Mom Time on a Dime

If you are familiar with this blog, you know that I am a big fan of craigslist.

I have craigslisted everything from new/old furniture, building supplies, appliances, and even roommates (before I was married... found both of my roommates on craigslist and I'm very happy to report they were both WONDERFUL and not serial killers as the made-for-TV-movies suggest...although when one chick moved out, she did steal all my steak knifes... I guess I just hoped she just really enjoyed red meat... Its been a couple years now, so I think we are in the clear if I havent heard something in the news by now)

But back to craigslist; my belief is that with a little looking, patience, and determination, you can find almost ANYTHING on craigslist for a steal of a price.

Enter last week... 
Where: My living room
When: around 9pm
Who: Myself, pup #1 (Gus), pup #2 (Rocky), and my good friend Chardonnay
What: Looking up random stuff on Craigslist
Why: Because I was bored, Chris was out of town for work, and by glass #3 my bbf Chardonnay thought it would be a wonderful idea

There are times when I will search random key words to see what pops up and check if anything strikes my fancy, but I rarely make a call on something unless its something I NEED (which is rare since right now we are in between projects and saving up for the kitchen remodel... yay!).  Most of these searches consist of "Pottery Barn", "Restoration Hardware", and "unique" to name a few, but that day, I decided to get absolutely CRAZY with it and search "vintage" (...Crazy is probably an overstatement but when you work from home and putting on pants is considered a "crazy/wild" day, your definitions change a little)

At first, nothing too exciting... old bed set here, 1970's orange couch there... and then I saw three of the most fantastic words ever typed into Craigslist

Vintage. Stuffed. Cat.

I'm sorry, but EXCUSE ME???  Vintage Stuffed Cat??!!!  Shut. Up.

After I clicked on it, this is what I saw:

Click the ad to see a little bigger

For those of you who can't read it, here's what it says (I've highlighted my favorite parts):
"My grandmother had this cat for almost 15 years before it passed away.
She had grown so accustomed to having it around that she had it stuffed.
The taxidermy was done by the Wilkison Brothers in Massoula Montana in 1953.
We have several cats of our own but they don't like it one little bit and keep attaching it.
It is in very good condition considering.
I would rather give it away to someone that would appreciate it rather storing it in the garage.
Free to a good home."

Oh Dear Sweet Baby Jesus.

I read through it a couple more times before forwarding the link to everyone that I know.

This just made my day week month YEAR!!

I need this cat.  Im not joking.  Something this amazing does NOT come around that often.

IT HAS WHEELS!!! and a MEOWING STRING!!!

How quickly would Chris serve me with divorce papers if I had this waiting on the mantle for him when he got home? I don't care, this is Beyonce on a whole other level. 

Some of the people I forwarded it to thought it might have been a fake ad but I think whoever this was put WAY too much detail into it to be fake ("taxidermy was done by the Wilkison Brothers in Massoula Montana in 1953"???? who makes that up???.... BTW - that would mean this cat was born in 1938... thats PRE- WORLD WAR II!!!! The cat would be 74 years old!!!

Of course I already wrote them explaining how I have a PURRfectly good home for the stuffed little kitty, but I've yet to hear back... I'll keep you guys updated.

So, besides this craigslist ad making my LIFE complete, what have you guys been up to? Whats the weirdest thing YOU have ever found on craigslist? Or maybe have YOU posted something that was just out of left field.

I would love to hear some stories!!

Gosh I love the summer!

The days are longer, the sun is out earlier, and the garage sales are better than ever.

Enter this past weekend.

 I found these awesome Pier 1 wicker chairs with cushions marked 4 for $75
 Talked 'em down to $50.

Boom.

Chris and I had talked about getting more seating for the patio (like the AWESOME couch we found at a garage sale two weeks ago for $60) so we added two of the new chairs to see if it would go.
 hmm.... not sure.
They go "ok" with the couch, but when you see the big picture with our rocking chairs and little Pottery Barn chair/table set, it looks a bit... ummm... well, I guess just a bit to eclectic for our taste.
Too much going on? I dunno... they may grow on us.  We are actually having a garage sale ourselves in a couple weeks so they may join that pile too.  (Another plus about buying stuff at garage sales, SUPER easy to turn them around and resell them yourself!... Sometimes for a profit :-)

The next little item I found was at my last stop for the morning; an estate sale.

Estate Sale tip: As the sale progresses, most tend to run discounts per each day... ie Thursday (full price as marked), Friday (30% off), Saturday (half off!!)

Such was the case when I found this cedar chest/trunk.
 Marked $85, but with a Saturday 50% discount, only $42.50!

However, I only had $39 on me so put on my best pouty face and promised it would be going to a good home.  Sold.

Chris has been asking for something for the foot of the bed for a while (he doesnt like having to sit on the floor to put on his shoes... ... psh, so needy...) so I figured the trunk would work there (especially for $39!)

Sorry our room is so dirty and you can see my bra in the bottom left corner... this room needs a LOT of help, so dont judge it yet... we're getting there... and dont even get me started on Mt. Everest the top of Chris's dresser. If we ever have an earthquake here in Dallas and no one can get a hold of me for a couple days, chances are I'm trapped under the mounds of cozies, footballs, random Home Depot receipts, and wires to electronics that haven't been made since 1984.)

 Again, for some reason, it just didnt fit.

Don't get me wrong, its a very pretty piece...
 And I love the fact that its solid cedar...

Totally big enough to hid a dead body, random bras, beheaded dog toys, Chris's sweaty underwear, fluffy blankets...

Again, it may grow on us, but via Craigslist detective (aka. me) I saw how some are going for more than $300 for ones in good condition. If we could sell it, it could pay for something a little more suited for the space, but we'll see how it goes.

All in all, not a bad weekend.  Not everything found at garage sales will work 100% of the time, but the hunt (and the price) totally makes it worth it.

Did anyone else garage sale hunt this weekend? Has anyone else bought something they were super psyched about then got it home and it just didnt work? What do you guys think of the chairs/trunk? Yes? No?

I would love your feedback!!

Recap: So on Wednesday I told you guys how I found this awesome mirror and spray painted it white for my office.
The only thing is, it looks a bit "lonely" for my taste.

Enter HomeGoods where I picked up a few friends...
I have no clue where my obsessions with frames comes from, but I actually had about 80% of these laying around the house before this project even started.  (Seriously, any time I go to HomeGoods, Chris tells me to "avoid the frames"... .... ... I must have a hearing problem...)

Once I had everything laid out, I put my blood, sweat, and tears (AND a broken nail... which made me scream like a mo-fo) into putting everything up.
Seeing this totally made my disfigured thumb worth it.
In addition to frames, I also put up the Ramsign that I received for hosting their giveaway.
Seriously, its adorable.  I know it looks black in this picture but its actually a dark hunter green and I love the porcelain its made out from!  Great quality! They also have some fan-freakin-tastic address signs on their site if you are interested.  I chose this little circle one with "56" since that was my volleyball number from high school and club and Chris's baseball number (random, I know!)
The guy was so cute and actually painting everything himself as we looked around (instead of everything being a mass produced copy), that we just couldn't resist.  I likey.
So this is now the view from my desk.
Yes, I realize that I work from home and that my two awesome Restoration Hardware chairs will probably go unsat much of the time, but I still like the look of them.

In regards to the frames and whatnot, as you can probably see 75% of them don't have anything in them yet.  I plan on putting up pictures as well as cute little framing crafts, which will keep me busy and off the streets (Chris says keeping my "street walking" to a minimum is important)

Anyway, what do you guys think?  Do you like the look of a whole bunch of random frames? Would you have done all the same frames? Would you have put up something completely different? Do you also have a store that you HAVE to buy something every time you're there?

Have a great weekend!

So... Im making a switch! Nothing big mind you, but I have spent the past year working from home with my office in the sun room, which has been fantastic... ... ... during the winter.

Now that its 100 degrees out and I'm trapped in a room with limited air circulation and maximum sun magnification, Chris and I decided it would be best that I move my office into the front bedroom (mostly a room that we used for storage and had an extra TV in case Chris and I wanted to watch different things).

Knowing that I would not want a TV in my new office (no distractions while working!) I needed something large to cover the wall that the TV was once on.

Sexy, I know...

So when I spotted this monster 50" beauty at Weir's here in Dallas... I fell in love...
When I saw that it was $99, I fell in lust... and took it home immediately.

Knowing that I'm not the biggest fan of that plain wood, I wanted to spray paint it white (also to make it a little more girlie with the curvy lines).
 My initial idea was to cover the mirror with paper while trying to spray paint...
 But to get it just right, I would have to cut out a perfect circle...
 Which is difficult and stupid.

So after Chris came outside to investigate where are the cursing was coming from, he suggested that we simply unscrew the back and take out the mirror.
 That, of course, would make way too much sense...

So that's what we did...

First, we removed the screws....
Then we removed the first layer...
 And then had to use a razor to cut the glue around the mirror.
 Easy enough...
 Hey, hey mirror....
So after a couple coats of primer and spray paint, I was uber eager to hang this beauty...
And after I hung it, I LOVED it, but it looked a bit lonely...
 So... I've started collecting... I can't wait to show you what I've found to surround it...

Do you guys like it white? Or would you have kept it plain wood?

P.S- how awesome are those chairs?? Restoration Hardware outlet totally rocked my world.

Once again, sorry for my sporadic posting but with summer in full swing and work kicking my booty, I've been pretty busy lately... but of course never too busy to miss out on my Saturday garage sales :-)

As Im sure you remember, Chris and I have been on the hunt for some patio furniture for a while... and by a while, I mean since before the deck was built.  Sooooo I guess thats going on 4 MONTHS now.  I seriously have been scouring garage sales, craigslist, and even dropping the not-so-subtle hints to my parents when they came out to visit from AZ (ie. "I wish we could afford furniture for this super nice deck we built by hand.  But alas, we are too poor. Instead we shall sit upon our blistered hands and lay on the floor like peasants." .... My mom bought me gardening gloves and said to call it even....)

So when hitting up my last garage sale of the day this past Saturday (isn't it always the case where its the LAST one you actually find something?) I found what maybe could be a diamond in the rough...
Three Andrew Jackson's later, the couch was mine.

oh ye of little faith... the cushions matter not

 I then had to wake my man back up, and convince him to drive down the 1.5 miles to come help me put it in the car (I kid you not, the thing was SOLID and heavy).

However, when he got there, we had a little trouble fitting it into the back of my SUV.

So we made it to here and said "We were only going a few blocks. It should be fine, right?"
 Chris's uncle is a Dallas cop and I'm 93% sure this isn't street legal...
 For all those curious, we were only one (maybe two) lights away and I went 12mph the entire time with my caution lights on and Chris following me.... TOTALLY SAFE-ish...

Once we backed down the driveway and loaded it into its little nook, it was perfect... and damn if my family doesn't look good sitting on it...
 Now with the pillow issue, I contemplated a couple different options.

1. Just having the bottom cushions with no back ones... which was completely fine and comfortable, but didn't look that cute.
or
2.  See if I could find some new large back cushions to add to it...
or
3. Just adding a whole bunch of smaller pillows that people can move around.

Wanting to make it look a little more "complete" I figured I would start with Option 2 and run from there. Since the woman we bought it from said she got it at Costco 2 years ago, I figured it would be a good starting point.

Using some TOTAL guess work (I forgot to measure how large the couch was), I bought 3 "Outdoor Floor Pillows" and a 2-pack of accent pillows and brought them home.

Boom.
PERFECT!!


Each of the large pillows were $19.99 and the little 2 pack of accent pillows were $9.99
 Again, by total guess-work, the brown in the patterned pillows perfectly matches the plastic wicker AND the original seat cushions while the green pillows accent the patterned ones.
 Oh and see that little side table thing there to the right of the couch?
 Another garage sale find from that day (not the same sale).  Its a solid wood/igloo ice chest! Perfect for having friends over and not having to run in the house every 5 minutes to grab a beer from the kitchen
 It even has a draining system so it wont get all moldy/musty AND it looks a lot better than just having a plastic cooler out on the deck... a great $20 find since a nice ice chest like this can run you more than $100 at Costco or Kroger.

The whole garage sale Saturday really restored my faith in timing and delayed gratification.  Chris and I were seriously contemplating spending $1,500 for a new set at Costco just last month! Hmmm $1,500 or  $130 for a garage sale find and some new pillows???
Have you guys had any good garage sale finds lately?? Or is there anything you have been looking for that you just can't seem to find?

I would love to hear from you!

P.S - I can't wait to show you guys what's going on in my new "office"!! More details to come Wednesday!!