Oh the Simple Things: The New Outside Light That Isn't New

Wow.... talk about crazy moments. So I'm in the garage spray *primering (not a word) our new corner entertainment center when I hear this buzzing electrical sound. Now mind you I've known about the box in my garage since we moved in.

Honestly, I thought it was broke and my husband just isn't the handy sort ( I know... right?) Well, I am... mostly.

Don't ya know, I start messing with this this morning and it works! Go figure! Here is the lovely picture of my now illuminated driveway.

Why am I so excited? It's just a light? Well, you don't live where I live then! Our development has NO street lights! That's right! NONE! It is pitch BLACK in our development once the sun sets and that's just stinking creepy!






So now I have it set to turn off at 8 a.m. What time does it turn on? I still have no idea on that one. :o)

Oh the small things that make me happy!









Oh and here is one more picture just to prove how dark it really was outside :o)

Yup! That's the moon! It was actually around 4:50ish in the morning. Hubs and my Bro had just left for a morning of hunting with my Father-in-law.

The New Fireplace = Craiglist Love + a Newly Painted Wall.

I LOVE Craigslist! I mean I adore that site! I must check it out at least twice a day. I have recently been on a Craigslist splurge which the Hubs and Bro are not too thrilled about! Who has to lug it all around? Yup! Them!

I have been wanting a fire place for EVER and found on one Craigslist for $300. Yeah it was propane and I have no propane connection, yeah it was HUGE and I had no place yet to put it. But hey, yup. I got it. I actually got it for only $250 too! I was going to convert it to gel until I went to the house it previously belonged to and they whipped out a remote. Yup, a remote. After seeing all it could do I thought I'd be a fool to rip all that temperature controlled heat blowing goodness out of the fireplace and replace with nothing more than a glorified candle.

Next came the sale of our Ikea entertainment center. I sold that (with a bit of drama) and still had two tall white bookcases. I knew I wanted to use them in Squishy #1's room so I moved one in and put the other one in the hallway. In the MIDDLE of the hallway!

Yup... I'm just a bundle of fun! 

Here is what I sold:

Here is what I bought, complete with entire contents of entertainment center on top (temporarily of course).  It is still not hooked up (I need to call the propane guy) but it is beautiful! 

 

I thought it blended in with the wall too much so I decided to paint the wall behind it the same shade as the rest of our living room. After that the fire place looks MUCH better. Don't ya think? 

But.... I still think our entire walls look too *nekid (not a word) so I want to do picture molding and paint the bottom 1/2 white with chair rail. Yeah me!

And... it gives me an excuse to use my new nail gun! SCORE!

Now I have purchased a corner entertainment center to put all the A/V equipment on/in.  We eventually want to hang the LCD in the corner above it but for now it will sit on top of it. (After I finish painting it. That's happening today!)

My New Toy: Portable Nail Gun and Air Compressor

Ahhhhhhh.... Oooooooohhhhhh.... (and maybe a little drool).  That's what happened when I saw that Lowe's (one of my favorite places) was having this nail gun/ air compressor kit as part of their Black Friday sales. Well, actually the sale started online Thursday at 12:00 a.m. but who's really counting?


Not you? Okay.... back to my story.


This little baby was on sale for only $59! Regular price is $99 and it did have review on their site and while two were negative (nail gun jamming, item stopped working) most were VERY positive and people loved it! For me who has been wanting a nail gun for like FOREVER... Perfection!


My husband graciously hopped online (albeit at 4 a.m.... our smallest Squishy woke up so we were up) and purchased it for me Thanksgiving morning! He's just one more thing I'm thankful for but I digress. We'll mention Hubs later.


Black Friday around 10:00 a.m., Hubs and I wandered over to Lowe's and picked it up! Yeah! Now it currently is still sitting in that lovely box (I know... Saturday... right? It should have already been unboxed and things nailed. I get it, I do)


But... you see I have this other little project I'm working on: My $100 Craigslist corner stand purchase. It all goes back to another purchase which kind of swung things into an interesting tailspin. I'll tell you about it next. Anyway, I'm currently trying my hand at spray paint (crazy right? Yup! That's me!) so we'll see how it turns out.

For now, I just stare at the box sitting on my kitchen floor (SIGH......) and wait. Until maybe next week and then that's it! I've gotta find something to nail! (in my house :o) of course)

My new blog and a giveaway reminder

Well after much debate and stubbornness I have decided that I needed a separate blog for our home. Our other blog Our Frugal Future has dealt with mostly saving money, recipes and just frugal fun. I felt I was putting too much personal family things into that blog where that was not the original intent.


Out of that thought this blog was born. Here is where I will showcase our decor, more recipes (yum) and just plain old household things. Please bare with me as I tweak our design and modify things (I'm always doing that anyway).  And don't forget to visit our money saving blog where we are still hosting reviews, giveaways and money saving tips.


On that note, our $20 CSN gift card giveaway ends Sunday at 4:00 p.m. Click HERE to enter that giveaway!