Just So You Know I'm Still Here...

Life, since I last posted, has shifted into fast(er) forward.

We are borrowing a laptop, so we still don't have the (end all, be all) Mac yet. It's coming, one day...

In the meantime...

This year we lost all three of the cats we'd had for the last 15 (ish) years. We have CoCo left, whom I rescued out of the middle of the highway a year ago. A week before we left for vacation, we put down our last old cat. We had a week to enjoy the relief of being a one pet family. And we were not even home.

On the last day of va(stay)cation we went to a friend's house to "play" with the puppies her dog had.

You know what's coming don't you...

We now have a 2 pet home. But I swear a dog is like having

6 cats. Except 6 cats would be a WHOLE lot easier! (I've never had to walk a cat.) All I do anymore is, take the dog potty, walk the dog (2x a day!), get the dog out of the trash, tell her to get down, stop biting, etc. I've also never washed a cat.

Dogs, are clearly high maintenance.

But then I see this face.

Exactly.

The Beginners Beginning Guide to Couponing

Let me say, right off the bat, that most of the information here comes from a coupon workshop I just took led by Jenny Martin from Southern Savers and from the information on the website. So jump on over there and check out her easy to navigate site. (Uh, right after you read this post.) I am receiving NO compensation from Jenny or Southern Savers by writing this post.

I've been clipping coupons for my grocery shopping ever since I got married over 20 years ago. However, in the last month, I think I've realized how to save money more effectively with coupons.

Excuse me...did you just say, " I don't have time to clip coupons?"! (Yes you did. I heard you.)

That's like saying "I don't have time to save money" which we all know is just stupid. As with any new activity, you're not going to be proficient right away. It takes practice. But I betcha if you do this ONE time and save a significant amount of money, you.will.be.hooked. I saved $100 at the grocery store on my first try and now I can't wait to go play the "grocery game" again.

Image: Danilo Rizzuti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It's super simple.

You are going to maximize your savings by buying an item on sale and pairing a coupon (or two) with it. That's pretty much it in a nutshell.

Now if you're going to do this, here are some basic things you need to know.

1. You need coupons.
2. You need to know what's on sale.
3. You can't have brand loyalty.
4. You don't HAVE to go to a bunch of different stores to save money. (But you might want to go to more than one.)

Coupons: Find them in the Sunday paper (larger city papers have the most to offer) or online at sites like coupons.com, redplum.com and smartsource.com. You can also buy coupons online. One reputable source that I'm most familiar with is The Coupon Clippers . Now why in the world would someone BUY coupons?! Yeah. I wondered that too, so I asked. Here's what Rachel from The Coupon Clippers said: "Well, because many places the newspaper costs $2.75... if someone wants, say 10 of one item (i.e., 10 packages of Marcal toilet paper), they'd have to spend $27.50 buying 10 Atlanta Journal and Constitutions.... and then do all the pulling out of the coupons and then the cutting. Whereas, they can just pay us $2.00 and we'll ship them 10 coupons for the $2 off Marcal Toilet paper. So, it saves them time and money. Instead, we buy the papers and do the cutting.

If you spend $6, you're going to save $60 at the store, if you do not double the coupon value."

Knowing what's on sale: What I love about Southern Savers is, Jenny posts the absolute best price on items. She doesn't just list items in the sale flyer, because not every item in the flyer is really on sale. She's doing the work for you.

Items are usually on sale once every 6 weeks. This is called the sale cycle. So when you find an item on sale at it's lowest price, you will buy as many as you need to last you six weeks, making sure to pair a coupon with each item. That might mean one box of cereal or three, depending on your family.

Now there are slightly less than a jillion ways to organize coupons. My favorite lazy way is to get my coupons out of the Sunday paper and write the date in marker on the front of the insert and file it in an accordion file according to month. Each week, I check Southern Savers for the grocery specials which lists the coupon needed for each item and then I go through my inserts and cut my coupons. Easy, peasy, lemon cheesy.

Hopefully, this has piqued your interest and encouraged you to TRY. It is not hard. It takes a little time and a little thought, but it is SO worth it.

If you're curious to learn more, go here for Jenny's Get Started Guide.

I'm betting the first time you save some money or actually get something FREE, you'll scoot over here and tell me and the rest of the world about it, won't you?

WON'T YOU?!

I thought so.

In Memoriam...Monet

It's been a hard weekend, folks.

I started down my driveway early Friday morning to find my cat lying there having been mauled by dogs.

I got Monet when she was a kitten. We picked her out of the litter, my friend telling my husband, "Oh, this one is a sweetie. Very loving."

Snort.

She became MY cat. She hissed and complained at anyone else who was near. Tolerating them but little else.

My husband graciously allowed her and her half brother, Tiger, and a beautiful grey cat called Monaco, to live indoors for many years; then hubby got fed up with having to dig me out from under the cats at night to sleep with me. :D

The older the cats got, the more digestive trouble they began to have and hubby lost it when someone lost their lunch on one of his cameras. (Can't say as I blame him...) So, outside they went.

Monet always greeted me as I arrived home. Meowing loudly to inform me of the days events. After I went inside, she would hop up on the warm hood of the truck and sleep.

Most mornings I could count on her sitting in my kitchen window staring at me as I made coffee, making sure I realized it was time for breakfast.

Making coffee has never been so lonely.

Although she was 15, she was feisty and wasn't showing signs of aging. I am so angry that she was taken from me in such a violent way.

And that we were helpless to prevent it.

My brain is at odds with itself. Wondering at the depth of grief I have-- "It wasn't a human, it was an animal." "This is part of the circle of life." -- is at war with-- "She was my baby." "She was a family member."

So while I'm trying to reconcile all this in my head, Tiger and Coco (remember the three legged kitty?) are getting lots of extra strokes and hugs.

Well, Do You Have a Better Idea?

With the Hobby Lobby opening being the most exciting thing to happen in the last 10 years in this town; well, you can see life in a small town moves at a very slow pace.

Also, the fact that I (and the whole town, really) are so excited over some major name stores moving into town makes me concerned over what we value. ("Consumerism--Buy into it!") I've been looking at my own finances recently and am working more intently on paying off debt and not incurring any new debt. I hate the fact that although I make enough money, I never have any because I/we don't manage it as wisely as we could.

Our pastor spoke last week about the economic bailout. Dangerous stuff for the pulpit, some may think, but he hit the nail on the head when he made it personal. The reason we are in the mess we are, is because of Pride and Greed. "I want that and, doggone it, I work hard and I deserve it!"

Have you ever thought about what you really NEED? When it boils down to it, we need food, water and clothing and shelter. And it doesn't have to be food from a restaurant, Evian water, designer duds, or a 3,000 sq. ft. house in the 'burbs. We've skewed our view.

We have lost our common sense.

As of 10-7-2008, the national debt is $10224252192942.42 The US Census Bureau states that there are approximately 305,369,385 Americans which means your share of the national debt is approximately 33,481.54!

How do we get out of this mess?

Well, personally, I'm going to begin paying cash for my purchases. I'm going to pay off my debt starting with credit cards first. I'll start with the one that has the highest interest rate and after it's paid off, I'll snowball my payments to the next one in line. I will not take my loan company's offer of an extra 2,000.00 and lower monthly payments. (That doesn't even make sense.)

I'll give us a spending allowance that is for "whatever" purchases. That way I can go to Hobby Lobby but not go nuts when I'm there.

I'm going to concentrate on making more art and I'll stop waffling when someone asks me if they can buy one of my pieces. (That should be a no-brainer, but sometimes it's hard to let go of something that is a part of you.)

It's a start.

My World

What a week!

I, for one, will be glad to see this weekend arrive if only to catch my breath.

It has been busy at work with clients waiting in the wings for cancellations (that aren't happening) and one of the girls has gone on maternity leave and I'm doing the ordering that she was doing on top of the other responsiblities I usually take care of . Let's just say it is taking me all week to place one of the orders because I've been getting it together between clients and chasin down other orders that haven't arrived.

I did something new that I've never done before... I gave a lady a microdermabrasion service yesterday. I practiced on one of my employees last week. I think it went well, because she rebooked with me. Our esthetician left, so it's up to all of us to perform these services now.
Oh joy.

I have worked out every day this week, so I am taking off today! Last night at Bootcamp, America (yes, that's really her name) pushed me to use more weight on bicep curls. The phrase "come on girl, you can do more than that!" just get's me. What can I say, I'm powerless to peer pressure. I told her I would be so sore today I wouldn't be able to lift the scissors and she just looked at me and said, "Pshht". She did spot me which helped immensely and I did it. I'm not feeling as sore as I thought I would! In fact, my biceps are not sore at all!

Gotta come home tonight and bake "pink" cupcakes for the big day tomorrow! I'm so excited about my girl's birthday! She is going to have so much fun and I'm going to help! I'll show you the pics as soon as I can....

Shampooing...But Not.

Well, snap.

I can't find it now.

I was cruising the internet the other day and found an intriguing concept on one of my fave blogs. I have been trying to find it again so I can share it with you and I can't find it!

Anyway, the concept is stop washing your hair....with shampoo. Use apple cider vinegar. (I'm familiar with using this as a rinse to give the hair shine after shampooing, but I was not familiar with it being the shampoo.)Several people (who think a whole lot about these things) are concerned about the harshness of shampoo. Can't say I completely disagree. Shampoos do have sulfates which = detergent and that is a strong cleaning property. If you color your hair, some of these shampoos (even ones for color treated hair) will cause the color to fade. They can also be drying to the hair. Technology is offering us sulfate free shampoos and there are some very good ones out there.

Nevertheless, some people just don't want to use products with chemicals and are conscious of how they are produced and the pollution that results when they are made. (Wonder if anyone ever thinks about the personal pollution people emit everyday. Especially after a good bowl of chili...but I'm not going there.)

I decided to try an experiment. I would put about 3 tablespoons of ACV in a bottle with water (think: restaurant sugar shaker) and some drops of lavender essential oil. I tried it on my girl and was satisfied with the results enough to do it a couple more times. Then I tried it on myself. I just had my hair colored last Friday. I have a few vivid red streaks in my hair and remembered that vinegar will help to set the color in clothing after dying, so....I gave it a shot. I wasn't too sure how my hair would feel since I have a gravity defying hairstyle and use a paste type product to style it. I expected my hair to have some residual stickiness to it.

But it didn't.

It worked surprisingly well. The fading on my red was minimal. I used this method two or three times before I finally broke down (after a particularly sweaty workout) and shampooed it (with a natural baby shampoo). During the trial, I continued using my paste for styling , but didn't use hairspray, although adding baking soda to remove that would have been effective.

I finally shampooed my girl's hair with natural baby shampoo after she got sticky popsicle in her hair and I just wanted to make sure that came out.

*edited to add: http://www.itstherecessionstupid.com/2008/05/ufo-recession-1.html

And Look! I'm Over There!

I joined a new site called cafemom which is basically "myspace" for moms. It's a cool site and their is lots to explore if you're interested in checking it out.

On my page, I have a journal and on a bit of a lark, wrote about the glories of the internet. If you want to read my frivolous post, have at it at http://www.cafemom.com/journals/read.php?post_id=1095709&pop_voted=1

I added a poll to it just for fun.

Bet You've Never Tried This!

So I go to the Farmer's Market Saturday.

Among the vegetable vendors I spy a couple selling boiled peanuts. MMMMmmm. I love me some good boiled peanuts! As I was talking to them, the gentleman said, "Here, try this cake here. I'm trying something new. It's called 'Collard Green cake'."

I was torn. I do like collard greens and I do like cake. I just never dreamed they would marry up together! Unfortunately, I'm unable to resist the words "cream cheese icing", so I had a piece.

It was green.

Not a natural green.

More of a light St. Patrick's Day Green. Icing and all.

At his urging to take a big 'ole slab, I took a small one.

I bit.

Tasted like cake. A dense cake. Not sweet, so the icing was a good touch. He wanted to know if it were marketable.

I told him as long as he didn't tell anyone it had collards in it, perhaps he could.

Collard Green Cake.

Coming to a bakery near you.

Hairy Taxes

Sweet Nellie, what a week it's been!

I've been so busy, I thought Tuesday should have been the end of the week! I don't know the last time I've seen so much hair! I've been jokingly saying that I think people must be getting their economic stimulus checks!

I've been plotting what to do with mine (if I get one). First, it was going in the bank. Then, I decided to use it on a dishwasher now that mine is kaput, but after talking to the accountant today, I realize, I'm just going to sign it right back over to the IRS since I owe them beaucoup moola. (Look at me speaking multiple languages!)

I sense by the constant comments (read sarcasm) that you are all on the edge of your seats biting your nails wondering what in the world happened with client confused about her stylist. I did touch up her hair which needed tweaking but was by no means a "bad" haircut. My dilemma about whether or not to charge her ended up being a moot point. My brain said to charge a small amount, but my mouth ended up telling her that it was no charge. She argued and handed me a little more than my brain had suggested which showed me that my gut feeling is still large and in charge.

In other news, I went to Body Pump this morning (exiting the bed was a huge accomplishment to start with) and I upped the weight I've been doing. I felt strong, I felt powerful -- and I won't be able to walk tomorrow. Since I am a glutton for punishment and clearly delirious, I'm going to a class in the morning called RPM which is a spinning class.

I'm smoking! (Possibly crack?)

A Day On The Town

Well, we did it.

We went to Augusta and had a lovely time.

While hubby talked with the photographer for research, my girl took some Christmas money to the Dollar General store and found a Polly Pocket dog tricks set. It is my studied opinion that whoever invented Polly Pocket and Pocket Pets (?) has no children nor any affiliation with them. Otherwise there would not be countless minuscule parts that sink in the depths of the carpet when you shake them out on the floor!

After a quick run through Wendy's where I chose an Asian salad over a burger and fries (thank you very much), we found the Children's Discovery museum. It's mostly over my girl's head, but there were a couple of sections specifically for her age group, as well as a humongous slide, play structure thingy which she LOVED. Every time she slid down, she ran to the starting point to do it all over again. It's so much fun to watch your child enjoy themselves...

Unfortunately, when I choose a salad as a meal option, I am hungry a few short hours later. We were headed to the mall and what to my wondering eyes should appear but a Cinnabon in the food court. Be still my heart. First of all, I rarely go to a "big" city mall. Secondly, I haven't had Cinnabon in a VERY long time. (Both of those are very good reasons to eat something that is full of sugar and carbohydrates.) Right then and there I decided it was high time to live life to the fullest. My girl and I shared one of those big, ooey, gooey, cinnamonny, buttery pieces of goodness. It was delicious. Thank you for asking. Let's just call it lunch's dessert.

I was struck by how we dress as clones of each other. The stores sell all the "same" clothes. Middle aged women in their track suits for comfort. Women dolled up in their jeans and heels, blouses cut high and low. Guys swaggering around in fashionably matched "tough guy" outfits--the hat turned just so, tennis shoes so brightly white, you need shades to look at them indoors. Then there's the "AmbercrombieNavyEagle" clan. They just all look the same. There was this one guy that stood out in the crowd.(There always is isn't there?) I tried not to stare, so in the long glance I took I saw meticulously brushed back hair-longish, an impeccable goatee, layers of chains on a mat of chest hair courtesy of a shirt unbuttoned to "there", tight jeans and boots. He looked like something you'd see at a hair show. O.K., he looked like something I HAVE seen at a hair show. On his arm was woman who was riding the shirt tails of the good looks she'd once upon a time.
And there you go. A trip to the mall: a study in anthropology.

The trip to Augusta is straight down a long and lonely highway. It's an hour and a half drive and you pass through two towns on the way. Boring. If you're of a mind to, you can count the gas stations plunked down in the middle of nowhere. It breaks up the monotony. Talking to two of your best friends helps also.

update:
In the last two days, my girl has come to me and her daddy on two separate occasions and said "come see,come see! I put stinkers in the potty!" And she did.

...And we are making stinkers in the potty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :} (hubby is also very excited about our news)