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Monday, October 19, 2009

Saturday Afternoon Snooze

Andrew and Brian taking a nice little nap together. And of course, (Curious) George was in on it, too!

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Redecorating Time!

We've finally decided on how we're going to decorate the kids' rooms now. *And let me just say, it is very, very strange to say "kids' rooms." I'm so used to only having one, that I wonder if there will be a period of adjustment when the baby comes. Will I forget that I have two??!
So, back to the topic. We have a three bedroom house. It didn't use to be three bedrooms, we just finished renovating the third room into a bedroom a few months ago. It is a very very large room (bigger than the master) and has its own half-bath. We're thinking that we'll move Andrew into that room. He's being moved to a full-size bed as soon as we buy a mattress. He also has a train table, a big toy chest, gads and gads of toys and books. We figure he'll need to most room to spread out. Plus, once he is potty trained (Lord, hear our prayer) he will have his own bathroom to go potty in. If that's not an incentive, I don't know what is! The walls in that room are the same color as they were when we bought the house, and that is an orange color. It's hard to describe. It's not peach, not tangerine, but it's not Auburn orange, either. It's a nice color, but not so girly.
The baby will then go into the room Andrew is in now. It's the smaller of the two rooms. *Another side note, when I say small, the bedrooms are still at minimum 12X12, which is large by newly-built house standards. The walls are a nice farmhouse green color. The crib, and changing table are already in there. Plus, the room has a Jack n' Jill 1/2 bath, which means that our bedroom shares a 1/2 bath with the baby's room, so there is quick, easy acess to that room.
So, now that you have the run-down of the room swap, let me show you what we've picked out. Andrew's room will be done in "Prehistoric." Dinosaurs! We actually had a hard time picking this out. The first issue was the full-size that we needed. Most kids' bedding is twin sized. Then, we wanted something that wasn't too toddlerish, but wasn't too grown up. Something that might last until 2nd grade or so, when he gets swept up in some cartoony fad. And the last, and biggest issue, was that it had to go with the orange color on the walls. Here's what it looks like:


I apologize that it is so small. I had issues saving the picture from JCPenney's web site. I think if you click on the picture, it might enlarge it. Anyhow, the other plus, is that it's reversible. I like the colors, its not too baby, but not too big-kid. Perfect!

Now, for baby's room. This was equally difficult for two main reasons. One, I didn't want pink. Do you KNOW how much pink stuff is out there??! And two, 75% of what is out there is also $200 plus for a three-peice set! Sheesh! I almost threw in the towel and decided to learn to sew! Hah, got ya there, didn't I? I wanted something girly, but not cutesy, and something that would go with the green walls. Lavendar! After searching and searching, I found the perfect thing!! It's a quilt-style set, that looks hand-embroidered, with little wreaths and lavendar flowers. Love it, and it goes with our 115 year old house very well. And, it was the right price!! Here's a photo:







I just love it! And I can even throw in a very pale yellow for an accent color. I think it's feminine enough! And the good think about it, too, is that it's available at a bunch of websites, which brings me to the second part of my post: How I'm going to buy this without spending money!!

I have done a few posts about SwagBucks in the past, and a couple of you have signed up (thanks!) but I've got some new readers out there, and want to try to encourage them to sign up...ahem, MOM!

SwagBucks is a web site exactly like Google. It's a search engine. If you want to find something, type it in the search bar, and the same results pop up as would with Google. Except, for one huge thing. SwagBucks rewards people who use the site by giving them SwagBucks. The SwagBucks are randomly awarded, in various denominations. This morning, I searched for "baby monitors" and recieved a surprise 2 SwagBucks!

What can you do with a SwagBuck? Well, all SwagBucks you earn add up over time until you have enough to redeem them for prizes. I have redeemed $40 (yes fourty) in Amazon gift cards, and have enough points for another $55 in Amazon gift cards! So I have $95 available to spend on Amazon.com. And that's not counting the $25 or so I've already spent over the past year. And let me tell you, you can buy just about anything on Amazon. Including that darling baby bedding set you just saw.

Here is where you come in. If you sign up by clicking this link, you'll create an account on SwagBucks, and can start searching and earning points. But the BEST part is, if you sign up, using my link, I will get credit for EVERY SwagBuck you earn until you hit 100. So, by searching as you usually do, using SwagBucks instead of Google, you can help me earn more money to purchase this bedding set for baby! It's very easy to do, and legit, you don't give any sensitive information, just your name, address, and email. That's all! It's a nice, easy way to earn fun money doing something you likely already do. (It's also a nice way to help me out!) Here is the link:

http://swagbucks.com/refer/JennyManley

Friends that have already signed up...Amber, Shannon, Aunt Tracy, Dara...y'all love it, right? And it's really easy to do! And a big thank you, since you've helped me earn enough for Andrew's Christmas present, which is another topic for another post!! Love y'all!