Two Things We’re Glad We Didn’t Buy Full Price

*Sigh*  This is a sad tale about a rug and a table and also, let it be a cautionary one.

If you follow along with us on Instagram, you may have seen the story I posted a couple of weeks ago about the $20 mid-century modern table that I scored at my fave, Dirt Cheap.  Ever since I spotted this table:

…a Project 62 beauty only sold at Target, I craved it.  Those legs had me at first click.  We bought our current dining room table and chair set at a thrift store shortly after we were married 10 years ago for $100 and it was the price we loved, not so much the design.  But, it served us well and is still going strong but gosh, a girl can dream about better, right?  At $400, the Project 62 table wasn’t in our budget so I just said a prayer that one would trickle in to Dirt Cheap in the future and kept my eyes peeled there.  And guess what?  One did.  Actually, they got six.  (For those of you not fortunate enough to have a Dirt Cheap by you, they sell lots of things from lots of retailers and one of those retailers is Target.  The Target stuff they sell is new – clearanced stuff that never sold, damaged stuff, and customer returns.  In one word, it’s amazing.)  Anyway, they had six of these tables and they were all pretty beat up on top.  Scratched, stained, dented…usable but very imperfect.  They had them marked down to 50% off the original price.  So, $200.  Still too much for us, especially in the condition they were in.  Our plan was to scrap the top and make something better.  Anthony and I made a deal to ourselves that we’d watch them and grab one if they ever came down to $30-40.  Honestly, I figured they’d get gobbled up long before they ever got that low but once again, a girl can dream.

So the first time I spotted them at Dirt Cheap was about two months ago.  I go there almost once a week and you bet your bottom buck, I counted how many were left.  A month ago, one got away and there were five.  And there were five up until a couple of weeks ago.  The way that pricing works at Dirt Cheap is by percentage…things come in and they’re marked anywhere from 30-50% off the original price right off the bat.  Then, what doesn’t sell gets marked off by higher percentages every so often.  I’ve scored a few things there for 90% off so I was just waiting for that number to reach those tables.  Well it wasn’t, at least not fast enough, and so I casually asked one day how much they’d give me one for considering they were still there and had little interest.  Well apparently, a girl with four small kids and a husband looks like she needs more than one (slash they were really desperate to get rid of them and free the space) because they told me I could have one for $50 or all five for $100.  Ha!  What would you do? 

Home Sweet Next Home

I have a confession to make.  I’ve been withholding some info and updates on our next housing situation from you but, in my defense, I wanted to wait until everything was “official” before blabbing to the internet just in case things didn’t go the way we’d thought and planned and I’d then have to insert my seven-and-a-halfer.  It’s a little more than a story of having a contract on a house in which we could share the process as it progressed…or maybe didn’t progress since we’ve been there once already in our house hunting.  Settle in and I’ll tell you the whole, crazy story, seashell version.  Well, maybe ‘crazy’ isn’t the right word?  Ironic maybe?  Or, maybe a spinkle of both.  Yep, I think so.

A month or so before we put our house on the market and while we were in the midst of looking for the next place we could settle into, we came across a little house that was in the exact area we wanted to be.  P R I M E location, I believe is the saying.  The problem with the area that we longed to be was the price.  Most homes in that area were well over the budget we wanted to stick to.  But this little house we thought might just be within our reach a) because it looked pretty small in comparison to others around the area and b) because, as far as we could tell from the outside, it probably needed a good amount of updating.  Problem was, it wasn’t on the market.  *womp womp* 

I’ve heard of people writing letters to homeowners in hopes that they might consider selling their house and moving elsewhere but I really didn’t think we’d ever do it.  But then the interest in this little, what I’ll call from here on out, ‘prime locale’ house, gave us a wild hair and then we did.  We wrote a letter to the owners of this little house, asking if they might be interested in selling their home because we might be interested in buying.  I stuck a stamp on it and away it went, never heard about again. 

The end.

Kidding.

Ripped Off

Hey y’all!  I have been spending all of my allocated blogging time (which translates to post bedtime once in awhile) fixing all of the links on my Projects & Ideas page!  I haven’t changed anything…just fixed the links after a technological error and user agreement change on behalf of Photobucket (don’t ever use them ), but it has taken me hours and hours here and there to get them all up and running again.  Phew!  I still have a few to fix and they’ll eventually find their conclusion but I wanted to pop in quick with a tiny story and tutorial before I get back at the virtual housekeeping.  :)

I’ve been trying to up my collection of dresses recently, on a budget of course, and so you can imagine my delight when I found this shift at Dirt Cheap for $10: 
It adds a little pizzazz to my winter white skin and ashy knees, doesn’t it?  And the pink elastic around my wrist set for Phia’s noggin’ was the perfect accessory.  Clearly, I was made to be a fashion blogger.  A n y w a y, the dress hails originally from Target (the brand is A New Day) but it doesn’t look like they sell it there anymore.  If you likey too, you can find it here on Blinq (for $10!…though I’ve never shopped there before) and I found some ‘used’ on Poshmark but they’re almost retail price.  #dumb

Well, all was great until I slipped mine on for church one morning and noticed a big rip…right in front. 

The Tobin Family Trip

Anybody ever watched Daniel Tiger and the “Tiger Family Trip”?  Well, we have (about 197 times) and if you have too, that title up there goes pretty well with the theme song.  Hehe…  We sang it about a hundred times before and during our little Christmas road trip. 

Now, I know how exciting it is to read about other people’s vacations while sitting in the comfort of your own home…not on vacation, so let me spice up your present state and tell ya about ours.  ;)

Last summer, we got this fantastic idea to go to through Nebraska to Denver for Christmas…and by go to, I mean D R I V E.  With four little kids.  23.5 hours.  3300 miles.  Yep, like I said.  Fantastic.

Well, we were all gung ho and making plans when Thanksgiving rolled in and we drove to my sisters in Florida…a seven hour trip.  The drive was absolutely awful.  We’ve done it before and it’s never been the easiest thanks to some antsy pants in the backseat but this time was the worst.  Cecilia is a master road-tripper and will sit for hours on end with nary a complaint.  Seraphia always complains that her rear hurts about an hour into any drive and every hour after.  Sebastian asks the age-old question “Are we there yet?” about a thousand times an hour and Gianna just really doesn’t like to sit still for very long which leads to lots of strapped-in tantrums.  Fun, fun.

So as we tumbled, drive-worn, into our house at the end of the Thanksgiving trip to Florida, our feet got frostbite with the thought of doing a trip more than three times that long in a month.  Why would we put ourselves through that again?

Merry Christmas!

Happy 10th day of Christmas!!  Those Lords are sure a-leaping, eh?  And so is Santa me thinks… 


I’m sorry I didn’t get you a virtual Christmas card sooner but we took a holiday trip to Denver (3300 driven miles!) and I didn’t spend much time on social media nor did I bring my laptop.  It was awesome to be unplugged and able to be fully present.  More on the trip later.  For now, Merry Christmas to you, all of my dear readers!  I appreciate all of the commenting, reading, and support truly, truly, truly…and madly and deeply too.  ;)  I hope 2017 was good to you, all of the ups and even the lessons and beauty in the downs and I hope 2018 is even better!

God bless you!