Cartoons by Hubby: Cyber Monday

The Backstory:
It is Cyber Monday, the big day of online holiday bargains.  My email has been bombarded since 4 am with bargains and deals, which is awesome, except... my shopping is done.  So, thanks but no thanks.

Early this morning, I posted these sentiments on Facebook, and less than an hour later, I got this amazing cartoon from Hubby.  For those who do not know, it is an homage to Doctor Who.

You're Welcome.

35 Day Project: Clipping Coupons

I never, ever clip coupons.  Mostly because I rarely buy the things my local coupons are for; I tend to stick to fresh fruits, veggies, and meats these days (I wish there were coupons for those things!).  But every week, we get a circular full of coupons.  Since I do not use them, they tend to annoy me, a waste of paper cluttering up my house.

Wednesday, instead of pitching all the coupons like I normally do, I clipped a bunch of them, attached them to index cards, and headed to the store.

I placed the coupons throughout the store, next to the corresponding items.  Hopefully someone else was able to use them!

 

35 Day Project: Noteworthy

Sometimes, the thing you need most in the world is a word of encouragement.  And while encouragement is free to give, it can be difficult to ask for.  I know that first hand!  So, on Monday, I decided to freely give some words of encouragement to people who hopefully needed it.

I had to make a stop at a local drug store.  I got to thinking; a lot of times, people who are at the drug store are there because they do not feel well, or are taking care of someone else, or are making a quick stop during their busy day.  All of those people could use encouragement.  So, I grabbed some post it notes, and wrote a few encouraging notes.  Then I scattered them throughout the store.

My hope is that these notes helped brighten a few people's day.

 

In The Big City: East End Book Exchange

Anyone who knows me at least a tiny bit knows I love books, and I never met a bookstore I did not like.  Which is exactly why I was super excited to learn a few weeks ago that I had won a $25 dollar gift certificate to the East End Book Exchange, courtesy of IHeartPgh.  Not only was I going to get some more books (like I really need more), I was also going to get a chance to visit a new used book store and support small local business.  That is a win all the way around!

First thing first, let me tell you how excited I was that the book exchange had Sunday hours, a rarity with used bookstores.  I knew Hubby would want to visit with me, and weekends are our only option.  We were finishing up the paint in the living room the weekend of our visit, so Saturday was out.  It was exciting that we got to have a Sunday morning afternoon date in the city (we visited a few other places while we were there and even got to have brunch!).

If I could sum up the vibe of the East End Book Exchange in one word, it would be "swoon".  I loved everything about the store, and could easily see myself spending an entire afternoon there.  It has a very cozy vibe, with several little reading areas set up.  It would be a perfect place to tuck yourself away on a cold day 

with a great book.  

There was even an area for kids, and I think it would be so cool to host a story hour there!

The book selection had a lot of variety, and the prices were very reasonable.  I took the opportunity to get books I would have never selected for myself normally.  It never hurts to expand one's literary repertoire.  There is a section of rare books, and I found that incredibly fascinating.  I could have spent hours poring through just that section alone!

The store is brightly decorated with artwork, which is a cheerful addition.  They are also going to be continuously adding more cool vintage furniture from a local dealer.  Probably one of my favorite aspects of the decor were these gorgeous book sculptures displayed in the front windows, made by a local artist.  I was seriously drooling, I wanted one so badly!
   

Awesome little finds like the East End Book Exchange really make me miss living in Pittsburgh, and make me all the more determined to spend more time in the city.  After all, it is not that far really.  One thing is certain, however; the East End Book Exchange is now on my list of "must visit" places in Pittsburgh.  As in I "must visit" it each time I am in the city.  And you should too.

Check out the rest of my pictures of the East End Book Exchange here.

Disclaimer: I am not in any way affiliated with the East End Book Exchange, nor was I asked to write this post.  I simply wanted to share a great Pittsburgh find with my readers!

Review: Magic BB Cream from L'Oreal

I recently had an opportunity to try the new Magic BB Cream from L'Oreal.  I started wearing makeup in junior high school, and back then the prevailing mentality was that if you were going to wear makeup, you needed to wear foundation to protect your skin.  Beauty products have changed a lot over the years, mostly for the better, and now, we have options regarding what type of coverage we want.  Because my skin has an uneven tone and color, I most often still opt for a light foundation.  It just helps me get a more even look.  However, because my skin is so dry, it almost always looks like I am wearing makeup.  I am never able to achieve that dewy, fresh faced look.  This product really appealed to me, in the hopes that I could finally get that look.

Magic BB Cream says it primes, perfects, hydrates, and corrects.  Sadly, I found it lacking in all those areas.  If something is a primer, to me, that says it can be worn under regular foundation.  However, when I tried this, my makeup looked very thick and caked on.  I only used a small amount of the Magic BB cream, as well as a small amount of foundation, but it still looked like I was wearing stage makeup, not a good look.  Since the product claims to hydrate, I also tried using it without first moisturizing my skin; once again, the results were disastrous.  My skin looked so dry, and the pigment in the Magic BB cream was concentrated on those areas of dry skin, so again, I looked like I was wearing a lot of makeup, despite the fact that this is a minimal coverage products.

I found that the best way for me to use this product is by first moisturizing my skin as I normally would, then using Magic BB cream in place of foundation.  However, those claims to perfect and correct were also a let down to me, so I need to use spot corrector and undereye concealer, as well as powder.  And the results?  Well, they look the same as when I wear foundation.  The big difference is I feel like I am not wearing makeup at all.  And that is certainly a plus.

I think one of the reasons I ran into so many problems is that I chose the wrong color of Magic BB cream.  I have fair skin; I always use a fair foundation and the lightest concealer.  So, it stood to reason that I would need the lightest shade of Magic BB cream.  When I opened it to use it, however, the cream is nearly white. It is very light, and I think that is the reason it fails to even my skin tone and cover up imperfections.  While this is no fault of the product itself, consumers to need to be aware how very light (white really) the shade is in order to properly match their skin tones.

In summary, I think this product has a lot of potential for some women, but I just do not think it was a great match for me.  I think L'Oreal foundation is probably better suited to my coverage needs than the Magic BB Cream.

Note: I received a complimentary product courtesy of  SheSpeaks and L'Oréal for review purposes.  All opinions are honest and original.

Influenster Review: Palmolive Fresh Infusions

As I mentioned, I recently got a chance to try out Palmolive Fresh Infusions thanks to Influenster and Palmolive.  I received 3 bottles, each a different scent: Ginger White Tea, Lemon Thyme, and Lime Basil.  Upon initial inspection, each bottle smelled fantastic.  The scents are light, and clean smelling, and do not smell artificial.

I shared a bottle with my friend Erin.  The scent she chose was the Lime Basil.  She was super excited, and really seems to like it.  Like me, Erin cooks a lot, so she ends up washing a lot of dishes.  This soap can really perk up this unpleasant task.  She was also excited that the soap matched her kitchen, which is a soft lime green color.  I think that the Lime Basil scent smells a little like Lime Lifesavers, and Erin agreed!

I also got some coupons to share with my friends, which I was excited about.  In fact, one of my friends on Facebook was so excited about the Fresh Infusions picture I posted, I sent her some coupons in the mail!  It was really fun to be able to share this product in a tangible way!

While I like all three scents, I have to admit the Lemon Thyme scent is my favorite for a lot of reasons.  When I was a kid, the dish soap we always had our house was lemon scented, so the Lemon Thyme scent reminded me of my childhood and happy memories in our family kitchen.  The Lemon Thyme scent is so bright and sunny, it has really helped pep up my mood on these cold, dreary winter days we have been having lately.  Everything about these scents is bright and uplifting (and make me crave summertime!).

In terms of performance, I really thought the Fresh Infusions did a great job.  My dishes are clean, with no residue.  Also, true to Palmolive form, the product is really gentle on my hands.  I wash a lot of dishes, so between the hot water and the cold winter weather, my hands can get cracked and sore.  Palmolive Fresh Infusions does a great job of keeping my hands soft and moisturized.  With this product, I was able to tackle my dirty dishes, with no gloves necessary!

The product is reasonably priced, and is available at WalMart, which is pretty convenient!  All in all, I am really happy that I got to try Palmolive Fresh Infusions and share it with my friends!

Disclaimer: I received a complementary sample from Influenster for the purposes of testing and reviewing the product.  All opinions are original and honest.

Influenster First Impressions: Palmolive Fresh Infusions

A few weeks ago, I received a VoxBox from Influenster and Palmolive, containing 3 bottles of the new Palmolive Fresh Infusions dish soap.  You can watch me open the box in this video:

Initial Impressions:

• My first reactions to the different scents were, wow, these smell great!  

• As part of the Influenster review process, we were encouraged to share a bottle with a friend, and I really loved that aspect of the campaign.  It was fun to share a new product with someone else in a real, tangible way.

• I thought the bottles were bright colored and fun looking, and I was excited to try the dish soap out (full review in the next post!).

• Palmolive is a brand known for being gentle on your hands, so I was also curious to see if this new product would be as gentle as the older products had been.

• We were given coupons to share with friends, so I was excited about that, as some of my friends already use  Fresh Infusions and love them!

After gathering my first impressions, the only thing left to do was use the product for a while and see how it went!

Influenster Review: NYC Liquid Lipshine

Yesterday, I received a package from Influenster, because I had been selected to receive a product from NYC New York Color.  I really like NYC makeup, I have several of their products in my makeup bag.  The makeup looks nice, and is very affordable.

When I opened my package, I was excited to see that I had received a tube of clear Liquid Lipshine.  Anyone who has had a chance to peek in my purse will tell you that I love lip products.  I love them so much, I now keep a little makeup pouch full of lip products in my purse.  I am not ashamed to admit it contains about 25 lip products, including lipsticks, stains, glosses, and liners.  That is some serious pucker power in that pouch.  So, the Liquid Lipshine was the PERFECT product for me to get to try.

I even decided to get adventurous and record a video review.

In summary, this product is affordable, smells great, looks great, and pairs well with other lip products.  Sounds like a win all the way around.  And, I can tell you, after the video, I did not need to reapply the product until I drank a cup of hot chocolate 3 hours later.  Had I not had anything to drink, I think I would have gotten even longer wear out of it

You can bet that this will be staying in my lip product collection!

This product was provided courtesy of Influenster and NCY for the purposes of reviewing.  All opinions are honest and original.

A Tale of Truly Excellent Customer Service

I have been meaning to write this for a while, and with all the holiday stuff going on, I kept forgetting.  Many of you might know that we went on vacation this summer.  One detail I probably did not mention is that on the last day, 5 minutes before we left to come home, my iPhone shattered when I dropped it on the floor at our beach house.  I was pretty sad.  When we made the decision to replace it, rather than repair it, I decided to also invest in an OtterBox case.  All my cute and pretty cases were not doing anything to actually protect the phone.  So, in July, I ordered an OtterBox from Amazon.  From the moment I put it on my phone, I felt very secure that the phone was protected.  While it was a pricey case, it was doing what it needed to do, and was still cheaper than replacing the phone again.

Last month, I sent out the following tweet:

Notice I did not tag OtterBox in the tweet with the "@" sign.  I merely stated the company name in the tweet.

Later on in the day, I received this response from the OtterBox Customer Service account:

So, this means someone is tasked with the job of searching Twitter for people talking about OtterBox products and trying to trouble shoot any problems for them.

I went to the link the gave me, and after entering some information, was directed to call Customer Service.  A representative asked me some questions about the problems with my product, and told me she would be sending an email with further instructions.  I needed to send them some pictures of the damage to the product, which was less than 6 months old.  Within 30 minutes of sending them the photos, they emailed me back confirming that they were replacing my OtterBox.

On December 11, my new OtterBox arrived.

So, to recap, OtterBox Customer Service sought me out when they caught wind via Twitter that my product was not working for me.  I never even thought my product would be covered by warranty, yet they painlessly walked me through the warranty claim, and in less than two weeks I had a replacement case.  And given the ease of the transaction, I would bet that this is standard for them.  The probably did not think they were going above and beyond, but I certainly did.

I would have simply thrown my case away and purchased some other product elsewhere, but OtterBox saw to it that my problem was solved before I had a chance.  What a wonderful example of truly outstanding customer service, and a great way to create a loyal customer.  Well done OtterBox; other companies, take note.

Thankful for... online shopping

Photo Courtesy of Daniel Kulinski

I have never been much of a shopper.  Holiday shopping is one of my least favorite activities.  So Black Friday Shopping is like the seventh circle of hell as far as I am concerned.  I only went Black Friday Shopping once, when I was in college.  This was back before iPhones, iPods, iPads, and even before mp3 players were popular.  Sales were not nearly as nutty as they are today.  And yet I still hated it.  In general, shopping at malls and stores during the holiday season is kind of miserable.  Employees are overworked and tired, shoppers are rude and frustrated.  Children are wailing due to exhaustion and sensory overload.  All in all, not the way I want to spend my time.  Some people love it, my sister is a super shopper and a whiz at Black Friday.  Me, I am happy to stay home in my jammies eating a turkey sandwich.

My philosophy is, there is nothing I need or want so bad that I am willing to risk life and limb fighting off a thousand other people who want that same thing.  The fact that people act so nutty, hurting others, getting some thing they MUST have the day after being thankful for what they already have just seems sadly ironic.

Each year, a larger and larger portion of my holiday shopping is done online.  I have shopped online for about ten years now, and for me, it is the perfect solution.  Now, many retails cater to online shoppers with our own day of specials, called Cyber Monday.  I have never really gotten any deals that way, and in some ways it is just as frustrating as Black Friday.  Nope, I will take my time, and browse the interwebz my own way, with coffee in my had, fleece on my body, and wiener dogs in my lap.

As someone who would chew her own arm off to escape a mall on Black Friday, I am eternally thankful for online shopping.

Naturals Voxbox Peek: GeoDeo

As I mentioned, I was chosen to review products in the Influenster Naturals Voxbox.  One of the items in the box that I got to try is the natural deodorant, GeoDeo.  Soon I will be writing a full review on GeoDeo, but in the mean time I wanted to give you all a sneak Peak of the product, and tell you all some exciting news.

The GeoDeo I received is the "Island" scent.  I will be giving lots more info soon in a full review.  In the mean time, for those of you interested in trying this natural deodorant for yourselves, I have an amazing opportunity for you all.  If you purchase a GEODEO Deodorant from drugstore.com, you will receive a FREE MOISTSTIC Lip Balm!! Yes, that’s an absolutely free product with purchase. 

WHERE: Drugstore.com
WHAT: FREE MOISTSTIC Lip Balm with purchase of one GEODEO Deodorant!
WHEN: Now until 10/17/2012
HOW: Enter Promo Code “geodeogwp” at checkout!

This is a great opportunity to try a new natural product and get a free product to boot.  (Just so you know, I do not receive any compensation for anyone redeeming this offer, I simply wanted to share it with all my readers!).

Remember you can view photos of my Voxbox contents here, and I started a board for it on Pinterest as well!


Disclaimer: I received each product compliments of Influenster for testing purposes.

Birchbox Favorite Review: stila sparkle liquid eyeliner

This month, the Birchbox was inspired by Gossip Girl.  I have never watched that show, so a lot of the "wow" factor on the box was lost on me.  It was just any other Birchbox as far as I was concerned.  But I knew what my favorite product was going to be as soon as I opened the box.  Hands down, I was most excited about the eyeliner from stila.

The shade that I received was called Flash, and it was sort of a glittery gold color.  While this was probably not the best shade for my eye color, I tried it out, and was pretty happy with the results.

First off, the eyeliner is waterproof.  This is a huge bonus for me, since I have eye allergies.  There is nothing I hate more than freshly applied eye makeup smearing because my eyes start watering.  The eyeliner went on very easily, and I was able to control the applicator easily to determine if I wanted a subtle, thin line or a bolder, thicker line.  While the eyeliner is glittery and shimmery, it is very subtle, so it works well with a matte eyeshadow as well as a more glittery eyeshadow.

All in all I am extremely happy with this product.  The sample was a full size eyeliner, making the cost of this month's box a total bargain.

Who Doesn't Love a Deal

If you know me, you know that I really do not enjoy shopping.  I find it so much hassle to get in my car, drive around to shops, deal with looking for something that I usually cannot find, and interacting with cranky customers and employees.  It is rare that I think shopping is a good idea, which is why I do a lot of shopping online.  Recently, I found a new website called nomorerack.com that seems pretty cool.

NoMoreRack is a daily deal website that offers 8 different deals each day.  Some of these prices are so amazing, particularly for electronics and various gizmos.  You know I am a tech girl at heart, so I am totally loving looking at all the awesome tech deals.  Even now looking at some of the gadgets, I am totally drooling over things I would love to get!

There is also a community built into the website, where you can interact with other deal hunters.  You can even refer friends to build up points toward free products.  Who does not love free products?

In today's economy, we are always looking for ways to make our money go further.  Check out NoMoreRack and see all the money you could be spending on these great deals!

Do you remember...Hills?

Photo Source

When I was a kid, back before the new strip mall or Walmart was built in our area, the best discount department store to be found was Hills.  I love love loved Hills.  I still remember going school shopping there, and I can even recall the layout of the store.  Hills was probably most well known for their toy section for Christmas and their layaway program.  I will never forget their creepy commercial with the Santa mini me elf proclaiming "Hills is where the toys are!"

One of the best things about Hills, beside their lobby full of arcade games, popcorn, and hot dogs, was the fact that they hosted special events.  They had fireworks on the 4th of July, which we could often see from our house.  They had Easter Egg Hunts.  And they had another event which sparked a very vivid memory for me this morning.

Each October, Hills sponsored a Pumpkin Hunt.  Bales of fresh, sweet hay were brought in, stacked up, and strewn about.  Little plastic pumpkins were hidden, each containing a little prize.  Some contained candy, some contained dollar bills, and some contained coupons for free icees, popcorn, or hot dogs from the lobby concession stand.  It was the most fun event ever.  And the reason this memory jolted me this morning was the smell of the hay.  This morning, I used a hair gel that had the same clean, sweet, fresh smell of that hay, and the memory came flooding back to me as sure as if I was 6 years old again, looking for plastic pumpkins.

When I was a teenager, Hills was bought out by Ames, but it was never the same.  Eventually Ames closed their doors.  As far as I know, the building is still there, but I am unsure if anything is being doing with it.  I will forever miss Hills.

It Made My Day: Antique Shopping

This IMMD actually happened a few weeks ago, but because it involved one of Hubby's Valentine's gifts from me, I could not post it then, so I decided to post it today!

Since Hubby and I tend to make Valentine's more about showing love and less about spending money, I try to think of something special that is not terribly expensive.  So, I decided to try to find a dachshund figurine for Hubby.  Since doxies are not easily found, I decided to try looking in antique shops.  I headed down to an antique shop in Leechburg we had visted in December.

I am not much of an antique person, but we found this little gem of a shop one day, and I just loved the atmosphere.  However, when I arrived to shop this time, the store was not yet open.  I noticed another antique store a few doors down, and went in.  The shop owner was so friendly, she knew she did not have any doxies, so she promptly made a few calls to other shop owners in the area until we found a store that had one (I would go later that morning to pick it up).  By the time I left, my original destination was now open, so I decided to stop in.

The only doxie he had was a soap dish holder, and while it was totally adorable, it was about $70, way out of my budget.  I told him it was a bit pricier than I was looking for this particular gift, and thanked him for his time.  As I looked around the store more, he pulled a tiny piece of glassware out and put it on the counter.  "Does this look like a dachshund to you?", he asked.  I replied that it did, given the length of the snout and the length of the body.  "Well, then, you can have it.  I have been waiting for the right person to give it to that would appreciate it."  Wait, what?  Have it?

He told me it was a piece of blown glass from Bimini.  He said there was a slight chip in the tail that greatly reduced its value, so we was just giving it to me.  I felt like I won the lottery.  It was so light and delicate, I was so scared I would break it before I got it home.  But I was careful as could be, and Hubby was so excited about it.

Here he is, next to my rings for scale.

I was so amazed and thankful for the kindness shown to me by these two shop owners.  It was clear that, while business owners, they were most interested in having happy, satisfied customers, and contributing to their communities.  Which is exactly why I will return to these shops.

Thank you to the antique community in Leechburg.  You totally made my day.

Pink or Blue? Flowers or Animals?

Lately I have been looking at cute baby hats.  My friends are expecting, and while we do not know yet whether it is a boy or a girl, I do find myself drawn to boys newborn hats; perhaps that means something.

I am not sure what the best baby hat is.  I suppose it depends on why you are getting the hat.  Baby hats are a hot accessory for newborn baby pictures right now.  It seems like everywhere I look, there are pictures posted of a sleepy baby wearing a hat, their chin propped up on their hands.  Totally adorable.  So, if the hat is to be used for that, I want to make sure it is unique.  My personal favorites are the hats that look like animals.  I also just love love pink puffy heart love the baby girl hats with the huge flowers on them.  It is never too late for a girl to learn to accessorize!

But honestly, I think I would want a hat that can be used for more than just pictures.  I would want a hat that the baby can both look adorable in, and will get lots of use from.  Something warm, but not too hot, perfect for a snowy day or a day when there is just a slight chill in the air.  The mommy to be loves personalized things, so maybe something with the baby's name on it.  And I saw one hat the daddy to be would just love- it is a knitted turkey, as in a roast turkey!

There are just so many options.  Soon we will know if our friends are having a boy or a girl, and that should help narrow now the search.  Sqee!

Birchbox

I am a girly girl.  I was not always, particularly as a kid, but as an adult, I love girly things, things that are pretty and smell good, awesome products for hair and skin, things that make you look and feel better.  Unfortunately, because I am so busy reading books most of the time, I never have time to read magazines.  This means I do not get to learn about new and innovative beauty products unless I hear about them from a friend.  I decided I needed to change this.

One of the latest trends are sample subscription services.  You pay a monthly or annual fee, usually pretty reasonable, and you get sent monthly samples of products.  I have seen these subscription services for both beauty and food products, and I am sure other types of products have them as well.  I decided I wanted to try one out, to see if it was worthwhile.

After looking around, I decided to try the Birchbox.  First thing first, the fee is $10 a month, and no shipping charges.  Your box contains about 5 product samples.  And these are not just any old drugstore beauty products, these are luxurious, premium beauty products.  Also, they do not just ship you these samples and say, off you go.  Their website is packed with information about all the samples, including videos and tutorials.  You can shop for the products from the samples right on their website as well; the shopping sections includes thorough information about each product.

Yesterday, I got my first Birchbox.  I was really excited!  When I saw the pink shipping box on my doorstep, I may have squealed a little.  I opened the shipping package, and saw the box inside.  As I opened it, I felt like I was getting a present, it was so nicely packaged.  And the samples, oh my!   Already, I am in love!  My box contained products worth well over my subscription fee.  And because I filled out a beauty profile on the website, my box contained products specifically for me.  Some products are sent to all subscribers, and some products are customized.

I have decided to review a couple of the products I get each month, so keep an eye out.  In the mean time, consider this a glowing review of the Birchbox program.  If you love beauty, and love to try to new products, I highly recommend you join Birchbox.  It is well worth the monthly fee.  

Camera Review- Panasonic Lumix

This week, I received a camera to review.  The camera is Panasonic Lumix.  The camera is nice and compact, and fits into the palm of your hand.

I really liked the look and feel of the camera.  There is something to be said about a nice compact camera.  It is nice and light, a great camera to throw in your purse or bag.

In terms of the camera itself, there are some really nice features.  The scene mode has more scene options than most of the cameras I have had in the past, including special settings for snow, fireworks, and food as well as the standard modes like portrait, scenery, and sports.  The menus and settings seem fairly easy to use.

One thing important to note is that while there is a place to control the exposure, I do not think there is a way to control the shutter speed, ISP, or f stop, so this is a very basic camera.  This makes it a great starter camera, or a nice camera for young adults.

There is 70 MB of built in memory, which is nice if you forget to load a memory card; you can still store a few pictures or some video in the internal memory.  I like this feature, because I have, in the past, forgotten to put my memory card back in the camera, and lost photo opportunities as a result.

The quality of the photos is not bad for as 14.1 MP camera, but for someone used to a more powerful point and shoot, like I am, the images can seem a little fuzzy, even with the image stabilizer.  Close up photos are fairly good, but the zoomed pictures are not as clear as I would like.

natural light

flash

The same pretty much applies for the video quality.  Good for the level of camera, but not as good as I would prefer.  My husband was happy to perform for a sample video.

One thing I am totally unimpressed with is the software that comes with the camera.  It did not install easily, and some components would not install at all, so I did not get to mess with the software much.  What I did see of it, however, did not impress me at all.  I will not use the software, and will instead continue storing photos on my external hard drive, and using other programs to edit and upload.

So overall, a nice little camera for casual picture takers, beginners, or teenagers.  But the software leaves a lot to be desired.



I received this camera to review as part of the Amazon Vine Voice  program.

I love a good library sale!

As part of a jam packed weekend, Hubby and I got up early to go to the annual Kittanning Library book sale on Saturday.  Since funding for the library has been cut so much in recent years, this is a huge fundraiser for the library.  Who would not want to support their local library and get some great book deals in the process?
Last year was the first year I ever attended a book sale, and I was ridiculously happy with the deals I got on books.

This year, I did even better.

Because we went on the last day of the sale, prices had been drastically reduced.  We walked in the door, and the lady at the front table informed us that it was $3 a box.  Blink blink.  Are you SERIOUS?  This could be dangerous.  I decided to restrain myself, but trust me, it was not easy.

Hubby and I split up and started looking.  I grabbed a box first thing, and starting putting things in.  The tables were organized only into general categories (romance, fiction, history), so it was hard to have anything specific in mind to look for.

With the rows upon rows of books, my strategy was basically skim the titles and get anything that stood out to me.  It did not take long for me to fill a box, and by that time, Hubby was done looking, so I sent him to get a second box.


When we filled the second box, I made the executive decision that we were done, because we already have no room for more books at our house (the joyous problem that occurs when two book nerds marry).  I handed over my $6 and out the door we went.

Not a bad haul for $6.

Best part is, once I read them, I can always donate them to the next library sale!

Sweet and Sour Tiffany: Extreme Couponing

A huge trend in the housewife/mommy circuit right now is the concept of extreme couponing.  It used to be ladies were just sharing their coupons among friends, but now there are how to books and seminars devoted to how you can save thousands of dollars a year by couponing and watching deals in the sale ads.  Heck, there is even a television show devoted to extreme couponing.  So, I can think of no better topic to discuss for another Sweet and Sour installment.

The Sweet

No one will argue that today's economy is tough.  High unemployment rates, ballooning costs of living, and stagnant salaries all mean we should be trying to get more for our money.  So, it only makes sense that some people will do whatever it takes to make it in tough times.  If that means scouring newspapers and the internet for coupons, so be it.  It could mean the difference between the water staying on or the lights getting shut off.  So I totally get it.

A lot of people have a "go big or go home" attitude, and for them, saving 35 cents on toothpaste and 75 cents on bread is just not enough.  I think for people who are extreme at anything, it involves a rush.  Who would not feel like a total champ knowing they got $1000 worth of groceries for $100?  If people get high from that feeling, as weird as I may find it, then that is a whole lot better, physically at least, than drugs and alcohol.

The Sour

I think, in reality, extreme couponing is not what it appears.  To me, I see a lot of people getting GREAT deals on a bunch of crap they do not need.  Who cares if you can get 40 boxes of diapers for a dollar if you don't have kids, and will never have kids?  Who cares if you can get condiments for pennies if no one in your household uses them?  I often think that these extreme couponers are shopaholics who use the money they are "saving" to justify the amount of totally useless crap they buy.

And while the coupons are saving them money at the checkout lines, they are costing them in other ways.  I have heard that these couponers spend up to 8 hours preparing for the shopping trip, and up to another 4 doing the actual shopping.  Plus the costs of buying the magazines/newspapers to get the coupons, or the paper and ink to print the online coupons.  WHAT A WASTE!

***

In short, I am sure coupons are valuable to some people, but I personally cannot justify it.  Why waste hours trying to save money, when that time with your family could be priceless.  And if you are buying things you do not need, are you really saving at all?  I know some people do it, and later donate the items to get a tax break or credit.  Meh, I would rather save myself the hassle, go to Aldi's or SuperWalmart, and spend my time enjoying life.

So that being said, if the Sweet and Sour didn't completely fill you up, move along to the fortune cookie.