Basement Finishing - Before Photos!

It's official. We started finishing our basement last Friday. We are having our neighbor, Jon, do the work as he is a carpenter by trade and is currently not working a regular job. And he lives literally next door! They started on Friday and have already got so much accomplished! He is having a buddy help him out with the project, which he wasn't initially planning on, so it's going very quickly. Right now they are working on framing out all the rooms. My plan is to take before, during, and after photos to show the progress. We're excited about having the extra space, especially for the winter for more room to run for Cody (and yeah, I do mean run.), although I have to admit I'm not thrilled about more rooms to clean!

Here are a few before pictures, like REALLY before, before we even moved in!

On the left will be the bedroom/office, and on the right will be a storage area.

This will be the bathroom, which we are only framing up right now.

This will be the large living room/family room. Kind of hard to see how big this room really is.

I'm excited to show more progress photos as the project continues!

Good Deals, Good Times

Oh, neglected blog. You poor thing.

I had to come visit you today though, because I had to share in my fabulous finds today during my normal Sunday morning shopping trips. Lots of prep work, but the rewards were worth it!

In summary, Cub Foods paid me $16.50 to take home $81.19 worth of stuff! Yes!

Here's a quick recap of the goodies I bought...I mean, that Cub paid me to take home. No photos, I'm not going to start going down THAT route; I spend way too much time clipping, calculating & conniving as it is!

2 Digorno's Pizzas

9 boxes of various Ritz/Nabisco/Honeymaid crackers

3 packages of Jello pudding snacks

2 packages Oscar Meyer lunchmeat

6 packages Kraft cheese singles

1 Digorno flatbread melt

1 Oscar Meyer hot sandwich kit

4 Easy Mac cups

6 packages shredded cheese

Apart from possibly the Easy Mac cups and the hot sandwich kit, these are things we would buy anyway. We should be stocked up for quite awhile on items like cheese, crackers, pudding, etc!

I also scored a great deal on some Gold N Plump extra tender chicken breasts/tenders. These were on sale for $3.33, I had coupons for $0.75 off each, making them $2.58 a package. Bought 10 packages. Should last us a couple months at least. Thank goodness for our chest freezer, the best thing we ever bought (err, received for free).

I also got a free pint of Starbucks ice cream (using a Facebook promotion from earlier this summer), and an energy drink for my hubby for a whole 50 cents using a coupon I found at the gas station that had expired!

In addition, I also went to Walgreens and got some great deals there with sales & coupons & previous Register Rewards:

3 packages Huggies diapers - $7.50/package

4 small bottles of honey -$0.75 each (honey is expensive!)

Colgate toothpaste: FREE after $3 Register Reward to use on next purchase

6 packages of Bic pens - FREE

4 bottles toilet bowl cleaner - $1.00-$1.10 each

1 bottle Advil - $3.49

2 pkg of 3 pack gum - FREE

2 cans Campbell's soup - $0.29 each

2 bottles coffee creamer - $2 each

less $31 in previous Register Rewards

equals $10.06 for $90.86 worth of stuff...plus I got the $3 RR to use on my next trip.

Holla!

I love saving money!

Too bad it's so much work...

First Swimming Pool

It was a beautiful summer day in Minnesota today, so we treated Cody with a dip in the pool. The water was pretty chilly but the sun was hot, so he enjoyed the refreshing treat! He got in and out of it about twenty times in the course of half an hour. And no face plunges, so that was a plus, too.

Hopefully one day I'll get caught up on my blog posts. We'll see.

Boys can swim in pools with pink on them, right?

Closer look

In...

and out...

Off he goes!

L'il stinker! (And yes...we do feed him...this tot eats as much as a 7 year old!!)

Bombs away!!

Welcome to old & new readers!

Welcome (back) to my blog. I'm so glad you're here. Thanks everyone for accepting the invitation to view my blog. I hope to post more frequently than I have been lately, but with a 16-1/2 month old, I just never know if I will find the time...

Cody's daycare is closed this week, so Grandma (A.) is down for the week to watch the little guy. We are so blessed to have her here! They have been having a good time together, and he is even cooperating by taking nice, long naps so she can work on the "project list" I give her every morning. I know, I know...I am spoiled. But, she is the do-not-sit-still-for-one-moment type [Oh...so wish I had that "problem"...], so I am practically obligated. Getting lots done around the house while I am at the office is such a blessing!

I have Thursday and Friday off this week and am looking forward to spending some quality time at home.

Hope to talk with you soon!!

Annette

P.S. It is my hubby's birthday tomorrow (Wednesday, July 22) so if you could, please wish Gordon a happy birthday via email or send him a birthday wish on Facebook!

Reason for Privacy

Edited post...

I still think you will need to sign up for a gmail or google account in order to fully gain access my 'private' blog. You can view as a guest for awhile, but after that, I think you will need to create an account. Sorry for the confusion & the hassle.

One of the main reasons that I want to make this blog 'private' is that we don't want the whole internet to be able to look at our photos, read our entries, etc. But, I still want to share our thoughts, photos & adventures with those that are interested. Thanks for your patience!

Private

I didn't realize that you are required to have a Google account in order to read a private blog. I still want people to visit here without being too much of a pain to sign up for a new account, etc. so I am still debating on what I should do. Does anyone know of a different blog 'company' that has more privacy options? For now, I'll "close" it but keep an open mind on what the future of this blog holds...

Motivation...

...I have none!

I really want to blog about our first family vacation, mostly for myself so that I can remember it a month from now, since my memory seems to really be garbage these days. But, I just haven't been feeling inspired to write it. Hopefully one day soon.

I've been feeling pretty jaded about the world lately...I feel that I am always the one making the effort to maintain friendships, organize events, suggest ideas. I get lackluster responses, if any at all, and I'm tired of it. .

I'm going to be making this blog "private" soon. I will welcome readers, but you will need to have a Google or Blogger account (I will find out specifics) and log in to read my updates. I'm tired of putting massive effort forth and getting nothing in return. Maybe I'm being selfish, maybe I'm being a jerk, I don't know.

If you know that you want to keep reading my blog, email me and I will add you to my approved readers.

Thanks for reading!

Annette