Three Things Thursday--Halloween, Thrifting, and a Big Announcement!

1.  Halloween was awesome!  Yesterday morning was probably the easiest school wakeup I've ever had to do, the kiddo basically catapulted out of her bed in anticipation.  She had a Halloween party at school yesterday, and the boy and I did all the last-minute costume preparation.  I was a lazy mom and waited until late to get him his Darth Maul lightsaber, and it bit me.  Apparently they don't make the props in 2-year-old sizing and the only one I found was 5 feet long!  I didn't feel like having to repair half of our house and other people's cars, so I decided against buying that and went with the old duct-tape-on-giftwrap-roll idea.  It was perfect and cheap!  I also make the kiddo a Lightning Girl prop, which was a wand with a lightning bolt so she could electrocute bad guys.  I made it with a painted dowel rod and some felt, easy peasy!

Promptly upon her getting home from school, I gave them their Halloween "baskets", which had a few things like their painted trick-or-treating bags and some stickers and such.  They got dressed, and we headed out!  First we went to the local grocery for their little trick-or-treating shindig, which was fun and wet their appetites for the real deal.  We came home, at a junky but quick dinner, and set out into the neighborhood.  Now we're loaded with tons more candy than we'll ever eat, and I'll probably trade most of it in at the local Earth Fare for some healthy treats today!  If you have a health food store nearby, they're probably doing the same sort of deal.  And the coolest part--they usually send all that candy they collect to troops overseas! 

Lightning Girl and Darth Maul, ready to battle for candy!

2.  I've been thrifting a lot lately.  I've always loved it, but I'm going nutty now.  I love the idea of getting quality older furniture/home decor with lots of personality at a much lower price!  And I ain't scared of some clothes/shoes thrifting, either.  I got both kids their winter boots for under $20 total, and they look brand new AND are name-brand!  But my favorite find lately is from ReStore (a super awesome store in Charlotte sponsored by Habitat for Humanity):

Two perfectly-maintained, old-school, super comfy green tweed chairs!  I flipped over them when I saw them, but I often question my own taste and had to ask some people before I bought them.  I also thought they were too good to be true, honestly.  Well, they are now awesome and rockin' in my living room!  I'm picturing them with a dark brown sleek leather sofa, which leads me to number 3....



3.  Yesterday we SIGNED TO BUILD OUR NEW HOUSE!!!!  We knew that we were finally ready to settle in and buy a home, and after looking at the local market for both preexisting houses and new builds, we decided to go with the new build.  We wanted to stay within our school zone because our daughter loves it (not to mention we've relocated the poor kid more times than her age), and we literally looked at every single neighborhood in town.  We finally found a great house plan on a great lot in a nice, quiet neighborhood.  We signed the paperwork yesterday morning, and we're still in shock!  Neither of us have ever lived anywhere longer than two years since high school, and as a family we've never lived in a place longer than one year.  We don't really know how to "settle down" or if it's even for us, but we're ready to try.  It's going to be so cool making this home into our own self-designed dream and watching it literally come up from scratch!  We'll be down there weekly to show the kids how it's progressing, and we're expecting to close on it in six months.  Until then, I'll be obsessed with all things home decorating.  I'll also be obsessed with penny-pinching, which is now a necessity to get through the holidays and the home-building/mortgaging process.  So my new goal is to furnish our home, cloth my kids, take care of the boy's 3rd birthday, and get through Christmas with as little money and as much thought as possible.  Which means two things:  lots of homemade and even more thrifting!  I'm pretty excited about both.  Unfortunately it means less time to exercise.  But I'm still going to force it in there, probably with more running for fewer miles and a lot of short HIIT workouts.  I'll let you know how it all goes as it's happening!

He's doing a little jig in front of our future home.

So--tell me about your Halloween!  I'd love to hear a bit about your upcoming holiday plans/goals too, if you're willing to share.  Happy November!!!!