So, on the first Fun Friday of the new year I thought I’d write about some fun bargains I’ve picked up fairly recently.

First up is this fabulous lamp-

I thought I’d show it from a couple of different angles. If you look closely enough you might be able to make out an image of me in my pj’s taking the photo. Ahem.

I should back up for a bit of back story. The weekend of Trav’s birthday we (all of the Buttons including Daisy and Amanda’s boyfriend, Daniel) headed to Birmingham to have a late Christmas with my parents and also to make sure they were okay since my dad had been in the hospital and my mom was sick. It was kind of a lot to deal with. And putting a birthday party, Christmas and hospital stay in the same sentence is weird but we’d already planned the party. Anyway, after we’d established that everything was okay and were heading back home, I asked my mom if she had any end tables that she didn’t want anymore. Which she did and was kind enough to give to me. I’m not posting pictures of that yet because I haven’t decided how to refinish it. For now it holds this lovely lamp- which was quite the bargain.

A couple of weeks ago I decided that a shopping trip with my girls was exactly what we needed. We planned to go to Target (x2 since there are 2 in town), the mall, Pier One (for me since the girls hate that store), and TJ Maxx. I’m not sure at what point we ran out of steam but it was before we’d hit the mall. Chloe and I were tired but my little powder keg of energy (Halle) still wanted her mall trip. I appeased her by offering to go to American Signature Furniture instead- it’s one of her favorite places. As we looked all over the store, and I do mean *all over*, I noticed that there were quite a bit of items with 75% off tags. I didn’t pay much attention to any of it because I didn’t plan on buying anything. A little later the most gorgeous sunset I’ve seen in a while caught my eye. I gasped and pointed it out to the girls and we walked over to the window for a closer look- and I stood right next to a beautiful, mercury glass lamp that had a 75% off tag on it. I looked at the price tag and even though I hate math I knew that 75% off of $100 is $25- SOLD! I’m not sure if American Signature is still having that clearance sale but if your in the market for lamps or accessories you might want to check it out.

The moral of the story here is that one should always take time to appreciate a sunset.

Next up is a fabulous quilt-

I found this a while ago, maybe in autumn? I was shopping at Target and happened upon a clearance end cap where this lovely quilt was marked down from $79.99 to $23.98! It’s king size and we have a queen size bed but we’ve used a king size comforter for a few years and it’s been just what we needed for sleeping harmony- since Travis tends to hog the covers.  It also solved the problem we have every winter where our room looks like we’re a couple of poor college students huddled under whatever old comforter we drag out of the closet. This keeps us nice and toasty since I put it under our current comforter and it keeps me cool when the weather is warmer since I can take the comforter off the bed and not be embarrassed about it.

As an added bonus the girls love it too.

January is bargain season, happy hunting!