I'm sorry for the lack of posts. Google doesn't want to work with Internet Explorer now so I have no access to my blog except from my phone. Im working to remedy this. Thanks for your patience.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Saturday, October 29, 2011
THRIFTING AND A SON COMING HOME
Last Saturday we went thrifting. Knowing my son would soon be coming home on leave motivated us to finally get out and look for a bed for the spare room. We went to a new thrift store and hit pay dirt as far as we were concerned. Matt found this cute little wooden cardinal tealight holder originally marked 50c which rang up for 13c!!! It's an adorable addition to my growing cardinal collection.
We also picked up two more of the Harry Potter series, both hardbacks, for $10 each. The books looked like they were in brand new condition. I think we just need two more books to complete the entire collection. Matt's been waiting for us to pick up book three so he could continue the series in the correct order so now he has reading material.
I also found this beautiful headboard marked down to $9.99. With a bit of cleaning up it looks very nice - not to masculine, not to feminine, and not to childish. I apologize for the disorder in the picture. Matt had been putting in the molding around the floor so we had pushed everything to the middle of the room. It was fortune that we went thrifting because Wednesday my son informed me he'd be home the next day! Wow, talk about very little warning. Matt and I managed to pull the room together and he has a peaceful place now to rest and sleep. Matt even managed to get our old tv brought in and hooked up the cable for him.
On a serious note, I haven't posted regarding my oldest son being injured in Afghanistan as it was very personal for me and I was very emotional for a while. About a month ago he was shot multiple times while on patrol. He was extremely lucky and none of the shots caused any serious injury. He's been in a hospital in Qatar since and wasn't sure they'd let him come home on leave. Thankfully they did because mom really needed to see her son to make sure he was okay. Creating a sanctuary for him was my labor of love and a way to focus my energies. His Purple Heart Medal is beautiful BUT I wish he'd never gone through what he did to receive it. I was one of the fortunate that when I got the call it was from my son and not a stranger. My heart and prayers goes out to all those moms who aren't so lucky.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
BALLS AND SUCH THINGS
This post didn't go where I had planned. I had planned on it being a description of the ball we attended last night in a positive light - but my thoughts took on darker notes and I decided to go with those thoughts.
One of the great things about our area that I do like is that there's a yearly ball held in October. It was started by a group of friends to celebrate the life of someone who'd died and who'd left them money to have a celebration for him. Unfortunately few know the original history of the Ball. In school I loved attending the proms each year. The first year I attended a prom I was in 8th grade but my boyfriend who was a junior and asked me to attend. The funny thing is I never attended my senior prom. The Ball is like a prom for grownups and a lot more fun to say the least. There's even an open bar which we never had at our high school proms. It was a huge surprise that a friend came from out of state to attend and never told anybody she was coming.
As great as the Ball has been, I'm wondering if it's not getting to large and will experience a slow death. As typical in our society, everything needs to be bigger and better - but is it necessarily better? When I first started attending the ball about 8 or 9 years ago there was 130 person capacity and it never sold out the first couple years I attended. We were a bunch of friends having fun - there was an intimacy to the group. Everybody knew most of the people or recognised them. Then the organizers changed a bit and with the increased promotion and popularity of the the ball started selling out. One couldn't wait until the night of the ball to buy tickets, you had to buy them in February when they went on sale to ensure you'd be able to attend or take a chance that somebody would be selling tickets prior to the ball. The decision was made that the venue wasn't large enough and we had to move to another location and increase the capacity to 200 and then the following year to 300. This year brought another change in venue with a 500 person capacity. Tickets sold out in just three weeks. This year also brought a change that the Ball was held inside a hotel instead of commuting people back and forth between. Due to problems with the venue this year there's talk of another new venue next year and a huge price increase that have people already grumbling.
The intimacy of the original Ball has fast fading. I no longer know most of the people attending. Larger and larger groups of strangers are coming and a lot of them are young. It's no longer about who has the best outfit but who has the biggest entourage with to vote them king or queen. Those that wear costumes don't bother even dressing to the theme of the ball anymore. The theme this year was Alice in Wonderland and yet a zombie won as king over a mad hatter and a march hare. Some spend outlandish amounts on costumes. A friend of mine confided he'd spent $1500 this year on a custom made costume for the Ball. It was absolutely beautiful version of the Johnny Depp's Alice's white queen - but seriously was it really worth $1500? Granted he got his picture taken with a lot of people and if attention is what you want..... Another friend also had a similar costume custom made and she was nominated for queen - she also lost out to a female zombie. I'm part of the group that dresses like this is a formal ball and I wear a formal long dress for it. I've also never spent more then $50 on a dress. I'm in agreement with those that don't like the costuming because we feel this is a ball and not a costume party. We use to brag about how cheap we got our dresses at garage sales and thrift stores - now people brag about how much they paid for custom ones.
Yes, I'm set in my ways and I don't like change for changes sake. I'm starting to hear the grumblings though and can't help wonder. Are the organizers starting to go too far in their attempt to make it bigger and bigger instead of allowing it to stay smaller and more intimate? Does everybody that says they want a ticket really have to have one? Do we really need people from other states attending? Will people get hotel rooms but not buy tickets and just meet up in the rooms instead, which is what's happened to another event in our area.
In all honesty, this ball felt like an ending. Of what I'm not sure. Possibly my morbid views are due to the fact we may not be here next year and it could very well have been my last Ball. The Ball has long since lost it's celebration aspect and has become a huge party and is now becoming a huge costume party. Maybe it will be easier for me that so I don't feel the loss of community so closely if we do in fact move. It's always a sad thing though when a book you enjoyed so much comes to an end and you have to close the cover. Whether or not there will be a sequel is unknown.
One of the great things about our area that I do like is that there's a yearly ball held in October. It was started by a group of friends to celebrate the life of someone who'd died and who'd left them money to have a celebration for him. Unfortunately few know the original history of the Ball. In school I loved attending the proms each year. The first year I attended a prom I was in 8th grade but my boyfriend who was a junior and asked me to attend. The funny thing is I never attended my senior prom. The Ball is like a prom for grownups and a lot more fun to say the least. There's even an open bar which we never had at our high school proms. It was a huge surprise that a friend came from out of state to attend and never told anybody she was coming.
As great as the Ball has been, I'm wondering if it's not getting to large and will experience a slow death. As typical in our society, everything needs to be bigger and better - but is it necessarily better? When I first started attending the ball about 8 or 9 years ago there was 130 person capacity and it never sold out the first couple years I attended. We were a bunch of friends having fun - there was an intimacy to the group. Everybody knew most of the people or recognised them. Then the organizers changed a bit and with the increased promotion and popularity of the the ball started selling out. One couldn't wait until the night of the ball to buy tickets, you had to buy them in February when they went on sale to ensure you'd be able to attend or take a chance that somebody would be selling tickets prior to the ball. The decision was made that the venue wasn't large enough and we had to move to another location and increase the capacity to 200 and then the following year to 300. This year brought another change in venue with a 500 person capacity. Tickets sold out in just three weeks. This year also brought a change that the Ball was held inside a hotel instead of commuting people back and forth between. Due to problems with the venue this year there's talk of another new venue next year and a huge price increase that have people already grumbling.
The intimacy of the original Ball has fast fading. I no longer know most of the people attending. Larger and larger groups of strangers are coming and a lot of them are young. It's no longer about who has the best outfit but who has the biggest entourage with to vote them king or queen. Those that wear costumes don't bother even dressing to the theme of the ball anymore. The theme this year was Alice in Wonderland and yet a zombie won as king over a mad hatter and a march hare. Some spend outlandish amounts on costumes. A friend of mine confided he'd spent $1500 this year on a custom made costume for the Ball. It was absolutely beautiful version of the Johnny Depp's Alice's white queen - but seriously was it really worth $1500? Granted he got his picture taken with a lot of people and if attention is what you want..... Another friend also had a similar costume custom made and she was nominated for queen - she also lost out to a female zombie. I'm part of the group that dresses like this is a formal ball and I wear a formal long dress for it. I've also never spent more then $50 on a dress. I'm in agreement with those that don't like the costuming because we feel this is a ball and not a costume party. We use to brag about how cheap we got our dresses at garage sales and thrift stores - now people brag about how much they paid for custom ones.
Yes, I'm set in my ways and I don't like change for changes sake. I'm starting to hear the grumblings though and can't help wonder. Are the organizers starting to go too far in their attempt to make it bigger and bigger instead of allowing it to stay smaller and more intimate? Does everybody that says they want a ticket really have to have one? Do we really need people from other states attending? Will people get hotel rooms but not buy tickets and just meet up in the rooms instead, which is what's happened to another event in our area.
In all honesty, this ball felt like an ending. Of what I'm not sure. Possibly my morbid views are due to the fact we may not be here next year and it could very well have been my last Ball. The Ball has long since lost it's celebration aspect and has become a huge party and is now becoming a huge costume party. Maybe it will be easier for me that so I don't feel the loss of community so closely if we do in fact move. It's always a sad thing though when a book you enjoyed so much comes to an end and you have to close the cover. Whether or not there will be a sequel is unknown.
Monday, October 10, 2011
NORTH DAKOTA
It has been very busy of late. We just returned last Tuesday night from our trip to North Dakota. We absolutely fell in love with the Fargo area. Unfortunately we weren't able to see other areas of the state during this trip, but we're planning to return. Our five days there were filled with activities though and we thoroughly enjoyed our little vacation.
By accident I discovered Viking Ship Park while checking out a map for area attractions so we ventured across the bridge to Moorhead, Minnesota, to check it out. Seriously, who could pass up checking out a Viking ship? This mural is at the entrance of the center. The ship has a wonderful story about it being built by a teacher from Minnesota who had initially planned the contruction of the ship, the Hjemkomst (Homecoming), and to sail it to Norway, the land of his grandparents (ie The Homecoming). The design was based on ships the Viking would have sailed in approximately 700 AD. Construction was planned to take three years but actually took ten years to finish. He constructed it in an abandoned potato factory. Unfortunately the man died of leukemia at the end of construction and wasn't able to see the completion of his dream. His children promised they'd finish his dream for him and did in fact sail the ship to Norway after his death in 1982. Incidentally, on it's way from Minnesota to New York through the Great Lakes the ship made a stop in Detroit and there's a letter with Coleman Young's signature on it displayed at the Center.
By accident I discovered Viking Ship Park while checking out a map for area attractions so we ventured across the bridge to Moorhead, Minnesota, to check it out. Seriously, who could pass up checking out a Viking ship? This mural is at the entrance of the center. The ship has a wonderful story about it being built by a teacher from Minnesota who had initially planned the contruction of the ship, the Hjemkomst (Homecoming), and to sail it to Norway, the land of his grandparents (ie The Homecoming). The design was based on ships the Viking would have sailed in approximately 700 AD. Construction was planned to take three years but actually took ten years to finish. He constructed it in an abandoned potato factory. Unfortunately the man died of leukemia at the end of construction and wasn't able to see the completion of his dream. His children promised they'd finish his dream for him and did in fact sail the ship to Norway after his death in 1982. Incidentally, on it's way from Minnesota to New York through the Great Lakes the ship made a stop in Detroit and there's a letter with Coleman Young's signature on it displayed at the Center. 
The Stave church replica was later built and donated to the center in 1998. It's a replica of the Hopperstad Stave Church in Vik, Norway, which was built in approximately 1000 AD. The dragon carvings on the trim of the roofs are clear indications of the Viking influence and a marriage between their pagan beliefs and the Christian beliefs starting to spread into Norway and other Viking areas. The church from the side looks like a pagoda and there's a belief that the Vikings, probably from Denmark, made it to China and were influenced by the architecture there. Our guide gave us a wonderful history lesson on the Vikings. The carvings are unbelievable and completely done by hand. The entrance to the church has panels that are heavily carved. The stave shingles that give the name to the style of church are made using three cuts on the ends of each board. There's a covered walkway around the entire church, sort of like a porch, where they would walk around the church meditating before they entered it. It's very visual and our guide said that was intentional due to the fact that the priest and the people probably wouldn't have spoken the same language so the people would have only understood through the pictures. Our guide was phenominal to say the least. Below is a picture of the baptismal on the left and one of the carved beams in front of it.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
JULY, DOG COOLING POOLS, AND CLOTHES LINES
Tip overheats really easily and loves laying around in a tub or pool of water to stay cool. If we're hiking and come to a stream he'll immediately lay down in whatever water he can find to cool off. Some dogs like water and others don't. Lacey is the exact opposite, she hates being submerged in water. Tip is actually quite intelligent that he knows he'll cool off quicker if he lays down in water since it cools the stomach/chest area. In the show/competition circuits, owners will frequently use various cold mats to help keep the dogs cool. Our dogs never liked the mats and they were a pain to travel with so we quit using them.
One thing I've been asking Matt to do for me is to put in a new clothes line. There was one behind the garage when I moved in but the poles were rusted. The first time I tried to hang clothes on the line the poles bent and broke off. This spring Matt bought me some new poles but due to the wet weather and other things never got them installed. It took a while, but he never fails me and he finally got the poles put in and the rope strung. I love hanging my laundry out, especially my sheets for the clean sunshine scent. The lines typically hold at least two loads of laundry. I had Matt install it on the opposite side of the yard across from our garage and next to the fence by the neighbor's garage for several reasons. There's a blackberry tree on the fence line behind our garage and I didn't want to chance blackberry stains on the clothes, bird droppings from birds eating the blackberries, or blackberry mash on shoes behind tracked into the house. If we decide to stay, the area behind the garage is the only section that doesn't have electrical/cable wires running overhead so I'd be able to put in a fire pit. All very logical explanations I think.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
SAVINGS STAR
I wanted to share a new electronic/digital coupon website I just found out about. It's called Saving Star. It's similar to Cellfire although it doesn't have as many coupons available as Cellfire does. From what I've seen so far the coupons might be worth more then Cellfire's. I just activated my account and loaded my shopping card info. How many stores you can input varies depending on where you live. There were only four stores available in my area and I have cards for two of those; Kroger and CVS. I'm definitely going to be using the $1 off Skinny Cow Multi-Pack. This is the first program I've seen that had Perrier and S. Pellegrino water coupons so those caught my eye. In this hot weather mixing some fruit juice and sparkling water together is quite refreshing.
Some Coupons I activated:
$1.50 off California Pizza
$0.50 Dannon Greek Yogurt
$1.00/2 Juicy Juice All-Natural 100% Juice
$0.40 No Yolks noodles
$1.00 Skinny Cow Multi-Pack
$1.00 Perrier Sparkling Natural Mineral Water
$1.00 S. Pellegrino or Acqua Panna
For those that aren't quite up on all the techie stuff, these are electronic coupons which are also called digital coupons. I think electronic coupons are one of the best inventions ever. I seriously dislike having to gather, cut, sort, organize and carry all those coupons around when I can scan my card or use one of the new electronic key tag programs and all my coupons come zipping off my bill without me carrying anything but my purse and the phone into the store. Yes, these programs take some time initially to open accounts and then upload new coupons on a regular basis but I think overall they take a lot less time and lack the headache factor.
Kroger has their electronic coupons on their website that you can upload to your card after opening an account. As I mentioned, Cellfire is another program that is very popular and also works with the Kroger card. P&G has a website that has electronic coupons you can upload to various store cards including Kroger's.
For those that have Smartphones, you can do searches to find out what programs are available for your model. I plan on trying GeoQpons for Blackberrys. It works off GPS on your phone and gives you coupons for stores and restaurants within 10 miles of where you are. You're out shopping and realize you want to go to Bed, Bath & Beyond and realize you forgot your coupon at home. You use one of these types of programs and they'll pull coupons available for use at the stores located with 10 miles of where your current location is at. Another use would be that you and the girls are out and about and decide you'd like to stop for some lunch but being frugal you'd like to use a coupon - utilize the program and it will list restaurants within the area and the coupons for each. Once you get to the restaurant you just show the waitperson the coupon on your phone and you're set.
Advantages are you always have your coupons with you without carrying a binder or organizer of any sort. Another advantage is you don't have to stand in line and scan coupons while people get irritated behind you - they come off within seconds of your scanning the card allowing for a quicker checkout. It also allows you to use self scanners at stores that don't allow coupons in the self scanner lines. They you to accumulate coupons without buying newspapers or magazines thereby saving money unless you really read the Sunday newspaper (does anybody do that any more?). It also saves money over online coupon programs because you don't have to print them so you save on paper and ink. Most of these programs can be accessed via Smartphones so if you get to the store and realize that you forgot to update your coupons you can always login on your phone and update your coupons before shopping and they should be available by the time you're done shopping (some programs say up to one hour). Not like that's every happened to me before, I'm just saying.
There are disadvantages including the number of stores that use electronic coupons. If your regular store doesn't have a card then it is more difficult to use them, but not impossible. There are programs for smartphones from what I understand that will overcome this issue. The variety of coupons availabe can be a disadvantage. I think the more people utilize these programs the more they will become available and the selection will expand also.
I would love to hear about other sites that have electronic coupons. For those that have Smartphones I would love to hear how you utilize them to save money on groceries. Matt is forever telling me I need to stop using my phone for everything else but what it's for - talking - but I'm all for using electronics, including my phone, for everything that I can.
Some Coupons I activated:
$1.50 off California Pizza
$0.50 Dannon Greek Yogurt
$1.00/2 Juicy Juice All-Natural 100% Juice
$0.40 No Yolks noodles
$1.00 Skinny Cow Multi-Pack
$1.00 Perrier Sparkling Natural Mineral Water
$1.00 S. Pellegrino or Acqua Panna
For those that aren't quite up on all the techie stuff, these are electronic coupons which are also called digital coupons. I think electronic coupons are one of the best inventions ever. I seriously dislike having to gather, cut, sort, organize and carry all those coupons around when I can scan my card or use one of the new electronic key tag programs and all my coupons come zipping off my bill without me carrying anything but my purse and the phone into the store. Yes, these programs take some time initially to open accounts and then upload new coupons on a regular basis but I think overall they take a lot less time and lack the headache factor.
Kroger has their electronic coupons on their website that you can upload to your card after opening an account. As I mentioned, Cellfire is another program that is very popular and also works with the Kroger card. P&G has a website that has electronic coupons you can upload to various store cards including Kroger's.
For those that have Smartphones, you can do searches to find out what programs are available for your model. I plan on trying GeoQpons for Blackberrys. It works off GPS on your phone and gives you coupons for stores and restaurants within 10 miles of where you are. You're out shopping and realize you want to go to Bed, Bath & Beyond and realize you forgot your coupon at home. You use one of these types of programs and they'll pull coupons available for use at the stores located with 10 miles of where your current location is at. Another use would be that you and the girls are out and about and decide you'd like to stop for some lunch but being frugal you'd like to use a coupon - utilize the program and it will list restaurants within the area and the coupons for each. Once you get to the restaurant you just show the waitperson the coupon on your phone and you're set.
Advantages are you always have your coupons with you without carrying a binder or organizer of any sort. Another advantage is you don't have to stand in line and scan coupons while people get irritated behind you - they come off within seconds of your scanning the card allowing for a quicker checkout. It also allows you to use self scanners at stores that don't allow coupons in the self scanner lines. They you to accumulate coupons without buying newspapers or magazines thereby saving money unless you really read the Sunday newspaper (does anybody do that any more?). It also saves money over online coupon programs because you don't have to print them so you save on paper and ink. Most of these programs can be accessed via Smartphones so if you get to the store and realize that you forgot to update your coupons you can always login on your phone and update your coupons before shopping and they should be available by the time you're done shopping (some programs say up to one hour). Not like that's every happened to me before, I'm just saying.
There are disadvantages including the number of stores that use electronic coupons. If your regular store doesn't have a card then it is more difficult to use them, but not impossible. There are programs for smartphones from what I understand that will overcome this issue. The variety of coupons availabe can be a disadvantage. I think the more people utilize these programs the more they will become available and the selection will expand also.
I would love to hear about other sites that have electronic coupons. For those that have Smartphones I would love to hear how you utilize them to save money on groceries. Matt is forever telling me I need to stop using my phone for everything else but what it's for - talking - but I'm all for using electronics, including my phone, for everything that I can.
Monday, July 11, 2011
OH HOW THE GARDEN DOES GROW
The pickles sort of exploded in size very quickly due to the amount of rain we had. We had bought trellises two weeks ago but were not able to get them up until Sunday. I wove the vines through the lattice and also used Velcro tape to support them. Isn't this baby cuke absolutely adorable! I did decide to cut a couple vines off after seeing how many there were. Matt and I can only eat so many cucumbers and pickles. I'm sure we'll still have an abundance of them but they make great gifts right? I still have a couple jars of bread and butter pickles on hand from last year so I'm debating on whether or not to do another batch this year. I definitely want to make dill pickles. A friend of Matt's gave us some dried Thai chilies last year and I plan to use those to make spicy pickles.
We bought two trellises and screwed them directly to the raised beds and then screwed them together for more support. I seriously doubt a storm will blow these babies over and considering the storm that went through today I think that was proven out. These are the trellises that I'm using to grow my cucumber vines up so they don't sprawl into the yard or strangle the tomatoes. There are two broccoli plants in the front of the picture that were from our broccoli last year reseeding itself. It was a nice surprise when I found it growing. This is also my lettuce bed which is just getting started. 
It won't be long before I'll be simmering up pots of marinara sauce. Aren't these baby tomatoes adorable! I can't wait to make them into sauce. There are 9 tomato plants in one bed plus 3 plants in the right bed so I will have plenty of tomatoes and hopefully don't lose as many as we did last year to weather damage. Eight of the tomato plants are Roma's, which make excellent sauce. I bought Matt one lone grape tomato plant so he can use it for salads and to snack on as desired. I'm sure it will out produce even his appetite though.
My oregano has gone wild! It takes up almost the entire front of the bed now. I have a cilantro plant next to it. As soon as the tomatoes ripen I think some homemade salsa will be in order. I have two basil plants growing so I think we'll be okay for sauce making this year.
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