Craigslist Gems

So Other then yard sales I have been hunting on craigslist fo some needed items. They may not seem needed, but let me justify them to you.

We got this entertainment center. It is going to get a new fresh coat of paint and doors put on it. We are also going to get another shelf. This shelf retail was $475 we bought it off of craigslist for $150 and that included delivery.
This georgeous mirror, enlarges our very small living room. It retails for $700-$1000 we got it for $25
We were given a sleeper sofa from mom and dad wierschke. I had put a slipcover over it, after a little while Brettwould rip the slipcover off for fun. It got so frustrating that I started looking for a new one on craigslist that matched our decor. Lucky me, I found a desired sleeper sofa that matched our decor and was in our budget. The couch retail in anywhere from $360-$600 we got it for $75. Why would we want a sleeper sofa? Well the answer isn't so that we would have a place for our guests to sleep. I mentioned that we have a small living room, Scroll down and see what we did. It went from a sleeper sofa to a........

TOYBOX!!!!! We took out the sleeper mechanism and turned it into Brett's toybox. Can you tell that my husband is an Engineer. He has a million great ideas, that make my life easier. Thanks Dad Wierschke for your help.
We also acquired a bedroom ceiling fan. Since it is fall and cool outside, it is sitting in a box in the basement. So I was not able to get an pictures. My next purchase is a Brio Train set. I am going to pick it up on Thursday, should all go well.

It Could Be Nothing, But I Could Be Something

For those who do not have us as friends on facebook, here is what is going on with Kate.

When Kate was two weeks old I noticed that she had a little dimple in her skin right above her heart. When I felt it, I could feel that this dimple was a little deeper then it looked. I asked the doctor to take a look at it, at Kate's two week check up. The doctor explained that when Kate was a fetus, her skin didn't close all of the way at this place on her chest. Upon further investigation the doctor concluded that she didn't feel that it was a open track. The Doctor did tell me that should it start to ooze puss, that we should bring her back in.

Two weeks ago, I was on the phone with my Sister in Law. Like most days I was loving my little girl and checking her out. Making sure that she wasn't hiding any goo in her neck rolls. I say her little dimple and I had this urge to feel it. The track felt wider then it had when she was two weeks, I just chalked up to the fact that she had grown. I figured that I would ask the doctor when we went in for Kate's 4 month check up. As I was feeling around it, puss started to ooze out of it. It wasn't just a little puss, the amount was bigger then a pencil eraser in diameter, or enough to freak me out.

I called the Doctor and then had arranged for me to bring Kate in that afternoon. When the Doctor looked at it she dismissed it as nothing serious. She believes that it is closed on the inside, to be safe she has referred us to a pediatric surgeon. She consulted another Doctor in the office and he told her that he had seen two in the late week and they both turned out to be cysts. Ok, that is not comforting at all. Doc says that if it keeps oozing puss to bring Kate back in. Well we are still oozing puss. My question is if it is closed on the inside, then why is it oozing puss?

Our Appointment is set for Nov. 23. If it is a cyst, I am going to be ticked that they didn't get us in sooner.

Flowers

Jon bought these for me a few weeks ago, when I was going through a tough time. I had gone to a homeopathic specialist, hoping to find some answers about what I was going through(more about this later). When I got back from my 3 hour appointment, these were waiting for me. It was nice to know that he still loved me despite all that I unintentionally was putting him through.

Star Gazers

Brett likes to go out at night so that he can see the,"lil stars" also known as, "Baby stars." The other night he begged Jon to take him out in the freezing cold and this is what my sweet boys looked like.

Study Buddy

When the kids are asleep, it is my time to get in as much studying as I can before they wake up. Well occasionally Brett is asleep and Katherine is awake. Which means I have a study buddy. So I sit her in the bumbo and she coos at me while I study. Can anyone guess how much studying I get done, when I have a little girl who looks like this staring at me

The Lord is Mindful

Sometimes when I am super overwhelmed, like with this move and all of the costs involved. I start to whine and stress about how it is all going to work. I have this great friend who constantly tells me(I can quote it cause she tells me so often. Wait, what does that say about me?), "Kathlen, the Lord is mindful of you and your needs. He will bless you with those things that you need." Now my mother and my mother in law can attest that when something is said to me that I don't want to hear, I just ignore the advice. So for many months now I have ignored my friend's comment. I mean come on, I know the Lord is mindful. It doesn't mean that anything is going to happen, when I need it to, right? I had pets growing up and I was always mindful of them, but they got fed on my schedule. Which meant that they were often neglected(please don't report me to PETA). So with that in mind, I have always felt that it was up to me to make it work. We moved in to our little place and I just wanted to die. We were going to have to pour so much money into this place, and I didn't know where we were going to get the money from. We were hoping to use our deposit form our last place. I was discouraged about that. In the past it has always taken us a month to get it and then half of the deposit is gone for sometimes legitimate reasons(only one landlord had legit reasons), but mostly for lame excuses to keep my money.

I hit that amazing garage sale and walked away with tons of loot for the house. Our deposit came with in a week of moving out. Even more amazing, we got back every single penny of it. I kept finding things on craigslist or on sale at the store. I was talking to my friend two weeks ago and we were talking about how things were going with the house. I remember feeling overcome with the Love of my Heavenly Father as I told her that I have really felt that the Lord has been mindful of us in this move. Her response to me was, "Good I am glad."

I don't think that I could even begin to express the love and gratitude that I feel right now. Sure we have still had to pour a lot of money into the house, but I know that the Lord is mindful of me. Not the kind of mindful I was with my pets growing up, but he is truly mindful of us and our situations. It makes it easier for me to go to Him when I need help and know that He is there.

Garage Sale Items

Here are my garage sale items, that I promised I would post pictures of. This was all from one garage sale.


Heavy duty shelves Retail:$80 Garage Sale:$20Curtain Rod Retail: $35 Garage Sale: $4

Sheer Curtains Retail: $40($20 per panel) Garage Sale: $5 for both
Bumbo Baby Chair Retail: $40 Garage Sale: $10
10' x 10' Carpet Retail:$350 each Garage Sale:$20 for two
Child Teddy Bear Backpack Tether Retail:$30 Garage Sale:$2
Pole Floor Lamp Retail:$130 Garage Sale:$2
2.5' x 7' carpet runner with pad Retail:$100 for runner $50 for pad Garage Sale:$25 for both
Table Water Fountain Retail:$40 Garage Sale:$2
Book Case Retail:$80 Garage Sale:$5
Wall Shelf Retail:$20 Garage Sale:$4
Kids Ball Pit Retail:$40 for pit plus $30 for 100 extra balls Garage Sale:$4
Not pictured:
Brand new pair of black sunday shoes Retail:$40(they were high end shoes) Garage Sale:$5
Pack and Play Retail:$70 Garage Sale:$10 (Only used twice)
Halloween costume for Brett Retail:$30 Garage Sale:Free
Wipe Warmer Retail:$20 Garage Sale:$2
Cute little ballerina shoes for Kate Retail:$20 Garage Sale: $5
Princess Binky Clip Retail:$20(lots of Rhinestones) Garage Sale:Free
(I know I am forgetting something, but I am not sure what)

Total: Retail: $1615 Garage Sale:$123, but I really only paid $106. As she was counting up my total she kept knocking of a few bucks here and there because, "It makes my counting easier" she said.

I think I walked away with a steal! What do you think??

Coupons

I have coupons for Formula(Similac, Enfamil, and Nestle Good Start), Nuk Pacifiers, Pictures(JCPenny, and Sears), Bottles(Gerber). If you are interested in them or want more information about them, my email address is towards the bottom of the sidebar.

Kate at 3 Months

Well even though Kate turned 4 months yesterday, here are her 3 month pictures. Better late than never right? I absolutely love her smiles, the just melt my heart. Her cute little giggle is enough to make me laugh. She has attempted to roll over many times and only been successful a few times. Kate is a very social little girl, I have no idea where she gets that from :)! We can't do anything with out her. She loves to be around people, even if they are not paying attention to her. Although she really likes people to pay attention to her. She slobbers like crazy and always has a nice collection of slobber bubbles, which she enjoys blowing. She has the best pouting lip around, just thinking about it makes me laugh. This girl is so dramatic, again I don't know where she gets it from. Enjoy the pictures! Kate is so photogenic, we had fun taking her pictures!