Random

*We went to Olive Garden this week for dinner one night and had the BEST service I think we've ever had anywhere.  I left like a 40% tip.  Good service makes all the difference in the world!  Our waiter was amazing and on top of everything, AND he was running the bar as well.  Double duty. 

*Work is crazy.  I haven't had to do any overtime yet, so far I've been able to keep on top of everything.

*This morning we did a 3 mile walk for the American Diabetes Association.  My husband's firm made a donation.  We agreed to do it because it's one of things we COULD do, since we don't do holiday parties or anything else like that.  It was a nice walk!

*We may have some exciting travel plans for next year, but everything is up in the air right now and nothing is for sure, so that's all I'm going to say about that!

*I got two new pairs of glasses.  I was long overdue.  I went to Stanton Optical, because they had a buy one get one free deal going on.  However, you pay plenty for the first pair.  Also, because my vision is so terrible, I have to get special lenses that are thinner and lighter.  If I didn't go with these lenses, the frames I picked out wouldn't be able to support the weight and thickness of the lens.  Lovely.  And of course, that drives the price up as well.  Oh, and the only pair that I found that I loved was Guess, which is designer, so they were more expensive.  Of course.  I made sure my second 'free' pair was from the designer shelf as well.  Oh well.  I wear glasses for years, so I probably won't order any more for at least five years ha ha.

*We got home around 11:00 a.m. from our walk and I was sooooo tired.  Like this wave of exhaustion hit me really fast. I closed the drapes in our bedroom, turned on the fan and slept solid for 2 hours.  This was a HUGE accomplishment for me because I can usually never take naps.  I try and try and sleep for 10 minutes and wake up feeling terrible.  But today?  Totally refreshed.  I think I really needed that extra sleep.  I woke up, studied my French Watchtower and then we went to meeting.

*Balloon Fiesta starts next weekend.  It doesn't really 'feel' like balloon fiesta yet.  It doesn't seem cold enough.  It's still been in the mid to high 80s every day.  It cools down a lot at night, but the mornings aren't cold at all.  I guess a lot can happen in a week though!

*My sister sent me some videos of my nephews on their dirt bikes and....wow.  They are amazing!

*I love the Huskers alternate uniforms.  I think I'm the minority.  I love them though and I think they should wear them every week.  The helmets are super cool too.

*We watched The Fault in Our Stars last night.  I cried more the second time than the first time.  How is that even possible?  It's soooo good and soooo sad.  And the music is amazing.

That's all my randomness for this evening.

Watson - 6 Months

In just a few days, we will have had Watson for 6 months.

Here's a few facts about Watson:

*he loves his 'woobies' (blankets).  He carries them all over the house.
*he sleeps in his kennel at night, but has free reign of the house (minus our bedroom) during the day.
*he loves playing
*he loves us
*he HATES thunderstorms, lightning and rain
*he will eat anything (this is not a good thing)
*when we got him, the rescue organization told us ‘he can stand to put on a few pounds’. Well, I took that a little too far and now he needs to lose a few pounds. Sigh.
*he thinks he is a lap dog and consistently climbs up on my husband’s lap

*he and Hannah play, but it has to be on her terms.
*he loves playing with Bella when she comes over
*he and Howie have had a few run-ins. Howie always wins. Watson is not as scared of Howie as Max was, so he gets a little closer to him and doesn’t let Howie bully him as much. He has gotten scratched though for sure.
*every morning after we get up, my husband lets him out of his kennel and Watson trots back to the master bathroom to see me and I say ‘good morning handsome’. Because he’s a very handsome boy.
*His tail could power a small city
*The only toys I buy him are rope toys, nylabones (but not all of them…only the super rock hard plastic ones), and the occasional tennis ball. He chews up and de-stuffs everything else. He chews up the rope toys too, although those take him longer (like a day or two as opposed to a minute or two).
*He is a talker. When he yawns he really lets it out. He also will talk before we set his food down.
*His bark is scarier than Max’s was. How is that even possible?
*One day I came home and he was carrying around an apple in his mouth. Just carting it around the house. I took it away from him and there was not a puncture mark in it. ?? Odd.
*He has chewed up 3 of my shirts (that’s what I get for leaving them draped across a chair instead of hanging them up right away from the dryer). He’s chewed up medicine droppers (for the cat), two books, an entire box of plastic forks, a fake plant, countless tennis balls, various toys, and too many blankets to count. We have learned that anything on the floor OR the counter is fair game. He never puts his paws up on the counter when we are home, but we’re positive he does it when we are gone. We still love him though. AND he has never chewed up the couch or any other piece of furniture thankfully.
*After having him for a few months, we have decided that all of our future dogs will be adult rescues. They are just the best dogs out there and there are SO many of them that need forever homes.

*He is a keeper and we love him to pieces!

Collections

I am not really a collector of things.  I kind of used to be and went through various phases of collecting things but nothing really stuck.  I think it's because I think that if you collect something, it should be on display.  And we just don't have a lot of room to display collections.

Recently though I have started two collections unintentionally.  And I think these will stick, because they are books.  Of course! 

I don't buy a lot of books, but when I do I tend to gravitate towards used bookstores.  They have the best deals and it's so much more fun to browse in an old store that smells like old books with creaky floors and maybe a store kitty snoozing in the window.

At the beginning of the month when we were in Manitou Springs, my mom and I went to two used bookstores.  And last Sunday my husband and I went to a used bookstore here that was having their annual sale.    I found deals at both!  First I go through my Good Reads app and check my 'to be read' list to see if I can find anything.  Then the fun begins.  I search for two things.

First:  Old copies of Gone With the Wind.  It's my favorite book (well, it's tied with 'A Tree Grows in Brooklyn' and 'The Poisonwood Bible') and there's just something about the old hardbound copies that I'm drawn to.  I have two so far:

I love how the print is in two columns.

Here's my other copy:

It's newer than the blue one, it was published in the 60s.

Do me a favor….if you haven’t read this book PLEASE read it!  And if you HAVE read it, read it again!

 I also found the screenplay:

Here's a portion of my favorite scene (the library at Twelve Oaks!) from the movie:

And a trivia book:

I took all of the quizzes in the trivia book and got all the answers right.  It was still fun though! 

My second collection?  Old (I should use the word ‘vintage’ huh…it sounds so much better than ‘old’), I mean VINTAGE French language learning books.  I found one in Manitou Springs to add to my collection:

La Clef:  The Key

I added it to my collection.  I love how frank and to the point these books are:  "It's purpose is that of being a practical tool to teach the basic elements of the French language to American students as thoroughly as possible in a minimum of time and with a minimum of boredom."  Ha ha.  Pretty much the only thing that it's English in this book is the few pages of introduction at the beginning.

Here's a couple that I've had for a while now:

Quite the collection.  Vintage Gone With the Wind and Vintage French school books.  Ha ha.

While we were at the used book store, my husband browsed the Tom Clancy section (he’s a fan) and picked out this one for me to read:

My husband is a Gulf War veteran and was in the Special Forces.  I’m always asking him questions about it.  While he can only tell me so much (and doesn’t particularly like to talk about his army days understandably) he said this book would be an educational read for me.  I’ll add it to my stack!

One of the best parts about hunting in used bookstores are the prices.  I think I paid $3 for the blue GWTW book, and the red one was only $1.50 at the annual sale.  Same with the French books.  I've never paid more than $4 for one of them and they are so much fun to look through!

You just can't find gems like these at Barnes & Noble!  Well, except maybe Tom Clancy.

Target Deal of the Week

It's been a while since I've done a Target post.  But I'm still couponing, Cartwheeling and combining deals to save the most money!

In the past few weeks, we've been talking about getting a wireless printer for our home.  Our current printer has been temperamental lately and it's very frustrating, especially when we really need to print something and can't rely on it.

So yesterday, I was browsing my Cartwheel app and sorted by 'Discount', so all of the highest discounts would show up at the top of my list.  And I saw this:

30% off of a wireless printer!  So I go into the store and look at the price....$99.99.  Not bad, plus with 30% off (actually 35% off because I would use my red card).  I called my husband and had him check it out online to make sure it would be compatible with all of our devices, etc.  He said it would work.  But before I put it into my cart, I decided to check the price online at Target.com.....just in case.  Here's what I found:

$69.99!!!!  I was so excited!!  I put the printer in my cart and happily wheeled my way to Customer Service.

Let me tell you two things about Target:

1.  They will price match pretty much anything.

2.  Their Customer Service department is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

I knew I would have to complete this transaction in Customer Service, because it was a price match (even though they were price matching to their own website).

So, the original price was $99.99.  I showed them the printer for $69.99 on Target.com, so they changed the price to that.  Then I saved 30% off of $69.99, bringing the price down to $49.  Then I saved 5% off of that by using my Target Red Debit Card, bringing the price down to $46.55.

I paid $46.55 for a $99.99 wireless printer!!!!!

Always, always, always check the price online if you're making a larger purchase.  And don't just check Target.com.  Target will price match with Best Buy, Walmart, etc.  And then if you have a Redcard, you'll get an additional 5% off.

Here it is sitting on our dryer at home ha ha.  We haven't hooked it up yet, that will probably have to wait until this weekend.

I love getting good deals!

Peanut Butter Dog Treats

Do you have dogs?  Are you sick of buying them expensive dog treats?  

Make your own!!  It's really easy.  And fun.

Here's what you will need:

2.5 cups of flour (I used whole wheat)

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup natural peanut butter

1 cup water

2 tbsp honey

1 egg

cookie cutters

rolling pin

baking sheet

cooking spray

***NOTE***

If your dog is allergic to flour, peanut butter, honey, egg, etc., then obviously do not make these.  :)

1.  Preheat oven to 350

2.  In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and egg.  Mix as well as you can.

3.  Stir in the peanut butter, water and honey.  Mix well.  I put on plastic rubber gloves and mixed it all together.  The dough should be firm and sticky.

4.  On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough using a rolling pin until it is about 1/4 inch thick (in other words...pretty thin).  I had to do this in three batches.  Then use a cookie cutter to make fun shapes.  I didn't have any cookie cutters, but on my way home from work, I stopped at a local kitchen shop and found these:

I paid $4.65 total for all five of them.  Aren't they cute?

Once you've cut the dough with the cookie cutters, gently pop out the shapes and place them on a cookie sheet with a little bit of cooking spray on it.

The treats do not rise much or spread out, so you can place them close together if you need to.

  

Bake them for 15 minutes.  It may be hard to tell if they're done because they don't really change color.  But they should not be mushy at all.

Here's the top:

And the bottom should be a little browner:

Once they've cooled, store them in an airtight container.

This recipe makes a lot....much more than what is shown here.  I counted 40+ small cookies (the hearts and small bones) and 30+ of the large cookies (the dogs, large bones, and fire hydrants).  It filled up two containers and one ziplock bag.  I had three cookie sheets full.

The verdict?

Watson and Hannah LOVED them.  

Beggars.

Hannah has a very sensitive stomach, so I'm hoping she does okay with these.  We won't know until tomorrow morning ha ha.

Confessions:

*I tried one of the small ones.  I was curious!  And it's all natural!  Anyways...they did not have much taste at all.  It kind of reminded me of REALLY dense honey wheat bread.  Ha.

*In the 4+ years that I have been married, I have never made cookies for my husband.  He pointed this out to me tonight as I spent my evening in the kitchen making cookies for the DOGS.  Ha.

I'll definitely make these again! 

One Per Year

Most people that know me know that I LOVE handbags.  Love them.

When I moved here, I discovered that there was a Coach outlet store in Santa Fe, which is about 45 minutes away.  The bags there are anywhere from 50 - 75% off, which is such a good deal!!

So....I buy one per year.  Which I think is pretty reasonable, ha ha.

Here's Coach bag #1:

Here's Coach bag #2:

Here's Coach bag #3:

And today, since we had to drive right through Santa Fe to get home, we stopped at the Coach outlet and I picked out bag #4:

I chose a navy bag and a pink card wallet.  Both were about 75% off of their regular price.  I love a good deal!  And it's now my favorite Coach bag.  Up until now, my favorite has been the light blue one (#2).

I was all sad about saying goodbye to my family this morning that a little shot of retail therapy was nice.  :)

Manitou Springs, Colorado

This past weekend, we met my family in Manitou Springs, Colorado.  It's only 6 hours north of us.  We left Friday after work.

Saturday morning after breakfast we started off by taking a 5 minute drive to Garden of the Gods.

 Mom & Dad:

 My husband scaring me to death:

These two are amazing:

Me and my brother:

Me and my honey:

That evening, we met up with my brother-in-law, his mom, his sister and my other two nephews for pizza. 

Yes, I made them take selfies with me.  It was so nice to see them!

The next morning, we went to breakfast and then to walk around the main drag in Manitou Springs:

My brother and his sweet family:

There's this great outdoor arcade that we went to.  The kids had a blast!

This little munchkin fell asleep during most of the arcade fun and he woke up all bright eyed and happy and showing me his toes.  

We left this morning to come back home.  The weekend went wayyyy to quick but we still had a great time!!