My DIY Door Project - Finally Finished!

This last Fall I picked up an old door that was posted for free on a local sell/swap page. 

I didn't really know where it would take me, but I do love getting creative with home projects - especially with Pinterest to give me all kinds of ideas.

Here's my blank slate:

I began by removing all of the hardware and then taking out 

the window frame and two intact glass frames.

I sanded the frame down and painted it white.

It looked terrible!

Ryder was just excited to see himself though. 

I ended up doing a coat of grey and then topping it with white so I could give it a distressed look.

Much better. 

Then I found the mirror from a previous failed DIY mirror attempt. 

Yes, these projects fail more often than not - it seems.

 A local glass shop cut the mirror to size and I had to scrape all of the gunk (paint, paint stripper, and who knows what else) before it was finally clean and ready to go. 

My resident handyman hung it up and we've been enjoying it ever since. 

Pardon the odd angle, 

I didn't want to show off the explosion of toys on the floor in our den. ;)

Ryder even volunteered to be in the picture, which is pretty rare.

Goofball!

The second half of the project was repurposing the matching windows. 

It took me a while to decide which Pinterest idea to shoot for, 

but I ended up with this idea for our front entryway. 

I found a local Mama who customs makes decals for just such projects. 

She printed up our name and anniversary year in no time at all. 

All I had to do was choose a wedding photo and wait for Costco to have it printed.

I am pretty pleased with the results after only about $12 in out of pocket expenses. 

 Welcome to our Home

Now that my door projects are finally complete, 

I'll have to start scouring Pinterest for my next DIY project.

Garage Sale Fun & A New DIY Project!

Just for fun, I made a list and took the boys with me to a few garage sales Friday morning. It was a great wrap up to the week and just a fun out of the ordinary outing for us. Ryder thrives on new adventures.

The first few were so so.

I found a pair of soft leather John Deere cowboy boots for Lynden to wear this winter. <3

And if the day had ended there, we would have been satisfied.

$1 spent. Tons of fun conversation in the car with Ryder.

But then we happened across an awesome estate sale.

Barns full of old junk, tables laden with a things we didn't even know still existed.

Haha, what a blast! 

Of course, by this time Ryder was getting just a little bit tired and we were in desperate need of a potty, so we snagged a few winners and headed out.

Ryder was so excited about his 'new' metal Tonka cement mixer and roller.

I picked up a few antique Christmas tree ornaments and a vintage beautifully made romper - if we ever have a girl - and no, I'm not pregnant. ;)

All in all, our morning was a great success.

We will definitely be venturing out to hunt for more treasure again soon!

My latest project at home is repurposing an old wooden door that I picked up for free from a girl in town. I have a mirror frame that I tried to paint while Braden was on deployment - big fail! Since the poor mirror has been sitting in a box in our garage, I thought the window frame from the door would be just the perfect new frame for the mirror.

Braden told me I was on my own on this one - I don't blame him!

After a few hours today, I had removed all of the rusty hardware, figured out how to take the window until from the door without breaking anything, got the panes out (I need to think of another project for those!), and sanded everything down.

Pardon the pliers. Ryder was 'helping' me work on this one.

Now comes the fun part. I get to scour Pinterest for ideas on how to refinish it. I'm thinking a nice simple paint job, but could use some colour inspiration too. Once I've got that done, I'll just have to take the mirror to get cut down to fit the frame and then find a place for it. Eek, I can't wait!

My First ePantry Experience

Two posts in one day? I know, this is abnormal for me, but I came across a great deal that I just had to share with all of you Mamas out there. Yesterday on my Facebook feed I saw an advertisement for ePantry. Since it offered a 20% discount on the brand of diapers we use (Seventh Generation) I clicked on it, not thinking that they would be able to beat my Target and Amazon prices.

But, with the 20% off on top of free shipping and a $2 discount applied by the customer service rep I chatted with online, I snagged a deal too good to pass up - motivating me to share that with you as well.

Did I mention that I received my order less than 24 hours after making it? These diapers are going to tide me over until I receive the replacements mentioned in my post this morning.

Here's what I got for a total of $21.79 including shipping -

Here's what Amazon charges for the same items:

Seventh Generation Size 6 Overnight Diapers $11.99
Seventh Generation Tall Kitchen Drawstring Bags x2 $10.65
Seventh Generation Pantiliners $6.98
Grove Collaborative Pop-Up Sponges $9.98
Total $39.60

My savings $16.34

If any of you are interested in checking to see if your daily necessities are available at a similar discount, here's a referral link you can copy and paste in your web browser that will give you $10 off your first order as well as credit $10 off of a future order for me.

www.epantry.com/referrer/99077/

What about you?  Do you subscribe to any regular delivery services (meals, AmazonMom, monthly boxes, etc.)? I'm curious to know what is working for others out there.

Happy Tuesday!
Jayne

Baby Lynden Photos

Those of you who know me pretty well know that I'm not overly sentimental. I try not to hang onto 'stuff' and though it's getting harder with 2 kids now, I want to live a pretty minimalist lifestyle.  Before Ryder was even born, I decided to just take lots of pictures and not spend time scrapbooking, writing in baby books, or collecting a lot of things (clothes are the exception, and I tell myself that since I started with #1, we'll get lots of use out of all of them :).

So, I never did get professional photos of Ryder taken and I wasn't planning on starting with Lynden. And then a photographer who is new in town sent out a request for models of newborns, promising free digital copies to anyone who would let her use the photos to advertise her business and add to her portfolio.  

I may not be sentimental, but I do have a hard time turning down a deal!

Here's Baby Brother...

What To Do When Hubby Works 12 Hours on a Saturday?

We've been blessed to be able to spend most weekends together of late, but today was an exception. After making his breakfast smoothie and kissing Braden goodbye, I determined to make myself a Saturday-worthy breakfast anyway. 

Enter Belgian Waffles.

Since I was already going to have dishes to clean and had 4 extra egg whites (after making homemade chocolate pudding last night) I decided to go ahead and make a double recipe in order to freeze the extras for the busy days to come.  There's nothing quite like a toasted waffle with peanut butter and creamed honey all gooey and oozing into the squares - YUM! 

My toppings of choice were a handful of granola and sprinkling of fresh organic blueberries (thanks to yesterday's new Bountiful Basket!)

I ended up with over 12 full waffles all ziploc-ed, frozen, and ready to pull out at a moment's notice. Not bad considering 8am hadn't even rolled around yet.

After breakfast Ryder and I made a quick trip to Walmart to pick up a few lightbulbs and a few other 'necessities' - have you seen/smelled the new Burt's Bees soy candles? I saw them for the first time today and immediately fell in love with the Papaya Guava scent. It's warming in my kitchen now.  Mmmm....

I also picked up a fairly large galvanized pail (Made in the USA) with a lid for only $12 and came home with projecting on my mind. A quick look through my stockpile of fabric and a not so quick browse through Pinterest later, I whipped up a few pail liners with my sewing machine. Voila! I now have a diaper pail that seals - with washable liners. 

I had just one more item on my to-do list for the day and that was to turn some alien vegetables into baby food. Once again, my Bountiful Basket contained an unidentifiable vegetable (it looked like a cross between a cauliflower and the ugly succulents that rapidly reproduced in our WA flower beds). Thanks to a friend, who also picks up Bountiful Basket produce, I learned that it's actually called romanesco broccoli. Call me a wimp, but I wasn't about to eat this terrifying looking plant. Thankfully, the Vitamix can turn any substance into a silky puree, and so that's what I did with these and a bunch of carrots. Lucky Little Dipper has a treat in store for him!

And here are a few fun photos from earlier in the week. We've been enjoying the sunshine and on Friday had a great picnic lunch play date at the park with friends. 

Sweets, DIYs, and Deals!

Sweets first, because that's just the way it happened here at home. After lunch on Thursday I was ready for a nice warm cup of tea and a cookie, but when I opened the freezer, none of the few remaining Christmas cookies looked very appealing.  So, I scoured my pantry and found that I had all of the necessary ingredients for this decadent treat that my sister used to occasionally make while we were all still living at home.  

Here's the cast of characters...

DON'T JUDGE!

It could be argued that pecans, unsweetened coconut and organic butter are all packed with important nutrition. I can't say much for the rest though...

The Magic Bars (also known as 7 Layer Bars and Hello Dolly Bars on Pinterest) were everything I was hoping for. Braden tasted them for the first time and gave his approval too. Ryder has yet to know the goodness.

Also in the works here, we're about to give homemade vanilla another go-round. Last year's supply has been hoarded and used only in the most important baking, but it's nearly gone. Braden first gave it a try after receiving some from a friend in AL, when we were dating. We've made two other batches since then. Thanks to a huge organic sale going on at Costco this last month, we got a great deal on this certified organic Vodka to make our next vanilla extract. Now to order vanilla beans and let the steeping begin. Can't wait!

And lastly, I just had to share my most recent deal with you. Back in WA, it was much more common for me to hit up the local thrift stores to search the masses of junk for great deals.  I don't find myself doing that in our small town, but occasionally when I'm in Reno, I'll swing by Goodwill, since it's right next to Whole Foods anyway. Well, yesterday I was in a hurry, but managed to pick through a bunch of baby clothes to find these two name brand treasures for Little Dipper - for $.99 each.  Now to get them washed and ironed and the best part is, I don't have to worry about spit up and diaper leaks ruining them because we can swing $1.98.

To all of my friends out there with limited budgets (as ours is), growing families and more laundry than you will ever get through - don't give up!  There are so many ways you can live within your means without giving in to an entitled mentality and spending money that isn't there.  Some time I'll have to tell you about our (fairly new) budget plan and how we've really been encouraged to stay out of debt and live in a way that is preparing us for our future and also preparing to leave a financially responsible legacy for our kids.  

Ok, now I'll get off my soap box.  :)

And in case you fear that all I do is eat sweets, I will have you know that I'm off to go stir the big batch of homemade granola baking in my oven...

Day 9

What's a Mama to do on her 9th day on the road with a still-sick toddler?

Well, an overdue workout, late breakfast out with Daddy, and morning airplane watching were all in order. Our hotel is near the airport and we we have a great view of planes taking off every few minutes. Ryder is fascinated.

As we headed out for an afternoon Mama & Ryder date at Barnes and Noble, a quick stop by a local thrift store ended better than expected. We walked out with quality brand names like Columbia, Gap, and Ralph Lauren for less than $20. Wohoo!

And of course, after putting up with my shopping, Ryder was well deserving of an extended story time and Duplo play time at Barnes and Noble. We didn't leave before visiting the Starbucks inside and sharing hot chocolate and a cupcake. Mmmm...

Love those dimpled fingers! <3

What a fun trip this has been!  I for one have enjoyed the change of pace and scenery.