A Tasty Treasure

A week or so ago, I went to an auction with some friends. I bought a few different exciting things which included four block planers for my Dad, a wheelbarrow with a metal wheel, a four-foot ladder, and a box of old sheet music (for which I did a happy dance). Along with the sheet music came a small box of random pamphlets and papers, which I didn't even get a chance to look in until this past Saturday. But when I did finally get to see what was in the shallow box of papers, I found a little treasure. It looks old and worn out but inside it is a like a tasty trifle. Literally. The pages are water damaged and worn, and some are completely faded, but the pages which you can still read, makes my heart flutter... The little book is filled with a woman's hand-written recipes, desserts, cakes, cookies, and tastinesses. She even has a recipe for cream puffs written in there! What really made me smile was the recipe for gingerbread cake, since last week I had been craving it. You must understand that I NEVER crave gingerbread cake. I mean, I rarely even think about such delicacies, except for last week. So, it was a funny little blessing from God, to find a gingerbread recipe in that little book. I fully intend to copy out those recipes onto something more durable before the pages completely fall apart... Then I can get to baking! Now how about those cream puffs....

Where Would You Keep YOUR Treasure??

I am a trunk junkie. I mean, I love trunks. Old trunks. Big trunks. Pirate trunks. I'm sure that, at some point in time, this was a real pirate's trunk. And now it is ours. Just don't look too closely. It's old and needs a little TLC before being put back into commission. Maybe some cleaning and scrubbing, sanding or sealing... Anyway, it will be put to good use. I was also told that it needs air holes. Silly me, the trunk junkie.

Midmorning Madness?

It seems I am always a week behind, but I wanted to write all about my Thanksgiving weekend adventures. This is the very first year that I have ever gone "Black Friday" shopping. My friend Emily convinced me to go out with her early, early in the morning. I got out of bed at 2:40am in order to meet her at her house by 3:45. (She lives 20 minutes-ish away.) That gave me enough time to shower and feel like a real person before leaving home. The plan was to get to the outlet mall at 4 am, between the midnight rush and the morning rush. It worked like a charm. There were people, but not the mobs of people you typically hear about on "Black Friday". There were good sales and I would definitely do it again next year. We hit Old Navy first, before I made the rounds to the little kid clothing stores. I was able to get Josh several things he needed and even a few things for myself (and Adam too). The excitement of going out early, in the dark, to go Christmas shopping was the most fun. Made me feel young and rambunctious again. :) Too bad I didn't get a photo with me in it. Then again, maybe it's better that way...

Double Coupons (Finally!)

I was tickled with excitement today when I discovered that a local grocery store doubled their coupons up to $0.99. I hadn't been able to find a store that practices this since I started looking. So I am eager to try out shopping there. Maybe if my food coupons are doubled I am more likely to use them. (I usually find that store brands are cheaper than name brand items with coupons.) And to further my incentive to shop at this particular store, is that it is a "Mom and Pop" store- one that's been around for ages and doesn't belong to a large grocery store chain. And CVS shopping has been going swimmingly. Last week I bought shampoo, conditioner, shaving cream, 2 things of lysol, 2 palmolive dish soaps and a large bottled water for $2.55. Gotta love coupons + extra bucks! It is a rather fun game.

At Least I Can Admit It

I'm addicted. I was encouraged. By a bloggy friend. Now I go every week. But I save $$. Look at all the great stuff I bought for just $11.75. Two boxes of cereal, 2 bottles of dish soap, 2 tubes of toothpaste, 2 things of shaving cream, 2 toothbrushes and 3, yes, I said 3, bottles of hand soap. All for $11.75. I saved nearly $29 on my purchases today. The only bad thing is I didn't get any Extra Bucks back today. Good old CVS. I love you. And I cannot wait to see what kind of sale you will have next week. It's no wonder our little CVS ranked 8th out of the nation this summer.

I Love It When That Happens

I love free things. Early this week I received a phone call from lady we know. She told me her neighbors were getting rid of a swing set and they had just put it out by the road for someone to take. (!!) I had been thinking about how nice it would be to have a swing set for Josh to play on when he gets just a wee bit bigger and since she said it was in good shape, we jumped on it. The set just needs a little washing and I am so looking forward to setting it up with Adam. It is the same set as is in the photo above, except that it has a baby swing too. (So we could use it this summer!!) I looked online and this particular set sells anywhere between $500 and $650, so I'm real appreciative to get it for nothing. (Thanks H & K!!) I'm hoping to get it set up this afternoon. It'll be fun to be able to take Josh outside to play. (Yea!)

A Budget Busting Morning

Today was a garage
selling adventure (since saling is not a word). My Mom, Mother-in-Law and sister went out and roamed the streets this morning looking for deals. I found quite a few. In fact we loaded the stroller full of our "deals" and had to go back for what we couldn't carry. The best deal was probably the set of six glasses for a quarter and seeing as I had broken another one just this morning, I knew that these glasses were for me. I bought 12 items of clothing for Joshua at 50 cents a piece and some puzzles, to enhance his learning skills :) I found a very pretty bracelet, which I love and a high chair, which I really needed. My most unique and random, budget busting find has to be the unicycle. How could I pass it up? It was only $5 and think of all the fun we could have with it!! I mean, I cannot ride it, yet... But I will someday soon and so will all the neighborhood kids. After all, my Mother-in-Law is going to teach me to ride, right Joanne? She laughed at me and told me how she used to ride as a kid. She didn't need too much convincing to try it out then and there, but it turned out that the seat needed raising so we had to postpone our lesson. I never imagined that Joanne was a unicycle rider... I guess Mother's-in-Law can be cool after all! ;) I'm looking forward to our lesson Joanne! My Mom took a great photo of me trying to ride that one-wheeled wonder, but it didn't turn out when she sent it to me. You'll have to see it on her blog here. Anyhow, what a great morning we had together. It was lots and lots of fun.

Car Trouble and More

My car is once again in the garage. And I don't mean my own garage. The battery light is on which means the alternater is bad. Dan, the fix-it-man, said he would look at it and maybe have somebody rebuild the bad parts, instead of buying a new one because of the age of my car and how many miles are on it. Adam and I were hoping it was just the battery, but after we replaced the battery yesterday, the light was still on. So the battery just wasn't recharging. Dan was afraid I wouldn't make it up to the shop, but said to come during the day when it was still light out so I wouldn't have to use headlights. I couldn't even use the heater because that might drain the battery. It was a cold drive to Courtesy Auto. Good thing it wasn't too far. Now I have to find something to drive to work tomorrow. Do you think my brother would loan me his old car? My in-laws need their truck 'cause their van's also in the shop. We just have too much car trouble.

Speaking of trouble, Louis has tapeworms. Yuck. Poor little guy, no wonder he is always so hungry. We need to have him dewormized. The vet in Williamson said it was $32 for a vet visit and then medicine $ on top of that. I called my parents vet in Sodus and they said it would be $7.20 for medicine, no vet examination needed. Sounds like a better deal to me. Just means I would need to drive to Sodus... Life just doesn't slow down, does it?

Good news... I got the book I ordered in the mail today! I ordered it off Amazon (good place to get books... cheaper than Borders and Barnes and Noble). It is a storybook by Robert McClosky. Has three whole stories in it! Blueberries for Sal, Lentil, and One Morning in Maine. I am so excited! Maybe Adam will let me read it to him... ok, maybe not. Anyway I bought it for a grand total of $10.43 ( including shipping) when one would've had to pay $19.99 for it at Borders-and that's not including tax. I am such a bargain hunter!!!