My Bad...

First, the good news: I won the Real Living Magazine Ultimate Shopping Spree last July. The prize? Thirty thousand pesos worth of gift certificates to Metro Living - a furniture store in Megamall, and another thirty thousand pesos GCs to Federal Design Expo in Makati.

Lucky me. I simply answered the question they posed briefly and honestly. They asked, "Why do you deserve to win the shopping spree?" And I answered, "Because for once I would like to see how it feels like to walk into a store, just point out what you want and come home with that item." Many a time, my DH and I fall in love with furniture in home stores, debate about it and we always end up with him saying, "I can do that myself and save us money." And because he is both an artist and an architect, of course, he can. Better in fact. But does it save us money? Of that I am not really sure. More often than not, the pieces of paper where I listed the expenses (a couple of nails here, some wood planks there...) have been buried under the dust and rubble in our garage, where he works noisily for several months on end.

So when I finally had the gift certificates in my hand, I was ecstatic. My DH and I decided it would be a good time to have some minor repairs done around our three-year old townhouse. Especially, since our plumbing has developed a major leak, sometimes flooding our second floor TV room. With my DH's permission (I didn't want to hurt his feelings), I am collaborating with one of his architect friends for professional advise and assistance.

The bad news: So finally yesterday, plans and a list of materials in hand, my DH and I went to the Federal Hardware. Mindless of the tag prices, we filled our carts with all the materials we needed to renovate the ground floor (living room, dining and kitchen). Only to receive the shock of my life at the checkout counter. It turned out that my GCs were not for the hardware, but for the furniture showroom. At that point, we couldn't really back out, not only because it was potentially embarrassing but because the plumber, electrician, carpenter are coming in Monday and they need the materials to work with. I reluctantly handed over my credit card. This was a cost I didn't budget for and I terribly hate being caught unawares. But it was my fault for not checking in the first place. Like I said - my bad.

So this morning, the workers are wrecking my second floor master's bedroom to find the source of the water leak. But only after they had removed the ceilings on the ground floor. Each thwack of the hammer on the tiles is a blow to my wallet, which is still recovering from my online shopping spree (see previous post).

So there. Another excuse not to scrapbook (too dusty and noisy). I was so hoping I could get a scrap room out of this endeavor but I am not so sure it will happen now with the unforeseen expenses. I will keep you posted on how the renovation goes.