Wendy's to the Rescue

Thought I would share a little story from the other night....

This year, one of my New Year's resolutions was to define my budget AND stay on budget. Going out to dinner when it's late seems to be my biggest issue, but I have been really good this year!

So, I stayed late at the office working on some projects (partly because I had work to do and I wanted to avoid rush hour traffic). Before I left, I decided I would treat myself to a Wendy's burger and fries. I can honestly say, it has been at least 6 months since I had fast food if you don't count Subway. I started to salivate over greasy French fries soaked in malt vinegar and dipped in ketchup immediately. As I head home, I can see the thunderstorm didn't hit downtown, but was ahead of me. You could actually see where it was raining and it wasn't. Kind of cool! 

Unfortunately for me, I caught the storm as I was taking my exit. It was raining so hard, I couldn't see the road. Water was laying everywhere across the road. As I approached Wendy's, I had the sudden realization that to order my dinner, I had to put my window down, which started to make me really mad. Let's face it, putting my window down in that storm was not an option!

As I pull into the parking lot and head to the drive thru, it stops raining. Woo Hoo! Dinner is back on! I pull up, all ready to order, and then dead silence. No one greets me, nothing for a good minute. When the voice on the other end speaks, the cashier says, "Our cash registers are down." 

My brilliant reply, "so....."

The girl goes, "Our cash registers are down. We lost power and then it came back on, but our register won't come back up." 

At this point, I have been gone from home for over 12 hours, I'm hungry, I want my food and I want to go home. I say to the girl, "So what does this mean, I have wait, go somewhere else, what?"

The girl says, "well, our registers are down."

I seriously wanted to say what does that have to do with my dinner, but I'm so focused on getting what I want so I can go home, I'm not really comprehending, so I ask again, "So what does this mean, I have to wait, go somewhere else, what?"

The girl finally clarifies and says "With our registers down, I can't put in your order."

No joke, I repeat myself again and say, "So I can't get anything, I have to go somewhere else is what you are telling me?"

Suddenly she says, "No, you know what, we will just give it to you. What do you want?"

Finally my brain started to work because I was like "No, that's not necessary. I only have my credit card no cash."

The nice cashier said, "Don't worry about it, what do you want."

So I ordered my Son of the baconator combo meal, pulled around, and they gave me my dinner for FREE! 

She actually tried to have me order more, but I felt guilty about my free meal and insisted that was it. I tried looking for money in my car, but let's face, nothing is ever out of place, so that search was not fruitful!

So at the end of a long day, Wendy's came through for me with my dinner! I thought it was a nice way to end the day! I thought about writing the store manager, but have considered not too. I'm afraid if I do, I may get some one in trouble, but honestly, their nice kind gesture made my day!

House Update #2

The outside flower beds are not the only things to have been updated recently. In January, actually the first day of the new year, I made a list of what I felt I "needed" to purchase to make each room on the first two floors on the house feel "complete".

Let me back up a second, when I first bought the house, everyone told me to take my time and live in the house some and then start decorating after I had the feel for what I wanted. I didn't believe this at all, but almost 3 years later, it makes a lot of sense. And honestly, it is very true. It was so easy to make the list and it was very definitive for me. So then comes the shopping. This is fun, but also sad because some items are expensive and it feels like I'm not making any progress due to saving, but once I can make the purchase, Ah, it feels amazing!

Here are the before photos of the living room...

One of my "needed" purchases was a rug for living room. Every winter I thought a rug would help keep the room warmer, plus with a little niece about to start to crawl, I thought a nice Aunt would have a cozy spot for her to hang. I had found one at Target, then it was sold out. When it was back in stock, I hesitated on purchasing it and then it was discontinued. Ironically, I found a different one and purchased within 36 hours of finding it.

That rug is nice and plush. Probably need a new vacuum just to clean it!!

The room is naturally darker, so it is a tough photograph

I had also wanted a little stand by the door when you first walk in, but couldn't find one. My sister spotted one at Gone Vintage in Bloomsburg for $50 and thought it would be cool to redo. Once I got in in the room, I'm now not sure about refinishing it. I kind of like it how it is!

Having a lamp to turn on as you walk in a dark house is so nice!!

I had this photo hanging in my bedroom at my parents and my mom had given it to me for my house. I thought the frame would be better if it was white and it has been on my to do list to paint white for a while.

Well, I have finally stopped procrastinating and got this updated, definitely a better look!

The dining room has also been privileged to receive a few updates. When I first moved in, I found these counter stools at Target for a steal. I only bought two but over time decided I wanted 3. And you can guess, as my luck would have it, they discontinued them. My sister and I talked the one time she was here about getting a third one and using it as an accent. The idea always stayed with me and when Target produced a burlap one, I fell in love!

Oh, the rug was a new addition back in January too! I also found this cool idea on Pinterest for a center piece and decided to replicate my own. I have had all these shells that I have picked up at various beaches in a bag in a closet. And my mom provided some conch shells from her recent trip to Santa Belle. Very cool!

And this little find for on the wall fit perfectly, so I couldn't pass it up!

Lighthouse!

What luck on the shades on green!!

I think that is all of the updates for inside. There is another project, but more on that one later!

House Update #1

Oh boy, SOOO many things to update. I made a comment the other night when talking to my mom about a blog and she quickly reminded me that it has been quite a while since I had posted. It was nothing that I didn't know already, but I have been staying so busy lately, sitting down and trying to start to play catch up has seemed a little daunting. Ironically, I have been making mental notes, like "that would make a great post to share", but then nothing happens.

So, let's start at the very beginning, beginning is a very good place to start. (You should be singing along to Do-Re-Mi at this point! Haha, who doesn't love the Sound of Music)

Okay, so beginning...basically once spring broke out here in the Burgh, the great outdoors around my house consumed my time. My parents came out at the end of April and we used my Dad's truck to get 2 loads of dirt and another load of mushroom manure for my flower bed out front. Nothing would grow out there so I was hoping so new rich soil may help change that.

My mom and I dug out daffodil and tulip bulbs while my Dad carted down different loads of dirt. It actually didn't take too long, but it was quite a bit of dirt to haul. We bought it at a nursery across the river that is a family owned 3 generation business. The mixture was a combination of topsoil, sand, and mushroom manure. It was the sand that added the weight. Here's an idea of what we were doing.

Seriously big flower bed...

This one shows a little better how deep the flower bed was.

Takes more dirt than you would have thought to fill.

Once the dirt was completed in the flower bed, it was time to fertilize the garden, remember the soil test? We turned the garden over by hand. Well all three of us did, but then my Mom and I left my Dad to finish as we replanted the daffodils and tulip bulbs. One advantage of having a few years and several seasons at the house, I now know that when it rains, the entire flower bed doesn't get wet because of the roof overhang. I planted accordingly this year!

Normally, this would have been a different post, but for the sake of time, I'm adding it all together. Every year, the Oakmont Garden Club has a Flower Sale on Mother's Day weekend. I usually buy my plants here instead of big retail chains. For some reason this year, I was very disappointed. The prices seemed much higher, 3 plants for $11, and the selection from their gardens were not that great. I could only find 1 sedum plant. 

I left the Oakmont Flower Sale and went to Lowes. While I'm not normally happy to do that, it worked well for me this year. My sister told me how you should check the "dead plant" section. This is where plants are greatly reduced in price due to almost dying or perennials that are out of season and will no longer bloom. I found columbine plants for $1 each. I bought 8 of them to plant among my sedum and I also found a severely neglected pink hydrangea for $5. My first spring in the house I spent $60 on 2 hydrangeas and they both died. I have been hesitant to buy any more, but I love hydrangeas. So for $5, I thought I could give it a shot in my new soil.

As you can see, he is pretty droopy. I took to caring for him like you would a small baby. Not going to lie, after spending time with my niece, nursing this plant back to health felt like I had a newborn living with me! I constantly checked on it and watered it several times today. 

Here is what he looks like today! See all the new growth on him. I'm in love! Haha

The rest of the flower bed contains flowers I bought or extras from my my Mom, sister, or grandmother. I'm quite excited because it seems to FINALLY beginning to look like a flowerbed.

Now, for the 3 squirrels I caught in this flowerbed this morning, and they know they were caught, their feast has now ended. I thought some leaves appeared to have been chewed on, but I wasn't certain. This morning I caught them red handed and they way they ran confirmed their guilt. So, let's see how you like red pepper flakes my friends!  HaHaHa (insert evil laugh!)