The Oasis

My birthday present from Chris was about 3-4 days of hard labor. When we moved into our house, we somehow neglected to notice just how hideous part of the backyard was. The area behind the garage was gravel instead of grass, and not having much space in the backyard to begin with, I knew that I wanted to expand the green space to the hidden area. It was a lot more work than I thought that it would be.

Here you see the gravel, the overhanging tree from the neighbor, and the half of the tree trunks (the ones that Chris couldn't lift on his own) that the previous owners so graciously left us:


We began by piling up all of the gravel into the corner so we could prepare the area for grass and plants. The rest was put off for a few weeks, so then we had to deal with some nasty weeds that started growing all over the place.


We tried to recycle as much as we could. We kept about half of the gravel to use as the base for the furniture area and the rest was hauled away by a Craigslist-er. We also had quite a bit of mulch left from when we had three tree stumps removed from the yard, so we used that for the plants. Lastly, the odd square concrete piece in the picture above was transformed into the base of our Young House Love inspired firepit. A clearance furniture set, a few battery operated lights (there's no electricity back there), trimming of the tree branches, and more than a few trips to Lowe's left us with one of my favorite places at our whole house:


It's quickly becoming one of Lola's favorite spots too, as she always brings her toys over to that area instead of on the patio like before. I love the extra green, the warm fire, as well the country-like feeling you get when you're sitting back there at night and shut off from the rest of the world. Plus, how can you beat S'mores on your birthday? Best gift ever? I think so!

Coupon Crazy

I think I'm coming down with whatever illness my grandma has that causes her to shop for things simply because they're good deals. It's not that I'm buying things that I don't need, perhaps just things that I don't need now. But I'll need them someday, and I'll be able to find them in my neatly organized "grocery store" the day I do (now if that doesn't sound like a spitting image of Grandma, then I don't know what does!). I stumbled across a great site for coupon cutters called Fabulessly Frugal and now I am absolutely addicted. It gives a breakdown of somes uses for current coupons and sales that can often get you items for a huge discount, or even FREE! My lovely husband was nice enough to go along for the ride tonight (and even dig through the gross recycle can for some coupons I accidentally tossed) to humor me. He was a good sport, so I bought him a Twix bar...I had a coupon for it!

So here's tonight's breakdown:

OfficeMax -

HP 2 pack Black Ink: $26.99

Used 20% paper bag & $10 coupon from OfficeMax mailer

Saved: $15.40

Final Price: $11.59

Target -

Venus Embrace Razor: $7.94

Gillette Fusion Razor: $7.94

Gillette Shampoo: $3.59

Poptarts: $1.92 (on sale for $1.46)

Apples: $1.10/lb

(2) 10ct Bic Pens: $2.00

Used (2) $2.00 off razor coupons plus a coupon for FREE shampoo with the purchase of the Fusion, a $1.00 off coupon for 1 lb of apples (i.e. FREE apples), $0.75 off Poptarts, and (2) $1.00 off the purchase of two Bic products.

Received a $5 Target gift card for purchasing the two razors.

Saved: $11.80

Final Price: $12.64

Walgreens -

Softsoap Body Wash: $3.99

Conair Brush: $2.99

Huggies Wipes 216ct: $7.99

Flintstones Vitamins (my favs!): $7.99

Used a $2.00 and $1.00 off coupon for the vitamins and a $2.00 and $1.50 off coupon for the wipes.

Received $6 gift certificate for purchasing the body wash and brush (i.e body wash FREE and brush only $1!).

Saved: $12.50

Final Price: $10.47

Original Cost for Everything: $74.31

I paid: $34.70

I never would've thought that I could get things for free! Being the huge nerd that I am, I find that super exciting and the shopping experience was pretty fun f or me. I can't say the same for Chris, though. Especially since I had to split the Target and Walgreen purchases so he could first buy the items which got the gift certificates so I could then use the certificates on the rest of the purchases. Grandma would be proud, I'm sure!

And what makes me an even bigger nerd? My handy dandy receipt/coupon organizer. It's original intention was to provide me one spot to keep all of my receipts. I'm notorious for returning things without them, and it drives Chris bonkers. Now I know exactly where to find them, and there was even room left for all of my fun coupons!

Is it super lame that I'm looking forward to the ads and coupons that will be arriving with my newspaper this Sunday??

**Update**

I just returned from HyVee for my Sunday grocery shopping and ran across another awesome deal! Glade Fabric & Air Freshener on clearance from $5.39 to $0.50! I did a double-take too! I stocked up and came away with 12 bottles (although I don't know if I'll ever need that many!).

Original Cost for all 12: $64.68

I paid: $6.00

Bump Watch: 36 Weeks

I wanted a low-key birthday, so Chris and I went out to the Des Moines Rose Gardens and then ended up stumbling upon Greenwood Park. We'd never been and I've always wanted to go, but I've had problems convincing Chris that it'd be a good time. The gardens were beautiful and there were still some roses in bloom, but I can only imagine what it'd look like in the middle of summer with all of them in full bloom. Next year I'll go to find out! Does anyone know when roses bloom??

After walking around the gardens for a bit, we stopped to get a few photos of my growing belly. Here I am at 36 weeks:

After the photo op, we made our way over to a bench for a little rest. We noticed a little water peeking behind some trees and went to investigate. As we kept walking, we stumbled across a secluded lake in the middle of the city! It was super peaceful and relaxing just sitting there, feeling like we were miles outside of the city.

(Photo courtesy of PictureDesMoines.com)

One of my favorite things about Des Moines is that there are so many hidden oases right inside the city. Next up, I'll show you my very own oasis - right in my own backyard!

Restaurant.Com

I recently ran across this great deal at Restaurant.com:

I've never previously used the site myself, but I've heard everyone else talking about it. At $2 per $25 gift certificate, who could pass it up?! All you need to do is set up an account on their website and purchase away. I left their shop with four $25 gift certificates for a grand total of only $8 - I couldn't believe it! With my parents relocating soon to Omaha, I thought I'd buy a few for restaurants there so we could try out some new places. These are the gift certificates that I went with: Billy's in Lincoln, and Bistro 121, Lit, and The Melting Pot in Omaha. Unfortunately, there weren't too many restaurant options that I was interested in here in Des Moines, but luckily I found some for great restaurants when we travel. The gift certificates are good for one year so be sure to stock up if you have plans to hit KC, Minneapolis, etc!

This great deal ends tonight! Be sure to head here and get some for yourself!

SuperFreakonomics!

I love to read - particularly non-fiction. I've usually got three books going at once, and although it may take me awhile to get through them when I'm busy, they are conveniently located throughout the house so I can pick one up when I have the time. I always get the question of how I can read multiple books at once. To which I say, "How do you keep track of the 10 TV shows that you watch per week?" Your response: "Touché."

Current Reads

In my purse (for the bus ride to/from work): Eat, Pray, Love

--An interesting telling of a divorcee's year in pursuit of travel and happiness. The whole part in India bored me, but overall it's a good read so far.

On my nightstand: Lies Across America

--I'm only about 20 pages in, but thus far it's an astonishing account of the multiple historic sites, statues, plaques, etc that speckle our country and how they often misrepresent what actually happened. One fun fact from it: The "birthplace of Abraham Lincoln" which tourists so often visit was actually built 30 years after his death!

And, I'll admit it - in the bathroom :) : Lies My Teacher Told Me

--Again, I just started this one. It's by the same author, but it's far less intreguing so far. Same premise as Lies Across America, except this one talks about history textbooks. Perhaps it gets better as you go along, but I usually don't spend more than a page worth of time in there (because you were just dying to know!).

The best part is that I got these, and many of my books at garage sales for a whole 50 cents each! They're in like new condition and I can take my time on them if needed rather than be restricted by the library due dates. Although I do still frequent the library when a book comes out that I just have to read. I'm getting on the list for this one as soon as I can:

The first book was awesome and I can only imagine that this one will be even better. The authors even have a blog on the New York Times website to keep me happy during the interim between their books. Make sure to check out Freakonomics - I'm sure you'll be waiting in line for SuperFreakonomics if you do!

Freebie Bouquets

Check out the assortment of bouquets beautifying my humble abode:

A few orange-tipped roses on the dinner table-

Some tiny purple orchids in the entryway-

And these beautiful purple and green orchids gracing the stand in our front room-

No, it's not my birthday, or anniversary. Would it surprise you to learn that these weren't even from Chris? (Well, not me, considering he gave me a bag of flour for our first Valentine's Day.) They're actually from my friend's wedding two weeks ago, and the last two bouquets are still holding on! They gave away all of the ceremony and reception flowers to me and some other friends who stuck around until the end. I felt a little bad for taking them, but when else would I have such expensive flowers filling my house? If only I had visitors so they could be admired by my guests. :) She had a stunning Indian wedding - I sat mesmerized the entire time by everything happening in the ceremony. Even though it was all in Sanskrit and I had no idea why she was throwing rice over her head or holy water on her forehead, it was beautiful nonetheless. Hopefully I'll get some pictures up soon for some proof!