Week 35

Craigslist Finds

I've done some craigslisting this past week as we've tried to find good deals on the last few baby things we need.  Thought I'd share my victories!

1. Side table with space for books in the bottom...
$45 retail, got one in perfect condition for $20!



2.  Baby Trend Snap N Go...
$75-99 retail, got one in good working condition for $5!!




3. Chicco car seat base for Keyfit 30...
$75-85 retail, got one in great condition (one owner, not expired) for $25!

So we saved about $150 thanks to craigslist!  Woohoo!!  :)

---

And here are my tips to "Craigslist Responsibly":

1. Choose a reliable check-in buddy who will be near their phone and a computer during your pick up time

2. Give your check-in buddy all the information you have on the person you're meeting (link to the listing, name, email address, phone number and location where you are meeting)

3. Call your buddy just before meeting the seller and give them a reasonable time frame for when you'll call back (usually 5 minutes)

4. Call your buddy back as soon as the transaction is complete to confirm you're still alive ;)

Happy Craigslisting!  :)

Week 34

Nursery Photos!!!

I have finally gotten the nursery together enough to post photos!!  :)  

Okay, first the changing table... I was rather frustrated with how the changing table initially turned out.  The changing pad cover was really thin and rough material and was a little too small for the changing pad (it was coming up on the side and it looked bad).  And the color didn't quite match any other purple tones in the nursery so it looked weird.  Also the baskets I bought were really high and deep so it made it very difficult to access anything in the baskets.  I had to pull them out to get to them, and then the white paint on the baskets would scratch up the wood on my changing table!  Agh!  Anyway, I just wasn't thrilled.  Here's what it originally looked like:

So anyway, instead of sucking it up and living with it, I decided to return the changing pad cover and the baskets.  I'm so glad I did!  Last night I found some other beautiful baskets at Hobby Lobby (for 50% off!!) that are perfect for what I want and I like the sizes much better.  I have a white changing pad cover that a friend gave me to put on the changing pad for now, but I'm hoping to get a white minky dot one eventually.  Anyway - that's the tale of the changes with the changing table!  Here's what it looks like now (I like it so much more!):

And here are the rest of the photos of the nursery!
(I haven't hung anything on the walls yet - so it will look much better soon.)

The little plaque that's above the crib right now is not actually staying there.  There was just already a nail in the wall that happened to be right there, so we stuck the sign there so we wouldn't lose it while we were putting everything else together.  We're actually going to have her name above the crib in big purple letters matching the purple paint on the side wall, and I have some cute butterflies that match the bedding set that will be above the glider.

 Don't worry, I'm not leaving the bumpers there - they're just cute to look at for now!  :)

I just love how well the paint color matches the bedding set :)



There it is!  The curtains look funky with the light from the window in this picture, but the color of the curtains actually perfectly matches the painted wall and the dark purple in the bedding set, so I think it's prettier in person, but you can only do so much with a photo!  I'm biased though, so I might be the only one who thinks so :)

And here's the bassinet she'll be sleeping in that will be in our bedroom when she first arrives :)

And HERE is my diaper bag!!!  LOVE this bag.... :D

So we're just about ready for her to come!  Still need just a few more big things (like a car seat, stroller and baby monitor...but we've been waiting for the items we picked out to go on sale - luckily Babies R Us is having a sale this weekend so I think we'll get that taken care of shortly), but I think we're about ready!  And there's still little things we somehow don't have yet (like receiving blankets!), but we will figure all that out!  :)

 I'm feeling like this is all totally surreal and I really have a hard time believing she's actually going to be here soon.  But just in case by some miracle she really does show up, we'll be ready!  ;)

Week 33

Week 32

Week 31

Fifteen Minute Freezer Cooking!

Just wanted to share a quick and awesome freezer cooking idea - Roast Kits!  There's only two of us, so I did the kits with a 2lb roast - you can adjust the amounts for your own family size.  Beef roasts are twice as expensive as pork roasts (but tastier) so I did two beef roast kits and two pork roast kits.

For FOUR freezer roast kits you will need...
4 gallon size freezer bags
4 2lb roasts (beef or pork)
4 yellow onions
5lbs of red potatoes
2lbs of baby carrots
15 minutes of time!

Not kidding about the fifteen minutes - I timed it from beginning to end.  Quickest freezer cooking session EVER!

All I did was label the bags, then chop up the onions into large pieces (roughly 2in pieces) and add one onion to each bag.  Then I cut the red potatoes up a bit (larger potatoes cut in half or quarters, smaller potatoes can be left whole) and divided them evenly between the four bags.  Divide the baby carrots evenly in the four bags.  Put one roast in each bag.  Seal.  Freeze.  Done!

If you copy and paste the recipe I typed up below into a Word document, it will print to fit on a 4x6 card for your recipes :)  You can also add celery to this, but we don't like celery in our roasts.  This is a fun one because you can adjust it to add anything.  I'm sure many of you know how to make a MUCH better roast than me - I'm a very basic cook who is all about shortcuts in the kitchen!  So feel free to change this up as much as you like, but it's a great freezer meal option with quick and easy prep.  Enjoy!

Freezer Roast Kits – makes 4 meals, 15 minute prep

4 2lb roasts (beef or pork)

4 yellow onions

5lbs of red potatoes

2lbs of baby carrots

Directions:  Label 4 gallon size freezer bags. Chop onions into large pieces (roughly 2in pieces) and add one onion to each bag.  Cut up red potatoes (larger potatoes cut in half or quarters, smaller potatoes can be left whole) and divide them evenly between the four bags.  Divide the baby carrots evenly in the four bags.  Put one roast in each bag.  Seal.  Freeze.

Serving Day:  Thaw in fridge overnight.  Add contents of bag to crockpot with 1c water and season to taste.  Cook on high 4-6hrs or low 10-11 hrs.  

Thrift Store Finds!

Today Aaron and I went on a little date for lunch and peeked in a couple of thrift stores.  We found some great deals!  Thought I'd share a couple quickly...

One that I'm most proud of is this lion toy ("Stride to Ride Lion").  My coworker highly recommended it so I had it on my registry, but it's $50!!  I thought that was pretty expensive for a toy, but she said it was really awesome and her son loved it (and I love lions!) so I put it on my list to purchase when the baby is around 9-12mo.  Well I saw it on a high shelf at the thrift store and had Aaron get it down for me... price tag said...$5!!!!  Aaron didn't want to get it at first because he said it was a boy toy and not for a girl, lol.  I told him the retail price and he checked Amazon on his phone.  Amazon had it on sale for $40, but still impressive savings since we got it for $5!  So it's in our basement until the baby is older, but I'm still excited about it :)  I was proud of myself for being familiar enough with baby products to recognize the toy and know the retail cost so I knew I was getting a good deal :)

Another favorite find was this baby bouncer!  Love it!  I think the green stripes with the pink and brown is so dang cute.  And it's 100% machine washable - already took everything off and washed it and it looks great!

I had been planning to purchase this one on Amazon for $30... 

...which is still a good price for a bouncer, but when I saw the one at the thrift store I thought we'd at least find out how much it was.  There was no price tag on it and we weren't too hopeful because most of the bouncers near it were priced at $30 so we weren't sure it would be worth it.  But we eventually tracked someone down and they sold it to us for $17!  Yay!  So we saved a bit there, and I actually like it better than the one I had picked out!  It was already in great condition and since I could wash everything on it, it's totally like new!

We also got the Nursing Mother's Companion book for $1!  It's only $7-10 on Amazon, but $1 is much better so that was a good find as well!  

We also picked up a pair of church shoes for $2, a book about introducing babies to solid foods for $1, and a couple of baby swimsuits for $5!  I'm excited about the swimsuits because I've been thinking a lot about doing the mom/baby pool time this summer at our local rec center, but I didn't want to spend $15-20 on a swimsuit if I wasn't sure she'd even like it.  So $5 works for me!  I got a 0-3mo size and 3-6mo size.  Aaron helped me pick them out - so cute! :)

It was a great date!  I just may become a thrift store regular :)