Warmer Days

What a busy Spring it's been so far! I can't believe May is practically half over. I'm so thankful that the weather is finally warming up and I don't have to freeze while working outside. :)

At the end of March Chris and I spent 6 nights & 7 days in one of our favorite places - Pigeon Forge, Tennessee! We had such a nice, relaxing time and it was bittersweet to come home. We visited Cades Cove for the first time and that was such a beautiful drive. Definitely recommend that one to anyone visiting the area. As always, we returned home with new memories very much looking forward to returning there again hopefully sooner rather than later. :) We just never get tired of that place! If you've never been, don't judge us but rather go experience it for yourself. It's funny how you just can't accurately describe that vacation spot to anyone that hasn't ever been there. Anyone who's been there knows what I'm talking about though!!  

April was a whirlwind for me. Garden work and yard clean up have had me in high gear. I also started scheming up ways to surprise my husband for his 30th birthday which was May 3rd. Neither Chris or I are big party people but I decided to do some special things to help Chris ring in his 30's in several memorable, fun ways! All in all I'd say the weekend was a success and I'm so thankful for everyone who helped me carry out some crazy ideas. Since his birthday was a Friday, I contacted my cousin & brother-in-law Chad (weird, I know) who happens to ALSO be Chris' boss and he helped me work it out that we could SURPRISE Chris with a day off work! It was pretty hilarious because Chris does payroll among many other things which he used to do every Friday. Well, if he didn't know he was going to be gone that Friday, no one would get paychecks! So -- Chad being the genius that he is, came up with an excuse two weeks prior that would make Chris start doing payroll on Thursdays instead just so that he wouldn't get suspicious and paychecks would still go out that week. It worked like a charm! Needless to say when I surprised Chris Thursday evening with Iron Man 3 movie tickets for the following afternoon (his birthday) and informed him that he wouldn't be going to work he was very surprised! :) We had a fun day together. I was also able to surprise him with cards from his friends and family that were filled with well wishes and memories of years gone by to help usher him into his 30's. So thankful to everyone who participated and sent cards back! The day after his birthday I escorted him to his parent's farm for a surprise party filled with both our immediate families. I'm pretty sure he was on overload by that point. Poor Chris -- such a good sport!!

It's golf season again! Chris and his Dad play in a golf league every Tuesday evening so I use that opportunity to hang out with my dear mother-in-law and sister-in-law (Tanya) some of the weeks! Tonight we were able to add Elana to our fun as Chad was out with some guy friends so that was a nice treat! Especially since it involved Mikie's ice cream!!!! Yum! Thanks for the lovely dinner ladies. So thankful for my second family.

Next weekend is Memorial Day weekend already and I am so excited for that! My family was able to work it out to all go camping together just like we used to before our lives got crazy. :) Last year we were able to go too but it was really hot and the weekend got cut short because of some crazy thunderstorms and torrential downpours of rain. :( Hoping for much better weather this year!

Good Deals & Free Things

Who doesn't love a good deal? In my early teen years I saved up my hard earned paper route money to buy myself a trampoline. I made sure to scout out the best deal possible and when I finally had enough money saved, Scott took me to get my long awaited trampoline!! A few days after I made the large purchase I had a dream (nightmare actually) that I found the trampoline cheaper at another store. :( Needless to say I was relieved when I woke up and realized it was just a dream! Whew! Haha! To this day I still try to scout out the stores for the best items/place to purchase things as to spend my money as wisely as possible.

Last week I received this entire case of Biscoff Spread absolutely free!! A few weeks ago they advertised this opportunity via their Facebook to the first 4,000 participants and I was one of them. What fun!

It's interesting to me all the things that you can get for free in this day and age. A lot of companies host contests on Facebook or simply give away free samples via their website, etc. Sadly, a lot of them are at specific times throughout the day or random times that you need to just "happen upon". This is where deal blogs come in very handy!! I have compiled a collection of blogs that I check several times a day when I have the chance. They take most of the work out of keeping up with the giveaways and have been so helpful to me. Here are my favorites:

Hunt4Freebies - "Your One Stop Shop For Freebies & Deals"

For the Mommas - Real Savings, Real Solutions

Sample Stuff - Saving Money, Made Easy

Bargain Blessings - Save Like Never Before

Money Saving Mom - Helping You Be A Better Home Economist

Hip2Save - So You Want To Save A Buck? You're In Luck!

Because of the information I read on these blogs we get several free magazine subscriptions, a subscription to the Wall Street Journal newspaper, tons of shampoo/lotion samples, lots of razors, a few reusable shopping bags, oodles of tea/coffee samples, many t-shirts, two pairs of Nike sneakers, roses, and so much more! ALL FREE!! I've always loved getting mail and when the mailbox is filled with these special surprises several times a week it's even cooler. :)

It does take some time to keep up with some of this stuff but if it's something that interests you, hopefully these blogs will help you out as much as they have me. 

While the blogs have deal information as well as free stuff information, there are some other websites that I check regularly that are specifically for deal finding. Chris and I have found many great items on both of the following websites that have enabled us to purchase things for our home or ourselves that we may not have been able to purchase at full price. They can be found here:

slickdeals - The largest and best community driven deal sharing site for deals and coupons!

Woot - One Deal A Day

And last but not least, I have been blessed to win some free cabin stays in Tennessee via Sugar Maple Cabins Facebook page. We stayed with this cabin company on our honeymoon and have been back several times since. We love the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg/Sevierville area. Last April I won a two night stay in one of their cabins that Chris and I are planning to take advantage of next month!! We are so excited to get away for a bit.

Fast Forward 3 Months

Has it really been over 3 months since I last blogged? Oh dear. I'm fired.


On October 30th, Chris and I celebrated 7 years of marriage. What an amazing, wild ride it has been so far! I'm so blessed to be married to my best friend. I'm excited to see what the next 7 years and beyond will hold for us. God has blessed us greatly.

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I won a 2 night cabin stay in Tennessee early on in 2011. We were able to take advantage of this getaway in the middle of November. Over my epic 11-11-11 birthday even!! We had a wonderful time away making new, fun memories in a place that we both enjoy so much. Some highlights included Krispy Kreme doughnuts, amazing mountain views (including watching the sun come up from behind those mountains the morning of my 27th birthday), hiking to Clingman's Dome which is the highest point in Tennessee (6,643 Feet), and shopping!!!! :)

At the end of September, one of our tenants informed us that he was in the process of purchasing a house and would be moving out at the end of November. This tenant had been living in half of our duplex since before we bought the property in 2005 so we were sad to see him go. With his upcoming departure, we knew we'd have to bite the bullet and do some fixing up. Our plans were to give it a good cleaning, fix up the major issues, and repaint everything so that it looked more presentable. Did I mention we wanted to have it done in a month? Sadly, that one month turned into two and our December/January months were insanely chaotic. With the exception of a few, we spent every evening and every Saturday working at the rental. We still haven't found a new tenant and we just have a few things to finish up tomorrow morning. We will be SO very glad to call it DONE and get a new (hopefully decent) tenant. What a wild journey. Now that both sides of the duplex are remodeled, we can hopefully rest easy for awhile in that aspect of our lives. While it's a lot of work, I am very thankful that Chris and I are able to work together to complete the tasks and for the income it provides. Maybe someday I'll post pictures of the transformation for those of you that don't have access to them on Facebook.


Somewhere in all that chaos we celebrated Christmas! It all just seems like a blur to me now. There hasn't been much snow this winter at all and we've been having an abnormally large amount of rain. The ground is so moist that I wonder if it will ever dry out for Spring garden planting! I know it's only the beginning of February (and there is currently a little bit of snow on the ground) but I find myself getting excited about planting things and warmer/longer days ahead. I still love snow and I'm hoping for at least a whopper that keeps Chris home a day or two yet. :) We shall see!


Now that the rental remodel is nearly complete, our energies will get back on task with our basement project. I've been slowly working on things during the day while I have some free time here at home. Major items left for the project include refinishing the steps, painting trim/walls, and putting down the new floor. So excited to see our basement transformed into the space we've been dreaming about since we moved here almost 4 years ago. I will end with a picture of the wood stove area progress. Nothing around the area is finished but at least the new stone and wood stove look great. My husband really outdid himself this time!!! :) LOVE this "new" space!