Free Paint Today!!

I am busy getting ready for the trip but I found a fabulous freebie. Visit this site today and pick your favorite color and receive a quart of Glidden paint FREE!

I chose Leather Brown. I am thinking of painting a garage sale find furniture piece. I know it's brown not my regular paint everything black paint. My husband is not feeling all the black painted wood.

Enjoy and hurry go get your free paint!!!

Vegas Vacation

Hubby and I are heading out to Vegas this weekend with some friends from Colorado. I am sooooo excited. A whole 4 days with adult conversation, spa treatments, sightseeing and people watching!!

I am not lucky so I don't gamble. I would rather spend my money at the spa relaxing then give it away.

Looking for a couples getaway? Lots of great deals to Vegas. We are staying at the Bellagio check yahoo travel for great deals.

We got 2 first class tickets for less than $100 thanks to my husband's many American Airlines miles! Sign up for an airlines reward programs to earn free tickets. This is saving us about $1,000 dollars!! Whew hoo!

The next week I will be on a bloggy break getting ready for vacation then being gone in Vegas. Next Wednesday I should have lots of photos and tips.

If anyone has any tips for Vegas shoot them my way!

Tuesdays Tip - 4th of July Burgers

Check with your chamber of commerce for 4th of July events. If you live in a small town chances are you already know. If you are like me and live in a big metroplex with lots of suburb towns we have many options.

I am currently checking out firework show schedules, parades, and special festivals. Best of all the are FREE! Gotta love that :)

My favorite is grilling out on the 4th. Nothing says I'm Proud to be an American than a big juicy burger and ice cold lemonade.

Wanna make a great juicy burger? Add a packet of Lipton French Onion Soup Mix to ground beef and make patties. They are SOOOO good.

Menu Monday

We had a mini staycation at the Great Wolf Lodge the weekend. It is about 15 minutes from our house. The kids had a blast!

We stayed free it was for a regional meeting for my husband's work. Free is great! Check out their great deals for a summer staycation!

Let me share what's on our menu this week:

Monday: Salders BBQ with Tator Tots and Corn

Tuesday: Left over brisket on baked potato's

Wednesday: Burger's!

Thursday: Mexican Lasagna and Salad

Friday: Leftover's

Saturday: Hubby and I leave for Vegas!!!

Concert on a Budget??

I took my daughter to her first concert... The Jonas Brothers at the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium. This thing is huge!

You know I have to save money let me share...

#1. I bought the mid-priced tickets. Really the seats are just as good.

#2. I got Kate a shirt ahead of time at Justice for $2! They were selling them at the show for $50!!

#3. I did splurge on some souvenirs, a poster, a program and a necklace.Here we are in our cheap seats!

Our seats seemed like front row because of the huge screen.
Since I saved $$ I parked far away about a mile to be exact. So we waited around and walked around after the concert. Can you believe parking was $40 close and we still paid $20 a mile away.

I had a great time with my daughter! Sometimes events like this are worth the splurge the memories are priceless.

Freebie Friday

Happy Friday to all! We are heading out to the Great Wolf Lodge with the kids for the weekend. Looking forward to some family fun.

Ready for some freebies:

Eating Out Freebies (Take Dad out for Fathers Day):
BYGO Fridays Meal
Free Boston Market's Kids meal- Just have the color this color page!
Outback Steakhouse- $10 off
Free Slider at White Castle
Free Emeril's Seasoning- Fill out the online form and BAM! right at your door.

Wal-Mart's Free Samples:
Great Value Granola Bars
Scott Toilet Paper - my fave TP
Kotex Product - I gather all these together and put in a little travel bag.
Tampax Pearl- put this in that little bag too.

Thrifty Thursday- Food Swap

Raise your hand if you get tired of cooking.... me, me, me!!!

I was talking to a friend on the phone and we were discussing this issue. As I was taking dinner to a friend who just had a baby it hit me. A food swap! You don't have to only take dinners to friends when they are sick or have a new baby. How about surprising a friend with a casserole dinner or perhaps a pizza.

We always have too many leftovers so I will simply put my extras in a dish and deliver to a friend.

I am also thinking we will have the dish to swap meals for each other. Instead of returning the dish clean return with a meal :)

A meal I don't have to cook is better than a new outfit!

Laundry Room

Kelly is once again hosting Show us Where you Live. Today is laundry rooms. Let me share mine.

Here are my new black cabinets in my laundry room.... I wrote all about my adventure here

Well I added a little spice let me show you...

I got this wonderful iron scroll for $6 at Hobby Lobby. It was a rusty color so I spray pained it with the same black paint. I got the knobs for $1 each!

I pulled out my stainless serving tier to put my laundry supplies on. I finally but this little used item to work.

Here is the before.... urgh.

I enjoy leaving my laundry room door open now to enjoy my nice new black cabinets. I am still on the lookout for more accessories.

Tuesdays Tip - Sell That House!

Several years ago we put our house on the market. We had a contract in 10 days, wow! Well, the housing market has changed but here are some tips that helped us.

1. Negotiate your realtor fee's. Some Realtors will do 5%.
2. Put your listing on Craigs List for additional coverage... it's free.
3. Have your realtor set up an open house for other Realtors.
4. Get rid of clutter and box up junk. Check out HGTV shows on this topic, there are tons!
5. Send an email out to your neighbor friends that you are selling. Who knows they might have a friend who is looking in your neighborhood.
6. Listen to your realtor when they want to price your house. Price it to sell!

This brings me to a good friend of mine. They have a great home and they have followed all the rules of staging. Sadly it's the housing market. So the last shot is here on my blog. If you are looking for a home in the Arlington, TX area check out her listing.

Menu Monday

A month ago I dreamed of lazy days by the pool a nice tan and a cool glass of lemonade (crystal light of course).

My summer in NO way resembles that dream. Instead I am running to the gym, sheltering the kids from the rain, cleaning the house than cleaning it again, telling the kids to stop arguing, sending the kids to their rooms... my list could go on and on.

This week looks about the same way, very busy. Kate starts tennis and dance camp plus we are heading to the Great Wolf Lodge for a staycation then the Jonas Brothers Concert at the new Dallas Cowboys stadium. Whew.... I am exhausted thinking about it.

Dinner? We have time to eat sure we do.

Monday: Make Your Own Nacho's, I make a little topping bar and we load them up the way we want.

Tuesday: Deli made pizza from Wal-mart, these are great priced and so good!

Wednesday: Stuffed Enchiladas (in the form of enchiladas instead of layered)making an extra batch to take to my friend Jenny who had a baby last week.

Thursday: Leftovers pantry clean out

Friday: We head to Great Wolf Lodge for a weekend of real summer fun. Swimming, relaxing and eating!

Saturday: Great Wolf Lodge by day and Jonas Brothers Concert by night!

Domain Name

If you have my site bookmarked at www.frugaljen.com please change it to http://frugal-fabulous.blogspot.com/

FYI... I had a bad experience with verio hosting. I am looking for new web hosting any suggestions?

Freebie Friday

We got an unexpected FREEBIE to our backyard.... a swampy pool! We received over 7 inches (according to the news) in 1 day! What a mess! Our back fence is now leaning so the summer replacement is in order. We recently replaced one side to an 8 foot fence now the back will get the same! YEAH!

I have gotten selective on the freebies I post. I find a lot of them but some are a little shady and my junk email has grown leaps and bounds. I only want to publish the good one's that are real so my list's might be short on Fridays.

Tan Free at Palm Beach Tan June 12-14th! Thanks Cassidy for this one!

Free Country Music download from People Magazine featuring artist Jason Aldean.

Free GeoTrax DVD - This offer is from Fisher Price and is a great one for the little kids. Beware you kids will probably want you to purchase GeoTrax, but they are great toys! Offer says it will take 12-14 weeks for delivery.

REI Kids summer program- This great program encourages your kids to have fun outdoors. Sign up and receive some outdoor goodies.

Home Depot Garden Club- Sign up and receive coupons and gardening advice. We can ALWAYS use HD coupons.

Show Us Where you Live- Bathrooms

Welcome back to my home, today is bathrooms. Kelly is hosting Show Us Where you Live, Bathroom edition.

I have 3 redo's to show you. First up is the downstairs HALL BATH. We textured the walls, painted, installed a new light and framed in the mirror. I am thinking of painting and distressing the cabinets black. I am also planning to get a granite remnant to replace the hideous 1990's green sink. Here is the before when I was texturing the walls.

Our MASTER BATH has big plans. We hope to completely demo and build a dream bath. This is my tub area now. Some cheap fixes from IKEA and shopping in Canton, TX.

This is the before, the previous owner did some texture and faux painting it was nice but not my style.

I had some fun in the KIDS BATH. I painted the ceiling blue and painted clouds. I also painted the cabinets white and added some whimsical knobs. My favorite is my window treatment I made! We still plan to add new tile and a granite countertop.

Here is the before just plain.

Thanks for stopping by! One day I hope to have that dream bath!

Thrifty Thursday- Staycation?

Play tourist in your hometown! Sunday we have family day this time we played tourist. We headed out to Bass Pro shop for some boat browsing. Look it's like we're on vacation!
We worked up an appetite and headed over to Rainforest Cafe a super tourist spot. Can you believe this is the first time we've eaten here?

So much fun! We even had a coupon for $10 off!

Of course you have to have the touristy dessert... the volcano.

Check out your city's local attractions and pretend to be tourist for a day. You will find you can have lots of fun close to home.

Bow Winners!!!

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:

18 WINNER #1 (I Swear I used the random # generator! This is one of my bloggy buddies!)
18N. said...
YEA FOR BOWS!!!
June 4, 2009 9:27 PM

59 WINNER #2
59Tami @ tbsportsmom2@sbcglobal.net said...
What a beautiful office. I am going to have to get busy and clean mine. Everyone has inspired me. Would love to win the bows !!!tbsportsmom2@sbcglobal.net
Timestamp: 2009-06-10 18:53:26 UTC

CONGRATS LADIES! I will be emailing you for your mailing address. Enjoy your 4th of July bows!

Tuesdays Tip - MYOS

Make Your Own Shirts!!!



My friend Ashlee made these cute shirts for her daughter Milla. She found the plain white t's at wal-mart for a few bucks and with the magic of printable transfer paper she made these cute shirts!

Ashlee is on a shirt making roll. She made these super cute shirts for our girls. Little Best Friends aren't they cute!!!
Her shirt making reminded me of our trip to Disney World last year. I made these shirts for our family with the same iron on transfer paper.

The back of the shirts each had a quote from a Disney movie.

The front had a Disney family trip logo.

This was our other shirt. My BF Adrien designed this for us.

Instead of buying over priced t-shirts at the theme park make your own! We got so many compliments and it's a special souvenir!

Menu Monday

Let me tell you I needed some R&R with the family. I got a much needed dose this weekend. We visited some friends at their fabulous lake house. Let me share a few pictures.

Me and Little Miss taking a walk Kate and Will playing with the dog. Will told us playing outside like this was better than a Wii.

This is the view down at the lake looking up toward their home. Absolutely beautiful. We sat down on the hill and just gazed up at the tree filled sky. Completely beautiful! Remember we have NO big tress in our yard at home.

So back to reality and the home front. Our hostess fed us so well all weekend that I was sad to leave that wonderful southern home cooking.

Monday: Toastato's topped with beans, cheese, grilled chicken, lettuce, sour cream and salsa

Tuesday: Pizza

Wednesday: Fast grab meals. Kate is having her dance recital this evening so quick easy meals. Most likely sandwiches and chips.

Thursday: Sadler's BBQ Brisket and Baked Potato's

Friday: Date night! The kids are staying with my parents so we get a night out! I am thinking mexican food and a movie.

Show Us Where You Live & Bow Giveaway!

Kelly is once again hosting "Show Us Where You Live Fridays" today is Home Offices. I am proud of this room. It took lots of work... come step inside. These two custom leather chairs were a big splurge but we still got them 68% off due to my husbands fierce negotiation skills! Go Josh!

We enjoy wine in the evenings after the kids go to sleep and sit in our chairs.

This is my husband's "man space" in the house. He did all the decorating and picking out. He also cleans this room all himself. Love that!

This is a view of the french doors. We closed the space off in the office where the desk is and had a contractor re texture the back wall. Josh with some help installed the french doors. I love the look when you walk in the door.

Here is the before shot before we closed off a wall and added french doors on the entry wall.

This is my home office in the kitchen. I enjoy catching up on my favorite blogs here.

This is the before of my desk. Really 1990's.

Thank you for visiting. Now for something special my friend Ashlee with Cupcake Clips & Bows gave me some FABULOUS 4th of July Bow's to giveaway. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment and your email address so I can contact you if you win!

2 Winners!!

Contest ends: Wednesday June 10th!