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!!