This Post is For You...Dad

As some of you may know, I come from a family of accountants. My dad is an account, his brother is an accountant, and my grandfather is an accountant. Now just imagine being a 16 year old with a $100 budget for clothes...impossible I know. To say my dad likes to save his money is an understatement...and quite honestly we would sometimes laugh and roll our eyes at his logic. So now I find it hysterical when Brandon calls me John Hord. I have to admit I laugh at myself when I do things like buy a dryer motor off eBay for $30 and hope pray that someone who knows how to install it will offer to help Brandon (thanks Scott). Hey, I can get on board with spending $30 and not having to buy a new dryer. I also heard his voice in the back of my head saying "it's a luxury, not a necessity" when we disconnected out Internet...don't be fooled we pick up free wi-fi...SHHH. The point is, while I thought my dad was being cheap, it really has taught me some valuable lessons and in today's economy every little bit helps.

I know there are lots of blogs out there that specifically focus on how to live frugally, but after reading some they made my head spin. Math skills were not genetically passed down to me so trying to figure out how to get free stuff from CVS is pushing it a little too far. Instead, I thought I would share a few websites that make it pretty easy to save a little here and there with minimal effort.

My favorite so far has been Big Crumbs. Basically, you sign up and do your online shopping through their site and earn money back on all your purchases. I signed up as a CrumbSaver that gives you the maximum percentage return. You can also be a CrumbEarner and earn commission off your referrals' purchases. You must click through from their website to whatever website you want to shop to get credit. Also, when you click through they will have any promotional deals listed for that retailer to make sure you get the optimum money back. The other day the website I purchased from had 25% off your order. I clicked through that link on Big Crumbs, got 25% off AND money put back in my pay pal account. On three small purchases I have gotten almost $14 back. For something I was going to buy anyway I think that is a pretty good return. It at least helps cover shipping. I told a lady in my office building about this and on her two larger purchases she got around $45 back. Not too bad.

This leads me to RedPlum. RedPlum is a great website for coupons and online deals. It also has some great articles in general about finances and saving money. I got a great deal from restaurant.com .through RedPlum. I bought a $25 gift certificate for $3 when they were having a sale (redplum sent me an e-mail). I've used it and it was legit just make sure to read the restrictions before you purchase. Most of the $25 certificates require that you spend $35 on your bill and it doesn't include alcohol. Still, you are only out of pocket $13 for $35 in food.

Coupons.com is one of the best coupon websites I have found. Most of the coupons available are going to be the same as what you would find on the other sites so you don't have to do a lot of searching. The best part is that most of them are for at least $1 off...and that adds up quickly. You can also get free samples of things from Wal-Mart and they usually come with some kind of coupon. I got a sample of the new Crest white strips and it came with a $10 coupon.

I'll close with Shop it to me. The same lady in my office building I told about Big Crumbs told me about Shop it to me. You can log onto their website enter all the brands you like (think: Seven Jeans, Prada, BCBG) and it will send you an e-mail with the best prices on those brands. I haven't used this one for long, but I am going to try it out for a little while to see if I can find anything worthwhile.

Ok, I think I will stop now before I out myself as a TOTAL nerd, but I may have a part 2 if I think of anything else. Hope you guys had a great weekend, we were completely lazy so you get this post instead of a new and exciting project post.

Point. Click. Shoot.

Not only is it Friday but it is not raining (what does that James Spann know anyway)! I came straight home today with one mission in mind. To take my camera and all my new knowledge (by knowledge I mean I actually read the owner's manual and a feed on Flickr) for a spin in our waterlogged backyard. It's a fun time of year with new green things begining to emerge. I decided to take advantage of the break in weather and capture a few of the things going on in our backyard. I have a long way to go in the learning process, but I think I managed a few good ones.

{The lonely only flower in our backyard}

{Crepe Myrtles waking up}

{Sophie standing guard at the back door}

{Sweet little Max face}

{Curby basking in the glow of the afternoon sun}

Insert Blog Post Here

It's been a rainy couple of days here in Birmingham and according to James Spann's Weather Blog, (yes I am a dork) its not going to get better anytime soon...all the gloominess and rain has left me feeling lazy uninspired. I have been playing around with our camera, after 3 years, to really figure out what it can do. I thought it might be a good idea since our trip is coming up...WOO HOO...and I don't want to be the first person in history to take bad pictures of Italy. I'll try to post some of my attempts if I can get off the couch think they are decent.

Other than that, not much has been going on around the Bates' household. The dogs, so far, have not dug up my little vegetable garden. They decided instead that one of my butterfly bushes would taste better. I have already tried replanting it once, but I think it is done for after they reclaimed it yesterday. Oh well...what's one out of 4.....

Just for a Laugh

I came across this picture yesterday and it has been making me laugh since. Anything that can make me laugh before Friday is a good thing. Enjoy!

{Sophie: "Max just get up and behave and it will be over faster"}

What a Weekend

I LOVE spring and everything about it...the sun, the warmth, the long days, and watching things bloom. I especially love when all of these things happen on a weekend. A spring Saturday morning is like Christmas morning once a week for me. This Saturday was no different, other than I didn't have to be at the store. I woke up at like 7:30 ready to go and already planning my day. I turned over and stared at Brandon, to see if he was as excited as me, but he was dead to the world. Now don't get me wrong, Monday through Friday I could stay in bed until noon...but when I have a whole day to do what I want I am ready to get started.

I had some strawberries that needed to be used, and I had a great recipe from a lady at my office for strawberry cupcakes. I always seem to need a "project" on the weekend and trust me baking, cooking or anything of the sort, is a project or should I say endeavor for me.

{Purchase Justified}


Here is the finished product. Ignore the powerded sugar all over my stove...like I said..endeavor.

Brandon and I took them up to his Aunt & Uncle's house. They had a house full of kids and neighbors so I figured I could get rid of them quickly...I was also painfully aware that if they were horrible, kids would spit them out and tell you so.




I guess they weren't too bad because here is what I brought home. Either that or these kids had been taught the best manners. I like to think they weren't THAT bad.

Moving on to Sunday. Stay with me I can't tell if it is the small size of this post window, or if I am actually writing a novel that makes this one seem so long. Like I said I love projects, spring, and weekends..I know..I love lots of things apparently. When I woke up Sunday morning, it was another bright sunny day. Naturally, the first thing I thought of was Home Depot...naturally. I tried a garden last year which miserabley failed...so I thought I should try again...one because I am a glutton for punishment and two because I needed a project. This year I was going to arm myself with pesticide and maybe it would turn out better. Hey, I used organic soil and I am growing my own vegetables so that counts for something.

I recruited Brandon to go with me under the guise that I was just going to get soil to start preparing my garden...he gets a little overwhelmed when I lay a whole project on him...baby steps. Well let me just tell you...when we got there they had just gotten in a shipment of vegetables and this girl was in weekend project Heaven. I picked up the standards : squash, zucchini, and tomoatoes...I went a little overboard last year so I thought I should maybe scale back a little this year. With my nature's bounty in hand we headed home to get to work.

{The Before}

It's not very big or impressive but about halfway through trying to break through middle earth to get the soil ready, this thing felt like the size of a football field. I'll spare you the gory details because it was not exciting or pretty. Much like I wanted to yesterday, I'll skip straight to the after...after I had burned my back, lost all feeling in my hands, and control over my legs.

{The After}

Now, I am not done yet. I think I want to paint the little fence to match the window panes that are hanging on our porch and add some flowers to attract bees so I am not hand pollenating squash at 6am like last year.

But that is a different project for a different weekend and we were all very tired after working so hard.

Simple Pleasures

Yesterday was a beautiful warm and sunny day. The worst part was it was Friday and all I wanted to do was play in the sunshine. Instead, I sat at my desk and kicked myself for not buying these. I decided after work I needed some retail therapy to console myself...it was a huge loss...they were vintage...and green...and polka dot...and perfect, but I digress. I headed to a favorite guilty pleasure of mine Old Time Pottery (OTP). I went with the intention of buying this:





However, things went a little different than planned and I ended up with this:

I couldn't resist the cute little green one. The yellow and green together just makes me happy. The best find of the day was the margarita glasses I found. They had sets of four Williams-Sonoma margarita glasses for $9.99 (they were regulary $8.50 a piece)! I could just picture a hot summer day with a glass full of Holly's uncle Bill's margaritas....YUM!

It was a good day at the OTP...It helped lessen the pain a little. Now don't get me wrong, I am in full search mode for those vintage perfect glasses, but at least for now whenever I make spaghetti I can at least drain it in a cute colander.

Have a Happy Weekend!

Sweet Victory!

So, I had this whole first blog post in my head all about spring springing and the birth of a new blog. However, as Leigh Anne can attest, I spent the better part of my day trying to figure out this whole blog background thing. I copied and pasted, re sized and uploaded to no avail. I contemplated giving up...maybe someone else would want this blog title...but I fought on. I copied re sized and downloaded some more and I think Brandon (the hubby) thought I had lost my mind when I yelled "Sweet Victory" and raised my arms in triumph. He was watching the basketball tournament so I doubt he gave it much thought anyway. So, I will get to the introductions and the clever posts later. For now, enjoy the much slaved over background. It's not my favorite but it worked and I will have all day tomorrow to try to remember how I got it to work and to create something better.