Shit Man was fixed today

Yesterday the kids didn't have school so I thought it would be fun to take Jacob to Annapolis for the day and go to the Chuck E. Cheese. I also wanted to check out a Children's Museum that is there. I saw from the museum's website that they had a special for January: if you brought in 3 empty baby food jars per person, you'd get free admission (normally $3 a person). So since baby food was .49 a jar, I spent approximately $3 on babyfood instead of paying $6 for admission. Annapolis, overall, is a pretty upscale town. The parking lots are full of Lexus's and BMW's. So I was expecting the children's museum to be something special. I was not impressed. It looked like a gutted rambler house that they filled with plastic germy yardsale toys. They did have some other things but I doubt we'll be going back.

I was hugely disappointed that the Annapolis kids also had the day off from school - and I think the majority were at Chuck E. Cheese. It was a zoo. Jacob didn't even want to stay - way too many people.

So since we definitely didn't fill up the afternoon at Chuck E. Cheese, we went to "our" museum in Solomons. Coming home around 5pm I passed this Antiques store sign and got a laugh (I'm easily amused). I passed it this morning and it was still the Shit man, but by this afternoon shit man had been fixed.

Went out to lunch with a friend today - ate at one of those Japanese places where they cook your meal right in front of you.

Let's play.....NUCLEAR WAR!

Bought this game at VV the other day, looks like a fun little game for the family called Nuclear War. On the side of the box it's described as a comic cataclysmic card game of global destruction. And described as a game for all ages, so I'm thinking ages 3+. Paid .50 for it.

Shaving Brush Collection

I thought I would share a pic of one of my collections - this is my shaving brush collection. I look for them when I'm yardsaling but I'm not fanatical about buying them. I don't look for them in high priced antique stores or buy them on ebay. Just look for ones priced cheap at yardsales. They are lined up above the lighting fixture in my bathroom. I guess my fascination with shaving brushes started early - here I am with Dad getting my first shave. The brush that is second from the left belonged to my grandfather.

No Yardsales today (too cold)

No yardsales today - well there was one moving sale advertised but I didn't go. I figured all the vultures would be out early. Well I don't know about the vultures, but I know the hawks were definitely out - I took a picture of one in my backyard today. He/she was checking out the birds at my birdfeeders.

I have several birdfeeders in my backyard. I usually buy the "deer corn" for the squirrels in big 20 lb bags. That reminds me of a funny story - I was doing an interview last year for a newspaper and the interviewer asked me what I bought the last time I went "real" shopping at an actual shopping mall. I had to think a bit and then I told her - 20 lb bags of corn at a Dick's Sporting Goods. How sad is that! haha.

I also buy 50 lb bags of sunflower seeds from a hardware store and I make suet for the woodpeckers. Here's a recipe that I use:

Mix together using your hands the following(it's messy!)

4 cups cornmeal
1 cup flour
1 cup peanut butter (chunky or regular)
1 cup Crisco shortening (or generic)

Shape into patties and put into a suet feeder. Refrigerate leftovers.

If you don't have a suet feeder - you can use a plastic net (like the kind that is usually on a frozen turkey). Then just put the suet patties in that and tie it closed and hang (if you have squirrels in your area, they will get to it in about 2 seconds flat). Othewise you can also smear the suet right into the bark crevices of your trees. Or wait and buy a suet feeder at a yardsale for .50 and then make the suet.

Liquor store with a drive-thru window

I think I finally got the hang of my new computer, as far as organizing and adjusting photos. Here's a pic I took sometime in 2006, I had forgotten where it was stored. It's a nearby liquor store that has a drive-thru window for convenience. I wonder why that bright idea hasn't caught on in other parts of the country...

Really dodged a bullet last week - was doing 52 in a 40

I forgot to mention, I had the opportunity last Friday to speak with one of our fine local police officers about the rate of speed my vehicle was going. As he was looking at my driver's license he asked if I still lived on such and such street. I responded "yes, and A LOT of people speed on that road! I wish the police would do something about that!". Thinking about that comment now, it's really amazing that I ended up with just a warning.

Yardsale buys from the past Saturday

Like an oasis in the dead of winter - St. Paul's had their annual second Saturday in January indoor yardsale. They have super cheap prices. I spent $4.75 and got a bunch of stuff. They sell bags of clothes for $3 and bags of toys for $1. This was the first time they had the bag o'toys deal, I bought 2 bags. Also bought myself a brand new pedometer and a pretty Crazy Horse Liz Claiborne sweater for .50 (I didin't find enough clothes I wanted to do the $3 deal. Also with my $4.75, I got a bunch of books and a DVD, and some small perfumes.

Shells and whatnot from the Chesapeake Bay

Oh I forgot to post this pic from the Cove Point lighthouse, even though it is fenced in, the water still gets thru the fence and washes up all these neat stones and shells etc. I thought they looked pretty so I took some pics. The pic is huge and looks cool when full size on a big monitor.

Cove Point Lighthouse on Saturday

On Saturday Jacob and I went to the Cove Point Lighthouse because it was open to the public (it normally isn't. But you aren't allowed to climb up in it either way). I think it was free admission (not sure but we didn't pay anything) - we had on our admission stickers from visiting our "regular" lighthouse earlier in the day at the Calvert Marine Museum (bought a year family museum membership last May during a half price special for $25).

Steny Hoyer, The Yardsale Queen and Jacob

I'm really not into politics but I thought I would share a photo of me and Jacob taken a few years with this guy, Steny Hoyer. He's now the House Majority Leader. I can't exactly remember the occasion but I think it may have been at my yardsale Queen coronation ceremony or winning some Mother of the Year award or perhaps winning Maryland's most beautiful baby contest (or maybe not). Since, of course, I'm always winning awards like that, it's hard to keep them all straight ;)

Went from bowling a 91 last week to bowling a turkey today!

Don't worry I am not turning this into a bowling blog or anything (and really I'm not "into" bowling that much but we go because its free). Well last week I bowled a miserable 91. And today, a day which will live forever in my bowling history, I scored my all time highest score ever - 168 - and that included bowling a turkey - THREE strikes in a row! Overall I had 4 strikes in that game and one spare.

Time to go watch The Apprentice. Tomorrow I'll add some pics and talk about the indoor yardsale I hit on Saturday.

Boards down again

Yes, the boards are down again today. Its not a problem I caused or anything - hopefully it will be fixed soon. Thanks for your patience!

Took my son bowling yesterday

Sorry I haven't written much lately. Will try to do better.

On Sunday I took Jacob bowling. Some Banquet tv dinners have a coupon for a free game of bowling on the package. They were on sale for .88 the other week at Food Lion. So for only .88 you get a free game of bowling, plus the meal. Only certain bowling alleys accept the coupons but the one near me does, so we are set.

So anyways the final score of the game was Me: 91 Jacob: 89. How sad is that? I mean I've had years and years of bowling experience over my 6 year old son who just stands at the line and drops the ball from waist height. Maybe I can blame my poor performance on my new used bowling shoes. I've had a pair of bowling shoes from the 70's that I've used forever. But now I can't find them, I know they will turn up eventually. Well anyways to rent bowling shoes is $3.99 - highway robbery! I was at a thrift a few weeks ago and found a pair in my size for $3 so I bought them. Maybe I just need a little more practice with them. I have a bunch more coupons to use before they expire at the end of May so I'll definitely be doing more bowling. You can only use one coupon per person per day so that's why we only bowling 1 game, and plus, Jacob starts to lose attention after 1 game. For some reason, they don't charge for kid shoe rentals, only adults.

Yardsalequeen.com Message Boards down

The message boards are experiencing some technical difficulty at the moment so please just be patient. Hopefully they'll be back up soon.

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.

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.

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.

$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.

Subscription to OK! Magazine either $77.52 or $4.84

I've gotten so many free subscriptions to magazines from www.freebizmag.com but I was searching eBay weeks ago for magazine subscriptions and came across a 2 year weekly subscription to Ok! magazine (a cheesy celebrity gossip rag) for $5.99 so I figured what the heck, I'll splurge and actually pay for a magazine for a change. So I ordered it and it just started coming in the mail this week (when you order magazines thru a seller on ebay, sometimes it takes several weeks for it to start). What I found was amazing was that in the magazine there was a card offering a 2-for-1 deal, buy one year for $77.52 (!!!!!!) and your friend gets 51 issues (one year) free. Is anyone actually crazy and stupid enough to do that?

I just checked ebay and there are sellers now offering 2 a year (weekly) subscription for only $4.84 - so now i am feeling ripped off that I *overpaid* $5.99 for it - haha.

Pet Peeve about cashiers

First let me say I've been a cashier at many jobs in my life (Burger King, Opryland, Bradlee's etc) and now I'm the cashier at all my yardsales. The thing that drives me nuts is how some cashiers give you change back - they make a pile of the dollar bills, receipt on top of that, and then pile up all the change and give you the whole mess at once. The cashiers at my local KFC always do that and it drives me nuts (which happened tonight so that's why I am blogging about it). And then to even top that off the whole mess gets put in your left hand at the drive-thru (and since I'm right handed, my left is the lesser coordinated)

When I have a yardsale and let's say the customer's total is $2.75 and they pay with a $20 bill, this what I say when giving back change: quarter makes $3, four, five, five makes ten and ten makes twenty. I give the coin(s) back first - that way they have a second to put the change in a pocket if they want, then the bills.