Busy and Lazy

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas! And are geared up for a New Year!

We spent the holiday relaxing and getting little things done around our house. My husband has had the entire week off due to unused vacation time that had to be used up. We probably should have used it more productively but we have kind of lounged around the house.

There are some pretty snazzy new toys in our house right now, we are blessed. Here are our favorites:
Husband-Gun safe, garage heater, he already hung up his new fire extinguishers, beer for his fridge, music cards, and he has been wearing his slippers a lot.
Kerrie-Kindle Fire!!!!, a new torch (my husbands eyes lit up when I got this), strings of lights for the back yard, tea, music gift cards and some cute clothes.

This is boring but sadly this is what we have gotten done this entire week.

-Went to see the Christmas lights at the Zoo.
-All laundry clean and folded :) Everything ironed (I hate ironing so this makes me HAPPY)
-Curtain rod raised that has been hanging too low and driving me crazy.
-Gun safe bolted to the wall in our basement.
-Base for car seat installed in car.
-Garage organized
-Car windows cleaned and inside wiped down, still need to vacuum.
-Christmas decorations put away, minus the front porch.
-2 parts ordered for the 4-wheeler, $16 seems pretty reasonable.
-Address label list made so we can send out announcements easily.
-An entire morning buying music using the gift cards we got. I actually had a list of songs for once.
-The exercise bike and fooseball table gone. And found a home for the bar cabinets once we rip them out. I can see our basement transformation even though it is a long way off.
-Baths for both dogs
-Lots of cups of tea :) My husband put some in my stocking that is delicious!
-All but 3 thank you notes written and sent!
-Met with the life insurance agent to increase life insurance, cheers to being responsible.
-Business taxes up to date and ready to finish.
-Review of our finances and plan for the next year to pay off debt! We are farther ahead than I projected even with a Christmas splurge and extra expenses! I want to go buy some gold stars for our calendar!

Our list of things to do was much longer but I think we did pretty good. We have also frequented the Red Box machine and have been streaming movies though Amazon. This has probably been the most inexpensive vacation my husband has ever had, and the least we have spent on fuel. Since we are still trying to have a life (not be total hermits to save money) we have had more game nights/dinners at home with friends (which I prefer) and are finally catching up on excess bills created by our insurance sucking. All of these things are trivial but crossing them off our list and knowing they are done is so relaxing to me. We have three things that are at the top of my list but I feel mostly prepared for the upcoming month and that makes me breath easier. Right now 2011 is ending on a positive note and 2012 is looking incredibly promising and we can't wait.

Hope you have had a wonderful week as well! Happy New Year!

Dogs for Free..........

I have been trying to get all kinds of things done as of course I am behind. Stuck to me wherever I go though is at least one of my dogs, until my husband is home they wont get much for than a foot away from me. They are both driving me NUTS! Especially since I am trying to clean and lets face it dogs are mess makers, they do not help clean.

All I can say is all our beds and bathrooms are clean and the main floor has been swept. I am not moping as my parents dog will be staying while they are traveling and with the snow outside and 3 dogs in my house I really can't see the point in bothering. I dusted...talk about bad after all the dust from my husband wiring our surround. Now I just have a few things left to do and I can get back to writing thank you notes. Right now all I want for Christmas is for someone to vacuum the couches and do my ironing.

We have an excess of cookies since I have been busy baking for gifts and my husband brought home a basket full of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory goodies that was a gift from one of his sub contractors. The subs usually give gifts when my husband has been on big jobs but he does lots of little ones now and its nice that this sub thought of him.

It is beautiful outside with lots of pretty snow but I see some dripping already today! I love how it looks but I hope it refrains from snowing again because we have so many friends traveling right now. I have wasted enough time on the computer and better get back to work. Most of what is on my list HAS to be done today. :(

Merry Christmas!!!! Enjoy those you love! And if anyone wants a dog or two.....

Weekly Money Checkup

I started this on Monday and got sidetracked by my list of things to do and the third book of the Fire and Ice Series.


1. The most I’ve spent this last week was on things at IKEA. I went with a friend that needed a cabinet and came out with a bunch of stuff. I planned on looking at some tall candle stands for our mantel when it is done and bought those and more. At least 2 things I bought were for my husband. They had nice robes for $20 and soft bath rugs (he hates when I wash the rug and there isn't one). 

2. Today I am thankful I am sitting at home relaxing. It was a long but great weekend, the best part was seeing family/friends all day Saturday. I LOVE living closer to those we love. This whole week I have "dates" with several of my friends that couldn't attend my shower or the Christmas party we attended Saturday.

3. Money can’t buy happiness. One free thing I did last week that made me happy was watch my husband clean up his mess after working on his mantel project again. He got the fireplace hole all wired and something wired in the garage. Not sure how long it will take to get the speakers in but I see progress. :)

4. I will consider this week a success if I continue working on my crucial list before the end of the year. I forgot about two things that needed to be on it so it grew!

5. One of my favorite holiday decorations is a little reindeer made out of 2 peanuts. His name is Peanie Rudu and years ago when my mom gave me my ornaments my dad got upset that he was going with me. For years now I have sent my dad a photo of him every time I put him on our tree. We are kind of silly :) I also enjoy putting up my husbands ornaments since most of them were handmade by his grandma. And I hate to say it but I get upset every time I get our decorations out since we were robbed late 2007 early 2008. A lot of our Christmas items were taken and the new items just are not the same as the old ones. Thankfully most of the important ones are still in our possession.


Sometime soon I need to drag myself out of the house and get dog food, some dog treats for the dogs stockings, and find some gifts from my dad for my moms stocking. I need to do that and get my husband a garage heater (his last present) and I am DONE! That is unless my dad calls back and needs me to do more shopping since he is traveling. Then I am working on things that have to be done so I don't freak out in the coming weeks. Hope you are having a wonderful week!

Warm and Cozy

I am nice and cozy sitting in my sweats and slippers curled up with the puppies. It is icy and cold outside, I would hate to be our dogs needing outside when the snow is taller than their poor short legs. Should we be doing things, of course....lots and lots of things but staying warm sounds much nicer.

Yesterday I braved the nasty weather and got a pedicure and manicure...note flip flops do not work in snow. Then did a little shopping and wrapped all the Christmas gifts my Mamo bought for her adopt a family. She and my cousin picked out some really nice things but we both think more than one toy would be good for the kids (they needed clothes, pjs, underwear etc.). She got one toy for each and those essentials so I think Monday I am going to go pick up a small toy for each and either a grocery card, movie theater card or a restaurant card for the parents. Both parents only had essentials on their lists, things that their family needs so I think it would be nice to give them something for them. I know she spent more on them than she intended but we both agreed we would much rather help unfortunate others. Yes we both have bills and debt but you feel so much better helping those that have so little. Next year I am either going to save a little more for Christmas or cut our personal gift budget down so we can help out more. We used to do that as an entire family, not sure when we stopped. :( That makes me feel more in the Christmas spirit than all the holiday music playing everywhere you go.

So right now I am trying to figure out what 5 year old little boys like and 7 year old little girls like? At least I have a few days because I am not going shopping at the toy store on a Saturday in December. That would equal ZERO relaxation on a weekend.

Kindle or a Nook

I have wanted an e-reader for quite awhile. I read a lot, usually books that are given to me. Because of this I read a lot of different genre. I put an e-reader on my Christmas list because its a wish list. There are so many things I need and the e-reader doesn't even make that list but we all have dreams right? So anyways my husband asked me which one I liked better...maybe he is considering it. He prefers to get me things I want and don't always need. You never know what he is planning because he is pretty sly about these things.

Here are my thoughts on them.

Nook: If I have a problem I can walk into the store and get help. My Mamo has one and we can share books. The price is higher. Library friendly. Barnes & Noble membership discount doesn't look like it works on electronic books.

Kindle: Lots of brick and mortar stores sell them, can I go into them if there is a problem? I have quite a few friends with Kindles that I can share books with. Better price. Library friendly. Can use my Swagbucks $$ to buy books.

I would be happy with just a standard model (preferably a touch screen) but if my husband is buying one knowing him he will get the colored screen (higher model of either brand). I see benefits of the higher models but the black and white versions can be used outside with no glare. I don't read outside much but its a consideration.

So my question is which would you choose? Or would you choose another brand?

Online Shopping is the Best

Online Christmas shopping is the best! I sat on my computer yesterday and got most of it done! I still need to buy two things for my husband (shipping was too much online) and something for my dad. Other than that I need to wrap a few things and make a couple of things and I am done. 

My plate is full at the moment so getting this out of the way makes me so relieved. That and the money I had budgeted for Christmas can pay off medical bills since I have extra! Sad I know that I am excited about that but not owing money makes me happy! Getting just a little bit behind makes it hard to catch back up!

Since we are staying home for Christmas this year I think I am going to get my tree out Thanksgiving day and decorate so I can put things under it once I wrap them. I wish I could share all the things I ordered but its a secret!

Have a great weekend!

Christmas Lists

I am REALLY struggling with this right now. I asked my husband early for his this year so I could watch for sales and he usually only has really expensive things that he would like so he has a hard time coming up with a list.

His list makes me laugh because it is kind of random.

-New Slippers
-3 Fire Extinguishers
-Snow Boots (he wants lace up hunting/camo ones from somewhere like Bass Pro or Cabela's so they can be used for more than one activity)
-A heater for his garage (I took a picture of the one he wants)
-A new Ipod dock for our stereo system, our really old one wont charge his phone and play music apparently. This one is hard because I only seem to find the ones with speakers attached.

And whether or not he likes it he is getting a locking gun safe from me. We have WAY too many guns. If I am able to find a reasonable small hand gun safe he is getting one of those too. He very rarely spends any money on himself though so I try to get him things he wants. Good thing I have a small fund set aside just for his Christmas gifts. :)

Making a list for me is hard, mostly because the things I usually want are household needs. For instance my new vacuum (that was a need having two dogs).  On Monday I had one thing on my list.....paring knives (they are always dirty because I eat so much fruit.) But yesterday I saw one of those SodaStream machines and saw you can make flavored carbonated water with them. I LOVE that. Not very practical and it would take up room in my limited cupboard space, but I really think I would use it a lot. I am not very good at making lists like this. Now if you asked me what I would like done around our house I could make a huge list.

At least I have his stocking done. How is your Christmas List/shopping going?

Decorating Early

I am normally opposed to stores and people decorating for Christmas before Thanksgiving. Probably because I like to decorate for both and Thanksgiving deserves credit too!

Well this year I am kind of breaking my own rule. I want our Christmas cards to have a photo of us in front of  our new house decorated. I measured the house and we figured out where we want lights, then I pulled out our lights to figure out what we had the most of. Nothing exciting but we are having white plain lights for the next several years with some red bows. I bought them at Ace Hardware several years ago so I could hopefully get more that match if we needed them. Since Ace is awesome they still have the same light brand. :) I only had to buy 4 more strands, we have lots of other sized bulb strands that I don't know what to do with though. So today I am getting my decorations out so I know what I can give away or keep. I like colored lights in the house so as of right now I have no clue what to do with all the extra white lights.

Colin is most likely not going to be happy that he has to put up those lights this weekend, but it was his idea for me to decorate early. Quite a few of our neighbors have already gone all out. Even if we decorate our house is not going to be even 1% as cool as those around us. All I can wonder about is where are they storing all the junk that is now on their houses/in their yards. I would really like to check out the organization for all those decorations.

Well I better get to work figuring out where to place the decorations I am about to make a mess of. I am missing a piece of garland for the mantel and a tree so that cuts out opening all the boxes of ornaments. Hope you are having a wonderful week.