For whatever reason, I have been inspired to make some wreaths over the last few weeks. The one above I saw in the Martha Stewart Living Magazine in November and thought it would be so simple and easy to make.... WRONG. That is really like one bajillion little tiny nuts, that each have to be individually glued on. It would have turned out so much better had I remembered to spray paint the base. UGH. Anyway after it is all said and done I thought to myself, next time LG... JUST BUY IT!
Well then I saw THIS POST over at Thrifty Decor Chick and got all kinds of inspired! I saw some of these wreaths at TJMAXX a few weeks ago and now they are all sold out! Bummer. So I bought some plastic sparkly ball ornaments from Old Time Pottery and got to work. 2 hours and no wreath later.. another EPIC FAIL. I don't have a picture of this misery, but just take my word for it. Follow TDC's instructions to the T. It is important that the ornaments you buy have a quality hook thingy on the top. Mine were plastic with very small holes that often broke as I was stringing them in the hanger. Also think the thinner wire is a great investment unless you are like the Hulk with a coat hanger.
So, this was the first and last times I ever attempt to make another wreath! SRsly

Matt & Scott, our extended family from Birmingham, were in town this weekend and we had a full Holiday extravaganza. Friday night we had Thanksgiving Dinner, Saturday we did discount shopping and had a Hockey Game Saturday night. Sunday Erik tailgated for the Titans and Matt, Scott and I went to Opry Mills. Afterward we came home and cooked a big fancy dinner to honor Mrs. Norma's birthday which was yesterday. Julie & Richard had dinner with the 4 of us then we all decorated the tree while listening to fun Christmas music!

Uncle Matt is a GOOD uncle because he helped me clean both doggles anal glands! They were uncomfortable and biting at themselves a lot and I could not get them an appointment anywhere for 2 weeks! ( Guess all the Nashville dogs are getting groomed for Christmas card pics!ha) anyway Matt is an expert and really helped us out. It was also hysterical.
Pic of us at the Hockey Game...

One night over Thanksgiving, I went to a Bloggy meet up that Sus put together! Sus from The Edwards Edition is my IRL friend (IRL = in real life) and she set up a cocktail hour with the blogger from DC who writes Brown Eyed Girl. We had a fabulous time getting to know each other and catching up! Even the husbands came ( who dont understand blogs ,bloggers etc) cept my bubs cause he had to work :(
It was a lot of fun! check our their blogs if you need some entertainment!

We had a really great Thanksgiving this year! Ever since we moved to Nashville it has become tradition to spend some time at Granny Annie's house which is my college BFF's grandmother. Susannah has a wild, crazy and FUN family kind of like Griswalds and its a lot of fun to be around. We spent most of this time playing Kings ( a card game that we gamble on with pocket change).
Here is a pic of the 4 of us Present, Sus, Bubs & I. Not sure what I had done to my jacket.. ha
Here we are with our Godchild Emmaline! I have been joking about this being our Christmas card picture because its actually a good pic! Not sure what everyone would make of getting a card from us with a baby they have never seen, or how sus would feel about that! ha We did take some attempted Christmas card pics yesterday, and I looked like a Beefma so those wont be used!
Thanksgiving we night we had dinner at Bro & Shauna's new house with Little Stevie. He is such a tween! Shauna cooked a Turkey on her own and it was good! ( yes I ate some turkey this holiday. I made it through all week till Thurs night! )

I have read TONS and watched lots of news casts on Black Friday and compiled a list of random info for you all from that!

Check out www. freeshippingday.com To see which sites are offering free shipping.

Sign up for email alerts from favorite stores.
I did this with toysRus and walmart. Getting daily sale reminders has been really informative. They also send printable coupons. Click HERE to see circulars of various stores.



Check these sites for BLACK FRIDAY deals:
www.Fatwallet.com
www.Blackfriday.gottadeal.com
www.Walletpop.com
www.Theblackfriday.com
www.wishpot.com
www.currentcodes.com


Compare prices on big ticket items by checking www.pricegrabber.com

Not all stores have great return policies! Among the worst for returns is Dillards & Macy's! Among the best for store returns are: Bed Bath & Beyond, Nordstrom, Belk, LL Bean & Kmart.
Save gift receipts for everything and tape to package to keep from losing them.

Best batteries to buy for Christmas Gifts: Lithium Batteries :Energizer ultimate lithium and for Alkaline Batteries: Panasonic evolta alkaline.


Twitter will be a great edition to Holiday Savings. GMA listed Daily Candy, ShopItToMe, Daily Find, Woot, and SamsClubDeals as some of the best people to follow. I also have a twitter account for shopping deals called AshoppingDiva. You can follow me to hear about deals I find or retweets from retail chains!

Anybody else have great tips? Please share them in the comments section!

The bubs and I are trying to go Vegetarian, which is no easy feat! (No need to bombard me with any personal opinions or feelings on this issue, we made this decision based on our own feelings). For some reason the Meat/Vegetarian/Vegan seems to bring about as much heat as politics & religion so if you are not feeling the vibe just skip over these posts.
I am on a hunt for recipes that actually make this easier and that is hard to do! When I find some winners I plan to share them here for others who may have the same issue. If anybody has any recipes to help me please send them my way. We'll give this one a 4 out of 5 stars.

I remember these ornaments quite well from long ago and over the years they have dwindled and taken a beating! They are paper mache from I guess late 70s. I recently acquired a new one from a yard sale and was so excited! After that my mom mailed me all of her original ones and I was so excited to get them! The cross stitched ones she made. We have one of those that Erik made as a child too which is kind of cute. Both of our moms were cross stitch queens!

We spent the weekend in Cincinnati, OH seeing phish with some great buddies ( The Holders)! It was really fun. They played great sets both nights and the band seemed really enthusiastic which was fun. The light show was as beautiful as ever ( see pictures below). Our friend Chad gets GREAT hotels with his work points which is totally appreciated. Saturday the boys went to watch football and the girls went shopping at a totally awesome mall. I got to go to Crate & Barrel and some get some fun holiday stuff ( pictures forth coming)!
Coming home was quite a different story! One that I am contemplating blogging about, but will need some more time. It was rather traumatic and disturbing and so once I digest the details perhaps I will share with all my bloggy friends ( if the snugs lets me! ha)

In shopping for your Christmas Decor this year, don't miss out on this fabulous designer! AshB Design is a very crafty and fun seamstress and has beautiful Christmas Pillows up on her site right now. In addition to those pillows, she makes luggage that gives Vera Bradley a run for her money! Think Vera Bradley meets Lily Pullitzer.
This Christmas I really love the lime green with bright red! She is helping me with my table scape!

I have never done any blog hopping or hosted any but I am attempting to do such things. This one is hosted by My Little Life. Feel Free to Join in.

1. Are you a Black Friday shopper? Are you Kidding me? 100% LOVE black Fridays and any other form of artful thrifty shopping!

2. What was your favorite childhood toy? (Think Easy Bake Oven, Cabbage Patch Kid, Shrinky Dinks, etc.) Hmmm, Maybe my momma should answer this one? I had a doll that I remember quite well and wanted really bad. It was very life like and I named him "Blake" and cut his mouth open so I could feed him flinstone vitamins.

3. Favorite Christmas movie? Hands down, the GRINCH. I watch it every year, and last year I broke down and bought it at the Grinch Ice Special @ Opry Mills.


4. What is the "must have" item on your Christmas list this year?
ha, well I think I already got my Christmas gift ( kitchen) but I did send my momma a list a mile long ( as usual) on Kaboodle and I guess my most wanted item on there is a set of OXO knives. I heart *everything* that is OXO.

5. Do you go all out with decorations or do you keep it simple and classy? This is another "Are you Kidding me?!" I go all out for EVERY holiday. Who says classy means simple! ha I think "Classy" means GLITTER! Where as most of my Holiday stuff gets about 2 boxes per holiday, Christmas has about 10 and its own closet. BIG TIME DECOR. Pictures will be posted of that next weekend. I am really excited about being able to decorate a dining room table this year! We didn't have a table last year so that is a real game changer! :)


What about you guys? If you dont have a blog to link to, feel free to leave comments with your answers!

Don't know if any of you saw this on GMA today but it was really interesting! Some chick followed Martha around for 2 days and also interviews her. Martha said some....sharp things on there and took a dig at Rachel Ray! You can see the GMA clip below. The full show will be on Nightline tonight!


A Day in the Life of Martha Stewart

Bubs picked out these little stainless steel signs for the hallway bathroom before we moved into this house. It was his design contribution.

They need a little polishing....
But i really want 2 more that look like this:
To label our trash cabinets with. Does anyone know where to buy such a thing, or something similar?

I really never , EVER thought I would promote Direct TV as they can be irritating in the billing department, but I have had some really good experiences with them lately! We first got on the Direct TV bandwagon in Birmingham, because when we bought our townhouse, they forgot to mention there was NO CABLE LAID ON OUR STREET. So all the neighbors had cable, but the grizas could get no cable! Enter Direct TV.. and a bajillion year contract. So into Nashvilles we go with our Direct TV contract.
Well a few weeks ago, I discovered that you can get an iphone app that controls your DVR, and anyone with an iphone app, that makes my mad love for TV stronger is a friend of mine!
Then today I was checking out the equipment on their site, because of our new TV arrangement when I discover THIS page about remotes. For a mere $20 I can do really exciting things for our TV watching. 1 - backlit buttons, Sounds archaic i know but we have not had them and late at night when watching TV fumbling for the right button in the dark is not easy!
and then #2 - They have new remotes now that operate on radio frequency instead of infrared! If you are scratching your head right now, like I was let me explain the beauty behind that concept. You can control your receiver without having to point it , which means that ugly old receiver doesn't have to be out in the open! We are going on 4 years now of having to leave one side of our entertainment center open for the remote, which is not visually appealing. No more!
And there you have it, I am officially loving Direct TV these days.. ....

Our kitchen design is kind of a 3 parter project, which when finished will have completed our downstairs area (only after 2 years! ha). I will try and explain it here, but it's gonna be hard to follow. Basically:
- by knocking out half the dining room wall that leads to kitchen we have opened those 2 rooms to each other.
- The living room and dining room are naturally open to each other but we have covered that doorway with a curtain for the past 2 years b/c we had no where else to put our TV.
- so in order to remove that curtain (which i need to use in our dining room anyway)we have to find somewhere to put the TV!
- In order to follow the bubs rules of perfect TV watching we had to lower the mantle so it will be at eye level and you wont be breaking your neck to look up at TV. It is the basically same mantle just taken apart and rearranged/changed.
So below is how it was before. That tile seeping out of the woodwork made me crazy!
My final plan...
In progress. I enjoy these mens. One's name is Arsenio which is kind of hysterical.
Then here you can see we are half way done. That tile on top has to go and still some finishing details like paint etc.

I've had a few people ask me about how to approach today, and if they should say something or not, and so I thought I would just do a small blog and say , yes to all. We appreciate your thoughtfulness. I also wanted to say thanks to the people who hold us up daily, as we have quite a team. We have some great friends and family which we appreciate ALL the time, even if we can't or don't show it as we should.
I didn't want to mention anyone by name, But I will say that Susannah, my girlfriend from college, sent us this program from her church in the mail this week and it made us cry it was so sweet. It was for a service for the Faithful Departed and she had Erik's parents put in the program. Thank you to everyone for all the prayers, thoughts, support, emails etc. We love you guys! Our Family tradition has been hockey on this night, and so will likely be hockey again tonight.

and on a positive note: today is also Nicholas Graham, and Flossie Bossie Graham's birthday. Happy Birthday you guys!

Hi. You asked for some comments on health care. One can not comment on specifics of the legislation until we know what will be included in the bill, especially until after the "conference" to reconcile differences between house and senate bills.

I can comment on some generalities.

Welfare is the transfer of wealth from one person to another person of lesser wealth. If I choose to give of my assets to a person I deem needy, that is freedom. If the government takes my assets through taxation and gives it to a person the government deems needy, that is tyranny.

What might be the real purpose of proposing legislation that will create a huge bureaucracy and provide "insurance coverage" for the uninsured? Will your assets be taken as taxes to pay for insurance for someone the government deems needy? Could that be welfare tyranny?
Where does the government derive the right to provide any kind of insurance using your tax dollars to provide for persons they select? Where does the government derive the right to require you to purchase health insurance, and if you do not purchase health insurance pay a fine or be sentenced to jail time? Why does the government want to be the single provider of health insurance? Could it be that the government wants to be able to control this segment of our economy so that the government will be able to determine the rules we live by? Is this another welfare scheme to make more people dependent on the government?

Perhaps one might consider the economy of the nation. We are greatly in debt and yet Congress proposes additional spending. Will the proposed "health legislation" not increase the national debt by a trillion dollars ($1000,000,000,000) or more? Who becomes responsible for and how will this debt be repaid? And don't forget the very expensive energy (cap and trade) bill right behind. The economy is depressed and one does not become prosperous by spending more than we have. Indeed now is not the time to propose these new spending programs.

One might consider as to whether the medical system has been prepared for an onslaught of more insured patients. What would happen to quality of care under government control of insurance coverage, conditions covered and procedures paid for as well as setting the price for a procedure?

One should think for a moment of the psychological effects that welfare has on the recipients and the donors. The government takes from A and gives to B. B, over time, comes to rely on the payment to provide the amenities of life so has no real reason or desire to assume that responsibility themselves. A, over time, comes to realize that his productivity is being drained to provide for B and that he could have used those assets to provide for a time that he may no longer be able to be productive, but not meet the requirement to have C contribute to his welfare. B thinks he should have more and turns to the government for more. A decides he is not able to use his assets and so decides to cut back on his productivity. This deprives the government of tax revenue to support B at a time when B becomes more strident in his demands. We are not helping our citizens by having a welfare state. I would consider the health legislation as welfare and would on this ground alone oppose it. This is not to say that health care plans can not be devised to meet our needs, we just haven't done it.

I guess you could say I am against the health care plans now under consideration.

Until Next Time,
Granpa

MGifts is an app I happened upon when looking for A good Christmas List app. It actually has been very helpful as a way to keep up with how many gifts and how much money you spend on people in your life. I have all these babies in our life that I am trying to keep up with and I can never remember if I bought this a present for this or that and wanna keep it even.

It shows you a list of all that people you add and a running total of # of gifts and $ spent.
Then you can open up any person and see the gifts listed out with an occasion, store, picture etc. It is REALLY neat. You also have the option to check off the items that are already purchased so it can be used as a shopping list as well.

Lucky for me, organizing just happens to be one of my favorite activities! I spent all day Saturday putting the pegs and shelves in our new cabinets and then rearranging everything. Here is a sample pic . LOVE modular mates by tupperware.

and today is sorting Christmas Decor into boxes for each room the decorations go in. Quite a MESS

My assistant:


He was in charge of quality control!

For YEARS I have been on the hunt for these exact dishes! They are team themed dip containers with lids! We tailgate with some ladies, who I call "Head Wife" and "Second Wife" and they have some of these Titans bowls that I love but they got them YEARS ago at Kroger. I have been bummed since '04 that they stopped making them. Then, this week, Erik and I found some in a gas station on the way to Monroeville last weekend (Stuckey's for all you south Alabamers).
Today, I finally found some Titans ones in the Cool Springs Mall ( while I was supposed to be Christmas Shopping for others) oopsie! Totally fantastic and festive! 3/$10
War Titans!

I did some MAD Christmas Shopping today! I started back in October with buying all the kids gifts on my list. That makes it easier for me to group peeps and give them each a month/week time span to shop in. I also have some iphone apps to organize this plan ( more on that later). I did some reading up on my coupon blogs today and learned alot of neat toy buying tricks. The only bad thing is I am so out of touch with my old "cool toy buying" self. I don't know whats cool anymore with little kids or what the fad is these days, and would LOVE for all you parentals reading this to comment with some tips and age ranges. However, I am almost done.
So here are some of my tips for you all:

- Bath & Body Works is having a sale right now, and a good one. Wall Flowers for $6 Hand soaps for $3. Make sure you are on their mailing list to get coupons. I had a $10 off entire purchase coupon, in fact 2 and the lady let me use both of them *neat*. I love it when that happens. Also they have candles on sale right now but don't be roped in! The BIG ones go on sale Black Friday 2/$20. They have fantastic Holiday Scents!

- Target has their toy coupon book out right now. I saved $17 on 2 of my Nephew buddy's toys. They also have some movies etc on sale. You can print those coupons online HERE. They expire 11/25 and may be gone by then too so plan ahead. If you want to preview their Black Friday Sales CLICK HERE

- KMART black Friday Sales Click HERE

What I need help with is buying Disney Movies. I don't think I have EVER bought any! ha Our God Daughter collects them ( she doesn't know this yet, as she is all about milk and naps right now, but one day she will know it and love it !- right Sus?) anyway, I wondered if any of you know of great deals on Disney Movies?

- Macy's is having a great sale on all their sweaters right now. Cheaper than Old Navy if that tells you anything!

- Michael's has Halloween Decor 70% off and is having a big sale tomorrow 9am-1pm you can get 20% off your entire purchase, EVEN SALE ITEMS. That's big news for all you crafters!


So , I guess that's it! You guys comment with all your suggestions, parent knowledge and sale/coupon news! Also please twitter me Grizas if you see anything cool on my list!
Happy Shopping!

I recently stumbled across THIS blog when reading about house remodels etc and then I found her OTHER blog where she does blog design. I think all of her sites are fabulous so I asked her to freshen up my header and she did it lickity split! Is it not just the cutest? I think its pretty fitting for this site! If you are reading this through google reader click on over to www.igriza.com so you can see the new design!
If you want a new design for minimal $$, then go to Designs By Tenille.
I told her she reminds me of David from color splash on HGTV the way she listens to her clients and delivers exactly what they want!
Thanks Tenille for the fabulous ( and quick) work!!

This curtain hides a bunch of messy shelves in our bathroom. I bought it at Dirt Cheap for $3 a few months back and it was not long enough. I could not force myself to go buy another one at Target for $29.99 since the first one was only $3 so I waited and got another one this past weekend when we went to Dirt Cheap. HOORAY. I was really hoping to find one! Today I sewed them together and it looks much better. Looks kinda pitiful in the pic below but I just didn't have the motivation to steam it before taking the pic ha!


** The color of this curtain is called "River Rock" which is only sold in stores and not on the website**

Lula's Brew is a fantastic children's book app. It is like an ebook that reads itself. You simply swipe your fingers across the screen to turn pages. I tried it out on my nephew this weekend and he really enjoyed it. The illustrations are great too. All parents need this app. It is $1.99 in the app store.



**FFD - I recieved a complimentary version of this app for the review. That did not sway my opinion of the app itself.***

We are back in town! I was so anxious to return and see all of the progress, and nervous since I was not here to see it all go down! They did a fantastic job. Cabinets and walls were painted. As you can see the house is a TOTAL wreck.. which is wreckin me!
Overall we are really happy with the results. The old cabinets and new cabinets look exactly the same! The paint totally made them match perfectly. I am just dying to get in there and organize everything , but I must wait for them to dry a little while longer and put all the shelves in place.
Next step is counter tops and hardware. I am thinking glass hardware.. but maybe brushed nickel.. hmmm
You see bubs is hard at work below helping me wash all the greens we got from my dads garden!

Bloggies! My neighbor has a conundrum over this piece of furniture and I thought I would ask you all for some suggestions! This is a piece she will use in the hall powder room. Walls are a dark blue/grey matte on top, gloss on the bottom. Her style is very clean and modern. SO what do you guys think in terms of paint color, changing out the legs ( she doesn't like them) and hardware?

Also it has this scalloped edge at the top. Anyone know how to remove it?

Today we were awarded the "Lovely Blog Award" from Sus over at Edwards Edition. Part of accepting it is passing on the love so here goes!


i read a TON of blogs. It was hard to pick 15 to share but I based that on my favs and ones that are updated often since that is important!
OK, so here are some of my fav blogs:

1. Edwards Edition

2. The Only Journey is the Journey Within

3. Better After ( Before & After picture blog)

4. Confessions of a Sephora Junkie

5. Greg's List ( warning: punch you in the face language, topics etc. still totally funny)

6. KFD Designs ( painter in ATL that is awesome)

7. Mad in Crafts ( dollar store crafter)

8. CoCo in Music City

9. Free Itunes Downloads

10. Jessica Otwell Photography

11. My Chihuahua Bites

12. Mod Podge Rocks

13. Young House Love

14. Thrifty Decor Chick ( she is hysterical and I like her lingo also she is very crafty)

15. Misadventures of a Newlywed

We are in Monroeville this weekend visiting family and boy have we been busy! Today before I had both eyes open or any coffee I was out the door to a yard sale where I got some great treasures! Below are some 1950's tins. They are AWESOME but do need to be cleaned up a bit. What is "vintage" in Nashville is "Old" in Monroeville. They seriously had 2 tags on them, one that said "old" and the other that said "$3". I also got a 70's cross stitch for 25 cents.

Then on to DIRT CHEAP in Atmore. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Dirt Cheap! It is like shopping at Target with a 70% off coupon! It was even more fun shopping with an "allowance" from Dad. They also have other retailers there... Below is a picture of my practical purchases. A new Water filter pitcher and 3 refill filters , a vacuum filter and some floodlights! Total was less that $10 for all of that stuff!
Then some textiles. 2 Sweater pillows with down inserts.A curtain to match the one in our bathroom right now! Some embroidered pillowcases for Julie's room, some dinner napkins and some hardware! Total less that $30. Pillows were a little "pricey" for Dirt Cheap at $5 each.
Then.. onto Dad's HUGE garden! Erik is standing there admiring his loofah sponges growing along the fence.
Below is about 1/3 of all the peppers I picked today! About 5 or more varieties! Also got eggplants, Kale, mustard greens, collard greens, squash...
Then LOTS of playtime with the nephew! He has been really fun this trip b.c he is starting to talk now. He learned my name right away but took about 24 hours to say Erik. He calls me "Wala" and he knows what stuff is mine and points to it and says" WALA." Below he is trying to feed Erik some of his ketchup.
Then after Wilburs went to bed, I raided Moms holiday decor and got some great fall topiary thingies and a center piece for my table. Oh, I forgot that I also got some wreaths and a cornucopia at the yard sale this morning and Nonie is working on the cornucopia for me tonight! Pictures of that tomorrow!