Remodeling This Life

Simple Holiday Decorating

Emily — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:00:49 +0000

I decided to get some holiday decorating done this week. We needed something new and exciting to do while home and this was just the thing to get the kids excited. I pulled out our little fake charlie brown Christmas tree that I found on sale 2 years ago at Target for $11. I think I want to get a real tree this year and put this fake one outside on the porch and put a real one up inside, but we’ll see. I like this for now. It was a fun project.

The kids had so much fun putting the ornaments on. They are considerably shorter than the tree is though, so the top 2 feet of the tree has no ornaments. I think it’s cute

I would show you a photo of the tree complete but I am lazy. And hurt. Because of what I am about to show you next.

See those lights that are strung there below the shelf? I was walking along, stringing them up and there was a crash. It was me. I lost my balance and although I can’t really remember what happened, I fell backwards and couldn’t catch myself. I crashed backwards into that table where that big plant is, knocked over a lamp that was on the table and some other plants that were sitting there because hubby brought them inside because it was supposed to freeze that night. That was quite a run-on sentence. I am a bit fuzzy still, sorry. So, I fell backwards, banged up my arm, twisted my ankle and apparently hit my head (on the couch arm? coffee table? floor?). I don’t remember. I wasn’t even on a ladder or wearing cute heels when it happened either. That would’ve made it slightly more chic or understandable. Or something.

I woke up yesterday really sore and spent much of the day fuzzy, with a headache and snippy with the kids. Started to feel nauseous and a few friends on Twitter convinced me to go to the doctor. I went yesterday and have a mild concussion. And a tweaked back. And woke up this morning with a very sore neck and shoulder. The doctor said to expect a few other aches to pop up as time goes on. I am not as young as I once was and this old body is hurting.

But…the lights look nice, right?

I put all those wooden men on that shelf despite all the screaming in my brain for minimalism. I think it looks terribly cluttered but they were my grandma’s and I wanted to display them. This was a good way to do that and keep them away from tiny hands.

Let’s see, what else did I do?

Oh, I strung pine cones from ribbon and hung them in our eating nook windows. Simple. Cute. I think?

I know that these are all horrible photos but they are from a copule days ago and I just cannot bring myself to stand up and take new ones. So these will have to do. Just try to imagine how much cuter everything looks in person.

Another easy project I did this week was to take this

and this

and painted it black, wrapped it with a little red ribbon and filled one with pinecones and the other with shiny ornaments.

I have a couple more little terracotta pots to do that with once I am feeling better. And when I can take more photos, I will show you our tree, complete with glittery pinecones that my daughter and I did together.

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Are You Cutting Back Spending This Holiday Season?

Emily — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:00:49 +0000

In It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas, Alison at This Wasn’t in the Plan talks about this coming holiday season and whether or not there will be an increase or decrease in spending for families this year.

I know my family will certainly be spending less this year, since we aren’t traveling and we have less people to give gifts to. It’s going to be a very simple holiday season around here.

How about you? Are you doing the same as usual, or planning to spend more or less?

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It’s Not Savings Unless You Save It

Emily — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:00:22 +0000

photo credit: pfala

I hear a lot about savings lately. Whether it is people telling all of us to save money (which I always take to mean to actually PUT money into a savings account and leave it there), or if it’s hearing people talk about how much money they saved on this that or the other purchase.

But you haven’t saved money on anything unless you walked into a store and expected to pay $60 and only paid $20 and then proceeded to plop $40 into savings.

You aren’t saving money if you walk into a store and buy something you wouldn’t have bought anyway but buy it because it was 75% off. You just spent money.

I just found out that next year’s taxes are half of what we expected them to be. I am not saving that money off my taxes unless I actually SAVE IT.

I was listening to NPR a couple months ago and they were interviewing a woman who coupons. She even claimed then that she was buying things because they were on sale and not because she even needed them or would have bought them otherwise. Well, even in you’re getting great deals whether it’s at your grocery store, or a drugstore or the dollar store, it’s only saving money if you are buying things you’d have bought anyway and you are spending less than you budgeted and put the savings into your savings account.

Here are some great posts I have read recently about savings.

2 Reasons People Are Not Saving Enough Money
Specific Savings Goals to Increase Accountability
Five Concrete Ways to Pay Yourself First

What do you think? Do you consider that you saved yourself some money whether you actually put it into savings or not? What do you do to make actually saving money easier?

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Any Questions?

Emily — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 12:00:55 +0000

Hi!

So, it occurred to me that because I am so familiar with me, my life and my journey, that I probably sometimes leave out details here. I don’t want to share every nook and cranny of my life, but I am sure there are things that some of you may be curious about me that relates to the things I blog about.

photo credit: Andreanna

Now is your chance to ask. I have seen this on other blogs and I really enjoy the questions and learning more about bloggers. I hope you’ll participate because, gosh, how embarrassing would it be for none of you to want to know more about me?

I’ll answer in a post next week!

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Simple, Frugal and Fabulous Links

Emily — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 09:00:41 +0000

I am publishing my weekly roundup early this week. Just to mix things up a little. Keep you on your toes.

photo credit: starmist1

The Smallest Things from The Reductionist

Red Velvet Cake Truffles from TidyMom.

Five Concrete Ways to Pay Yourself First from I’ve Paid For This Twice Already.

Never Mind a New Economic Stimulus Package - Save Yourself! from Free From Broke.

Keeping It Simple - Decorating Essentials from Mt. Hope Chronicles

A Clean Room Means Productivity from This Wasn’t in the Plan.

14 Benefits of Simplicity That Lead to a Good Life from My Super-Charged Life.

How To Look Fabulous, Frugally from Almost Frugal. The link is to part 3, be sure to check out the other two parts also!

Save It from This Young House

10 Practical Christmas Gifts For Children from Planning With Kids.

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I’m So Creative

Emily — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:00:11 +0000

Prepare to be amazed. I am not always a very crafty or creative person but today, I had a moment of sheer brilliance when it comes to home decor and craftiness.

I was at Target this morning picking up a few household necessities. As usual, I strolled on over to the home decor section and looked at all the pretty things. In the fall section, I saw this thing that they call Twigs In Pot. It’s pretty much what you think. A small pot full of fake twigs sticking up.

I actually thought it looked kind of neat but they varied in size and price from $6 for a tiny one (and I mean tiny!) to $40 for a big one.

I figured I could just go home and put my own twigs in a pot.

Here is one of the Target versions for $28 ($12 off!!!) for sticks. In a pot.

So I went home and prepared myself for the heavy labor ahead. I got out my power tools and yard equipment, and got out one of my terracotta pots and got to work. I walked around the yard and collected twigs. This is where it got tricky. I filled the pot with dirt. I know, it was hard. I had to get my kids to help me. Then I had to have them help me break a bunch of twigs into pieces. It was that or a table saw. This is hard work, people. Trust me.

Then…we stuck the twigs into the dirt in the pot.

Amazing, I know.

You can applaud now. I am so proud of myself.

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Homemade Pesto

Emily — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 12:00:27 +0000

We have been watching our gardens grow for the past couple of months. Some things are doing better than others. One of those is our basil. Good thing I really like it. I find it so satisfying to prepare dinner with things that I have grown right outside. It’s so great to walk out my door and snip some fresh basil to throw into a dish.

The other night, we were out of spaghetti sauce so I decided to make pesto for our pasta instead. So easy peasy.

3 cups fresh basil leaves

4 cloves garlic, peeled

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

In a food processor, blend together basil leaves, garlic, and cheese. Pour in oil slowly while still mixing. Stir in salt and pepper.

I use my chopper and mix it all together by hand.

That night, I mixed it all together with spiral noodles and topped with grilled chicken.

Other ways I love to use basil are

mixed in with mashed potatoes
on pizza in place of or in addition to red sauce
in scrambled eggs and omelettes

One I have yet to try is mixed in with cream cheese and spread on a bagel.

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Painted House

Emily — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 02:18:28 +0000

Back in March, I posted that my hubby had started stuccoing the outside of our house. It was all very exciting. Instead of having a house with lathe showing all over it and no siding, I finally had a house with gray cement all over it and it just seemed so pretty in comparison to before.

For a little background, the house had gray vinyl siding when we bought it, which was pretty gone pretty quick.

So way back in March, it looked like this

You will have to keep in mind that I am only showing small sections of the house because to do otherwise would mean I would have to show a very small fraction of the world the mess of tools that are strewn about outside my house. And I prefer to keep that a secret between me and my neighbors.

So here it is now, after hubby finally got around to starting the paint job. We were going to paint the house yellow. But we are thrifty and when we found 5 gallons of oops stucco paint at Home Depot for $15 instead of the usual $90, we bought it.

And we kind of like it.

You observant types may notice I didn’t even rip the blue painters tape off before taking pictures. And see that light above my front door (which we just painted red and I love)? For 2 years, a light bulb dangled above our door. I went out and bought that pretty fixture just for you. Or at least we’ll say it was for you, but really, it was for me.

Anyway, there you go. Our house has started to be painted. He finished the front and is making his way around the rest now. Perhaps by next November I can show completed photos of the rest.

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Frugal Fun: Be a Tourist in Your Town

Emily — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:00:02 +0000

A couple weeks ago, hubby and the kids and I went across town to do an errand. That part of town just happens to have my daughter’s favorite attraction, The Lighthouse. Every time we cross the bridge to the island, she yells out about the lighthouse and asks if we can go there. She has been there one other time, with my husband, when a friend who works there got her in for free.

Normally, an adventure up the lighthouse costs $12. Per person. It takes about 7 minutes for a 4 year old to climb. That’s a lot of dough for such an event, but it is admittedly fun and the view is spectacular.

That day, when my daughter asked to go up it, I remembered that for the month of October, a trip up was free for residents of our town. With only a few days left in the month, I decided to go for it. We made an impromptu trip up there just the two of us. Hubby had to stay down below and walk the grounds with our son since he isn’t big enough to go up it yet.

This got me thinking that there are times throughout the year here that many of the historic spots and tourist attractions are free or very inexpensive for residents. By signing up for my town’s event calendar, I can easily find events and promotions like this so we can take advantage of the fun things to do around town without spending too much.

For the month of November, there are other attractions around here that are free for residents. So, we took advantage of the free trolley tours that go around town today. We met up with a few friends and their kids and all rode around town, learning fun historic tidbits about where we live while the kids enjoyed riding on a big trolley.

It is definitely fun to do these things when friends or family come to town so we can show them around. But it’s also fun to do them on our own just because. No reason to live around all the beautiful and interesting things in our town and forget to enjoy them simply because we see them everyday and begin to take them for granted. Whether it’s visiting a historic site or taking time out to go to the beach for a date with my daughter or for an afternoon escape with both kids to play, it’s always good to remember that frugal fun for me and the kids can involve simply enjoying the little things our town has to offer.

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Simple Pleasures

Emily — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 09:00:41 +0000

The autumn season seems to bring out a sense of calm and simplicity. A slowing down and appreciation for little things like red leaves and hot cocoa.

I thought that it would be nice today to share the simple pleasures that we all enjoy. I’ll start and you can chime in with yours.

3 simple pleasures in my life recently are

sitting outside sipping a chai tea latte
snuggling on a cold morning
an uncluttered and cozy room

Share some of the simple things in your life that make you smile, and make your day a little easier.

Today is Remodeling This Life’s first birthday.

photo credit: BékiPeti

Thank you all for being part of this blogging journey over the past year. I appreciate every one of you reading, commenting, supporting and encouraging me along the way. It has been so much more wonderful than I ever could’ve imagined. I have enjoyed meeting so many fabulous bloggers and learning from all of you.

So, chime in! Share your simple pleasures, offer a birthday wish to my sweet little blog, whatever strikes your fancy. Thank you for being here. I hope the next year is even more fabulous than the last.

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