I have a theme when it comes to our apartment. Black/White & Aqua colors. Our Sofa is black. Our end tables & coffee tables are black. And my 2 favorite armchairs are black & white floral. There are small bursts of aqua around in the throw pillows, baskets on my coffee table, etc. I recently bought black & white damask dishes to keep on with my theme.

Now I finally found the perfect place mats for our dining room table. And finally found the perfect coasters in an aqua floral color for our living room. For some reason, it's REALLY tough to find coasters at the store! Plus it was a great price for both! 

Turquoise Flower Leaf Tile Coasters $6 -Etsy

Torre & Tagus Floral Print Placemat Set of 8 $9.99 -Target

I really would like to check out Ikea during my long weekend. (No work on Presidents Day yay!) I've never been to our Ikea. It's downtown in Philadelphia.

I really want to get a few of these realistic plants for our apartment:

Artificial potted plant, grass $3.99 -Ikea

Artificial potted plant, House bamboo $3.99 -Ikea

Pinterest might prove to be bad for my wallet, lol. I'm having a lot of fun organizing my Home & Kitchen Decor Idea boards. Most of the stuff is a little out of budget for me, but these dishes... omg. I fell in love with them. I love anything black and white, and damask is so elegant! It matches the color scheme of my favorite living room chairs. (Our color scheme seems to be black, white & a pop of bright aqua or teal).

It's my Valentines gift. ♥ I'm sooo excited! I love them! It's a 16 piece set from Target.

Damask 16-pc. Dinnerware Set - Black/ White

I also bought a gorgeous hoodie on Amazon.com. But the price was right. It used to retail for $180.00 because it was Christian Audigier, but that & the Ed Hardy stuff isn't as popular anymore so it was on sale for $29.99! It is GORGEOUS in person and so well made, I love it! ♥

CRYSTAL ROCK Christian Audigier Love Faith Womens Tunic Hoodie

Soooo.... while Pinterest might be great for ideas, recipes, home decor ideas, it can be bad for your wallet! At least all our bills are paid for the month, lol! ;-)

I joined Pinterest last week. At first I was a little confused of what it was all about. But now it's getting a little addicting. It's like a giant bulletin board of your own. You can pin and share recipes, funny pictures, links of crafts or home decor you like. Pretty much anything you like. You can create categories for each of your "bulletin" boards. It's quite addicting. You can also share your posts on Facebook. :-)

Happy New Year Everyone! Unfortunately I'm ending 2011 and starting 2012, with a yucky chest & head cold. I'm getting better, slowly.

F.B. & I will just be celebrating New Years quielty at home this evening. We'll have some cheese, crackers, pepperoni & Martinelli's sparkling cider at midnight! And watch the ball drop in New York on TV. New Years Day, I'll be cooking ham & sweet potatoes. And we'll get to try our chocolate chip panettone cake.

Christmas Picture of us both:


I ordered some more goodies. I ordered another one of these chairs from Walmart, because I absolutely love it and I want a matching set. The chair itself is really comfortable and even cuter in person!

Arista Arm Chair- Black and White Floral (Walmart)

Royal Opulence Satin Sheet Set: Zebra (Walmart)

Oh and I got the best deal on a 4 cup Pyrex meauring cup from Big Lot's last week! $6! (No more baking disasters now, yay! Lol!)

Moving day went fine. So exhausted and achy though! Almost unpacked, just some clothes to still hang up and put away. Returned the Uhaul truck this morning. My family helped us move yesterday and we were able to load up the truck for one trip. And then just 2 small trips for last minute items. We are using the internet from my cell phone until we get our Comcast internet. My T-mobile Sidekick 4G can be used as a router. I have "unlimited" mobile internet, but only up to 5GB a month so we can't watch any Netflix until our regular internet service is set up. Back to work on Wednesday. I'll have to use a different train station too. :-p

Also there's some things in the apartment that maintenance has to check out. Our bathroom sink is leaking underneath when you run it. And our shower doesn't work. The knob to turn for shower just gushes tub water out whichever way the knob is turned. Anyhow if that can't be fixed the way I want it- then I ordered this as a back up. At least we don't have to pay for water.

This morning we just ran the tub & used a bucket we have with a handle & spout to "shower" with. (Philippines flash back! The water pressure can be pretty low at times in the Philippines. So everyone has a big tub of back up water with a lid & a bucket or ladle to rinse/bathe with in their shower/tub.)

Here's some pictures of our apartment. We picked up a few Christmas decorations at Dollar Tree today.

A few more things I ordered for our apartment since it was payday! :-)

Arista Arm Chair- Black and White Floral (Walmart)

Throw pillows for our black sofa:

Danica Studio Cushion- Zaza (Amazon.com)

Brentwood Channel Stitch Pillow- Turquoise (Amazon.com)

Shower Mat (to go with our rubber ducky shower curtain):

Ginsey Rubbermaid Vinyl Bath Mat- Turquoise (Amazon.com) Was: $7. Now $11.

Had to take advantage of my free 2 day shipping with my 1 month trial of Amazon Prime! ;-) I got a free trial when I ordered my Kindle Fire, (which I love!) I ordered most of my Christmas gifts on Amazon this year. We are trying to pack a few boxes every weekend. Only 2 more weeks until the big move.

(I do use Amazon Associates, but not because I've made any money- because I haven't! lol! But I like that I can show a picture/link with a product when I'm blogging. Plus I do recommend Amazon.com for their low prices. That or Ebay!)

I borrowed $3,000 from Citibank for our furniture budget for the apartment- since we only had bedroom furniture. We stayed well under that. We spent under $1,000. So I was able to return most of the money I borrowed from Citibank. :-)

We are also thankful to my Dad in law & Mom in law, for helping us with the down payment on our apartment & helping us with the furniture we needed. Thank you so much! We really appreciate it! 

My parents gave us a microwave so we are definitely thankful for that since it's one less thing to buy! And my Mom said we could have some dishes and cooking stuff too. :-) (We have a few dishes, a coffee machine, coffee press & rice cooker already.) Most of our smaller items, shower curtain rings, mop, broom, bucket, cleaning supplies, etc, etc, etc; we will get at Dollar Tree or Big Lot's.

I did free site to store shipping for most of the items we ordered. We still have to pick some of these up. Walmart rocks! Here's some of the goodies we ordered!

Living Room

Atherton Home Manhattan Convertible Futon

Parsons 3 Piece Coffee & End Tables

Better Homes and Gardens Poly Resin Birdcage Lamp (2)

Linen Hardback Table Shade (2)

Open Sided 3-Shelf Bookcase

Curtis 19" Class LCD 720p 60Hz HDTV

RCA Digital Flat Amplified Antenna

 Dining Room/ Kitchen

Mainstays 5-Piece Wood and Metal Dining Set

Rival 2-Slice Toaster ($6.00)

Black & Decker Electric Can Opener ($9.00)

Hefty Swing-Lid 13.5-Gallon Trash Can

Bedroom

Mainstays 4-Drawer Chest

Mainstays Floor Lamp

Bathroom

Rubber Ducky PEVA Shower Curtain

Misc

Dirt Devil Express Quick Vacuum with Tools

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

I can't believe it's only been a few days since we found out F.B.'s visa was approved!

We are still waiting on the US Embassy to mail his passport/visa and paperwork to him. (Hoping it only takes a week!) and then F.B. can book a plane ticket. I've talked with his Dad and I took off a few days around March 6th-12th so it's likely F.B. will be getting a ticket for around then.

There's still so much to do here to get things ready! I just ordered a new bed from Sear's yesterday, after looking at lot's of online reviews through Google & Yahoo Search.

It was only $610.00 for a new Sealy full mattress, box spring & frame. Sears is having a 50% off President's Day sale on mattresses and I also got free shipping and $20 off with a coupon code! (Free shipping is for purchases over $499 and coupon code is: SAVEBIG for purchases over $299- not sure when that expires.). I scheduled delivery for the last weekend in February! I'm so excited the bed even has a layer of memory foam! I love memory foam! I used some of our savings to buy the new bed.

Next week I have to stop at Lowe's and get some paint and paint supplies to redo my room. I'm getting a similar color (Mint.) I only have 3 walls to paint in my bedroom, the 3rd wall is real wood paneling. The paint in my room just needs to be touched up. It's stained and chipping away in areas so it needs a retouch. My Dad is also going to help rip out the built in desk that I never use. It will give us a lot more space for the new bed and the rat cages once it's removed. I'll take pictures when everything is finished. :) I'm planning on painting during my 3 day weekend. ( Feb 21st is President's Day).

I have to get new drapes for my room. Walmart had some nice affordable ones. The ones I have now have been chewed at the bottom by my ratties, when I used to have the girls cage near the window 3 years ago. Plus they are pink and faded and never really matched my bedroom.I want to get a nice deep chocolate brown since that might go better with my mint colored walls.

Going to get some new comforters and sheet sets either from Big Lot's or a 2nd hand store. With rats as pets I try to buy the cheapest blankets and sheets I can get. Because they WIlLL chew a hole in them at some point! Also getting new pillows from Walmart.

I want to put together a toiletry box for F.B. so he will have everything here ready for him when he arrives.

• Soap
• Shampoo
• Axe Solid Stick & Spray
• Toothbrush
• Toothpaste
• Floss
• Hairbrush
• Razor
• Q-tips
• Towel & Washcloth
• Robe

I might also get together a little snack box of some Philadelphia treats for him! Just about a month to get everything ready for his arrival! :-)

I've owned my Ferret Nation cage for 2 years now. I've owned 12 rats total (4 have passed on.) And though a few have stuck their head out of the bars occasionally, I never had one escape... until last night!

You see; on each end of the cage doors there is a bar spacing that is wider than the rest of the cage. (Which equals up to 8 spots on the doors the bar spacing is wider.) You can fit two fingers comfortably in those spots, while the rest of the bars you can barely get 1 and a half fingers through. Some of my other ratties have been able to stick their heads out of those spots. Poppy recently has been sticking her head and body out almost up to her hips! And last night she discovered if she wiggled just the right way she could get her entire body out! I caught her climbing up the outside of the cage and I almost had a heart attack!

I had to temporarily use cardboard and duct tape last night on the spots she was able to stick her head out of. I went and posted on the Rat Chatter Forums where I am a moderator and we were able to find a solution to the problem!

I ordered 36in x 10ft of Hardware Cloth, Nylon Zip Ties, and Cutting Pliers from Lowe's. All together about ($35). I ordered everything last night and chose store pick up. I just had to print out my receipt and take it to Lowe's this afternoon to get my items.

This was definitely not a one person project! My brother helped me with this. The hardware cloth likes to roll itself back up and you need someone to hold it down while you cut with the cutting pliers. I didn't really measure at all. I just took the cage door (Ferret Nation cage doors come off completely.) held it to the wire and then marked with a permanent marker the spot I was going to cut. Once I cut out my first piece, I used that as a guide for the 3 other doors.

Then while one person holds the wire flat against the cage door, another zip ties the wire to the door. I actually ran out of zip ties... I should have gotten another pack, thank goodness my Dad had some extras! All in all it took about an hour and a half to complete the 4 doors. And now my little escapee can't escape anymore!

The cage doors completed:

Brattie Ratties!