ShopAtHome.com

As you can see, yesterday was my blogiversary and I forgot.  Oops.  If it wasn't for the fact that I could type the post early and set it to post yesterday, I would have not done anything.  Guess that is a sign of how busy my life is.

Things would probably be easier to remember if I could get online at home but no such luck.  I owe the phone/internet company money and they have turned off the internet for now.  I am still surprised they have not turned off the phone but it is only a matter of time now.   

Let's recap quickly...I love ShopAtHome.com.  I recently purchased some Proactive for Princess Ivi and paid $26 but I got $21 back from ShopAtHome.com.  Works for me.  If you are interested, you can follow the link and when you make a qualifying purchase withing 60 days, we will both get $5.  How cool is that? 

9th grade is going okay for Princess Ivi.  She is in English Honors and Algebra 2 Honors.  Such a smartie.  She is also taking ROTC which she really loves.

Blogiversary

Wow! Today is my 3 year blogiversary. I will have to think of something special to do.

Shopping, griping and saving

“The odds of going to the store for a loaf of bread and coming out with only a loaf of bread are three billion to one.” - Erma Bombeck

This quote sounds like me last night.  We went to the store for mozzarella cheese and came out with cheese, ice cream, kool-aid and sugar. 

We watched The Last Song last night.  I was disappointed because they left out some really important parts of the book that really showed why Ronnie was such a witch to her dad in the beginning.  I think those things were important because it evidences the whole forgiveness thing better.  I also had a hard time watching it because Myley Cyrus is such a horrible actress that she ruined the entire movie. (Especially when she opened her mouth-either singing or speaking.)  Actually, other than Kate Vernon who played Will’s mom (which made me think of Battlestar Galactica) and Greg Kinnear (who played Ronnie’s dad), the cast was filled with bad to mediocre actors.  Although, Bobby Coleman (who played Ronnie’s brother and also starred in Martian Child) did a good job. 

I hate it when they wreck a good book by making it into a movie.  Take Half Blood Prince.  They burnt down the burrow.  How can the final wedding take place at the burrow if they just burnt it down? 

Sorry this is obviously a pet peeve of mine.

Princess Ivi decided to try Proactiv.  We ordered it last night from ShopatHome (with 80% back and a $5 new account).  She is going to follow all the instructions and test it for a month and see how it does.  If it works, it will be great.

We also ordered a KleanKanteen for her lunch box.  I hope it comes soon but I doubt it will be here by Tuesday which is the first day of school.  I ordered the Kanteen itself from REI through ebates (with 3% back) but I ordered the loop caps from Klean Kanteen since the ones at REI only come with a sport cap which is not designed to prevent leaks.  I figure that would not be good for a lunch bag.  I ordered her bottle in Prevention Purple.  I also went ahead and ordered one for me (Active Pink) and am hopeful that will help me drink more water during the day. 

Tonight’s agenda consists of:

• Mowing the front lawn (the side of the fence near the mailbox) since both neighbors mowed their lawns and now mine looks silly. 
• Finish making my lists and organizing my coupons for specific stores for Saturday’s shopping.  (I am going to really track our spending and saving with my new coupon plan to see how we do.) 
• Hunt through the house to find an overdue library book since the library won’t let me pick up the book they are holding for me until I bring this one back.  I have no idea where it is so this could take a while.  I will succeed though because I want this new book (Turning Oppression into Opportunity). 

Oh, and did I mention that I am putting my yard sale off for two weeks?

Finding freebies

There are a ton of freebie sites out there. Too many to name. I would be so afraid to miss a good one. But if you are interested, one way to find them is to subscribe to the coupon blogs and keep an eye out for when they thank the contributors then go check out their site.

The one thing I want to see on freebie sites though...yarn. I guess that would be asking for too much for there to be free yarn but hey, a girl can dream. If anyone sees any, let me know. Okay?

I have a friend

I just logged on and realized I have a friend in my Google Friend Connect box. Wow!!!

Making money

I made some extra money this week. I sold Princess Ivi's Gameboy Advance, games, and paraphanalia and made $17.62. I sold it to SellVideoGames.com .

I also sold a box of old DVDs which she has outgrown to SecondSpin.com and made $21.87.

And I received $15 for my one day of jury duty. It is not much but every bit helps.

More Savings and Even Some Knitting

Princess Ivi and I did some more school shopping since it was Tax Free Weekend here in Florida. Here is our savings to add to our recent CVS trip:

JC Penney:

• Total saved after $10 off coupon = $70.03
• Total spent = $51.97

Winn Dixie:

• Total saved after coupons = $17.80
• Total spent = $31.77

Total saved (including CVS) was $96.83; Total spent was $107.47. So I saved 90%. (If I did the math right.) I think that is pretty good.

Freebies:

I got some free goodies in the mail today. I was sent Pilot’s new Frixion erasable pens (one pink, one purple and one black) and a package of three Frixion erasable highlighters (one each orange, pink and yellow) to test out. So far, I am really pleased with them. Princess Ivi took the highlighters for school and she will let me know how they work. She also took the purple pen, I got the pink and we will share the black one. Free stuff is so cool.

On Friday I got a sample of John Frieda’s Sheer Blonde too.

Knitting:

And look at this, it is actual knitting. I am making Sack Boy for Princess Ivi.

Crafty stuff:

I also finished my envelope wallet. To make it, I used Kelleigh Ratzlaff’s envelope template and made the envelopes. Then I stitched them onto some cardstock.

I then put them in this old checkbook cover that I haven’t used in a while.

I used assorted pretty papers. I can’t wait to start using it. Now that I am caught up on bills and done with school shopping mostly, I should be able to start using it around the beginning of September.

Oops:

One funny thing though was that I forgot to mow the lawn. Oops. Oh well, there is always tomorrow.

Great Trip to CVS

I took Princess Ivi to CVS after work and picked up the following:

Two (2) Cover Girl smoky eyes eyeshadow pencils $8.00 each =$16
One (1) Cover Girl foundation =$9.99
Oral B toothbrushes $4.99
Subtotal $32.73
-$3 in Cover Girl Coupons
-$1 EB from Green Tag
-$5 off $30 purchase
TOTAL spent $23.73

Plus I earned $9 in EB for a future visit!

Cool. I think that is a good start to our back to school shopping and saving.

Be where you are

“We’re so busy watching out for what’s just ahead of us that we don’t take time to enjoy where we are.” - Bill Watterson

Missing

Alece from Grit and Glory wrote this on her blog and it struck such a chord in me. Here is what she posted...

"But there are moments, days even, when I just wish there was someone to hold me. To tangle up with me on the couch as we watch a movie. To sit near to me so at least some part of us is touching. To hug me long and tight, for no reason at all."

This is me.

Thought for the Day

“We should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it is only picking grapes or sorting the laundry.” – E. B. White

10 Things to Bring on Vacation

I haven’t been on vacation in so long.  I could use one.  This topic obviously varies by season but the 10 things I absolutely have to bring with me on vacation are:

1. Camera. 
2. Yarn.
3. Knitting needles.
4. Easy projects.
5. Motion sickness medicine (especially if I am flying).
6. Book to read.
7. My daughter. 
8. Proposed itinerary.  I like to do all the research about where I am going and what stuff there is to do so I have a general budget for the trip.
9. Ipod.
10. Yarn money because I almost always go to a yarn shop. 

Hello World! It’s good to see you my long lost friend.

I have been taking a bunch of great pics to post on here but I lost my camera cord in the move.  Grr!!!  I was hoping to locate it this weekend but no luck.

My weekend was pretty busy.  Here is the wrap up:

Saturday

• Organized coupons.  I send expired coupons and coupons I don’t use to a woman who participates in Coupons for Troops.  I separated the coupons by month (May, June, July, August through current) and put them in labeled ziploc bags.  Then I put them in one big envelope to mail.   For current coupons I use, I put them in my coupon box.
• Cleaning house.  Putting the coupons away cleaned off my kitchen table and then I spent the rest of the day cleaning up.  My house finally has no more boxes in it.  My living room looks great.  Of course, my bedroom needs some attention but at least the rest of the house looks good.
• Hanging out with Princess Ivi.  While I was cleaning, she was on the computer or lounging on the couch reading my high school yearbook and of course, laughing at the hairstyles.
• Reading How to Knit a Love Song by Rachael Herron.  (This was a free book that I won through help4writers.com.)  I am not sure if I like this book.  I wasn’t a huge fan of the characters.  I didn’t like Cade (the male leading character).  I thought he was a jerk.  I did like the female character but I thought that she needed to stand up for herself more.  I thought the ending was too neat.  There was really no talking or explaining or apologizing done and I think it needed it, especially the apologizing.  Also, I couldn’t close my eyes and picture the people in the book or the town where it is supposed to take place which I like to be able to do.  However, I really liked the writing style and I liked how I could feel my chest getting tight in some of the emotional scenes (which is how I judge whether a book is good).  This was also a quick read for me and I was able to finish it in four (4) hours.     

Sunday

• Skipped church and went to Rum Island with Mom, Princess Ivi and her boyfriend instead.  We met my brother and his kids there which was nice because it gave the kids time to hang out and visit.  Even better, we missed the torrential rain that started about 15 minutes after we loaded the car up to head home.  (BTW, Rum Island is a really nice spring on the Santa Fe River in Fort White, Florida.)  [I was frustrated on the ride over though because I made a great mixed cd of some tunes for the ride and it wouldn’t play in mom’s car.  Grrr!!] 
• At home, took shower and lotioned the light sunburn.
• Watched Sweeney Todd (again).
• Cut out coupons from Sunday papers.  I even organized them while I was doing it too.  I bundled up the ones I am giving away, put the ones I am keeping in my box and made a special organizer for drug store items (soap/body wash, feminine products, deodorant, razors, shampoo, etc.) and included a tab for CVS and Walgreens.

Now it is Monday and I am back to work.  This week will be interesting because my boss is on vacation so it is pretty quiet.  I have a lot to do but I have to space it out well so it lasts all week.

Also, I am taking Friday off to go to the child support office and sit there for a while until someone can see me.  (Sounds like fun, huh?)