Secret Project: Revealed!

Remember when I showed off my new pillows, and mentioned a secret project? It's ready for reveal! I got the inspiration for this idea thanks to fabulous DIY projects put together by Kristal and Sarah. First, we stopped by Goodwill and grabbed a collection of mismatched frames, all for under $20.

Next came a can of primer and a can of white spray paint. I managed to paint part of our driveway white with this project; I tried to do it on the grass, but little bugs kept hopping on the frames and getting stuck in the paint. Ew.

An hour or two of dry time, and voila! Pretty, clean frames. I love that they don't match, but the white color ties them all together quite nicely. We also picked up white mats to go in the frames, to further tie them all together.

We picked out several black and white photos of us, as well as four sheets of coordinating scrapbook paper. I'm not going to lie; choosing a layout for the frames was difficult, but in the end we settled on this. It's not too asymmetrical, but there's enough to add a little visual interest.

So, what do you think? I love the way it all turned out, and we spent less than $75 on the whole project. That includes the cost of the frames, the pictures, the scrapbook paper, the paint, and a few new inserts and glass (we managed to break a few of them when we were taking the frames apart to paint).

We're still working on the curtain issue. The first set of panels we bought were a neutral color, and I think we really need to tie in the purple found in the rest of the accessories. There are two sets of curtains we ordered waiting for us at JC Penney, so hopefully one of those works. Otherwise, I'm seriously contemplating finding a fabric and just making curtains myself. It's shaping up to be the only alternative!

Let's Say Thanks

I just wanted to give a shout out to Xerox and its partners over at Let's Say Thanks. This program allows anyone to choose their favorite card design (submitted by children from across the country), enter their name and hometown, and choose a thank you message to send to a troop overseas. Xerox then prints the cards, along with the message, and sends them to our troops to let them know that we are thankful for them.

It literally takes only seconds, and will brighten someone's day. It must be so hard to be away from family and friends during the holidays, so if I can send a little holiday cheer I most definitely will!

Those are a few of my favorites, but there are dozens more designs to choose from. Kids are so creative!

Health Insurance Update

Remember when I talked about how our health insurance was changing? Once I got all the information, Matt and I sat down to take a good, hard look at our options. I was really leaning toward staying with my HMO, because I've always had HMOs and I was perfectly happy with our current coverage. The idea of the traditional medical plan with a deductible completely freaked me out.

My employer offered a side-by-side comparison of the plans, and even had a little quiz to take online to see which would be most cost effective. And you know what? That darn scary TMP won every time! Matt used to have a PPO that was similar, and his explanations along with the comparison charts really talked me off the ledge. The deductible with the TMP is only $200/individual or $600/family (which wouldn't apply to us since our total individual deductibles only add up to $400, but would be useful if you had more than one child). Doctors visits, prescriptions, glasses, etc. don't count toward the deductible, so we'll only have to pay a (slightly higher) copay. Since the TMP is coordinated through UHC, all of our doctors and pretty much every hospital in the St. Louis area is covered. I think we have a winner!

What I'm most excited about, however, is our foray into the world of flexible spending accounts, or FSAs. This nifty tool allows us to save money, tax-free, throughout the year to pay for medical expenses like copays, lab work, prescriptions, and even some OTC necessities. We'll get a debit card for most of the expenses, and if we can't use the debit card we'll submit our receipts. What's cool is, say I had to get $150 in lab work done in January, but there isn't that much in our FSA yet. We can still use it! Since we've committed the funds during our annual enrollment period, we can use them before they are actually taken out of my paycheck. Nifty, right? And if we have any left over at the end of the year, we'll just stock up on OTC stuff.

Let the Madness Begin!

The Christmas madness! I'm really struggling to come up with meaningful, affordable gifts this year for most of the people on my list. I did, however, pick up this adorable laptop decal from byrdiegraphics on Etsy. It was only $7, and will make the perfect Christmas gift for my sister, Kara. We helped my mom buy her a laptop for her 18th birthday in September, which took out most of our gift budget for her. I think this decal is adorable, and the turquoise will pop against her pink laptop.

The store has lots of other cute options, including wall decals. I'm seriously digging these; if only I had a place to put them!

They've got tons of options, and will even do custom orders. For those of you planning nurseries, or just redecorating, you should definitely check out their shop!

The Shed

We have two sheds in our backyard. One nice, new, compact shed that sits in the very corner, and then a metal monstrosity. Behold:

Cute, right? I personally would love to get rid of this shed, but its original owners were apparently big fans and they put it on a concrete slab. Concrete slab=not coming out of my yard. And so, we will forever have two sheds. I wanted to do something to improve its looks, though, and the rusting issue on the roof had to be fixed. A whole lot of Rust-Oleum and elbow grease later, I would like to introduce you to our new and improved shed!


Ain't she a beaut? Improvement times a 1000, if you ask me. She needs a few touch ups with the white paint we used on the sides, and I'll have to go back and fix my lopsided lines on the doors, but its definitely acceptable until spring. I'm so glad this project is done!

We finished another house project this weekend, but I'm in search of just the right curtains before I show it off. Oh, and these curtains also have to be found and installed before bunco tomorrow night. Eeeek!