Site of the Week Saturday

This week I would like to highlight Jack over at the survival podcast. I know this is not going to be quite what some of you expect, but I like the message that Jack spreads. He does get a bit excited on some of his podcasts, and you don't have to agree or even listen to him, but he does discuss getting out of debt, not getting any new debt, and stockpiling. There is even a thread in the forum about couponing and another one about CVS'ing. Some of his ideas won't appeal to you, but I bet some of them will. Go check out the site, the podcasts and the forum. I guarantee you will learn something new. I know I have.

ETA: This is the first time I have featured a guy for the site of the week!

Thankful Thursday

This week my list looks like this:

1. Found a new to me minivan!

2. Dinner with friends, especially when I go to her house and she cooks!

3. My BIL got called back to work. That is great news for my sister, BIL and their girls.

4. Stockpiled food, No major grocery shopping for me lately.

5. As always, I will end with chocolate. I have been cutting back and not eating candy, but I will always love me some chocolate.

What are you thankful for today?

New (to me) Wheels

Well, I bought a minivan last night. I have been looking off and on for a replacement vehicle as I have been renting a car for a few months now. I wanted a suburban or Tahoe or something along those lines. I could afford a pinto. I knew if I kept looking I would find a car that would be adequate. I am not overjoyed that I have a minivan again, however a good running car is very valuable to me right now. I stopped on a whim last night at a dealership that normally I ignore as being too pricey. Of course they wanted me to trade in my big van using the cash for clunkers and buy a brand new car. I told them no way. I did not want to participate in that, nor did I want a brand new car. I don't want the car payments. He told me they had a couple of minivans in the back so I went to look at them. The first one I knew would be too expensive. So we moved on to the next one. Fortunately it does not have power stuff. No power windows, locks, seats, etc. I don't have to worry about that stuff breaking. I have had to have all that power stuff repaired in every car I have ever owned. Manual does not break so much. It is bright shiny red and my son will love that as it is his favorite color. It also has a lot of cubbyholes which he will also love. I will have to get the windows tinted at some point as there is no tint on any windows. I like tint. I am not sure what that will cost so it may be a while before I work that into the budget. It certainly is a want and not a need. At least I say that now before we try to sleep in it! All in all I am satisfied, although not jumping for joy. The plan is to use this car until S gets home at which point I can either sell it and get something new or keep driving it and thereby saving as much money as possible. I think we can all be pretty sure we know what choice will be made. At least now I have some new to me wheels to get me back and forth to see my son.

What to Cook Wednesday

Quick and Easy Chicken and Noodles

1 3/4 cups chicken broth
1/2 tsp basil
1/8 pepper
2 cups frozen veggies
2 cups uncooked egg noodles
2 cups cubed cooked chicken

Heat the broth, spices and veggies in pan until boiling. Reduce heat to low and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the noodles. Cook for 5 minutes. Stir in chicken and cook until thoroughly heated.

I know it's not as good as the original home made, but this will do in a pinch. Let me know what you think.

Random Tuesday Thoughts

Stop and visit Keely over at the UN Mom to see her random Tuesday thoughts. And don't forget to check out the other links to all the randomness. So without further ado, my randomness:

I am going to have to start doing my couponing thing again because I miss it. I miss the rush of the deals.

I have been listening to Jack over at SurvivalPodcast for a couple of days. He was recommended to me by a friend of mine. I can't say that I agree with everything that he says as they are his personal views, but I can say I have enjoyed listening to his show. It has been informative and in the forum area, there is even a topic of couponing to stock up! I especially liked that!

I have also been super busy at work. Work, work work yesterday and today. Where is my slow time at work going?

I went to Victoria Secrets this weekend to get a couple of new bras. Mine were broke down, ragged out sorts of things. Old too. I found a couple of really comfy ones that were even on sale. Now I understand why people pay so much for the stuff at Victoria Secrets. All I can say is I wish I had bought bras there before. I will definitely be back for a couple more when I can afford it.

S started school yesterday. I talked to him about it last night. He was really excited because his teacher was nice to him. He said she was pretty nice to everyone, but was really nice to him. I really hope that my talk with her last week was productive and she stays this way, if it is even the reason that she was so nice to him. She is going through a similar situation with her daughter and her ex and I hope that gives her empathy for our situation.

S also has a baseball party this weekend. They are meeting at a waterworks sort of place. I don't remember the name off the top of my head, but he was really wanting to go. I made a deal that I would bring S back two hours later on Saturday and deliver him to the water park two hours earlier than my usual drop off for the party. Because let's face it, the kid is not going to want to hang out with me on the sidelines while there are a bunch of slides and pools to play in. Then S tells me that he wants me to stay. If there seems to be a need for more supervision, then I will indeed stay, but if he is having fun and there are plenty of other parents, we may go a bit early to get a head start home. My guess though is that we will be staying so that someone is there to keep an eye on S. Which means that we ultimately be getting a late start home as the party is not over until six. I just am confused on why the party is now. The ball games have been over for over a month. Almost two months I think. Those people down there just make my head hurt. I can't even think about it.

The good news is my cats are still just as destructive as always. I say good news because if they were suddenly different, I would think invasion of the cat snatchers. They also have fleas. I have been trying to rid my cats and house of fleas for a couple of days now. So far, I don't have fleas. But if I start scratching behind my ear with my feet I will let you know. I also found out that I can get frontline at the store for a whole lot cheaper than the vets office. I did not even know the stores carried it. They learnt me sumthin new -as my son say now. I am totally going to have to work on that, the little hillbilly.

I think that is about all that I have in my head at all today. Apparently my brain is not holding much. But what can I say. I thought that yesterday was the 13th. I even dated all the paperwork that went through my office as the 13th. Even worse, I didn't know any different until I got to work today and looked at a calendar. Wow. To me today is the 14th. Must be almost time for the weekend.

ETA: When I did spell check, learnt is apparently a word. Yikes. I always though it was not a real word.

Site of the Week Saturday

This week for my site of the week, I would like to propose that you go visit Precious at Frugal Makes Cents. She is a wealth of information, and her followers share their tips as well. Any kind of financial advice can be found there. She is the first to tell you that she is just a regular person, not a financial advisor, but I am finding that her advice is something worth listening to. Go check her out.

What to Cook Wednesday

True to my word I am indeed catching up on my posts. I should be out cleaning the car out. It is actually mom's car and I need to transfer everything to my car. But I am really tired and will do it in just a bit. I need to rest until my caffeine kicks in here in a few minutes.
I will tell you to not eat the way I am today. I have so far had a handful of M&M's, a handful of raisins and now am munching on popcorn. I feel like such a fraud as I have not cooked in a while here.

Back to what to cook. I think that I will make some comfort food tonight. And to me there is nothing more comforting that potatoes and eggs. Just slice and fry up some potatoes in a skillet with just a bit of oil( I use EVOO or smart balance, but you could probably use canola as well). Just slice up however many potatoes you need to feed the mouths in your house. Cover and cook on medium heat, turning to prevent burning to a crisp. Some crispiness is desirable though. When the potatoes are nearly done, crack in some eggs and gently stir. Stir frequently until the eggs are fully cooked. I often will add chopped onions and peppers with the potatoes. You can also add pepper if you like. I will add that salt is okay to add only because I know that most folks don't have the aversion to salt that I do. So salt those spuds if you want. That is all there is to it. I won't put a number on the potatoes and eggs because I don't know how many per person for your family. In my family, we like to eat, so we make a lot. If you don't eat so much, cook a little less. It also microwaves well, so make extra and have some for breakfast or lunch the next day.

Thankful Thursday

This week for Thankful Thursday I will include:

1. No rain on my trip

2. Getting to have my son for my birthday

3. Having a day off of work

4. A CB radio in my car while travelling

5. A comfy bed to sleep in (when I get there)

So what were you thankful for this week?

Flashback Friday

This is a Flashback Friday post, hosted by none other than ScaryMommy. Go check out all the other posts for Flashback Friday.

I don't actually have a post to flash back onto. Instead I am going to flash back to yesterday. I know, I know, that is not really flashing back to far, but my son was really funny yesterday.

While playing with my son yesterday, he had me rolling with laughter. What better way to spend my birthday, right? We played star wars as soon as we got there. He had the day planned to the minute, at least he told me he did. He puts on his cape so he can be Darth Vader. Plus he just wanted to wear it. He also wanted to ride his bike with the cape on to see if it flew behind him when he went really fast. It did. I even took a picture. We also spent some time talking about donkey's, burrows, and wild asses. Which if you watch Ice Age 2, then you might know why and what I am talking about. He just had the best time ever discussing the differences and why these animals all had "ass" in the name. Good times being a nine year old boy. Then we moved on the the topic of crafting. He wanted to make a few home made light sabers. So we haul out the craft tub and got to work. He kept telling me all about the way and reasons behind his project light saber. And kept up a running commentary about the different glitters and why some were better than others. We let those dry a bit, and in the meantime went back to playing star wars. He made me Darth Vader this time and told me to put on my cooper suit. Me-My cooper suit? What is that? S-You know, that black suit that D.V. wears. Me-Why is it called that?(thinking I had missed something somewhere) S-Because that is what D.V. says every time he breathes. Cooooooo Peeeerrrrrrr. Cooooooo Peerrrrrrrr. This just struck me as super funny. I had never noticed that, but that is exactly what it sounds like. So now we have D.V. and his cooper suit.
I also got a hands on demonstration on how his dad's cat is doing, and how it attacks. Let me tell you, if you have never seen a gangly nine year old boy trying to look small like a tiny kitten, you are truly missing something funny. That boy is all arms and legs, and he was trying to curl up and be small.

Just thinking about these conversations with my son has kept a smile in my heart. I just can't wait til he gets home so I can have these moments every day.

Update

I will be back on Friday. I am going to see my son for my birthday tomorrow. I will post my What to Cook Wednesday and Thankful Thursday on Friday. I do not have time to create the blog posts today. Have a happy couple of days until I return!

Happy birthday to me!

I am not sure if that thingy up there will work. I seem to be challenged when it comes to posting the link pictures. Whatever it does, do yourself a favor and go check out Keely's blog at The Unmom. Read through all the randomness floating around over there.

Random Thought Tuesday:

Wow is it ever stormy here. I came in to work this morning and thought perhaps I should be going home for the evening it was so dark.

I am researching work at home articles. I would love to create some kind of income working online. I realize it would not replace the job I have, but it could someday. I would love to be able to stay home on those dark mornings.

I slept like a log last night. It felt great. When the alarm went off this morning, I seriously did one of those sit straight up in bed things. I wasn't even sure what woke me up to start with. At least I did not see any bugs on my ceiling. That is always a good sign-no bugs.

I have a gazillion things to do tonight after I get off work. I leave for a visit with S tomorrow around noon. I have to finish washing all the blankets, pillows, clothes, dishes, etc, etc, for packing tonight so I can load tomorrow when I get off work and get the heck outta here.

My head hurts today. I don't know if it is the weather or just because the monitor for this computer is too big. It's like it has dinosaur-ific proportions. Which would be great if I was old and had bad eyes, or sat 10 feet away, but the monitor is about one foot away unless I stretch my arms and lean back, then I get two feet of clearance. It just makes my eyes hurt. I think I will order a different one.

My son was a chatty Kathy last night on our call. He is making grand plans for our visit. He is timing down to the minute. He told me what time we were eating all our meals. What time and what game we are playing at the top of each hour. I think it is funny when he does this. He will make all these plans, but when I get there he will change them and act like he doesn't know what I am talking about if I ask about the previous plans. He tells me I must be confused.

I am ready for lunch. I am starving. I have been hungry all morning. I had egg salad for breakfast. I know, I'm weird. At least it wasn't like live fish or something squirmy. Too bad it wasn't pizza.

Speaking of pizza, the pizza dude will be here shortly for lunch time deliveries. I need to eat my lunch first so I am not tempted to buy a pizza. And eat the whole thing. By myself. Those pizza's are sure making it hard to lose weight. And the donuts. And the whole box of macaroni and cheese. And the brownies...

Boring healthy lunch, here I come, dreaming you were something tasty.

I'm Tired, and my cats are destructive

I had my weekend with my son. I got stuck in traffic that was nearly at a standstill in Kentucky. There was construction on the interstate and I was not paying attention to my radio and missed the fact that there was a backup. I could have gone around it if I had been listening. Oh, well, I got to be amused by the truck drivers. I got down there late and conked out in the backseat for a couple of hours. I picked up S and showed him my new phone. He was not nearly as impressed to start with as I thought he would be. That eventually changed. We played hard all day. It was hot and sunny. We went swimming, played cars, star wars, all that good stuff. He did warm up to the phone after he realized that I had the bluetooth and he could talk with the earpiece. He then wanted me to show him the internet. He had a blast with it after that.
After I took him home, I took a shower to get all that icky pool water off of me. I called S to talk. While I waited for him to call me back, I read more of my Stephanie Plum novel by Janet Evanovich. These books are the best. Always enough funny stuff going on to keep my laughing and bring my mood up. Thanks to my friend K for showing me this series. After a while S called back. I made my way into the tent for the night. I read by the light of the dvd player while some batman movie was in. I have never actually watched the movie, but after seeing part of it last night, I will watch the whole thing one of these days. Somewhere in the middle of the night it started raining. At first it was that gentle rain that you enjoy while slumbering. Then it started raining hard. It was really loud in a tent. Then it started raining even harder. Then harder yet. I thought my tent would collapse it was raining so hard. There was a dry creek bed next to our campsite. I could hear the water rushing through it. I was slightly worried it would make its way over to my tent. It was impossible to sleep at that point. I laid there and listened hoping it would lighten back up to that enjoyable level of rain. Nope, it just kept raining so hard I could not hear myself think. Which was a good thing because I was still wondering if I was going to float down the hill right into the river. It did finally ease up a bit by the time the sun was coming up. Course by then I needed to get up so I could start getting ready for my day with S. I climbed out of the tent to a world of soppiness. Everything, and I mean everything was soaked. Water even got into the car somehow. I dried up what I could. Thankfully I don't leave much out. So it was just a couple of plastic tubs that got wet. Everything else had been picked up before bed. I got ready and picked up S. We played in the tent while it was windy and rainy outside. Eventually I moved the gazebo over the tent so at least one thing had an opportunity to dry. Then the sun came out. OMG, talk about humid. I was dripping and it was not sweat. There was that much water in the air and the sun came out. Ugh. Thank goodness it was relatively cool out. We enjoyed our day with toys, games and water balloons. When it was time to deliver my buddy back to his dad's house, he started playing with the phone. It has a "notepad" to make notes (duh). I now have half a dozen notes. I have voice recording on the phone as well. I now have my son's voice and requests recorded to listen to anytime I want. He sure did have lots of fun with that phone.
On the way home, I ran into car wrecks with backed up traffic and again-construction with backups. It was a long ride home. I was already tired because of a lack of sleep the two previous nights. Just get home, I kept telling myself. Open the window, close the window. Find a good song to sing along with, shift around in the seat. Just don't close the eyes and we will be good. I got home, grabbed my purse, the keys and the phone. Drag up to the door, put the key in, start swinging the door open, hang on what was that? Something just brushed up against my legs. Please tell me the outdoor kitty made it in. She has been trying for weeks. Nope, it was my goofy Kitten. I grabbed the bag of food to try to get his attention. I don't leave him out for fear of him getting into a fight. Because he would start it. The heathen. I finally got him close enough to grab. The brat. I dragged his butt back into the house. I made a pit stop in the bathroom, stripped on the way to the bedroom and crashed. Next thing I know, it is about 5:30. I am dog tired and I wake up at 5:30? What is wrong with me? I lounged there for about a half hour petting the cats. More accurately getting smothered by the cats. They must have missed me. I get up and get started cleaning out the car. I can not figure out why it takes so much more time to unload than it does to load. I throw on some clothes and head off to the car rental place. I am so tired that my eye started twitching this morning. After some (un)healthy doses of caffeine, it stopped.

To get to the destruction part: My cats are destruction with fur. They are little time bombs waiting to happen. I walked into my kitchen last night and the floor was covered with fur. I swear they kidnapped a cat and plucked its fur for fun this weekend. There has to be a naked cat running around in my neighborhood. Otherwise I cannot figure out where all the fur came from. Not just a puff or two. It seriously looks like enough fur to cover an entire cat. Then I walk into the living room. From the corner of my eye I can see something big in the storage room. I turn on the light. It is something big alright. It is everything in the storage room in a big pile in the middle. Gone are my tidy stacks of tubs and boxes. Tipped are the lamps and coat tree. It looks like a bomb went off in there and all the rubble was piled up. I could not even look at it. I decided to ignore it for now. I think tonight I will close the door and not look at it again til this weekend. That seems like a good way to deal with it. Pretend it is not there. After all, when I get home I have to find the naked cat and stick some of that fur back on. Do you think if I spit on the cat and stick the fur on it that the fur will stick? Or should I break out the glue stick? I also have to get ready and repack and wash and all that for my next trip, which I leave for on Wednesday. I visit for my eight hours on Thursday, which is my birthday, come home and get Sassy to the vet by 7ish in the morning on Friday for her surgery. I was going to take the day off to sleep, but if I have to take her into town and then wait until after 3:00 to pick her up, I might as well go to work. Then I get to take her home and start cleaning the disaster zone. Hopefully there are no new ones in the mean time. I also get to watch my kitty. Apparently she is one of those cats that does not tolerate the meds well and so she is pretty loopy for a day or two after the surgery. She runs into things and falls off the couch. If it weren't so nerve racking, it would be funny. She normally is very graceful and classy. Give her a bit of anesthesia and she is a klutzy dope. She would certainly be a cheap date, one drink and she would be done.

So how was your weekend? Any excitement for your life?