A Day In My Life

Jeep Liberty and Car shopping 101

Okay, so that title is probably misleading, as I don't really have any car buying tips...except DON"T DO IT UNLESS YOU HAVE TO!

For the last three weeks we have been finsing one day a week, where we all have it off and doing something for fun.  Well, todays family "fun" day was searching out a vehicle.  Lauren will be traveling 3 hours a day, 5 days a week and we really felt like she needed a 4wd, a little more secure and a lot better in our winter months.  We have been thinking about it since Jan/Feb and then verbalized it around graduation time.  BUT really started talking about it a couple of weeks ago.

Lauren had an exact image of what she wanted, in her head, and ofcourse you know it included "cute":)  We found what she was looking for today...a Jeep Liberty!  Our family fun day started at 8:00(when we had to wake Nate up) and ended at 4:30!

and yes her shirt matches it!  And check out the pink streak of hair!  Talk about "School Shopping!", this puts a whole new spin on it for us!  Interestingly there where atleast two other sets of parents up there doing the same thing today!

She and Joe have gone to the movies and she wrote on Facebook that she loves her new jeep and her parents:)   This parent is exhausted, so Nate and I are just chilling and Scott had to go to work:(  I don't even think I am going to do the dishes or start any laundry...the heck with it:)

 Good Night All

Dancingly, Denise
 

Meet GERTIE

I have been searching , quietly, for a dress-form for quite some time now.  Just whenever I can look in antique stores etc, but the last one I found...I held off buying and it got a new home with someone else...so I vowed if I found another and the price was reasonable it would be MINE!  Meet GERTIE:

She is hanging out at our house, poolside, tonight.  I wasn't considering a wire form...but hey I love her and she will have a good home at OLD THINGS modeling the costumes.  Scott and I found GERTIE at GOODWILL tonight...20.00!  I am so darn excited...I have had a great day, materialistically  speaking.  I found a place that had close out wool yarn today, so I have a good stock of yarn for more felted purses!  I found some great WOOL sweaters at GOODWILL with their half off barb today, so I can start on more mittens  and then we found GERTIE...and to add to it GOODWILL also had a Guitar Hero drum set just sitting there:)  nate's broke months ago...we aren't sure this one will work...but if it does it just saved us 90.00!

Now...a question for you...this wire dress form is adjustable...but HOW????  Here are the 'clasp" that go down the front and the back of her:

I am going to search for instruction on line, but if anyone knows how to adjust her size that would be great!

After all that shopping Scott and I ate at QUIZNOS while Nate and Cody had guitar lessons.  It was nice to just sit quietly with Scott and talk about Lauren's upcoming school tuition and what we would do about a car for her to travel in.  Just minutes ago, Lauren called to say her car wouldn't start...she had stopped to get gas and it just would restart...very odd.  Scott just headed out to see if he could fix it.

The only down part of my day is my dang foot.  So here is my question...I have to stay off from it, whatever is wrong with it is getting worse rather than better and so I am suppose to lay off it for a week and see what happens...that means the sporadic 4 mile walks are not going to happen this week.  I am not a highly motivated exercise fiend...but since the Dr. said lose 15 pounds by October...I am TRYING.  So, what kinds of exercise can i do that is non-weight bearing and can be done at home (I don't have a gym membership and the weather is not always conducive to swimming...here is a start to my list:

Leg Lifts

Sit ups

arm swings

maybe toe touches standing up

Toe touches sitting down

HELP what else? 

I am going to go take care of my new yarn stash...and bring GERTIE in from the pool.  Let me know about exercise and how to shrink GERTIE.

Dancingly, Denise 

Craft Fair

So, I did the Airport Mall craft Fair yesterday...and as you cane see the above pictures are my display.  How did it go?  Well...not great...I made the price of my space/table plus 2.50...sigh.  BUT I am not going to quit:)  I have decided to do another one in two weekends...I have to call about it and I hope there is still space.  Basically I now have everything I need...I borrowed the coat rack from a friend, and I do believe I will have to purchase one cuz it worked out really well!  Now I have 100's of ideas spinning around in my head (maybe that is why I feel so dizzy today).  I am going to have to map out a plan for the next few days.

I kept forgetting to show you the rusty wire pumpkins I had made...so here they are:


and my PAWSitively PURRfect jingle balls for cats:

and ofcourse...I can't go without showing a picture or two of some of my favorite new fairies:

A lamp!  YUP...that's right folks a lamp!  I love it and can't wait to make some more:)

And these are new...loved the shape of the jars:

and I can't leave with out a picture of Nate's football game last Monday:

So you might ask..."Which one is Nate?"  Let me show you a closeup:

  
There he is...the one with the gold helmet getting ready to take down the big green guy:)

and ofcourse the two TEENS...what ARE they doing?

My day is coming to a quick close...I am so exhausted AND I have not felt well all day...I feel dizzy and icky.

Have a great rest of your weekend...I hope you enjoy all the pictures:)

Dancingly, Denise   
EDIT:  OOOO I forgot to thanks some people...MY Bobo showed up at lunchtime and then again at closing time...so I was able to get a sandwich...pee...and she helped me pack up!  Pee break and laughter goes to Connie and Judy!  Company, choc chip cookies and a pee break goes to Lauren.  A nice visit from Aunt D and Stanley.  And to Mom and Ralph...who helped me "make my table:)"  Hope your pal liked her fairy!

FOUND...one pretty (expensive) Prom dress...

I am EXHAUSTED!  We went to Mr. Bernard's School of Hair Fashion to tour it AND had a full day of prom dress shopping.  Wanna see the results?

Here's another dress she tried on:

 

and another:

 

and are you ready for the one she finally chose???  Can you stand it???  It needs to be hemmed...and it is too big (size 4...blah to her) so we will have to take it back to get it altered, steamed etc... AND she said to tell you it looks better in person than in these pictures (which I agree)...but here it is:

 

 

We found some gorgeous Gold shoes to go with it...so now she just needs some earrings  (couldn't find anything she liked).  I am so proud of her, she has paid for it all by herself and not because we told her she had to, but because she just did.  This dress is a "one of a kind"...they were never produced so nobody at the prom should have one like it!

Have I mentioned that my husband is out of work for THREE WEEKS?  His time off started yesterday and we are very nervous about how we will do this.  We are a family that lives paycheck to paycheck and so we are being very careful.  I need to put together a HONEYDO list for him;)

AND I made another BOWL...here is the before:
 

and the after it was felted:

 

Nate said it would look nice with sunflowers in it.  I just really like it!  It took forever for it to felt cuz it was three starnds of yarn together.

Tomorrow is Scott's and my 16th wedding anniversary.  We decided we would go out to eat (some place inexpensive), but would forgoe cards and gifts to each other.  last year dad was in the hospital so we didn't make it anywhere to celebrate...which is okay because at that time w knew I needed to be with Dad and Bonnie and we could "celebrate" another time...we just haven't yet, so tomorrow night we will do something.

I am going to go rest my feet!  My girl really did wear me out!

Goodnight,

Denise

Prom Shopping

Today Lauren, Joe and I went to check out another Cosmetology school.  Our thoughts are mixed about it...tomorrow we will go see another one...then there will be one more we want to check out in a few weeks.

After we did that, we went looking for a Prom dress.  I am guessing this was a much more fun day for Lauren and I than it was for Joe;)  I took pictures of some of the dresses (much to Lauren's dismay) BUT in the end I think she was glad I did so she could revisit them later.  I will show a few of them here (she tried on a TON):

Joe's favorite:

 

My favorite:

 

Lauren's favorite:

 

and one that we all liked, but Lauren felt it might be a tad too POOFY for her:

 

We didn't come home with a dress:(...but we will look some more tomorrow.  We have discovered that there really isn't many places to shop for Prom dresses in Bangor.  We did have them hold the yellow one as that is the favorite at this point, as far as Lauren is concerned.  I really think the yellow is beautiful too...Joe is worried that with a black tux they will look like a BUMBLE BEE...LOL

Okay, so what do all of you think????  Which dress is your favorite?

And for those of you wondering why I needed to get my house in order in ten days...no particular reason.  It was a Goal i set on here back in January...and one so that I wouldn't spend the rest of my life decluttering.  It is not going to happen in ten days, as with the kids home from school and some other things that need to be done I need a little more time.  I will tell you my plan when I figure it out.

I am beat...we shopped till we all dropped.

Denise

One of my jobs

In my family household is to SHOP;)  It is one of my favorite jobs, and one that I am generally really good at.  For the last year or so I have not taken control of the shopping like I used to.  Before showing you these pictures and explaining what I have accomplished today (before 11:00am) I want to say this is not for everyone.  It is very TIME CONSUMING...and at times quite frustrating.  For me, it is a good way to justify staying home rather than joining the work force...because in the end it saves a great deal of money.    In the last 7 days I have spent approximately 6 hours on coupon cutting, surfing the web, and shopping for bargains (yes this includes the shopping time).  Remember, that includes the grocery shopping I did on Saturday. 

So here is my first picture...the grand total of what I spent purchasing the items in the photo, from SHAWS is $13.00...ready?

 

Yes folks for 13.00 I got... 5 bags of dog food, 6 crystal lite water flavors, 4 100 calorie boxes, 2 6 packs of pudding, 2 boxes oreo cakesters,hood icecream, corn, broccoli, bagels, lemonade, 2 packs of cheese, 2 pie shells, and a gallon of milk.  HOW?  First off all of the SHAWS brand items were FREE...there was a coupon book last week and it had several free coupons in it.  The milk I had gotten a coupon for last week while shopping so that was free, the Crystal lite was free after a catalina shot out for 2.00 off my next purchase.  The dog food was a biggie...now if you have dogs you know one bag ofthis is $5.79...but it was on sale this week for 4.69 AND I had $3.00 off coupons for EACH bag making them 1.69 a piece.  Its a good deal IF you have dogs and your dogs like this brand.  We have two dogs and they LOVE this brand:)  The hood icecream was free cuz I had a FREE coupon.  I had 10.00 off my next purchase from the other day AND the other items added up to 25.00 in Nabisco brand items which gave me another 10.oo off coupon.  Grand total before savings?  $100.15  I paid 13.91...AND we use everything I got except those frozen pie crust...but they were free so we will try them.

My next stop was WALGREEN's

 

4 cases of soda, 3 shampoo, 1hair shine, advil PM, Glade room freshner thingie, 2 deoderant, 5 colgate toothpaste.  Total for these?  $18.72.  Total before coupons was 72.98.  I made a boo boo on two of the colgate and picked up the wrong kind (they weren't on sale:() so if they had been it would have brought my grand total down another 2.15 (sigh)...but in the end it was 2.15 for 5 tubes of colgate! 

Now folks...I know this is hard to believe...and NO Ididn't do anything illegal.  I followed all the stores coupon rules...but that is the thing...you really have to study up on what you can and can't do. Some stores do accept certain things...some don't...and I do not fins these deals in my town as we have no Walgreen's or Shaws.  We do have a riteaid and they are pretty good as far as rebates if you watch the fliers. One of the best websites I use is:

Hot Coupon World

So that has been my day so far...if you have questions feel free to ask.

By the way, yesterday was a free day on my "plan" cuz I was suppose to spend it with Karen and Judy...but it snowed so we didn't meet up.  I took a nap yesterday, worked on coupons, did a little sorting...

Lauren made cookies AGAIN last night...pumpkin chocolate chip...YUM!:

 

Have a great day!

Denise

Productivity...

Yup...that's right folks...I got alot done today!  First off what does a 13 year old boy DO when he stays home sick from school and his Mom won't let him play on the computer?  Uhm...he plays with the cat???

 

Not sure that the kitty was thrilled:)  We also watched INDIANA JONES and the TEMPLE OF DOOM!  I forgot how icky it is in places...but Nate really enjoyed it and I love the little boy in it.

I have decided to sell some of my purses online at a sight called ETSY.  This way, it will not be in competition with Silkweeds, but I will have a greater base of customers.  If you go here you can view my new shop (Maine PURSEnalities and More) and see the purse I have for sale so far:

Etsy :: dancinglydenise :: Hand Knit and Felted Striped Purse

It's easy to shop on it and I am excited to try it out.  Now the purse you see up there looked like this last night:

 

Now, Go see what it looks like on ETSY...it is one of my favorites:)

I finished some other purses today...ones that needed straps put on, buttons sewn on, etc.  Here are the three I finished:

 

    All of these purses are now available at SILKWEEDS:) and keep an eye on my ETSY shop for morw there too!

And lastly...I did my hour of organizing today and finished the kitchen cupboards...here is one of them BEFORE:
 

and After:

 

Gonna go knit!

Goodnight

Denise (9:00pm Waaaaaaaaaaaay too cold!)

Silkweeds...It's Always Worth The Trip

So...I got to "work" at SILKWEED's today.  I LOVE this place!  I reorganized shelves and cashed out customers while Lisa tried to get as much paperwork crap done that she could!  I LOVE that this place is NOT MY place!  I get to enjoy the fun of it...come up with ideas...design displays...but I don't have to do PAPERWORK!  Anywho...this whole blog entry will be pictures of Silkweed's...enjoy looking at SOME of the rooms and stuff that she has.  These pictures are not even the "tip of the iceberg"...

 

wool mittens with fleece linings!

 

 

 

I LOVE these penguins!

 

Musical snowglobes

   

These little girls need homes.  I especially like the one on the right...her name is Abby...and if Nate had been a girl his name would be ABBY!

 Maine town signs...

2009 Calendars

   

Candles...TONS of candles!

     

FUN STUFF!!!

Gorgeous Jewlery

FUDGE!!!  Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Fudge...and tons of other flavors!

  Dips, salsas, sauces...and BEARS!!!  Oh my!

So...on top of it all she has a sale going on right now.  Storewide everything is 20% off (some restrictions apply) AND everyday in December she has something different on sale for 25% off...here's a link to her website:

Silkweeds Country and Primitive Gifts and Home Decor - Searsport, Maine

and a link to her December specials calendar:

Silkweeds Calendar

and that is that.  Hope you didn't mind all the pictures...it's such a beautiful place with tons of rooms...and truly something for everyone...and don't forget the REINDEER CORN on your way out (very addicting):

 

Going to go see Kathy tonight before she heads back to Georgia in the morning.

Shoppingly (which I did some of today while I was "working")

Denise

It's ALWAYS Worth The Trip!

As you know, SILKWEEDS Silkweeds Country and Primitive Gifts and Home Decor - Searsport, Maine , is my FAVORITE place to shop!  And today, I got to "WORK" there!  I love being in the public...cashing people out...helping them to find something just right...AND NOT being the OWNER of the place:)  Lisa needed some time off today to attend a funeral and asked if I would work.  The YOUNG lady in the picture (AVIS), met me there and we worked together.  I really had fun...and I got to do a little shopping!  Lisa has the most fantastic new candles and I got one called ORANGE DREAM.  I have been burning it since I got home and love the smell of it...just like a creamsicle.  I also got the same thing in oil, with the bamboo sticks...and why can't I think of the name of it????  Anyway, it too is in creamsicle.

THEN...she has the most gorgeous MERMAID FAIRIES...and I wish I had taken a picture of the one I picked out and put on layaway.  It is adorable!

I spent some time at Dad and Bonnie's this afternoon.  Dad's on the hard days after chemo, so he's very shaky...and he told me I was BOSSY today.  Hmmmmmmm...can you imagine that?

It sure was nice to not have rehearsal tonight.  I have spent some time organizing and fixing some more pictures on my computer...did TWO dishwasher loads full of dishes...and watched "So You Think You Can Dance" with Lauren.  Nate and Lauren and I sat and came up with a few things that we would  like to do before summer is over...the nice thing is that most of them can carry into September and still be considered FUN! 

I am hoping to work on a couple of projects this week...and we all want to go see the Batman movie...and that my friends is the extent of my ambition.  I have no more for tonight, and so I will end for now...

Peace,

Denise

SILKWEEDS

First I would like to make sure you all know about THIS:

SILKWEEDS is my FAVORITE place to shop...even though my pal Lisa gives me such a ribbing sometimes:)  Lisa has an amazing store, have you been to it?  It is room after room of fun for your home, gifts, and more.  You can check out her website at:

Shop Silkweeds - "It's Worth the Trip"  But there is nothing like going and spending time walking through each room...PLUS this is a good time to go because of the sale.  Don't have a postcard?  I bet if you tell her you saw this on my blog she'd honor the 30% off.  I for one will be making several trips to Silkweeds this coming month!

P.S. stay tuned for an update on my organizing...a little later today!