He does read my blog

Yesterday, Mr. Fix-it called me at work. "I guess if you're blogging at work that you can't get your work done in a ten hour day, you don't coming home any time soon." Ding, ding, ding, give that man a prize! At least he took it with good humor. And he knew not to wait for me for dinner. Speaking of which, I can't even remember if I ate dinner last night. I must have, but I can't remember. Sigh.

And it just keeps on a comin'

the stress that is. There is just no way I can get all my projects done at work in an 8 hour day. Or a 9 hour day. Or a 10 hour day. Even if I cut corners. Even if I delegate. And my workload is going to be increasing. At least I have a job, right?

Photos 94-97/365 Road Trip

This is what I have a view of on our long road trips to see my family.

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We had to stop at three different places before I found one of these without a long line.

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One mom's many bean plants. She planted four or five or was it six varieties this year.

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Yum!

Let's just say

that it has been a very stressful week. Doesn't help that I keep forgetting to take my vitamins.

Oink, moo, gobble-gobble

If it oinks, moos, clucks, or splashes, has feet, fins, wings, or blood, it's meat. Just in case you were looking for a definition.

Some coworkers asked what I was going to do with the ginormous zucchini I had (because everyone, except me has a bounty of squash to share). I said Mr. Fix-it was going to make stuffed zucchini with meat, onions, cheese, or maybe breadcrumbs, onions, cheese since I was thinking about cutting down on meat. "Oh, you could use ground turkey instead." And they didn't understand why I was confused. Isn't ground turkey meat? Did I say I wanted to cut down on red meat? Beef? Pork? No, I said MEAT. Is this what vegetarians have to go through? Oh, and then the comment came that breadcrumbs are unhealthy. Whoa, what's wrong with bread? Why is America so anti-carb? Really, I think it is what people put on the carbs that are bad, not the carbs themselves. Yes, I happily eat white rice, French bread (that's basically white bread, right?), potatoes, non-whole grain pasta, and I'm sure other "bad" carbs that I can't think of at the moment (and I eat brown rice and whole wheat pasta and high-fiber bread too). Heck, sometimes I even eat multiple white carbs together, like curried potatoes over rice! Sorry, rant over. Just let me eat my meat, my red meat, and my carbs in peace. I won't critiize your meal if you don't critizie mine.

(My cutting down on meat comment was prompted by a recent article about MRSA in meat processing plants, sorry don't have a link, but I'm sure you could Google it.)

It is July, isn't it?

Because I'm a little confused. I'm seeing brightly colored household items. For picnics? For parties? No! They're back to school supplies and everything you could need for outfitting dorm rooms and first apartments. Better buy your crayons and binders and organizers now because you won't be able to find them come August or September (or if you do, the selection will be smaller and prices will be higher).

We're also celebrating Christmas in July. Hallmark unveiled their ornaments, just as they do every July. And Mr. Fix-it was once again confused as to why we were buying Christmas ornaments in July (because I get more points and that translates into coupons honey, and you know I'm all about the savings). I find it so ironic that I'm the who started his interest in the ornaments and now I collect one series and Mr. Fix-it collects two. But his collection always has add-ons that aren't part of the official series and of course, he has to get them. So he buys about four or five times as many as I do. Still, they are relatively cheap "collectibles."

$2.85

Not the cheapest station around, but I didn't feel like driving out of my way.

Photo 90/365 Scrapbooking

(Ack, blurry photo...oh well)
See any difference between the two binders? Yes, one does have the Quickutz logo and pocket on the inside. And it was around $7.99 (but they aren't available anymore). The other is just a plain jane binder, but you know what? It was only $1 at the 99 Cents store. Okay, so it was only 99 cents, but I liked typing $1 better. Now I don't have any excuses why my QK aren't organized.

Photo 89/365 Gardening

I'm sure you're thinking this is an odd POTD. Why do I have a spray bottle in my fridge and what's in it? The spray bottle contains diluted milk. I read online that diluted milk helps prevent fungus. It seems to be helping.

Did you see those pigs fly by?

Because I threw away two, count 'em two, pairs of shoes. I have no idea how old the shoes were, most likely more than 10. What I don't understand is the outside leather looked fine. The inside leather looked fine. But when I wore the shoes, the inside leather cracked, left bits on my feet, and was generally gross. So out the shoes went.

Mom has shoes that are waaaay older than mine. (She keeps everything!) Does she take better care of them? Are they better quality than mine? Or am I just unlucky? I do think that the quality of goods has gone down over the years. That we've gotten used to sloppy workmanship. That we don't want to pay for quality. That we're fickle with fashion and wearing a fancy dress twice, will get the tongues wagging. Whereas in the past, it was okay to have one dressy dress that you wore to every event.

But back to the original momentous event. You should be proud of me for actually throwing something out. Yes it was time, yes it was obvious, but still, you should be impressed that I didn't wait, that they're already in the trash. That there wasn't even any thought of fixing them. (Does this mean I get to go shopping?)

That was Off the Wall

I was talking to Mom and the conversation took an interesting turn. Note that this is the woman who had to be convinced she needed a converter box because "she doesn't watch TV." Who's friend gave her an old TV (hence the need for the converter box) because she didn't have one. Who would rather read the news rather than watch the TV. Who thinks TV is a waste of time. Who told me she spent all day Tuesday glued to the TV watching Michael Jackson's memorial and related broadcasts. Not that there's anything wrong with that. It just isn't her usual modus operandi. Mom, TV, MJ? Never thought I'd see that combination.

Photo 88/365 Scrapbooking Deal of the Decade

The other day, I was browsing 2peas and someone posted about a megadeal at Ms (that's Michaels, the craft store for those of you who don't know scrapbook shorthand). I usually find that the deals aren't really a deal, or is stuff I don't want, or is generally not worth a trip to the store, or worse, the store is out of stock by the time I get there. But this time, it was something I wanted, the price was right, and I even went out of my way to a different store so in case they didn't have it, it would be easy to stop by another store on the way home.

What was the deal? It's pictured above. I've been wanting this font for a while and was even looking for it on ebay. I was willing to pay up to $30 (including shipping). Talk about being a cheapskate since the original MSRP was $149 a couple years ago (see I'm sooo not cutting edge, lol). But no one pays full price for this kind of stuff. It would regularly go on sale and as other die cutting tools became more popular, was often 50% off. Still too expensive for my tastes, hence my search on ebay.

The price, the price! you're still waiting for me to get to that, right? Ahhh, the suspense! It was on clearance for $9.99. That's right, $9.99. Let me say that again, $9.99. Can you tell I'm thrilled? But wait! There's more! Since it was the final clearance price, I was able to use a 50% off coupon. That's right, I paid a whopping $5 for the set. And it was the last one in the store (much to the dismay of the woman in line in back of me). It looks like the box was damaged by a box cutter, but the box is still sealed and the contents looked intact so I didn't mind.

Many peas posted that the managers were surprised they were flying off the shelves. Duh! Do the math! Was $149, was $69, hard to find on ebay for less than $20. What the heck was that Micheals buyer thinking, pricing them at more than 90% off? I'm sure he could have priced them at $14.99 or $19.99 and they would have still sold out (they're sold out all over the country, based on various 2peas posts). I understand pricing things to move. But this was rediculous (I'm not complaining, just opining).

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I found this visitor in the yard.

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If you're eating chicharrones, do you really worry about it being from a antibiotic free animal?

Photo 84/365 Harvest

My second harvest of the year...one Japanese cucumber, two Juliet tomatoes, and a few more volunteer cherry tomatoes. Hopefully, I'll be harvesting basketfuls instead of handfuls soon.

Photos - Fashion

We tried to boost the economy since there were lots of Independence Day sales. I ended up with three tee shirts (dressier ones I can wear to work), two blouses, two camisoles, a pair of shoes, a sweater, and four bras. I didn't get any dresses, blue pumps, black sandals, casual jacket, or the other things on my list, but it was still quite a haul. I tried not to buy anything casual since I've got lots of casual stuff in my closet. But I couldn't resist this top. Love the color and it's got good coverage (I'm not into the hoochie mama look, hence the camisole purchase). But, and you knew there'd be a but, right? I took it into the dressing room to try on. So far so good. Then I saw this.