To be or not to be... Frugal

I love a good deal. Always have, probably always will. I try to buy on sale and compare prices from place to place. I've even gotten a couple "free-after-rebate" deals from Rite Aid. I often clip coupons when I get them in the mail, but it hasn't really made a difference. I haven't found any real good deals that way, so lately I've been lazy. Just trying to save money other ways. A couple weeks ago one of my friends mentioned the savings she was getting by using coupons and the advice of a blog named Frugal in Virginia. (Thanks Kristen!) I decided to give "couponing" a try again. I bought a newspaper on Sunday...and there were NO coupons! What a disappointment. However, I tried not to let that deter me. I put Frugal in Virginia on my google reader and another site $5 dinners. Then I started looking on the Internet for coupons, using links from these two blogs and a couple of I'd heard of before. I found quite a few out there!

This weekend I even got to get in on a triple coupon event at Bloom! I was able to purchase all of this for under $30, with a savings of about $40! Not quite up to the deals my blog "friends" are finding, but at least it's a start. I figure if I can do something to help us save more, it's worth the effort. I'll let you know in a couple of weeks if I'm still continuing on my quest.

And the winner is...

...Sara Mincy!!!!

Sara please e-mail me with your address and I will get the gift out to you. Thanks for all the great comments!

Happy Valentine's Day!

My Husband - The Explorer

Roderick has been in the mood to explore lately. A couple of weekends ago he looked at a map of the hurricane evacuation route and decided to visit the places he'd never been. About 2 1/2 hours later we ended in Hopewell, had a shake, turned around and headed to his basketball game. However, had we not had the game jerseys in our car, I'm pretty confident we would have gone further!

The quote before this picture was a classic adventurer's quote...

"This is SO exciting! I love exploring..." Roderick Dunning

Last weekend, Roderick had a cold so he was planning on staying inside. It was a gorgeous day so I mentioned maybe he should go out to at least get some sun and fresh air. Around 2 in the afternoon we hopped in the car for a "little" drive. Well, we started driving and ended here.

We left with only an atlas, a bible, a Hebrew grammar book, and the clothes on our backs. BUT what a fun adventure we had! (We did stop to get a few necessities! I've already put a small "necessities bag" in the car just in case my adventure-struck husband decides to go on another fun adventure spontaneously!) Neither of us had ever been to New York City and we loved exploring the city. We stayed in a hotel in Newark, NJ for the night at a GREAT price and took the NJ Transit into NYC. (Thanks Dad for finding us deals and directions online since we did NO planning beforehand! We only toured NYC for about 4 hours, but we walked a lot and saw a lot. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

A little love for my blog friends...a Giveaway!

Have I mentioned Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday? Well it is!! So in honor of Valentine's Day tomorrow, I am doing my first and possibly last giveaway. I want to show a little love to all the friends, old and new, and family I am able to connect with through this blog. It's not much, but just a little something fun. I may add a little more later...

The giveaway includes (but is not limit to... = ) ) a box of Sweethearts, a heart shaped soap, 2 Valentine notepads and at least one Rice crispy Kiss.

Be sure to comment quickly...I'm planning on picking a name randomly tomorrow, February 14th, in the evening sometime around 10 or 11. I want to make sure my special friend gets their gift close to Valentine's Day. I know that there are many of you that have never commented, so nows your chance! (If you don't know how to comment...call me I'll try to explain it to you! = ) ) Oh, and did I mention family is definitely eligible for the giveaway! I'd love to hear what you are planning on doing for Valentine's Day. Thanks for reading my random notes, it's so much fun getting to know all of you through the world of technology! Happy Valentine's Day...a day early!!!

The Lost Has Been Found!

We got a call this week saying our lost camera has been found! It's in the mail and on its way home. We had replaced it with another since Circuit City was going under and they were offering it at a great price. (AND I love pictures too much to be without a camera for too long! ) Now Roderick gets a new camera as well. He is SO excited! Unfortunately they only had one color available. Good thing my husband is manly enough to admit he doesn't mind plum (purple)! Now to put some marking on them so we don't get confused.

::Altered clipboard:: Fun Accessories::

This summer Melody and I found some neat clipboards at a yard sale. We'd planned on doing some creating together, but we haven't gotten around to it. So, she asked for me to just use it to create an altered clipboard for her birthday this year. I've never attempted one before, but it was a lot of fun! I found a ton of ideas on the Internet at splitcoatstampers.com. (When I said tons I meant tons...there are 128 pages with at least 10 clipboards on each page!!!)

{Front}

{Back}

(Warning: If you attempt this Beware when you put on the modge podge it will become very wrinkly. I thought I'd ruined the whole thing! The wrinkles didn't go away completely, but they became unnoticeable after the modge podge was dry.) Here's a few other very simple quick accessories you can add to any gift. It's inspiring me to create more. Of to create...

{Coaster Clipboard}

{Altered Clips}