Maddie's room - Wall art and clothes!

Two weeks ago, my mom came into town and we spent the day shopping for the nursery. We ended up with picture frames, curtains, and a few more goodies. The only curtain rod I could find that I liked was black, so it is still waiting on a coat of spray paint before it can be hung in its new home. I also bought some picture frames to use with the wall art I bought on etsy. These are hanging on either side of the crib (her name will go above the crib). Shawn is still trying to find the best way to hang the letters, so the photo of the finished wall will be in the next post.

The window wall is still waiting on curtains and the bookshelves. The bookshelves are about a quarter of the way complete. I started them and then Maddie decided to start making me very uncomfortable.

My last few projects are in the garage and at 31 weeks pregnant, I am waiting for a little help from the hubby to finish. Madelyn has been measuring exactly the right size every week, which makes me think she is an average sized little girl growing inside a slightly smaller than average person! Sitting straight up has become very challenging and so has walking/standing for long periods of time, and bending over. Luckily, I have a fabulous husband who put my shoes on last week when my back hurt too much to bend over.

I did find an idea for the dresser/changing table wall and luckily it doesn't take much effort on my part, so hopefully that will be in the next post as well!

Last week I got a surprise text from my friend Katie who has a 15 month old daughter. She told me that she had boxes of clothes for Madelyn that her daughter had grown out of. Since we were in Vegas last week, I went over today and picked them up. I spent the afternoon washing/folding/putting away lots and lots of little clothes! Shawn and I are so grateful for the clothes and Madelyn will be one well dressed little cutie!

The clothes were mainly 3-6m, 6-9m, and 12-18m, so I tried to organize them in her closet/dresser accordinly. The 12-18m clothes I put in a labeled bag at the top of her closet since she won't need them for awhile. If you remember from the first nursery post, I wanted to do a closet organizer, but Shawn wasn't quite on board. Well with grad school, his new position at work, our trip to Vegas, and other house projects, he still is not on board with the closet. I may look for a hanging organizer, so that I have a place for her little shoes, etc.

Right now the bottom of her closet is filled with the million diapers that I have been stocking up on. Since I found out that I was pregnant I have been on the lookout for sales. If the diapers are $0.10 or less a diaper then I go ahead and get them. I have managed to get a 4 month supply of size 1-2s for $100, which is $6.50 per week!!

I am still looking for some ideas on how to organize her bibs, hats, bows, socks, etc. Please let me know if you have a good idea for that!

Still on the list:
Organize the little things in the room
Hang curtains
Finish and hang bookshelves
Hang name
Hang wall art for the dresser wall
Finish toy chest

Since the last post, I registered Maddie for daycare. She will be starting at the Ladybird Academy on March 12th. Besides getting organized for her arrival into the world, I have also been trying to organize the things she'll need at daycare. I got my diaper bag a few weeks ago and just a few days ago I picked up a few bags to help her and I stay organized on a daily basis...very important for this type A working mom!

Nine weeks to go until this little one is here! I can't believe how fast things are going. I only have 30 more days of work before I go on maternity leave. In those 30days I have 4 concerts, 1 field trip, a fundraiser, and planning for my maternity leave. So many things to do, but seeing my little girl in just a few short months will be so worth it!


Here are some of the latest pictures:

House Updates

When Shawn and I moved into our new house in August we had an understanding that besides the nursery and a few decorations here and there, we would be waiting quite a while to fill all the rooms and put up too many decorations. Our house is brand new and we picked out everything in it, so there aren't that many things to do.

During the past few weekends, I was reading some pottery barn catelogs and looking online for some ideas on wall decorations. Since I had many of the materials to put everything together I went ahead and decorated 1 1/2 walls.


The first wall is in the kitchen/entry way. Our plan is put a buffet/wine rack on this wall, but it still needed something on the wall. The idea came awhile ago from another blog and I had everything that I needed in the closet. I put a curtain rod on the wall and used it to hang a wreath I made out of tissue paper. Above the curtain rod is a sign that I had in our old house...it reads, "And they lived happily ever after". On either side of the wreath I added hanging picture frames. The frames have baby pictures of Shawn and I in them, which may change once Madelyn gets here. Until we get a buffet, I put our small half table underneath.






The next wall is a very large wall in our dinette area. It is only half done right now, but just having a few things up there adds a lot. The idea came from a pottery barn catelog that had the word "eat" in the kitchen. I decided to get two shelves for the wall with one holding the word "eat" and the other for some pictures. I may add a few other things to make it more like a gallery wall, but I'm going to let it sit for now. The word "eat" is currently white, but I have the spray paint to paint the letters a brown color. When I came home with all of this stuff and asked Shawn to hang it, the first thing he said was, "Eat? Why do I need to be reminded to eat?". I think he just kinda goes along with whatever...such a great guy! :)





Besides the two walls, we bought two rocking chairs for the front porch. I don't have a picture on this computer, but take my word for it, they are adorable and add so much charm to the front of the house. I can't wait to sit and rock Maddie outside in the rocking chairs!

There are a few other things in the works before Maddie gets here. I have plans to organize the office and possibly hang some curtains in there. I also picked out curtains to hang in the family room. After that it will be all baby for a long time!

Nursery Updates and full name reveal!

I have actually gotten a few things done since I last wrote, but I didn't post about any of them. A few weeks ago I finished the letters for above the crib. I bought white letters at JoAnns and spray painted them pink. I also found some buttons and ribbons that matched the pillow and glued them on once the paint dried. I was looking for something a little more unique instead of just plain letters.

Shawn has a very busy October with midterms, travel to New York, our trip to Vegas, a trip to Niceville, and a presentation at work. So needless to say, thigs will get hung in November and I am totally okay with that!

While searching the internet I had found some artwork for her room and finally ordered it a few weeks ago. It's coming from someone on Etsy and when it gets here I will need to frame them before I put them up. The pictures are both 11x14 prints. One of them has all 26 alphabet letters and the other has the numbers 1-10. Both are super cute and I can't wait to get them up. The plan is for them to go on either side of her name that will be above the crib.

Last weekend I ventured out to one of the local shopping areas and searching all kinds of stores for unique treasures. While in World Market I found the perfect lamp shade for her room and it was on sale...score! The lamp has a new home on the end table next to the rocker.

Shawn and I did go out to Home Depot last weekend before he left for New York and bought the materials to build the bookshelves. I spent one afternoon this past week sanding them and adding a coat of primer to them. Throughout this week I plan to head out to the garage and finish them up, but I'm not in a huge hurry.

We are off of school this Friday and grandma is coming over to Orlando (Maddie's grandma...not mine!). One of the Friday plans is to go to Ikea and find curtains for the room. I have been looking at lots of stores and the internet for the perfect curtains. A blackout shade or curtain is a must, but the problem comes in when you try to add a cute curtain. Not all shades go with every curtain. The more I look, the more I think that I may need to go with more function and less style. My original idea was a white eyelet curtain to go with the crib skirt and a shabby chic curtain rod, but I haven't found anything like that to also match a blackout shade. We'll see what I find on Friday...I'm leaving my mind open to a new idea.

Grandma is also coming with my old toychest from when I was little. The toychest is in great condition, but it's made of oak and doesn't really match the rest of Maddie's room. The plan is to sand it down, prime it, and paint it the greenish color from the pillow. I am also going to make a seat cushion for it once I find some fabric.

A few weekends ago I washed all of the stuff that we had for her...the crib sheet, changing pad cover, crib skirt, a few clothes/blankets. With the crib sheet and changing pad cover on the room looks even more put together!

Here are some pictures of what the room looks like now.

The rocking chair with side table and new lamp!



The crib with the sheet and crib skirt.



Madelyn's name for above her crib.



The changing table with changing pad, cover, and a little bin for baby stuff. There are also some clothes on there that she has gotten from various neighbors and Shawn's co-workers.





Last but not least, our baby girl has a full name now. Keep in touch to view the new room for Miss Madelyn Claire Hart! I know you all are just as excited to meet Maddie Claire as we are.

Maddie's room - Paint and fan

In the last post I told you all about my inspiration pillow and some of the plans for Madelyn's nursery. Since then we have actullay done quite a bit. The pillow came in a few days after I ordered it and I have been taking it everywhere in my purse. Last weekend, Shawn and I went and picked out some paint colors. We got two samples that we painted on the wall and came up with our color, Oyster Bisque. The next day we got the paint and picked out a ceiling fan. My first choice was to go with a chandilier light in her room, but I had read many articles about ceiling fans and the reduction of SIDS, so ceiling fan it was!

I am not the most patient person when it comes to paint and to be quite honest it's probably my least favorite thing to do. My impatience with painting just frustrates Shawn, so he wanted to do it himself -- fine by me! He worked little by little through the week and finished up Friday night with both the paint and the fan.

After work on Friday I stopped off at JoAnn's to get some of the things to make the letters for her name. I got most of them painted this weekend and hope to finish that project up this week or next.

On Sunday I cleaned up the room and put her furniture back in the right place. We got all of our furniture from one of my colleagues for a great price. It's an entire set from Pottery Barn kids and we paid a quarter of the retail.

We had gotten a target gift card for Maddie a few weeks ago, so I decided to venture out today and pick up a few things for her. I almost have her crib all ready and her diaper changing station!

I took some picture this morning of the paint, fan, and furniture. In the next post you can see the crib and diaper station.

Crib, Paint, and Fan...



Dresser/Changing Table (Noah likes the room, too!)



Chair and end table... The window will have curtains soon and the end table will have a lamp. Can you see the inspiration pillow?



Future bookshelf wall...



Crib again...This is where her name will go and some additional wall art.

Maddie's room is underway!

Before we found out that Baby Hart was a little girl, I was searching the internet for different nursery ideas. I had found bedding that I loved for a girl at Land of Nod, but the problem is that now they say no quilts or bumpers on the cribs. This left just a white eyelit crib skirt for the crib, which doesn't help much in the color department. Since Shawn is gone on a golf weekend I decided to spend the morning searching for a plan. I looked at the quilt again at Land of Nod and thought I could just hang it on the chair and use for decoration, but I just couldn't justify $99 for a useless decoration. Instead I came across this cute throw pillow and decided it would be the inspiration for her room. I'm very indecisive and I didn't want to go with one color or theme type room, instead I just wanted it to be fun. I want to be able to find things as I go and know they will all coordinate. The throw pillow will be used on the rocking chair and I will pull colors from it for my other ideas. I also bought the white eyelit crib skirt. I plan to get eyelit curtains to match and some sort of light blocking curtains as well (thanks Kara).

I found an online promo code for free shipping on the pillow and it is set to arrive in 10 days or so. When it comes in I will head out to the paint store and work on that part (my least favorite decision!).

Here is the inspiration...


Here are the things you can look forward to in her room:
Paint walls
Make bookshelf wall like her cousin Kalia's room
Re-finish my childhood toybox made by Maddie's Papou and make a seat cushion for it.
Hang name letters for little Madelyn
Handmade picture artwork
Frame fun artwork I found on etsy for a gallery wall
Possible magnetic info board
Some sort of closet organization (Shawn is not on board with this yet!)
Curtains
Ceiling fan

Stay tuned for more updates on Maddie's room. :)

Baby Shower Cake

In February I took a Wilton Cake Decorating class. I have always been interested in cake decorating and this year was the best year to learn. I graduated from grad school in December, so I have new found time and I have lots of exciting events in my life this year, so cake decorating seemed like the perfect new hobby.

Here is a picture of my second cake that I made for my SIL's baby shower. It was a vanilla cake with strawberry filling, almond butter cream, and it was covered in a marshmellow fondant. Yum!



A friend of mine has been keeping up with my cake decorating and has asked me to make a cake for her cousin's baby shower this weekend. I'll try to take more pictures and write a tutorial post when I'm finished with that one.

Have a great Monday!

Christina

Baby Shower on a Budget

Last summer my best friend, Kelly told me the exciting news that she was pregnant! I immediately started planning her baby shower in my head and I couldn't wait to make all of my creative ideas a reality. Myself and three of our other friends began planning the shower in December/January...we wanted it to be nice, but also wanted to stay on a budget.

Our final cost for the shower....$160 for 16 guests!

The favors. Round homemade cookies decorated in royal icing and wrapped in cellophane bags with blue/brown ribbons. Cost: Approx. $10 for 25 cookies



Personalized Water Bottles. Small bottles of water on sale for $2. I make labels on my computer, removed the old labels, and added the new ones! Cost: $2 for 24 bottles

The Cake!


Diaper Cake


Everyone had a great time and I'm so glad that we were all able to do this for Kelly and Brayden!

Dinner for Friends at less than $10

Do you enjoy having friends and family over for a nice dinner or making a dinner for your spouse that is so good they agree to wash the dishes...for a year?!? Here it is...a fancy dinner without the fancy price tag.

Roast Chicken with Roasted Vegetables

What do you need:
3-4lb. Whole Chicken
Dried Rosemary
Salt
Pepper
Lemon (optional)
3 tablespoons of unsalted butter
Lots of Red Potatoes (if Kelly's coming over) - quartered
2-3 Carrotts
1-2 Onions - quartered

How to make it:
Heat the oven to 425

Add your chopped vegetables to a square glass pan. Add 1 tablespoon of melted butter, salt, and pepper. Toss to coat.

Wash the chicken and pat dry. Rub the salt, pepper, rosemary, and 2 tablespoons of melted butter over the chicken. Place it in the bed of veggies. Add the quartered lemon to the chicken cavity if desired.

Bake uncovered for 45 minutes.

Remove from the oven. Pour chicken juices over the veggies. Cover with aluminum foil and place in the oven for another 20-25 minutes.

Remove from the oven and enjoy! - I served a salad before hand as well.


I made this on Saturday night for our good friends Kelly and Tony and everyone loved it! It is seriously the easiest and cheapest dinner you can make!!

How much does it cost?

Salad - $1.98 (BOGO at Publix)
Chicken - $4-5 ($1.19 per pound on sale at Publix)
Potatoes - $1-2
Carrotts - $.30 (part of an $.89 bag)
Everything else is stuff that you usually have on hand or in your stockpile.

Total cost: $9
Total cost per person: $2.25


Let me know if you try it out!

Christina

You've Got...Email?

Some people view email as another chore. One more thing to read and one more person bothering me on my own time. If you take time to view email just a little bit differently than you can really save a lot of money. I receive quite a few emails daily from different businesses that I have subscribed to. Fortunately, I have a smart phone and I am able to check my email quite a few times a day to manage them and I have learned to delete the things I don't need at that time (example: I would love to shop at the Loft weekly, but that is not realistic, so I only skim those).

Here are some of the emails that I receive...

Groupon and Living Social - These two are great websites that feature a daily deal for at least 50% off. Sometimes they feature things like $50 worth of food or wine at a local eatery for $25 and other times they have hotel deals or entertainment deals. Shawn and I have gone on a quite a few dates with Groupon and saved money while doing it! I always look forward to my daily Groupon and Living Social emails.

Retail Stores - Almost all retail stores will ask you for your email address, so that they can send you updates on new arrivals, sales, etc. I actually find it very helpful to know when things go onsale at my favorite stores and I try to only shop the sales if I plan to shop. I just got a Pottery Barn email yesterday with their latest Clearance items, which was very helpful since I was in need of a gift.

Ebates - Have you heard of this? I just recently heard of this website while Christmas shopping. Ebates lets you purchase things online from another retail store (Barnes and Noble, Amazon, etc.) and they give you a cash back rebate for going through their site. At first I didn't really believe it, but over the holidays I won an ipod shuffle in one of their give-a-ways and today I got my first check! $20.56 for shopping...gotta love it!





Vistaprint - This could very well be my favorite site. Vistaprint is an online store with all kinds of business supplies and they give them away for free (+shipping). If you just go on their website you'll find a few free items, but if you subscribe to their emails then you will be able to get so much more. Just recently I got baby shower invitations and personalized decorations for very cheap! These items will be part of a "how to host a shower on a budget" series, so stay tuned!

So next time you are asked for your email, take a moment and think twice...it could be worth it!

Christina

Drug Store Sunday

As usual, I spent part of my Sunday visiting my local drug stores in hope of a great deal on things I need for the house. This week I wasn't really in need of anything, but I did find some great deals that I just had to have!

Here was my trip...

1st stop - Walgreens

1- Sunday paper ($1.50)
6- Baby things (for my best friend's baby and she reads this blog, so this is a much as you get)

Baby things were B1G1 and I had $6 in coupons for them.

My total was $19 for everything.

2nd stop - CVS

4- Finish Dishwasher Detergent (-$2.25 on each from last weeks paper)
1- Lysol Air Freshener (-$1 coupon)
1- Air Wick Motion Sensor Air Freshener (-$4 coupon)
1- Travel Size Hand Sanitizer (FREE from the red box coupon dispenser in the store)

-$3 in ECBs from last week
-$4 from an email coupon

Total out of pocket = $0.04 (That's right...I paid with 4 shiny pennies!!)
+ $10 ECBs to use on a purchase later

Here is a pic of my deal!

I wasn't in need of anything I bought at CVS, but I went just to get the $10 back in ECBs. I had $3, but I would rather have $10...wouldn't you? Now I have $10 to use on sale items and they are good until February 8th!

I am still pretty new to drug store shopping, but I am totally loving it!!

DSS totals from both stores...
Paid - $19.04
Saved - $56

Not too shabby :)

Have a great week!

Christina

What's for dessert?

Do you ever finish dinner and ask yourself an hour later, "What's for dessert?". Well if you're like me then you do and if you are also like me you don't keep sweets in the house for the fear that one day you might blow up like a Macy's Day float!

Shawn and I were both craving something sweet after dinner, so I decided to go scrounging around and see what I could come up with. I came across some vanilla ice cream that was left over from a Christmas dinner party I had and DING...I immediately thought, Affogato!

Affogato is an Italian dessert that literally means, "drowned".

To make affogato you take a scoop of vanilla ice cream or gelato and pour a shot of hot espresso over top. To make it even more yummy you can add some whipped cream, chocolate shavings, or cinnamon.

I did not have any espresso or espresso powder, so I make coffee and it was still just as yummy! This is also a good way to use some of those flavored coffees that I know you all got in your stockings from Santa.

Have a FABULOUS FRIDAY!

Christina

Stock Pile Meatloaf

This week I did my weekly grocery shopping as well as my monthly trip to BJ's to purchase my meat. When I came home to put my stuff away I found a bunch of frozen food hiding in the freezer. Do you have food that hides in your freezer too? I decided that before I could break into the new food I had to finish up what was left in the freezer. Saturday night we enjoyed some yummy BBQ chicken thighs, Sunday some meatloaf, and today we will be enjoying Chili that I made a few months ago! On Tuesday we will be clear for the new food. :)

Stock Pile Meatloaf

Hiding in my freezer I found 2 freezer bags of ground meat. I wasn't exactly sure what kind...I'm thinking that one was ground turkey and one was ground beef, so together they would make great meatloaf. I rummaged around the cabinets and found the other ingredients for my stockpile meatloaf.

Approx. 1lb. of hide-a-way ground meat (a variety if you'd like!)
Breadcrumbs
Ketchup
1- egg
Garlic Powder
Worcestershire Sauce
1 small onion - sauteed until translucent first

Glaze:
2 parts Ketchup
1 part Brown Sugar

I don't measure meatloaf ingredients, so take your best guess!

Take all ingredients and mix well. Form into a flat loaf, top with glaze, and place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 40-45 minutes.


I stopped at Publix and picked up some yellow rice for $.77 to go along with it. Nothing says frugal like a $.77 dinner for two plus leftovers for lunch (and a clean freezer)!


Happy Monday!

Christina

Drug Store Sunday

Last summer my good friend Courtney introduced me to a few saving sites and I began to read up on using coupons. I had never been a coupon user before and I never shopped at the drug store for much more than a prescription refill. Once I started to read up on how much people were saving at the local drug store I was hooked! Every week I make it a point to look on my favorite coupon site (www.southernsavers.com) and scan the weekly deals. I may or may not go out and get things depending on the sale and what I actually need. This week my stock piles are running low on most things and the drug stores were running really good deals, so today I went out and shopped!!! My first stop was to Publix to pick up 5 Sunday papers...yes, you heard me...5! I then drove over to my friend Kelly's house and clipped coupons. Kelly likes to save money, but she is not one to sit around figuring out deals (that's where I come in). After clipping the coupons that I needed for today (I don't clip all the coupons) we both headed out to our local Walgreens and CVS for the deal shopping.

Stop #1 - Walgreens

Purchase #1:
(6) Lean Cuisine Meals - on sale 2/$5
(2) Stoffers Meals - on sale 2/$5
(3) Vitamins - on sale $6.99 each
(2) Coffee Creamer - on sale B1G1 at $2.49

Advertised savings - $22.43
Coupons - $9.00
Total Savings: $31.43

Register Receipts Back - $10.00

Total paid - $34.46 (with $10 in RR back)

Purchase #2:
(2) Huggies Diapers (these are for a project that I'm making Kelly for her upcoming baby shower) - $6.99 each on sale
(2) Oatmeal - $1.99 each on sale
(2) Snickers bars - this is what you get when you shop with your pregnant friends!

Advertised savings - $12.23
Coupons - $15.00
Total Savings - $27.23

Used my $10 in RR from Purchase #1, so my total out of pocket was $5.34


Stop #2 - CVS

Purchase #1:
(5) Wisk Laundry Detergent - $5 each on sale
This was the need for the 5 Sunday papers! Each paper had a $2 coupon for the detergent...what a deal!

Advertised savings - $19.95
Coupons - $16
Total savings - $35.95

Total Paid - $10.24 (After my ECBs I paid $0.24 for 32 weeks of laundry detergent!)

ECB (Extra Care Bucks) - $10


Purchase #2:
(4) Playtex Tampons - $7.99 each
(1) Dryer Sheets - $3.99
(1) Sandwich Bags - $1.49

Advertised savings - $5.50
Coupons - $8.00
ECB from Purchase #1 - $10.00

Total Paid - $21.88

ECBs rewarded - $3.00


All in all I think I did pretty well today on Drug Store Sunday! Shawn can do my laundry and have creamer in his coffee for the next 32 weeks! (Yes, my husband does my laundry and no, that's not the ONLY reason I married him!) My stock pile is pretty full, so DSS (Drug Store Sunday) will be pretty light for the next few months.


Total Paid on DSS - $71.92
Total Saved - $118.11

Percentage Saved - 62%



Hope Everyone has a Fabulous week back to work!

Christina

Welcome 2011

Happy New Year! I entered the blogging world last summer when I had lots of time on my hands and quickly found out how time consuming it can be and decided that it was not the time for blogging. With the start of the new year I have decided to try my hand at this again.

I don't have a blogging niche yet, but rather a plethora of ideas and topics that will hopefully keep you interested throughout the year.

2010 was an interesting year. On January 9th I began my first of 40 all-day Saturday classes, my husband and I celebrated one year of marriage in March, in April Shawn was promoted to Underwriting Specialist, in May Shawn embarked on a 6 semester master's degree program, in October I joined Team in Training and began preparing for my first ever half-marathon, in November Shawn received his CPCU, and on December 3rd I completed my master's degree! 2010 was indeed a busy year, but 2011 is the year that we have been waiting for!

2011 is the year that the Harts take on the world! We are planning a Caribbean cruise for our 2nd anniversary, a 16-day trip to Europe which will includes stops in London, Paris, Rome, and Florence, and a celebratory trip to Las Vegas for Shawn's CPCU conferment. Shawn will still be in school, but the beauty of online education is that we can still travel! On February 27th I will run my first ever half marathon with Team in Training (the day after my 28th birthday!). This is definitely a new adventure for me. As you all know I always like to be involved with something new. Shawn will still be busy with school and since I'm done I will need to find some hobbies to keep myself occupied! I have decided to take a cake-decorating class and soon after plan to take a photography class at the local art school. We will see where those hobbies go from there. Although Shawn and I do love our time together with just Noah we are anxious to start our own little family and 2011 just might seem the year to do it, so stay tuned for that! Sounds exciting, huh? Yes, 2011 seems like it will be very exciting and a great year to start blogging!

New Year's just wouldn't be complete without a list of a few resolutions, so here we go:

1. Spend quality time with Shawn (reinvent date night)
2. Volunteer my time and talents to others
3. Stay in shape
4. Continue to eat healthy
5. Continue to make smart financial decisions
6, Join a church
7. Keep a clean and organized house


Well now it's time to go off and see what the New Year brings!

Christina