Buying Used

As I'm sitting here at my desk eating lunch, I'm browsing MSN. I came across this article about 10 things you shouldn't buy new. I found it interesting because I totally agree! Why spend a buttload of money on something when you can get it for much less and usually functions the same as new? I'm all about saving money and most these things I would prefer to buy used. So here's the list and my comments:

Books - I usually buy my books from Amazon.com and I compare the Amazon price to the used prices. So which ever is the better deal is the one I go for. It also varies depending on how many other items I am buying.

CDs/DVDs - I found an awesome site that you can purchase full CDs for only $2! Yes only $2!! Or $0.20/song. It's 100% legal (trust me cuz I won't jeoperdize anything. Remember I'm a goody-goody and follow the rules. Most the time.) Or check out yard sales or video places like BlockBusters.

Kid toys - yard sales, craigslist or consignment stores. If you have kids, enough said. Who knows how long the child will play with the toy anyways.

Jewelry - since I require Joe to buy my jewelry he doesn't reveal his secrets so I'm no help here.

Sports equipment - yard sales, craigslist or the used section at the sports store. I bought 3 tennis rackets for a total of less than $10 at a yard sale a few years back. One was practically brand new!

Timeshares - I have no experience with this but the article goes into some detail. I really have no desire to own a timeshare at this time.

Cars - I bought my 2006 Saturn in August of 2006. I bought it at used price because it was a rental car for 4 months. Practically brand-spanking new but with a much better price tag!

Software & console games - GameStop for video games. No way am I going to spend $50 on a game for Sara when I can buy it used for $20 or less when half the year she's on restriction.

Office furniture - used furniture stores or craigslist. Joe got this nice dresser that's probably at least $200 new, well he bought it used for $30. Look at our savings!

Hand tools - Joe's department here. But when we combined our household we have probably every common household tool that may be needed. If not, Joe's got connections.

I consider myself a thrifty shopper and after reading this article I'm ahead of the game!

Daily Life These Days

I finally caught up reading the blogs I follow...all 30 posts! I'm beginning to have blogging withdrawls! I am finally better from being sick for 2 weeks.

This week I had to turn into "mean mom" because of Sara and her lack of making good grades. I had to take away many priviledges and now I must stick to my guns. I think she inherited her bad study habits from her dad...as for me I always made A's and B's and still make mostly A's now. Why oh why couldn't she have gotten MY good study habits?

New subject: So yesterday Sara and I get home after school/work. Joe was already home for an hour and he's in the media room with Polly locked out. As I walk back there I see a big pile of poop in our office. I look at Polly and she knew she was in trouble. Usually the dogs are where ever Joe is so I scold Polly and march into our media room asking Joe why he didn't let Polly out when he got home. His response: "That was there when I got home." Um, ok, and you've been home an hour and why is it still there? Let me just put my maid hat on and clean it up while you sit there playing that stupid &%^$#*@ mock basketball draft online. So I didn't say it like that but that's what I was thinking. MEN!

My Design

Today is the last day of my current course in school. Tomorrow is the first day of my last class until I graduate! Yippeee! Well, I got caught up playing with blog backgrounds and am having issues. The images seem to be too big for the background. I'm going nuts so I just designed the background image to where it would fit. And this is what I came up with: my picture and my name. Pretty cool, eh? If you'd like a custom blog background just let me know. And take a look at my graphic design blog. I'm your graphic designer!

Today's Update

I'm home sick today. The past week I've been battling a sore throat and cough. I figured over the weekend I'd get better. Nope. I woke up with even a worse sore throat and a dang cough that won't go away. So I called in sick to work, although I am virtually working from home. Gotta love today's technology. I went to the doctor and I have an upper respiratory infection. Lovely. But hopefully the meds will kick in tonight and I'll be able to get some sleep without the cough.

I was hoping to work on schoolwork and also my graphic design stuff but that has yet to happen. It's almost 3pm and in about 45 min I must go pick up Sara from her Nana's (she's been there all weekend) and bring her to the orthodontist. Let's hope he has better news of a date when those babies come off!

I know yesterday I kinda complained about my V-day weekend. Well after I posted I did have a great evening last night. It was just me, Joe, thick-n-juicy grilled steaks and steamed veggies. Then followed with chocolate covered strawberries. It was actually quite nice since no one else was around and that makes up for the driving 30 minutes to Buddy Freddy's. lol.

OH! I have exciting news! I don't know why it's taken me 2 weeks to blog this but Joey has moved out of the house!! No more stress and less drama! Woohooie! He's living with his mom so he can be her problem now. Even Joe admitted it's nice because it's less stress for him too. Joey got the rest of his stuff yesterday but did leave a mess for us. (What's new right?) We are going to de-joey-tize the bedroom and turn it into our exercise room. I'm sooooo excited!

Ok, going to try to be productive...

V-day is over!

Hopefully work will calm down although I know paperwork will be flowing in for me. That's better than my "party" boss running around like a chicken with no head and constantly breaking his SOP (standard operating procedures.)

Joe told me several weeks ago he was going to plan a weekend get away for us for V-day. Well since I am home and it's the weekend we didn't go. He didn't plan it. He blamed it on lack of money. I really think it was procrastination. But whatever. I love him. So we decided we'd go to a nice dinner Friday night. Well I ended up working late and didn't get home until close to 7pm. I'm so wishy-washy when trying to decide where to eat so Joe picked the place. He wouldn't tell me or Sara where but we piled in the car and he drove. We drove for 30 minutes and I was thinking it was going to be a good place we haven't been in a while. As we are fixing to turn onto a main road, Joe jokes about going to Buddy Freddy's. If you aren't familiar with this restuarant, it's a little country-type place that's strictly a buffet with down-home-country-cooking. (But NOWHERE nearly as good as Crackel Barrel.) Well I thought Joe was joking. He wasn't. We pull into the parking lot and I say aloud "We drive 30 minutes to go to Buddy Freddy's for our family V-day dinner?" I tried not to act too disappointed but I was. Sara was happy with the place so I was happy. Plus it was a place we haven't been to in a long time.

Saturday Joe took us to breakfast too to this small place down the street. Sara loves their pancakes so it was mainly for her. Joe played golf all day while Sara and I went to meet my sister for her 4D ultrasound of my niece, who's arrival will be approx. April 3. After that Sara went to her nana's for the rest of the weekend which gave me time to work on schoolwork. Joe finally got home and he decided we go out for dinner just the 2 of us. So I'm thinking maybe now I'll have my "nice" dinner. Although being V-day night everyone was going out so it'd be busy everywhere and I didn't feel like dealing with crowds. So Sonny's it was. Yum, yum.

To turn this somewhat negative post about Joe and V-day around, he did give me a sweet card (brought tears to my eyes) and a small box of SpongeBob chocolates. Oh how I love SpongeBob. He is so cool!

Maybe one year I'll get that professional massage I've been asking for for 4 years...

Today in History

As I was brushing my teeth this morning, I was listening to the radio. They listed stuff that happened on this day in the past. One event that caught my attention was today, February 13, in 1866, Jesse James held up his first bank robbery in Liberty, Missouri. He got away with $15,000. I Googled Jesse James and found this other blog with a little more information on him.

So here is your history lesson of the day. =)

*Photo from Old Picture of the Day blog.

Love Notes

I'm back...I think...
Work wasn't as crazy as expected. With the economy stinking and V-day on a Saturday, the floral industry is hurting. But I am thankful I work for a good company and don't think it'll be going anywhere. I feel I have good job security. (Keeping fingers crossed--don't wanna jinx myself!) But with cash flow coming and going I will probably have my slow days and my busy days. For now, I will enjoy my not-so-busy days.

Sunday I had the afternoon to myself. Joe tells me to just relax and take a nap, to enjoy my me-time. I wasn't that tired and didn't really feel like wasting the afternoon. So I started watching tv. The remote landed me on the Lifetime channel. I love Lifetime movies. I've never watched one I haven't enjoyed that made me think. Well, the one I watched Sunday was called Love Notes. Here's the summary from www.mylifetime.com:

When a classical music critic (Laura Leighton) becomes pregnant from a brief encounter with a country music star (Antonio Cupo), it seems the perfect way for her best friend, who has struggled with all manner of fertility attempts, to have a baby. But when her friend's husband disappears late in her pregnancy, she must track down the country star to get his acknowledgment and signature so as to secure a top quality adoption for the child. Their reunion is a clash of cultures, opposite personalities, and deep misunderstandings that leads to an extraordinary love story between a dyed-in-the-wool blue stater and and a salt of the earth red stater. Maybe there's hope for us afterall.

It's a great romantic movie and definately worth the watch. Besides, who doesn't like to see a hot guy in tight jeans, boots and a cowboy hat? LOL! I love Lifetime movies!

Graphic Design

I've been going to school for 3 and half years and will be graduating the end of March with my AS in Graphic Design. WOOHOOIE!! I am excited to change my career from my current accounting to graphic design. I know it may be a slow transistion and what better time than now to start. So check out my new blog with my services. There will be more to come as this is just a start. Do you like my pink hearts background on this blog? Well I created! Yuppers! And I can do this for you too!!

Please leave me comments and let me know what you think of my graphic design blog.

Adopt!

A dear fellow blogger, Lisa, has a passion in life to spread the word on adopting animals from shelters and rescue groups. She recently made a dream come true by offering merchandise displaying this cause. Check it out here. All proceeds will benefit Winnebago County Animal Services Auxiliary, the shelter she volunteers at. I have put my order in for one of the shirts and will proudly display a picture of me once I receive it.

I never realize just how pro-animal I am until I started volunteering at my local shelter, the Humane Society of Tampa. Each week when I go I find myself de-stressing from everyday life. I receive love from these animals and have plenty to give back. I want to do whatever I can to help them find their forever homes. In fact, Sara has made a mission to get however many animals adopted as she can while there. She focuses a lot on doing the visits, introducing the animal to potential adopters. I'm so proud of what she does there and the amazing thing is she wants to volunteer. I'm not forcing her. Our volunteer adventure started off being a Girl Scout project. Now Sara says "Girl Scouts, mearl smouts. I'm volunteering there because I enjoy the animals and want them to find their forever homes which I will help do." This is coming from a 13yo and I am just so proud of her. When we are at the shelter, sometimes I don't even see her half the night! I'm playing with the animals while she's in and out of visits. If you'd like to sponsor me for their upcoming Bark in the Park, please visit my page.

True Love Awaits

True Love Awaits.
Find true love for Valentine’s Day. Stop by the Humane Society of Tampa Bay on Wednesday, February 11th between 4 and 7pm to “smooch a pooch” at our canine kissing booth, frolic with our furry friends in the play yards and maybe even find true love. If you are not able to adopt, you can still make a difference in an animal’s life by making a donation of pet food, supplies or much needed funding. (Click here to make an online donation.) You can help keep The Humane Society of Tampa Bay, the place Where Dreams Come True.

Humane Society of Tampa Bay
3607 North Armenia Avenue, Tampa, FL 33607 (813) 876-7138
Adoption Hours: Tuesday and Wednesday: Noon-7:30pm; Thursday-Saturday: 10-4:30pm; Sunday: 12-4pm (Closed Mondays)
www.humanesocietytampa.org