photo credit: biggertree It has been quite some time since I have posted here, and with good reason. I have been doing a lot of thinking of the direction that I would like to take this blog, and have finally solidified some ideas that will be materializing during the next couple of months. So stay tuned… I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth!
“It’s time I sling the baskets off this overburdened horse Sink my toes into the ground and set a different course…” - T. Anastasio, T. Marshall photo credit: renatotarga We had a wonderful New Year’s Eve with some friends, followed by a nice lazy New Years Day. We’re going to be spending some quality time with friends and family over the next couple days, but after that I have every intention of starting this new year off with some ambitious goals. I hope that everyone else is having a great weekend. See you soon!
photo credit: milele In a previous post, I mentioned that we hoped to spend $250 total on Christmas this year. We had $95 dollars left and quite a bit to still get. So in the end, how did things turn out? We actually ended up with $105 to spend, since my mom wanted to contribute to the gift certificate for my stepfather (we had budgeted $20, but only spent $10). We spent $15 on my brother – we redeemed $20 in gift cards from Amazon, and split the cost of a Wii game with my grandmother. We didn’t get...
photo credit: Stuart Chalmers This is one instance where I am so glad that I was wrong. Yesterday, I was wondering if our truck had finally reached the end of the road. It turns out that the rear brakes had iced up (it’s a pickup, which explains why warming up the truck for 45 minutes had no effect). In addition to a free tow (thanks AAA!), our auto shop didn’t charge us anything. Maybe they felt sorry for us, or are full of the holiday spirit, but I am so thankful that we didn’t have to shell out any...
photo credit: clspeace I woke up this morning to find that the car was gone, but the truck was still parked in the street. My husband always takes the truck to work, so I knew that this wasn’t a good sign. I called the husband. He thought that the truck just needed some time to warm up, since it was cold this morning. He said that he couldn’t get it to move. I went out and let the truck warm up for 45 minutes. Basically, it will start and shift into gear, but it won’t move. At all. I...
photo credit: bettyx1138 I have to admit, it is nice to have all of our Christmas shopping done! The only thing left that I might look for is alphabet stickers (when I asked the kid what he was going to ask for from Santa, this was his response. Who knew?) We did pick up some good deals this week. I ended up getting gift cards from Walmart using their $20 off $80 promotion. I got $80 in gift cards for $60. We combined this promotion with the American Express wish list gift certificate on my husband’s card, and we...
As you may know from some previous posts, we have a $250 self-imposed budget for Christmas this year. We had a budget left of $227, and I have definitely made a dent in it. Here’s the breakdown: $41 – the Christmas shopping for all of our little friends. We have three little ones that are like family to us, and I combined this with two birthday gifts for kids (the total order was $69) to get free shipping. All of the gifts are made from sustainable wood and are earth-friendly. I had budgeted $15/kid for Christmas, so I came...
I was talking to my mom the other day, and she had mentioned how she had no idea what to get my brother for Christmas. My brother has Down’s Syndrome, and spends a lot of his free time playing music and video games. He also loves wrestling. I was asking if there were any new video games that he might like, and she couldn’t think of any, but mentioned that she was thinking of picking up a Wii for him, since she was at her local Walmart the day before and they looked “kind of cool.” I had never...
This is not a political blog, so the purpose here is not to reveal who my preferred candidate is, and why the other candidate sucks, etc. I just wanted to give you this heads up, so that you may be more inclined to read on. This weekend, we went to visit some friends, and took some time to walk around Washington DC since the weather was so nice. As the kid was attempting to scale the Washington Monument, I was looking around and saw the White House from a distance. As I turned back around to check on the...
I don’t know if it is the change in the weather, or if I just have bad luck, but last week was tough to get through! I was just so tired, and managed to do the bare minimum to get by. That’s not really like me… It’s time to get back on track. I’ve been doing some serious bargain hunting – I managed to find some great deals online at The Children’s Place, and got the kid a winter jacket and 5 shirts (I even splurged and got him a flannel for holiday pictures!) for $30 with shipping. He...
