beanski

retail therapy: going with the giveaway

I'm bored and out of things to say so I'm going to copy a few others and do a giveaway. I'm pretty much in love with etsy. I could spend DAYS pouring through the stuff on there. My SIL said something about soy candles at Cam's party on Saturday and the first thing I did the next time at the computer? I searched for soy candles on etsy. It's sort of a disease.

The only thing you have to do to be eligible is to leave me comment asking me anything you want to know about me. Or if you don't care about me and want to tell me about you, I'd love that. I'm closing comments at midnight on Wednesday.

These are all things that I would love to buy for myself so hopefully you like them too.
There is something about these Hedgehog thank-you cards that make me smile. And I always feel special when I get a special thank-you card. I find that I write a lot more thank-you cards these days than I used to. There is something about getting real mail.

If you don't write thank-you cards and want these adorable gift tags instead, I can do that. You pick. I mean, if you don't write thank-you cards, you do give Christmas gifts to someone, right? Think of how special they'll feel. Oooo letterpress, I love you.

Soy candle in grapefruit. Grapefruit makes me happy. As does the packaging on this candle.

If you hate all of the adorable stuff I happen to love and you win, let me know, I'll send you a $25 gift card to Amazon instead.

READY, SET, GO. 

retail therapy: these kids are expensive

Ski has put a lockdown on my spending. JERK. Our money is going into (still) baby proofing (tell me, will my son ever run out of things to get into?), clothes for potty training (all those dresses I bought for Fall? Not the best idea I've ever had),1st Birthday Party madness and the beginnings of Christmas shopping.

I'm going to sneak in some fabric though. I painted half of the living room last week so I've been looking for fabrics to cover some barstools and make pillows out of. The paint is Saffron, sort of a goldish yellow. I'm torn between going with orange or red for the accent color. I really need something modern to downplay the traditional feel of the room. This is a big decision because whichever I go with will be the color of the walls in the dining room. Which do you like better? Red walls or Orange walls? I really would like to go with blue or something but all of our furniture is brown and other warm colors so my choices are fairly limited.

 OR
   
Cam is getting a train set for his birthday. I think this train set. He'll probably have no interest in it but I am DONE buying baby toys. I tried to talk Ski into buying one of those sweet Nilo tables but I was SHUT DOWN. You should have seen the look on his face when he saw the price tag. PRICELESS. I also want to punch whomever decided to dress this kid up in that stupid hat directly in the face. 

Cameron is also getting a fireplace gate for his birthday. He had the door open and was milliseconds away from hitting the ignite switch the other day. My plan was to just never turn it on when he was around but apparently he found a way around that. He'll just turn it on himself! FIGURES, we call him Captain Destructo for a reason. I suggested duct tape but Ski didn't go for it. I can think of at least seven thousand things I would rather buy with $189.00.

maybe posting it will feel like buying it

I have been OUT OF CONTROL shopping since we moved. House stuff because I have whole new and different house to decorate along with me getting fatter and fatter and fatter (another post for another day) because I quit nursing (I don't even have a winter coat that fits) and the colder weather rendering my kids' wardrobes inappropriate. I have to talk myself down EVERY DAY from spending more money because money doesn't really exist to me right now because we already dug ourselves a hole when we moved, what's another $50? Another $50 turns into another $100 and $100 is a $100.

I had a brainstorm today. Maybe if I post my lusts here it will stop me from buying them. Could admitting what you want really have the same impact of actually buying what you want? I'm going to try it. I'm going to start a weekly retail therapy post because reading, shopping and taking pictures are pretty much my only hobbies right now. I used to like to cook but NOT ANYMORE. I loathe dinner-time. LOATHE. 

I want these pumps. I am obsessed with cute shoes right now. I think because I subconsciously think if I have the cutest shoes in the world on maybe no one will notice the extra twenty pounds I'm carrying around my mid-section.
 
The Pioneer Woman's New Cookbook. Mostly just because I love her. And really deep down I want to get even fatter. Because I like food. And especially butter. A lot.
 
The new Tea Collection catalog came yesterday. I have a soft spot for Tea clothes. I almost died when I saw this dress for Renee. My husband would die if he saw how much it costs. I will wait in hopes of it going on sale for like 1/4 price. Or maybe if I just look at it enough times they will give it to me for free. Sort of unrelated but not, I would pay my daughter a lot of money to wear boots like that but I know she wouldn't. Probably just because I asked her to. Maybe I'll try telling her that I think they are ugly.
 
I really want to buy this bedding for our master bedroom. The master bedroom that will probably get to the top of the house decorating list in the year 2011 because really no one ever sees the master bedroom. Part of the trouble is my husband will flip out when I inevitably insist that we totally need the shams and then we'll never make our bed and the $75 worth of shams that I just HAD to have will sit on the floor for all of eternity. He'll curse at me about the shams every time he steps over them (on the floor) and I'll go on believing that we TOTALLY needed them. The Sham Battle is one of those battles that neither of us will ever win.
 
I still want a pair of nice jeans but haven't managed to get to a store where I can find the perfect pair. I ordered like five pairs online and didn't like any of them enough to spend that kind of money on them so I sent them back. And they credited my card like a thousand dollars and my husband was like "Cool, thanks for returning that stuff" and I was like "Yes, I am a frugal and awesome wife."

This is my secret. I buy a LOT of stuff and return *most* of it so he thinks he's getting a bargain.

Oh, and husband: Please pretend you didn't read this because I would never do anything like that.

What are you talking yourself out of buying? I need inspiration. For things I'm not supposed to be buying.