Blessings, BFF's & Agents

Yesterday as I already mention here, was Prissy's 9th birthday.

So far my daughter's b-day haul is amazing!
A pink scooter (Auntie H)
4 mini purses  (Auntie & Uncle B)
and a new
CAR!
Alright a barbie car, but she is thrilled!





However, I have the BEST BESTEST FRIEND EVER!!! (and yes she will HATE that sentence!)

She gave me a new car! Well new to me, its her old car!

Seriously isn't it amazing!

I think its amazing so, you have to say, Oh My Gosh! Its Amazing!

Even getting the car for free it will still make our budget tighter, the insurance, gas and up keep not to mention yearly fee's and registration but my hubby and I are cutting the extra's, tightening the belts and I once again (almost 6 years without) have a car!

I was able to get it over to my insurance agent's office two minutes after closing time

have I ever mentioned my luck?

Well I won't in this post because not only was I given an amazing car - that I could never buy -

My insurance agent Bessie Porter (best agent ever) let me in and spent a whole hour going over new policies and working to get me the best price!

My agent has had a very hard year.

At the first of the year she moved her office - from a dud parking lot to right around the corner but much easier to get into and nicer looking office. (several of her other clients are still complaining - idiots)

Then her oldest child, Cassidy Porter (who my daughter now LOVES) was in a very serious car accident.

An accident that claimed two of her friends lives, placed her in a two week coma and then 4 months in the hospital, she is now left with scars and survivors guilt.

I think she is looking forward to next year with joyous abandon.

If you live in Salt Lake City and need an agent - mine is amazing!

As for my best friend, well you can't have her!

For the next few days I may be absent - I have to clean the house - kids got sick, hubby got sick and I got sick. Two weeks of someone being sick all the time has left the house in a sad state.

So to get the house back into shape for our family birthday get together I really have to buckle down and get to work!

I

Mosaic Miche Monday

Last week I noticed that my favorite Miche bag had been put on sale. 19.99! (Shell only) Also my favorite matching brown purse handles were on sale as well.
So I called my Miche Rep (my sister) and asked if it was a temporary sale or a being discontinued sale.
The purse handles aren't technically being discontinued, what is being discontinued is them being sold seperately instead of in a bundle.

This wonderful green & black bag called Delilah is being discontinued. Its one of only two bags made by Miche that comes with a matching changing pad - making this a "could be" diaper bag.
While I have not given up hope of having another baby, I bought this more for when I am having a day out with the kids.
A day where I need to carry drinks, snacks, and my camera.

So while my South of the Border, Purse Party isn't until November 24th at 1pm. This purse and a few like it, may not be available.
So I placed my order last week and it arrived a few days later!
Wonderfully excellent in every way! I can't wait to start using it!
The only thing is that because I am waiting for my party to buy so many things - I won't get the actual purse until November!

I know the wait is killing me!
However, I am a surprise waiting around the corner of my life and I can't afford to get demanding right now - just wait, in a few weeks I will have one heck of a fun post on the newest turn of fortune!

Tomorrow I am going to post on another box of items I got for my Miche Party - namely all my empty new containers for lotions, bath bubbles and hand scrubs!
I am having so much fun!

Linking up with Mosaic Monday

10 hour Stain Gloss?

First off let me say for the record, I have not nor will I be paid for this. I bought the product and I am testing its staying power as well as its color.
Above is my photo of both my Super Stay 10 hour Stain Gloss and the color on my lips. They match very well, still it was brighter then I had anticipated.

This is what the whole container looks like.
Being truthful I will admit a semi-vain and semi-silly reason for my buying this. As I am now on the PTA there are days where I will spend a full day at the school. This coming Thursday is shaping up to be one of those days.
Now I am a stay at home mama, chubby and I have long ago given up my looks to my children. However, I do like to have a bit of color on me so that I don't feel quite so bad or plain.
That said I am not vain enough to be running to the bathroom every few hours for "beauty" breaks.
Hence - Lip Stain

Here I am with the lip stain newly applied.

10 hours later and the majority of color is gone - however I still have some color.

During the day, I ate, applied chapstick, washed my face once (not my lips) kissed the kids and drank with a straw.

I will most likely buy this product again, but as for 10 hours... well not really more like a good 4, an okay 6, faint 8 and a barely there 10.

 

Review - Windows HTC Trophy Phone

Windows HTC Trophy

Somethings have happened in my life this week that I am dealing with.
I will blog Little Man's 6th Birthday soon.
For now though, I would like something a little less personal.
Like my new phone.
I've had it almost two months now and I can't say enough good things about it!

My husband has, Droid Razor. I hate it. In fact I hate it so much that I put off getting a smart phone.

Crafty Feelings and Eye Masks

Now I know you are all wondering just what I was up to yesterday ~ I have changed all 3 of my blog looks (again) and have been somewhat hyper lately what with cleaning and all...add to that this post title and you may be wondering if I have knocked over a bank.

Netflix - the yay and nay!

I love Netflix!

A little less though with their new instant play whishy screen (major hate)

However we have been long term customers for years - I mean seven or eight years.

We have never needed cable instead we bought a computer just for the TV!

Seriously it plays Netflix's right to our flat screen!

With the kids we made some simple rules.

They have to be in the kids section before picking out a movie.

Then we have a small list of shows they aren't allowed to watch

Top of the list

Sponge Bob

Other than that we have been very gracious about trying out new shows and movies.

I am with the kids almost all the time so its easy for me to monitor.

Right now Prissy loves a show out of Australia with three girls that turn into mermaids.

Free Advice Starts here:
LittleMan's newest obsession should have been on my NOT list - only I was never warned!

So to all parents out their whose children are not addicted to this 

Beware!

So for parents like me that have lists 

grab your Pens!

I swear this is the most insane nonsense show out there!

To me its a compilation of, Peewee Hermon, an old school video game & Sesame Street.

Its like the perfect show for kids with ADD - only if your not trying to help out their attention span.

Now if you have tiny tots that love this show - power to you,

I have a 5-year-old that is addicted

its not near as cute!

They have sections that remind you of a cheap sesame street

Like the drawing guy he acts like he is trying to do a dry eyes impression of Mr. Noodle

It comes across as boring.

Also half of their sets remind me of The Original Series of Star Trek

I keep looking for Spock!

Then there is the dude in the orange.

He could be a gay alien from Star Trek

But he would be shot within the first ten minutes of the show.

In fact THAT I might watch!

As always I am in no way paid for any form of advertisement and to be honest who would pay for this?!

Swamp Cooler Day Two!

Yuck!

YUCK!

SUPER YUCK!

Have I mentioned that the people who lived in our home before us did nothing but treat this home like a rental?

It blows my mind, they bought my tiny home for a whooping 197,000!

I got it for 110,000!

This to me, begs the question of how do you spend almost 200,000.00 dollars on something and then NOT TAKE CARE OF IT!?

Serious!

I went to work!

One pair of gloves

Two wire brushes

and a sore hand later and it was ready for this

Rustoleum is my friend!
(highly recommend this project)

This should last us a few more years now before we will have to replace it completely

Like we had to the motor, the rotor wheel, the belt, the floater

and a ton of miscellaneous little parts.

The pads could not have been changed during their 4 year stay, like so much other junk in our home it needs a lot of work - due more to neglect than anything else.
Good home, built well - just mistreated.
We are giving it the love and TLC it needs ;)
just wish it would stop raining.

Did I mention that it might rain the next three days?

My newest toy - The Kindle

Sorry for the glare.

Ok first off the Kindle comes in a very ugly gray color.

Skins like the one I added to my Kindle can be purchased for differing prices.

I also added a screen protector to keep it from getting scratched up.

My number one reason that I like this better than the Nook is that it has a keypad.

For me the Kindle is a great ebook reader and I don't know what I did without mine.

The price is reasonable if you are into classics - most of which you can get for free.

If you are into best sellers or the latest books it might start to get pricey. The good news is many books are available for free somewhere and there are many cheap disks filled with 75-200 books for few dollars.

These disks then can easily be turned into ebooks. 

Not all features translate, no chapter forwarding or last page bookmarking and no text to speech enabled.

However when you can get 9 of Gene Stratton-Porter books for free, whereas in a book store you would be looking at 100+ dollars, its a great deal.

Once you buy a book make sure to back it up onto your computer in case anything goes wrong this way you won't have to repurchase.

Usability - Great

Battery - Amazing!

Storage - HUGE

Weight - Medium paperback book

Purse size (my purse anyway)

Great for right and left hand users

Again I am writing this review based solely on my personal experiences and uses. 

I have not been paid or compensated in anyway for this review.

Mini mix up

A month or so ago I made a deal with my hubby that he could upgrade his seven year old lap top to something newer. As I had taken over his last new laptop that we bought less than two years ago. I love my Acer laptop very much and I only use a quarter of its cool features. I agreed to buying him a new one so not to lose my acer (even though it needs to be fixed). 
Then last month he came home from work saying that he could get a really good deal on a mini notebook. Now I am not a huge fan of these tiny mini laptops normally they aren't worth the money, but when he came home saying he could buy one for 20.00 my jaw dropped and I said yes - why the heck not?

We didn't order it right away, we waited for our house agents to tell us the magic closing number, when they did we went ahead and bought the mini and had it shipped to the house.
Can you imagine my surprise when I opened the box to find a bill for 128.00 inside?
Turns out hubby ordered the wrong laptop. We spent last night figuring out if this mini was worth a hundred dollars more than the other mini (500.00 off market price btw), or if we were going to send it back for the other.

The long and short of the matter came down to my deal to buy hubby another laptop a few months from now. This would mean we would end up with four laptops, two desk tops for four people and one can't even read yet.
As I don't need much besides internet and office, I have taken the new mini which does have some fun gadgetry and Hubby will be taking the Acer in to be fixed (children and dropping damage) and then he will have the Acer. Something he is rather smug about.

I have spent the morning on this tiny little mini and I have a few things to say about it.
First off - adorable, cute, feels nice and has a good look.
Second I am still getting used to the keyboard pad combo. This pad is very close to where you type and it messes me up often! I am constantly having to reposition the mouse, re-editing sentences and have been mildly scolding this tiny thing all morning.
When I have this in my new home, in my little office space and mouse on the side things will move along much better!
For now I am practicing typing before starting another book on the mini. I have many many ideas running the gauntlet of my mind and I am ready to start.

If you have a spare minute please run by my Trying to get Published blog and answer the idea poll I have posted. I am trolling for short story ideas.

What a long day today

First off my BFF's house flooded this morning!
Besides running around in the rain chasing flying trash, panicking about the flooding basement, cleaning up the dirt or calming the screaming scared children.

I had a massive mammoth headache! ALL DAY LONG!!!

~ FYI - Lysol concentrate floor cleaner ~ cleans well but stinks! I mean really bad, I will stick with Pinesol in the future.

Shopping today though was great fun! I found the floor tile that I want to install in my soon to be upstairs bathroom! Yeah!

Update on house: Finally we have had progress! Verizon's HR finally gave in and talked to our lender. We received the bid on the fireplace and the shed. Got the final paycheck for this month and the proper paperwork showing that our school loans are not due for another year.
We need to resign the paperwork for the lower interest and then meet for the closing! Yeah closing!
Have I mentioned yet that I want to move into my new home?
NO!!! (fake incredulousness)
I WANT MY HOME!!!

LOL I am happy things are moving along again and I will never ever have to refinance. 4.75 FIXED!

I still have a headache, I still want to shoot people with marshmallow guns (who wouldn't) and of course I still want to move tomorrow, but today has been a fun day in spite of everything!

Writing Desk

I am sure that once or twice on this blog I have mentioned my love of IKEA that has in no way lessened nor do I ever see that changing in the future.
The desk above is a Secretary desk that I am in love with! I want this in my new soon to be bedroom!

This sits on top giving you more room for your writing, scrap booking and supply items that you may want to store along with any bills and misc things.

This bench is super cool - its padded, fits perfectly under the writing desk and open up underneath for easy and handy storage!

If any of my friends and family want to get me the perfect Christmas present it would be a gift card to IKEA! This is on my want list not my need list so it will be several months to a year before I will be the proud and happy owner of this set!

I also went to IKEA and found a 365 recipe book that is on a final sale of $3.50 after one short day of looking at this tiny book I am in HEAVEN! YUM!


ps. I am in no way paid to advertise, promote or review any products I do so from my own personal beliefs, uses and observances.

Pinesol - Original or Knock off

For those that don't know me personally, I have been broke more often than not in my eight year marriage to my sweetheart. While being poor has brought its own stresses it has also brought many blessings and lessons learned.

You will never and I mean NEVER know who your real friends are like you will when you are having extremely hard times.

During these periods of low income you learn quickly what cheap products are good and what original products are worth buying.

I have bought many different pine-sol knockoffs in recent years from dollar stores to top store knock off''s and I am here to tell you Pine-sol is not that expensive and the knock off''s really are not worth buying.
In fact normally they end up costing more because you have to use more.

Pine-sol original - worth buying
Pine-sol Knockoff (any) NO


ps. I am in no way paid to advertise, promote or review any products. I do so from my own personal beliefs, uses and observances.