Saturday Around the Yard

For all my friends out there roasting in this awfully hot day, here is a photo you might appreciate about now......

I know *I* feel MUCH cooler now....how about you?! ;-)

Oh, what a difference 6 months makes, huh?lol


I spent the morning running around to Rite-Aids trying to use up my $5 off $20 coupons that are expiring tonight.  And 2 of my +Ups didn't print so I'll be calling Corp. Customer Service on Monday since I don't feel like hanging on the phone today in this heat.

Then to the grocery store to stock #2 son up on chicken nuggets.....well, I wanted chicken strips but they were out and a raincheck wouldn't help since the coupons expire today....ugh.....so nuggets it was...and he's rather have nuggets despite the awful way they are made....double ugh....but at least he's happy.
No marked down meats today since I went so early but that's ok since I am still fairly stocked up.  That's not to say that I didn't buy anything because my receipt says I spent $37.84!  The nuggets ended up being $3 a bag after sale and coupons but I also bought iceberg lettuce at full retail(ugh), milk, a can of crabmeat on sale and blocks of cheese on sale 1/2 price.

Then home to make an early dinner and feed any stray teens hanging around as well.  And a long leisurely float in the pool while avoiding the teens as they jump in and sling boogie boards around.
Then some watering of the garden plants and some quick photos of same....

Remember the photo of my volunteer tomato plants from June?...

Here they are now.....

And they have lots of blooms too now!
Unless we suffer some catastrophe between now and harvest time, we will be needing tons of butternut squash recipes.  The butternut vines are taking over the beds and the yard now!  Here is our largest so far....

This one is about 6 inches long now and on a vine that climbed over the netting we have strung up for fencing.  Here are two of the vines that have escaped from the garden bed....

Here's a teeny tiny squash on one of them....

Here's a shot of something I planted that the nursery guy said was an Italian Roasting Pepper....

You can't really tell from this photo but they grow upside down with the bottom toward the sky and as they get bigger they turn their bottoms toward the ground.  There is one upside down, one halfway down and the largest one is now growing right side up.  Now did that make any sense or has the heat fried what is left of my brain today?lol

Here is a cuke rainforest....

They have run amok!!!  I am scared to even look in there because I just know there is a cucumber the size of Cleveland lurking within, ready to eat us!

And here is one of the cauliflower heads.....

There are now one on each of the 6 plants, ranging from golf ball sized to water balloon sized?.....what would you say comes after softball sized?....all I could think about is a water balloon.lolol

I have seen 2 'friends' in the garden so far(not counting the Japanese beetles that just arrived or the white moth things munching on the leaves)--a nice big garter snake & a baby bunny that's been hanging around.  Though I haven't seen more than 1 at a time I can lay money that where there is 1 baby bunny, there are more brothers and sisters.lol   I've been trying to get a pic of said bunny(or is it bunnies?)but she/he is too fast or I am too slow with the camera.  I'll keep trying though.

Oh and remember my poor lemon magnolia tree that bloomed and then we got a hard frost back in April?....all the blooms and leaves turned brown, curled up and fell off......

Well, you'll be happy to know that she recovered from her springtime trauma & is looking quite glorious now.....

So how is your garden doing this week? 

Sluggy

Win Free Stuff!

Ok, now that my Title got your attention.....go on over to Lisa B's Blog-EASY FRUGAL LIVING-and enter her CSN giveaway.
The link is HERE.

Annie Jones is still on a quest to win a Gift Certificate from CSN to purchase a Sundial.
Me?....I have my eye on a few things but can't make up my mind yet.

Lisa B's Giveaway ends Sunday night(July 25th)so get a move on and go on over and enter!

Sluggy

MIA.....I'm so Glad I'm Back!

This has been me for the past 36 hours.
Stuck like a dog up a tree..me without an internet connection.....Oh my Gawd!

I just got back online this evening.  I've been going cold turkey since yesterday in the wee hours of the morning.
Did anyone miss me?
I sure missed ALL OF YA'LL!

Seriously.
Missed.
Ya'll.

I'm wading through my 150+ emails and catching up on all the blogs I read.....this should keep me busy through the weekend!lolol

We spent the first 24 hours trying to diagnose the problem....would have been quicker if our ISP didn't keep putting us on hold for hours and hours...grrrrrr!!!
The culprit this time turned out to be the wireless router.  This is the 3rd one we have "offed" in as many years!  And the last one was supposed to be the best one out there...ugh!
I am soooo tired of buying these things.

I spent the last day and a half cleaning stuff(bedroom), organizing stuff(garage & storage), taking some photos, rubbing dog bellies, running off to Rite-Aid, taking #2 son to assorted music practices/lessons and trying not to melt from the heat....oh, and cursing the computer, the ISP, the cable company, Bill Gates, and anybody else who got caught in my crosshairs.

Tomorrow the temperature is suppose to be brutal here so I'll have plenty of time to sit on the computer in the a/c'ed room and write blog posts while I'm not submerged in the pool or avoiding cooking.  I think I'll make hubs cook something outside on the grill since the deck will be scorching hot at that time of day. 

Hubs started his vacation from work this evening so he'll be around 24/7 for the next couple of weeks.  He has promised to clean his piece of the garage this weekend. 
Can I say I ain't holding my breath?lol

I've got a couple of trips to Rite-Aid and to the grocery store planned Saturday in the morning before it gets too warm to be in the car.  

Sunday I'm hitting Staples first thing for a FREE BACKPACK(after Easy Rebate/Rewards).  I get my ink there so instead of paying cash for it, when the reward comes in I'll use that to pay.  I would be spending money there anyway on the ink, so might as well get the free backpack instead of spending money on one some place else, right?

Other than that we don't have any plans.  Just keeping cool and puttering around the garden some.

What does everyone else have planned for the weekend?


Sluggy

Anti-Coupon Article + Bloggers=Much Ado About Nothing!

Ok folks.....there is a little nondescript article that popped up on Yahoo!Finance on Monday.  It is located HERE. 
Within 48 hours it went VIRAL all over Coupon/Frugal Blogland. 
All the Coupon Divas(big and small) and a fair number of the Frugalista Bloggers have posted about their outrage at this article & saying the author of said article is just so misinformed!

And all I can sit here and do is laugh.....laugh at the article and laugh at the fact that all these bloggers have their knickers in such a twist over this thing!
I don't know but it seems like everyone has taken this piece of writing as a personal affront to their philosophy and their whole way of life!
And many bloggers have posted rebuttals to this article.

Let's all lighten up, ok?
It's just one person's view.
And actually, it's NOT her view.
She's a hack writer....someone who writes online articles to make $$.  To pay her bills. 
If you do some research on her, you'll soon find that she's also written articles PRO coupons and such as well as her CON coupons stuff.

She writes whatever they want to pay her to write on.
This gives her 'opinion' NO WEIGHT on these matters in my book.
She'll go whichever way the wind is blowing the Cash!

WHO CARES what she thinks!....er, not thinks because we can't tell what she 'thinks'...who cares what she writes about is more accurate.
This article is not even worth the fuss and certainly not worth the bandwidth it's taking up.

Hey!....if you use coupons, you KNOW it's a good thing.
So stop with the knee-jerk reactions and trying to justify what you do to the world-at-large.
Be at peace with yourself and IGNORE this thing....it will be going away soon enough.

Sluggy

CHEERIOS Giveaway WINNER!

Ok, we had 69 valid entries for the Cheerios "Do What You Love" Giveaway.
I plugged in the parameters at Random.Org and it spit out number 49.

And the 49th entry belongs to.....

Kristie Kay's Blog said...

I am following you.

July 16, 2010 5:42 PM 

Congratulations Kristie Kay!

Please email me your shipping address as well as your phone number so I can forward the info. on to the fine folks at MyBlogSpark and they can get your prizes in the mail to you.

I want to thank everyone who entered, especially all the new Followers here at Don't Read This; It's Boring!.  I do hope ya'll you signed up just for the contest do try to stick around awhile and read and comment on my little blog.  You might just like it here.  Besides, I LIKE having over 100 Followers..... ;-)

And I have a new BORING BOX Giveaway all set to launch within the week, as well as another Review and Giveaway for a 'refreshing' Product.

Soooo, don't change that dial!

Sluggy