Fun Meme

This has been attached to the I "heart" your blog award floating around...

You have to use 1 word to answer the question!

1. Where is your cell phone? Shelf
2. Where is your significant other? Mowing
3. Your hair color? Brown
4. Your mother? Waiting
5. Your father? Busy
6. Your favorite thing? Chocolate
7. Your dream last night? Sex
8. Your dream/goal? Stability
9. The room you’re in? Living
10. Your hobby? Sewing
11. Your fear? Spiders
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Grounded
13. Where were you last night? Home
14. What you’re not? Patient
15. One of your wish-list items? ipod
16. Where you grew up? NY
17. The last thing you did? laundry
18. What are you wearing? shorts
19. Your TV? Off
20. Your pet? Chipmunk
21. Your computer? Acer
22. Your mood? Sad
23. Missing someone? Yes
24. Your car? Aqua
25. Something you’re not wearing? bra
26. Favorite store? TJMaxx
27. Your summer? Gone
28. Love someone? Yep
29. Your favorite color? Red
30. When is the last time you laughed? Now
31. Last time you cried? morning


That is hard to do with only one word!!!






Stumble It!

Monday Update and POWA

Parade of WEEKLY adventures!

We spent the entire weekend partying! Between our communities Fall Festival, football, the festival's parade and more.



Most of the kids activities were a wash due to the rainy weather, but they still had 2 party jumpers and some carnival games. We only had a small window of fun time on Saturday because of the Prince's football game, but they managed to get filthy and bounce them selves silly!

The parade on Sunday was a huge success, except for the rain again. It had fire departments, cheerleaders, football players (mine!), marching bands, Shriners, horses, even a float! There were prizes, but we didn't ever hear who won them.

I'm not sure what they are raising money for this year, but the last 2 years the committee made sizable donations to the new playground project (my hubby got the grant to get that ball rolling, so we were invested!).

Weekly Menu Plan
Breakfast for dinner, clean out the fridge night, mystery freezer stuff, spaghetti, hot dogs & burgers. No idea what order, depends on the activities!!!

POWA -
Monday

• Work
• scrape more siding at my Mom's
• laundry

Tuesday

• unload truck of lumber for MIL's wheelchair ramp
• The Princess is back to school
  
• paint at Mom's
• Clean children's bedrooms, they are gross

Wednesday

• Work
• Laundry
• Paint at Mom's
• Vacuum
• Clean Bathrooms

Thursday

• Paint at Mom's
• School for Princess
  
• Clean desks
• Vacuum couches, ewww

Friday

• Work
• School for Princess
  
• Paint at Mom's
• Shopping

Saturday

• Football Game - home

Stumble It!

Our last summer excursion

This is what my kiddos look like while riding a ferry across a lake!!!





The ferry has been there for 195 years, it under went renovation a few years ago. It was a neat thing to do. We were half way to the other side before we could convince them that we were moving!!! The best part, it was fun & only cost a donation. You could even go across without the car just for fun. Next year we might have to do that.

Stumble It!

Give your tech stuff ears

Extend your Wi-Fi for free give it ears...

I had to check this out, mostly because I think it's hilarious, but because we have a lot of house in between computers. I wonder if there is a similar technique to boost my cordless phone signal. I have a 5.8, you'd think I could walk into the laundry room and not lose signal, but alas...


Stumble It!

How to be Disorganized & Unproductive #1

Number 1
Never have any fun on the job, sometimes I can relate to that. But that depends on the hat I'm wearing at the moment. LOL!

Links from Links

I was reading my feeds, started off all innocent like, then I got to Sweetney's post linking to Cake Wrecks. When I got to this picture I ALMOST spit coffee all over the keyboard LOL! I can only imagine the non-hilarity that ensued!!!


Stumble It!

Frugal Weekend Fun

Or proof that I REALLY do need a new digital camera... This balloon rally & air show was held at a local airport. It was really frugal because we only had to pay $10 to park, but everything else was free. The kids enjoyed the bouncer slide, and the petting zoo, a crazy train ride and watching the planes come in and take off. Of course the purpose is to "Sell" rides, but we really only went over for the evening activities. Balloon Glow and fireworks. My pics of the Glow didn't turn out very well, I should have borrowed my Mom's Kodak EasyShare Z1012 10.1MP Digital Camera with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom it takes excellent pictures. Especially compared to my 4.0MPs.



I also found a new affiliate network Join Pepperjam Network today! They have a bunch of different advertisers. Check it out.
Stumble It!

Frugal Challenges

My current frugal challenge... Sports. That's my challenge right now. We made it through baseball about $300 poorer. Yikes, figure pictures, registration, new spikes, bat, gloves, helmets, bags for carrying them, treating the team at the snack stand once, game time snacks, lice spray for the helmets in the gear bag (just to be sure). It adds up fast.

Now the Prince is playing midget football. Almost all the equipment is owned by the league, nice!!! So thankfully he can wear his baseball spikes, at least for now, I don't think they'll fit by the time he starts games. He's growing like a weed lately.

You would think in a small community there could be an old equipment exchange or something.

Anyways we just had to spend $20 on undergear for UNDER the uniform. We aren't done, he'll need a long sleeve shirt once it chills down here. Hopefully I'll be able to get that for around $10, but we'll see.

So running total for football $45, & 2 batches of peanut butter bread. Still to come snack stands, lots of travel & the pancake breakfast.

I think I am going to try to organize a pre-season equipment exchange next year. This stuff is hardly worn and they outgrow it like CRAZY! I'm sure I'll get resistance, for such a small town there seem to be a lot of snobbish people who think they are too good for that, at least that's the attitude they put forth. But how can I resist when he is this excited about all his cool uniform stuff!



Stumble It!

10 Fun Things to do Before Labor Day

10 Fun Things to do Before Labor Day


1. Run under a sprinkler.
~Check! Washing the car was good for a soaking too!!!

2. Sleep outdoors.
~ It hasn't been dry enough to set up the tent outside, maybe I'll set it up in our dinning room!

3. Have a sunrise picnic in the garden.
~We have spontaneous picnics all the time, maybe I need to plan one!

4. Take a spin.
~Not for me... The kids have spun plenty!

5. Ring a bell.
~I'd need to get a bicycle first...

6. Eat most of your meals outdoors.
~Check! We have too, we moved the old dinning room table out on to our screened porch. We are getting a new table from my Grandma, we just have to go get it.

7. Eat a campfire treat—indoors.
~Check! We do s'mores every chance we get.

8. Stay up late for some stargazing.
~ Check! Goes hand in hand with the campfires!

9. Sing campfire songs and tell ghost stories.
~Not sure the kids are ready for creepy campfire stories, they are sensitive buggers!

10. Get a new flag and let it wave!
~Check! We bought a new one for Memorial Day.



Stumble It!

Find the shoes - Game

2 Widgets, 1 game, one contest!






Stumble It!

Photo Friday

The Princess' last day of preschool was a picnic at our Community Park & the firemen brought a truck to show them how the water works.
And to hose them all off...



Lastly, because I REALLY need to be cleaning the house but I'd rather be...

My kiddos

The Prince at his second baseball game. If you look close enough you can see that he is missing a few teeth! We are up to 4 now, the tooth fairy is renting the guest bedroom now...

The Princess is all dressed up for a baby shower (so is her dolly). We got the dresses at TJMaxx, I should shop there more!!! Of course, everyone assumed I MADE the dresses, HA! Not for the $14 we paid for them! I just wish she was still in toddler sizes they had a gorgeous black toile set...

Yard Sale Finds #2

Yard Sale finds #1

We were on our way to buy a lawnmower belt, I happened to be driving or hubby would have kept going. It isn't much, but it's pretty darn near a full bolt of fabric & I only paid ONE DOLLAR!!! I think it's going to be curtains for the front room, it's not what I WANT, but flocked taffeta is not really practical for a dinning/high traffic area nor is it financially possible at this point in time!!!

I haven't measured it out yet so I'm not sure how much is here, but I definitely got a bargain.

New Stephen King Movie

The Mist by Stephen King

I have to say I am not a HUGE Stephen King Fan, but I really enjoyed "The Bachman Books" he wrote under the pen name Richard Bachman. My favorite was "The Long Walk" I read that one a bunch. This was the book that "The Running Man" came from. It has been a long time since I've read it, I'm not even sure of it's location. Most likely still on my Mom's book shelf! Or maybe my sisters house, she is a big fan. I think she may have all his books, at least a good many!

"The Bachman Books" was apparently taken out of print in the US because of similarities in "The Rage" to the Columbine tragedy. I'm not sure how I feel about the implied censorship. I don't remember reading "The Rage", but obviously it didn't move me to violence. Are they going to take Tom Clancy books off the shelves because he wrote about a 9/11 scenario years before it actually happened?

I have probably seen most of the movies created from the books. "Pet Cemetery" was my favorite. I don't really go for the suspense/horror genre, but it is always fun to watch a King movie, just to see what part he'll play! It was crazy to watch him play a minister!!

The new movie "The Mist" is coming to theaters November 21st. The basic synopsis is a strange mist covers a town that was just hit by a natural disaster. In true King fashion the trailers lead you to the plot being more about the "human nature monster" & what is worse the monsters outside or the ones within.


Visit The Mist to view the trailers for yourselves!

I just had to share

This articl got a major chuckle out of me! Back to beanbags by Jay Rath for the Wisconsin State Journal.

-In Cincinnati the beanbag target game is called corn-toss and "cornhole." Media there claim that it was invented in 1999 at the University of Cincinnati. They also almost universally explain that its college popularity is "because horseshoes are too dangerous for drunk people."

First thought - Well, sure a bean bag is softer in theory than a horseshoe. I'm sure it would still hurt being whipped at your head.

Second thought - How very frugal! You can make your own board out of leftover plywood, paneling, heavy cardboard. Bean bags can be made out of left over fabric or old clothes, and stuffed with those dried beans you won't ever use, rice, bird seed or anything else you can find around that would be suitable.

It's amazing what we will do when we are faced with the choice of entertain our selves cheaply or dig into the beer money...

Play Millionaire for a day of fun...

Frugal Fun has an article "Play Millionaire: A Fabulous Day of Romantic Fun"

I admit it, we used to do this quite a bit. We'd drive all over to do the open house thing. We never missed a new home tour. We used to drive through the car lots when they were closed. We drive by our favorite resort/golf/ski/condo area as often as we can.

We do this evertime we enter the Home Depot! There is always an appliance or floor covering or BATH TUB that just screams I want to go home with you...but alas it can't YET! So we just talk & plan & dream about what our house will look like before we have grandkids...

This is really a great way to start conversations about what we want out of our life & where we see ourselves in the future.

I will admit that it kind of made me a house snob. Now that I know exactly what I want & need in a house, not having it is a tad frustrating... But I know that we are working on it, one project at a time!

If only I could do something to speed up the 2nd bathroom....

My Very Very Best Frugal Tip:

Ok, I want in too. Now I just have to think of the best tip possible...

Ok, it would have to be recycling clothing into something else.

A) Cut the fabric into squares, sew together & make blankets
B) Use the fabric to cut out patterns for childrens clothes. (I got 2 jumpers for DD out of a pair of dh's old pants)
C) Use pockets from old jeans to create a storage unit, just sew onto larger piece of fabric (like a store bought pocket wall hanger) you can hang using a dowel, wood strip, reinforce with cardboard
D) Old Socks make great dust rags
E) Old flannel can be used to make "swiffer" covers
F) Old sweaters can be turned into pillows, gloves, hats.
G) I use old clothes I don't have another use for to sew hanger covers for my plastic hangers (How to Sew Hanger Covers)
H) There are other no sew uses as well, pantyhose has enough uses for it's own tip!!!

You can veiw the other submitted tips at Frugal For Life

It's snowing here...

Not enough to even really mention it, but I guess it put me in a mood! One of those "rainy day craft" moods. And then I checked my email & a newsletter I get had a bunch of paper airplane links in it!!! Bright Kids


I actually printed a pattern from here
Paperplane.org