The Newest obsession

Its been awhile!  What to even blog about?  I have so many new interests/ideas that I'm not sure where to start.  I guess I can start off where I left off, with the couponing.  Its been harder than I thought it might be.  Coupons are tricky because all of a sudden you think you need to buy everything you have a coupon for.  Not true!  One shopping trip I spent about $50 on a shopping cart FULL of stuff, and I was pretty proud, until I came home and realized it was all junk food.  So yeah, that one is still a work in progress.  I am still determined, and have learned to only use coupons for stuff you usually buy, and to buy it when it is on sale.  THAT'S how you save money.  Ideally, anyway. 

Onto my next ambition!  So thanks to a friend I found this AWESOME blog called Knock off Wood.  Its a blog about this lady who builds furniture and posts the plans on how to make it yourself.  Since we've moved into our house we have had a lot of time on our hands, and now that we've found this blog we can get back to building!  I know, its funny that I just wanted to finish and be done with it, but I kinda fell in love with it.  And now Aaron and I have a hobby we can do together!  I might even be more excited than him!  The only problem is now we need to buy tools.  We have a few, and my brother in law has a lot, but I want my own so I don't have to borrow.  My list of tools to buy is:

circular saw

table saw

miter saw

finish nailer

jig saw

sander

and router w/ table

I think that about covers it.  We obviously don't have the dough to buy all at once, but Aaron's birthday is coming up, which gives us the chance to splurge on one of the more expensive tools like a miter or table saw.  And who knows, if we are good enough maybe we'll sell some pieces to make the money we spent on tools back.  I am excited to start!  I also have a list of stuff I want to build.  All, or most of the furniture we have was given to us.  Not that I'm complaining.  Free furniture is great, but now I'm excited to build exactly the kind of furniture I want:

head board

(the one we have now is my parents old one, and is technically a waterbed head board)

dressers for each of us

a book shelf for Vaeh and Joseph

(they are really cute, a doll house shape for Vaeh, and a rocket for Joseph)

night stands

a work bench

and a new table

(that last one will be my masterpiece, its the hardest, but prettiest!)

I've decided that Aaron and I are DIYers.  We have our babies at home(technically we have a midwife, but she is there mostly for moral support, and cleaning up afterwards), build our own house, homeschooling, growing food.  If there is any way for us to do it ourselves I just find it more gratifying.  I just got a subscription to Mother Earth News (excellent magazine!) which just makes me want to get solar panels so we don't have to pay for electricity.  The idea of homesteading totally appeals to me, but I think I'll take it slow.  I get discouraged fairly easily.  So for now its building furniture.  I think I've gotten to the point of rambling, so that's all for now.