Bargains bargains everywhere...

Did some regular store bargain hunting today. Stopped at Walgreens after dropping Jacob off to catch the bus for summer (day) camp. I found that they marked a bunch of stuff down. I want to go back tomorrow. I cleared them out of their supply of discounted tape ($2.50 for 4 rolls of 3M brand tape). Original price was $10 per 4-pack.

Then stopped at Food Lion for a few items. I saw that some of their summer stuff was 75% off and bought two pairs of these flip-flops for $1.75 each (regular price was $6.99) and two big plastic outdoor planters also for $1.75 each. I had already removed the tag on the green pair before I took the pic.

I am really not a flip-flop wearer. These are my firsts. I prefer a regular sandal with a back and no thingy between the toes. But change is good. So I will give these a try (plus they will be good to wear when I get my $30 mani-pedi.



DH was off work today and he was getting new tires for his truck so I followed him and while the truck was getting worked on, we went out to lunch at Lonestar and used one of our free lunch coupons ($9.99 value). They punch a card everytime you eat lunch and once the card is full, it's good for a free lunch. We've had some generous servers who punched it twice at a time (instead of once) so the card filled up quickly.

I also went to Staples and spent .08 They don't give out the $3 inket coupons anymore, but instead when you recycle cartridges the $3 gets credited to your Staples Rewards card and they send you a check once a quarter based on how many inkjets you recycled. Well I got my check yesterday, for a whopping $3. Used it today.



I bought a package of .99 pens, $1.99 Cadoozles (mechanical pencils) and two packages of erasers at .05 each. And to top it off, I'll get a $1.99 rebate check back from Staples for the Cadoozles.

Last week when Office Depot had their penny deals, I stopped in (since I was driving right past it) and bought the penny rules, erasers, folders and protractors. Then when I was looking around I found a clearance area that had a whole bunch of shipping supplies discounted (like rolls of tape for .50, mailing labels etc - I cleaned them out too).

p.s. I forgot to mention, when I won the Kenny Loggins tickets, I also got a certificate good for a free oil change at Jiffy Lube. Will have to call Mr. Tire and find out when my last oil change was. Yes, I know, I need to get organized and keep better records.

p.s.s. And my passport came yesterday so now I am ready to do worldwide yardsailing, bargain hunting, and thrift store shopping.

Update last week or so

My guests left today, so I'm just catching up on email, blog, message board, yadda yadda. Oh, and I need to do laundry. I kinda took a vacation from doing laundry over the past week, so needless to say, I have a mountain of dirty clothes to tackle.

Remember how I said I tried to win Huey Lewis & the News tickets last month from the radio station with no success? Well last week the same radio station was giving away Kenny Loggins tickets (with opening act Edwin McCain) for a concert that will take place later this week. I was hoping they'd do another "be caller #9 for a pair of Kenny Loggins tickets". No, this time they decided to do trivia. Uggh. My computer is not near the radio so when the DJ announced they were taking callers for a trivia contest I ran to my computer and started dialing the phone and googling "wiki kenny loggins". I just knew they'd have some obscure Kenny Loggins trivia such as what was his 3rd grade teacher's name was or something.

The winning person had to answer 3 trivia questions correctly by answering true or false. The first two people got answers wrong. (They asked different trivia for each person). My call got thru - finally. Yeah...now I just needed to answer these three questions right and I'd be sitting pretty at Kenny Loggins.

1. A catfish has no sense of taste. (true/false)
2. A cat's hearing is more sensitive than a dog's (true/false)
3. Jimmy Hoffa's middle name is "Riddle" (true/false)

And being the brainiac that I am......I AM GOING TO KENNY LOGGINS!!!!! Yepper, I won a pair of $48.50 tickets. I sorta cheated though. Well I did guess at the first two questions (both true). Then when the DJ read the third question, I knew I couldn't mess it up and said "I'm ...... sorry ........ can ........ you ........ repeat ........... the ........ question? I ...... did ...... not ...... hear ......... it" As I am saying that I am furiously googling wiki Jimmy Hoffa. Another true answer.

I am glad because I had planned on volunteering at the concert. But then DH said he'd have to work late - really late - on the night of the concert. I thought it wouldn't really be worthwhile to hire a babysitter so I could be a volunteer there. But then DH said his work schedule changed and he'd be off that day BUT he may go away to a motorcycle show so it still wouldn't work out for me to volunteer.

But now it all has worked out....he is not going to the motorcycle show, and doesn't really care to see Kenny Loggins so I will get to go with a friend.

p.s. Yes, the three people who guessed a part of a vertebrae in the last post are correct. I guess I've led a sheltered left and am not used to seeing skeletal remains/bone pieces like the majority of my blog readers have. haha. We found the rest of the skeletal remains on the beach.

p.s.s I am really looking forward to the concert. I just know Edwin McCain will sing this song, which I love

Beach Junk

As I said previously, I have vistors staying here at the Queen's Castle. Last night, Jacob, myself and my niece Kelly took a walk on the beach. Jacob busied himself cleaning up the beach by throwing sticks and timber into the water. I thought Kelly would want to go and collect some interesting shells, etc. Well she got some "etc." She picked up this odd looking piece and we couldn't figure out what it was. Ewww....then we found out what it was. She still wanted it anyway. Nope, it's not a weird small smoking device (but that's what it looks like). Want to guess what it is? It's only about 1.5" long.



I will try to post the answer on Monday.

Been Busy

Sorry I haven't blogged lately. Well first I had to try to clean the house a little bit for family who is visiting from New York. Then I had to go get them at the airport. We live pretty far from the airport so I wanted to go back to that mall place to buy something I regretted not buying when we went on the 4th of July.

Yes, newflash, I paid $18.99 plus tax for a t-shirt.



I wore it yesterday and got two compliments on it. (One from the cashier at Vintage Value). Yes, I went to VV yesterday and took my guests. It's pretty much a given that if you come to visit me, you are going to a thrift store. Today I am taking them to Smile.

Lots of Yardsales Today

There were a lot of yardsales today - I guess it was to make up for the total lack of yardsales last weekend (Fourth of July weekend).

It seemed today many people were trying to unload those decorative bottles with the fruit and oil jammed into them. I'm sure there is some sort of name for them. Saw them at several yardsales which I thought was an odd coincidence.

My DH bought a Playstation 3 a little while ago. The model that you can play old Playstation 2 games on. We've never had a gaming system before (no playstation, no Xbox's etc). Except for a Super Nintendo that Jacob plays on. Well I should say "used to play on". I think the Playstation 3 has put an end to his Super Nintendo playing ways. Anyhow, now I have something *new* to look for at yardsales - Playstation 2 games. I bought a Grand Theft Auto game today ($4). But I'm not looking for games to me to play - I don't get into playing games like that. I have enough things that I do that are time-wasters, I don't need to add another. If I want to waste some time playing a game, there's always brain dead Dots to play. But really, it's not a totally brain dead game.....I just kicked the computer's butt with a score of 45 to 4.

But my fav buy of the day was a Cosco folding 2-step step ladder. Sorta like the one pictured above. I was too lazy to take a pic of the one I got today. But it looks very similar. It was at a small yardsale and nothing was priced. I asked how much it was, and they said to make an offer. I offered $2 and they said yes.

Gotta get to cleaning. Having out of town guests here soon. Luckily, they are people who have seen my clutter before.

More Cheap Meat

I took this meat picture with my cellphone at the grocery store to show the difference in prices. All the hamburger patties that had a sell by date of 7/10/08 had a $2 off sticker on them. But some had a "special" price on them and some didn't. I checked and they all had the same "sell date" on them. That's why it's important to really look at stuff while shopping. I bought the packages of 8 patties that were on special for $5.31 and then took an addtional $2 off. For a total of $3.31 for 8 patties. I bought two packages of them - 16 patties for around $6.60 (there is no sales tax on food in Maryland). If someone wasn't paying attention, they could have easily grabbed the packages marked $10.61 and only gotten the $2 off.

If you can't see the prices in the picture above, just click on it and it will enlarge and open up into a new window.

Oh the Places You'll Go! (Dr. Seuss quote)

But first I need a passport. And here in this trailer is where all the magic will begin. It's the nearest post office to me that is a passport facility. I filled out the paperwork yesterday and they said the turnaround time on passports has gotten really short so hopefully I'll get it soon.

I then had lunch. Shrimp with cocktail sauce followed up with chocolate chip cookies. Yes both yummy in their own right, but not a good combination. Usually am strong like ox and don't get sick often. But yesterday I am blaming my lunch combo on a bad headache I got. I couldn't blog with a headache.

Oh, I think I mistakenly said in my Redbox post that InsideRedbox sends out codes on Monday and Wed. Well its Monday only. I don't know why I thought it was on Wednesday too. Anyhow, on the Inside Redbox site, there is a list of promo codes that may work at anytime.

Tower of Toys

Well really, I made a tower of games, but tower of toys sounds better. I forgot to mention this purchase from yesterday...made at the grocery store. When the new grocery store opened a few months ago and I saw the huge aisle of toys, I thought "WHO in their right mind buys TOYS at the grocery store???? I guess I do now. I mean, unless your kid got invited to a birthday party last minute or something. I can remember grocery stores always have had a small 6' x 6' area of the store devoted to cheaply made toys meant to shut a kid up while shopping. But not an aisle devoted to Dora the Explorer, Play Doh, Fisher Price and Milton Bradley.

So yesterday I just happened to spot that the travel games were 75% off so I practically bought the store out of travel games. They were $1.50 each. I figured they can also make inexpensive gifts. And I will put a grouping up on ebay and see how they do.

Thanks for the nice comments over there in the YSQ Talk Box.

No Longer a Redbox Virgin

Jacob started a summer day camp (for the first time ever) so I had some free time today. I know what you're thinking - "She probably ran straight to Vintage Value". Ha - you would be wrong.

I went straight to Staples and THEN to Vintage Value, so there. I would have ran to Smile, but they aren't open on Mondays. I spent .14 at Staples. Got the two teeny tiny .01 Purell bottles on sale this week along with the 2 packages of pencils (.01 per package) and ten .01 folders. For a whopping .14 total. And no sales tax since the total didn't get high enough for any sales tax.

Bought a few .35 shirts at VV. For Jacob I bought a Nautica polo type shirt, a never used plain white dress shirt, and an Old Navy sweater that had a dry cleaning ticket stapled to the label. Do some people really dry clean Old Navy brand stuff for kids??? Apparently some do. Needless to say, the sweater was in great condition. I haven't been to the dry cleaners in years. When I am thrift shopping for clothes, if I see a "dry clean only" label on it, I put it back. This was just a regular machine wash sweater but was dry cleaned instead.

And as the title says above, I am no longer a Redbox virgin. In case you don't know what Redbox is - it's a vending machine for cheap $1-a-day DVD rentals. I saw them years ago and wished we would have one nearby. Now we do. A few months ago, a new grocery store opened in our town and they have Redbox.

A buck per rental is cheap, but free is better. Months ago, I signed up at Inside Redbox and every Monday and Wednesday they email you a code to use for a free rental. But since I didn't get the emails until early afternoon, I never had a chance to use them since I normally don't go to that grocery store in the afternoon.

Until now. Now that I have to pick up Jacob in the afternoon at the end of day camp, I can swing by on Monday and Wednesday and pick out a movie for free using the codes.

And remember the other day when I mentioned how some people just toss aside those computer generated coupons that the grocery store cashier hands you? Well when I went to the grocery store where the Redbox is today, I chose a cart that had some papers/receipts laying in the bottom. One coupon was to save $2 off any soap, and the other coupon was to save $2 off any shampoo. I bought a bottle of shampoo on sale for 2.29 (.29 after coupon) and a bottle of men's body wash for $2.50 (.50 after coupon).

Big Lots Lots2Give Contest Reminder - Vote Rowlesburg WV

Just a quick reminder to keep voting for the Rowlesburg WV school to win the Big Lots Lots2Give contest

Rowlesburg WV School

To learn more about the flood in Rowlesburg that devastated the school in 1985, here is some old news footage:

About yesterday, I forgot to mention

We stopped at Chuck E. Cheese on the way home. Sometimes being disorganized comes in handy - I still had a cup of Chuck E. Cheese money in the car from last time. Here's a picture of some weird woman who happened to be there yesterday.

Oh and one thing I found out. You know how at places like Chuck E. Cheese they have a second exit - one that says in big letters "Emergency Exit Only. Do not open - alarm will sound"? Well I found out that those alarms really do work and they are loud. Hopefully Jacob learned his lesson.

Unusual Shopping Experience for Me

Yesterday I went to this place where many retail stores were centrally located and they had one roof covering them all. I heard the name....trying to remember...oh yes, I heard it was called a "shopping mall". Apparently they are hugely popular since there were many people there. The one I went to is called Arundel Mills Mall

It was a weird experience since I felt like I had deja vu. Like I had done shopping at a mall in a previous life or something. Maybe it was a dream or something but I recall shopping at a place similar but bigger...what was it's name? Something like the United States Mall or American Mall...no wait, it's all coming back to me now - The Mall of America. Yep, been there done that. Twice. ;)

I spent $16.09 and "saved" $89.80. But saying I saved $89.80 is pretty stupid since I would never pay full price. The original price of the purse was $54.99 and the kids shoes were $49.99. Both were on sale for 70% off. My DH had joined the store's shopper club previously and had a $10 off $15 purchase coupon and also a 20% off one item coupon. Well anyway, the cashier took 20% off both items and also had the $10 coupon taken off too. Jacob doesn't like shoes with shoelaces so these will be perfect.

Speaking of Flags....Upside Down Maryland Flag

Maryland flags were ordered at half-staff this week to honor a police officer who was recently killed in action. Jacob had a doctor's appointment the other day - and his doctor's office is located next the hospital. I am not even from Maryland but noticed the flag was flying upside down.

Happy 4th of July

Hope you all have a safe and relaxing 4th of July.

And don't forget to vote - for the Rowlesburg video I posted about the other day.

Thrift Buy on Wednesday

Doesn't this Made in the USA by Snow River Wood Products Over the Kitchen Sink cutting board look nice? Well it should since the average non-bargain shopping person would pay $34.99 plus shipping for it. I purchased the exact same thing yesterday (made by the same company etc). The difference is that mine cost $3 and is missing the bowl but I'm sure I can come up with a suitable replacement.

As I said before, I normally don't take Jacob thrift shopping but I had an hour to myself in the afternoon so I was able to hit Smile.

Here's my $3 Snow River Wood Products board (Jacob starting ripping the cellophane off)



p.s. I think you should buy one or more of the cutting boards from Amazon that I have linked above....$34.95 plus shipping for a quality cutting board is a steal. Have I mentioned I'm an Amazon.com affiliate ;) ?

Cheap Meat

Here's the receipt for my .23 sliced turkey breast. I had stopped at Food Lion for something else (which I didn't find) but remembered I had a $2 off any sliced meat coupon that was going to expire on the 5th. Kinda funny how I got the coupon. You know how sometimes the cashier hands you coupons based on what you purchased? Well a lot of people don't even look at them, they just sometimes get tossed aside etc. Well a few weeks ago, in the cart someone had left a "save $2 off any deli meat" coupon in the cart I was using, so I used it. Then when I used it, the cash register spit out another coupon to save $2 off sliced deli meats. So that was the coupon I used last night. I saw that turkey breast was on sale for $3.99/a pound, so that would make it $2.00 for a half pound. So I told the deli worker to give me a hair over a half pound. Well I didn't literally want any hair with it, but you know what I mean.

Need Your Votes!! Big Lots Contest

One of my long-time friends from the message board entered a contest at Big Lots and now needs everyone's help in getting votes. Big Lots is giving away $10,000 to a deserving school and the elementary school in Rowlesburg, WV could really use the money. For things a lot of us just take for granted - like paper.

Here is the link to vote Rowlesburg, WV

You can vote 3 times a day until July 22nd. And its very easy - no need to fill out a bunch of online forms etc. Please vote, vote, vote and then do it again tomorrow. And the next day and on and on. And tell your friends to vote, and their friends. THANKS!!

I remember getting the email from Big Lots about this contest - the video submissions had to be less than 2 minutes long and I think Jenn did a great job telling the story of the school and why it's so deserving.

Buying Rock Salt in July, Patio Umbrellas in January....

I've been pretty busy the last few days. Tonight I had to attend a meeting about summer camp for Jacob and I didn't want to bring him to the meeting so I got a babysitter. DH is playing in a summer golf league so he wasn't going to be home until later. I don't get babysitters very often since I've had some bad experiences with babysitters and if I find someone who is good, they are never available. But the babysitter I had tonight I think is going to work out really well - she's 18 so she can drive to my house and lives very closeby. And I'm friends with her mother. I think I need to get a babysitter more often - its sorta like when a relative visits, I get into a cleaning mode if I know someone is coming over. So yesterday and today I've been cleaning. It's the only time I feel like cleaning. Why clean if there is thrift store shopping that needs to get done? haha.

Before the meeting, I used coupon for a free smoothie at our new Smoothie King I had never heard of it before but it's a franchise in many states. The free coupon came from a Valpak coupon pak. I think the smoothie I got would have cost $3.99 if I was paying for it. And that was the "small". It was tasty, but if I had to choose between spending $3.99 on one smoothie or buying several 2-liters of Diet Pepsi, I'm going for the Diet Pepsi of course.

Anyhow after the meeting, I was able to do some shopping. I had already paid the babysitter until 8pm, and at 7:45 DH called me to say he was on his way home. So I didn't have to rush. I did a little grocery shopping at Safeway and some Walmart shopping. At Safeway, I bought the current issue of
Wondertime magazine since yardsalequeen.com is mentioned in it. $4.95 plus tax for a single magazine - oye. For $10 I could have bought a year subscription. But I like to believe that even if I subscribed today, they probably wouldn't send me the current edition. I had never heard or seen the magazine before until someone here on the blog commented that that was how they found my website.


Also at Safeway I bought a 25 lb. bag of rock salt for $1. It does snow occasionally where I live so it will be used. Gotta buy off-season to get the best deals. Like this past January (I think) when I bought the brand new patio umbrella at Food Lion. It had been a leftover from the previous summer and someone discovered it tucked away in the stockroom. So they took it out and put a $10 price tag on it and I bought it. (I know that's what happened because I asked if they had any more and they told me the stockroom story).

Then went to Walmart and saw they started to put out the back-to-school supplies. Hooray, it's almost back-to-school time! (not that I'm counting or anything...)

p.s. Oh and forgot to mention I also bought some sliced turkey breast at the deli at Food Lion for .23 for a half pound. Nope, that's not a typo and it wasn't a cashier mistake. Will post my receipt tomorrow.

Mini-Stalking of Huey Lewis and the News

On Monday (the day after the Huey Lewis & the News Concert), I happened to be driving by one of the nicer hotels in the area, and what do I see? The same tour bus and tractor-trailer I saw parked at the concert. I had made a mental note of what it looked like when I was at the concert. Not that I am a stalker or anything creepy. Maybe a little stalker-ish, but not a full blown stalker. Oh and maybe Jacob and I walked around the hotel a little and checked out who was at the swimming pools, exercise room and telecommunications room. And rode the elevator - Jacob likes elevators. Didn't see anyone interesting. In my car I found one of my business cards. Perhaps I may have written something crazy on it like "Can I have your baby?" or maybe something else, it's all a blur I can't remember exactly what I said. Then I stuck it in the latch of the tourbus. And took a picture. Objects in the mirror are larger than they appear. Sheesh - my svelte Size 2 body looks humongous in the chrome finish!

p.s. Huey, if you call and a man answers, just say you're conducting a survey and need to talk to the lady of the house. And Huey, if you don't call, I'll just assume it's because we had a massive rainstorm about a half hour after I stuck my card in the door and the rain washed it away.

Weekend Update: Yardsales, Party, Huey Lewis and the News

Had a busy weekend. It was a hot weekend - on Saturday I got up early and went yardsaling. Bought this nice Ikea shelf unit for $7. On the Ikea website the baskets are $3.50 EACH. It will replace the plastic basket things in my pantry. The Ikea shelf holds a lot more too.

On Sunday we had my husband's work party/luau to go to. Yea for nuclear power! It was held at a nearby park. They had a big buffet, including all the pig you cared to eat. Also snowcones, cotton candy, Coronas and wine. They did limit the amount of free alcohol per person. I wish they had done that when I went to the party they held at Ravens Stadium about a year and a half ago (check the blog for around the Feb. 2007 timeframe if you're bored). I got overserved wine at that party. They had a lot of giveaways ($50 gas cards, restaurant gift cards, Wii's, XBox etc) but we walked away empty handed. Well not totally, they had a local nursery doing crafts with kids (and adults) - you got to decorate a plastic flower pot and pick out a plant/flower to take home. And they had activities for the kids, like the big inflatables. And because it was so hot, they also had a misting tent set up, where you could go in and get misted.

I dressed Jacob in a vintage 1988 t-shirt from the nuke plant. I found it at VV for .35 so I had to buy it. And he wore the hat since the theme was a luau. I tried to get him to show the back of the shirt - which has the name of the awesomest nuclear power plant in Maryland.







Last night, Huey Lewis and the News was having a concert nearby. I saw them once back in the 80's. I hadn't planned on going - didn't want to pay $45 to sit on a folding chair in a field. This concert was hosted by a local fire department as a fundraiser. The local radio station was giving out tickets all last week and I tried almost everyday to win, but I was never the right # caller. It was frustrating but I figured it just wasn't meant to be.

And last but not least, had a great end to the weekend. So we get home from the party on Sunday afternoon and I get a phone call from one of the members of my message board who lives nearby. She did win a pair of tickets from the radio station contest and her husband was too tired from a Boy Scout camping trip to go....so she asked moi! And I said yes! I was able to clear my schedule since as you would expect, I usually have a jammed packed social calendar. It was a good concert and for freebie seats, the seats were excellent - in the 14th row, ahead of many people who paid for their tix. Huey still looks and sounds great - has aged well like a piece of Prime USDA beefcake ;)

When I was looking thru the show's program, I saw there was a coupon to Buy 1 Get 1 Free dinner at a local restaurant that I've been wanting to try. The coupon is a $20 value. So I went and got more programs.

And after the show when we were walking in front of the stage, the guys working on the stage threw my friend and I each a Huey Lewis sweat towel that was sitting on the stage. Mine smells like hotel bleach - don't think it was used.









I took this short video during my walk to get more programs. Shows the concert experience in southern maryland. Amenities included a row of generic porta-potties.



And here is It's All Right:



Speaking of porta-potties....at least when there are concerts at the museum, they have some porta-potties but also have an "upscale" portable bathroom, toilets that flush, running water in sinks etc. But I must say, yesterday I experienced what I consider the ultimate in portable toilet facilities. Yesterday, at the party in the park, there is a regular bathroom, but with hundreds of people there, they brought in a portable toilet trailer from Gotugo. If you go to the website, you'll even see the Queen of England's picture on their website. Any throne good enough for Queen of England is good enough for me. It really was nice - nice doors that go all the way to the floor. In looking further into the website, the one at the party was an executive trailer.

Where are all my Bermuda Friends?

Well actually, I don't have any that I know of - yet. But I want to make some. Hopefully someone who would like to give me (and my sister) a tour of the all the thrift stores in Bermuda. And hopefully my new Bermudian friend will have a car and not just a moped. Don't worry, I just have a short 10 page questionnaire/background check/application to fill out to be considered for the job.

I happened to be looking at the yardsalequeen.com stats for the last few days and saw that China has overtaken the United Kingdom. And United Arab Emirates has joined the ranks. I don't recall seeing the UAE on the list before. Usually United Kingdom is third on my stats after USA, then Canada and usually its the UK. And Bermuda isn't even on the list - yet. I need to mention Bermuda more in my blog so it will come up when people google Bermuda. Then the applications to be my friend from Bermuda will start pouring in. Ah lovely pink pastel Bermuda. I heart Bermuda. I need to post the pic that I took of a bobby in Bermuda - he was one hottie bobby.

Anyhow, here are some of my stats from the last few days

Visits Country
3361 United States
120 Canada
50 China
16 Korea, South
11 Uruguay
8 United Kingdom
8 France
7 Sweden
6 Japan
4 New Zealand
4 Australia
4 Germany
4 Austria
3 Taiwan
3 Greece
3 Ukraine
3 Singapore
3 United Arab Emirates

For a Royal Flush

Last night I realized that we were down to just one or two rolls of toilet paper. I generally have a stash of TP, but somehow I miscalculated or underestimated or something. Giant had Angel Soft on sale 2 for $11. I couldn't just buy one since I had a coupon to save $1 when I bought two packages. Then later in the day I was at Walgreens and saw they had Quilted Northern at $4 a package and I knew I had several coupons for $1 off 1 package, and the coupons expire 6/30 so I knew if I didn't use them then, they weren't going to be used. So....I bought 5 packages at $3 each.

Also been stocking up on blueberries a lot this week. The grocery store has them for .99 a pint (limit 2 per purchase). So...everytime I drive by the grocery store I've been running in and buying 2 pints. And if they are out, getting rainchecks to use at a later date. I did make some blueberry muffins on Sunday but mostly I'm just freezing the berries.

Golfing in .50 Callaway Shoes

My son hit the links today while wearing a pair of .50 Callaway golf shoes that I bought at VV many years ago and put away until he'd fit into them. And, surprisingly, I was able to easily find them. He's no Tiger Woods but enjoys riding around in the golf cart with DH, eating pretzels and drinking soda - up until a point. Then I get a phone call saying I need to pick him up. I was hoping he'd last the entire 18 holes so I could get some shopping in, but it wasn't meant to be.

I did manage to get passport photos taken (Walgreens for $7.99 plus they have a deal this week for a free travel kit when you buy passport photos). I don't have to have a passport for my Bermuda trip this fall, but I figured it's time I got one. If the Queen of England was to call me to invite me for tea and to discuss my views of the monarchy system of today, I want to be able to go on a moment's notice. So I want a passport.

Yardsales in Kansas City, MO

I heard from a reporter in Kansas City, who is looking for yardsailors in the area who may want to be interviewed for an upcoming story on yardales. If you live in the Kansas City area and love yardsales, send me an email and maybe they'l want to talk to you.

yardsalequeen@comcast.net

Black letter on black background - not the easiest thing to read

I saw these signs for a yardsale yesterday on Lazy Lane. On the door (or whatever it is), they wrote "yard sale" in black lettering on a blackish background. They were too lazy to fix it I guess. But not too lazy enough to haul a big heavy door down to the corner to use as a sign. I don't understand people. I bought nothing at that sale.

The Case of the Missing Dried Peas

In my post the other day, I mentioned how often it feels like Christmas at my house, when I open up a shopping bag of stuff I forgot I bought. Well, the downside is that once in a great while (haha), something gets misplaced. For instance, I've had a bag of dried split peas in my cupboard for YEARS - and I know I saw it recently. I don't have a use for split green peas (it's not like I would eat them) - it was something my DH bought years ago on a rare trip inside a grocery store. So tonight he decides to make himself ham soup (he saved a ham bone from the last time I made a ham and its been in the freezer). Good for him, I won't eat it.

So....he starts looking around the cupboard for the split peas and neither one of us can find them. I mean, those *!#$(^% peas have been there forever and the day he finally wants to use them, they are gone. Where the heck can they be? I know I didn't do anything with them. I know its only a bag of peas, but that sort of thing drives me nuts not knowing where it is.

Keep checking back my blog for a split pea update. I have a feeling that in 2011 (but hopefully sooner), I will do a posting about where I found them.

Garage Sale Yardsale Junk Loving Rides

Here's a couple of pics of garage sale, junk loving vehicles that I've come across within the past couple of months.

The red jeep I saw at a church yardsale - I asked the owner permission to take a pic. And the second one was at Smile. Which coincidentally shares the parking lot of the church where I saw the jeep (but it was definitely on different days). I love the way they made sure their beloved "This vehicle stops at all garage sales" bumpersticker wasn't painted over during re-painting. Also love the lock - of course you got to lock your vehicle. You don't want someone stealing your goodies.

No bargains today

Didn't get any bargains today since I didn't go anywhere. And Jacob was irritated about that. He always wants to go somewhere everyday during summer vacation and it wears me out. It can just be to the grocery store but he wants to go somewhere. And then once we are out, he likes to explore and not stay by my side, so its not like I can do real shopping, it's mainly me yelling "Jacob get over here now". I guess you can say I am a little (or maybe a lot) overprotective.

Well now that I think about it, I did get a bargain today. The other day we had lunch at Chick-fil-a (using coupons of course) and then they gave us each a coupon that had a telephone survey thing to do. So I did the telephone surveys and now I have 3 coupons for a free Chick-fil-a chicken sandwich.

Chick-fil-a chicken sandwiches are awesome. Unfortunately they are not a nationwide fast food chain. So if you don't have one near you, my sympathies. McDonald's recently came out with a "southern style chicken sandwich" that is supposed to imitate a Chick-fil-a sandwich but to me there is no comparison. The other day I had a McD's version and ended up giving half of it to Whiskey. I bit down on some rubbery fat piece that grossed me out. That never would have happened at Chick-fil-a. The only reason I've been getting the McD ones is because I have free coupons to use up. So lately, I've just been getting them and bringing them home for DH to eat. He is not as picky as me. On eBay, I bought a bunch of coupons for free McD chicken sandwiches and chicken breakfast biscuits so I will use up what I have. But once they are gone, I am never getting it again.

The other day I did clean (partly) Jacob's room. It was a job getting those bed lift things under his bed. But it did create a bunch more storage space. I found the pair of water shoes I was looking for - they were under his bed. And I think they are too small. Also found some other stuff I had been looking for. I swear, many days it feels like Christmas in my house. Like when I go searching for something, and I come across a shopping bag of stuff that I forgot I bought. It's like a nice surprise. (And a sign of a serious shopping addiction!)

When school is out for the summer, I usually don't take Jacob thrift shopping. It seems those stores are magnets for screaming/crying kids, and Jacob cannot tolerate being around crying kids. He absolutely hates it. I recently heard from his speech therapy teacher and she said Jacob got shorted 2 hours of speech therapy over the course of the year and she offered to make it up in 2 one hour sessions. So that means one day next week, I'll be able to drop him off at school, run to Smile, then pick him up an hour later. And then again the following week. I know he won't want me to hang around school and sit in on the speech session since he doesn't like me visiting school to begin with. I am looking forward to getting my thrift shopping fix in. And in July I will also be able to go thrifting since he will be in summer day camp (for the first time).

ZZ Top concert last night

I worked (volunteered) at the ZZ Top concert last night. I got there late so I missed the shrimp wraps and the other food they give to volunteers. But I will tell you one thing, ZZ Top is one hard working band. Did you know that they also have a day job? Yep, I think so. At the building there, I saw a sign for their catering business. ;)



Well it was a typical concert, so no photo-line in front of the stage. Darn. What I thought was weird was that after the concert, they put on some unusual music - the only thing I can think of is, it's to make people want to leave - listen to the short YouTube video below that I made.

It was a nice night, weatherwise. Big, full moon. There was an orange ZZ Top type car there - the white dot in the upper right is the moon. The moon looks tiny in the pic, but it was bigger in real life.

Another good thing is that I made friends with a lady there who has access to a super secret toilet. It's a toilet that the public doesn't even have access to when the museum is open. I believe the queen should have special access to a grand throne. No more standing in line with the commoners for me! And you know I am taking full advantage of the free sodas that the volunteers have access to so it comes in handy.

Here is the music they played on the speakers immediately after the concert:



A short clip during the concert:



Alas, there was no David Cook:

My Yardsale Buys and Young Eagles

There weren't a million yardsales in my area yesterday but just enough for me to get my fix and be home by around 9:30.

Favorite buy of the day was the above desk for $3. It was at the first sale of the day and when I asked the seller how much, she replied $5? $4? $3? I love it when the seller talks themselves down without any effort on my part. They were glad to have it go to someone who can use it. I know its a just a cheap particle board desk (from Ikea), but it will replace the broken cheap particle desk that Jacob is currently using. And even though his current desk is broken, I can re-use part of it. Will do "before" and "after" pics, I promise. I know a while back, I promised Before and After pics of my minor bathroom renovation to convert it to a Spongebob Squarepants bath, but I haven't forgotten.

I also bought other stuff (of course) but the desk was my favorite buy of the day.

Also yesterday for the first time we went to a little county airport that is nearby. They were having a Young Eagles event. It's a program where pilots take children out on a short flight in a small plane (like either just 2 or 4 seats) to teach them a little bit about flying etc.

We went in the slim chance that Jacob would want to do it. And if not, get him familiar with it so maybe he'll want to do it in the future. He doesn't even like Merry-Go-Rounds so I knew the chances were going to be slim. But he did watch the other kids do it and he did even sit in the plane with the door closed.

Many years ago when I was single, my friend/roommate Donna saw a sign at the Schenectady county airport that said "Airplane rides $5" and she suggested we do it for the heck of it. I agreed and we went to the airport and was talking to someone about it. Meanwhile a flight instructor overheard us and said "I'm about to take a student out for a flight, you can go with us for free". And being young and stupid, we agreed. And we lived to tell about it. And we each saved $5 - haha. It was about a 6-seater and once in the air, my friend and I looked at each other and whispered "We are either about to crash or get raped or murdered or all of the above." We also thought it would be totally bizarre if we did crash and die, what would our parents think? It would have been like an unsolved mystery for them to ponder forever how we died mysteriously in a single engine airplane crash 50 miles from home. It was during a pre-cellphone era so we never told anyone about what we were doing. Donna is my friend from highschool who sends me the customized, glitterized, embellished and stamped Christmas cards (that I've posted pics of here on the blog before) that would take me 27 hours to make.

Anyhow, I digress. Here is a picture I took yesterday.

End of School Year

So for the last week or two, I've been busy trying to tie up loose ends before the end of school year. Well another way of saying it would be "I had to get my shopping fix in before the end of school year." Jacob is not a shopper. Today was the last day of school, until August 20. Not that I am counting or anything.

Well I did tie up a few loose ends. I won a coupon for a free soda at WaWa from entering a contest on Kimberly's My Good Cents blog. So I wanted to use it before it expired (and not have to chase Jacob around inside the convenience store). Her blog has all kinds of deals, and promos and money saving stuff on it.

I've used up almost all of my Staples $3 coupons. One day last week I splurged and got a mani-pedi (my idea of a splurge is getting a $30 mani/pedi plus tip at the cheap nail salon if you go on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.) THEN a few days later ended up getting a really bad splinter under a fingernail so I removed the nail polish to make sure I didn't see any more splinter. It was a baaaad splinter.

Used up a $5 Ace Rewards gift card that was expiring at the end of the month. Ended up buying $5 worth of laundry detergent.

Then today my DH had the day off from work, so we ended up doing some shopping at Walmart and Target. Bought Jacob a pair of water shoes for $4.88. Going to put up a little pool (bought last year at end of summer clearance at Target) on our deck and I don't want him to get splinters (we have an old wooden deck). Geez, in all this time on the blog I don't think I've used the word splinter once, and now here it turns up twice in one posting.

I need to get more organized, I know he has a pair of water shoes around here someplace, (bought at thrift) and I think they will fit this year but I can't find them. I thought for sure they were in his closet but I cannot find them. Maybe that will be my mission for tomorrow - find the other pair of water shoes so that he will have two pairs to use.

I found out that the CNN piece aired today at 3:45. I didn't find out until after the fact, but I should be getting an electronic copy. I don't think the website was mentioned since I don't see a big spike in website hits.

Walgreens Clearance Deals

I am really liking the Walgreens store that opened up a few months ago. It's only a few miles from my house and it the only Walgreens within about 50 miles.

Already my eyes are trained to look for the orange clearance "last chance" tags. On Wednesday, they had a cart full of clearance items on a cart right by the door when you walked in. Here is what I bought for $11.34 (with tax)

$2.19 - a 2-pack of Welch's grape jelly - the kind I usually buy for Jacob's pb&j
.84 ea. - seven packages of Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies
.44 - Hershey candy bar
.42 ea. - four Cadbury Irish Cream candy bar. Never had this flavor before but its Cadbury, so it's got to be good.
.17 ea. - six 2oz bottles of Barry Bee Honey

I stopped back into Walgreens yesterday (I forgot to buy the .99 Bandaids that were on sale this week - and I have a coupon of course). And the clearance cart was practically empty. And last night I found that I had a .50 Pepperidge Farm cookie coupon that I could have used to make the total even less. Oh well.

Bad Doggy and Bad Mommy

Today I went somewhere today that I hope to never go again. Here's a clue:



And here is Clue #2:




The blur with the pink tongue would be my Whiskey Dog. In the Animal Shelter. (Sorry for the bad pic.) We had a thunderstorm over the weekend and when that happens, he gets the itch (more than usual) to run away. (My husband, the nuke worker, thinks its because of the extra ions that are generated during a thunderstorm that affects him.) I assumed Whiskey went - as usual - to his other adopted family a few streets over. I meant to call them on Sunday to make sure he was there and I forgot. I was probably too busy spraying myself with Solarcaine to think of anything else. So I called on Monday and left a message on their answering machine. I didn't hear back, so I stopped by today and much to my surprise he wasn't there and they hadn't seen him since the last time he had gotten out.

And unfortunately, he wasn't wearing any ID. Just his collar. So today I called the animal shelter and they said they did pick up a dog fitting Whiskey's description. Luckily they were open to 6pm so after school, Jacob and I went (with Whiskey's paperwork since I needed to show proof of rabies vaccination and dog license) to get him.

I guess I am just naive, but I figured I would just need to walk in and say "I'm here for my little tan terrier mix dog" and a kind worker would go back to where they keep the dogs and then magically re-appear with Whiskey. Nope, that's not how it works. Jacob and I walked in and I said I was here for my dog, and they pointed me in the direction of the wing of the building where dogs are kept and they told me to go find him.

So I described my dog to a worker I saw in the hallway and he led me down the aisle of dogs. I didn't want to look at the dogs - so I mostly kept my head down and just followed the worker. We get to the end and he goes "Did you see your dog?" Huh??? Stupid me (again). I thought he was taking me to where Whiskey was. So back up the aisle of dogs and this time I looked and didn't see Whiskey.

Now I start to get worried. Maybe Whiskey is laying dead in a ditch somewhere. Then the worker says "Let's take a look down the Quarantined Aisle". The place where they keep the vicious dogs apparently. And maybe those who aren't available for adoption. (I won't name specific breeds, but there were some scary looking dogs there). And the worker told me to make sure I don't stick my fingers in any of the kennels. I had thought the dogs in the other wing of the building were barkers, but I was mistaken. Now these dogs were really barkers. Meanwhile Jacob is starting to freak out because of the noise, the smells, the whole dingyness of the building etc.

So there among the vicious and really loud barkers, was my naughty dog, not saying a peep. So after paying $44 and filling out the paperwork, he is back on the sofa getting a good nights sleep, after eating some rib-eye steak scraps. I told him this better be the last time he's in the slammer cuz for a $85 adoption fee, I can get myself a new, young, doesn't-like-to-run-away dog. From now on, if I see there is a chance of a thunderstorm, he's gonna be housebound.

p.s. His ID tag is back on and laminated.

p.s.s. I got some good clearance deals at Walgreens today. Will blog tomorrow.

p.s.s.s. I hope my post doesn't scare anyone away from visiting their local animal shelter to find an animal to love. I'm sure many of the dogs I saw today would make great pets. I just wish our animal shelter was more inviting and modern - not one that was built in the Stone Age. Whiskey was a stray.

p.s.s.s.s. Don't forget to spay and neuter your pets!

Yard Sale Buys from Saturday

Here's a few of my buys from Saturday. I know I bought other stuff but I've already stashed away some of the stuff and didn't feel like getting it out. Like I also bought two Corning Vision glass cooking pots for $1 (for both) and some kids toys, a funky ashtray for .10, etc etc.

In the pic is a .25 large Pyrex mixing bowl. Inside the bowl is a set of 4 furniture bed lifts .50 (that's what they're called - you stick them under the feet of the bed to lift the bed up higher by about 5" or so, creating more storage spaced under your bed to hide your junk. And you know I need all the storage space I can get. Going to put them under Jacob's bed. $1 Pink Depression ice bucket. Well really I should say $2 since the seller guilted me into buying a $1 raffle ticket for the Relay for Life. .25 can of foot soaking powder, .50 never used Home Interior candle, .50 Carcaddie thing.

The carcaddie thing is a strap that attaches to your car's window - meant to help old people get out of the car easier. Will wrap up and give to my mom for Christmas, since that is the kind of thoughtful and generous daughter I am. And last item in the pic is a sweater clip. White thing in the middle is the price tag (.10). I have a friend who collects sweater clips. So now I feel like if I see one cheap to buy it for her even though she probably prefers finding them on her own at yardsales (she goes to a lot of yardsales too). A sweater clip is a thing that some women used to use to hold a sweater on their shoulders.

Poppyseeds and Tex-mex chili powder

In case you've ever wondered what a plate full of poppyseeds and chili powder looks like, here it is. The other day I found a bowl full of goldfish crackers with a ton of seasoned salt on them on the kitchen counter. Well I didn't do it, and my DH didn't do it. And Whiskey is AWOL right now. So that leaves one little 8 year old culprit. Then yesterday I see a bowl full of poppyseeds on the counter. I just took a funnel and stuck them back in the jar.

But tonight I caught the culprit in the act. Tonight his concoction was poppyseeds with McCormick Tex-Mex chili powder on a plate. I don't know why lately he is fascinated with the spice cabinet. Cuz he certainly is not trying to eat any spice whatsoever, of course. The other week when we went to Baskin Robbins for a vanilla ice cream (with coupon), he gagged when he accidently tasted a tiny piece of brownie or cookie crumb that must have been on the ice cream scooper and had gotten into his ice cream.

Oh the pain.......

Now here's the rest of the story about my sunburn that I received on Saturday. When I was talking to my DH from the pool, I mentioned that I was planning on stopping by Walgreens and buying some Solarcaine since I figured I would need it. He said not to bother because he still had some of the lotion we bought in Mexico years ago and he just used some and it worked good. (He took his motorcycle up to Pennsylvania last week and got some sun on the ride).

Anyhow, against my better judgment I didn't stop at Walgreens and went home and tried the Mexican lotion. It felt like I was putting liquid fire (or Ben-gay) onto my skin. In reading the ingredients list, en espanol, I see there is menthol in it. Menthol? I did get a good laugh at the pics on the back of the bottle though. Apparently the lotion is good if you have fire on your hand, cut your finger off in multiple pieces or sunburn.



p.s. Went to Target and ended up buying good ole Solarcaine. Not sure if they've changed the recipe or if my skin is just not bouncing back like it used to. But I've used half the can already and don't think its working as good as I remember it did back in the day.

p.s.s. The price label is correct, we paid 43.00 something for it, but it wasn't in dollars, it was in centavos or pesos or something.

I survived 9 hours at the public pool (felt like an eternity)

So yesterday, after hitting some yardsales in the morning, I took Jacob to the public pool which is only a few years old. It has slides, and buckets that pour water etc etc. I brought "very water resistant" (according to the label) SPF 50 with me, which apparently wasn't enough. I thought I did a good job slathering up Jacob and myself repeatedly throughout the day, but by the time we left I knew I had gotten too much sun. Having random kids in the pool saying to me "hey, you're really red" also clued me in that I had gotten too much sun. I did a much better job protecting Jacob from the sun than myself - but a few parts of him are a little red.

The pool would be a really nice place, if there weren't so many damn kids there! haha. I can also do without people plucking each other's back hair in public. After about 1.5 hours, Jacob said he was ready to go home and I stupidly said "lets just stay for another half hour" (after all, we had paid $10 to get into the place). But then....he didn't want to leave. We should have left early, gotten our hands stamped, and then returned at 6pm for a few hours.

========================

The above pic of boats is a picture I took on Friday night. My DH had an after-work going away get-together at a bar to go to for a coworker. So I took Jacob to the museum. The museum generally isn't open in the evenings but now they are doing a "first free Friday" event where the museum is open free to the public on the first Friday of the month. Since we are museum members anyway, we never pay admission, but they were having different events going on that night. Like free boat rides. So Jacob and I took one of the boat rides, where they tell a little about the history of the area. The big boat in the center of the pic was called the "Christina", which I think is an excellent name for a boat, yacht, person, planet etc.

I got confirmation that I'll be volunteering at the ZZ Top concert at the museum on the 17th, so that should be fun. I like going early for the free dinner they give volunteers and having the shrimp wraps. yum.

I'll post my yardale buys tomorrow.

Jacob's jeans: butterflies and flowers

I know I haven't listed my purchases in several days. Been too busy shopping. Husband had to go out of town on business, so I had to relieve my loneliness by chatting with all the ladies at the thrift stores. Oh, and I may have bought a thing or two, or hundred.

I bought these pretty flowery jeans with butterflies for Jacob. They are Lee painter pants ($1). Aren't they pretty?



Here is a pic of some of my yardsale buys from Saturday. Bag of trolls $2, old Remco schoolhouse $1.50, candle .50, Bath & Body Works stuff .25 each, tacky outdoor troll/gnome .25, clock .50 (will resale at my next yardsale), .25 bottle of dog shampoo, $2 hosta plant, .10 vintage Curity tape (for display in my bathroom). And all that Mission brand food for $6.25 - none of which was out of date. The cheese sauces were .75 each (they have Feb. 09 expiration date). And yesterday at the grocery store I saw they are normally priced $3.19 each.



I also bought two old printers at two different yardsales for .50 each. I bought them only for their inkjet cartridges that were in them. Later on Saturday we went to Office Depot and my husband wanted one of those nerdy bluetooth ear headset things (which were on sale). While he was in the store, I went back to the car (where I still had the printers) and got out the three inkjet cartridges. I was able to recycle them at Office Depot and they took $9 off my husband's purchase. I then later took the old printers to the recycling center, where they recycle old monitors, computers, printers etc. (Staples if you are reading this, don't be jealous, you are still my favorite office supply store, at least until the end of June).

p.s. Oh I almost forgot to mention - yes the jeans I bought for Jacob were originally meant for a boy. When I first saw them, I looked and saw how the patches were attached. I saw they were someone's homemade do-it-yourself project and they easily came off.

Some new Garage Sale and Yardsale Websites

I recently got a couple of new advertisers for the YSQ website and thought I would let you all know about them. Both are places to advertise your yardsale and/or garage sale (and to find where the sales are):



and