Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Is Winter Over Yet?

I woke up to this two-inch blanket of snow this morning...by mid-afternoon it was gone. 

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Hazardous Waste Recycling

Yesterday Urbandale had a household hazardous waste cleanup event.  Metro Waste Authority has these drop-off sites in 20 counties throughout the year. This is such an easy, convenient way to get rid of those items that can't go to the landfill.  The Urbandale event was held at the middle school. I just drove up and they unloaded for me. I didn't even have to get out of the car. 

I didn't have very much to get rid of. I had 6 cans of stain and varnish (some left behind by the previous owners of my house), a couple of compact fluorescent bulbs (yes, that's right, these new bulbs are not to go in the regular trash), some rechargeable battery packs from cordless phones, and some floor polish. It wasn't much, but at least I no longer have the clutter in the garage. 

While I was gathering up these items, I found some cans of latex paint that can be thrown away as well.  I've taken the lids off to let it dry, and then will be able to throw them away in my regular trash.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Tile Painting

Last year I took the wallpaper down in the bathroom and painted it. I wrote about it here and here. One thing I never got around to was the painting of the ugly green tile. It was way too big of a project to replace the tile, so painting was the answer...and a much less expensive option.
 I bought a special primer to seal the tile, and then I was able to paint it as I wanted. I got the primer on when I did the rest of the bathroom. Since it was white, it didn't really bother me that I hadn't finished painting it.  But it was finally time.  I'd procrastinated long enough.
 After 4 coats of high gloss white paint, it's finished.  It was more time consuming than I thought it would be.  Trying to get each tile looking nice was very tedious.  Even though I was using a foam brush, I still had problems with the brush strokes showing.
Now it's on to the next project. 

Friday, March 4, 2011

Signs of Spring

There were several days of 60-degree weather a couple weeks ago. The crocus are just starting to pop out of the ground. I love winter, and I'm sure we'll have a couple more snows, but I am ready for spring and can't wait to get working in the garden. I made it a little bigger last fall so have some empty spaces to fill.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Shopping Trip

After quite a slow down in finding deals, I seem to be having better luck the past month or so. I made a couple of trips to Target. On the second trip I picked up 10 Smart Ones using $8 worth of coupons for a cost of $10. They were running a deal that you got a $5 gift card with the purchase of 7 frozen items.  I picked up 4 bags of frozen veggies to get to 14 frozen items and got two gift cards.  I had more Up&Up coupons so I got the toiletries free.  I paid $12.91 for the items below and got $10 back.

Today I ran to Hy-Vee and got more great deals. They're running a sale of 50% off all Kelloggs.  I picked up some All-Bran for my mom and some granola bars. Their 3-day sale includes milk for $1.98 which is a great deal itself, but then I had a coupon to save $1 on milk with the purchase of one Kelloggs cereal.  Also used a $1 coupon off fruit with the purchse of one Kelloggs cereal.
I spent a little over $10 for everything. Even on a decent sale week this could have cost me close to $20. I wish I ate some Kelloggs cereal to take advantage of this great sale, but I'll stick with Cheerios. I'll have to see if I can find some coupons to get some almost free and then add to my food pantry stash.