Good ol' Kohl's department store!

Chris has a girlfriend, Brooke, his first girlfriend, they have been an item for about 13 months.  She's a very nice girl, younger than him, she's in 10th grade and Chris is a senior.  Their relationship is all very normal for people their age, except for the duration of their time together, a year is quite long for people their age.

Brooke's 16th birthday is next week, I've asked Chris several times if he's been thinking of a gift for her, knowing that he will pull one of his typical moves (like his father), and wait until the last minute to react, then panic because he has nothing.  Last time I asked him about a gift he said," I dunno, maybe I'll make her a chair."  Huh?  A chair!!

While I've tried to teach Chris how to be a gentleman, as well as coaching him on being thoughtful, and applying just the right amount of romance, I've also cautioned him on jumping in with both feet.  They are too young to get "all serious", and I've tried to gently warn him about making verbal commitments in boy/girl relationships that he may later want to back out of.  Of course, he doesn't think that I know anything, and all you have to do is see their Facebook posts to know the words of commitment they say to one another.  However, a chair, handmade or not, is not exactly what I think Brooke would like... even though a chair for a gift would certainly say, "I am not committed to you", which is what I want.

If you're familiar with Kohl's department store, you know about the great sales they have.  If you have a store credit, you'll know about the extra savings coupons that come by mail throughout the year.  Last week I received a 30% off coupon, that's the maximum, and I rarely have received one of these.  And I thought about Brooke's 16th birthday, and that maybe I could save her the horrors of getting a chair, hand made by Chris, for her 16th birthday!

Last night, while Chris was at Youth Group, I went to Kohl's jewelry department to look for a necklace for Brooke.  I explained the kids situation to the sales woman, I told her that diamonds, or any gems were out- gems equal commitment to a 16 year old girl.  The same idea for anything with two hearts entwined (absolutely NO entwining), or anything with a key- as in- the key to my heart... I thought a necklace with a cross or an angel on it would be nice.  She led me to a display case that had several to choose from, all 14K gold, and marked at 70% off.  I picked one, and asked how much it was.  It was $150.00...but, with the mark down, plus my 30% off coupon, I paid $25.00 for it!  Happy day!

When I showed it to Chris he was happy, and said, "it even has a heart on it".... Yep, right there in the center of the cross is a heart!  How did that fact get past me?  I told him I thought that represented his love for Jesus, not his love for Brooke... 

Picked up a few new kitchen towels too!  At 1/2 off, plus my 30% off coupon!

Half price day at Amish Land..

Six Acorn squash, one Butternut squash, one Spaghetti squash, one Ambercup squash, and four pie pumpkins for $6.00.

My $2 Box

Go to my personal blog to see what I made today:

http://theresasermonineverything.blogspot.com/2011/10/recycle-repurpose-reuse.html

Garage Sale Bargains!

Jenny Strasbaugh and I went around Orrville for their annual garage sale weekend (last year on this weekend we were having a rummage sale for Joe and Jen's mission trip)! Jenny was looking for clothes for her daughter Elena and I had Jen's "wish list" for Brenan in hand. It was a successful adventure (even though the weather was awful!!).

The very first sale we went to was ALL baby stuff! The couple had twins; a boy and a girl. They had so many clothes and then two car seats, two pack-n-plays, etc. The little onesies on the left range from 6-18 months (you'll see some in the next photo, too). She had six in a bag for $1.25 so I figured I'd just buy them all. Four sleepers, one long and one short-sleeve onesies, two pairs pants, 3 bibs, 2 hoodies, and one hooded bath towel. 

I'm sorry this is blurry but I didn't realize it until after everything was in the washing machine! A woolly-warm hooded outfit, hooded bath towel, 3 bibs, more onesies, 4 sleepers, shirt, and an outfit.

All the clothes cost $23.50.

The swing cost $10.00:

I believe it was a successful day!

The Corduroy Rug.

Deb found a rug at MCC Connections (is that the correct name?) for that spot in front of my sink!  She texted pictures from the store of the choices, colors and sizes, etc.  I chose the brown one over a white one, because it's going to take a lot of abuse, abuse a white one could never take and come out lookin' good!  But, the brown one looks so nice against the wood floor, much nicer than one with a lot of white in it would have..don't you think?

It was $37.00, good price!  Then Deb mentioned it was so soft...corduroy... and I thought, "what? It's corduroy and it cost $37.00?"  I remembered seeing braided corduroy rugs during my search on the www, and I remembered them costing so much more.  So, I did another quickie search and found one of comparable size, hand braided, brown corduroy, for...... $450.00!!  This rug was at Etsy, from a place called fiveforty, and truthfully- I think she's dreaming!  And it is a woven rug, which I guess is different from braided, but $450.00?!.

A got a real Red Tag Special, and I love it!  Thanks Deb!




"Awww, mom!  We don't wanna play inside today!"


Stuart, our new puppy, also came to our house the same weekend as the rug.  Stuart chews on everything...he has chewed the rug, but hasn't left any permanent marks.   On this day it's cold and raining and they are driving me nuts!  Usually we would be outside going on a walk or playing catch...they have been following me everywhere looking at me like this!  Stuie's right ear is trying to stand up, soon they should both be up, like his big brother's.