I have had lots of inquiries about the fabric for my living room curtains. I got it from Fabric.com ~ it is the Waverly Ellis Hemp. I cut the 54” width in half to make 2 panels out of each section. They are not huge and fluffy, but they frame the windows nicely and the price was right for $40 for all 4 panels!

Banana Republic, GAP, and Old Navy have an additional 40% off, today only online! Enter MONDAY40AB at checkout, plus free shipping over $50.

*****************

When you sign up at Hallmark for emails, you’ll get a $10 off a $10 purchase coupon. Love free stuff! Also, be on the lookout in many magazines for a $5 off a $5 purchase coupon. I found mine in Real Simple.

******************

I am loving my laptop with the new Intel® Core™ i5 processor.

Did I ever introduce you to my old laptop? No? Well, please take a look:

It was a BEAST. Half the keys were missing (I let the kids play a game in their room on it, they left it out, and my baby found it) and it was so SLOW.

Some GREAT appliance deals going on right now!

Check out Home Depot’s Pre-Black Friday Appliance Sale! (lowest prices of the year!)

We got our gas convection range: Maytag self cleaning, convection oven $598 + free shipping (also available in electric)

We don’t “need” a refrigerator, but I know some of you are on the hunt:

 Maytag French Door Refrigerator $1198 + free shipping

Tons more, front loading washers, dryers, other appliances, depends on what you’re looking for…other stuff on sale as well!

{click here to see my favorite things from last year’s party. I wish the links were still up from last year’s party!}

There are a few more things I wanted to add this year:

We Had Everything But Money

I can’t tell you how much I love this book. My mom showed it to me when she was visiting last spring. It has the neatest experiences of people living in the Great Depression. I love reading of how they helped one another, how they “made do” with everything. It brings me back to a simpler time, and is a beautiful reminder that happiness doesn’t come from things …just remember that as we’re sharing “things today :)

(it looks like Amazon is out of it right now, but check Ebay or Half.com!)

Look at these colors! I dub Brooke, from All Things Thrifty, the queen of color. She uses it boldly and it pays off: I love the quote on her blog:  "Creativity takes courage."~Henri Mattisse.

She has a talent (that I am completely jealous of) of bringing bold pops of color together to completely finish a room and give it new life. I am going to try to get my “All Things Thrifty mindset” on as I tackle my kids’ rooms and family room and try to be more daring with color, because I could look at her photos all day. She also has 3 beautiful kids and is expecting #4 in January!

Here are some great questions to get to know Brooke

Did you see what they did on their backyard blockwall?

This girl does wonders with her projector.

Her $12 leaf stenciled wall..such a big impact for so little $$!

She has tons of step by step tutorials as well …so excited to have her visiting today :)

*************************************

This is a compensated review by BlogHer and Intel. I received a laptop for compensation and will tell you my honest thoughts about it…

a typical Wednesday:

wake up at 6:45 after hitting the snooze 3 times, scriptures, plan day, wake kids up, get them going, get workout clothes on, start laundry, unload dishwasher, kids’ breakfast with scriptures, family prayer, piano practice, notebooks signed, permission slips in backpacks, pack lunches, find other shoe,

look for the purple headband, kids on bus, clean up lunch making mess, Special Agent Oso & Dora on for boys, eat my breakfast, check email, Google Reader, download bank transactions and categorize, check deals, check budget, check Craigslist, Dora’s over (blast), turn off TV, turn off computer, switch laundry,