Do you shop at your local mall?

(image credit)

I plan on going to the mall this morning.  I haven't been in ages.  What I mean by a mall is where are a number of stores are all under one roof, and you can go from store to store without going outside.

Going to the mall used to be such a big deal but nowadays I think they are a thing of the past.  Not sure if it's something to do with age or just the sign of the times; but maybe malls are on their way out?

I do a lot of shopping online, got a couple of parcels this week and honestly it is a heck of a lot easier ordering online than dealing with parking the car and fighting the crowds of people.

I could order online what I want from the mall, but you know what I could do with a few extra steps in, so walking round an air conditioned mall doesn't seem like a bad idea this morning.

Do you go shopping in the mall?

Toms....

Dd was buying the girls a pair of Tom's each for indoor shoes for school/daycare and so I hopped on board and got her to order me a pair as well.

 Lots and lots of hearts....

 Perfect and so comfy.

 My old ones are a bit worn down 😔

Ooh and aah.......

Got this in the mail........wonder what it is?

Liking the look of this...

Love this colour...

 Thankfully there are instructions....

I got a number of Chapters Indigo gift cards for my birthday and saw this online on sale, so thought I'd treat myself.

Giggle Girls Jewelry............

At the show on Saturday there was one vendor who was a 4 year old's dream...............Giggle Girls Jewelry.

My photo's don't do these necklaces any justice, they are really, really cute and are well worth the money.  

 They even had Christmas ones.

 Nora finally chose an Elsa necklace after much consideration.  She was busy eating a candy cane when I took this photo.

We headed back to the vendor later on to purchase a necklace for Nitara for her birthday and all the Elsa necklaces had gone.   They were super busy and I am guessing they had a good day with many sales.

This is an oldie from my youth..........

Update on July goals, as it's the middle of the month.

1. Paint ceilings and walls in basement.  Biggish job, but doable.  I hope to get a good start on the trim, but that all depends on dh, as it's all to put up.  All the ceilings are painted.  Two of the rooms walls are painted and as soon as I feel better the rest will be done.
2. Knit 31 Hexagons for my beekeeper's quilt.  That's one per day and doable. NOT HAPPENING :0(
3. Reduce spending - NOT HAPPENING :0(
4. Have no MacDonald's coffee or muffins Monday through Friday.  It's getting an annoying habit popping out to WalMart to grab a coffee and muffin at MacDonald's.  We do have a gift card for there, so will use that if we go on a weekend. FAIL
5. Don't eat out more than twice this month.  To be fair, we don't actually eat out much at all.  We had our wedding anniversary last month and used a gift card we got at Christmas.  We still have one other gift card to use, but I was saving it for dh's birthday in September. FAIL
6. Try and keep a handle on the grocery spending......with the rising prices easier said that done. So far so good
7. NO buying magazines other than Pretty Patches at the end of the month......this is a hard one for me! So far so good.
8. No shopping online........even harder!! Fail, Land's End had a good sale...oops!

Bit of a mixed bag with a few fails it seems.  HOWEVER; we have finished purchasing all the light fixtures for the basement.  We have picked up the majority of the doors for the basement; which dh sourced and saved us a lot of money on them and on the trim when we pick that up.  I do see me getting all the walls painted and hopefully if dh has time to put them up, the doors as well.  That will leave only the rest of the trim.  Dh is coming up to a busy time of year work wise for him.

The Land's End online shopping is for a wedding we are going too in the new year.

We have ordered pizza a couple of times over the past two weeks.  It costs $11.50 with tax and we pick it up.  With me being sick and it being so hot it was something quick and easy.

How are you doing with your July goals?

Some goals for July:

Figured I would set some goals for July, can't hurt can it?

1. Paint ceilings and walls in basement.  Biggish job, but doable.  I hope to get a good start on the trim, but that all depends on dh, as it's all to put up.
2. Knit 31 Hexagons for my beekeeper's quilt.  That's one per day and doable.
3. Reduce spending.
4. Have no MacDonald's coffee or muffins Monday through Friday.  It's getting an annoying habit popping out to WalMart to grab a coffee and muffin at MacDonald's.  We do have a gift card for there, so will use that if we go on a weekend.
5. Don't eat out more than twice this month.  To be fair, we don't actually eat out much at all.  We had our wedding anniversary last month and used a gift card we got at Christmas.  We still have one other gift card to use, but I was saving it for dh's birthday in September.
6. Try and keep a handle on the grocery spending......with the rising prices easier said that done.
7. NO buying magazines other than Pretty Patches at the end of the month......this is a hard one for me!
8. No shopping online........even harder!!

Do you have any monthly goals, you would like to share with us all?

Pretty Excited..........don't expect anyone else to be though!

Just placed my first order with Marks and Spencer on their new Canadian Site, here is a link to the site.  It is in Canadian dollars and duties and customs are all included.  They even offer free shipping for orders over $50.  I even got a 20% off coupon for signing up.  

Picked up these for a certain someone for her birthday in November.  She has a pair of gold ones, that are getting a tad tight!!  They too were bought at Marks.

Now for those of you in the know re: Marks and Spencer, their underwear is top quality, so ordered some for dh and I, and some new tea towels.  I paid $76 for a pair of wellies, five pairs of undies for me, three pairs for dh and three tea towels.  I thought that was pretty good value for money.  

I should receive them all next week............I will let you know what I think then.

What I want to make next........

Someone asked me if I was still knitting?  I am in between sewing.  I made this dishcloth this week using this pattern  Love how it turned out.

I am going to start on knitting a Beekeeper's Quilt next week.  It's going to be a project that is done over a long while.  Here is an image of one that's being put together:

and another image:

I purchased the pattern from Tiny Owl Knits and I think it will be a fun project and very portable, something to take with you where ever you go.  Has anyone ever made one of these?  Myself and Angie from The Knitting Basket are going to be doing one each and maybe some other women?  I am in no rush to finish it, and will be doing it on a Thursday when I go to the Knit and Sit.

Then I am jumping on the Necessary Clutch Wallet bandwagon.  I purchased the pattern on the weekend and the hardware.  Not sure which fabric I will be using yet, but again looking forward to making this.  

You can buy both patterns online, let me know if you have made either of these projects?

Is it summer yet?

We have had some glorious weather these past few days and what have I been doing, staying inside and sewing........I know I should have been out enjoying the weather, but other than going to the mail box haven't left the house.

I am determined to have as many no spend days as I can; and one way of achieving that by not going out.  I was tempted to go out on Wednesday as I have a $10 gift card for Chapter's that has an expiry date on it.  However I decided that doing more sewing on my quilt was more important.

 

The online shopping diet is also going well. And so far so good with sticking with the menu plan I did at the beginning of the week.  I will be going out today as it's my knitting day.  It costs a whole $2 for the sitting fee, which in turn gets donated to our local humane society.  Angie is very generous that way in donating to the community.  So along with that $2 and $2 for a coffee and muffin at McDonalds, it's a cheap day out for me.

I am not taking knitting though this week, as I want to get the binding hand sewn on the quilt I have been doing.  Here are some photos from it:

This uses a total of nine fabrics, seven for the main body, one for the border and one for the binding.  I bought it as a kit and then did my own thing.  It measures approx, 40" x 44" which is a decent size for a baby quilt.  To my mind it is more of a boy quilt than a girl one.  I have some pale mint green, grey and white fabric that I am going to make the next one in.  That is more girl like than boy like and when we see what "R" has she can take which one she wants or both, it's up to her.

Okay I admit it...........

I am getting old.  These past three days have certainly taken it out of me.  Gone are the days when I could get two coats of paint on the walls in one day.  Mind you despite me painting "three" rooms; kitchen, breakfast area and front hall, I only used a gallon and a half of paint.  It was very fiddly.

I am not sure what hurts the most, my back, shoulders or neck.  I am so lucky though that after a night's sleep I bounce back and everything seems back to normal; whatever normal may be.

Today I will be putting the place back together.  I also ordered three of these lights which should hopefully come today:

I ordered three for the front hall.  They are out of Lowes (Canada) and I took advantage of a sale that was on a weekend or two ago.  They are not the most expensive but they suit where they are going and fit in with the rest of the décor.

Due to all the decorating nothing much has been done as far as organizing this week.  Menu planning has gone by the wayside.  Thankfully I have been popping leftover's in the microwave. 

I went and got this picture framed at Michael's; again took advantage of a 50% off coupon.  We are very happy with how it turned out:

We got the picture from the Drawing For Art function we go to every year, back in 2013.  The artist is George Mocanu.  It's back to hanging up on the breakfast area of the kitchen.  I will get more photos taken of the newly decorated rooms when I get them all back together.

Giving credit, where credit is due........

I mentioned the other day about online shopping.  One of the places I shopped at last Friday was Land's End.  I needed a new light jacket and with 50% off outerwear, it seemed like a perfect time to have a look.  I ordered this jacket:

It arrived Tuesday night and it is perfect.  As the other people reviewing this jacket said, the sleeves are a tad long, but nothing that you have to change.  I am so pleased with the speed of the delivery and the quality.  I have ordered a couple of the men's cardigan's for my dh so looking forward to seeing them arrive also.  So if you are in the market for some new clothing I would recommend.  I have not been paid for this post, this is all just my personal opinion and experience.  

Another place I order a lot from is The Gap.  Sign up for their site as you get coupon codes sent to you.  Combine them with the sale items and you can get some fabulous deals.  I buy a lot of the grand kids clothing from there as the quality is good.  Both the mother's of the grands, appreciate it when you buy a season ahead of the game, so they are all prepared.  

As I have been talking about clothing today, I thought this Christmas song was very appropriate:

Always brings tears to my eyes.