Posts Tagged ‘year’

Thinking happy happy thoughts

Thursday, January 15th, 2009

NOT! I swear when it rains it pours. I awoke to a huge puddle of water in front of my house this morning.  Now, the temp is -8 with a windchill of -20, so  I definitely should not have had standing water.  I called Bill freaked out and he had me call the village.  I think it is a water main break.  However, nobody bothered to come to my door.  Instead, they just turned off my water.  I just realized it when I tried to make Will his diluted version of juice.  Needless to say, I am ticked.  I called the village, and they won’t give me an ETA at all.  I seriously would love to know if I need to send Bill out for water or what.  I seriously am trying not to be highly irritated right now. I could be working on things like Increasing Blog Article Quality or doing some of my freelance work. Instead, I am standing in my front window watching my village dig a huge hole in my street and trying to figure out what to make for dinner with no water.  Also, try explaining to a 5 year old why she can’t flush the toilet after we have spent 2 years drilling it into her head that she needs to flush the toilet.

I know there are way bigger things in life I should be concerned about, but man this is irritating.

Holiday and After Holiday Shopping

Sunday, January 11th, 2009

I had some great experiences shopping this year before and after the holidays.  Now, I am still not sure where there is a local TJ Maxx by me.  However, I did some shopping at the one in Wisconsin by my family after Christmas.  It is was just liked I remembered — great items for low prices.  With the economy the way it is, we all need to start shopping at places like this.  You get the same quality items — just at a way better price!

Now, the one of the best shopping experiences I had this holiday season was at Marshalls.  We had a holiday party to go to on December 20th.  Now, I personally hate shopping in the month of December, because well, it sucks.  However, my wonderful little girl outgrew her Christmas dress!  It fit at Thansgiving, and it looked like she grew 2 inches from then!  Instead of panicking, Madison and I headed over to Marshalls.  Now, this was high holiday shopping time, and I was impressed.  They had a great selection of kids clothes that were marked, so it was super easy to find what we needed.  The fitting rooms were clean and large enough for me to go in the room with Madison.  On the way to the fitting room, I found shoes.  I was able to try on about 20 different pairs that I liked.  I loved that they had the little foot stockings at the end of each aisle for you to use when you forgot to bring socks.   Being the weekend before Christmas, I was seriously concerned about checkout.  However, they had a great system going and every register was open.  (Nothing irritates me more when you go to a store that is really busy and they only have one or two registers open, and they don’t open any more).  We had a great experience on Marshalls, and I will definitely be going there for more presents and items for my kids.

What are your favorite places to shop and why?

Sears Gift Card Winner

Monday, January 5th, 2009

The winner of my Sears gift card giveaway was Oona! I am super excited for her, and according to her comment, she was going to get a toaster. I have a feeling that she’ll have some money left over after that so hopefully she can get some some snow chains or something nice for herself.

I’d also like to thank all the people who entered the contest.  I love doing giveaways, and I was glad to see so many people who entered.  Keep reading, because I plan on having quite a few new, great giveaways coming up for this year!

Be Fire Smart and Stay Safe

Saturday, December 20th, 2008

Now is the time of the year to talk with your kids about fire safety.  With many of us stuck in our homes (see the post before this about being snowed in) and having real Christmas trees, this is a talk we all need to have.  Even if you don’t have a real tree, your kids definitely need to know what to do if a fire would happen to break out.  I know that everyone thinks it won’t happen to them.  However, I am sure that the people who have house fires think that also.

Liberty Mutual has a great website dedicated to being fire smart.  This is a great way to start a conversation with your kids.  There are some great forms on this site that help you develop your fire plan and to just help you start the conversation.  Even though my kids are still pretty little, this is a conversation we started having with Madison last year already.  They even have sections especially for children, parents, and educators.  You are also able to search your local firehouses and learn about them too!

Be safe this holiday season and make sure you check out BeFireSmart just in case.

Big Top Circus aka My House

Thursday, December 11th, 2008

Does your home feel like a circus too?  I know mine does.  There are many changes I am hoping to do in 2009 that will make it even less of a zoo here.  First, I am hoping to become more organized.  Right now, we have paperwork from one end of the house to the other.  Instead of just stacking it and then filing it when I am good and ready, my goal is to actually file it right away.  Then I don’t have to worry about losing it.  Next, I am hoping to save more.  This will be interesting and hard.  With Bill’s new car and possible school tutition for Madison, that may wipe us clean in a crappy economy.  However, we’ve made it this far. I already cut coupons and if need be, we will start cutting the extras like cable and my daily newspaper.  However, I am keeping my hopes and I think 2009 will be a great year!

What are your plans to make your life less of a circus in 2009?