Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Not so Extreme Couponing
There was a time in my life when I had nothing. My husband and I had both lost our jobs and was forced to live off of credit cards. That only gets you so far when you don't even have enough money to pay the bill. This is something I wouldn't wish on anyone. It has taken literally years to bounce back from that. And truthfully, we're still coming back from it. Finally, after a lot of prayer, and trusting God, Tim and I are on our feet. It has been a long road. At the worst, we had to take cold showers because we couldn't pay the gas bill, and I sold cakes to buy groceries. But I tell you this my friend, don't feel sorry for me, God has never left me without what I needed. Through all of this we have a new outlook on life. Also a new look on what is important. When Tim and I moved to Florida, we decided this would be a new life. Start over and hand in hand embark on this adventure. The story on how we got here was a blog post in itself. One thing I promised myself when we came here was never again would I allow myself to get into that situation. Never again would we be broke anxiously awaiting the next paycheck. It's really no way to live and all I really want is security. One day I decided to check out the extreme couponing show in TLC. It was like lightening striking! I can do that! I don't want to live in a grocery store, and I don't have a need for 10,000 tubes of toothpaste, but I can scale that down to my specific needs. So, I started doing research. Most of the ladies on that show go through hundreds of sunday news inserts a week...Well, lets scale that down for my family, I buy 3, sometimes 4. My first trip to the store was so much fun. I bought enough cleaning product to last 6 months for around $20. Now, I have a closet dedicated to my stockpile, and I don't have to buy my husband razors for a year, and I have enough shampoo to last just as long. Never again will I not be able to afford shampoo. My family and I will have security. My husband has a good job, and I get to make cake for fun, not survival. And I will continue to coupon in my scaled to realistic fashion. I praise God for getting me through that time, and I won't ever take his blessings for granted. If any of you think that couponing is ridiculous, you've never been poor enough to try anything. You've never really been without. Having that little stockpile is so comforting. And the best part, anyone can do it. The Key? Stay organized. It took about a $15 dollar investment to get started and $3 a week for newspapers. I only buy the stuff that I use and need. Shampoo/Conditioner, toothpaste and tooth brushes (I keep it to a year supply), dog treats, cleaning products...any extra, I will gladly donate to homeless shelters. Food stuff is about the same. Keep it to a year supply, and donate extra. Pay it forward.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Never thought I'd have to explain that to an adult
As I've told you, I work on an island at a bakery, cafe, and coastal store. Yesterday, I was working in the store part, when two English women came up to me holding a sand dollar painted with palm trees....one of many kitchy florida crappy things we sell.
"Excuse me, what is this?" they asked
."That's a magnet" I replied
"No, I mean we saw these on the beach, they weren't painted, but they had this pretty star carving on it"
So now I was amused. Were these ladies really asking me what a sand dollar was? oh jeeze.
"Yes, that's a sand dollar...were the ones you saw on the beach White? or Brown? The white ones are dead, you can take all you want. The brown ones are still alive, so you have to leave them." I explained.
"No, these were carved, with a star symbol, and they had little slots in them...somebody carved a design in them. Who carves them and puts them back in the water?" they asked
"Um....God?"
I further explained to them that sand dollars were naturally like that, that there was nobody carving them. Oh lord. On a brighter note..they were so excited about these, that they bought a couple of our overpriced glitter sand dollars for 15 bucks a pop.
I really just wanted to go into the kitchen and bake.
"Excuse me, what is this?" they asked
."That's a magnet" I replied
"No, I mean we saw these on the beach, they weren't painted, but they had this pretty star carving on it"
So now I was amused. Were these ladies really asking me what a sand dollar was? oh jeeze.
"Yes, that's a sand dollar...were the ones you saw on the beach White? or Brown? The white ones are dead, you can take all you want. The brown ones are still alive, so you have to leave them." I explained.
"No, these were carved, with a star symbol, and they had little slots in them...somebody carved a design in them. Who carves them and puts them back in the water?" they asked
"Um....God?"
I further explained to them that sand dollars were naturally like that, that there was nobody carving them. Oh lord. On a brighter note..they were so excited about these, that they bought a couple of our overpriced glitter sand dollars for 15 bucks a pop.
I really just wanted to go into the kitchen and bake.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Jersey Shore member need not apply
I'm both amused and annoyed by some men. I've never been popular, or pretty per-Se. I have a husband who adores me, and I'm lucky to have him. However, there are some men out there who really think they're doing me a favor by flirting with me. That's laughable. Not to mention uncomfortable. I notice it more since I lost the weight. Mostly it's men who look like they just got off the bus from the Jersey Shore. Are they trying to give fatty a thrill? Jeeze. Growing up I never got much attention from boys..and I was actually ok with that. I had a ton of guy friends, and I was fine with that too. Maybe that's why I now spend so much time in the burlesque circuit...because I have the maturity level of most teenage men. But I digress...please...Joey D....Stop hitting on me..I'm not interested. I love my husband, and unless you're Chris Evans...or Johnny Depp...or Robert Downey Jr....I'm not looking to broaden my horizons...nor will I give you free shit. FYI if you are any of THOSE men listed...I got permission from Tim :)
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
It can't always be sunshine and sausage.
Yesterday Tim and I went to the beach, it was beautiful, windy, but beautiful. On a typical day the waves are fairly calm and the water is mostly clear....not yesterday. I think it was because of the tropical storm out in the gulf. These waves were huge (to us). Definitely surfable, but we got in anyway. It was all we could do to be able to stand up and recover after diving into the wave. It was a lot of fun, however today I'm exhausted from my ass beating.
From what I hear, fall has made her appearance back home in Mo. It's bittersweet for me, because fall is my favorite season. While it's 70 degrees there, it's still in the upper 80's and low 90's. I'm told that it will remain hot till October. There's pros to that too...like swimming until Halloween, and going to the beach. It's definitely an adjustment. But since we chose to move to Florida, I guess I'll quit whining about it. I can't really complain that I'll never have to deal with snow and ice again. I can't complain that "cold weather" means 50-60 degrees. In retrospect, I don't have much to complain about.
From what I hear, fall has made her appearance back home in Mo. It's bittersweet for me, because fall is my favorite season. While it's 70 degrees there, it's still in the upper 80's and low 90's. I'm told that it will remain hot till October. There's pros to that too...like swimming until Halloween, and going to the beach. It's definitely an adjustment. But since we chose to move to Florida, I guess I'll quit whining about it. I can't really complain that I'll never have to deal with snow and ice again. I can't complain that "cold weather" means 50-60 degrees. In retrospect, I don't have much to complain about.
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