moved. because that's what I do.

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Kitchen Updates on a Budget

One of the things I really enjoy doing is DIY projects and shopping around for a good deal. But first, let's back track a little.

The first time I remember seeing a yellow kitchen was sometime in high school. I have dreamed of having a yellow kitchen ever since. All of my Sims games had yellow kitchens. Often times decorated with polka dots of some sort, but still always yellow. Our kitchen did not start of yellow. It started off vanilla. It started off like this...ish. I can't find the photos before we moved in & started unpacking and painting, but you get the gist:

And then went to this:

Total cost - whatever a quart of paint costs. And I liked it. But, I still hated the cabinets and the counter tops. Really, the photos don't do it justice. The counter tops are a weird beigey-peachy-pinky color. As are the cabinets. Thank you, the 90's. You were beautiful ;)

After much discussion and research, we decided to not have the cabinets refaced professionally and decided to not rip them out and put in completely new cabinets. We have other things we wanted to do with our finances - we wanted to start a family. Since there was really nothing wrong with the cabinets, we researched different options on how to DIY them ourselves. We decided on using the Rustoleum Cabinet Transformation kit (you can get it at Home Depot). We purchased them around Christmas time during a sale and spent under $200 for the kits. Then they sat in our closet for close to a year. We had our first daughter and then decided to work on the cabinets. Then we found out I was pregnant again and The Hubs ended up with this fairly large project to complete by himself (mutual decision that I probably shouldn't be working with paint in the garage while pregnant). So The Hubs worked hard at our salon and then would come home, eat and get to work on the cabinets. Yes, it took longer than we projected. Life happens, work days are long, kids get sick, we get tired. But finally, they were done. And they're beautiful. And they looked like this:

The same time we purchased the cabinet kits, we also went and purchased a Giani Granite Countertop kit for about $80. Giani Granite Countertops is a DIY kit designed to make your laminate countertops look like faux granite. Now, there are plenty of DIY ideas on how to paint your countertops that can be done for significantly less than $80, however we liked that this is a tested product and that it was designed specifically for laminate AND kitchens/bathrooms. We decided, again, against the actual upgrade. We don't think the cost would add that much to the resale value of the house and I don't actual need granite (but it is on my "would like" list for our next house). This is another project I was supposed to help with and while it would be really fun to say that the reason is because I'm pregnant again, I'm not, but we have 2 little girls that need someone to watch them while The Hubs works on the counters.

My first glimpse of the counters was with the primer coat on it...and I'm in love. I told The Hubs it was perfectly ok if he just left it with the primer coat and sealed it right then. It was SO much better already. Have a looksie:

And now, The Hubs just sent me this photo of the progress that is being made:

Not bad of under $100. The kitchen looks SO much better!

Now just to seal it, let it cure and get the new sink installed next week.

Budget

Budget. Ugh the dreaded budget. Let's be honesy, though, I love having a budget. BUT that wasn't always the case. I used to live paycheck to paycheck and there was literally a time when I took all the coins I could scrounge up into thebgas station and paid for less than $3 in gas with nickels, dimes and pennies. [Side note: the employee was an angel and filled my tank. He claimed it was an accident and that he punched in the amount wrong, but I still think he did it to be a blessing]. Needless to say, when I was young and stupid I was young and stupid. I had no idea how to handle money. My parents didn't teach me, my peers didn't teach me and my high school sure didn't teach me. And the bank that gave me my first credit card DEFINITELY didn't teach me. I've lived penny to penny, paycheck to paycheck, I've crashed on couches and slept in my car...and my reaction to a budget was one of pride and disgust. For whatever reason, a budget to me meant you didn't have your life together. It meant I couldn't do what I wanted and that I was controlled by money. Hah! Silly 18 year old me.

If you're not sure about having a budget, leg me tell you it's awesome! We know where the money is going, we can save towards different goals (buying a house, upgrading the house, vacations, kids, college for the kids, retirement...). We have more freedom with what we can do now than before we realized we needed a budget. Before the budget we were controlled by money. After the budget we are controlled with money. Does that make sense?   Anyway, all that to say that Hubs and I have been talking a lot lately about budgeting and how to save more in some areas so we can give more to others...and usually the only place we can "find money" to move around is our grocery bill.  I was recently talking to a friend who shared with me how much her family spends on food every month and I was shocked...I also would like to eat at their house everyday because yummy yum yum yum. Anyway, I brought this up with the Hubs and he shared with me that a large amount of people he interacts with have told him that they spend somewhere between $1000 and $2000 a month just on food and then basically explained that I live under a rock and have no concept of what people spend on things. Hahaha . I guess I'm in a bubble.

Sidebar: When I was pregnant with our oldest, I had horrible sickness for like 90% of my pregnancy. {{Let me math that out real quick: 23 weeks of sick. 31 weeks of pregnancy. 74.2% of my pregnancy I was violently sick. Granted, if we take away the  4 weeks I didn't know I was pregnant that makes it 85.1% of my pregnancy was sick.}}  Anyway, I could eat very limited things without getting sick (AKA Jamba Juice everyday, Chic-fil-A lemonade, and pizza) which meant that our restaraunt bill went sky high and I panicked when I realized we had spent $800 on food because my preggo self couldn't hold anything down. And apparently that's like the average amount people spend. So, I guess we did ok there. 

I found this out and I feel like I should share a little about how we budget for our food and how we try and save money in the food department.

1.) Look at the ads. Every week we get the ads and pull out the 2 places we shop: Sprouts (mainly for veggies and those specialty diet items) and Fry's. I check meat prices and see what's on sale and use that to help plan meals for the week.
If chicken is $1.67/lb, chances are we're buying a lot of chicken and freezing it for later.

2.) Meal plan for the week and go to the store once a week.  This takes a little bit of time. I'll usually do it when kids are napping or when I only have one to entertain. The toddler loves "reading" my cookbooks so this is really fun for her and she gets to help talk about what we are getting.

3.) Make a list and stick to it. Resist impulse purchases. Do you really need all those oreos?

4.) Buy in-season fresh fruits and veggies. You can get a LOT of fruits and veggies for $20.

5.) Compare prices of store brand and brand name. Sometimes brand name is just worth the extra dollar, but sometimes off-brand is just as good if not better. Bonus: they are usually right next to eaxh other so you can see which is the better deal quickly.

6.) Learn what's a good price. This takes some time. It took me years, Burt now u know what my purchase price on some staples are and stock up. Barilla Pasta - $1/lb, Milk under $2, Chicken under $2, organic fruits and veggies when the price difference is nominal (like $0.10-$0.20 difference)..

7.) Take advantage of gift cards. Whether they are gifted to you, you buy them at Costco or cardpool (you can usually save around $10 on a place where you would normally eat anyway), or your taking advantage of a promotion - they're great.  Target frequently does by X and you get a $5 target gift card. Well, if X is something you normally buy, then why not? Some places like Target or Albertsons also sometimes offer promotions like "transfer your prescriptions here and get a $25 gift card". Super easy to do and it's basically free money.

8.) Coupons. Now, I used to be a little bit crazy with the coupons. I once saved $60 using coupons. Not so much these days. I have 2 kids under 3 years. I can't dedicate that kind of time. But sometimes I see a coupon that's useful and I snag it.  You can definitely use coupons without having to dedicate hours of time every week. :)

I'm sorry I'm so wordy, but hopefully that may help you cut down a little on your food budget. It's hard work though. We frequently go over our food budget. The main culprit is a lack of discipline and being tired. It's.so easy to throw in the towel and go to Chic-fil-A at the end of the day instead of cooking. I'm also a big fan of prepping meals ahead of time and making freezer meals (or buying freezer meals) as a meal  backup.  I hope you found something helpful there.

This is going to be my week!

This is going to be my week!
The week where I stay on top of the housework. The week where I finally get ahead on laubdry. The week we stick to our budget. The week where I just stay on top of things. Where I don't give up in the middle of the day and let the kids watch "too much" TV. Where I don't forget medicines or play dates or activities or to make dinner and feed my people. The week where I actually work out a couple times. This is gonna be that week. And then it will be the next week and then it will be THIS month. It's going to be good. I've got a good feeling about this week 😉.

Please also note that I have an overflowing sink of dirty dishes, 3 loads of clean laundry to put away, 2 loads of clean diapers to stuff and put away and a minimum of 4 loads of laundry (but probably 6) to wash. Hahaha. BUT the difference is, for whatever reason, I'm not seeing everything as too much or too overwhelming. It all seems 100% manageable and tackleable. And my crazy thinks I can get on top of the laundry by tomorrow. Hahaha here's to optimism and too much caffeine!!

Mommy-ing is hard

Mommy-ing is hard. There, I said it. This past week I have been a solo Mama Bear while the Hubs was out of town on business. I've down this countless times before (actually, I've down this 29 times since becoming a mommy.) 29 times, I have been on my own while the Hubs worksbhars for us in another state so that I can be home with our precious little ones. Sometimes I'm amazed at how quick and easy the time can go. Then I get cocky.
"This is easy peasy!"
"I could do this all the time!"
"My kids are so easy and well behaved!"

And then God nicely humbles me. The manners go out the window and my patience is tested. Someone gets sick and I'm up all night before needing to be up all day without help. That has been my week. We are going on day 3 (I think) of a 102° fever, countless messy diapers and the clingiest cling I've experiences in awhile.  I'm tired, I'm sore, I'm cranky and I just want a break.

But that's the beauty of parenthood. It doesn't matter how tired I am, God sustains me. It doesn't matter how sore J am, God sustains me. It doesn't matter how I feel because God sustains me and He does so so that I can fulfill this wonderful and miraculous role He has graciously given me. He does so so that our kids will grow up knowing Him and being able to shine His light to the rest of the world.   So, Mama, if you're tired and sore and feel like you just need a break, know that God is with you, He sustains you and His grace is enough.

Psalm 54:4
Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me.

Growing

Growth, it seems, had a lot to do with weeding out things. Listening more to what God is speaking into your heart than anything else. As A and I spoke the other day as we were driving to Phx, we can both see God's hand growing us through this time in our life. Since welcoming E into our lives, we have wrestled with a surprising amount of "junk" and, honestly,  I'mean thankful. I'm thankful for the difficult situations we have faced and that we have been given no other choice thand to cling first to our Jesus and second to each other. As we navigate life as a family of 4, we are learning much and rejoicing for more. Life is moving and it's moving fast and my heart overflows as we look back, look forward and we look here and see God in it. 

The biggest thing God has been working on me is my fear of man. I am so concerned with how others will feel and how they will perceive me that I have frequently ignored God's leading in my life. Through some difficult conversations  and an amazing book by Jennie Allen (called Anything), He has not only been revealing my sin, but stripping it away - helping  me to let it go and rightfully place it where it should be - at the Cross. I am thankful. I am thankful for my Jesus who died for my sins that I continue to struggle with even though I don't deserve such an incredible act of mercy and grace. I am thankful for my husband who helps me to be better and leads me to Jesus when I am being stubborn. I am thankful for our girls who have brought so much joy and love to our lives and continue to push me to be a better mommy, wifey and person. I am thankful for our church family who walk with us and encourage us. I am thankful for the beautiful design of marriage and family. I am thankful for this beautiful life God has abundantly blessed us with. I am thankful for this everchanging, wonderful, inspiring adventure that is our life. 

I'm learning to stick up more for my family and myself instead of worrying about pleasing everyone. I am learning that sometimes things need to change so things can get better.  I am learning more about the person God has created me to be instead of the person others decide I am for me. And I owe it all to God and my husband. I am thankful. I am blessed. I am overjowed and I cannot believe that this beautiful life is the one He chose for us to have. ♡

Defeated

My spirit is starting to feel defeated. I'm so close to the end of this pregnancy and am so excited to meet our daughter, but complications keep popping up. Tomorrow marks 1 full week of hospital bedrest and I'm losing my hope that I'll be able to go home soon.

We spent 3 weeks trying to date the pregnancy.
Then my body stopped producing progesterone.
Then we found out i have a blood clotting disorder that causes miscarriages, still birth, and premature birth.
Then i kept getting dizzy and seeing starts so i had to go to a cardiologist.
Then i went into preterm labor and they stopped it only to go back into preterm labor less than 10 hrs later.
Then i was admitted to the hospital on bedrest.
Then i ended up getting cholestasis which increases the risk of premature birth, still birth and infection to the baby.

I want to go home. I want the baby to be healthy. I want the complications gone. I don't want to feel defeated, but I keep feeling like my body is betraying me.

Bumper instructions

Because I don't want to lose these for future reference and I want to delete the clutter from my phone notes: These are my rough instructions for recovering C's crib bumpers for baby E.

Bumpers

Side bumpers

11 x 27 (actual size: 10x26)

1/2 inch seam allowance on all sides

12 ties total - 6 each bumper

Cut 2 pink polka dot 11x27

Cut 2 floral 11x27

Sew right sides together of each print with a 1/2 inch seam allowance.

Leave one side mostly open, sewing only 1-2 inches at top and bottom. This will allow you to stuff the bumper.

Long bumpers

11x52

10×51 actual size

1/2 inch seam allowance on all sides

16 ties total - 8 each bumper

Cut 2 pink polka dot 11x52

Cut 2 floral 11x52

Sew right sides together of each print with a 1/2 inch seam allowance.

Leave one side mostly open, sewing only 1-2 inches at top and bottom. This will allow you to stuff the bumper.

Crafty?

Champagne taste with a martinelli's budget. Anyone else there? I fell in love with a crib set, but at almost $200 for 4 pieces, I just couldn't bring myself to even consider it. Except for, you know, the 600 times I compared it to other crib sets I kind of likes.
((I'll add photos when I can figure out how to from the mobile app)).
I sent the photo to my sister and she tried to convince me that I could make it myself. I was pretty convinced that I wouldn't be able to find the time or that i physically wouldn't be able to because of issues I seem to be having with this pregnancy. 600 more comparisons to this crib set and I was convinced I had to make it.

Off to Joann's I went with coupons in jand a gift card from my Momma. I went with some bolder colors than the inspiration piece - Aqua and hot pink instead of mint and coral. For a grand total just under $18 out of pocket (so I used the gift card+ $18), I got more than enough fabric to make a crib skirt, big blanket, fitted crib sheet, to recover C's bumpers and mobile and I'm sure I'll have left overs. I'm stoked.

The crib skirt sewed up pretty fast, as did the crib sheet. The quilt took a little longer and it has many flaws because I've never made a quilt before. I have half of the fabric cut out for the bumpers and I'm hoping to be a be able to complete that over tbe next few weeks. I'm hoping to have enough fabric left over to make a changing station organizer or a diaper or a romper or something.

And then, because apparently mommy guilt decided to creep in - I had to go back to Joann's and get fabric to make C a new bedset...because the baby sister can't have a mommy made set without the big sister getting one. :) I'm hoping to get all of C's and E's bed sets done within 10 weeks and hopefully make something for a friend's new baby by this weekend. Though I'm completely lacking in inspiration :/

In other baby news - we ALL got the flu last week so I ended up spending my Friday night in the ER/Labor and Delivery triage getting 2 liters of fluids and some IV zofran. Total game changer. I have a gnarly bruise on my arm now from the IV, but it enabled me to be well enough to finally eat something and hold it dow. Which I'm sure greatly helped in my recovery. C got over it in about 1.5 days. A was good in like 24 hrs. I think it took me almost 4 complete days. Super lame, but oh so thankful for being able to get medical help quickly. We are so blessed!

And the hubs has almost completely finished refinishing our cabinets and replacing the hardware. I think we just need to do a few touchups and they'll be done and then we can move onto the counters!

DIY stuff may be labor intensive and take a bit longer than paying someone to do it for you, BUT with trying to be frugal- it saves a ton of money and there's a different sense of pride and ownership in it. Yeah, the things we make or DIY may be imperfect, but it's kind of cool to know that it's something we did together. :)

Transitions

C is awesome. We converted her crib to a toddler bed the other day - maybe 3/4 days ago. It has gone so smoothly, we are so blessed! I anticipated it to be challenging - where she wouldn't stay in bed or fall out or wander out if her room. With the exception of the first night, she has gone down easy for bed time and naps and generally stayed in bed. She has been getting up earlier, but she's also learning to play quietly until it's "wake up time". Sometimes she meets us at the door, sometimes she's still in bed - but so far we haven't hit any major bumps in  this transition and I am SO proud of her!
Right now she is fighting her nap, and since our video monitor broke I can only listen to her. She may or may not be in bed - but she is talking/playing quietly- probably "reading" her books she keeps hiding behind the glider.

The new baby's room (aka the craft room) is almost ready for baby things to be moved in to it! Exciting. I have no theme ideas for either gender. So that's awesome. Haha. I am paying dearly for clearing out most of the room last night though. Everything hurts, I was dehydrated this morning but I've got the handled now, I'm hungry and have no appetite so therefore, I'm also nauseous and want to go back to bed. Hopefully C will actually take a nap so I can utilize that time and sleep too! We shall see ☺