What would you do with an extra hundred smackers?

Since we are on a military retirements pay for our main income these days, we have to make our money stretch as far as it will go. We do frugal things like make our own laundry soap, grow some of our own food, and reuse things whenever possible.

One thing that we all use that is hard to save on. 

Great quality razors!

Living in a military town, lots of our husbands go through razors like it's cool! Since retirement, I think Sam has been growing the same scruffy beard! I keep getting annoyed with it and make him cut it off, and it doesn't take too long before he starts growing it out again... much to my complaining!

Then we found out about Dollar Shave Club razors! Seriously! How could life get ANY easier than having razors delivered to your front door for as little as $3 a month?! Now let me tell you, when you've got a pre-teen girl that thinks that she needs to shave her legs EVERY DAY, and myself who shaves every other day, and a teen boy who WANTS to shave every day (poor fella has blonde hair like his momma.. you can't even see it!! LOL) you go through a lot of razors!!!! By getting a subscription to DSC, you could save $100 a year! Who wouldn't want more jingle in the pocket?

So, I was thinking, what would *I* do with an extra $100?

• I would buy these lovely Qupid knee high boots for $32.99
• Or I would buy these tag collars for all my hound dogs $45
• Or this beautiful collar for my beautiful Annie-dog $46
• Or maybe just buy a bunch of supplies for one of the craft ventures that I'm working on! (More on this at a later date!)
  
  

As you can see, you could do a lot of things with $100! If YOU would like an extra $100, check out the Dollar Shave Club, and buy yourself something nice with all the money you save!

Are you friends with Dollar Shave Club?
Are you following Dollar Shave Club?

Scary Friday

So, I didn't write yesterday. I was too busy spending time with my daughter after a very scary day at school.

Yesterday, while Sam and I were out doing things that we needed to do for the house, namely grocery shopping when it all started... I got a call that the school was on lockdown and that we would get a call when they had gotten the all clear. I immediately go into momma bear mode! Since we were in the middle of the commissary, Sam didn't want me to say anything too loud so I didn't start a panic or anything.

It was a long couple of hours while I waited for the all clear call.  Of course, facebook was NO help at all! The gambit run from they had a guy with a gun, to it was a guy with a bomb! We did finally get a call that everything was all clear after a police dog had went through the school.

When Buggy got home, she said that they were all stuck in the bathroom for 3 hours because there were windows in the trailers that they were in! How freakin scary!!! I asked her why she didn't send me a text to let me know that she was okay, and she said that her teacher couldn't find her phone in her bag to bring it to her.

One of my friends said that her sons teacher put them in a closet because someone jiggled the door handle and kicked the bottom of the door. I asked Buggy about it and she said that the resource officer was supposed to be doing that to all the doors to make sure that nobody could get into the rooms. I absolutely do not blame that teacher for putting her students in the closet. Not even a little bit! I was told that she was crying trying to keep all the kids calm. Poor thing.

That prompted us to have a conversation about what to do in a situation like that. Buggy said that she would try to talk him down. LOL I told her that this wasn't Criminal Minds and she wasn't a member of the BAU, so she better just find herself somewhere to hide and stay there! LOL Crazy kid.

Overall, I think that, unfortunately, this is going to become more and more common. I just pray that we can retake this country and become again like the once great nation that we once were.

Victoria's Secret Sport

So, I got the opportunity to test out Victoria's Secret Sports workout capris and sports bra.

Everybody knows how Victoria's Secret works. It makes your boobs look bigger, and your butt look smaller... or at least it's SUPPOSED to! ;-)

I absolutely LOVE the capris!!!! If I could wear nothing but these capris, I would probably live out the rest of my life as a happy lady. They are snug, but not too tight. They are form fitting, but I don't feel self conscious. They hold things together, and surprisingly, there is no jiggle! (That's important to us that don't look like VS models.) I've worn them to lounge around, I've worn them to bed, I've even worn them out of the house! I did some yoga in them, and they were like a 2nd skin, tight in all the right places. Ahhh comfort!

The Capris I got were these:

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 They are simply amazing! I absolutely advocate the purchase of mass quantities of these pants.

The bra they sent me on the other hand... it was a bit awkward. It was comfortable once I finally got it on, just getting it on was a bit crazy! Well, first let me show you the sports bra I was sent to test.

{source}

You see that bottom clasp right there? Yeah, it was a little awkward to get together. You would think after wearing a bra for the past 20+ years, I would be an expert on clasping those little buggers. NOPE! It actually did REALLY great holding everything up/together so I had very minimal bounce going on. I wish I would have gotten the zipper front sports bra, but, beggars can't be choosy! I do recommend this sports bra though! It did a wonderful job, even if I felt like an idiot trying to get it on.

You can find all of these products on the Victoria's Secret website here.


*** This is a sponsored blog post. Influenster provided me with complimentary Victoria's Secret products to test and review as part of a contest. The opinions are my own and I did not receive any monetary compensation for any of this review. ***

I'm becoming a local! *gasp*

So, not too far from where I live, there is a town called Richlands. If you're like me, you read that all as one word sounding something like this "richlunds" but NO! That is NOT how you pronounce the name of the town!!! If you DO encounter a local and pronounce it like that, you will properly schooled and rightly told off! It's pronounced like two separate words Rich-Lands, like... the land was rich, just flip it around.

This is no different than a few towns that I grew up close too. Russia and Houston. Both of those were pronounced differently (Roo-she and House-ton respectively) and you got an earful if you pronounced them like the rest of the world does. Another less known one was Lima... (Lie-muh, not like the one in Peru) and they don't get AS offended, but, they WILL correct you.

This morning as I was driving Monkey to school, I almost turned towards Richlands instead of turning towards the school and I said "Oops! Almost went to Richlands!" I caught myself saying Rich-Lands again. It's happening more often than not these days. How long do you have to live in a place to be considered a "local?" That's a really hard question for a lot of military families. Are you a local when you buy a house? When you retire? When you change your drivers license to the state? What does it take?

I have no doubt that if I were to move home back to my little small town, that I would still be considered a "local" even though I haven't lived there in almost 17 years. They would still all know me as "Rons Stepdaughter", even though my mom hasn't been married to him for just as long. I grew up there though. I'm sure LOTS of people have moved out, moved in, died, got marred, got divorced.... but when we went back there the beginning of September, it was honestly like we'd never left. We went to the local bar and had a couple drinks, and we knew the people there. Same people, just older I guess. It was honestly like stepping back in time. They were setting up for the "country fair." It's a tradition that I they have done for as long as I can remember. They close down downtown (all 2 streets LOL) and set up rides, booths, and food vendors and the whole town comes and enjoys some festivities. I grew up in a village. Yes, a village! There weren't even enough people that inhabited my hometown to even be considered a TOWN! The village (yes another village.. LOL) that was closest to us also used to do something similar, but they called it the Firemans Festival. As far as I know, they no longer have the Firemans Festival, which was a lot like our Country Fair.

There are a few things that I miss about my hometown, and some that I don't. I miss feeling like part of a community, where it seemed like the entire town was at the football field on Friday nights to root on the HS team, and if you needed some sugar, your neighbor would be more than happy to lend you a cup or two. I miss going to the grocery store and running into people I know, and chatting about seemingly an important nothing. I miss knowing more people that I don't. I DON'T miss everybody knowing your business, even if you didn't want anyone to know. I DON'T miss that there honestly was not anything to do but get in trouble or do drugs as a kid. I complain about there not being anything to do here unless I want to drive an hour to do something, but there ARE things to do, I'm just too lazy not motivated to look for them. Overall, my hometown was great. I'm surprised that I moved away really. Some days I think maybe we should move back, but then I would feel bad for moving to my hometown and not Sams. (Even tho Sam lives in the frozen tundra that is northern Minnesota!!)

Someday maybe we will be considered "locals" here and it won't matter. Even though I will ALWAYS miss that small town feel from when I was growing up.

Ortho appt

So, today I had my appointment with Ortho. I've been having back pain since the end of June/beginning of July, so my family doctor sent me to Ortho.

My doctor was very nice. He's from London. I told him that Buggy was an Anglophile and he laughed. We talked about Dr Who, Sherlock, and Downton Abbey. Very nice man. He told me that, basically, I have a bone spur on my spine, but, it's not pressing on my spinal column, so he's not all that worried about it. He wants me to do some PT, and use some gel stuff on my back and see me back in 6 weeks.

He then asked me if anyone had read me the report, and I said that my Dr had told me that they had found "something" but that it was not conclusive on what it was. He told me about the bone spur, obviously, but then he told me about a "spot" on my right lung that they suggested be looked at again in 6 months. That was something that my Dr had NOT told me about. When I left the office, I IMMEDIATELY called my doctors office and made an appointment. Not only to discuss this "spot" but because of my migraines as well. They do not seem to be getting better with the Imitrex, which is not good.

Other than that, everything is just peachy!! :-)

I'm making Cuban Pork Loin for dinner tonight. It's Bugs FAVORITE meal. :-) It's quite delicious. I might have to put the recipe up here.

Little down this morning

So, I got back on my low carb diet this morning. I took my weight and everything before I started so I can get my re-starting weight. I'm a little ashamed to say that it was 192. I was going to start doing some body weight exercises this morning as well, but, my migraine is still kickin, so, no exercising for me. I need to get the hubby to take my measurements as well. Maybe I'll be able to do that tomorrow morning.

Since I've been dealing with this migraine for the 2nd day, I've been doing a lot of TV watching and sleeping. I'm one of those people that cannot sleep during the day, so, if I'm sleeping during the day, you know that I'm very sick or in a LOT of pain. This morning was not any different. I did take some more Imitrex, even tho I only have 2 more doses for the rest of the month now. That makes me a little nervous that I'm using these meds more than I "should" be.

On the other hand, I am considering taking on a new adventure. Sam and I are talking about it right now. I'm not certain about it. It's a home based business, kind of like Scentsy, or ItWorks, or whatever... but it's actually all natural skin care products. You can do home parties or things of that nature. I'm just not sure that I am the right kind of person to do it. I do have one of the best marketing trainers wanting to train me, to take me under his wing, and to help me be successful. I'm just apprehensive because of the start up money that is involved. Maybe apprehensive is not the correct word. Maybe worried? I know that a lot of the home based businesses have a start up cost, mostly for the products that they send you to start your business. I guess we will see. Sam and I have some talking to do before we decide if this is right for our family or not.

I'll keep you all (does anybody read this at all? LOL) informed about our decision. :-)

Two ingredient pumpkin muffins!

Today, I woke up with the WORST migraine in the universe around 5am. I took some Imitrex, and went back to sleep until about 7:30am. I woke up and still had a very slight migraine. I started to get ready for church and BAM!! It came back with a vengeance. So, Monkey and I stayed home from church and I watched some Criminal Minds and Monkey played his game.

I decided that I needed something sweet. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures, but I PROMISE that these are the easiest things that you will ever make.

All you need is a can of pumpkin and a box of spice cake mix.

You mix the 2, put in greased muffin tins, and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

When you bring them out of the oven, they will be hot (obviously!!) so do not eat them, even though you will want to. (Trust me!)

These are absolutely delicious!!!

Sam and I have watched Criminal Minds since they got home from church, which he and Buggy brought home Sonic for lunch, and I put a roast in the crock pot this morning, but, I only had it on "keep warm" so it's totally not ready. :-/ Oops!!

My head is starting to feel just a little bit better, but, it still hurts like the dickens, so, I'm not going to make this a long one.

I hope you enjoy the recipe! Next time I make these, I promise to take pictures. ;-)

My Lifestyle Choice

So, back in November I decided that I was too fat. I had reached 225 pounds, and I felt like a blimp! My sister had been doing low carb since May of last year and had lost about 80 pounds, so she was the inspiration for me doing it.

It's fairly simple, though most people that I tell how I'm losing weight often rebuttal with "There's no way I could give up bread/potatoes/rice/sweets/whatever" and that's when I just shrug and say "my want to be a healthier weight fuels my desire to give up those things." It's not like I have given up EVERYTHING! I still enjoy lots of things that I used to. Moreso actually! I don't count calories, I just eat when I'm hungry and let my body sort out the rest. I do have to "budget" my carbs though, so that's one thing. I stick to around 20 or so a day. I had lost 45 pounds, but then I got off track and gained about 8 back. On Monday we're going back to low carb though, so I'm not super worried about it.

I do find various recipes around the internet. I don't usually  hardly ever very rarely write down the source for my recipes, but if I have who wrote it, I'll include it in any recipes that I post.

Today we went and picked up our new handgun! Buggy fell in love with a little pink camo .22 rifle. Sam said that we should get it for her for Christmas. I told him that if that's what he wanted to get her, then to go ahead! Monkey also would like a .22 as well. I, on the other hand, would really like to have a compound bow. I found a really nice one that has a 5-70 pound draw weight to it so it could literally be used for both Buggy and myself! She has already started looking for pink accessories to go with it. Crazy kid.

Other than that, I've got some ideas coming up for blogging.. including my first vlog!! *gasp* Of course... I don't have any people reading my blog any more.. so... maybe eventually! :-)

Welcome back?

So, I've been thinking a lot lately about how I miss writing, about how I honestly missing just sitting and thinking of what's going on around me and writing it all out. I really miss all my old blogging friends, not that I have any friends that blog any more... or do I?? Maybe I just need to write to get some things off my chest.. so here goes.

So much has changed since I wrote over a year ago. Nicole ended up not moving away, but, we still don't hang out that often, which makes me sad, but, at the same time, I kinda feel... I don't know, maybe LAZY about it? *sigh* I don't know any more how to feel. It's like, how am I supposed to feel about anything any more? Maybe I'm just in a funk right now.

I'm not sure if I ever wrote about it, but, last year around March I got a job with a company called My Pet Chicken. It was a great job! I got to work from home, I got to basically set my own hours as I could ask for time off whenever I needed it. Well, over the winter I was having some issues with getting my emails done on time. Well.. not really "on time" per say because we had up to 48 hours to get them done. Well, I got into a funk where I wouldn't log on and do them but every 3 or 4 days. My email supervisor talked to me and put me on "probation." So fast forward to a few months ago. My email supervisor had a baby, and went on maternity leave, which left someone else doing the email assigning. I'm not trying to place blame on them, because ultimately, it's my fault, but the emails weren't being assigned every day, and then some days they would be assigned REALLY late and then again they would be assigned REALLY early the next day and then I would get behind... it was a mess. I was not the only person that felt that way, and I even said something to our other supervisor about the emails being erratic. Like I said... I'm not trying to place blame on them. Well, I guess I apparently missed an email for an order cancellation. So, the order was never cancelled, and it was a huge mess. So, Monday my Supervisor called me while I was working and explained everything to me and told me that she was going to have to let me go. I was so heartbroken! I really loved my job and I'm very sad to have lost it.

Not only did I lose my job, but, the VA has decided that Sams wrists, ankles, and back are "better" and so they've dropped him down to 90%, which means that we lost a BUNCH of money. It's kinda infuriating. It's crazy because he's just been "dealing with it" like a typical man and hasn't been going to the Dr about it. So, when he goes for check ups with the VA, he doesn't say anything and tries to be Superman about it, which lead them to drop him to 90% instead of 100%. Last month he went for his 6 month check up with the VA, and I went with him. He was going to let all of this stuff that we had talked about slide right on by!! His Dr asked if there were any other concerns and I said "Well, there are some things that he didn't talk about..." and that opened a whole other conversation! He now has to  go for blood work, an MRI, and a bunch of other tests as well. In a way I hope that nothing is wrong, that everything is fine, but on the other hand, I WANT something to be wrong, so we can get back to 100%. Is that wrong of me? He DESERVES to be 100% disabled because of all the crap that he's been through, because of all the things he will now not get to do, and all of the things that he's had to give up because of what he's gone through.

In other news, Sam went back to school! (Finally) He's studying accounting. He's always loved working with money... as crazy as that sounds because of how broke we are all the time. LOL We HAVE been doing better with that though. We went through Dave Ramseys Financial Peace University, and got back into the swing of things and started to get our debts paid off and I had way less stress about everything money wise. Now I'm almost back to where I was before with the being stressed out about money. We are okay... just very tight.

I've downloaded a "writing prompt" thing that I'm going to start working my way through. Lets hope that we can get that working for me and I can get back to writing. HOPEFULLY I will see SOME people back? :-)