Cheating and Stealing

Our theme this past weekend seemed to be cheating and stealing. Not that we were actually doing that, it just felt like we were. We decided to get up early and go to Des Moines Saturday morning so that we could go out to breakfast, go to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore and Sears. Breakfast was great put the next two stops were awesome. The ReStore had an ad on craigslist for some carpet tile that we were interested in for the family room. I called and it turned out that they had a lot more carpet tile than just what was shown in the ad. When we got there, we discovered they had HUGE piles of new carpet tile for 37 cents/sq ft. SCORE. But there were two small problems- they were all different colors and styles (a few multiples of some but lots of singles) and they were commercial style, not residential (hard and dense versus soft and plush). We figured we could get enough tiles in similar colors to do the room so problem one was solved- hopefully it will look something like this.



Then Rob pointed out that Hot Wheels go a lot better on this type of carpet then something thicker so it made me feel better about that. We bought enough tiles to do the room plus about 10 extras for when some need replacing in the future- and with my two boys, that is a when and not an if. So it ended up only costing us a little over 100 bucks to carpet the room, plus spares. Feels like stealing but it is not. In fact, we are helping Habitat for Humanity so that makes even more awesome. I also picked up some banquet table legs (for only $7!) that I have been looking all over for to make this large piece of wood we have (I think it's an old door) into an extra table. I think I was more excited about that than the carpet tiles! Anyhow, then it was on to Sears. My dad bought Rob a cordless circular saw for his birthday that was really nice, but we ended up exchanging it for this air compressor/nail gun combo. Rob got the baseboard and some door trim up this weekend and he said it was so easy, it felt like he was cheating thanks to the nail gun.



Rob also finally busted out my birthday gift to him, a compound miter saw, to do the baseboard and build a step going from the house out into the family room.





I help a little, but mostly I just try to keep an eye on the boys. They need it. Here's what they do when you turn your back for a second.





Actually, I helped Rex into the monkey costume. It is from last year and we were checking to make sure it still fit. It does- yay! And then I was making a cake with Rex and watching Wyatt as he climbed onto the table. I don't think Rex ever tried that. Rex does some crazy things but I think Wyatt is even more of a daredevil. Oh dear. In related news, I colored my hair this week to cover up all the gray. Not that I have that much, but it certainly does seem to be coming in more and more over the past 3 years. Thanks boys.