More progress. And crafting.

I spent most of yesterday crafting a ridiculous spreadsheet of all the things that must be done before we move. It's a very organized hot mess, which is just how I like it. I have us packing or doing at least 1 "thing" (closet, room, space, area) every night until the Big Day to avoid a frantic frenzy the morning the movers arrive. Hopefully, this works out in my favor and I can be sipping Diet Coke on my porch wearing a tiara and wielding a wand instructing the big, strong boys on where to place all of my shit. Here's hoping, anyway.

Meanwhile, everything at Alex's "different house" is coming along swimmingly. The tile is complete, doors were delivered, and the siding has started. Note in this first picture that the walls are also primed. I sort of love the primer color. I'm tempted to just leave it. And somewhere, the salesman at Sherwin Williams bangs his head against a wall.



In related news, I popped over to Grand Rapids this weekend for the Grand Opening of a store called Hammer & Thread. It's a shop that has a compilation of handmade artisan goods, and my dear friend Sarah of so sarah designs is one of the vendors! More on that tomorrow...

Sarah and I spent some of our time hunting around all of Grand Rapid's best little hidden treasures, and even spent some time CRAFTING. And by crafting I mean I opened a can of spray paint and read a magazine while she did most of the work. But I digress.

I will share all of our crafting goodness later this week, but meanwhile, please enjoy this gem: a painted (love the color) coffee table with a chalkboard top for Alex's playroom/the den. It was s STEAL for $130 and I might have peed a little when I texted a photo to Joey and he immediately responed with, "buy it." You're welcome, America.

High on thrifting Thursday.

Mandy over at Harper's Happenings does a link-up on Thursdays called "High on Thrifting." Considering that roughly 9 out of any 10 adventures to thrift and antique shops yield absolutely nothing for me, I've had very little to contribute to the cause.

HOWEVER.

A few weekends ago, Joey and I went to visit 2 of our favorite peeps in all the world, Jason and Sarah. (Yes, that Sarah.) They live in Grand Rapids, a place I could be convinced to move to in approximately 2.5 seconds. Moot point.

Anyhow, Sarah has the gift of shopping. For realsies. The girl can find anything. In any store. And it's probably also on clearance and the last one left or quite possibly ever made. And it fits perfectly and you already have shoes to go with it. She's a shopping savant.

She took us to this little gem of a store called Changing Thymes. Think antique store meets craft shop meets re-purposed furniture depot. Yes, heaven.

I found a number of delightful purchases, but here are my two most favoritest:

This little number used to be an old record player cabinet. In fact, still has the gold engraved plates in it and everything. I love it probably more than I should love any inanimate object. Plus, I love that someone already did the work of refinishing, painting and distressing it. Definitely worth paying a little more $$. And the color? Please. It will be so kickass in our new house.

These were SUCH a fun find--a bag of REALLY old wooden blocks! Sarah and I spent about 20 minutes on the floor of the store rearranging the letters to spell something...anything. I finally got our last name, and as if that weren't enough...there were enough letters leftover to spell HER last name (with a little creative use of 2 upside down U blocks). Only one block was left after we did that. Isn't that weird? I sort of love that there's a little piece of this set in each of our homes.

Head on over to the Haps and see what other treasures people are finding...and share yours!

Treasures.

It's strange to think that a year ago I would have posted a "Hump Day, Bump Day!" picture today. Actually, this would have been the one. Scary!

Back to today's post - recent treasures!

For starters, I won a blog giveaway yesterday! The savvy savers from Cha-Ching on a Shoestring hosted a partner giveaway with Jiffy Lube and its "Go Red for Women" campaign. I won a $35 Jiffy Lube gift card and a coupon book worth over $100, which is simply fab because a) Jiffy Lube is the only place I will take Tessa for her oil changes...for the locals, Andre and his peeps at Dequindre and 14 are the b-o-m-b. and b) my love for coupons is limitless. I can't wait to get it in the mail! Oh, and if you're not a follower of this blog, do it now. I guarantee that every day you'll learn something new about saving, couponing or some other trick of the trade that will put more $$ back in your pockets.

...which leads me to treasure #2. I received a package in the mail yesterday which contained some of my recent ebay purchases. Another small obsession. I found a goldmine of a seller who has impeccable and expensive taste and a closet full of boys' 12-18 month summer clothing being sold for pennies on the dollar. Even with shipping, it was all a steal.

And finally, my favorite treasure of the day - my bracelet! It came yesterday and I couldn't love it more. I like to think of it as a little successory for my "Mommy branding," because from pretty much here on out, I'm no longer Kristi, I'm Alex's Mom. Sorry it's such a craptastic picture. Cell phone + desk ≠ Olan Mills Portrait Studio.