Tuesday, June 14, 2011

My card reader is still MIA (where did that thing get off to?), so today's pictures are brought to you compliments of my Droid. ^.^

A while back I posted about the silver maple seeds I had collected for planting. Well, today I show you a picture of how the little guys are doing. Soon I will need to transplant them from the Styrofoam cups I started them in and move them to bigger pots!



In an attempt to save more money, I've been learning the tricks of couponing. Yesterday we hit up Homeland (a local grocery chain) and CVS to grab a few freebies with my carefully collected coupons. ^.^ Here is what I managed to get:



I ended up paying about $2 in tax, but the items themselves were free with the coupons. I was especially excited about those pastas, as the husband and I love pasta for dinner. =)

Once a month, our neighborhood has Big Trash Day, when then garbage men come by to collect all your trash that is too large to fit in your trash bins. You wouldn't believe the perfectly good items that people throw away! Jason and I enjoy the weekend before Big Trash Day by perusing the neighborhood for items that we can use. Here is a picture of what we snagged last weekend:



I plan to post pictures of what I do with these items, so keep your eyes peeled for updates. =) Here are a few to start off with:

See that big black futon mattress? Our neighbor told us that the people who tossed it out also tossed out the frame for it, but someone already grabbed the frame before we came along. No matter, as what I really wanted the mattress for was this:



A nice, big, comfy dog bed to put out in the sun room! ^.^ The dogs love it and enjoy laying on it while they watch the world outside or taking a lazy nap. Plus, it's big enough that several of them can fit on it at once without starting the "he's touching me!" fussing.

I also found this Little Tykes art easel that was pretty dirty, but overall in good condition and still perfectly usable!



I took it out into the back yard today and gave it a good scrubbing. Now it is practically as good as new!



Jason and I don't have any little ones of our own (aside from the animals) yet, but it will be nice to have when we do, as if they are anything like me, they're bound to have an artistic streak. ^.^ Until then, I bet I know another little one who will get some use out of this. =)

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

I'm Not Dead, I've Just Lost My Card Reader

My card reader (the thing I plug my camera's memory card into in order to upload the photos) is MIA at the moment, which has contributed to my lack of updates lately, but I am alive and well!

Husband and I have been setting the wheels in motion for us to purchase some property outside of the city and start a farm. If all goes well, we should have a place and be moved in before autumn (hopefully in time to plant a pumpkin patch!). I am excited about living rurally again. I enjoy the city and its conveniences, but I dislike the constraints of living so closely packed with so many other people. It's hard for a hippie to live in suburbia!

I look forward to having a huge backyard for my dogs to play in. I plan to build some agility equipment for my more athletic canines, and, although I will be busy with the farming much of the time, I am still hoping to get them dog scout-certified through the mail, since there aren't any Dog Scout troops in Oklahoma. Soon I want to start uploading videos of their training to my Youtube channel.

The puppies I posted pictures of a while back found a great home together with a country boy and his fiancé who live outside of the city. They send us pictures of them every now and then, and they are getting big and doing well. I am very thankful that they now have a loving home and are still together.

The silver maple seeds that I planted in saved Styrofoam fast food cups have sprouted and are doing quite well. I haven't counted to see exactly how many have come up, but I believe it is around twenty. I would love to plant them on whatever property we end up buying (away from the house, of course). I plan to have a flower garden tucked into a grove of trees, so perhaps they will get planted nearby, where I can enjoy their beauty.

We have one of those cheap $5 or $10 plastic wading pools in our backyard that we used for the dogs last year, but it has since developed a leak. I am hoping to fill it in with soil and plant some watermelon vines in it. It seems like it would be a good planter for vining plants, anyway, since we can just pick it up and carry it with us when we move.

Husband showed me how to change spark plugs on his Grand Am a few days ago, and I really enjoy the learning experience. I am oddly intrigued by mechanics. I suspect I get that from my dad, as he always loved to tinker with machines. I am hoping to get a clunker for a project car sometime after we move so I can get more hands-on learning in that area. I am a big believer in hands-on learning.

Hopefully soon I will find the card reader so I can upload some of the new pictures I've taken over the past several months. Until then, live wisely and love deeply.