The Tale of the Good Deal, snow, sunshine and chickens. And a strawberry.

Sorry about the lameness of my posting lately. The past two weeks have been crazyyy!!

Here's what's been happening:

 

Here's our trusty old Amana washer and dryer we've had since we got married. They were used before that, so who knows how old they actually are. They've always worked great, aside from the fact that they're loud and slow, but they just kept plugging along. But now!

Meet Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip!!!

I thought about naming them Frodo and Sam, but we've already got a British royalty thing going with my car, Camilla.

We scored both of these brand new appliances for around $650 total! I think we need to hear this story....

So, Mark has to get a certain number of continuing education credit hours (CMEs) every year, and his company reimburses him up to $1,500 annually for them. Usually that goes towards medical conferences and whatnot, but in the past he's also used a program called Audio Digest, which involves seminars on CD that you can do on your own time to get credit hours.

They've had a deal going on for the past year where if you sign up for a 3-year subscription, they'd throw in a free iPad 2. We finally had some money to buy the subscription when they changed the deal: get the iPad 2 OR get a gift certificate to Best Buy so you could buy the iPad 3 when it comes out.

*I got a brilliant idea*

Best Buy sells appliances. We've been wanting to upgrade our washer and dryer. So I talked Mark into getting the gift card so we could put it towards that. An iPad would be awesome, of course, but all it really would be is a $500 toy for the kids to play apps on--let's be honest. 

So.....

-Washer and dryer were on sale on bestbuy.com for $639 each

-Plus free delivery

-Minus $540 from the gift card

-We get the dryer for $138 (tax included)

-Home Depot price matches for the washer (it was out of stock on bestbuy.com and they are discontinuing that model so they wouldn't be getting any more) and we get their last one

-Plus free delivery

-We get the washer for $678 (tax included)

-Total: $816

BUT

-My sister Maria bought our old set for $100

AND

-We are getting a $50 rebate from Questar Gas for upgrading to a high efficiency washer

SO

-Total: $666

-Each retailed for $800 a piece at bestbuy.com, or $900 a piece at Home Depot, plus tax, plus shipping, so we could have easily spent $2,000 for the set

TOTAL SAVINGS: $1,300!!!

OH, and then Mark's work reimbursed us the $1,200 we paid for the Audio Digest subscription in the first place. Yes, that was awesome and you can go ahead and be jealous. And now we have these beautiful, top rated LG high efficiency machines that are not only quiet and fast but will save us lots of dough in the long run! :D Yay for us!!

 

We got the washer first, and it kept Mark and the kids occupied for quite a while. 

They are easily amused, those guys. Madelyn stayed up late watching it, wanted to watch it go again first thing in the morning and then when she got home from school.

It has all sorts of cool buttons and sounds (which Luke loves), plus you get to watch everything spin around and around and around. Then it sings you a little song when the cycle is done. ♪♫

Fun with the dryer hose..

While I had access before the dryer came, I hurried and painted the baseboards along the back wall and corners. I didn't have the chance when I touched up the rest of the trim in the laundry room last year, and even though no one sees anything back there, it has always bugged me that it wasn't done.

 

It is kind of alarming how fast the dryer is. Our old one took upwards of an hour and a half to dry a load, and most of the time our new one takes about 35 minutes now. Hello!!! Laundry is almost fun now. Mark even volunteers to do it. And that, my friends, is why this was a good investment.

Anyway....

 

Mark went snowboarding on Thursday. He had coupons for half price lift tickets at Brian Head (and he still has more if anyone wants to go with him another time..). He always spends the night before laying out all his gear. Check out those boots on Luke. Ha!!

 

He decided to take apart some old headphones and sew them into his snowboard helmet ear flaps so he could have music from his mp3 player piped directly into his head. It took two pairs of headphones, three tries, some soldering and a very late night, but it worked! 

  

(blurry cell phone pic) Then he took Madelyn back up for some snow tubing yesterday and she had a BLAST. She and Mark also went to see The Lorax on Thursday. Those two have been living it up!!

Luke, in the meantime:

 

 

(cherry tomatoes)

He's just been doing his thing! Driving me crazy with his messes but getting smarter and cuter every day. Little stinkbug.

Yesterday, Madelyn asked me to draw her some butterflies so she could color them in. A few minutes later, she told me she was having trouble drawing her own butterflies, so she was just going to draw a chicken. (??) 

 And just look at that chicken!! I had never seen her draw one before. She said she just figured it out, and then very helpfully made me these instructions so I can draw my own:

Baby chick, egg in nest, hen house, hen and rooster. Is that not the cutest thing?! I love my kids.

The past couple of days, we've finally had some nice weather, so the kids have been outside nonstop. Madelyn's choice of outfit today was her jammie shirt, a Sunday skirt, tights and shoes and a pioneer bonnet. She spotted some daffodil sprouts and decided to water them.

 

 

  

Mark finally tried out his sun filter on his telescope today. He just bought some special camera attachments for it, too so he can try to take some photos of stuff he sees. We're gearing up for the total solar eclipse that will be happening here in Cedar City on May 20. We are in the direct path of it and it is going to be super awesome.

 

  Time for a picnic outside! Luke's shirt has a T-Rex and says "Big trouble in a little shirt". Isn't that just so fitting? Haha. He always eats the chocolate first when he gets a Lunchable.

 

I gave them a bowl of strawberries, and Madelyn came in bawling. "This one's too pretty to eat! I'm going to miss it so much!!" She seriously cried two different times about this strawberry's imminent demise, either from being eaten or from decay. (Drama!!!)

 So she drew this picture of me and the strawberry (and a strawberry tree) to remember it by. We'll always be together in her notebook...

Humph!!

  

 It's been snowing for the past 12 hours. I told you the past few days were just a spring tease!

 At least Luke's snow snack supply has been refreshed.

Spring tease

'

I'd say, judging by the snow that's still on the ground, that it's not really 115° degrees outside. I think my thermometer gets overly excited.

Look! I have daffodils sprouting in my front flower bed! Spring must be somewhere on the horizon...

 

But even though we hit nearly 70° F yesterday, the fact remains that we still have snow on the ground and will probably be getting some more tomorrow (ugh). Luke is taking full advantage while he can. Eating snow is his latest favorite pastime, and he goes out several times a day to retrieve more.

 

 Sometimes he brings in these giant clumps, which end up all over the floor, or the bed, or wherever he happens to be walking. I know it's not very sanitary, but he will not be stopped!! 

 I am ready for some warm weather and springiness though, and finally hauled out this stuff yesterday. When our Roberts Crafts store closed here in Cedar two years ago (and now all of the Roberts stores have closed! Sniff sniff RIP....they still sell online though.), I did what anyone would have done and bought as many things on steep clearance as I could. I have had these silk flowers and containers lying around since March 2010.

 

 So I beefed up this wreath a little (I made it for Maria's wedding in 2009)

Put some flowers in the entryway...

 Cut some for the windowsill...

 

And put these especially glorious orange ranunculus and poppies on my kitchen table.

14 more days until it's officially Spring!!

Rectangles....those I can do

This has been a crazy week. Thank you to all the friends, family and fabric counter ladies who have commiserated with me and shared your own Self Binding Blanket Fail stories. Apparently you should just expect that your first one is not going to turn out! Good to know. I have a rematch scheduled soon.

Anyway, the sewing has continued...I have enough sewing projects to keep me busy for months yet! (Sorry, husband and kids..) First, I made four more rice bags, because I had forgotten a few people I wanted to give them to for Christmas. I ALWAYS seem to forget someone.

The first three were made with fat quarters I got at Jo-Ann's, and the one on the end was from fabric I got at Walmart.

I really hope I am done with these now. 28 was a bit much.

When Madelyn switched to a toddler bed when she was 2 1/2, I got her a teeny little pillow and made her these pillowcases:

She took her little pillow to school last Friday for a Dr. Seuss read-a-thon because it fit in her backpack, but she (claims) she is too big for princesses now, so I made her some new pillowcases for it.

 

 Polka dot fabric was a remnant at Jo-Ann's and I think that's where the owl fabric was from also, but it was years ago. CUTE, huh!

I'd been meaning to get Luke his own pillow, since he's been in a toddler bed for 6 months, but he still sleeps like a little stinkbug:

  

So I doubt he will actually use it for sleeping. Well, he got a pillow anyway, and I made him these three pillowcases:

Alphabet and pirate fabric from Walmart--dinosaur fabric was a remnant from Jo-Ann's. I stalk the remnant bins every time I go to either store, which is why I end up with so many small pieces/small projects. Just the way I like it!!

 

It was satisfying having a project that #1 I did not need a pattern for, #2 was hard to mess up, and #3 was really quick and easy. 

These pillow forms are marketed as "travel size" and usually measure 12x16 inches (I got Luke's at Jo-Ann's but Walmart sometimes has them). To make a pillowcase, you'll need a piece of material about 14x40 inches or so.

Fold the piece of fabric in half, and then eyeball your measurements either using the pillow as a guide or an old pillowcase:

(I cut this one a little too short, but you get the idea.)

In this picture, I'm using the finished dinosaur pillowcase edge to determine where to cut my pirate fabric with my fabric ruler and rotary cutter. I add 1/2 inch on the sides for seam allowances, and about 2 1/2 inches on the top.

 

 

 On either end, press down first 1/2 inch, then again 2 to 2 1/2 inches to form what will be the finished opening of the pillowcase, and then stitch across each side.

 

Now I have a long, narrow piece with both ends finished.

  

Putting right sides together, fold it in half and stitch along both sides.

 Turn it inside out, press and you're done!

 

Yay for easy projects!! You can churn one of these babies out in about 10 minutes. And obviously you can use this method to make a pillowcase to fit whatever size pillows you want.

 Perfect for pint sized naps, movies, read-a-thons or a trip to grandma's! :)