It is so d*mn hot!

I actually am enjoying the commute to/from work because at least I have air conditioning in the car. How's that for a sad life, lol!

You know it is hot if I've been wearing what I call my "skanky teen tanks" out in public. A doesn't think I'm letting it all hang out and I shouldn't be embarrassed about what I wear. But if you think I'm dressing inappropriately for my age, please let me know. I don't want to be that embarrassing friend you don't want to be seen with.

What's for dinner?

We had homemade chicken soup. Yum! It included Swiss chard and squash from the garden. I also made chicken chili for dinner tomorrow. Hmmm, do you think chicken was on sale this week, lol? The original plan was chicken soup and BBQ chicken. But the store ran out of what we originally wanted so we opted for whole chickens instead.

Healthy foods for dinner all week, that's a good thing.

I don't have good scrapbook junk either

The post title is in reference to a previous post I made:
Junk . I did another garage sale yesterday, this time a SB garage sale at a local store, and it was another bust.

On the plus side, this sale was easier in some ways than the previous sale I did. The store didn't require you to staff your table, so I could come and go as I pleased. Since I had stuff priced from the previous SB sale (which I did not blog about), there was less for me to do. On the down side, the store did not have air conditioning and boy, was it hot yesterday.

There weren't as many people selling, so I didn't buy much, which is a good thing. I got an awesome set of new stamps for $5 (MSRP $40). I already have a stamp from the set, but I think I will RAK it away. L and I traded a bit, but I still owe her since she had better stuff than I had.

One person sold $75 of stuff! Wowsers! The rest of us were in the teens, if even that. And she said that at a previous sale, she sold over $600 worth of stuff! I can't imagine having that much to sell.

So now my dilemma is should I now donate most of the stuff to the Boys&Girls Club. The tax writeoff will be so much easier to deal with. Or should I just keep the stuff and continue to try to sell it? Obviously, the next time a store has a sale, my stuff will be even older and even less desirable.

If you're local, you're welcome to stop by and rummage through my stuff before it goes away. And of course, I'm not going to charge you. A will be thrilled that the stuff is gone!

What is a worm bin?

You know, vermicomposting. Turning "trash" into brown gold, AKA worm poop, lol. It is great stuff for the garden. Vermicomposting is a faster way to turn your table scraps into compost. Here are some links if you'd like to start your own:
Easy worm bin
Indoor worm bin (similar to previous link)
Photos of worm bin and sorting
Wood worm bin
Another plastic worm bin
Yet another worm bin link

Yep, I'm turning my veggie scraps into worm poop. Hope you're not grossed out.

Disappointment

I had a chance to win tickets to a Rascal Flatts concert, but didn't win. Oh well, no biggie. Then the tickets were offered to me after all, but by the time I got a hold of A, the tickets were gone. I'm so bummed!

I so rarely want things like this, then to have the opportunity again only to lose it, really hurts.

Plus I decided to be good and not buy another QK font, even though it is a killer deal. Plus, I'm still at work and still have several hours more to do. Yes, we're still short handed. Sometimes life sucks.

Mid-July garden update

Prompted by a couple of conversations on organic produce and a segment on the Today show, I decided to add more seedlings to the vegetable garden. The Today show listed the "dirty dozen" that you should always buy organic:

Apples
Cherries
Grapes, imported (Chili)
Nectarines
Peaches
Pears
Raspberries
Strawberries
Bell peppers
Celery
Potatoes
Spinach

I eat most of the above on a regular basis and buy none of it organic. But I can grow my own bell peppers so I will. Actually, they were another veggie that I tried to start from seed with no luck. So off we went to Home Depot where I bought a six pack of bell peppers and a six pack of Early Girl. To heck with the heirlooms, I just want to make sure I actually get fresh, home-grown tomatoes this year.

It looks like I won't be getting a second batch of cucumbers. Something keeps eating the seedlings as soon as they come up. But I haven't given up hope and will keep planting seeds until I run out.

Anyone have any organic hints for getting rid of sowbugs (you know, those gray things that roll up when you touch them)? (Other than squishing them, which is gross and tedious and time consuming.)

Oh, I decided to start another worm bin. A helped me drill holes in a couple of 10 gallon containers; I finally found the ones I wanted at Lowes. I started the bin with coconut husks and newspaper shreds and I'll get the worms from my compost bin.

Change is bad

Yahoo has a new UI and I'm still getting used to it. I'm sure they put research into the new design (if they were smart that is). Actually, the new tagline is "You spoke. We listened." so it does sound like thought went into the new design. I'm just not sure if I like it.

Yesterday, I tried to change the look of my blog, but I don't know enough HTML to edit the standard templates. Oh, I did make several changes...and then everything went all wonky. After that happening several times, it was back to this look. Like I said, change is bad.

Should I apply for the job?

I was considering applying for a job at a local SB store. They want someone for the Friday night crops and Sundays. That is perfect for my schedule since I do have my day job. I wonder what they pay?

I don't have any retail experience, so that would work against me. And I'm not a cutting edge scrapbooker, again a negative. Too bad fun, enthusiastic, and dependable don't count when you're applying for a job.

I have a new reader...

so I added her to my blogging friends list. Thanks for all the comments! Be sure to visit my blogging friends and leave 'em comments. Or if you can't because you don't belong to the various sites, just send them an e-mail or pm. We all love our readers.

2 for the price of 1

I love it when a veggie does double duty. I've been picking the squash blossoms from the overabundant crooked neck squash plants. The first time, I gave them to a friend (who then decided she needed her own plant for the blossoms, lol). The second time, I sauteed them with some onion and ate them in quesadillas. The onions overpowered the blossoms so I need to adjust the ratio next time. Tonight, I floured the blossoms and pan fried them. They were yummy, but certainly not low cal. For the best effect, I should have used more oil, but was trying to be good, healthwise.

There is no danger of running out of squash, even though I've been picking the blossoms. I've got several little squash growing and besides, crooked neck squash isn't my favorite. Ironic that I usually have a lot of trouble growing squash. You know how everyone complains about being overrun with squash? I'm lucky to get a meal or two. But this year? We've already had several meals, and gave away three batches. Why can't I have this kind of luck with snow peas?

I have no fashion sense

I had a one year subscription to a shopping/fashion magazine and it was a complete waste of $ and time. I'm just too cheap to spend what the articles showed. And the fashions they showed? Oh gag! I'm just not into buying clothes that last a season. I still don't understand how to mix stripes with florals or baby doll styles. Or how to mix tailored with soft looks with the right shoes and accessories. Maybe that's why I haven't bought anything new for a year or more.

Oh, I did buy some new shoes, but I was due for those. I stopped wearing skirts to work because my dress pumps all wore out and I hadn't replaced them. I got some awesome deals on a pair of boots and a pair of brown pumps, but then after I got home with them, the number of outfits that looked good with them was very limited. Sad thing is I couldn't tell until I actually put the whole outfit together. I couldn't see it in my head. I still think the boots and shoes were a good deal since it less than $20 for each pair.

Hey fellow bloggers...

time to update your blogs! I've been updating my favorites and deleted some blogs that were not updated since last year. There are several others that haven't been updated in months. If you're one of those people, you're in danger of falling off of list.

And, if you've been checking out my blog, how about some comments? (how pathetic, now I'm beggin for comments, sigh)

Now you see it, now you don't

Yes, it is another case of the disappearing blog entry. Hey, you gotta be quick around here, lol. It was another complaining post and although after reading it again, I decided it wasn't as much of a downer as I originally thought, I still decided to delete it. Besides, no one commented on it, so no one must have read it, right?

I'm not the only one afraid of being dooced

I'm a regular reader of many blogs (which many of you haven't updated) and one blogger has been blogging about her job hunt. Since a search of her name brought up her blog, she was concerned that it would influence a potential employer. I totally understand her concern, but hope that a potential employeer would see what an articulate, humerous, and caring person she is. (Wonder if I should send her a link to my blog?)

Paige is in the house!

Woo hoo! I got my QK font that I ordered so I'm a happy camper. I also spent an outrageous amount of time creating lists of all the fonts that QK makes (made) and all the fonts that my friends own. This was much more fun than creating to-do lists for work.

Hmmm, I just remembered that I need to add another font to the list. A SB chain store just released an exclusive font that isn't on my list.

June Garden Update

The crooked neck squash is growing like gangbusters. Ironic since I'm usually not very successful with squash. You know how you're not supposed to plant more than one zucchini plant, lest you be overrun with the critters? That has never been my problem. My problem is getting the dang plant to live long enough so I can get even a meal's worth of squash.

My tomatoes have lots of blossoms, but also already have some sort of blight. Do I cut my loses now and take out the plants? All the plants I have are from organic growers and all are heirloom tomatoes. I was hoping they would be more resistant to disease, but that isn't the case.

I didn't get any beets this year. :( I planted them three or four times and not one came up. Either my seeds were too old or the birds had a picnic. I wish I knew which. I haven't had any luck with basil or bell peppers either. I should be getting cucumbers (just had one in my salad tonight) and some sort of Chinese melon (I forgot what I planted, lol). And we've been enjoying the Swiss chard; just had some in vegetarian lasagne tonight.

Pyramid Type Shopping

Scrapbook spending is a big topic on scrapbook boards. There is always talk about how much is too much to spend on a tool/page/embellishment, how to hide purchases from your husband, where the sales are.

Anyway, a friend said her big downfall was "pyramid type shopping." Mine too, lol! What's that you ask? It is when one purchase leads to another and then another and yet another. Like my Quickutz purchase...I've been on a hunt to find the lowercase font to match the uppercase font I purchased. The problem is it is discontinued. I just ordered it online, but I'm not sure if the store really has it or not. How could they? No one has it in stock! I'll just have to wait until the store charges my cc or sends me an e-mail. Unfortunately, I'm not known for my patience.

Scrapbook jackpot!

Last weekend, I went away for a weekend of cropping (that's a gathering of scrapbookers for those of you who don't know). We rent out a B&B and spend the whole weekend scrapping and talking and eating. Actually, this time there wasn't as much eating since most of us are dieting. It was surprising how little snack foods there was.

One scrapper came a little later, but she had a bag full of goodies from a local store that was going out of business. Everything was 50% off, woo hoo! Note that before I heard that, I was determined not to spend anything on SB (scrapbook) supplies since there isn't anything I need. It turns out that everything was on sale, even the Quickutz dies! Now that was a surprise. On top of all that, some of the scrappers had frequent buyer cards that gave them an extra 10% off, which they shared with us. So everything was really 55% off. I ended up buying three QK fonts, one at 55% off and two at 75% off. It was an awesome deal! I ended up going to the store 4 times and spending way more than I planned. If I really get short of cash, I could always sell the dies to make some money, lol.

Nobody's perfect

Including me, sigh. I was working on a project and was looking for someone in the department to review my work. Normally, I'm the one to review everyone's work, but with all the projects and being understaffed, I'm back to working on projects again (not that I mind). Unfortunately, with everyone being overworked, no one had time to review my stuff. My manager finally found time to review my project after I sent it to the printer. Luckily, it hadn't been printed yet so I had time to make the changes.

Then today, I was using those files as a base for yet another project and found another error, sigh. Nothing earth-shaking, but it is another sign that there is too much to do and not enough time to do it.

Grocery shopping

If you gauged how I eat by a recent trip to the grocery store, you'd think I have terrible eating habits. Haagen-Daz ice cream was on sale, plus I had coupons so the combination brought the price down to something acceptable (not a bargain, just acceptable). There were four packages of bars and two pints of ice cream in the cart. Yum! We also bought water, bread, salad dressing, some cookies, and a few other things. Not much nutritional value in that cart, lol. Hey, we did buy bananas.

I thought the bill was going to be less than it was. I had a $10 off a $75 total, plus coupons for almost everything. The bill went from $81 to $56, which is a good savings, but not great. All you expert coupon clippers are probably laughing at me.

After that, we went to a local grocery store that heavily discounts fruits and veggies. We walked out of there with three big bags of fruits and veggies for $17. I guess we know which place was a better value, lol.