Sunday, December 31, 2006

Happy Belated Christmas and Happy New Year

Spent Chrismtas in upstate New York. Had a good time visiting family and shopping. No snow but had some snow on the drive home. Saw a Walmart truck that ran off the road - I took a picture of it but can't get to it right now to post it. I got a new computer for Christmas to replace my 8+ year old model so I quite haven't gotten the picture thing figured out yet.

While in NY I had a chance to go to a Salvation Army. The first thing I saw in the store was a customer holding a Serta Sheep. Uggh - I wanted to buy it! Some Serta Sheeps are very collectible - I believe you get one free if you buy a Serta mattress or else you can buy them new in Serta stores. Well anyways the sheep all have a # on their side and once they run out of a particular #, its no longer made and they go on to selling a different #. Well anyways whenever I see them I buy them. I sold a #13 Sheep for about $30 a while ago and I have a pink Breast Cancer Awareness sheep to sell tucked away somewhere in my clutter.

Well anyways at the Salvation Army, I couldn't tell what # it was but I was mad at myself for missing it and not being at the store 5 minutes earlier. I could tell the customer was friendly since she was chit-chatting with the workers and she was also talking out loud to herself and commenting on thing on the shelves. She had a armful of stuffed animals. So....I walk past her and say "Oh that sheep is sooo cute" and she agrees. I then walk away - not too far - but look at other stuff on the shelves. A few minutes later she comes up to me and goes "I just noticed this sheep as wires in its legs - my dogs may get hurt chewing on it - do you want to buy it? Of course! And I thanked her and wished her a Merry Christmas. Not the end of the story. I go to the register with some other stuff I find and the cashier looks at the price tag on the sheep and rings in .25 on the cash register and says "I just hate when companies try to sell their advertising figures - its just a personal pet peeve of mine so I only charged you .25" As it turns out the sheep is a fairly recent one so I'll hold on to it for a while.

I've done some after Chrismtas shopping. Went to Target up in NY and the one here by my house. We did "Christmas" with my brother and his wife on the afternoon of December 26 so I was able to buy a few more things on Tuesday morning to give to them - and of course it was half priced. My sister-in-law collect Disney Pooh ornaments and other Pooh related stuff so I was able to buy her a Pooh Hallmark ornament for $5.

I was at two different Walmarts yesterday and bought stuff at 75% off.

Well I gotta go - I still haven't unpacked from being home. Been too busy on the internet (I get internet withdrawls when I go to NY) and now been playing on my new computer too much.

Jeff is sick, not doing anything for New Years.

Saturday, December 09, 2006

Christmas is coming up too fast

I have so much stuff to do before Christmas. As a kid it seemed like it too forever for Christmas to come, and now it gets here too fast. I had wanted to list a bunch of my Christmas related stuff on ebay, but only got a chance to list a few things. Oh well, always next year.

In my post the other week about OK! Magazine - I've since found a better offer. There's a seller on ebay selling 2 year subscriptions for only $3.75 . I bought a subscription for my sister and sister-in-law to give as gifts. What can I say? I'm a generous person.

No yardsales today. And probably not any for next few weeks. There is a ray of hope though - St. Pauls church always does a second Saturday in January indoor yardsale.

Sunday, December 03, 2006

Report on Black Friday

Someone asked how I did on Black Friday and I guess I had forgotten to blog about it.

I had a good time shopping. As I've probably mentioned before, the closest real mall is about an hour drive away, so I mainly buy from stores that are nearby (Staples, Target, JC Penneys, Best Buy etc). I rarely go to a mall and when I do, I rarely buy stuff. I haven't always been this way. I grew up about 3 miles from the Clifton Country Mall in upstate NY and when I lived in Charleston, SC, the Northwoods mall was only about a mile away.

This past Black Friday I was at Staples at 6am. My husband said that he'd like a GPS that was on sale there for $149. So I got that and also bought the laminator which will be free after rebate, the power cord (free after rebate) and an extra memory stick for my camera which will cost $15 (after rebate). And of course I used three $3 coupons that I got from recycling inkjet cartridges at Staples. And used my bonus Rewards card. I thought the laminator would at least come with a few laminating sheets, but it didn't. I really don't need a laminator so maybe it will be for sale at my next yardsale. (And since it was free after rebate, any money I make on it is pure profit).

Best Buy: Bought 4 DVDs ($10 The Office Season 1 - love The Office!, Munich $5, Fight Club $5 and Brokeback Mountain ($5 - for me since I knew my husband would never buy it). He wanted Munich and Fight Club so those are put away for Christmas. He already has been playing with the GPS.

Old Navy - just looked around and won some free package stickers (which I think everyone won)

Bath & Body Works - had a coupon (got in the mail) for a free item worth $12.50 with any purchase. So I bought a package of the Wallflower refills on sale for $5. I bought a Wallflower last year during a Black Friday sale and also picked up another at the thrift for .25. For my free item got a big bottle of a combo shampoo/bodywash/bubblebath that was $12. B&BW sends out good coupons - really worthwhile to get on the mailing list if you like to shop there. I don't normally buy stuff there since I find it all the time at yardsales. I once bought a brand new B&BW gift set at a yardsale for $1. The seller received it and said she only likes fruit scents or flower scents (or vice versa) and she received the wrong type of scent.

Chickfila - used free soda coupon

Target: Bought DVD The Notebook for $4, Spongebob Plug N Play game for $10 - may put away for Jacob's birthday since he already is getting a lot of gifts (bought other stuff I needed but nothing Black Friday sale related)

JC Penneys: got the free snowglobe. Bought my husband a pair of Dearfoam slippers on sale for $15 (normally $30) and bought myself my Christmas present from him - a black leather coat on sale for $48.88, which was one of their Black Friday morning deals. I hadn't gone looking for a coat, but I saw them and tried it on and liked it. I also got 15% off my purchase because I did an online survey and when the survey is complete, I got to print a coupon good for 15% off my next purchase.

CVS Pharmacy: I went to 3 different CVS's. They had 2 liters of diet coke for .66 (limit 4) so I got 12 bottles. That should last me 12 days - I am so addicted. Also bought the Kleenex that was .88 box and had a $1 off 5 boxes coupon so I paid .68 a box (Jacob's teacher is always asking for donations of Kleenex for the classroom). Also bought myself some Maybelline makeup with was Buy 1 Get 1 Free - and I had a $2 off Maybelline coupon.

Also went to both Vintage Value thrift stores and got some stuff there. At one of the stores, they had a sale: .25 clothes. I can't remember what exactly I bought, but you know I bought stuff.

I wanted to stop at Ace Hardware but ended up meeting my husband & Jacob at a park and didn't go shopping afterwards.

Friday, December 01, 2006

$2 Longaberger basket, $2 Vera Bradley and free movie








I went to Smile both on Wednesday and Thursday. Wednesday my buy of the day was a $2 Longaberger basket. It has a dark stain and is marked "Longaberger Handmade Series" on the bottom. It's a keeper. And yesterday I found a $2 Vera Bradley purse. I don't get the popularity of Vera Bradley purses at all. But I'm glad people are willing to overpay for them on ebay.

Also yesterday the Calvert Marine Museum was showing an indie documentary movie that I wanted to see (free admission to movie). So I went to that and afterwards noticed how pretty the lighthouse was decorated so I took some pics. My admission to the museum was free too since I'm a member. (Last May I bought a year family membership for $25 during a half priced day). I'm so used to going there with Jacob that it was weird to go alone. Weather was beautiful yesterday - I didn't adjust the color settings at all in the picture, that's exactly how it looked.