I am so bad at this...

But at least I update... unlike someone... who is half of this site.  ; )

Things have been crazy busy... still... I don't think it is ever going to calm down...  Ugh.

Things that have happened since the last time I updated, ages ago:

We went camping for Easter.  Super excited to use our new stuff, packed it all, left early Friday morning, got a great camping spot, got to fish for about 45 minutes... and woke up to SNOW the next morning (at about 2 am.)  Prime camping spot, actually camping spot from hell because it was the furthest one away, and we had to haul ALL of our crap back, soaking wet, in the snow.  I eventually wore down and put on a trash bag because I was freezing and my clothes were sopping.  Ugh.  Needless to say, we didn't get to use much of the new stuff except the portable toilet, and our water jugs.  Don't worry, there are pictures... which brings me to the next thing:

Someone reported my Windows key as stolen (which I guess, technically, it is) so my computer has basically been crapping out on me for the last 3 weeks.  :(  I have reformatted and tried and tried to find a legitimate copy of windows, with no avail.  I may have to... buy it. Disgusting.  I really wish that I could use something more basic... like... anything, but unfortunately, there are so many programs out there that wont run on *nix based systems, that I really... just can't switch to anything free or Open Source.

School is done for me!  (And will be done for Jason in a week, I think.)  I got an A in all my classes but one, where I got a B (which was lame, because it was an 89% and they wouldn't just bump it)  8 out of 9 isn't bad though, right?  I'll never be THAT crazy about school again.  I do have my Certificate of Completion in Computer Applications and Usage (i.e. I know how to use a computer, go me, and whooopie!) which I should receive in the mail in a few weeks,  and I have to have one more class to get another Certificate of Completion in Web Design.  What do those all mean?  Nothing really, except that I am done with two chunks of my education on my way to an... associates degree.  Ugh.  The school system is so ridiculous sometimes.  All these classes, all this work, and I can't even get a degree that will get me anywhere.  I suppose that is partially my fault for dragging my feet for so long and changing my mind every semester.  :P

Last week, after I was done with all my finals and homework, I built a garden!  I will eventually post pictures of that too... but I am still working on that computer issue, so I may end up using Jason's computer to do so.  I have planted tomatoes, jalapeños, yellow onions, white green onions, purple green onions, cucumbers, and artichokes.  The tomatoes, cucumbers, and jalapeños were already grown to a small size, and they are doing fine, everything else was planted by me, so far the onions are kicking ass though.  The white green onions have already sprouted, and I have seen little sprouts (that literally look like alphalpha sprouts) coming up where the yellow onions should be.  I will have my own salsa factory soon!  The jalepeños, even though I don't know how old they are since I didn't sprout them, already have a few buds for peppers.  Who knows if the first batch will be good, so I guess we just wait.

Lastly, from last Monday, until yesterday (Monday, so a week) this is what has happend:

• Jason got a kidney stone.  - Monday


• Amanda got a sty. -  Tuesday


• Jason passed said kidney stone.  -  Friday


• Amanda gets rid of sty (for the most / painful part anyway.)  - Friday


• Jason gets another kidney stone.  -  Monday

I swear, he is really pushing the limit on "in sickness and in health".  NO MORE KIDNEY STONES.  I swear, he is trying to start our family early in his kidneys.  :|

 

And... I swear, once I get all this computer hubub straightened out... I will update more... promiiiise.  :D

Frugalista

I heard this word the other day, and fell in love with it.  I am probably not classified as one, but I sure am striving to be one!  I am currently in the kitchen whipping up another batch of dog bones.  I’ve given out a TON of free samples, and people just seem to love them!  Pretty soon I think I will need to start charging for them.  I finally got my butt to the grocery store and priced all the ingredients so that I can have John (from Omega-3) help me figure out the pricing structure.

Another thing I’ve done this week is I’ve made my own laundry detergent.  I was pretty skeptical at first, but I did it, and it works GREAT, and it is SUPER CHEAP!  Two of my favorite things, something that works and isn’t costly.  I don’t know if it is just because I have sensitive skin and have to be careful with what we use, but laundry detergent is SO expensive.  The ingredients for this cost about half the price, (about $9 for everything) and will make at least 3 batches of enough detergent to do approximately 64 loads of laundry.  Can’t beat that, now can ya?  I think our box of fragrance free Arm & Hammer does about 72 loads and costs about $17.  You can see the difference.  I made the first batch up on Thursday night, and used it Friday night with some hesitation.  While the detergent has a very strong smell, it doesn’t transfer in the washer, and it doesn’t bother my skin at all!  Jason even said that his socks felt softer.  If you want the recipe, please feel free to contact me for it. 

Two other household tips we discovered were:

• Wadding up a ball of aluminum foil about the size of your fist, and sticking it in the dryer helps eliminate static!  (Another cheapie!)


• For those tough to get off baked on pains, putting an Alka-Seltzer tablet in hot water and letting it soak works wonders.  I’ve also heard that it helps get rid of the ring around the toilet, but I have yet to try it… because amazingly… our toilets stay pretty clean (and I don’t think we’ve cleaned them since we moved in… which was almost a year ago!)

School is almost over for me… and I think for Jason too… but he is a few weeks behind me.  We have a super busy week ahead of us next week.  Monday we need to inventory our camping stuff because we got a whole bunch of new stuff, so some of the old stuff can go (like our fancy schmancy toilet paper, because now we have biodegradable… eeesh) and we also need to menu plan for our trip and not just throw a whole bunch of random crap in a cooler like we did last time.  Tuesday, we are going to order Jason’s wedding ring that we picked out last week, but there was no SKU on it, and Tuesday was the earliest when a manager’s schedule worked with ours to get it taken care of.  Wednesday, we will buy the planned food for camping, Thursday we have taste testing with our caterer and Friday thru Sunday is camping!  It will be so nice to get away from phones, computer, TV, and video games and just get back to reality.  We’ve invited a friend to go with us, but I’m still not sure if he is going to come or not.  Regardless, it will be nice to get 2 ½ days of relaxation… minus the dog barking at everything that moves… including the trees.  ; )