I am easily amused

I am easily amused (or else I waste too much time doing stupid stuff. Did 0 work today towards remodeling my bathroom). I went to USBY ENTER today (pic above). That cracks me up. Its a small shopping center in town where someone either stole letters off the sign or else somehow they came off. It's supposed to say Lusby Center. But from now on I think I will continue calling it the Usby Enter.

$8 Dragon Hippy Beads and a paint job

I am in the midst of doing a mini-remodeling of my bathroom, but due to my lack of attention span I decided to take a break and fix up my son's bedroom a little. His wall has been bothering me for a while, he somehow got a piece of the paint chipped off the wall near his bed and he kept picking at it and picking at it until he managed to get a big swatch peeled off. I have no idea how long its been this bad, (time just seems to be flying by) but I finally got fed up looking at it and the other day I patched it up with drywall mud and today I painted it. The white spot on the wall is just glare from the camera flash. As the paint was drying, I put up a hippy bead curtain over his doorway. I bought the hippy door beads a few years ago at VV for $8. Kinda a neat surprise to see that there's an actual pattern to it, when it was all bundled up, I didn't know how it would look.



Tomorrow I want to paint the bathroom including the ceiling. I need to install the new towel bar (it's identical to the last one, but since its new, it looks a lot better. The old towel bar we put up when we first moved into the house and the wood has gotten all grungy looking over the years from the humidity of the bathroom. My new towel bar is one that I bought at a church yardsale for $2 in the fall, it is still new in the packaging. I also need to patch a piece of the linoleum on the bathroom floor but I won't do that tomorrow. The whole house needs new flooring so I will just patch it up for now. Also down the road a little, I want to get a new faucet since the crappy builder's faucet that came with the house doesn't show my cool blue faucet light at it's best.

Big Lots, Dollar Tree, Bath & Body Works etc

I really hadn't planned on going out shopping today but the stores were calling me. Went to Dollar Tree, Big Lots, Bath & Body Works and VV. I also had some other errands to run like go to the bank, post office, and library.

I had gotten a coupon from Big Lots for 20% off my entire purchase for being a member of their email Buzz Club, so I couldn't let that go to waste. Coupon was only good for a week. If you shop there, you can join and still get the 20% off coupon which expires Feb. 3. I bought lots of stuff for Jacob's lunch and lots of Chex cereal for $2 a box (well actually its like $1.60 a box after the discount. The husband eats Chex but I will also make a bunch of Chex mix with it. And for $1 (.80 after discount) I got a disposable corner paint brush thingy. I am in the process of doing minor remodeling to my bathroom and since I will be painting the ceiling and the walls the same color, I needed a corner brush.

At Bath & Body Works, I got a free sample of some facial serum. I'm on their mailing list so they periodically send me coupons in the mail. I just found this, on their website, if you get added to the email list, they'll send you a coupon for a free 2 oz lotion Bath & Body Works email list. Its a limited time offer, just wanted to say that incase you are reading this blog and its now the year 2014 and are wondering why the link is dead.

I should have gone to Big Lots FIRST and then Dollar Tree, but I did the reverse and bought stuff at Dollar Tree that I could have gotten at Big Lots cheaper using the 20% coupon. For instance, Dollar Tree had bags of cheesy popcorn - 6 oz for $1. I bought several bags - since popcorn is Jacob's favorite food and I can put it in baggies for his lunch. So I get to Big Lots and see they also have a cheesy popcorn but its .79 (.63 with discount) and that was an 8 oz size. Oh well. Bought both kinds anyway.

At VV, I bought 4 pieces of clothing for .35. One is a nice short sleeved maternity top with a beaded neckline size XL which I will put up on eBay during warmer weather. The other 3 shirts are for Jacob.

Also bought some vintage Hazel Atlas souvenir New York glasses for .35 each. Will take a pic and add it to the blog tomorrow.

Still time to vote for my Ugly Dog!

Thanks for all who have voted, but the job is not done yet! Contest runs till the end of the month and Whiskey won't be satisfied unless he wins. He normally gets what he wants. His self-esteem is going to suffer considerably if he loses to a cat!

So....please rate Whiskey as a "10" - Thanks!

Vote For Whiskey - a perfect 10!

Free Pretzel Day at Auntie Anne's Feb. 2 10am-4pm

Get a free pretzel at Auntie Anne's this Saturday February 2 from 10am - 4pm.

Click here for more info: Auntie Anne's Free Pretzel Day

Weekends are boring without yardsales

Pretty boring weekend here at the castle.

Didn't do much yesterday or today. Today we just went to Moe's Southwest Grill to eat. At a bargain price of course. I'm on their email mailing list too. Had a Buy 1 Get 1 Half off coupon that I printed from email. So the husband and I each had a Homewrecker. And for the boy, kid's meals are just $1.99 on Sundays. Before Christmas, Moes had a deal that if you bought a $20 Gift Card, you got a free $5 Gift Card that is only good until the end of Feb. So today I paid using the $5 GC and then paid the remainder using a small part of the $20 GC.

Since the Homewrecker burrito comes with guacamole and sour cream, I make sure we get it on the side. That way I can give my husband my sour cream and he can give me his guacamole. So we both end up with double of what we each like. But today he ended up with 3 sour creams (his own, mine and Jacob's. Since what Jacob got came with sour cream too. And Jacob doesn't eat sour cream. Good thing my husband's resolution this year was to lose weight - haha.

I only ate half of my burrito - I get it without a tortilla so its more like a taco salad and just eat it with the chips. It's really big enough for two meals for me. I ate half today and tomorrow I will put the rest on a tortilla (I always have a supply of flour tortillas on hand) for lunch tomorrow.

Had my first experience at Chipotle the other week. The food tasted fine, but I'm definitely more of a Moe's aficionado (and luckily, it's a lot closer to my home.) I didn't like the way Chipotle nickled and dimed you to death - extra for chips, extra for salsa, etc etc.

Did end up cleaning up my desk area some today. You know if you hold onto receipts and paperwork long enough, most of it can be trashed (recycled).

Cheap Lunch at Lone Star Steakhouse

I signed up a while ago at Lone Star Steakhouse for their e-mail club and the other day in the mail I got a $10 gift card from them in some sort of belated New Years card. When I signed up, I got an email for a free appetizer but didn't get a chance to use it before it expired. So....since I had the $10 gift card, I had my husband sign up his email to join the e-club and he got a free appetizer coupon. We went today and were able to use the free appetizer coupon and the gift card and had a good and cheap lunch. The service at our Lone Star has really improved, for a while if you went there they never had peanuts or would be out of the free bread etc. (I could live on bread and bread alone). But today it seemed like they really have gotten their act together and the place was packed at lunchtime.

So just a tip, if you do sign up for the Lone Star e-club, the appetizer coupon that they send you via email will expire in 2 weeks, so its best to join a few days before you plan on going.

It's the middle of winter, so it makes sense to buy a new patio umbrella

I forgot to mention this yesterday. I was at the grocery store and and saw a box with a sign on it near the customer service desk "Umbrella - last one $10". So I look at it and see it had a clearance sticker of $19.99 on it and the price sticker was dated Aug 2007. I asked one of the cashiers about it and they said they were cleaning out the stock room and came across it so they put it out for sale. It's an 8' wide green deck umbrella, that I'm guessing had an original price of $40 or higher.

Kinda strange to be buying a deck umbrella in the middle of January but a bargain is a bargain whenever it happens. And I know I won't be finding any big nice and new deck umbrellas that match our patio set for a yardsale for $10. We have one now but after a few years they tend to rip or break etc.

First Yardsale of the Year

I went to the first yardsale of the year last Saturday - an indoor church yardsale. The above pic is of two of the items I bought. For .50 I got a Jaime Sommers (Bionic Woman) playset and also for .50 a Bling Car Kit. I saw where online the Bling kit sells for $24.95. Isn't that ridiculous!?!

I am kicking myself because I found an email telling me about a yardsale two weeks ago that I missed. Crap. A local hoity toidy retirement home is now doing yardsales about once a month but they aren't advertising it to the general public. They don't want a mob scene. So its mainly just for workers and friends of workers to attend. I know one of the workers. Will definitely get to the February sale.

There is still time to vote for my dog Whiskey to win a local contest for an Ugly Pet Award. He's currently being beat by a CAT! He would not like that. Please vote for Whiskey and rate his picture a "10*
Vote for Whiskey

Just wanted to clarify - my Vintage Value is not the same as Value Village

Just wanted to mention that when I say VV - I am talking about my local thrift store called Vintage Value (there are only 2 locations, it's a non-profit and they are run and staffed by the local Center for the Disabled). There is a chain of stores called Value Village which I have never been to (none near where I live).

I feel very fortunate to leave near thrifts that sell clothing for .35 a piece!

I think I irritated the Thrift Store Gods the other day

The other day I was trying to justify to myself and you why I went to Old Navy and bought new-with-tags clothes for Jacob saying how it was hard to find him long sleeved shirts in nice condition yadda yadda. Well the Thrift Store Gods sure showed me! Yesterday at VV, I found not one but two Old Navy long sleeved shirts in nice condition for .35, a pair of Lands End jeans (in his size) for .50 and two t-shirts (cuz I liked them) for .35.

So now, if the Thrift Store Gods are listening....I never find really nice big diamond earrings at the thrifts for .50

My Dog is in an Ugly Dog Contest - please vote!

The other day I heard the local radio station looking for photos for an ugly pet contest and immediately thought of the photos I have of my dog Whiskey. So I emailed the picture off and didn't think anything of it. So today I had the radio on while I was making Jacob's lunch and I hear the DJ's saying that Whiskey was in the lead. My Whiskey??? LOL! So I had to go to the website and yes, he is currently in the lead.

So...I want to keep him in the lead. One vote per person. Please vote for him. I don't think there are any prizes, just having the title of the Ugliest Dog in Southern Maryland would be enough of a prize.

Here is the link to vote for him: Vote for Whiskey! After you vote, giving him a #10 of course, then you can return to the Gallery and see the other contestants. Of course I am biased, but some people just submitted pics of their normal pets. At least Whiskey is looking pretty ruff (groan....) in the photo I submitted. I should have taken a new photo to showcase his underbite and his missing bottom row of teeth.

Actually bought clothes with tags on them yesterday

Over the weekend when I was out with the kid and husband, we stopped at a little shopping center that has an Old Navy - I saw they had 75% off signs and the checkout line was at least 40 people deep so I knew I wouldn't be able to shop. Plus, its difficult to really shop while watching a 7 year old in a busy store.

So I went back yesterday on my own and spent $16.38 and bought Jacob a pair of jeans and 4 shirts. He has a ton of nice t-shirts and short sleeved polo shirts bought for .35 each at Vintage Value, but finding nice long sleeved shirts for that price is more difficult. So the shirts I got yesterday are all long sleeved (3 were $1.99 and the thicker rugby style shirt was $3.99. The jeans were $5.50. (The sales tax in Maryland just went up January 1 to 6%.)

I saw people buying tons of clothes. I never find anything there for me. At Smile the other week I bought myself two pairs of jeans that I love ($2 each), the brand is Blu. Never heard of them, but I love them (I don't care if I find out that they are a Walmart brand or a Nordstrom brand, I will love them just the same).

SoyJoy - so bad

The other week in the paper there was a coupon for a free SoyJoy energy bar (or whatever it is). If I didn't have the free coupon, it would have cost $1.29. I don't think I would even pay .29 for one. Looks appetizing doesn't it - tastes just like how a little hard brown brick should taste.

Shopping Bargains for the week - CVS and Staples

I got some great bargains at CVS this week. The top picture is the inside of my car, where it looked like a CVS store exploded. CVS had their Christmas stuff marked down to 90% off, so I went to 3 different CVS stores and spent $15.26 total.

I went to Staples twice this week and got a bunch of stuff, and using the $3 inkjet coupons that I have, didn't spend a dime. The cashiers sometimes look confused when you walk out with a bag of stuff and you didn't hand them any money. I definitely have a Sharpies stockpile now - they were on sale for $1 a package. I only took one picture of my buys, but I ended up with 10 packages of Sharpies.

Best Buy for 2008 (so far) - a North Face Coat

Here's my favorite buy for 2008 - a North Face fleece for me. Paid $4 at the thrift.

Happy New Years 2008 - what a difference a day makes

What a difference a day makes - haha. Happy 2008. Yesterday I woke up to about 8" of snow and shoveling at my childhood home - and now I am back home in Maryland without a snowflake in sight - thank god! Of course, about 10 minutes after I did all that shoveling, one of my cousins showed up with his pickup truck with a snowplow attachment. Well at least I burned off some calories.

Had a good trip back home and got to see most people I wanted to see. Will probably be headed back in a few short months for Easter break. Was able to do some after Christmas Target and Walmart shopping. Also stocked up on a few things at Aldi's.