Happy Coasters!

So, this weekend, I decided to become a DIY'er. Wait, don't get too excited. It's just coasters. But, don't they look fabulous?! Rob and I are on a tight budget until we close on our house, so I can't do my usual thing which is shopping. AND, I have like two weddings that are coming up plus Mother's Day. So... that makes sticking to a budget pretty hard because I really, really love buying gifts.

But first, let me tell you how I found the idea. I've joined Pinterest. Finally. I've seen it, I've heard about it... but I never made the jump. That thing is AMAZING. It has given me so many ideas on things I want to try. It is there that I found this fabulous idea. Here is the link to the blog that I found. I won't regurgitate all the steps or anything as this lovely lady did a great job of explaining how it goes down... and she didn't miss a beat. I followed her instructions to the T.

Click Here for How-To Make Fabulous Coasters

Let me just say, my plan was to spend about $20 on this project. That kind of didn't work. Nothing is ever as cheap as I think its going to be. It was mainly because I didn't have ANY of the right equipment. Here's what I had to buy:

I needed Mod Podge, Waterproof Acrylic Spray, Waterproof Glue, a Foam Brush, Tiles, Cork and last but not least... paper to decorate those pretty little tiles with. I started off at Lowe's to get the tile and the waterproof acrylic spray. I decided I was going to make 3 sets of coasters with 6 in a set. For three different weddings that are occurring beginning in June. I bought 20 for two messups (because lets face it... I rarely do anything right the first time... especially when it comes to glue). I also bought some acrlyic spray under the Rustoleum brand. And then, we went to Michaels to get the rest of the supplies.

The cork and the acrylic spray is what kind of crushed my $20 budget. Each of those were about $7.99. So, I think hit about $30-$35 after I had bought everything plus an X-acto knife (how else was I going to cut all those squares for the tile plus the cork that goes on the bottom??)

And on Saturday night the festivities began. It was me and a side table on the floor. But, Rob definitely helped too. The hardest part was the letter that I decided to put on the coaster of the couple's last name. I had to get it sized correctly and then make it a stencil. Let's be real here.... I cannot free-hand 18 letters and them all come out looking the same. So, I traced them. And then colored them in. I'm a huge fan of tracing. Best thing ever. It's like pretending you can draw and the end result makes it look like you can draw. I cannot draw, however.

At first, I was going to cut out the black ones that I had printed out on the computer, but I didn't like how that created a "raised" surface on the coaster. Didn't figure that'd be a stable surface for a cup holding liquid in it to rest on. So, I traced the letters and then used a permanent marker to make it bold. That took forever.

Actually, by Saturday night I had only made it through one letter! Eeek! It was 1 AM before Rob was helping me spray the waterproof acrylic spray. That's where things went wrong. The spray turned all my work yellow. BOO!!!

So, come Sunday, I returned the Rustoleum and bought another brand, Miniwax. And I had to start all over. Well, my two extra weren't enough so I only made 12 because my previous 6 had to be trashed plus the one tester I made. And that took me ALL of Sunday. It was quite the long project for coasters. Seems a little insane when you really think about. It was all due to that stupid letter. It was so time consuming to cut the letter, trace it, and then color it in. Plus you got to add in the dry time for the mod podge and acrylic spray But, never fear... I sprayed my THIRD coat of the waterproof spray at 9 PM on Sunday with absolute NO yellowness.

P.S. I was a virgin mod-podger, but this stuff is pretty darn cool. Gives stuff a nice little texture.

So, here they are. If you're reading this and your last name starts with an F or a W and are getting married, you might be getting some coasters in the mail. Just know.. I made them out of love. I can't guarantee their life span. And, I took them to work to get my co-workers approval... so I think they are legit.

So, here's to my first DIY experience. Happy Coasters Everyone!

 

 

New Year.. New Goals

I certainly can't believe that 2012 has rolled around.  Being an accountant, I seem to work a lot in the prior year (this case 2011) and, therefore, will never remember that I'm currently living in the current year (2012) and all my checks will be dated 2011.  Alas, it seems to be a recurring problem.  You know, not long ago, I actually wrote my birthday on a check as the date.  There, solves that problem... can't remember what year you're in? Just write what year you were born.  Done.

Okay, for real now... since its being a new year the Meier's have some new goals.  Of course, we have the usual goals such as working out more and eating more healthy.  So, far we seem to have been doing a pretty good job... I've been either riding my bike (mostly using the bike trainer so I can ride inside) and doing Zumba.  Rob has also been running.  I've also been cooking, too.  So, we're doing good there (so far).

Our really big goal for 2012 is... BUYING A HOUSE!!  That's going to be a really huge goal for us and is going to take some time.  I'm not usually just overly patient, but I'm going to have to be this for one.  As you've read in my previous blogs, Robert and I are going to put 20% down.  We're over halfway there... if we're lucky we will be there by May.  If we're not so lucky... it will be August.  Either way, we ARE BUYING HOUSE.  I'm not allowing any negative thoughts (no, "we're trying to buy a house" or "we think we're going to buy a house" allowed here).  We speak in only affirmative words when referring to buying a house.

Heck, the day after Christmas, Robert and I went Christmas light shopping for the house that we don't currently own yet!  Bought all LED lights for 50% off!!  Beat that, yo.  $3.24 cents a box for LED lights (pretty much the same price for mini and C9's).  I win!

Personally, I'm very excited about this whole buying a house thing.  Robert and I are definitely homebodies, so it will be nice to have a "home."  I look forward to having projects to work on around the house and planting some flowers.  Granted, I know there will be some things that I don't love (i.e. the commute for sure)... but overall, I know the move will be right for us.  

We've already been jolted by what we can afford and not afford in the city.  Bottom line, we can't afford to live in the city.  We're going to have to move out of the city.  We're leaning towards moving west, outside of the outer loop towards Katy.  This map below pretty much shows you the general area of where we're looking to buy.  (The red dots are elementary schools, but you don't need to worry about those).

So, anyways.. that's going to be our major goal for 2012.  Ideally, I guess we're looking for 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths and around 2,000 square feet.  We'll get a better feel for the size once we get an actual realtor.  Right now, all my research involves Robert and I getting in the car and driving around neighborhoods using the HAR (Houston Area Real Estate) app on my iPad or iPhone and seeing how much homes cost where.  This weekend, we even picked a neighborhood and went riding our bikes around it looking at houses.  It was pretty fun, not going to lie. 

To help make sure our financial plan is there I've been working on the Meier 2012 budget.  Got to start budgeting for "house" expenses now, even though we don't have one so that when moving day comes... we will have some wiggle room to buy some things that we don't currently need for the apartment (i.e. lawn mower, weed eater, and furniture) as well as moving expenses.  And remember, we're debt free people and won't go into debt again except for our mortgage, so it took me almost 4 hours to get our budget to equal zero at the end of each month for the next year.

Yeah, I know... who does an annual budget? I do.  And it gets updated monthly for actual results and then I re-project as necessary.  But, for example, I know Robert's car needs new brake pads and rotors.  That's going to cost me approximately $800.  Well, I don't have $800 in February just for Robert's car, but I do have $400 in January & February.  Same goes for a vacation and moving expenses.. I don't have $1,000 for a vacation and another $1,000 for moving this summer in just one month, but if I start budgeting for it now, I will by summer.  You know the saying, "A fail to plan, is a plan to fail."  Dave Ramsey has taught me well!  :-)  

Okay, probably definitely boring you by now, but this is what gets me excited!!  Total nerd, I'm not afraid to admit.  If we plan accordingly, buying a house should just fall into our lap and be less stressful (we hope!).  So, that's whats going to be on our agenda for 2012.  Get excited... we definitely are! Woo!

P.S. (How about them Hogs this weekend at the Cotton Bowl?!  Woo Pig Sooie!)