More Unfrugal Confessions.

I paid $27 yesterday for a pedicure. Now I have pretty, shiny, red nails. Who needs a cherry red Ferrari when they can have shiny red toenails?

I'm taking Abby to the groomer today because she reeks. Yes, I'm going to pay someone $25 to wash my giant dog and trim her nails because I don't want to wrestle 70 pounds of mad wet dog in our bathtub.

Also, Little Guy and I will probably eat lunch out. Our fridge and freezer are on the fritz and I trust none of the food in there not to poison us.

Hmm, perhaps I'll think of more later.

Day 2: Envy or 7 things I covet

1. Perfect White Teeth. I've always felt self conscious about the gap between my front teeth. The rest of my teeth are pretty straight so getting braces would just be for cosmetic purposes. I've never felt comfortable spending that much money on my looks.

2. Ambition. I'm not a go getter. I would like to be a person who is well dressed, well pressed, with a tended home, gifted and happy kids, a well loved husband and a satisfying career. But, I can only tackle doing so much at one time.

3. Thinking Exercise is Fun. While I do feel better while I'm moving my body; I don't enjoy the process. I'd much rather be curled up with a good book or folding clean laundry.

4. Independence. I'd love to be one of those women who can take off for a cross country trip alone without panicking. I've never even flown by myself and I easily get turned around in busy airports. I want to trust myself enough to be able to handle travel by myself.

5. Flexibility. My downward facing dog looks more like downward flailing buffalo. I would love to be able to do the splits or put my foot behind my ear.

6. Being the Party Lady. Having get togethers or visitors to my home sends me into panic. I want to want to scrub the house, cook up some tasty snacks and throw open the doors to the world. I just never feel like what we have is good enough.

7. Scratchy Inspiration. Sometimes I really have no idea how to make new yummy scratch foods. I wish I could turn a random pile of veggies into a delicious dinner. But, I'm fairly boring with my cooking style.

Day 1: Pride or 7 Great Things About Myself

I'm totally stealing borrowing this meme from Year One (who got it from here).


Normally I'm the type of person who focuses on and frets about my failings. But, for a little change I'm going to do the opposite and list 7 things I actually like about myself.

1. I'm friendly. My first instinct is always to enter into any interpersonal interaction with a smile on my face. Life is hard enough without being grouchy to your fellow humans.

2. I'm easy to please. (No arguments from the Husband allowed ** Remember those cheap dates we used to have with 25 cent soda and a 50 cent loaf of french bread?)

3. I don't care about the latest greatest thing. I don't really want an IPhonePadBerry. I have a basic cell phone with a cheap plan. Done.

4. The Meek are my people. The world can have the movers and the shakers. I'll take the babies and the shelter pets.

5. I'm funny. Ok, so this blog isn't funny. In fact, I'm not good at being funny by myself. But, I can quip with the best of them.

6. I'm not a snob. Girlfriend, my purse was a "free with purchase" and my shirt came off a clearance rack more than ten years ago. And I am cool with that. I know where all the good thrift and second hand stores are around here. Let's go shopping!

7. I am a work in progress. There are always things I need to work on with myself. I do get discouraged but I don't give up. There's always time to start (or finish) being awesome.

Baby, It's Cold Outside (and inside)

Normally my husband is the one who's the big money saver around here. But, not when it comes to our heating bill.

I finally stopped turning the thermostat down to 67 because every time I did he would complain, tell me I was crazy for freezing us to death to save a few bucks, and turn it back to 72. I don't know. It's pretty cold in here since it's hanging around the teens outside. My feet are cold.
The kids don't seem to notice either way. I guess running around like a crazy monkey helps.
But, I have this idea that the colder it is outside, the easier it is to feel warm inside with a lower temperature. See, 60 degrees in our house right now would feel like a heat wave compared to what's outside.
So, I'm gonna go fiddle with the thermostat. Honey, you were warned.
Pardon me while I go find my fuzzy socks and make a mug of tea.

My Gazingus Pin

According to Your Money or Your Life a gazingus pin is something for sale that you can't pass without wanting to buy it and add it to your collection.

I don't have just one gazingus pin. Here's a quick but not complete list of things I have a hard time passing up-

Lipsticks
Nail Polish
Candles
Purses
Kids Clothes

Yesterday I bought both kids clothes (shoes and jeans) and a "new" purse for myself at resale shops. The shoes I could argue that I needed because my son doesn't have a decent pair that fit right. But, the jeans for Big Girl and my new purse were completely unnecessary. And since I was shopping at upscale resale shops the price was much higher that Goodwill prices.

I don't have a grand point to this post. I'm just acknowledging some of my shopping behavior problems. The first step is acknowledging that you have a problem, right?

I'm off to switch out purses. Again.

Weirdness Afoot- And I discuss Winnie the Pooh Characters too much.

Hubby had to listen to me chatter until about 2 am. Who was keyed up last night? Me.
Except for the sleep deprivation he's been quite happy to have a smiley chatty Cathy for a wife.


You see, when I'm happy and content I tend to be quite bouncy and gleeful. Picture Tigger. And I haven't bounced in awhile. Actually I've been more of a cross between Rabbit and Eeyore. Ok, so they are all annoying- but at least Tigger is happy. (bouncy, fun fun fun)

Which reminds of something silly Little Guy did yesterday. I asked him if he wanted a snack and he put his hand to his forehead and tapped and went, "Think, think, think. Yes, I do want a snack."

See yah- gotta bounce.

Maybe I should take up dumpster diving?

Look at these finds.

Good for a laugh if not frugal inspiration.

Need a laugh? Want to see some strange frugal hacks?

Try ThereIfixedit.com. My personal favorite is the sports bra made from men's underwear.

Could I live on this for a week- a peek into my grocery cart

A few years ago there was an online challenge to come up with a decent menu with only $20 a week and starting with no food at all (no sugar, spices, flour, etc).

A quick trip to the grocery store this morning had me surveying my cart and wondering if I could manage solely on what I had picked up.

A six pack of coke bottles (my major weakness)
3 loose potatoes
A bag of romaine salad
A pack of wheat hog dog buns
A dozen medium eggs
A four pack of vegetarian Italian sausage
A canister of General Foods vanilla coffee mix
Total: 16.03

It looks like I'd be having a hot dog bun for breakfast for four days with a cup of coffee mix. The other three days would have me eating a boiled egg and some coke.

Lunch would be a very small salad with a few pieces of chopped egg. Water to drink.

Dinner for four nights would be a Italian sausage on a hot dog bun. The other three nights I could have a delicious plain baked potato with no toppings washed down with some coke.

If I had no one else to feed I could manage it. I would be hungry for sure (oh, darn weight loss). But, I would survive.
Now if I had planned ahead I would grab brown rice, bananas, and pinto beans. For less than a dollar a pound bananas are still a good buy. Need I say that that pack of Coke would still be on the store shelf.

The results of the DNA test are in...

My big sweetie is:

Boxer, Chinese Shar Pei, Beagle and Chihuahua.

Good news for us. I wanted a boxer and Hubby wanted a chihuahua. Now we have both rolled up in a big hairy package.

am I too cheap?

Christmas comes but once a year and hopefully so does this stomach bug.

Luckily, I'm the only one in my family felled by this nastiness.

I have been doing my normal blog reading warily- I seriously don't want to read or see anything food related- so could you all do me a favor and put a Food Warning under your headers? ; )

And I sipped the last can of gingerale this morning and that's all I really want. I've mentioned it to Hubby who hasn't done much of anything for me today at all except stay home from work, take care of the kids and pets, do the litter, and bring me ice and pop. I mean how hard could it be for the man to drag the kids to Wal-greens to fetch me a two liter? Really.

Yeah, I'm feeling snarky today.

If I had a band-

I would name it "Pork Thunder".

Brought to you by the Culver's Custard sign. The menu today is "Barbeque Pork Brownie Thunder."
Let's hope they don't mean together.

Is it wrong?

That I'm totally jazzed about the Twilight movie coming out in a few weeks?

I'm going to have to start reading the series again to get ready for it.

(btw, I did the same thing with Harry Potter and LTR- nerdy, I know)

I'm Spicy yet Laid Back- the quiz said so.

Thanks Heather!

The ugliest purse in the world- All for Me.

Happy 36th Birthday to me.

I celebrated by buying myself this .50 cent Christian Livingston purse at a garage sale.
It's a rare find when something goes so far in the direction of ugly that it almost comes back to pretty. I was inspired. How much time did someone spend working on this ugly bag? I knew it must be mine! When I went to pay for it the seller said, "I finally got rid of that purse!"
Yay for me! Mine all mine!

I just thought it was amusing.

I'm in line last night at a busy store (it was right around 5pm when everyone is off work) and I've got a fist full of coupons.
To be honest I bought things I didn't really need- like two bottles of Endust cleaner- just because they were .69 cents after coupon. So, I wasn't feeling all that great about my cart load. Plus they didn't have the one thing on the shelf that I went into the store in the first place for.
My original total before coupons was $32.50. After coupons it was around $19. To be honest, my first thought when I heard my total was disappointment. I was hoping it would be less.
But right after that hint of disappointed I heard the "ahhs", "wows" and "you saved thirteen dollars" from the cashier and the two groups of people behind me. And then the lady next to me asked if I did the coupon game and I said no. Then I told her about the "All You" magazine for sale and she hunted it down right after I pointed it out. And as I was leaving she told me again how impressed she was. It sort of put things into perspective for me.

One other thing I've taken to doing is sharing my coupons while I'm in the store. If I see someone pick up something that I have a coupon for I ask them if they want my coupon. Not one person has turned me down yet. In fact, I've had many people thank me gleefully.
Last week I printed out extra $5/$25 coupons for Save-A-Lot and handed them out at the store because I wasn't going to use them. One lady thanked me all the way to the parking lot.
I love doing that. It's my way of spreading a little goodwill.

And now I must vacuum.

What's in a Name?

I got this from Heather. Blame Her. ; )


Your real name: Jenny

Gangsta name (1st three letters of your real name plus izzle, favorite ice cream & fav type of shoe): Jenizzle Spumoni Flip Flop

Native American name (fav color, fav animal): Periwinkle Marmoset

NASCAR name (1st names of grandfathers): William Clarence

Dancer Name (fav perfume/scent, fav candy): World of Your Own Reeses Cups

Soap Opera name (middle name, street you live on): Dawn Oak

Star Wars name (1st 3 letters of middle name, 1st 2 letters of first name): Dawje

TV Weather/Anchor name (5th grade teacher's last name, major city that starts with same letter): Henson Houston

Spy name (fav season, fav flower): Autumn Deptford Pink

Cartoon name (fav fruit, article of clothing you are wearing now): Peach Capris

Hippie name (what you ate for breakfast, fav tree): Cereal Mimosa - now that's just dumb

Super Hero name (2nd fav color, fav drink): Kelly Green Cherry Coke

Witness protection name (parents' middle names): Warren Fay

Goth name (black, name of one of your pets): Black Chloe Belle

Movie Star name (1st pet's name, 1st street name): Kizzy Bishop

Iraqi name (2nd letter of first name, 3rd letter of mom's maiden name, 3rd letter of dad's name, 1st letter of a sibling's first name, last letter of mom's first name): EENSA

Rock Star name (1st pet, current car): Kizzy Pilot

Join in! I'd love to read yours.

Gone to the Dogs

We've been dogless for two years.

I spent part of my morning looking at shelter dogs with the kids.

Anybody have any advice for a particular breed that would mix well with small kids and cats?
I want to make sure we get the best little guy for our family.

**It looks like we'll be putting my dog wish on hold for a little longer while we straighten out our to do list. sigh.**

Wordless Wednesday: How I feel today.