Bargain...or NOT!

Dorothy(Mommy), The scarecrow(Daddy), The Lion(Brookie) and Todo(Teddy) off to follow the yellow brick road!

Did you ever buy something just because it was a bargain? I do this all the time and it ends up costing me more in the long run. For example, I may find some very cute pants for Brooke that only cost like $3. Well then the only shirt that I can ever find to match the darn pants cost me a small fortune.
It happened last year in October when I found the cutest little lion costume for Brooke. It was brand new and on sale for only $2.50, (regular retail 19.99) so I had to get it even though I already had a pumpkin costume for her. I decided I would save it until this year and she could wear it for Halloween '06!
Then, I decided it would be silly for her to go as a lion all by her lonesome, so I thought that Penn and I could be Dorothy and the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz. How cute would that be? Oh, and don't forget Big Ted would be Todo. I thought I would just hang the lion in the closet and wait until this Oct. to get the rest of the costumes.
October 'O6 rolled around pretty quickly so, I was off to find the costumes to match the lion. Little did I know that even the cheapest Dorothy costume is $35 plus tax and about $25 for ruby red shoes! The standard size was a little tight and too short-waisted! The cheapest scarecrow is about $30. It was pretty ugly too!
My $2.50 bargain was turning into a costly nightmare.
What's a girl to do?
Well I just had to get creative. Off to the thrift store to make a scarecrow.
I found jeans for $1.98 and a shirt for $3.88. Woo hoo! I also went to the craft store and bought a straw hat for $1.49, raffia for .98, felt for $2.00, and some leaves .99. That put Penn's costume at $10 plus tax. That is way cheaper than $30. Way to go me.;-)
The bigger challenge would be the Dorothy costume. I don't think they have those at the thrift store and well my sewing abilities are nonexistent. I seriously thought about becoming the wicked witch of the west. (Only because it would be an easy costume!) But, Christy C. quickly talked me out of it and offered to sew me a Dorothy! :-)
I found the fabric for $3, a slip for $6, shoes for $5, paint for $2, and socks for $5. Christy spent the day over at my house and we "designed" a complete Dorothy costume including shoes for about $20 plus tax.
My Dorothy costume was not exactly theatre quality, but it was great for trick or treating with my very sweet family and friends!
(Boy can I make a short story long!)
Anyway, my family costume ideas would normally have cost about $110 plus tax at a retail store and I got it done for just under $35 plus tax. That is almost 70% off!!!
$35 is not exactly $2.50, but I think it was money well spent. The pictures and memories are PRICELESS!!!

"Mulletville"

Remember this when you see a beautiful bubbling brook:
The words of a man's mouth are deep waters; The fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook. Proverbs 18:4
I took this picture of God's country on our trip. It doesn't even really capture the beauty compared to seeing it in person. You will have to see my scrapbook for more beautiful landscapes.
Penn and I went to Mulletville~I mean Gatlinburg, TN for our 4th anniversary celebration. He nicknamed it that due to the large amount of men there with a mullet. It was our first time leaving the Cooksie with a sitter overnight.(actually 2 nights.)
My mom, AKA Mimi arrived on Thurs. after driving 8 hours (usually only takes us 6~It is a mystery about the other 2 hours!) She came to keep Brooke. Anyway, we went out to O'Charleys for dinner. The waiter lost our order! Our food took a while to arrive, but at least we got it all for free. That was a nice time. We love to go out and get free food!
The next morning Penn and I packed up for a nice romantic adventure. (Oh did I mention, the period monster arrived on Tuesday! Is that TMI?) I was still determined to have a fun romantic trip. Even a couple of our friends gave us some anniversary gifts to use on our trip. That was so nice!!! Thanks y'all!
I packed slowly! I gave Mimi a thousand instructions. None of which she even seemed to take note of! ARG! I was hesitant to leave my precious angel! We did finally get out the door.
We were on the road and free from the little one. Penn kept looking in the back seat. I told him she wasn't going to appear magically back there. After a few miles we were fine. I even convinced him that we needed to stop for fries and milkshakes. He usually doesn't like to eat fries, but I knew if we got them he would gobble them up and sure enough he ate all of his and half of mine too!! Hey...has anyone ever had a heart freeze?(It is like a brain freeze, but in your heart instead.) I kept getting one everytime I drank my milkshake. Ouch! They do hurt.
Due to traffic into Gatlinburg, we obtained directions for a scenic route. This weekend is one of the most popular times to go to the mountains. People drive for days just to see the leaves change. The drive was so lovely! There were many rolling hills and so many beautiful fall colors. Penn has always wanted a lot of land with some rolling pastures and lots of trees too. Maybe one day!! We also saw tons of fall displays~you know the ones with the hay bales, pumpkins, mums, and scarecrows. EVERYTIME I would see one I would say "Hey! Look at that fall display!" There were hundreds and Penn almost went insane. I am still wanting to make a fall display for my front door!!!!
My friends Kerri and Mark decided to meet us up there. They just moved from New Orleans to Knoxville a couple of months ago and they were dying to see some old friends. Kerri surprised Mark with a trip to a B&B for his birthday. He was really excited. Their room was about $300 a night. Ouch!
Our room, on the other hand was FREE! It was not quite as nice of course! It did have a musty smell and the decor was also quite dated. The best thing about it was the cute old-fashioned stone fireplace. We let that thing run the whole entire time! Oh and remember the room was free, so I guess I can't complain! It was right on the strip and we could walk to all the "fun" attractions.
After settling in and tryin out our king-sized bed! Wink, Wink! We walked over to a little Mexican restaurant to meet Kerri and Mark. We all had some strawberry margaritas and they were yummy! The food could have been a little better.
After dinner, we went over to the $300 a night B&B where Kerri and Mark were staying. We wanted to check it out. We all just talked and had some wine. It was a lovely night. We finally retired around 2AM and we got to sleep in LATE with NO interruptions. AAHHHHHHHHHH! It was sooooooooo NICE!
The next day, we just explored Mulletville~I mean downtown. Penn really wanted to buy a new #20 racing jacket. He said he would feel like he fit in better, but I talked him out of it. Ha!
We let this lady convince us to go to a time share presentation. She said she would give us $100 cash, a $25 gift card to Texas Roadhouse, and 2 nights to their resort anywhere in the US for free. (To use within 2 years) All we had to do is listen for about an hour and a half. The resort was really nice and we are even thinking about joining it in the future, but we jetted out of there with our prizes and went straight to the outlet mall. We found Penn a new outfit. Later we met our friends again for dinner. We ate at the Brass Lantern Restaurant. They are supposed to have the best steaks in town. Needless to say, I have had better steaks, but the company and beer were quite delicious. The cheese and sausage dip was pretty good too.
After dinner, we explored the "Romance Shop". We refrained from buying anything, although I did talk our friends into buying a little something.
Next, we went on Ripley's Haunted Adventure. It is a year round haunted house. It was so silly. I just wanted to go, so I could hold on to my hubby real tight. Penn thought it was so hysterical. He just loved it when one of the "scary guys" threw something at us (hopefully just water in a sponge) and said "How about an extra portion of brains for you?" It was so creepy. Now Penn will say the brain comment every once in a while just to scare me!!!!
We finally went home around midnight and hit the sack.
The next day we checked out and went for some breakfast. After breakfast, we drove up the mountain motor trail for a little sight-seeing and then we were on the road to B-ham. I really wasn't ready to head home yet, but I suppose the little one was missing us. Yeah right!
We arrived home just as Brooke was waking up from her afternoon nap. My mom and I went up to get her out of bed and she chose Mimi over Mommy! :-( Oh well, it only took her just a few minutes to come around. We all went out to Texas Roadhouse for dinner and we used our $25 gift card. What a great time!!! Happy Anniversary, Honey! Here's to another year of marital bliss!;-)Thank you Lord for sending me my sweet Penn.

The Grand Ole Pumpkin Patch

The giant inflatable slide is sooo much fun!
Well today on Friday the 13th Brooke and I went to the "Grand Ole Pumpkin Patch" in Clanton and had a grand ole time! I arranged for the playgroup to go for our annual October pumpkin celebration. We had about 12 mommies and their children attend. Everyone seemed excited to have some fall fun!
The weather was unseasonable cold today! We arrived about 10:00AM and it was very windy and pretty darn chilly if I may say so myself! I wanted Brooke to wear a cute pumpkin outfit, but it was too cold. (I'll have to save for later.) I had to bundle her in layers of denim and fleece as I knew it would warm up as the day progressed.
While we waited for the whole crew to arrive, we played on the hay bales that were surrounded by huge pumpkins. Brooke also enjoyed swinging on the old wooden swing. After everyone arrived, we took a short tractor train ride around an open field. It was a dollar per person and not really worth it, but still fun. They probably could have used some seatbelts on that thing cause my little tootsie almost flew out a few times!
After the ride we thought it was about time to go and pick some pumpkins!!! We boarded and rode a very nice kind of old fashioned covered wagon out to the pumpkin patch. There we roamed in search of the "best" pumpkin ever. Most everyone wanted a really small one. That way it would be easier to lug it around. Brooke and I just played and we helped everyone pick their pumpkins. We didn't keep any because I already had an arm load of stuff.(camera, diapers, wallet, lunch, and treat bags for the kiddies) We took the wagon ride back to where we came from and had a fabulous picnic lunch by the barn. Some of the Mommies smelled the grill and bar-ba-que food cooking and ditched their PB & J for some "real" food. I was good and ate what I had packed for lunch. It was such a beautiful day and by this time it was really warm when sitting in the sun. (Still very cold in the shade.) It was great! We just sat and enjoyed God's green earth. Everyone seem to enjoy their lunch and the kids had fun with the pumpkin goodie bags that I made. (The weather was so nice that the chocolate didn't even melt!)
After the picnic we were on a mission to explore the pumpkin inflatables. We arrived and were supposed to have a "special deal" since we were with a playgroup, but the "Inflatable Nazi" would agree to my terms.(I'll save it for another blog.) Needless to say, we did go and jump for a while. Brooke and I went down the giant slide several times (picture above) It was VERY fun. You know Brooke is quite the adventurous one!!!
After jumping, we decided to go to the barn to do some shopping~The barn was supposed to be stocked with fabulous fall crafts and decor, but they had absolutely nothing worth buying!
One of the Mommies was craving a homemade cupcake and so we set out on yet another mission to find this much wanted cupcake. Well...we did finally find homemade cupcakes and we all had one. They were yummy & delicious! What a great way to end the day! We all headed back north for a long afternoon nap.

Happy Birthday Playgroup!

Can you believe I have been a stay at home Mom now for an entire year? I quit teaching last year in September and I started a playgroup called Mommy & Me Fun Fridays. At first, we met every Friday at tenish for an assortment of planned activities. In January we decided to cut back. Every week was a little often, so we changed our meetings to bimonthly. It has been much better as far as planning. Frankly, I was running out of activities! And...now it gives the members of the group time to miss each other in between each playgroup.
Well, today was the 1st birthday celebration of the playgroup. We had to go to the kid's market sale.(I guess you could say its a tradition! That's what we did last year, although I didn't think it was as good this year.) After shopping we planned to meet at the McDonald's on Valleydale for a special Seasame Street party. (Brooke loves anything to do with ELMO.) We arrived at 11:00. The children played and then we had a little lunch. After lunch, we played some more and had cake and ice cream. Each child received a special treat bag and played a little more. Everyone finally left for naps around 1:45. It was a very nice celebration.
Over the past year, the playgroup has met for at least 30 different activities. We have also reached out to about 30 to 40 mommies that have accepted an invitation to come to playgroup and socialize their children with other Christian mommies. It has been a blessing to me and I look forward to see what God has in store for this next year of Mommy and Me Fun Fridays!!