If you do stuff, stuff gets done.......

If you do stuff, stuff gets done.......

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Green and frugal tip

My friend Terri aka PennyAnn Poundwise shared this tip with me. She said she has a basket by her kitchen sink for dishcloths. Her household uses them whenever they need to wipe up a spill, dry their hands, etc.
I thought it sounded like a good idea so I found a basket I already had and filled it with dishcloths.

We are using fewer paper towels so that makes it both frugal and green.

Here you can see my whole kitchen sink. On the ledge behind the sink, you can see some of my container garden produce, either drying after being washed or ripening a little more. I have to pick our tomatoes just as they start to turn red before the birds peck them. Then they ripen safely indoors.

Thank you Terri for this tip!

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

earning a little extra

While the internet is full of get rich scams, I don't mess with them. I do participate in a few online programs that either earn me a little cash or free products.
Here are the ones I belong to and think are worthwhile.

all of these coupons are from Kraft, either from their First Taste site or by "liking" Kraft products on Facebook. You don't have to do anything at First Taste, just join, and then when Kraft has products they want to promote, they send out coupons or samples. You do have to check your account occasionally and accept any new offers to get the coupons.

Vocalpoint is another site that promotes new products. Just sign up and check out the Try and Tells to get samples and coupons.
In yesterday's mail, I got this cute cardboard purse from VocalPoint.

It contained 3 of the new very thin Pampers as well as some high value coupons.



I just started Swagbucks about a month ago and plan on earning Amazon certificates. I mostly use it as a search engine, I do a few searches several times a day, hoping to win a few bucks, I also do the Daily Poll everyday for 1 swagbuck.

I have belonged to MyPoints.com for about 10 years. My husband also has an account. Most of our points come just from clicking on the links in the emails they send. We also get points from some online purchases including Ebay and for printing and using coupons at our local stores. I spend maybe 1 or 2 minutes on some days with Mypoints and earn a $25 gift card every 8 months or so.

If you have a blog and like to host giveaways, I recommend MyBlogSpark.com. I have hosted for them several times, they usually send me some sort of gift pack to try and then a giftpack or gift card for a reader that comments.

None of these programs will replace earnings from a fulltime job but most of them are fun and do offer rewards. I would be interested in hearing of any other reward programs with good reputations too.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Weekend doings

I baked some banana bread with some over-ripe bananas

canned some jalapenos from our backyard container garden with carrots and onions

Jeff was busy smoking meat for future meals - he smoked 20 pounds of pork loin, 6 whole chickens and a beef roast. Then he sliced all the meat and de-boned the chickens. Last week I made roma sauce for pasta and 6 meals worth of taco meat. I think we are stocked up on easy meals for awhile!

I sewed up a 4th of July dress for Elizabeth at her momma's request.


We also went out the country to see Gavin and take his momma, Amanda, her birthday gift. Gavin and Amanda traveled to east Texas and Arkansas last week to visit relatives there. And this week, Gavin's grandma Ruthie from Indiana is visiting here.
Gavin at his great-grandparents in Arkansas - doesn't he look like he is really enjoying being a little boy in the summer?

Last night, we got a nice little rain - the yard needed the water and we were happy to see our recent gutter installation in action and working just fine.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Yard Sales where price tags don't mean anything

I headed out to a few yard sales alone Saturday morning. Jeff was home smoking meat to stock our freezer. I only went to 4 and bought things at 3.
At the first sale I found this Fisher Price swing for Elizabeth to use at our house. It was marked $8.....

I also got these utensils there, they were marked 1 cent each.
So when I was checking out, the seller said - "I think that swing is $2 and you can just have the utensils"
I corrected her and said the swing was marked $8
She laughed and said "oh well, you can just have it all for $5"
I took it, I've been looking for a nice swing and have not found one for less than $25.

Now, on to another sale. See the price sticker on this pot - says 50 cents.
The other pot was not marked. I asked the seller how much they were, she said the tall one was $1 and the long one was 75 cents. I showed her the 50 cent price tag and handed her $2. She gave me back one quarter for change.
So apparently her price tags did not mean what they said either!
But I liked the pots and they will be great for backyard vegetables so I did not argue.

Gavin gets a pair of Carters jeans - marked $1 and paid $1.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Jimmy

28 years ago, I was in the Naval Regional Medical Center aboard Camp Pendleton, California with my brand new baby Jimmy. Jeff and I arrived at the hospital after midnight and Jimmy was born, very easily, at 230am.
Jimmy was born a few days after Prince William. Princess Diana leaving their hospital with their new baby was on the single tv in my hospital room. I was in a room with 4 other Marine wives and we all watched the royal family and then talked about how different her hospital stay must of been from ours.

Jimmy was a happy baby - always smiling or sleeping. Pretty cute too! This was 28 years ago.....

Now, he has one more semester of law school and is working this summer as a Licensed Legal Intern with an attorney in our town. He can do some things in a limited way that an attorney can do, but not everything.
He does have to dress like an attorney - doesn't he look nice? He came to Nina's house today at lunch and opened a birthday gift that my brother left there for him.

Zerbie is looking on, it looks like she is curious about what is inside..... Uncle Bert always picks out interesting gifts, what could it be?

Oh, it is a retro stalking panther TV lamp!

A close up look, in case you have never seen one.
Jimmy says he has been looking for one and it is just what he wanted.

Jimmy with baby Elizabeth

Happy Birthday Jimmy!