletries. Websites like Money Saving Mom and The Krazy Coupon Lady provide great resources like upcoming store ads, printable coupons, and deals on everything you need (or didn't know you need!).

There are also coupons to be clipped in the Sunday newspaper and even in magazines. We recently canceled our newspaper subscription, to save money, which is fine because I can find out what coupons will be in the Sunday papers by looking online and then buy a Sunday paper if I want to. My sister-in-law gave me a great tip that you can get multiple copies of the Sunday paper on Monday at the dollar store (for $1.00, of course), which I will do if the coupons are worth it.

I really like to print coupons online. I set my printer preferences to everyday and greyscale to save on ink. Many online coupon resources will let you print multiple times before the print limit is reached, allowing you to get more of the coupons you use the most. Sometimes those same coupons will reset soon after, allowing you to go back and print them again. They also tend to have higher values then the newspaper coupons. You can also go to the websites of the brands you purchase (Coffee Mate, Freschetta, etc.) and often they will have printable coupons. Don't forget to go to the store sites themselves, too. All the major stores (Vons, Albertons, Target, etc.) have store and manufacturer coupons that you can print.

I have discovered the magic of combining store and manufacturer coupons. When you do this, and if the item is already on sale or at a good price, you can get it for free or next to nothing! Check the store's policies on quantity limits and when the coupon exceeds the price of the item, but at most stores these things are not a problem. Where you live, your grocery store might still double coupons. If so, take advantage of that! Ours do not, although once in a great while they will put "special" coupon doublers in the paper to use with a coupon. I bought three papers that week just for those coupons.

There are some great online deals to be had, too. Site like Amazon and iTunes offer free song downloads. Shutterfly and Snapfish both offer great photo deals. For example, a couple of weeks ago, Walgreens was offering a free 8x10 and Snapfish was also offering a free 8x10 that you could pick up at Walgreens. Sweet deal...two free 8x10's that I could order from the comfort of home and pick up at the same place. Check out this free deal right now from Shutterfly and Wink: http://moneysavingmom.com/2010/04/shutterfly-free-photo-strip-mailed-free-internationally.html (Thank you, Money Saving Mom!)


Drug Stores have their own reward programs, too. I currently just use CVS and their Extra Care card. They "pay you back" every time you shop. They also give you "Extra Bucks" when you buy certain items. I didn't realize the full extent of what I could accumulate until I was there the other day and scanned my card at the in-store kiosk. I had earned $14.50! That is like cash! That was a fun day, because it also spit some coupons out at me, so I ended up saving more than I spent. They even scan your card when you get your prescriptions, go figure! Check out your local drug store for their program.

The ways to save really are exhaustive. You can spend as much or as little time as you have available searching out deals. To me, the key is to continue to be wise with the amount of money I have to spend each month. Just because something is a good deal does not necessarily mean I should go out and buy 12 of them. It's tempting...but then what if I cannot buy the other things I need to feed my family?

I am learning that I can find the deals if I only look for them. And coupons do work. It's crazy fun, and I will share with you what I find along the way. Will you share with me, too?

Spring has Spru...Hatched???

We did it again. We just couldn't help ourselves. We pulled out the incubator and put some eggs in it. And three weeks later...



Fourteen fluffy balls of chirping sweetness. And since then we've added four more, because I wanted green eggs. There is something so simple about just sitting and holding a chick in your hand. Something so mesmerizing about watching them scamper about the brooder, pecking at food, each other, or my ring when I put my hand in and the warming lamp hits the diamond and catches their eyes.

The girls keep pointing out the reality of how many chickens we now have. 40. Forty. Four-Oh-Wow! We had not planned on that many. We are looking for loving homes for some of them now. And we will love all of the rest of them. We just hope most of them are hens and not roosters. And we pray we get more egg customers! =) 

Life is good on the Crazy Chicken Farm! Thank you, God!

Come Emmanuel

Come and speak to us
Come and renew us
Come and live through us, Emmanuel

Grace to implore us
Ever before us
Come and restore us, Emmanuel

Come Emmanuel, Come Emmanuel
Come Emmanuel, Come Emmanuel

Once mercy found us
Still You astound us
Hold and surround us, Emmanuel

Living inside us
Faithful to guide us
Cover and hide us, Emmanuel

Come Emmanuel, Come Emmanuel
Come Emmanuel, Come Emmanuel

Love that begins us
Pardons and wins us
Come and reign in us, Emmanuel

Come and speak to us
Fill and renew us
Come and live through us, Emmanuel

Emmanuel, Emmanuel

                - T. Paris

All the Pretty Christmas Lights

There is a particular street in our town that hosts a Christmas event every year, called the "Vine Street Showcase." We thought we'd drive down it the night before and check out the lights. Here are some of the homes we saw. (Click on the photo for a larger view)

It's been raining here, so it was a treat to be able to go out and look at these beautiful homes on a dry evening. Hope you are seeing lovely displays of lights where you live, if not in your own front yard!