Our Summer "Schedule" & Some Awesome Warehouse Finds!

So, I have two main topics today as you can probably tell from the post's title.  However, I first want to tell you that I use the term "schedule" very loosely - hence the quotation marks. 

Speaking of quotation marks, remember how Joey from Friends could never understand how to correctly use air quotes?  Here's a quick reminder.

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Sorry... I get easily distracted. 

Anyway, the reason I used quotation marks with the word "schedule" is because we don't really have much of one in the summer.  I've been reading on a lot of blogs some great ideas to create a summer schedule so as to not waste the days away and to stick to a routine - especially for the kiddos - but it's SO hard for us.  Every time I try to do this, it doesn't work.

Don't get me wrong.  I'm glad it works for some families, but we've learned that we are much more "go with the flow" summer people.  (Oh, no - now I feel like Joey with all these quotes.)

There are, though, certain things that we seem to do every day in the summer months.  For instance, we tend to wake up between 6 and 7am (thanks to our son), and some days he wants us to play with him IMMEDIATELY while other days he's content to play with his Lego table for a little.  Unless we have to go somewhere right away, I always, always have a cup of coffee from my five-year-old Keurig. 

I bought this sucker when I was on my maternity leave.  It's the single brewer (a.k.a. the cheapest Keurig), and it's still going strong.  My husband doesn't drink coffee, so it works perfectly for me.  And my son has learned to at least let me have some coffee before we start playing or else I'm no fun.  (It's true.)  But, of course, just like many of you moms out there, I never get to finish my whole cup of coffee at once.  In fact, there are some days when I feel like I heat it up about 4,573 times before I finish it.

Then we eat some breakfast and either play outside or meet up for a playdate in the mornings before it gets too hot.  Our afternoons are spent either in the pool, running errands, or relaxing inside depending on how busy our morning was.  We typically use our grill for dinner, so I'll often put aside time in the afternoon to do some dinner prep.  I also try to work in a little bit of cleaning and some kindergarten prep with our son with some great books I picked up not too long ago.

After dinner, our son gets a bath, a little more play time, and then begins the nightly routine.  He gets to watch a show (or two) while he has a snack and winds down for bed.  We read some stories and then it's bedtime.  My husband and I stay up for another hour or two for some "adult time."  (Here I go with the quotation marks again.)  That "adult time" is not what you think.  It's used for all the things we couldn't get done with a five-year-old running around, like paying bills, checking email, watching TV or reading - uninterrupted.  That's also the time when I'll do some blog work.

We will do day trips and little vacations, so our days aren't always like this, but typical days at home are.  Nothing overly exciting, but it works for us and we like it.

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Aside from talking about schedules, I also wanted to share with you some of my newest finds from this past weekend.  My new soccer mom friend invited me to this home décor warehouse sale.  I, of course, was happy to do any kind of shopping, so we decided to get there right when it opened on Friday.  We were ready to shop 'til we dropped, and we definitely did!

I had no idea what to expect, and she warned me that it would be a madhouse.  It was!  I would say it was 99% women and 1% men (who were basically just there carrying things for their wives).  The items for sale were overstocked items from Bed, Bath, and Beyond, Target, Kohl's, etc.  There was everything from mirrors to cabinets to picture frames to clocks to wall décor... such great stuff!  My friend told me that if I found something I thought I liked to just grab it because it would be gone if I went back for it later.  So I put my big girl shoes on and had at it!

Before I knew it, I had a pile of stuff and really no idea how much I was spending.  I just figured that everything was marked down so much that it would all be worth it in the end.  And it was. 

Here's what I got.  (Oh, and please excuse the background in these pictures.  They were taken in my garage!)

 

Three mirrored 5x7" picture frames

 

A standing, floating frame

A big ol' clock

A mirrored wall hanging thingy

 

 A pretty 8x10" frame with a burlap mat

A windowpane-like floating frame

 

A really big mirror with cool metal corner decorations

 

Another big clock

 

And one more... (this one's a huge one for our family room!)

I paid a total of $50.  Is that crazy or what?!  My friend paid the same amount and got a whole bunch of really great stuff, too.  Talk about a shopper's high!  Even though it was crazy, I would totally go next time. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  Hope you had a good weekend!  We had a busy (but good) one.  Happy Monday!

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