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Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Timber!!!!!!

Well, we've needed our trees trimmed for quite a long time and finally got around to hiring someone. Our trees are mammoth and tower over our house. They have ended up hanging in our gutters and scraping against the house. There were also two crabapple trees in our yard. Both were dying, probably from getting too little sun because of the other trees. We took one down in preparation for the Valley Greenery stand. Here's Noel working on that project:


Then, there's the guy trimming our other trees. I gotta tell you, he's a lot braver than I am! He climbs up these huge trees like a squirrel, hangs out over the branches without a care in the world. Thank goodness there's people like him to do the job, but made me nervous just looking at him! This is taken looking outside of our office at home. The pic is a little off because of the screen in the window...sorry!

He's gotta be 30-40 feet in the air at this point. Crazy!

So, with today's economy, I've taken it upon myself to teach our girls the importance of saving a buck or two. I've always been somewhat of a "thrifty" person (thanks Dad for teaching me the word budget) and am trying to pass some of that knowledge onto our daughters. Kelsey, forget it, if she has a nickel in her pocket, she has to run out and spend it. Alex, on the other hand, there may be hope yet...

Here she's clipping the coupons from the Sunday paper. Do I see a "thrifty" person in the making??

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Fun Filled Day...

Well, to start off, we won the game last night! Score was 21-14. Go Indians! Here's a picture of my friend Max. Her daughter was on the homecoming court.

She obviously has issues...explains why she's my friend I guess.

Then there's Lisa.
This is what she looks like right after
her son Tim made a touchdown:
She doesn't look like the nervous mother at all, now does she?

So, that was last night's activites. Today, we spent most of the early afternoon visiting with Noel's sister Bonnie and her husband Frank, who are visiting from South Carolina. We all then attended a birthday party for our great-niece Tori. Wait a minute...there is no way we are old enough to have a great niece is there? Ugh! Anyway, look how stinking cute she is:

After the birthday party, we headed to the RCA Picnic Grounds for a benefit night. Proceeds went towards heating assistance for the needy. We mingled a bit, saw some people we haven't seen in a while and even met a few new friends. When we got home, we found one of our upstairs bathrooms to be slightly flooded. Somehow, our toilet leaked without us knowing until Noel stepped onto the wet floor. Well, I guess we're off to buy a new toilet this week!

Although our day was quite busy, everyone found time to remind me of one important thing:

Once a queen.....always a queen!

Friday, September 26, 2008

Girl's Night Out...

Thursday night (last night) was spent at Ghezzi's restaurant with two of my dear friends, Rhonda and Max. They took me out for a "Cheer Up, It Can Only Get Better" dinner. TERRIBLE week at work (except for Monday, believe it or not), and not so great in the every day arena either. Sooooo, friends to the rescue! We had dinner, drinks, girl talk and lots of laughs and didn't even count calories! We all decided that we need to do it a lot more! Wish I had taken a picture of the three of us to post, but I totally forgot. Next time!

Rhonda had a dish like in the second picture...spicy!

Max had a combo of two Italian dishes and I had the Chicken Riccotta. We all had salad and garlic bread to boot. Needless to say, we almost needed to be rolled out of the restaurant!

Tonight, we head to the football game. Of course, there's rain in the forecast! We're going to keep our fingers crossed! Go Indians!!!

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Some More Contests...

In my quest to constantly save money in whatever I do, I am always on the lookout for good sites to help me do just that. Today I came across a blog that has a ton of great tips AND is hosting a contest! It's like a double bonus! Here's a link to the contest, but make sure you look around the site too!

You can win some cleaning products and a bunch of coupons:

http://wontbesoonbeforelong.blogspot.com/2008/09/stockpile-giveaway-week-one.html



If you're looking for other money-saving sites, you should check out http://www.refundcents.com/ and http://www.hotcouponworld.com/ too! Have fun and save a few bucks!!

How about a free dinner from Pizza Hut? Mom Reviews is having a contest with a prize of a free pasta dinner from Pizza Hut. Enter here: http://momreviews.net/2008/09/14/win-a-free-pasta-dinner-from-pizza-hut/ Pasta....yum! Free pasta...double yum!

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Valley Greenery Produce Stand is Open!!!

Well, we finally did it!!!! We set up our produce stand this morning...



After a lot of hard work and tons of fun, it was very satisfying to see all of the wonderful produce and watch it all come together as we planned. Alex is going to be in charge of running the stand, she will make a great salesperson!

There's another reason that today is a wonderful day. I got an email from a long-lost cousin. He was always a favorite of mine and I loved hanging out with him when we would visit his family. Too bad he lives on the other side of the country! At least we've had contact and who knows, there may be a time in the future that we can see each other. Hello to cousin Tom and his family! Can't wait to catch up on the last bazillion years!!!

Here's some more pics of the stand:



You know, I can't help but think, we sure are very diverse in our world. Between Noel and I, in any given day you can find us doing such a wide variety of things that you never know what we're up to next! That's what makes our world so much fun. Never a dull moment, that's for sure! We do everything from running three businesses to plowing fields to arresting people! What a crazy life! I love it!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Another Win!

Received another win in the mail...some makeup! Yay! This contest was hosted by Self Magazine. Gotta love winning useful things!



After Noel got home from the farm, Kelsey, Alex and Allen helped unload another batch of pumpkins, gourds and corn stalks for the opening on Saturday. It looks like autumn central around here!

Thrifty action of the day: Got rid of all of Alex's clothes that she doesn't want and/or don't fit through Freecycle. Lady came to my work this afternoon and picked them all up. I love Freecycle!

Monday, September 15, 2008

Contests...

As a lot of you know, and some of you don't, one of my hobbies is entering sweepstakes and contests. Due to our hectic schedule lately, I haven't been able to keep up with them like I used to, but so far this year I have won some wonderful prizes! Our biggest one is a trip to Mexico. Here is where we will be staying:



We can't wait! It's going to be like a second honeymoon for us. We plan on traveling next year. This terrific prize is from a contest hosted by Boating Magazine.

The reason I'm telling you about this is because I thought I'd post a couple of fun contests that I came across today. They are all hosted through blogs and have some fun prizes. Good luck to you!

http://www.mommymandy.com/2008/09/lucy-giveaway.html - Enter to win a cute t-shirt:




How about winning some Marine Naturals Method Body wash and Water Flower Method hand wash at http://dannyseo.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/09/win-new-method-goodies.html?cid=130761116#comments