This week's Freebies

Again this week I didn't get too many freebies, but that doesn't mean I got none. Here is what I found in my mailbox throughout the week:

There was one coupon for a full-sized bottle of Suave Body Lotion and my first issue of Working Mother Magazine.
By the way, Money Saving Mom always posts about great freebies you can sign up for, so give her a visit and check out the side which is full of info on how to budget and living on the cheap.

A little more Teal ...

Today, while searching for a box I could use to ship an item I just sold on Ebay, I found the box Valspar had used a few months ago to send their free paint samples. It was the perfect size for my item, so I emptied the box. In it was among other things the paint chip that corresponded to my sample.

Sorry for the bad quality of the picture. The color sample I had gotten from Valspar was Ocean Slumber, a beautiful deep teal color. Looking at the sample, I started realizing that I still had a lot of that paint color leftover and that it seemed to be very similar to the teal accent color in my bathroom curtain...

... and floor mat ...

You see? The color is a dash darker, but otherwise a pretty close match. Here is another picture that can show how close paint chip and bathroom accent color are:

The towel that you can see at the bottom is the same color as is used in the shower curtain and bath mat. And then I started thinking - why not paint the mat in the picture frame? I had previously seen many bloggers do this, and so I decided to try it out myself.

I got all of my supplies together and within 5 minutes I added 2 layers of paint to the mat.

While this was drying we enjoyed some homemade pizza and then I assembled the frames back together. Are you ready to see how this turned out?

And here is another close-up:

Here is just for fun another before and after:

So there you have it. A very easy 10-minute switch to freshen things up a little more.

 Linked up here:
Thrifty Decor Chick's Before and After Party
Domestically Speaking's Power of Paint Party
Shabby Nest's frugal Friday Party 
Just a Girl's Show and Share Day Party

Meal Plan Sunday - 7/10/11

Here is my delayed meal plan for this week. Somehow grocery shopping got moved from Saturday to Sunday to Monday. So today early in the Morning I took the little one and went to Aldi to stock up on a few things.

They had very cheap Blueberries ($.79) per pack, so I got a few of those and froze most of them for later use. I also got strawberries and mangoes.

On Saturday evening I tried making a yest bread, but for some reason to this day dry yeast and I don't work together. Something I am doing wrong there.

Anyway, here is this week's menu:

Messing up the Mashed Potatoes

About 2 years ago, I started adding a little twist whenever making mashed potatoes. Why? Because I love to add veggies to my dishes whenever possible.

Here is what I came up with for this simple and quick meal.

1) Cook a good amount of potatoes in salt water

2) Rinse and then start making the puree by adding a little bit of salted butter, some milk or even heavy cream. Keep mixing and adding a bit of liquid at a time until the potatoes are fluffy and a tad creamy

3) Open one can of carrots and peas, rinse and add to the potatoes

4) Stir until the veggies are well "distributed" among the potatoes
5) You can serve this with some kind of meat, another side dish of veggies or as in my case with rice and bean leftovers (can you spot the green peppers I hid in the beans?)

Veggie Mashed Potatoes

How about some Ikea?

Isn't it funny how Ikea can have therapeutic qualities? For me at least. The other day, I had one of those stupid "old-couple-fights" and guess what? I needed some time off, grabbed my purse and off I went. It is so good to have an Ikea next door.

It was awesome to go just by myself, being able to try out all the sofas and armchairs, look at everything and anything for an amount of time I wanted.

I took a lot of pictures of displays, and furniture that I really liked for some reason or another:

The inspiration started right at the entrance:

I loved the combination of plum and dusky pink. Something in this direction would be perfect in an older girl's room or maybe even a guest room.

Up the stairs I stumbled across a kitchen display very similar to the kitchen mood board I posted the other day.

I really loved this kitchen, which has a very inviting feel to it. I also loved the simplicity of the back-splash. If I ever get to build my own kitchen it will very probably have some simple tile as the one above, but in the color you saw on my kitchen mood board.

Next I found this table setting which kind of remembered me of another display.

I tried out those plum colored chairs and they are actually very comfy.

A little further down the store, I found another display I really liked. This time in fresh green, white and silver.

I started dreaming up another mood board for my "future dining-room" and this kind of color combination would actually fit really well. This combo is really just fun and playful and could freshen up a room very easily.

This duvet cover is new I believe, and repeats once again the plums I saw popping up throughout the store so many times. They have this in fresh lime green, and in a gold-beige combination on white. I don't think they have them up online yet, but I really loved this set.

These lamps are just beautiful with their shiny, round metal bases and the white shades. They are quite large and they would work really well on a night stand or on a sideboard in the dining-room.  I am for sure keeping these on my list of favorites.

Finally I saw these and just had to grin. These pictures are kind of nice, and they would make a cute display in a group of 3 on a wall. I didn't look at the price Ikea charges for these, but I think even the least talented person would be able to DIY something like this.

This is a roundup of my little Ikea-stroll and I did end up buying a pair of curtains in the "as-is-section" that were marked down from $29.99 to $16.00.

So, what have you discovered at Ikea that you really loved?

Summer is ....

 ... enjoying fruit salad with homemade whip-cream and cinnamon ...

mmmmhhh :)

I got Freebies

I didn't get anything in terms of freebies last week, but this week I had a few things that showed up in my mailbox:

So, what did I get:
There was one free sample of Zantac that also includes 2 coupons of $5.00 and $1.00 respectively. Then I got 2 sample packs of Emergen-C. Those also came with coupons. Finally yesterday I received a free sample of Loreal's Youth Code with a $3.00 off coupon.

What did you have in your mailbox this week?