Costume on the Cheap

I hadn't put too much thought into Desmond's Halloween costume. I was not psyched about choosing one for him, fighting with him to get dressed into something he doesn't care to wear just to take photos and say "See? We dressed you up that year!" But if I didn't do that, people would talk, right? I'm not secure enough to not care what people think, I guess.

Shopping didn't help with the lack of enthusiasm. It was the weekend before Halloween so I knew pickins would be slim. I tried three different places. The first had 1 option for boys... a monkey. It was cute, but there were dozens of monkeys on the rack. Which means every other little boy with a last minute costume would be a monkey. That bothered me. Plus it was $25, which seemed high at the time. No thanks.

The next place only had costumes in a bag, which I think look cheap. If one year Des wants to be something out of a bag, I'd be all for it. But while I still have a say, I'll pass. Plus the only option for boys his age was some weird cartoon character that I didn't know.

The third place had a bunch of options. My favorite was a chicken. So cute! Plus, we call Des 'chicken' or 'chicken nugget' (nug for short) all the time. Perfect! I took it off the rack ready to buy, when I looked down at the tag. $40. I checked the tag of different size, as if it might change things. It didn't. No, no, no. NO WAY. Maybe I'm the cheapest person on the planet. But we're pinching every penny right now. $40 for something he's gonna hate me for putting him in? Out of the question. No matter how cute.

Finally I resigned to make his costume. I'm kinda artistic! A lil' bit crafty! I think. I poked around the internet trying to decide on a cute costume that would be easy to DIY, and settled on a pirate. A baby pirate! Come on, how cute is that.

I made a plan of action as to what we'd need to buy and what we already have. Took a quick trip to the craft store and put it together one night when he was sleeping. Here's what we got:



I didn't have to sew a thing. One of the reasons I chose a pirate is that the disheveled, frayed look actually works FOR you. I bought the iron-on patch, gold puffy paint, black t-shirt, and a bandana. Everything else we already had.

Total time: ~45 minutes, including trip to craft store

Total cost: less than $10





Having pictures like these forever... priceless.

Okay, okay. I'm glad I did the costume thing. ;-)

Weekends on a Budget

Things are tight lately. Or as we often say jokingly, "We po'." Not reeeeally. But kinda. So when we want to get out of the house, we try to take advantage of what our area has to offer for the budget conscious (read: po'), like us.

Our local library offers passes to museums, parks, and zoos at a super cheap price. This past weekend we had some beautiful autumn weather, and we decided to head to the zoo. Regularly, admittance would be $11 per adult (bay-buhs are free). With the library pass, Tony and I were just $2 each. That's a savings of... here I go doing the math in my head... beep-boop-bop-beep-bop-beep...$18!

I know $18 doesn't sound like much, but percentage-wise, that's like... don't ask me to do the math on that, my head will explode.

You have no idea the joy it brings us to save money. It makes us go "Eeee!!" And to have a fabulous family outing on top of it? Priceless.

We kept trying to point them out, but this was the first time Des really saw an animal. The bears were hard to miss. He stared. And then he kicked his legs like crazy. I'm pretty sure he wanted to wrrrastle with 'em.

He LOVED the big cats. Legs a-kickin' all over the place.

He's got big cats at home. He aint scurred.

I highly suggest looking into your local library. Also, did you know that you can borrow books from there? They just let you take them home. Without paying. And then you bring them back when you're done so your house isn't cluttered with dusty paperbacks.

What is this magical fairy land? And why am I just discovering it now?

Craigslist Finds

In light of recent tragic events, I thought I'd show the lighter side of Craigslist. We've actually had some fantastic luck with items we've found advertised on the site. In the furniture section, I assure you.

When it comes to certain things, I am the kind of person who hates to buy new. A new couch, for example, would send me into fits of anxiety for weeks. I'd worry about the cats scratching, pet hair, food crumbs. I'd all but wrap it in plastic, only to take it off when guests arrive. And even then under protest.

I like items that are in good shape but have been lived in and loved. Not only is this a very green way to furnish a home (happy Earth Day!), but it also saves us a ton of green in the process. Here are just some of the items we have purchased recently:


Butcher block kitchen island (to replace the one we trashed for some much needed extra counter space).. It also came with the stools.
A few years old, in very good shape
Estimated cost = $300+
Purchase price = $150


Crate and Barrel couch
1 year old, barely used, great condition
Estimated cost = $1,000+
Purchase Price = $395
(Notice the plastic patch on the corner. Sad attempt at preventing the cats from scratching. But hey, I'm not stressin!)


West Elm chunky console table
Slightly used, just a few scratches that were easily fixable
Cost new = $329
Purchase Price = $90

West Elm chunky mirror (matches table.. no pic)
Slightly used
Cost new = $199
Purchase Price = $40


Crate and Barrel (we think) coffee table
A few years old, some distress marks that give it character!
Estimated cost = $400+
Purchase Price = $100


Pottery Barn desk, file cabinet, and side table (not pictured)
A few years old, some cracks and scratches. Again, character!
Estimated cost = $800-$1000+
Purchase Price = $195


Pottery Barn leaning bookcase
A few years old, some scratches that were easily fixbale
Cost new = $299
Purchase Price = $35


Pottery Barn (we think) chandelier
Must be a few years old, but it looks practically new
Estimated cost = $250-$300+
Purchase Price = $140

So there you have it. It takes some time and effort to weed through the many ads on the site that are not what we're looking for. But it's so worth it. Craigslist has been good to us and we'll continue to use it as we try to fill the empty spaces in our 'new' home.

So Grown Up

In the midst of 'Hurricane Upstairs' we've been working hard on miscellaneous list items downstairs.

We're almost done painting the trim a semi-gloss white, although the big challenge is figuring out how to paint the bay window that the cats love to sit on. We decided that we'll paint it when it's dark out, as the cats only seem to stare out the window during the day time. Let's hope that works, and we don't come home to find white paw prints all over our furniture and carpet. Although I do love a nice animal print...

As Tony mentioned briefly, we also bought ourselves all new kitchen appliances. I know, HUGE, right? Totally huge. Buying appliances sounds so adult too. We're such grown ups. We weren't exactly planning on taking the plunge this soon, especially with all this other work going on, not to mention the little economic FREAK OUT our country is facing... not sure if you've heard about it.

But one of Tony's many connections presented us with an opportunity we couldn't pass up. And we had to make a decision within a matter of days. Without naming names or going into too much detail (and no, they did not "fall off a truck"), we ended up paying just over $2k for these beauties, saving about $1300 including all rebates:

Stove:


Microwave (which will go above the stove, saving on precious counter space):


Dishwasher:


Fridge:


Okay, so the excitement doesn't quite translate to stock photos, but believe me... They are pretty. At least I hope so. They're to be delivered next Monday. EEE!! That's my excited sound.

Now that things are happening in the kitchen, that project may be pushed to #2 on the list up from #3. We were planning on tackling the downstairs bathroom after the current project is complete. But seeing those beautiful appliances up against the oak cabinets, laminate floor, and PINK countertops may just give us the nudge to move forward with some serious kitchen plans.

Fingers crossed we can get to it by 2010.