Thursday, May 21, 2009

A math problem

The gas company sends us 12 self-stick address labels per year (being too cheap to spring for envelopes). We use 12 address labels per year to pay the bill (keeping the PO in business).

So how, I wonder, did we end up with 27 labels sitting in the bill organizer? Aside from having an extra year+ worth, it doesn't add up. Using 7 more this year leaves 20, which isn't a multiple of 12. Either we lost 4 somewhere along the way, or we've gained 8 from spawning labels.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Library day (5-19-09)

So, the stats for today: Returned two books (mine). Checked out one book, one DVD (El Burrito). Talked El Burrito out of checking out a Suze Orman book (strange fascination of his) and Flotsametrics (which I have on my to-read list, but not quite yet - El B. was drawn to the rubber duckie on the front cover). Spent $2.50 at the sale cart. Missed out on another book because I had to chase a certain someone, and someone else picked up the book before I got back. It's on my library hold list now, too.

Right now I have 31 items out - 13 of those are for El Burrito - and 6 on hold.

And I've finished both volumes of Isaac Asimov's autobiography. Now it's on to the memoir, I, Asimov, which covers his whole life, including the last 15 years after his autobiography was written. These are big books, and daunting to look at. In Memory Yet Green (Volume I, 1920-1954) ran 732 pages, but In Joy Still Felt (Volume II, 1954-1978) was a whopping 828 pages. The memoir is around 450 or 500. But don't be scared away, because these books read pretty quickly. The man could write, for sure. The autobio. is written in scenes and snippets, so it's never a long dull plod (unlike some books I've read. Charles Dickens is a prime example.)

Friday, May 15, 2009

Progress!

Cleaning/decluttering progress today. I hunted down all the random bags of packing peanuts last night, and DH consolidated them. Ended up with three big leaf-bags full. I was going to take all three to the UPS Store today, but could only fit two in the car and still have room for me and El Burrito. So I kept a bag for our use (was going to keep half a bag, but didn't tell DH that before he bagged everything, and didn't want to fool with it any more last night). The other two went to UPS Store today.

Also, I got out the bag of "clothes to donate" this morning, wrote down an inventory of it, and packed it into two shopping bags. After the UPS Store, we stopped in at a local charity thrift store and donated everything (except my good shopping bags, which got raves from two of the workers). Forgot to take the shoes I had marked to donate, but we can make another trip.

And only spent $2 at the store, on two jigsaw puzzles. One is for me, a 1500-piece illustration of North American marine life. The other is one that El Burrito latched on to, a 550-piece picture of some vintage toys. He's enamored of the fire truck in the photo, and seemed to think there's actually a truck in the box. He's been distracted this afternoon, but I'll have to explain it all to him later. And he's still a bit bothered by the loss of his favorite Hot Wheels two weeks ago.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Coupon day

Coupons, coupons.

I've been printing pages and pages of coupons from online sites (mostly $1 coupons, yay). Found some good ones for Kraft and Kelloggs (who are tempting me with their Star Trek promotions). And now I'm clipping and sorting the coupons from yesterday's paper, plus the coupon inserts I got from the library's coupon-swapping bin. Most of them will go right back to the swap bin, but I did find a $1 coupon for Smuckers.

I just wish the coupons printed faster. Don't know if it's the dial-up connection or the PC, but it's ssssssssllllooooooowwwwww going. Takes forever to spool to the printer, and Firefox has crashed three times so far.

I got the other coupons sorted over the weekend. Weeded out everything we won't use and left that pile in the swap bin, then sorted everything I kept into categories with paper clips. May move to an accordion folder (small one), because I don't think the clips are going to work out well.

Friday, May 8, 2009

Bits of progress

Little bits of progress today:

  • The recycling pile is growing
  • I found the $5 Walgreens coupon that expires tomorrow
  • I got our address off of a catalog mailing list
  • Called the nearest UPS Store and found out that they do accept packing peanuts to be reused. So I can get rid of at least two trash bags of peanuts (I'm keeping some to pack my fragile stuff when we move).
Now I just need my allergies to go away, and convince Coupons.com to print.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Tuesday again

Yeah, it's been a while. Did anyone notice?

Anyway. Another library trip today. I returned two very very very overdue books, and didn't check anything out. Which makes today's numbers 29 items out, five on hold.

Then I spent $10.50 at the book sale. It's the first Tuesday of the month, so it was a big sale. I missed the Ansel Adams calendars (El Burrito was being over-active), but I got one book of Frederic Remington prints that I almost bid on in an online auction a while back, and one of Charles Russell, plus some other assorted stuff. El Burrito found two tractor books, and was happy.