Saving Money on Eye Ware & Contacts

I went to the eye doctor yesterday and if there's one thing I've learned (or learned from my parents) it's that typically if you buy your glasses or contacts directly from your doctor, you will pay so much more than necessary. With the wonderful world wide web, it's super easy to find a great deal now.  All you have to do, is ask your eye doctor for a print out of your prescription.  In the past, I felt like my doctor would give an extra push to buy glasses and contacts from him.  Today, it went so well.  So, give it a try next time you're ready to order new eye ware.  It's not as scary as you might think!

So, where did I find my deals today?  My first was from Coastal.  With this site, you're able to get your first pair of glasses for "free"!  Now, nothing in life is ever really free, so of course you'll need to pay shipping, handling, & insurance.  But, $15.20 for a pair of prescription glasses is a great deal!

We Finished Another Marathon!

Hi everybody! I hope you had a wonderful weekend!  Bryan and I ran in our third Columbus Marathon on Sunday and believe it or not, we had a great time.  It wasn't always easy... and I hit several walls... But the best part about running with someone you love (and someone who loves you), is they keep you going.

When we ran our first marathon back in 2006, one thing that we didn't realize was that something that can help is outside motivation from fellow runners.  In order to get the attention, it can be so much fun to have a clever shirt.  Everybody likes to have something to read that makes them chuckle when they're twenty-something miles into a race.  So, we came up with these saying to put on the back of our shirts this year.  We weren't sure what the responses would be, but you wouldn't believe how many women AND men cheered us along.  It was really sweet to hear some quick stories about their spouses and their running careers together and apart.  We know we're incredibly lucky to have found each other  and we're able to share this passion together.

You can read a little bit about our first and second marathon (and a little love story) here!

No Sew Popcorn Costume for Baby

Update:  Voting is now open at Create Craft Love!!  So do me a favor, head on over HERE & vote for this adorable Baby Bag of Popcorn!  Lucky #47!  I'd love you for ever!

I'm not much of a seamstress (yet).  Which is why I love felt so, so much.  You can cut it and it won't fray, you can hot glue it, and it'll stay for (almost) ever!

I threw together this halloween costume for my little man in about 15 minutes.   The most annoying part of the whole process was waiting for my hot glue gun to get hot enough!  The entire thing is made from felt except for two pieces of ribbon that I looped through slits I cut in the felt which I used to tie onto the baby carrier.

I bought the felt by the yard at Jo-Ann's and was able to use a single sheet of white to wrap around the front of me & the baby carrier.  I then cut (imperfect) straight strips in red.  This is a 15 minute project, no yard sticks required for straight lines!  Nobody will notice, anyway!  I finished it all off with a little label that just says "Popcorn".  Just incase anybody gets confused ;)

I used this costume last year and it's going to be hard to resist shoving my little man back into that carrier for this Begger's Night... Oh wait, his 30 pounds of heft should deter me from that, thankfully!

Have you started on Halloween costumes for your munchkins yet this year?  I am tossing around so many different ideas for my two gremlins.  I just need to decide soon and get a move on!

Janice

P.S.  I entered this costume in a contest over at Crazy Little Projects!  You should go check out all of the other wonderful ideas if you're looking for more inspiration.  

I linked up to these fabulous parties:  

Tatertots and Jello

                                                                    A Glimpse Inside

Crafty Bats

I explained yesterday that I am all about super quick crafts these days.  Well, this one was probably more cheating than the banner I threw together.  But I can't resist sharing this because these bats are just too cute!

You can find the outlines for the bats here!

I used the smallest bats at one corner and progressively had them grow larger by the last window.

An Explanation & a Simple Thankful Banner

Maybe it's the days that are getting shorter that is truly sucking the time out of my days.  I have never felt stretched as thin as I have in the last couple of weeks.  Hence, the lack of posts.  Gosh... I'm sorry.  Really.  I've let you down.

I really have been working on projects here and there... although, all of them are only half done.  The kid's bathroom is still a work in progress.  Although, they are both finally back in there and out of our tub!  Small victories!

The husband and I are still "training" for the Columbus marathon this upcoming Sunday.  We are both struggling with crazy knee injuries.  In other words, we're getting old... we've had too many kids... and there's just not enough time in the day!  This marathon is not going to be a pretty performance.  But we're okay with that.  I'm just so happy that we'll be out there (miserable) together.

The days are not only getting shorter, but they're getting colder too.  So any days that are nice enough to be outside when shoes are optional, we try to be out there!  We've been spending a lot of time out on the swing set.  And we also found some time to pick a bunch of apples.  Now, to find time to make some pie filling before those apples spoil!  Yes, it's on my to-do list.

I've only had time for ridiculously simple projects lately, but I feel like banners are the best way to pack a punch!  My mom gave me a stack of letters that were already cut out of amazing craft paper but just needed to be hung up.  Here's my mom's banner in her home:

Silly, Spooky, Simple Spiders!

I am a huge fan of fast and easy crafts that I can start and finish in a nap time... maybe two.  This silly project was not only fast, but super inexpensive!

All of the supplies... minus the spray paint & hot glue, were found at Dollar Tree!  

Here's what you'll need to pick up:

• 3 foam "carvable" pumpkins
• 24 pipe cleaners
• 1 bag of Googlie Eyes

Yup, that's it!  5 bucks!

Not a complicated project here!  Spray paint your pumpkins, hot glue a bunch of eyes (I used almost an entire pack on these 3 pumpkins).  Then, arrange 8 pipe cleaners per pumpkin however you want!

These pumpkins were literally cracking me up while I was making them.  I bought these pumpkins planning on making some sort of "topiary" with the three pumpkins stacked on each other.  I'm sure that would have been cute, too... but I couldn't resist this somewhat spooky, silly, simple spiders!

So there you have it!  What have you been working on lately?

Janice

I linked up to these fabulous parties: 

Clean And Scentsible

Rustic Fall Wreath

Hello! And Happy October!  Today I'm sharing my Fall Wreath I recently put up.  It seems like time is just flying by and we've been super busy around here!  I'm looking forward to posting more often the next several weeks!

This is probably the most "traditional" fall wreath I have ever had on my door.  I have to say, I'm kinda loving the muted fall colors, though.  I like being able to buy stems of flowers and cutting them down keeping enough stem to tuck into the grapevine wreath.  That means, there was no glueing required at all!  Even the bow is just held on with a twist tie! 

Maple Leaves, Grapevine Wreath, Raspberry Stem, Green Ribbon, Hydrangeas

This is the first time I've used a "messy" grapevine wreath, too!  It definitely gave the illusion of a much fuller wreath.

If you're in the midwest, I hope you're enjoying this amazing fall weather!  How's the Fall so far where you are?

Janice