Stuff

Further evidence for Jay that digging in someone's trash, shopping at thrift stores and yard sales are good for the environment and my wallet. And I recycle, though Jay resents the fact that we have to pay $5 a month to recycle.

The Story of Stuff (long video but useful info)

M26: The Story of Stuff (like her review of above video)

The Stuff of Stuff

I Like Stuff

And what if all my STUFF was gone in an instant? Would I feel lighter or mourn for all the useless and untouched bits and pieces?

Used is hip now, isn't it? Lots of blogs now for reusing and redoing what you've already got, or found on the curb. When I need some "retail therapy," I head to my favorite thrift store, honest. I like stuff, too, but I'm cheap and I love giving something a new life. Here are some of my favorite blogs for inspiration of updating and improving previously loved treasures.

Remodelaholic

Better After

So Jessica, when can you come up and help me purge? I need some honest and harsh new eyes to evaluate the necessity of my stuff. And some empty boxes; anybody got empty moving boxes to haul my stuff away?

Still Breathing

If you perchance read my scattered posts through Google Reader or some such other blog feed thingie, I've updated our picture on the home page so you can see our cute kids and how old we look.

I love, love this soup. I make it often, which I don't think everyone else appreciates, but I'm the queen and I'm in charge. It's easy, quick and cheap. If I'm out of ham, I use a handful or two of bacon bits from the mega bag I get at Sam's club. Everything's better with bacon.

Read here. Great advice to spark your thrifty spirit. Go cheapies!

Tried this for dinner tonight. Really easy (Hello! 3 ingredients!) and tasted good. (I won't say yummy since it bugs me when adults use the word yummy in their blogs. I am 29ish, for Pete's sake!) Next time I might add just a smidge of sugar to cut the acidity of the tomatoes. The kids had Mac n Cheese since I don't think they'd appreciate the depth and complexity of the sauce.

The End.

Hip Factor

I'm not cheap, I'm a recessionista!

Circus Ole'

If you ever had a chance to meet my dad, you know he was an "interesting" soul. Full of corny jokes, he could talk to a rock and never met a stranger. Anyway, for some odd reason, Dad was fascinated with Cirque du Soleil. There used to be Cirque specials on PBS and Dad would tape them to watch with the grandkids. A 70+ old-timer and a pile of grubby littles ones staring at the TV, oohs and aahs from all of them.

So Quidam came to Cincinnati in the fall of 2006. Of course we had to get tickets and take Mom and Dad. We had dinner at Chipotle beforehand (a favorite of mine until I saw how many points one burrito is! Uhh, NO!) and then headed to the big blue and yellow tent on the riverfront. We got a decent parking spot since Dad was handicapped (yeah, in the head!) and he and Jay got to sit in the front row. Mom and I wrestled with Park and Merr up near the roof, but still enjoyed it. Obviously it had some weird plot that I, in my supreme analytical and educated mind, thought I'd figured out. As we left, I asked an usher what the story was and I was totally off. (I blame the loss of brain cells on the pregnancies.) Good memories, especially digging cups out of the trash for our souvenirs. Those things were $8 a piece and I've got soap at home!

So when Jay said that Cirque was coming to NKU's new Bank of Kentucky Center, I knew we'd have to go again. I wanted to see the new Arena that Jay'd worked on and honor/remember Dad with another Cirque show. Saltimbanco had a plot, which we totally missed, and it wasn't as good as Quidam for us. Parker enjoyed it, especially the bicycle stunts and Spencer was fascinated with the lights and music and noises. Merritt, of course, was the terror. She "shared" my chocolate ice cream with hot fudge sauce (in the dark) and then Spencer spit up all over my cute new Halloween tee due to his first ear infection and bronchitis. When we hit daylight, man! I went in thinking I was sooo cute and looking good for my honey and left with brown spots all over my kakhi capris and dried/congealed yak all over my owl: Mom=NOT hot. Plus, no cute Cirque cups to pilfer from the trash! I actually had to pay for the souvenirs this time.

I love you, Dad, and miss you. Hope you enjoyed our show, as well as the show down on the arena floor.

Too Tired for Tag

My obscene OLDER sister, Jessica, tagged me, even though I'm way too tired to chase anyone else around to tag back. So I'll just be "IT" forever. Anyhow, here's my taggy answers to the hard-hitting questions:

Five Favorite Places I've Ever Lived:
1. Our little house here, right now, full of monkeys and dirty socks and poopy panties.
2. Our little newlywed duplex in Lexington, KY were Parker was made and born.
3. Provo, UT, where I had a blast, felt too cool for words and met all my peeps.
4. The tobacco farm on Georgetown Rd, Lexington, KY. Every kid should grow up on a farm.
5. My nanny & papaw's house, Winchester, KY. I was there often enough growing up to call it home.

Five Favorite Snacks:
1. Ice cream--Chocolate made with Special Dark at Bruster's
2. A big basket of fresh, RIPE strawberries, straight from the farm and not the grocery
3. Bread-crusty, yeasty, homemade bread, preferably not from my kitchen
4. Chocolate Cake-moist, big piece with homemade icing
5. Dove Dark Chocolate

Five Favorite Jobs:
1. Computer Tech for Fayette County Schools (easy, nice hours)
2. Public Librarian (loved my co-workers and the wacky public)
3. Temp at UK (summers home from BYU)
4. Substitute Teacher (no planning, crack the whip and keep 'em quiet)
5. Mom?

If I had a million dollars:
First, I'd buy my dream house with a big kitchen, butler's pantry and plenty of storage and a garage we could actually park cars in. Second, I'd get Jay his dream car (which changes frequently) and me a shiny red five-speed Jaguar (two-door!) and a new Toyota Sienna, loaded, for hauling the monkeys around when I had to. Third, I'd pay off Jay's student loans and then Mom's debts and take care of Jay's parents and then save the rest for missions and college and orthodontic work when the monkeys are older.

Five Things I Love:
1. Tickling and snuggling my monkeys
2. NAPPING!!
3. Holding hands and smooching my honey
4. Shopping, most especially thrift stores & yard sales
5. EATING

Five Places I Loved Visiting:
1. Savannah, GA--I'd move there in a heartbeat. Beautiful!
2. Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, DC, etc.
3. Nauvoo and Carthage
4. Las Vegas, Baby!
5. Pensacola Beach, FL

Five People I Tag:
Umm, see intro above. Over and out.

Cheap Thrills

You may not believe this, but it's true. Yes, yes, I kid you not. People can change and I'm evidence of that. I've become a devout follower of tightwaddery. (Is that a word?) Yes, moi! I loves me a great bargain. And I'm not talking about the sale rack of Nordstroms or Dillard's or Macy's. Noooo. Not even the clearance rack of Target, though I still like to browse that one. Nope. I proudly proclaim that the vast majority of our clothes, shoes and toys come from Goodwill, St. Vincent dePaul, yard sales and various rummage sales. And don't forget Freecycle! (This does not include Jay. His skin's too good for "used" clothes, so he rarely gets any new clothes since they cost too much.) And it's so much fun! It's all about the hunt, baby, and how cheap I got my name-brand ensembles compared to other's, and they paid full retail! Crazy.

Just walk through our little cozy home and I can tell you, though it's tacky and crass, where I got which items and for how little. He he hehehe. (Insert evil witch laugh here.) And even better than cheap is FREE. Case in point, our TVs.

Now the little TV in the kitchen my parents got me in high school. (Pretty sad, but in our house of five growing up, we had 8 TVs and phones in all our rooms.) So that TV still works and keeps me company as I, when the mood strikes, cook or clean in my kitchen; never at the same time or on the same day, of course. TV #2 is the massive, hideous monstrosity in our basement--the 35" Jay bought in his single days when he had money to spend and only himself to spend it on. It's dated and as deep as it is wide but it still works and we enjoy it. And then we've got #3, a FREE TV from some friends that they didn't have room for. (Thanks again, Matt and Angie! We love you!) Now we replaced the remote with a $5 universal one and there's a slight whine but we just turn up the volume to drown that out. Add rabbit ears to all the sets and we're good to go!

So Jay comes home a week or so ago and says that his co-workers claim they get more channels with the HDTV converter box. Say it ain't so?! Alas, in our frugality, we'd eliminated cable TV soon after we moved here for law school, aka livin' and lovin' on student loans. Plus, in case you haven't noticed, there's a lot of trash out there on TV. It was a painful withdrawal from FoodTV and HGTV, but I just get my fix when I'm at Mom's. So more channels? Show me the way!

Jay hooks us up and SCORE! Double the channels and for FREE! It's like cable for cheapies. Looove it. Now instead of 2 PBS stations, we now get 12, yes 12 various PBS stations. AND at least 2 of those are all-day cartoons. Now it's just like we've got Nick Jr. or Disney, but it's free. And, all three old TVs, well at least 2 until we buy another box, have better pictures and sound. That little whine is almost gone. So life's good--it feels like we've got new TVs, new channels and we didn't spend anything. (Besides buying the boxes, duh.) Makes me want to kick Jay for letting them sit in the sack in the basement for 3 months.