Saturday Trip to the Home Show

So today I headed to the Greater Philadelphia Home Show.   I’ve been looking forward to it for the last several weeks because I have a lot to start working on this spring/summer.  I try to go every year, but this is the first time the show didn’t charge an admission fee!  And let me tell you…nothing draws a crowd [in a recession] like the word “FREE.”  The line was so long by the time I got there that it snaked around the building.   I heard someone say that 10,000 people showed up.  I’m not sure if that was accurate, but there was a solid 600 waiting in line to get in as I left at 2:30pm.

Anyways, I love to go every year because it’s a great resource to see home improvement products in person and meet potential contractors / manufacturers.  If you live in an old house like me, you’ve got a laundry list of things to fix, so it was nice to see what special offers the vendors had.  Here’s the pile of info & coupons I picked up today.

Today I was specifically looking for ideas to cut down on my energy costs…so I looked for special offers on windows & doors as well as talked to different distributors of insulation and tankless water heaters.  I  realize that none of these is a silver bullet…but I’m open to looking at everything.  My gas bills have been outrageous this winter, so I’m hoping to not have another winter this expensive again.  I ended the show by setting up a few free estimates with a couple of vendors.  At this point, I’m just trying to figure out what I’m going to be able to afford to work on this year.  (Isn’t that the question we’re all wrestling with these days?)

Anyways…on a lighter (and completely different) note, I stopped off at Target on the way home just to see if they happened to have the Orla Kiely mugs yet.  I’ve been getting antsy because I kept stopping by the store and they never had any.  But tonight…was my lucky night!  The Orla Kiely ceramics had finally arrived!   Look how cute they look in my mug collection!!  Yay!

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