Friday, December 27th, 2013

Lucy Maud Montgonery, "...We pay a price for everything we get or take in this world....."

Today was basically about resting. We had a busy trip to Tulsa for Christmas and then I had to go do my annual "day after Christmas shopping" and we headed back home to Winslow.

We took the doggies to their annual vet visit and they are doing good so after that we came home and watched the rest of our Christmas movies that we didn't have time to get to before Christmas, The Santa Clause and Scrooged!

Not a very exciting Friday Night in Winslow but most of them aren't, that's kinda the point!

We finished up the evening with stuffing our faces with some leftovers and making plans for tomorrow, whether or not we can get started on our winter tree trimming or not.  Though we have a lot to do and didn't get much done last winter, we opted not to this weekend!  Instead, we decided to take a road trip up to Eureka Springs..... To look at chapels!!!  That's right, we're thinking of a small family wedding in Eureka Springs in late March and are waiting to find the right place before we finally set the date.  I'll keep you posted!

That's it for me, goodnight!

Just for fun:

Bought about $150.00 of 50% off after Christmas sale items but only paid $75.00!  

Christmas, 2013

Mario Puzo wrote, "The strength of a family, like the strength of an army, is in it's loyalty to each other".

Christmas is my most favorite holiday.  I'm sure I've said that a million times but it truly is my favorite and not just the day, but the time of year.

I had a great time with my family in Tulsa, last night, we went out to visit Damon's parents and exchanged gifts and ate a great dinner. This morning, we exchanged gifts at my Mom's house in the morning and ate more great food around lunch time.  Then of course, we were all in a food coma and all we wanted to do was go to sleep!  In fact, Damon did take a nap, I tried, and in spite of how tired I was, couldn't fall asleep (I think this may have something to do with staying up late with one of my brothers (James) and my sister (Red) and there may have been some wine involved......

At any rate, we had a really great Christmas, my niece and nephew were visiting their mom out of state for Christmas so I didn't get to see them this trip but everyone else made it.  Great food and being with family, what more could you ask for?

I do hate to say that when I go to explain what I love about Christmas I will usually say something like, "decorating the tree, shopping for family and friends, eating too much and especially the sweets, getting and giving Christmas cards, etc", and I could go on, but some of the thoughts might not sound so commercial and be more meaningful, like "spending time with family and friends, helping others, and adopting a child from the angel tree".  

Sadly, because of everyone being so politically correct these days, I never say "because I'm celebrating the birth of Christ".  Feel free to stop reading my blog now if you don't care for what I'm saying, but I am a Christian.  I said, I'm a Christian, not a lunatic!  I don't try to cram my religion down anyone's throat, I don't try to recruit people to turn Christian (though, I have on occasion argued my beliefs against those of my friends who disagree with Christianity, but that wasn't to change their mind so much as it was that we like to argue our points with each other) and honestly, I don't care what you believe or don't, just don't get pissed off at me if I talk about Christmas being Christ's birthday and don't shoot me because I said I'm a Christian.

I know, here I am rambling again but I tend to do that and you should know that by now, unless this is your first Friday Night in Winslow!

Anyway, this is Christ's birthday and I'll be the first to admit that I haven't done much to celebrate that.  Tonight, i'm left hoping for a change in my traditions for next year.  I hope to make Christmas a little less about money and how many gifts I receive and focus on the gifts I can give, and I don't mean necessarily going out and spending money, I mean giving of myself and my time.  I hope to do away with all the stress and drama and worrying about monetary things, and focus a little more on spending time helping others and on Christmas day, just being together as a family.   

No matter your tradition, make sure it's meaningful.  The material gifts you receive, no matter what they cost, can't replace or make up for, time spent with your family.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!

Friday, December 20th, 2013

Elbert Hubbard said, "No man needs a vacation so much as the man who has just had one."

Finally!!!!

Today marked the first day of my vacation!  I'll be off work for a week and a half and I need it!  Things have been a little crazy lately and Christmas is my favorite holiday, so I always save my vacation time for Christmas!  To be fair, I just worked from home for a week due to the snow, but that is truly not a vacation. I work more hours when I'm working at home than I do in the office!  I guess it's because of the quite, no one coming into my office, no phone ringing off the hook, etc.

At any rate, I'm done with all of my shopping but we did have some last minute gift wrapping to do and a couple of gift baskets to put together so we finished that up tonight!

I think we're all set for Christmas, other than some food were going to cook on Monday!  I'll be making my yummy homemade dinner rolls and Damon will be making his southwestern sweet corn to take to our family dinners.

Since we can't do that until Monday, we decided to continue our Christmas movie marathon tonight and we went with "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation".  No matter what you might think of the movie, in fact, I imagine that most people think it's silly or just down right stupid, but we still find it pretty flippin' hilarious!!

I don't really care for Randy Quaid, I just don't, but I have to admit, in this movie, I love him.  Mostly, because I think it makes me think of how awful it would be to have a cousin like this in my family!! Still, he's pretty hilarious and while I don't generally care for Chevy Chase either, this is the best of their little vacations this family has ever taken in my opinion!

The movie is full of ridiculous moments that have to make you smile and at least chuckle just a little bit!

Merry Kiss My Ass

I hope you all have plenty of smiles and laughter this Christmas!!

Just for fun:

Bought only $19.50 worth of food and household items, but after coupons and sales: Spent only $14.50 out of pocket.  

Friday, December 13th, 2013

Mark Twain "If it is a miracle, any sort of evidence will answer.  but if it is a fact, proof is necessary."

Friday the 13th, you say?

No superstition going on here.  We're just kicking off our Christmas movie marathon, and what better movie to start with than "A Christmas Carol"... the one with George C. Scott of course!

I have a ridiculous number of Christmas movies that I've recorded on DVR, but most all of them are those Hallmark and Lifetime channel movies that Damon won't dare watch, but I've been watching them here and there without him.  Damon is under the impression that those channels are where has-been actors go to die, and considering who I've seen in some of these movies, he's not too far off!

Damon and I have our favorite classic Christmas movies that we watch every year, they may not be "classics" to you but they're our tradition!

Others on the list include, my personal favorite, "It's a Wonderful Life", which most people say is 2 hours of sadness and 5 minutes of happiness, but I don't care!  That movie really is life, how many of us truly get a lifetime of happiness and only a few minutes of sadness?  We all have disappointments, things don't always go right, but then we have those moments that are worth a lifetime of sadness.  George Bailey truly was the richest man in town, not because he had a lot of money or lived in the nicest house but because he had family and friends, people who loved him and people who would come to his aid in his darkest hour.  It's things like that that make a wonderful life so I'm perfectly content to watch two hours of this poor mans life and watch seemingly every single thing go wrong, just to see such a wonderful and happy ending!

I'm rambling so I'll stop now... Next, we have other classics like the original "Miracle on 34th Street" that we watch every year, as well as the fun Christmas movies like "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation", "Scrooged", and "The Santa Clause".

Anyway, hopefully everyone has their own favorite Christmas movies and traditions that you get to enjoy with your family and friends each year!

Good night all!

Just for fun:

Bought only $12.00 worth of food and household items, but after coupons and sales: Spent only $7.00 out of pocket.  

Friday, December 6th, 2013

George Gissing "For the man sound in body and serene of mind, there is no such thing as bad weather...."

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!

Who doesn't absolutely love the snow?  As you can see, the dogs are super happy getting to play in it.  They didn't like it so much when the snow was falling but now that it's stopped they are having fun running around in it.

I was pretty pissed to walk all the way down to the mailbox (look below) and there wasn't any mail there (because I went when it was still snowing and like 15 flippin' degrees outside) but I guess that was my own fault no matter how much i'd like to blame the post office for being lazy and not wanting to deliver mail in the snow.

Anyway, our Friday night consists of freezing our butts off in the snow for fun and then warming up with some beef stew and a bottle of wine.  We're just thankful it's warm in the house because earlier today, the power went out!

I of course went immediately into survival mode and lit some candles in our bedroom, put a blanket over the window and shut the door but the power came back a few hours later...... I'll have you know, the room did stay quite warm while the rest of the house dropped in temperature pretty quickly.

Enjoy the snow, act like a kid, go play with your dogs, ride a sled, make a snow angel, just enjoy it!

Just for fun:

Bought only $15.94 worth of food and household items, but after coupons and sales: Spent only $11.94 out of pocket.  

Black Thursday, 2013

"It was once said that love was giving someone the ability to destroy you, but trusting them not to."

Happy Thanksgiving all!!  I hope everyone enjoyed too much food, family and friends, happiness, and lots and lots of laughter today!

Our dinner went off without a hitch, good food and family is all you need on turkey day!  After eating and chatting, my brother broke out the Black Friday ads, but I stopped doing the whole Black Friday thing years ago.  The thought of fighting with people, getting your feet run over by baskets, getting pushed and shoved around, no parking spots, and waiting in ridiculously long lines just doesn't appeal to me anymore.

However, my mom and sister are staying over and they saw some things that were on sale tonight and my sister talked me into going with her for just a few things.  I figured it would be relatively painless and anything for my sis!

It wasn't as bad as it could have been but.............come on......really?

Yeah, look way down there and see all the boxes up in the air and all the people.  I think my sister is down there somewhere but I went about half way down and had some snotty girls yell "Excuse me!!!" as loud as they could from right behind me and believe me, it wasn't said to be polite.  The little you know what's thought everyone should get out of their way when literally, there was nowhere to move to.  Anyway, I told them to get over themselves and decided I should leave before I said or did something that would get me in trouble.

Leaving saved us a lot of time though, I made my way to the checkout side they had set up and my sister was on the other side.  So, she handed me her stuff and I went and got in a very short line.  I don't know exactly how Wal-Mart thought that herding people around the store was going to make things go smoother, I think it just slowed the process.  They literally wanted you to walk all the way around the store before you could go to the register.  Anyway, we didn't have to do that so yea us!

My advice, skip Thanksgiving sales and shop early, just be smart about it!!!

Just for fun:

Bought only $15.81 worth of food and household items last week, but after coupons and sales: Spent only $9.11 out of pocket.  

Halloween Night, 2013

Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote "And out of the darkness came the hands that reach thro' nature, molding men."

Happy Halloween everyone!!

So, what are your plans?  Are you taking the little ones out trick or treating, have a costume party to go to, going to a haunted house?  Maybe you're like us, we're just going to stay in tonight.  We're turning out all the lights, making some oh, so bad for you food for dinner and we're going to watch the Exorcist!  

We live out in the middle of nowhere so we won't have any knocks on the door but if we do, I'm pretty sure it will scare the hell out of both of us! LOL

I hope everyone gets a good scare tonight, enjoy the night!

Just for fun:

Bought only $13.89 worth of food and household items, but after coupons and sales: Spent only $7.89 out of pocket.  

Friday, October 25th, 2013

Benjamin Franklin "Three can keep a secret if two of them are dead."

This Friday night in Winslow, we're continuing our 2 weeks of Halloween with movie night, every night.

We've decided on a Scream marathon for tonight and since there's four of the damn things, we've got to get on it so I'll make this short and sweet.

The Scream movies, assuming you've seen them, aren't the scariest movies in the world, I'll admit, but they have become a classic in there own right.  Plus, I'm pretty sure we haven't even seen the last two, as horror movies tend to lose whatever they had going for them after the first sequel BUT, we thought we'd go ahead and watch them all.  

In the coming week, we've got Dead Again, Audrey Rose, The Awakening, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (remake with Jessica Biel), and the Conjuring (I believe it's based on Ed and Lorraine Warren).

Next week is Halloween people, turn the lights off, put on your favorite horror movie, and get scared!!

Just for fun:

Bought only $13.68 worth of food and household items, but after coupons and sales: Spent only $7.68 out of pocket.  

Friday, October 18th, 2013

Eleanor Roosevelt said, "You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face;  You must do the thing you think you cannot do."

This Friday night, though not in Winslow, we're kicking off our two weeks of Halloween.  We're in Tulsa visiting family and celebrating Damon's Dad's birthday, but it's still a Friday night and we brought horror movies to kick things off.

Last year, we watched all the classic Halloween movies but this year we decided to do things a little different and do some more rare horror movies and throw in some ghostly suspense/thrillers.  

Sadly, we started our first night off with a bad choice.  The original Evil Dead.  Sorry if you're a die hard fan of these movies but this was just stupid and not at all scary.  We've got the remake on the list for a later night just because anything has to be better than the original (in this case anyway) but I'm having my doubts after watching this crap!

Next, we went with What Lies Beneath (Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer), you may not think this a good pick for a Halloween celebration but I needed something I knew would at least not be a crap movie.

Tomorrow we'll watch Identity (John Cusack and Ray Liotta) and Frailty (Mathew McConaughey and Bill Paxton).  Again, you're probably thinking not good flicks for Halloween but there just aren't many new movies out that are truly scary so we're going with things we've never seen or at least haven't seen in a really long time.  This is in the hopes of us feeling a real sense of suspense or "whodunit" versus knowing every little thing that's going to happen because all Hollywood does these days is remakes and rip offs!

In the coming week, we'll do The Return (Sarah Michelle Gellar), Prom Night (remake with I have no clue who), The Last House on the Left (remake), the Evil Dead (remake, hoping it's much better than the original), and The Poltergeist (the first one!).

Get in the spirit of Halloween folks!!!

Just for fun:

Bought only $18.11 worth of food and household items, but after coupons and sales: Spent only $13.11 out of pocket.  

Friday, October 11th, 2013

Voltaire wrote "To the living we owe respect, but to the dead we only owe the truth."

This Friday night in Winslow, what do we find ourselves doing?  Well, this Sunday is the season premiere of 'The Walking Dead' so what else is there to do but have a marathon to refresh our memories of the past three years!!

Of course, there aren't enough hours left in the night to watch all of it but we will go through what we can tonight and we'll keep that going as we have time throughout the weekend!

Don't forget to watch on Sunday night. If you've never seen it, you've probably been living under a rock, but you should definitely give it a chance.  A friend of mine from work got Damon and I hooked on it so you can be sure that we will be tuned in Sunday night on AMC!

Just for fun:

Bought only $38.73 worth of food and household items, but after coupons and sales: Spent only $28.73 out of pocket.  Every penny counts so use those coupons!

Friday, October 4th, 2013

Novelist Vladimir Nabokov wrote: "Nothing revives the past so completely as a smell that was once associated with it."

Friday night candle-making!

I haven't made any candles in awhile, so I thought I'd try out some of my new scents!  I'm hoping to get larger quantities of the best scents soon so I can make more candles at once.  The above, believe it or not, is a whole am pound of wax!  I prepping for Christmas presents so I tried "holiday sparkle" and "gingerbread cookies" as my scents for tonight.

Of course, it just made me want to eat cookies but I stayed focused and got some candles made!  I even experimented with doing two colors/scents in one candle, I went with white and red:

 They aren't quite dry yet but they smell great so far, and as soon as they set, I always take one and burn it so I can guarantee they smell great!

Good night Winslownians, hope you enjoyed reading about my candle-making!

Just for fun:

Bought only $15.86 worth of food and household items, but after coupons and sales: Spent $12.82 out of pocket.  We didn't need much of anything this week but I still saved a little!  Don't forget the coupons!!

Friday, September 27th, 2013

Guru Nanak said "Dwell in peace in the home of your own being and the messenger of death will not be able to touch you."

Another Friday night in Winslow!!

Tonight we decided to have a Jack Ryan marathon.  If you're asking yourself who the hell Jack Ryan is, just stop reading my blog right now.

Of course, we start with the Hunt for Red October, which happens to be Damon's favorite.  Sure, I love me some Sir Sean Connery but I just can't get past any of the Baldwin brothers playing any character of any significance, whatsoever!  I can't honestly tell most of them apart to be fair, but I have never been impressed with any of their acting abilities.

So, this leads me to my favorite, Patriot Games.  That is what I am talking about, Harrison Ford is such a better Jack Ryan!  Sure, I hate that this one didn't have Sean Connery BUT Harrison Ford more than makes up for his absence.

Lastly, is of course, Clear and Present Danger.  It could have been a lot better but it was still a great flick and Harrison Ford is still a way better actor than the Baldwin Brother in the Hunt for Red October.

We're finishing up our evening with some dinner and wine with a friendly discussion about why we think one movie was better than the other.  Sometimes is just nice to relax and have a nice quiet movie night, just forget about all the drama, all the stress, whatever you have going on, and just enjoy a good movie, or two, or three!

Just for fun:

Bought only $6.72 worth of food and household items, but after coupons and sales: Spent only $5.33 out of pocket.  We didn't need much of anything this week but I still saved a little and every little bit counts!

Friday, September 20th, 2013

Ben Okri said "The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love, and to be greater than our suffering."

Friday night outside of Winslow!

So on September 10th, Damon and I had officially been together for 8 years.  That was a Tuesday and we had a lot going on the weekend before and the weekend after so we planned to do a little celebrating this weekend!

We had dinner at Ruth's Chris out in Rogers, our first time there.  It was nice but it was no Flemmings (in Tulsa, OK).  

Afterwards, we caught a movie, "Prisoners".  Damon heard a review for it and they said you'd be on the edge of your seat the entire time so we thought we'd give it a try.  Unfortunately, we weren't so much on the edge of our seats, it was pretty slow going for the first part, but we still liked it.  It was more of a rental than a see it in the theaters kind of movie though!

Tomorrow we plan on going to see a special exhibit at Crystal Bridges on George Washington, and then on to CORE Brewery in Springdale.  They are having some event there and we thought we'd check it out (plus, I have a coupon!!) and get a tour of their facility while we are there. Here's to 8 great years together!

Just for fun:

Bought only $13.99 worth of food and household items, but after coupons and sales: Spent only $11.29 out of pocket.  We didn't need much this week but I still saved a little and every little bit counts!

Saturday, September 14th, 2013

Winston Churchill once said, "The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you will see."

 So we had plans to go to Tulsa to visit some friends Friday night, but they cancelled.  We already had plans to have lunch with our parents on Saturday, so we decided to go and find something to get into while we were in town.

We found the Scotfest!!!

We had a great time and decided we would definitely go again next year, and go for the full three days!  We also got to see a band who wears kilts, beats on drums, and plays bagpipes.... How could you not enjoy that??  Seriously though, they were pretty awesome!   Their name is Wicked Tinkers and if you're into that kind of thing, you should definitely check them out!

Here's a video of them from Saturday:

They had caber tossing which was pretty amazing to watch and some really talented young ladies doing a jig:

And more awesomeness about the Scots, here is the Harkness Tartan:

And our family crest:

Just for fun:
My weekly shopping trip, I bought $55.88 of food and household items, but after their discount: Spent $41.40 out of pocket.  That may not be huge to you but when most of that was stuff that coupons never come out for, it was still a pretty good deal!

Saturday, September 7th, 2013

Quote by Vince Lombardi "If winning isn't everything, why do they keep score?"

I didn't have time to write anything Friday night. Honestly, I didn't do much of anything but stress about work and volunteering, and I'm sure you've all heard enough about that by now.  So, I decided to tell you all about Saturday night in Goshen, AR, on a farm, in the heat, sweating our butts off.

That's right, we volunteered at "Polo In The Ozarks" in Goshen, AR. I don't know how hot it was exactly, but judging by the amount of sweat pouring off of Damon and I, I'd say it was pretty flippin' hot!

We'd never seen a polo match before, so we thought we'd check it out. To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure we were that impressed.  I say that because I never had any idea what was going on, and I'm not really into watching any kind of sport......especially when it's so flippin' hot outside!!!

But, it was cool to see all the horses and all the free beer and food was great!

I thought I might get to ride this fella but I think it was for actual kids, not people like me that act like a kid....damn...

This is what Damon and I worked on, setting the flower arrangements!

Hope you enjoyed reading about our little excursion out of Winslow, Goodnight!

Just for fun:
Bought $14.02 worth of food and household items, but after coupons and sales: Spent only $8.72 out of pocket.  We didn't need much of anything this week but I still saved almost half of what I did buy!!

Friday, August 16th, 2013

Quote by Mahatma Ghandi "All through history, there have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall, always."

 

 

 

No, these pics are not from the set of 'The Walking Dead', this is a local grocery store (just up the road in West Fork), Super Foods and they've gone out of business.  Super Foods was and has been for quite some time, the closest grocery store to us Winslownians. 

 

Another much larger local grocery store chain, Harp's moved in just up the road from them several months ago and I figured it was only a matter of time before the end of Super Foods would be upon us.  Don't get me wrong, I like that Harp's is employee owned and I love that they aren't the big dog that Wal-Mart is, nonetheless, it's sad that Super Foods has closed it doors.

 

It got me to thinking, anyone who's shopped at a Harp's knows that they aren't exactly the cheapest store to shop at and Super Foods couldn't exactly afford to be as cheap as Wal-Mart.  Sure, they have deals sometimes that make the stop worth it and so does Harp's.  So, why choose to put a local grocery out of business?  Of course, Harp's has an inventory that Super Foods wasn't likely to match but they were local and probably just as costly as Harp's. 

 

I guess I just wish they could have found a way to keep the doors open, change their business plan, find a different and cheaper company to purchase their inventory from, something!!

 

Anyway, this is my Friday night.  I went shopping at Super Foods, as they were selling their merchandise all at 50% off, and I couldn't help but take the above pictures.  I've never seen a grocery store that looked like this. It really did feel like it was the zombie apocalypse and I was scrounging around for what little food and supplies I could find.

 

Still, it's sad to see them go.  I don't know the owners or the staff , but I just wanted to give them a shout out.  It was nice having Super Foods just up the road in West Fork and in spite of Harp's taking their customers, they will not take the place of the small town, locally owned, Super Foods!

 
 

Just for fun:
My final Super Foods shopping trip, I bought $75.94 of food and household items, but after their discount: Spent only $37.97 out of pocket.  Thank you Super Foods!  

Friday, August 9th, 2013

Quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson "In order to learn the important lessons in life, one must, each day, surmount a fear."

Another Friday night but not in Winslow....

This year was the 115th Annual Tontitown Grape Festival in of course, Tontitown, Arkansas and we decided to check it out.  I was hoping to pay homage to the classic 'I Love Lucy' episode and stomp some grapes but unfortunately, they did that earlier in the week.

So we didn't get to stomp grapes but we did get to ride some relatively nerve-wracking carnival rides.  Things change the older you get, I used to love roller coasters and anything that went fast and made me feel like I could fly......Apparently, I don't have the stomach for it anymore.  No, I didn't puke, though I'm sure if I would have indulged in some awesome carnival food, I may have lost it after riding some of those rides.

I was pretty freaked out that I might go flying right out of one of those rides and that I guess, use to be the fun of it, but now it just left me feeling a little old.  Regardless, we had a lot of fun and I rode the rides even though I was nervous before I got on them.

There were a ton of vendors selling their crafts and other various items, and we were about to read about how Tontitown was founded by the Italian immigrants that settled it was really interesting.  They were selling authentic Italian dinners and even serving wine from an Arkansas winery, though I must admit, I was disappointed they didn't use Tontitown's very own winery to supply the wine. 

Next year, we'll definitely plan on going on the grape stomping day! 
 

Just for fun:
Bought $11.30 worth of food and household items, but after coupons and sales: Spent only $6.31 out of pocket.  

Friday, August 2nd, 2013

Quote by John Calvin "The torture of a bad conscience is the hell of a living soul."

So things are getting super busy and of course really stressful at work, so I decided to take the day off today.  I turned the ringer off on my personal and work phones, shut off my work laptop, and slept late this morning.  I ate a mountain of french toast in bed this morning and then spent the rest of day getting caught up on the shows I have recorded on DVR.

I spent the whole day just relaxing and watching TV and not worrying about life or work... and it felt great!  Everyone needs a day to just be lazy and recharge.

Of course, after spending the entire day in bed, my ADHD kicked in and I started thinking about projects I need to work on, research I need to do, etc. I don't know if that makes me ADHD or if it's just because I have a guilty conscience about not getting a damn thing done today.

I generally move around so much, try to do so many things, that I often don't take the time to rest and recharge.  If you know me, you know that when I get into something, I go for it full force.  If there's a problem, I want to fix it, I want to conquer it.  Unfortunately, I far too often want to get involved in so many different things that I always have a to-do list a mile long.  Then I feel guilty if I'm not constantly working to mark items off of it.

So this evening, I attempted to do both; I decided to kick up my feet (we've moved to the couch), put on some reruns of 'Friends', pour a glass of red wine, and work on some low impact projects.  I got a few things done for my mom and I of course realized that I had yet to publish last week's blog, so I got that done too. 

Anyway, I'm glad I took the day off.  I really needed it and I got a few things done too, so I don't have to feel too guilty for being lazy!

Goodnight Winslownians!
 

Just for fun:
Bought $6.70 worth of food and household items, but after coupons and sales: Spent only $2.80 out of pocket.  We didn't need much of anything this week but I still saved over 50% of what I did buy!!

Friday, July 26th, 2013

Quote by Anthony Brandt "Other things may change us, but we start and end with family."

So another Friday night in the little town of Winslow.  We don't really have much planned tonight. Some of my family is coming up this weekend to celebrate my sister (Red) and brother (James) birthdays.

So, we basically just cleaned house and prepped food (we're having a "make your own  mini pizza" party when they get here).  We made fresh marinara sauce and fresh pizza dough, and we figured we'd chop veggies and make a nice side salad when they get here.  I'm really looking forward to seeing my fam, we've all been so busy, and we have so many things going on in our personal and professional lives, that we often forget to make time to spend with the ones we love.

After all of that fun, we had a late dinner and curled up on the couch for a movie night. 

Never a dull moment here in Winslow ladies and gentlemen!
 

Just for fun:
Bought $15.60 worth of food and household items, but after coupons and sales: Spent $12.56 out of pocket.  Again, not much savings but several bags worth of stuff!

Friday, July 19th, 2013

'Etymology' : The origin of a word and the historical development of it's meaning.

Have you ever wondered where certain sayings come from?  Well, it's Friday night, and we of course live in Winslow, so after a couple of glasses of wine, we somehow got off onto the topic of where a certain saying came from.  That discussion naturally led to the origin of another saying, that sparked another saying and another, so we spent the evening researching and this is what we came up with.

"Don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining" - The phrase, as far as we can tell, came from the baddest bitch on Court TV, Judge Judy Scheindlin, but it looks like the original quote was actually, "Don't go pissing down my back and tell me it's raining" and this appeared in the Clint Eastwood movie, The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976).

Either way, it's a pretty funny saying.

"Put it on the back burner" (this is actually what started out our little tirade tonight) - Most people probably assumed that this came from cooking, and as far as I could find, you're right!  The funny thing that caused us to consider the meaning a little further was that, for some reason, we have one back burner that we could have on high and it just doesn't get that hot.  So, in the process of cooking, Damon said something like, "oh just put it on the back burner, it will boil", and I looked at him and said, "Yeah, it'll just take an hour".  Damon had the thought that perhaps all stove's back burners just don't get as hot, and that's where it came from (keep in mind that I mentioned we had been drinking before this point).  Anyway,  I figure it's because we didn't fully connect it last time we cleaned it, or it's just broken , but we went ahead and looked it up anyway and the explanation was simply that things you need to constantly stir or keep a close eye on should be closer to you and the things that don't need immediate attention can be "put on the back burner".  BUT I did find a few references to putting a pot on the back burner just to keep in warm which I guess could lead you to think that the back burners don't get as hot as the front :-)

"Rule of Thumb" - Most say that it came from 17th Century English Judge, Sir Francis Buller, who basically said it was okay for a husband to beat his wife with a stick, but just as long as it was no wider than his thumb.  There doesn't seem to be any documentation to support this, but it's interesting.  Another I found, stating it as the earliest citation, was J. Durham's Heaven Upon Earth in 1685, "Many profess Christians are like foolish builders, who build by guess, and by rule of thumb", which supports some other's guess's that carpenters and tailors who didn't have a ruler, would measure by their thumbs.

Good night all.....

 

Just for fun:
Bought $58.70 worth of food and household items, but after coupons and sales: Spent $43.45 out of pocket, most of which was produce and items I found on clearance, so I actually brought home a mess load of stuff! 

Friday, July 12th, 2013

Quote by Joseph Conrad "The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary.  Men alone are quite capable of every wickedness."

So I'm pretty sure that everyone on the planet has heard of the AMC TV show 'The Walking Dead'.  We have for some time now resisted the hype and chosen not to watch it.  It all seemed a little ridiculous.  This show kind of blew up at a time when vampires, werewolves, and of course zombies were the big 'in things'.  Not being the type of people to be into something just because other people are saying it's the new best thing, we thought it sounded stupid and yet another repeat of something that's already been done to death.

Come on, you remember the old 'Night of the Living Dead' movies, right?  At least those are now entertaining to watch because they are so low budget. 

I'm not sure if Brad Pitt's career is going downhill, or if him starring in an upcoming zombie movie is a testament to how big of a thing zombies have become, but we still think the likelihood of a zombie apocalypse is completely nonexistent.

Anyway, we thought we'd see what all the buzz was about and sit down and watch a few episodes of the first season of 'The Walking Dead'.  What the hell, it's Friday Night in Winslow!

It was surprisingly really good.  Don't get me wrong, the first episode was rather uneventful but still left us wanting to watch the next episode.  We ended up watching the entire first season, only six episodes, and the season finale was pretty damn good!  We finished watching and Damon and I both agreed that maybe we could really get into it, so we put the second season into our Netflix queue and we're looking forward to seeing what happens next!

The moral of my ramblings, even if you don't get into the whole zombie thing, this series, so far, is pretty good entertainment, so check it out, especially if it's a Friday Night in Winslow!
 

Just for fun:
Bought $13.58 worth of food and household items, but after coupons and sales: Spent $5.59 out of pocket!  Keep calm and have coupons!!

Thursday, July 4th, 2013

Quote by Albert Einstein "Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited; imagination encircles the world."

So since today is a holiday, I thought I would share a Thursday night in Winslow instead!

The little community of Winslow puts on a fireworks show every year and its always fun to watch.  You wouldn't think that such a small town would put on a show worth watching, but I have to disagree.  If you haven't ever seen it, you should come out one year and check it out.  It's amazing how many people actually come.  It's always pretty packed and tonight was no different.  Sure, it's probably not as big and expensive as what they put on at the NWA Mall, but for us it's still pretty damn impressive!  Anyway, we got there a little before dark and pulled out the lawn chairs and just hung out waiting for the show to start. 

And for those of you who don't believe me, check it out.

Click Here to see the video 

Fortunately, it was a perfect evening, usually it's ridiculously hot at this time of year making it miserable to be sitting outside.  The weather was really nice, the fireworks were great, and after the fireworks we went home and let off a few of our own fireworks, drank some beer, and star-gazed a bit. 

Again, I cannot stress how perfect of a night it was.  We are always saying that we moved out to the middle of nowhere and we have this land and we never get to enjoy any of it.  We really enjoy star-gazing and Winslow is a great spot for it, we don't have a vapor light on our property so when we go lights out, it's pretty much pitch black, which makes seeing stars so much easier!

 

Just for fun:
Bought $46.06 worth of food and household items, but after coupons and sales: Spent $36.81 out of pocket!  Keep couponing people!!

Friday, June 28th, 2013

Quote by Benjamin Franklin "A penny saved is a penny earned."

Friday night Christmas shopping in June???

That's right, I went Christmas shopping and for those of you who think I'm crazy to be thinking about Christmas or buying sweaters in the dead of summer, just wait!

You've probably figured out by now that I like to be prepared, Christmas is no different.  I absolutely refuse to go anywhere near a mall or a Wal-Mart in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving and Christmas, no deal is handsome enough to tempt me.  People are crazy that close to the holidays and I want no part of it. 

Some people might say that all that drama and rushing around is part of the fun of Christmas, I say your stupid.  Being a nervous wreck, rushing all over town for a sale, over spending and over paying for the hottest item of the season, all ridiculous and in my opinion have absolutely nothing to do with Christmas.

Doing it my way, I'm not fighting crowds, I get to take my time to really think about the person I'm buying for, and I get to save like crazy which means I can buy more things for everyone!  FYI - we also have a strict budget for everything including Christmas so in order to make the most of it, I shop deals throughout the year. 

Anyway, Kohl's is having a pretty huge clearance sale of winter clothes right now, literally a lot of stuff is marked down 80%.  I was literally able to buy everyone in my family at least one thing, (if you don't think this is of any importance, our immediate families combined total 19 people) and I spent a little over a hundred bucks.  So, do you still think I'm crazy for Christmas shopping in June?  If so, check out the below:

Just for fun:
Christmas shopping trip: Bought $792.79 worth of stuff, but after coupons and sales: Spent $109.71 out of pocket!  That's an 86% savings people!!!  That's ridiculous savings, not to mention I have $20 off my next purchase, which I will use with a coupon and purchase more clearance items (making at least two of those items in my cart completely free)!

Friday, June 21st, 2013

Quote by Ronald Reagan "It's true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure, why take the chance?"

 

 

So for the last several weeks we have been looking to buy a used riding mower (because poor Damon has been push mowing close to an acre for almost three summers now).  We found a pretty good one on Craig's List, we think.  It's a John Deere, it runs and cuts good, and seems to have a good engine and it rides smooth. 

 

Well, I was hoping to hop on it and take it for a spin when we got home with it, but it started pouring down rain.  There was also a chance of rain for several days this week, so I still didn't get to mow.

 

Well tonight was the night!  We didn't actually get the rain earlier this week so the grass is nice and dry and I can help mow from now on (which I swore I would do so long as I didn't have to push the mower).

 

 

 

 So, it normally took Damon about 4 1/2 hours to mow the yard with the push mower, but with the riding mower we got it banged out in an hour and a half!  The mower is great and I can't believe it took me this long to talk Damon into getting one!  Especially since he was the one who was doing all the push mowing! Lol!

We still have to weed-eat and push mow a few spots that we couldn't get to with the riding mower, but that's what Saturdays are for in little old Winslow!

To anyone who doesn't have a riding mower, but does have almost a freaking acre of yard to mow, you should soooo invest in one, even a used one if your fairly handy, because you can get a good deal and not spend too much money.

Just for fun:
Weekly shopping trip: Bought $9.32 worth of stuff, but after coupons and sales: Spent $6.32 out of pocket!  That's pretty cheap for a weeks worth of groceries!! 

Friday, June 14th, 2013

Quote by Henry Ford "Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success."

So it's another hot, humid, and nasty Friday night in Winslow.  No, I'm not sitting around outside in the heat, I'm sitting in my kitchen and it's pretty warm, unless of course you just sit still which I sooo can't do.

 

You may have realized by now that I will do whatever I have to do, or can do to save some money, so there is a good reason for being so warm inside the house.  We are on this thing called Smart Hours, on that, the electric company charges us less during off-peak hours and a whole lot more during peak hours.  Peak hours are Monday through Friday from 2PM to 7PM, naturally this block of time includes the heat of the day. 

 

Anyway, to save a little more, we decided that we would make some changes to our routine in order to be using the most electricity during off-peak hours.  We set the thermostat to a higher temperature from 2PM-7PM.  We don't run the washer/dryer or the dishwasher, and we wait until 7:01PM to start cooking dinner.  Don't get me wrong, it's not terrible, we don't have the thermostat set to 90 degrees or anything outrageous, but it can get a little steamy if your up and around trying to do things like we are tonight, before the A/C kicks-in at 7pm.

 

Again, nothing too strenuous ,but I found an awesome clock that fits our kitchen perfectly. Of course, I can't just sit around not doing anything, so I talk Damon into hanging it up tonight.  We of course argue over whether or not I could eye-ball it and get it so close to perfect that even he would find it's placement on the wall acceptable, or if we should measure and re-measure and then check our facts, and then double check our facts and then discuss it before we actually do it.  Damon won this little battle and we measured and talked and so on and so forth but after all of that, we got it up on the wall and it's pretty bad ass!

 

 

 

 

And fortunately, we didn't kill each other arguing over the best way to get it centered or where to put it or anything like that.  We may have different opinions on how to do things but we are very fortunate to work very well together, and believe me, we've worked on enough stressful, time-consuming projects to know that if we conqured all that we have, we can conquer anything together.

 

Goodnight Winslow!

Just for fun:
Weekly shopping trip: Bought $15.87 worth of stuff, but after coupons and sales: Spent $12.87 out of pocket!  You might think that isn't much but how many people can only spend twelve bucks on a weeks worth of groceries!