Sometimes it’s great to be a bargain hunter; did you hear about this deal? To follow the letter of the offer I got them & ‘gave them away’ to Matt, who then gave them back to me (hee – I think he just wanted to be able to say, “I got you flowers!!”) This spot of bright yellow sitting in on my desk just makes me so happy .

Those of you who are either A) related to me or B) have been reading me from (near) the beginning are already at least a little familiar with my mom’s peculiar brand of genius – in the family we call it Mom-Guyvering because ever since we can all remember she’s been able to make cool things out of what seems like nothing at all . She’s working on a new project that I thought you all might be interested in , so I co-opted her recent email for a guest post.

I roughed out these plans for my little itty bitty (9′ by 11′) guest room 2 or 3 weeks ago – measured repeatedly to make sure everything would work … and the project began last weekend. Here are my plans for how it will look and work:

Here is the room with the bed up.

The bottom “drawer” will be the bed support.

…and the middle “drawers” will pull out to act as night stands. Obviously  the headboard is just a snapshot from somewhere online … I’m hoping to find one at a garage sale or (better still!) at someone’s curb on garbage day.

I have the bed framed out and I hinged it to the wall last night – talk about close working quarters! (Ask me how many times the frame fell down and hit me in the head while tring to get it positioned.  I finally got “smarter” about it and rigged a wider platform for it to sit on temporily while I attached the hinges to the frame from underneath.)  It is standing upright with mattresses inside even now.

I’m going to like it – the only problem is that the bed has to be very low – even lower than I initially calculated – but after checking clearance with the actual frame before installing the six heavy duty hinges – it is what it is, and can’t be any higher.

(yes she made the quilt too – see where I get it from???)

The bed is comfortable … and will be really awesome with a 3″ memory foam topper if I can find another one on the cheap like the one I found for my bed (I allowed space for it).  I know it’s VERY COMFORTABLE with the topper because in the middle of things last weekend when I built the frame and just had it propped up, I took the topper off my bed and put it on the guest room bed just to “try” it out and ended up taking a nap (it just snuck up on me – what can I say!?).

Now, a few days later, I have one of the bookcase/nightstands framed out:

I think my cost is going to come in around $100 – thanks to my two sons who left big plywood scraps in my garage … they both told me “if you have a use for it …. ”  well I guess I have use for it!

Believe it or not with the bed down:

• there’s a little room on both sides … 13.25 inches – frame to wall … if you’re curious
• there’s about 3 feet of floor space left at the foot of the bed
• the exterior door opens fully
• the door to the hall by the bath and kitchen opens out so no problem there
• the closet doors open fully

More to come as I finish it!

Now do you see why we call it Mom-Guyvering??? I’ll keep posting pics as she makes progress. In the meantime, use the comments to tell her how awesome she is!!

(This one’s for the super-duper Jean, and also Sarah!)

For those of you out there who love to crochet (or those of you who are interested in learning), here’s a great way to get started: sign up HERE for a free crochet newsletter and get a free eBook download with a number of cute patterns!

Click HERE to join the Chili’s Email Club and get a coupon for a FREE order of Skillet Queso & Chips! I see a visit to Chili’s in my near future!!

Lifescript has a number of new FREE offers available!

Click HERE to join Lifescript and get access to all of their coupons!

Click HERE to get a free sample of Crystal Light.

Click HERE to get a free sample of Snuggle (my favorite!!!).

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Click HERE to get a free sample of the John Frieda product of your choice. If you haven’t tried it yet, you’ve got to check out the Root Awakening shampoo & conditioner – I LOVE it!!

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I managed to get most of the quilt top done last night (I stayed up til 3 to finish it; does anyone else do stupid things like that when you’re immersed in a project and you just want to finish “one more row” and all of a sudden it’s 3 am?). I was talking to my mom this evening and told her I’d post a few pictures for her. This is certainly the loudest quilt I’ve made so far – I like it, but I’m just not sure I love it.

Socs thinks that this new quilt-hanging system I’ve got going is the best thing ever; it’s like his own personal fort! Kitty leg, anyone?

So now, internets, I need your opinion. What fabric should I back and bind this quilt with? Here are your choices (all of which appear in the quilt):

#1 – Orange

#2 – Brown

#3 – Red Butterflies

#4 – Red & Cream

#5 – Purple

Let me know what you think in the comments!

The fabulous Margueritte left to head back home yesterday afternoon. It’s likely the last time I’ll see her before she leaves for London for a YEAR, and I’m bumming out – I’m going to miss her!!

I spent most of the week trying to juggle work and hanging out with Mags and other life-y things, and as per usual, posting kind of fell by the wayside. Sorry bout that. In any case, here’s a little taste of things that have been going on around here:

Socs continues to believe that if he just licks the blinds HARD ENOUGH,
they will magically open for him. Gross but also pretty funny.

I found this cute little planter at the Hospice thrift store yesterday.
As you can see, I don’t so much grow plants as I do piles of random crap,
so I’m sure it will spend its life in my house as a catchall.

Here’s a peek at the new quilt I’ve been working on in between working on all the OTHER quilts. (The fabric, if you’re wondering, is MoMo’s Freebird for Moda, and the pattern is one I picked up at a quilt shop earlier in the year.) I’ve only finished 3 of the 6 rows so far, but it’s going together pretty quickly.

Finally, Saffy says, “ppllllbbbbttt.”