I'd Rather Shop from Home

I'm not much of a shopper. I don't think I ever was, but working in retail for several years really ruined shopping for me. I honestly do not understand the phrase 'Retail Therapy' because it's just something to get over and done with, not something to do for fun or relaxation. We do look through the ads that come in the paper every Sunday, just in case we need something, but more often than not, there really isn't anything worth running out for.

I can get myself in a little trouble with easy online shopping, though - because I don't have to leave the comfort of my own home. Not only that, but I don't have to deal with people - especially the crowds at this time of year - and the long lines. For instance, on Black Friday while my husband and brother were insane enough to get up and actually go to the stores, I stayed in bed, got up a little later, and then did my shopping online - buying several $3 and $3.50 DVDs, all of them with free shipping. I'm also regularly tempted by those emails I get from Buy.com telling me about their deals on electronics and computer-related things. I have a hard time resisting a good deal on an SD card!

I never really thought about it before, but I'm thinking I can get some good deals on pet supplies by shopping online, too. It's definitely worth looking at. I hear it's supposed to be much cheaper to order pet prescriptions online, and maybe even cheaper if I can find some coupon codes for free shipping or something. Not that either one of the kitties needs a prescription, but just in case. If nothing else, checking online first will give me a good idea of whether I'm getting a good deal on something or not.

Camera Critters (#89)

Weasley loves everybody, but I think he’s decided that he’s Jeffrey’s kitty.  He’ll hang out on Cory’s bed, and he’ll curl up on my lap, but when Jeffrey comes home he wants to be with him.  Even if Jeffrey is busy, Weasley still likes to be close.  I call him the little foot stool kitty, because he’ll curl up on the foot stool by Jeffrey’s feet – or between his feet, or on his legs...

The other night I looked over to see this:

Jeffrey on the computer, and Weasley completely zonked out.

Camera Critters is a fun weekend meme hosted by Misty Dawn.Visit the Camera Critters headquarters and join in.

How Wheat Works

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Wheat Food Council. All opinions are 100% mine.

Unless you grew up on a farm, you probably don't understand how most of our food makes it into the grocery stores and onto our tables. One of the most important grains in our country is wheat, and there's a new interactive multimedia program called How Wheat Works that aims to help people understand all the phases wheat goes through before finally making it onto our tables. You can sign up for free and plant your own virtual wheat field. There are four phases to go through, growth, harvest, milling/baking and the grocer’s aisle, and each one takes just a few minutes to complete. You get to choose things like what type of wheat to plant and what kind of flour to mill. When you complete a phase, they'll email you in about a day to remind you to come back and complete the next one, so it takes 4 days to get through the whole thing.

Now I grew up in Central Illinois around lots and lots of corn and bean fields, though I can't really tell you what all the farmers go through to get their crops ready for market. I definitely don't know anything about wheat, so I'm going to sign up for this and see what I can learn. Not only that, but for every person who participates, the Wheat Foods Council will donate 2 pounds of flour, up to 90,000 pounds, to Operation Homefront (operationhomefront.net), a non-profit organization that provides assistance to needy U.S. troops and their families. Wouldn't it be great if they could reach that 90,000 pound mark? Donations are made possible by Council members at ADM and ConAgra, two of the world’s largest millers.

There are additional activities and recipes on the site as well as a special page for the youth at www.wheatfoods.org - click the 'Just for Kids' link. All this was put together by the Wheat Food Council because they believe that teaching people how a whole or enriched grain food comes to be can shed new light on wheat nutrition, resulting in informed food choices. It is good to think about what we eat and to know where our food comes from, don't you think?

What is that Smell?

Image via Wikipedia

I want to say a big Thank You to Febreze for sending me their Febreze Sport to try. I got the Extreme Odor Eliminator, along with a nifty Febreze sport bag and a water bottle. All they asked was that I share my opinion - and fill out that little survey card (which I have to find) and mail it back to them.

I jumped at the chance to try this stuff - not because we're big on sports around here, though Jeffrey does play basketball with the guys in the winter. I thought it would be handy for that, but I was really thinking it would come in handy controlling the odors found in tennis shoes worn by a certain teenage boy. Febreze Sport is designed to be used on things you can't really wash, like shoes, gym bags, and other sports equipment. Febreze says it 'penetrates deep into fabrics and contains scientifically designed X-Sweat™ Technology to neutralize sports odors at the source.' All I know is that it works.

I was putting my own shoes on one day, getting ready to leave the house when I noticed a particularly unpleasant smell. I finally tracked it down to a pair of shoes belonging to that teenage boy I mentioned before. So, I sprayed them with the Febreze Sport, which has a very fresh, pleasant smell, by the way. It's not some perfumey smell that attempts to cover up the offending odor, because I'd hate that. Of course, since it's designed to be used by athletes, many of whom are guys, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't appreciate that either. Anyway, very neutral fresh smell, and it took care of that teenage guy feet odor really well. (teenage guy feet odor? did I really say that?)

I'm really glad I got a chance to try this out on Cory's shoes, because if I hadn't I might have had to mention the smell my shoes gave off this summer. Sweaty feet, no socks - not a good idea. But now I won't have to mention that and let you all know that my feet sometimes stink, too. I'm so relieved. And you can't prove it anyway, because I sprayed Frebreze Sport in my shoes!

When Jeffrey starts back into playing basketball next month, we'll get a chance to try it on his sports equipment, too. I think this Febreze Sport is going to be handy to have around.

Free Cereal (Almost) and Expiring Coupons

I went shopping today. I was thinking I could put it off for a couple weeks, but I just couldn't resist the cereal they were practically giving away at Pick 'n Save. They had Kellogg's, Keebler, Sunshine products on sale for $2.50 each, and if you bought 8, you automatically saved $10, bringing them down to $1.25 each. That's a really good deal already - but add some coupons, and it's even better, especially on double coupon day. Actually, I didn't get all cereal, but I ended up with 16 boxes of cereal, crackers, cereal bars, and Pop Tarts for $2.50. Can't hardly beat that!

I had to go to the store twice to do it, but it's on my way, so I went there first, then went and got the oil changed, air filters and fluids checked, and whatever else they do, and got the van washed too. I almost hate to wash it this time of year because it's just going to get all messy again the next time it snows, but it was a clear, sunny, albeit cold day - so it was a good day to do it. After that I went to Walmart to grab some stuff, then went back to Walgreens where I earned a $5 Register Rewards certificate I didn't know I was getting, so I didn't plan my shopping to use it. And, for some reason, it expires on Sunday. Now I haven't been to Walgreens and gotten any of these Register Rewards for a while now, but didn't they used to give you 2 weeks to use them? Even that was stretching it for me because I don't always get there within 2 weeks, but this is ridiculous. Luckily Jeffrey has a Walgreens right across the street from work and passes another one on the way home, so I told him that he has $5 he has to spend in the next couple days. I'm sure he'll find something he wants.

Then after Walgreens back to Pick 'n Save to get more cereal and crackers for next to nothing, and other stuff, like potatoes, onions, cream cheese, tortillas, etc. I bought 4 Tombstone pizzas the first time so I could get a coupon for a free California Pizza Kitchen or Digiorno flatbread melt, so I grabbed that - and it's a good thing I did, because that coupon expired next week. Again, they used to give you two weeks to use them. I also used my coupon for free Silk Heart Healthy soy milk that I won from Pookie and the Boys. I'm pretty sure I'll get to enjoy that all by myself, along with that flatbread melt - I bought a really good-looking spinach one that no one will fight me for! Hopefully, though, they'll like the cereal and crackers I picked, because it would take me a year to eat all of that by myself.

Heads or Tails – Gone Fishin’

The theme/prompt for THIS week, December 15, is:

HEADS - Gone Fishin’

Make any kind of post about anything you might see, use or do while fishing.

The last time I went fishing was when I was a teenager, and honestly I didn’t do much fishin’ even then.  I went with a group of people from church for a weeklong fishing, camping, and canoeing trip in Minnesota, and I think I actually fished once.  The rest of the time was spent doing the fun stuff like swimming, hiking, canoeing, and just generally goofing off and enjoying the river and the woods.  There were plenty of other people along who really enjoyed the fishing, so we had plenty of fish for breakfast, lunch and dinner while we were there.  They didn’t need my help.

So it’s obvious that fishing really isn’t my idea of a good time.  I know some of you really enjoy it – you know who you are (Misty, Tammy, Jenn, for starters) – and as I was coming back from taking Cory to Jazz Band this morning I was wondering what kind of crazy people enjoy fishing so much that they’ll go out on the ice, in the bitter cold to fish.  Of course, the people I saw out on the ice this morning had a building to get inside out of the wind.  Still, it’s got to be darn cold out there – downright freezing.  At least I thought so, until I opened my email to find the following video:

The people I saw this morning must have been downright toasty compared to these Crazy Canadians.

Heads or Tails is a fun weekly meme created and hosted by Barb (aka Skittles) – feel free to join in!

Tired

OK, it's already time for bed, and I haven't had time to post about stainless steel drums or anything else for that matter. It seems that Mondays are always busy with laundry and catching up from the weekend, and today was no different. I worked on laundry, which I can actually finish in one day thanks to my wonderful husband fixing my dryer a while back. The vent wasn't working properly, and it took way longer to dry things than it should have. When we bought the washer and dryer, they said that the dryer was supposed to dry things in the same time it took the washer to wash. It's not quite that fast now, but it's pretty good - and now I can get all the laundry washed, dried, and folded in one day. And, I have decided that I really like the Purex Natural Elements laundry detergent in the Citrus & Aloe scent. It smells so good!

Besides laundry I organized coupons so I can go shopping this week, went through the mail, cut up a bunch of apples for the dehydrator, and... Well, there was more, but it's bed time, and my brain isn't working right now. I'm not even going to tell you how long I sat here trying to even start this post. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

My Son the T-Shirt Designer

I mentioned in my last post that Cory got a box of 60 t-shirts this week. Now, the boy loves his t-shirts, but there's no way he needed 60 t-shirts for himself. These t-shirts are for him and a whole bunch of his friends.

A while back Cory and one of his friends came up with an idea for a shirt - no, it wasn't "visit new york", I think that one's already been done. They wanted their shirt to say i'm pretty good at hugs. So Cory put together a design, tweaked the design, got everyone's opinion, and finally settled on the exact, perfect design. Then, he started taking orders - the more shirts he ordered the better the price was for everyone. Well, the orders and the checks started coming in, and before he knew it, he had 60 shirts ordered!

He ordered them from CustomInk.com, and they turned out really nice. They make it really easy to design the shirts and get the exact look you want, and they have all kinds of products to choose from. Cory went with the Hanes tagless T. The price is determined not only by the product you choose, but also by the number of items you order, the more you order the better the price. With a 60 piece order, Cory got all these for around $10/shirt, which is really good. And shipping is FREE - gotta love that. Also, their customer service is top rate. If you have a group that needs custom designed shirts (or shorts or hats or bags or...) I'd suggest checking them out. (and, NO, they aren't paying me to say so)

Cory was so excited to get these, he had to wear his to school the next day - and came home with a list of 20 more people who want one. Me, I didn't order one or want one, because I'm not really a hugger. Cory, on the other hand, has always been a huge hugger - and apparently so are his friends.

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• Camera Critters (#88) (alwaysbcmom.com)

Camera Critters (#88)

Cory got a big box of t-shirts delivered this week. Apparently, if you buy 60 black t-shirts, you also get a white cat.

Tillie just can’t resist a box! I think this stare is her way of telling Weasley that it’s her box, and she wants him to stay out.

Weasley doesn’t really care about the box too much. He’s just wondering if Cory ordered him a shirt.

Camera Critters is a fun weekend meme hosted by Misty Dawn.Visit the Camera Critters headquarters and join in.

Giveaway at Crazy Working Mom

Our wonderful Looking at the Sky on Friday hostess Tisha was on television this morning! It was on her local ABC affiliate, so I didn't get to see it - but I'm still pretty excited anyway. Hopefully the station will post a video clip or something so those of us who don't live in Arkansas can see her segment.

I'll tell you what else is exciting about her television debut. Tisha was talking about some really great items that would be great to own or get for someone you know, and she's giving away all those gifts on her blog! Check out her giveaway post to see what you could win. I'm really liking that garlic roaster, or the digital picture keychain.

Of course, if you or your friends live in mobile homes or small apartments, you'll want to leave the winning to the rest of us. We wouldn't want you to have more stuff than you need, now would we? (I personally don't live in a small place, but I resemble that remark. Regardless of how much stuff we manage to accumulate, it's still fun to win something new.)