Friday, April 17, 2009

NaBloPoMo

Apparently April is/was NaBloPoMo month, and I didn't know.

Lovely weather. Redbuds are blooming, forsythia waning, looks like the lilacs escaped the freeze.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Random notes

National Geographic doesn't do well when wet. Spilled tea = wrinkles and cracks.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Redbook test

I accidentally subscribed to Redbook this month, while entering one of their contests. Since it was just $6.xx, and I've already gotten the first issue, I'm doing a test.

Will Redbook have enough coupons* to pay for the subscription?
* Coupons that we'll actually use; other stuff won't count.

Stay tuned.

Month 1: The April issue did have a coupon insert with the following:
  • $1.50 and $2.00 on Tena
  • 75c on French's French Fried Onions
  • $1 and $2.25 on Bounty paper towels, only good at Target (*)
  • $1 on Glade infusion sprays
  • 55c on Red Baron singles
  • $1 on various Ocean Spray drinks
  • $1 and $1 on Johnsonville sausage
  • $1 on Marzetti dressing
  • 75c on Shout
  • 65c on Domino sugar (*)
Plus a $2 Cetaphil coupon in an ad. (*)

Overall total: $16.42
Usable total: Maybe $3.65. Maybe not; it depends on when we need paper towels again. I'd love to stock up, but we don't have a lot of storage space for bulky stuff.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

The amazing growing mending pile

My pile of "Stuff to Fix" is getting bigger and bigger. I may have to break out the sewing box tonight.

It started with a second belt for El Burrito, now that he's almost outgrown the first one; navy, since Hobby Lobby was out of the cotton web and JoAnn's Fabric only had navy, no khaki.

My purse has been having issues for a while - a zipper and the nearby seam coming unstitched. Things are getting worse, so that needs to be dealt with.

So I stop at Hobby Lobby for a curved needle, because the zipper job will be a frustrating piece of work. And HL had khaki cotton web, so I bought a yard, plus more D-rings.

Found out on a rainy day last week that the umbrella has two ribs torn loose from the fabric.

Last weekend, I noticed that one of our blue HyVee shopping bags has a loose seam in one corner. Checked the others, and there are a couple more seam issues. For a $1 bag, they're doing well, and the fix seems like it'll be easy enough. My first time sewing "non-woven polypropylene" - we'll see how it goes.

And today I noticed that my red Acme Workhorse bag has some loose stitching on one inside corner.

I may be sewing while I watch NCIS tonight. At least I've got a thimble now - that cotton web can be tough going.

Did I mention? - no sewing machine. This is all hand work. Something else for the When We Move list.

Library Day!

Another library trip.

Returned one book (Big Box Reuse - interesting read, especially with an empty Circuit City, Linens & Things, and Ethan Allen within shouting distance, plus a MegaMarket that's been abandoned for 5+ years). Checked out 5 books and 3 DVDs, I think (research for muffins & scones). Grand total: 37 items out, 9 on hold (3 of those unreleased - I'm #37! on the last Percy Jackson list).

We spent $6.50 at the sale, and could have scored some Calvin & Hobbes if I could remember what I already have. El Burrito's book-sale buddy wasn't there, so he was pretty disappointed. It got worse when he saw a penny on the floor at the checkout - he tried to pick it up and managed instead to push it under the edge of the counter, where it's apparently going to be for a while. I didn't think there was that much space, with the carpet, but there was. The circ desk assistant looked for it, after he started jumping up and down and asking for his "quarter" but it's a goner. I gave him a penny from my purse as a distraction.

Then we stopped at Shelter Garden on the way home. Things looked good, in spite of the possible hard freeze last night. Got some pictures, and El Burrito had too much fun. He splashed in a couple of the ponds (got close to falling in to one) and tried to snag some pennies out of one of the small ponds. He's a little perturbed that there's all these "pennies" laying around, and he can't pick them up.