Recovered Infant Seat

Mar 20, 2012 by Lindsay

When Andrew was born we had a brand new car seat, stroller, crib, changing pad, you get the idea. First baby = nice new baby gear. All three boys have used all the same gear and while it washes well it has gotten lots of use! I thought about the possibility of a new infant seat for this baby but it just didn’t seem practical when ours is still perfectly safe, just a little tired looking. So I found the idea on Pinterest to recover the seat and I am so happy with the way it turned out. I followed these instructions almost exactly with a few minor adjustments for my particular seat.

Here is the best picture I could find for a “before” shot. That’s Andrew at just 2 days old!

I started by dissecting the entire carseat, I took apart every section at the seam with a seam ripper. I made sure to take pictures of the pieces as I took them apart so I would know which pieces went where when I put it all back together!

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DIY Wall Art

Nov 4, 2011 by Lindsay

So as I mentioned Wednesday I just completed what I think might be my favorite DIY project to date! I got the idea and instructions from this tutorial on The Lettered Cottage. While I was in Ohio Spencer built the frame and placed the slats for me.

When I got home I stained it (I ended up using just the stain, gloves and cheapo paintbrush pictured, it applied just the right amount of stain on the first application, so just disregard the foam brush and rags.)

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Homemade Baby Food

Aug 17, 2011 by Lindsay

I am here to share yet another way I have found to save money! Andrew and Joshua never ate homemade baby food, but with Zachary I knew that I didn’t want to add $14 worth of baby food to the grocery list every week, so we gave this a try and I will never go back!

For vegetables I buy mostly frozen, some fresh. For fruit I have done fresh, canned or frozen as well.

I have made sweet potatoes, squash, green beans, corn, carrots, peas, peaches, pears, blueberries and bananas. (I have not bothered to make my own apples, I just buy natural applesauce in the big container from the store, it’s fairly cheap and I figure it’s ok to cop out on that one!)

Today I made spaghetti squash. First you cook the squash (or any of the vegetables you are making) I put mine in the microwave in a small amount of water and cook it until it’s tender. Then just scrape out the contents of the squash and put it in the blender. (If this were fresh carrots/sweet potatoes/different kind of squash I would peel the skin off first, then cook them and just transfer it to the blender.)

Add a small amount of hot water (I use the cooking water) and blend until it’s a good consistency for your baby to eat. Then I transfer my puréed baby food to a 4 cup measuring cup for easy pouring. Pour your baby food into ice cube trays and put them in the freezer.

Once your cubes are frozen you can transfer them to freezer bags.

When it’s time to eat just pick out a few different fruits and veggies and pop them in the microwave! On the menu today was carrots, peas, squash and peaches!

I add a little bit of cereal to thicken it up.

And I have one satisfied boy!!!

For those that are interested I did a little price comparison. If you buy pre-made baby food you get 2 containers for about $1.10. Zachary eats the equivalent of 2 containers per meal. So that’s $2.20 per day to feed him.

On average it costs me $1 to make 1 ice cube tray of homemade food. That’s $.07 per cube and he eats 6 per meal. So that’s $0.42 per meal, or $0.84 per day. Over 50% savings!

In half an hour you can make two kinds of fruits and two kinds of vegetables that will last you for 2 weeks and you won’t have to think about adding baby food to your grocery list! Happy puréeing!

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DIY – Crib rail protector

Jul 20, 2011 by Lindsay

When a woman finds out she is expecting her first child I would say it’s not too long after those two lines appear that they start to dream about the nursery that will house their tiny new miracle. You envision colors, furniture, look for just the right bedding, wash everything in baby detergent, arrange everything just so and eventually welcome your tiny miss or mister into their new home! Anywhere between 9 and 12 months that little miracle of yours learns how to pull up on the bars of their beautiful crib and eventually find that their wet, swollen gums find relief when they clamp their little mouths around the bar. Eventually that first little snaggle tooth pops through. But they continue to sprout more and more teeth and continue to gnaw on their crib rail until lo and behold you are left with a scratched, chipped crib rail to use for future babies. Is this just my kids? No? Well anyways, as much as I love my kids and I know that material things are never going to stay perfect I like to take care of the things that we have. Enter, the crib rail protector….

A few weeks ago a friend had a link on her Facebook wall about a homemade crib rail protector she found on Etsy and was wondering if someone could make something comparable. I looked at the pictures and thought, sure, I’ll try! So we chatted back and forth and I got some measurements from her along with the details of her crib bedding and I gave it a go! I made up my own”pattern” as I went and by some stroke of luck, it actually turned out! I loved it so much I decided to make some for my little dudes cribs!

*Disclaimer – I used a fabric that is hard to see right side and wrong side, I apologize for that! I am not a pro with our camera and so I know that some of the pictures are a little dark, I apologize for that also! Lastly, I don’t know if I’ll be able to explain this very clearly, so please bear with me!

You’ll need

fabric, batting (I used 80%), ribbon and a sewing machine

First you need to measure around your crib rail (diameter) and that is how wide you want your finished cover to be. My finished cover is just under 6 inches. So I used batting that was 7 inches wide (allow for seams) and fabric that was about 16 inches wide (it needs to fold over your batting and allow room for seams.)

Cut your ribbon to the length you want and then space them along your fabric, which should be folded in half with the wrong side facing OUT.

Once you have the ribbon where you want it you need to tuck it inside the folded fabric, and pin in place on the fold of the fabric.

Line one side of your batting up with the folded edge of your fabric and stitch along the edge making sure you are sewing the batting, both layers of fabric and the ribbon in.

When you open it up, it should look like this.

*This is where it gets hard to explain, don’t give up on me yet!*

Now, line up another piece of ribbon opposite your already sewn ribbon and pin it in place making sure that the tail of the ribbon is going to be tucked in while you sew, that way when you turn the whole thing right side out, your ribbons will be on the outside, not the inside! Then fold your fabric and batting back up and re-pin in place.

At this point you should not see ribbon, it should be tucked inside the fabric “pouch.”  Make sure that all pieces of ribbon are tucked down towards the already sewn edge of your cover so you don’t catch them in your seam as you are sewing.

(Front of “pouch”)

(Back of “pouch”)

Now, this time sew with the batting side up to make sure that you are catching just the edge of it in your seam.

It will look like this when finished. Trim the excess fabric off the long side.

Sew up one end of your cover while it is still inside out and trim the excess.

Now on, the opposite end from what you just sewed shut you should be able to open between the two layers of fabric, reach in and pull it right side out.

Ta-da!!! An *almost* finished cover!

Now sew up your unfinished edge either by hand or on your machine.

Trim the ends of your ribbon and burn them so they won’t fray.

Tie your finished cover to your crib!!!

Depending on the style of your crib you could go wild and crazy and make one for every edge. I will more than likely make one for the other long side of our crib since it is the same height as the front and my teething baby probably won’t discriminate between the front and the back for his teething needs

(Alphabet banner cards were printed for FREE from this awesome blog! Just look under “sneak peak” and then under “freebies.”)

 

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Coupon Shopping = abundance

May 27, 2011 by Lindsay

So I have been using coupons for a few months now. Learning to use coupons was on my list of New Year’s resolutions in 2010… and I never did it. But this year I decided that I had to learn how to save some money. Being a stay at home mommy means I don’t bring in any money, but I feel like it’s my responsibility to save where I can!

That being said, I am going to attempt to share what I do…..keep in mind that I am no pro at this, I taught myself by looking at a few websites and store ads! haha!

1 – The first thing I did was to start my coupon stash. Spencer’s parents and grandparents both receive the Sunday paper and do not use their coupons and the graciously let me have them! The very first thing I do when I get my coupons for the week is to sort them. I immediately take out the coupons I need/will use and throw the rest away. This helps me avoid purchasing something just because it’s a killer deal, instead I only buy the things we need.

2 – Organize my coupons. I started out with just a little accordion coupon holder, but I found that I had too many coupons for that and it was hard to see what coupons I had. So now I have a little 3-ring binder with baseball card holders that makes it easy to separate my coupons by type/brand/whatever and see them all easily.

3 – Pick a couple of stores to focus on. This is a very important step in order to maintain your sanity! In my area there are so many stores with great deals – Albertson’s, Walgreens, CVS, Winn Dixie, Sweetbay, Publix. If I tried to shop all these places I know I would go crazy. It’s very easy to get overwhelmed with coupons when you are first starting so make it easy on yourself and set the bar low. Don’t expect to cut your grocery bill from $150 a week down to $5, that’s unrealistic! I decided that I was going to shop at Publix and CVS because those were stores that I was already familiar with and are close to my house!

4 – Collect store ads and study them. In our area the grocery store ads change on Wednesday or Thursday and the pharmacy stores change on Saturdays or Sundays. You can get new ads in the mail, get them in the Sunday paper or just view them online! Once you see their ads you will start to understand how the sales work.

5- Organize coupons that coordinate with the deals of the week, write out exact products and quantity to purchase and GO! haha!

I am going to attempt to share one specific example of a deal I got at CVS this week and then share about my entire purchase.

This week CVS had Revlon nail polish on sale for $4.99 per bottle. With each bottle purchased you would receive $4 extra care bucks (CVS money) and I also had $1 off manufacturer coupon. So I spent $3.99 per bottle out of pocket but then I received $4 to spend at CVS later. So technically they paid me $0.01 for the nail polish!

The key that I have found is to buy products that are on sale, or have an extra bucks deal AND I have a coupon for.

This week I purchased the following at CVS

I spent $36 out of pocket, but I received $24 in extra care bucks

Then today I went back to CVS and purchased the following.

My total was $29 but I used some of my extra care bucks and got my total down to $6 out of pocket, then I received $14 in extra care bucks. So total this week I spent $42 out of pocket and received $38 in extra care bucks, so I basically got everything pictured for $6! Make sense? (Please say yes! haha!) I have found that some weeks I spend more out of pocket in order to obtain extra care bucks, and then for the few weeks following I don’t have to pay for anything but tax on my bill. It’s kinda like a cycle. Also, this was a big week at CVS for me, most weeks its only a few items, or none at all!

I have loved couponing so far. I have been saving big time on toiletries, household items, condiments, cereal and some snacky things, all things that we always need! But the thing about couponing is that it is easy to get carried away and want to accumulate things that we won’t use for a very long time. I feel like since I can get things for so cheap and we have as much as we need for a long time I should give out of our abundance. One of the couponing sites I check on a regular basis is Money Saving Mom, she shared earlier this week a tangible way that we can help those in need. She asked that whoever can would send items like toiletries, non-perishable food, towels and blankets to those affected by the recent tornadoes. So I went through my stash…..

And along with some of the purchases from this week I found some things that I think will be helpful to those in need right now. All of which I paid next to nothing for.

If you would like a list of items that can be sent to help tornado victims, go to her post here. Or find somewhere right in your own town that helps those in need can could use your items. Happy couponing!

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Californ-i-a

May 11, 2011 by Lindsay

Spencer, Zachary and I spent last week in California. We attended the ASMC conference filled with all things Apple! Spencer spent most days in meetings and we joined him for meals, meetings when we could, and got really lucky when we found a Target IN a mall while on the hunt for some mylicon for Z-man!

It was a treat to only have one boy to take care of, I took my time getting ready in the mornings, read three books, took naps, sat in the sun….it was great!

Zachary was a great little traveler. He had some fussy days and was way off schedule with the time change, but overall he did great. Daddy even got him a book signed by the Woz! haha!

We stayed in San José but one afternoon Spencer had a meeting in Cupertino at Apple, or the “Mothership” as some called it!

After the meeting we headed to San Francisco to see the Golden Gate Bridge and eat dinner.

I kept comparing everything in San Francisco to Full House! I grew up watching that show, and so when I think of San Francisco, I think of Uncle Jesse and the Olsen twins! haha!

We ate dinner in downtown San Francisco and then drove around for a bit. It was crazy, people, cars, hills, buildings, street cars, I am definitely not cut out for the city life. I like to visit and then go home to my quiet little house!

(Sorry for the poor picture quality, it was late, cold and windy so we didn’t check to make sure they turned out ok!)

On our last day Spencer only had morning meetings and then we headed to Monterey Bay with the group and went to the aquarium and dinner.

This picture is for Spencer’s Grandma!

If you know me well then you have probably seen me stand like this, usually when I am leaning against the counter washing dishes, cutting up food or in the bathroom getting ready in the morning. My mom used to do it too, and I think my sister does as well. It’s comfortable for me and I do it without realizing it. I couldn’t resist when I saw this flamingo picture because that’s what it reminds me of! Haha!

Zachary all bundled up on our way to dinner!

One of the biggest hi-lights on the trip was all the wonderful food! All of our meals were provided by the conference and it was seriously the best food I have ever eaten! There was always fresh fruit, vegetables, salads, fish and more desserts than any one person needs Let’s just say that coming home and having to cook has been less than thrilling! I couldn’t resist taking a few pictures….try not to drool on your computer!

I was so thankful for a chance to get away, but as always it was wonderful to get home to our big boys!

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