June 27, 2007

It took us two more trips to Target to finally spend the rest of our gift card money. After the first trip we still had about $180 left to spend. On the first of two trips this past weekend we bought: an iron leafy wall sconce to go over the head of our bed, orange tea lights to go in the sconce's seven little candle holders, a frame for a really cool watercolor landscape I found to go in our bathroom, a flour sifter, a pair of tongs, a basting brush, and new handsoap pumps for the bathrooms. On the second trip, we bought two more frames for two more watercolor landscapes to go in the bathroom, a nifty soft sided cooler that will fit behind a car seat, a small duffle bag to use as a toiletry bag on trips, and stuff to make chocolate chip cookies.

We also spent our Linens n' Things gift card (just got another one on Saturday) : big round spatula for using in the new electric skillet, a nifty pizza cutter, a cooling rack for baked stuff, a 7" Santok knife by Farberware, and an orange pillow to go in the wicker chair in our room.

We spent the Walmart gift card mostly on groceries, but also bought some new shirts for Jamie, a new shirt for me, and a new cedar birdfeeder that will hopefully last longer against the squirrels than the plastic one we had. The squirrels completely chewed through most of the old plastic feeder. We got $50 Walmart card this weekend. There's not really much else we want (that we can actually buy cheaply at Walmart), so we'll probably put it towards groceries too.

The new crockpot and electric skillet have already been put to the test. Both work fabulously. I used the skillet to brown up 6 pounds of hamburger at once and then we made chili (using some of that hamburger) in the crockpot. YAY!

We also splurged and bought Jamie a new espresso machine from Starbucks. His old Krups machine died in route to NC for the second time (he had shipped it back to WA the day before he was supposed to fly back in January, so we had to ship it back to NC when we flew out to WA a few weeks later). He's had to go since January without a machine, and making several trips to Starbucks for a $4 mocha every week is kinda expensive especially since I usually get something too and the bill is closer to $8 or $10.

By luck, I got some free tickets to the zoo. We've been wanting to go for a long time and now we have no excuse not to go. I hope we can go this weekend, but the weather forecast isn't looking very promising for an outdoor activity. We'll make a decision Saturday morning. Luckily the zoo is only about an hour away!

June 17, 2007

June 17, 2007

Last Sunday we celebrated our wedding reception with the folks back in my hometown. My mom, the ladies of her church, and my grandparents threw us a nice little party. We had about 40 guests, and even my friend Shelly came!

We had cake, peanuts, veggies and dip, crackers and a cheeseball, cheese cubes, M&Ms, little pickles and olives, mini ham and cheese sandwiches, sausage balls, mints, and punch.

And, we got a ton of STUFF! We got:

Lots of kitchen stuff -- gadgets, spoons, baking pans, dish towels, casserole dishes, drinking glasses, tupperware, tablecloth, placemats, roasting pan, trash can, dish detergent, cleaning cloths, colander, cutting board, apron

Two lamps and shades

Two matching vases

An answering machine

$160 in cash

$65 in Walmart Cards

$380 in Target Cards

Plus we got a few checks before and after the party, and a few other gift cards beforehand too. Plus Mom framed a picture of us on our wedding day at the courthouse, a copy of our reception invitation, and a photo of us in our nice party clothes. We're going to hang those in our bedroom.

The party and hanging out with my folks was great, except that I had pulled something in my lower back on Friday afternoon before the party on Sunday and was in a LOT of pain all weekend. The backache took all week to finally ease off. Today isn't so bad.

Yesterday we braved the rain and thunderstorms to spend our $50 Belk's gift card and some of our Target money. Our "booty" from yesterday included:

A crystal egg tray, a 4 cup slanted measuring cup, a big spoon and slotted spoon, a whisk, and a manual can opener from Belks; and 2 pillows, a 300ct sheet set in orange, 2 250ct pillowcases in red, a silicone baking mat, a 40" fan, a 4qt crock pot, a 16" electric skillet, and a fire safe box from Target.

And we STILL have money to burn at Target. I think we've got all the kitchen stuff we have room for at the moment, so we might spend the rest of the gift cards on clothes for Jamie.

I hope to have pictures soon. Mom's going to burn them to a CD if Mema's computer will be nice and let them. We took "wedding" photos in Mema's yard on Saturday. Luckily, we took them before my back had me crying in pain.

Oohh, for the record, we went to IHOP for our one month anniversary and partook in delicious (though horribly bad for us) country fried steak. Jamie got the steak and eggs plate with pancakes and hasbrowns, and I got the regular dinner plate with a salad, mashed potatoes and onion rings. Mmmm so good!