today's free stuff 3/28/09

free emergen-c blue sample
free health food pet food
free sample products such as notecards from vista print
free gift for trying on any bra at aerie stores

my little escape artist

my cats are indoor only cats. while they may have free roam of most of our house, there are certain doors we keep closed unless one of us is in there namely the laundry room, basement, and attic. we are very careful to keep the girls out of these rooms in general although i do let them join me when i am spending time in attic with my shoes. most of the time, they are in the same room as us or sleeping in the bedroom, so its easy to notice if one of our girls is missing. twice in the last week, my eldest, belle, has managed to sneak past us and hide. tuesday, she spend most of the night in the laundry room after dan put his clothes in the dryer before going to bed. i woke up and not immediately seeing her went looking for her and was surprised to hear her meows coming from our laundry room. we figured this was a fluke since she's only gone missing once in the almost 3 years we have been living here. but then, last night she managed to pull a houdini again. i've been conducting my rock candy experiment in my basement(completely covered of course). i feel the need to check the progress of my rock candy at least once a day. unbeknownst to me, she slipped past me into the basement. maybe a half hour or so later, i started hearing noises coming from the basement. sure enough, she was waiting at the door to be let out. i have no idea what she had gotten into down there, but the top of her head was covered in dust and dirt. sadly for both of us, this meant we both got to endure one of our least favorite tasks. i got to give her a bath. she whines the whole time. its so funny as kitty my other cat will sit outside of the bathroom watching the whole time merely glad she isn't the one in the tub. i did take a pic of how pitiful she looked but only with my cell phone camera hence the poor quality.

i want these badly

paper origami crane earrings from smutopia's etsy page


i saw these super cute paper origami earrings, and felt they were calling my name. i am in love and i think so will some of my friends will be too. especially for the super reasonable price of $7 currently with free shipping. and, she says on her site she can customize the color for you. i like the green personally, but might go for blue more. that's right only $7 for those unique earrings and free shipping. what a deal. that's one of the things i love about etsy. you can get one of a kind items that are often adorable, and fashion forward and support an artisan. as a budding artist myself(hopefully, one day, i will sell some of my photography.), i feel good about buying goods from the artist him or herself.
smutopia also has nice stone jewelry. i like stone jewelry instead of gemstone jewelry in general. not only is it more affordable to get the real deal, but i tend to think its not so tacky. all of her wares seem to be very reasonably priced with the most expensive thing i see being a necklace and earring set for $24. and, i am smitten with her seaglass ring and her drops of fire ring.
additionally, smutopia has a behind the scenes blog and is having a giveaway through 4/2/09 at midnight for the earrings which have my panties all in a bunch. i'm now a follower of her blog. she seems to have frequent giveaways. i'm also kind of excited to see her wares before she even uploads them to her store.
i am currently trying to save myself as bills have to be paid and not spend money shopping right now(yes, even grocery shopping) which is why i haven't ordered them yet(well, that and there is always the hope that i might win that giveaway.). but one day with more money and hopefully one day soon, i plan on plunking down some money on her products.

today's free stuff 3/27/09

free sample of jergens natural glow
free jeffrey dunsbergen art poster
free entry into armstrong tools contest and t-shirt
free jiffy mix recipe book
free renew dry conditioner
free sample of eucerin lotion
free olive recipe book
free sample of pantene pro fusions
free sample of stencil material
free 3 scoop sundae at friendly's they email you a coupon

is march madness over yet? please, i beg you.

i love sports. i love nfl football. i like the nba, soccer, tennis, the olympics, etc. but college basketball is boring to me especially when it saturates my tv. one game maybe i could take, but 63 in a matter of weeks is way too much for me. but, then march madness commits the cardinal sin of interrupting my tv shows. thursday night, i watch survivor, csi, and eleventh hour. and, my boyfriend and i watch hell's kitchen together. this may make me sound like a tv junkie, but so what. after all those years of being a party girl, i figure i am just making up for lost time. plus, how am i supposed to type on my blog while reading a book? so, i am searching for tv shows to watch and nothing. i am not going to watch american idol. you can't make me. hundreds of channels and nothing good on. egads, i sound like andy rooney.
and, i'm tired of the silly boys at work talking about their brackets. so, please let this be over.

as a note, this is a 2nd go at this post since i lost the first one while blogger was down. i probably missed a bit.

today's free stuff 3/26/09

free attune probiotic bar
free subscription to interview magazine
free go red red dress pin
free printout for mini body lotion at victoria secret in store only
free digital tv converter box coupon
free advanced screening for hbo's grey's garden in select cities only
free advanced screening tix for adventureland in select cities only
free sample of zyrtec
free sample of old spice bodywash
free subscription to guitar player magazine

necessity is the mother of invention

i am convinced i have become a queen of making it work. as someone who tends towards spontaneous and last minute inspiration, this tends to mean sometimes odd substitutions when baking, etc. this week, i got a wild hair up my hindparts that i wanted to make some rock candy. i started making the candy before realizing my fruit flavoring options were limited. i only had pure lemon extract. ok, so looks like i would be making lemon rock candy. well, who wants uncolored rock candy? but, the only food coloring i had left was red. ah ha, my solution: i tinted it pink and i'll say my rock candy is pink lemonade flavored. i told travis my solution, and he couldn't stop laughing(but was not surprised). i promise i will post about the rock candy, but not until it is finished which sadly will be sometime between saturday and monday.
this is not the only time i've had to make it work(why can i not say that without hearing tim gunn of project runway saying it in my head?).
some other examples of making it work:

• no buttermilk in the house(and frankly i didn't want to buy something just to use in one recipe) just add a tbsp of white vinegar to regular milk
• overslept and no time to wash your hair. apply some baby powder to your scalp and hair and thoroughly pat away, so it doesn't look like you're trying to impersonate casper the friendly ghost.
• who hasn't patched a small hole in the wall with toothpaste?
• i've run out of ibuprofen and had a headache. i did however have a sample bottle of pamprin. it is mainly tylenol anyway. guess what it worked, but for some reason guys won't take it even after i show them the active ingredients.
• carrying a small purse with no room for my coupon holder, so i made my grocery list on the front of a junk mail envelope and stuffed the coupons i thought i might need for the trip inside the envelope.
• no gift labels on hand and no time to print off some cute ones from the net. cut some scrap of the gift wrap you're using into a rectangle. fold it over and write on the inside. tape or tie to the box. now no confusion about who it belongs to.

these are just a few examples of how i've made it work in the last few weeks. how about you? i'd love to hear some other people's creative solutions.

oops i did it again

i was desperately trying to improve my the appearance of my blog. i really want to find a 3 column blog layout that i like, so that the right column isn't so overwhelming long. in the process of testing a blog layout, i accidentally deleted several of my widgets. oopsie. so, i am trying to fix everything. please be patience with me as i get this fixed. and, if anyone has any suggestions on 3 column blog layouts, i'd love to check them out. thanks.

hair today gone tomorrow

*warning this post includes extremely unflattering pics of me. these are appropriate as i am trying to show the trauma(maybe this is an exaggeration but just maybe.) i have experienced.

last night, i experienced serious big hair. i mean no denying i am a southern girl kind of big hair. see what i'm talking about.

i know for some time my hair needed a cut. as it has grown out, i feel that i've run out styling options to make it cute. it was that in between length that is so annoying. so, i decided i was done putting it off and would go get it cut. i'm still trying to save a buck, so i thought i would go to hair cuttery. now, i have developed a few rules to finding a good hair stylist. i had to come up with this as a result of having a previous severely bad haircut my senior year in high school. this was more years ago than i care to mention, but i remember it like it was yesterday. i was a foolish teenager and friends was in its first season. i wanted the aniston. nevermind that this style in no way works with my hair texture. the hair stylist didn't bother to warn me though. she should have stopped me. i have since learned that a good stylist will stop me from my foolishness and simply tell me that my ideas won't work for me. i appreciate that since i sometimes fall victim to wishful thinking. i have problem hair. my hair is super thick(given the chance, it sometimes will almost stand on end) and its wavy. not cute. never cute. i have to work to make it look good. after the stylist attempted to give me an aniston, i was so horrified by the results that i cried and begged my mother to allow me to stay home from school the next day. i didn't even go to a stylist for almost 3 years after that experience.

after college, i found my hair frau(she was from germany , so that was her nickname amongst my friends. give me a break it was the late 90s after seinfeld and friends everyone had a nickname.) she had all the features of a good stylist. she had great hair. i always place more trust in a stylist in someone who has a great style. she talked to me while she was styling my hair. and, i don't mean it was forced conversation. i mean if i am going to be spending 2 hours in her chair then, i want to be entertained. i like it when my stylist is like a good bartender tells me her gossip and i tell her mine. but, alas i cannot justify the 40 minute drive just to get my hair cut.

so, my friends and i found the closest hair cuttery. i should have left as soon as i was greeted by an older woman in faded camp shirt missing a tooth up front with a short feathered do. i thought i would put my fears aside assuming maybe she was the receptionist. bad move on my part. this is where i will give her credit. she gave me an awesome scalp massage as she shampooed and conditioned my hair. i told her i wanted an angle bob that grazed my chin at the longest part of my hair. the very fact that i had to keep explaining this in detail adding that i wanted it to be about a 45 degree angle should have also warned me. initially, she gave me a simple bob that was all one length. i asked her to redo it with a more severe angle. i mean i want drama in my hair not my life. after one attempt to fix it, it was uneven and not really angled. the back is shorter than the front, but its not gradiated like i want. and, she acted like she was afraid to cut it shorter asking me if i was sure. this is one thing that bugs me about some stylist. i am ok with short. don't be afraid for me. when i pointed out it was uneven, she snipped a few peices. i was frustrated, and gave up on trying to tell her what she needed to fix. then, she was supposed to blowdry and style it. she started off with a round brush, but then quickly stopped saying she hates using a round brush. then, she started complaining about how difficult it was to style my waves. i have never had a stylist do this to me. she began using a flat vent brush. so, i ended up looking foolish with one side wavy and the other side curled under. i just gave up and left. so, a penny saved will end up costing me double as i need to get it recut.

ok, so maybe it looks cute from this side. but, it isn't what i wanted.

and, here you see its uneven. one side is clearly longer than the other.

am i the only one to experience hair trauma?

did i shave my legs for this?

when i first heard about this title of deanna carter's album many long moons ago, i was in love with this title. i loathe having to shave my legs every day. if i won the lottery, before a car or house, i would get electrolysis. although it takes at least 5 treatments and doesn't always work, i'd still do it. i've tried waxing and deplitories. with waxing, i just can't do it to myself. i hesitate when i start ripping because of the pain, and then it won't come off. then, i just end up with sticky legs and a good 20 minutes of scrubbing to get off. then there is the minimum grow
but spring is here which means daily hair removal and regular fake tanning at least on my legs. oh the fun of extra time to get ready in the morning or at night. oh, the joy. you see i have glow in the dark skin. while porcelain skin on my face is attractive(seriously, i've grown to love it.), its far from cute on my legs. so, i use self tanner to have a slightly tanned look.
at my heart of hearts, i am lazy when it comes to this. i have tried just about every razor on the market. look in my medicine cabinet, and you will find at least 12 different razors with disposable blades. i've tried disposables, and they belong in the trash. i had an electric razor once. an old roomate of mine dropped it, and poof it was broken for good. i must admit i was glad since it tended to be more painful than the possibility of cuts with a regular razor. so, even though, i have whittled down to my few favorite razors, i am still always on the lookout for the newest improved razor that may be better than the last. my current favorite is the venus series especially the venus embrace, and they do have a money back guarantee if you don't like it. i haven't yet tried the spa breeze. not that i don't want to, i just forgot the coupon the last time i went to the store. even though its my favorite razor, its still not perfect. shaving is time consuming and there can be nicks and bleeding all over the bathroom towels. another reason, i hate shaving though is the cost. razor blades cost an arm and a leg. venus which aren't even the most expensive razor blades out there run anywhere from $9.44 to over $15 just for 4 cartridges. and, a cartridge only seems to last at most a couple of weeks and at its worst a week. i've tried the generic brand, the mystique at walmart trying to save money since a 4 pack of their cartridges was only about $4. it was awful. not only do i need to use shaving cream(something the embrace eliminates the need for.), but i just didn't seem to get as close a shave. and, the blade was was dead after about 4 uses. i figured it out, and the generic is actually more expensive and less effective. i guess for me, i just have to expect to spend more time on my legs.
so, bring in spring and more time primping for me i suppose.

where is spring?

i admit it i am dying for spring. tonight while talking excitedly to my dear trav, we decided to do a little outfit planning for our usual tuesday night out. you see our usual tuesday night out will be special as we haven't gone out the last two weeks. first week there was my migraine. and, then last week since our regular place is an irish bar, we didn't go out to pay the cover and fight the crowd especially since i was exhausted after working a 13 hour day that began at 6 am. in the entire time that we have had our tuesday night ritual, we have not had this long of a break. so, we wanted to look special. i have my new clothes from target that i am dying to show off and my dear friend christina told me that she is giving me a pair of white jeans that didn't fit her the way she would like(she told me they are cut for a woman with hips which i definitely have.) to add into the mix of possibilities. as both he and i are going through the possible outfits we could wear, he had the good sense to ask me what the temperature is supposed to be like tomorrow evening. somehow just the fact that spring officially began last friday seems to have lulled me into the false belief that we are having what i would call spring weather (i would and did define spring weather in a whine to travis as between 65 and 80 degree temperatures.). i somehow put out of my mind the thick frosts we have been experiencing the last several days. sadly the temperature is supposed to only be around 36 degrees tomorrow ruining almost all of my totally cute outfit ideas. alas an alternative must be found and probably at the last minute. but, the real point is when is it going to warm up. i'm not calling for the sticky, nasty summer weather i am so used to during the summer months here in virginia. no, i am just ready to break out skirt sans tights, cute sandals, sundresses with a light cardigan without fear of appearing to be a crazy person beyond the one that my dear friends know me to be. basically, if i can't have snow, i am done with winter.

sunshine on a grey day

days like today when we are slow at work, and my boyfriend also has a slow day at work can be rough. with the economy the way it is, its easy to get down. while in rehab, i came up with my personal tool to deal with my depression and the lows of sobriety. i came up with what i called my happy songs. these are songs that i can't help but smiling and generally singing along with when i hear. back then, i made a cd(stone ages i know) with the three songs that filled this special place for me especially when i can't manage to get my hand on a slurpee. people have laughed at me when they see my cd titled happy songs, but it really works for me. my original happy songs were:

• tiny dancer by elton john
• sweet home alabama by lynard skynard
• patience by guns n roses

some odd choices to some but all of them have nothing but good memories for me. did i mention i am a bit (and by a bit i mean a lot) nostalgic? tiny dancer makes me think of the scene from almost famous where everyone on the bus is singing the song. let's just say some friends and i recreated this scene and ever since it has had and extra special place in my heart. can't even begin to think how many times a band played sweet home alabama, and everyone danced along. and patience, it makes me think of my friend's now defunct band reign playing this song sitting in the parking lot behind a bar back in the day.

in a pinch without the cd, i can usually count on classic 80s tunes like vacation by the go-gos or what i consider beach music like most anything by the beach boys, jimmy buffett, or kenny chesney or about anything by the monkees. tonight, i decided i needed to update my happy music. it really has helped me through some tough times, but i think i sometimes need more than just three songs. so, here are a few i am thinking of in making my playlist:

• rebel yell by billy idol
• don't worry be happy by bobby mcfarin(cheesy i know)
• you get what you give by the new radicals
• girls just want to have fun by cyndi lauper
• when the sun goes down by kenny chesney
• cheeseburger in paradise by jimmy buffett
• theme from the monkees
• banditos by the refreshments

now if only i had the gift of being able to mix songs perfectly to make a perfect mix tape/cd/playlist like my dear friend shell does. i am so sorry that mix cd she made for me in college died.

today's free stuff 3/23/09

free sample of cottonelle toilet paper and flushable wipes
free sample of all american by stetson
free $5 dillyeo gift card
free stuff every month on thursdays at aerie by american eagle stores sign up here
free sample of origins with an empty beauty container from any manufacter in store only
free redbox dvd rental today only with code HG7W56
free sample of murad sleep reform
free sample of wet personal lubricant
free u2 singles collection edition boxed set
free pegetables dog treat sample
free 3 in 1 dating abuse bracelets

make your own word puzzles

recently, we've been having more breaks at work. most jobs that's a good thing. but these are unpaid breaks due to lack of business. not a good thing in my book since i'm there to make money. so, we come up with ways to amuse our selves. recently, we've gotten into crosswords and word puzzles. so, i remembered from my teaching days(many moons ago, i taught high school english."), the discovery channel has a puzzlemaker site. you can make word jumbles, word search, and crosswords just to name a few. its super easy and definitely better than the old school graphing paper method(am i dating myself here, and do they even make graphing people anymore with computers and graphing calculators?) so, i jumped on and made up a word search for meat out day. i thought i'd share it here. since i have no idea how to add a document to blogger(if you do, please let me know for future reference.), so i just cut and paste it here. you can copy it to whatever document program you use. hit print and you've got a word search. oh and whatever document program you use should have the correct formatting for you. i know it looks a little wacky on the screen of my blog. sorry.

meat out day


B N R E B X K L T J F S P I N A C H E S S Z A T E P C F G J
H R G E H U E L W O Y H R A I C K A M C N V O A E O S L X B
S G U U T F C O I A F O N D E C O R Y Q A L G C T Z L A F H
S E B S A T I K D M B U S N T W A B H Z E R O T L X Y X V R
M E A L S M U T W E E N A G O F B H C V B C A D Z J L S M V
U A E W D E U B A H P C Y J R U G L U B Y G K B Y H X E A E
E F C B E O L N T L E F I A P F V A C C E A S L I T N E L G
S X C I T E C S W U D A T R E M G A E C N C K S Y O A D Z E
L Y P A Z U D C P U N S T T L T L W H F D U P F Z A J S X T
I J E V R K I J B R G A E A B W H E C H I C K P E A S P M A
Q M N D N Q M H W N O Q E O A D E T F N K H T N A R A M A R
Q U F B P N J M I N Q U R P T S Y M T J B T W A I L X Q S I
R O I X N M X N F R A B T K E F E U V I D F L D X J A N U A
Y Y S N D A R U N O T N R S G W K Y M I I M H I G S H H X N
H U G E O O G B G U D R L E E B R E A D O N T E M P E H L I
X M V A M A N E W Q L G Z I V U U M U N A V Y J L B Y K C S
X D R C O U F U V E K X H H D P F W D T Z L P T Y D E K H M
L J O Q R E G R U B E I G G E V O S I F Y D R M J R B Y B W
R Q H N C S C E B W R X V G R O T E J O J Z H L L H O J Q A
G M M B N U K Y L E E P P U U U S K G O B X T O B A C A D O
E X P V M W I F B M B R X G T S U U N U I U G S G Y A F Q N
J I M T R R U W H D X M U A X M R G L L E O J I V Q I I P N
J H N R L Y P F S D M B E Z E T J H Y T B N O D M R Y Q G V
K S C P R T C W S P E S C A T A R I A N I S M S M X O A V J
R E U I K D L A M C W V Q X Z H H G K Y U O F U S E K W F N
C Z A S V D D L M Z L B L C J Z Z W E H Y N W M L T Z C K X
W D M L R E Z N W S M G B R G A P P D V E F H M J Q Y F O F
S P S H I N S U A A B X P B S U N Y R I Z O U U E B T D L M
B S N D S I H T M Z V J Q N P Z D I H P N T Q H F U M U V H
M Q V R L T C S K V A C F I C F X G U M O D Q J T D B A F Y
ALMONDS
AMARANTH
BEANCURD
BOCA
BREAD
BRUSSELSPROUTS
BUCKWHEAT
BULGUR
CHICKPEAS
COTTAGECHEESE
DAIRY
EGGS
FELAFEL
FLAXSEEDS
HUMMUS
KIDNEYBEANS
LEGUMES
LENTILS
MEATOUTDAY
MORNINGSTARFARMS
MUESLI
PEANUTBUTTER
PESCATARIANISM
PETA
QUINOA
QUORN
RICEMILK
SEAWEED
SEITAN
SOY
SPINACH
TEMPEH
TEXTUREDVEGETABLEPROTEIN
TOFU
TOFURKEY
VEGAN
VEGETARIANISM
VEGGIEBURGER
WALNUTS
YOGURT

viva diva cafe

i stumbled upon this site as i saw it was listed as a place to earn freebies on a freebie forum and even posted in my blog. i have to say in less than a week, i'm a fan of viva diva cafe. not only have i had some great comment conversations with other women. but, i am earning points towards free stuff with each comment i make. i have seen others on the freestuff.com what i got forum post pics of stuff viva cafe has sent them like free cookbooks, oven mitts, aprons. right now, one of the articles is on cupcakes(shell, i know you'd love this one as much as me.). i love hearing other people's ideas on making super cute cuppies. another article is on how to deal with the need for extra seating for guests. its neato mosquito to hear how others deal with a problem i know i have living in a small house. i love forums like this where there i am inspired by others ideas and vice versa. if you want to join and help me earn points, send me your email and i will send you a recommendation link. that way, i can earn points. or, you can just join on your own i understand.