FedEx

No Babies :(

Not sure what happened but I never heard back from the lady. I called her twice today and left two messages with both of my numbers. We had planned on me calling her in the morning to set up a time for me to get them.  I have  been very sad all day about this. I just have this deep down feeling that we are indeed not getting them.

I haven't had the best break between semesters and this was something that I was looking forward to. So I can't help but be depressed. I hope I am wrong...

New Babies!!!

Oh my goodness! We are getting new babies tomorrow! Penny (I hope) will be thrilled! I am a nervous wreck but I know she needs some friends that are her own species. I have been trying to find her a friend or two for awhile now. I posted a want ad on craigslist awhile ago and today I received an email saying they had one. I called and it was a rescuer who had not one but two!! So tomorrow we are going to meet and then Penny will have two friends!! Now if only I could find a metal solid wheel sized right for prairie dogs that cost $50 or less. The plastic ones get chewed up and the only metal one I can find is over a hundred bucks. Right now, I can't exactly afford a hundred bucks for a wheel. We don't know much about them she has only had them since today and she doesn't know much about them. I think they are the ones I seen on either the Human Society's or SPCA's website that had been found. They are young - less than a year old (if these are indeed those two I saw). I don't know if they are going be girls or boys (maybe one of each?).

My only concern is that I hope in their travels (of being lost) they didn't pick up anything. I will have to call the vet's office to see if and what they can test them for. If they don't test them for anything then it won't be worth taking them in (unless of course they seem like they are ill in any way). I will keep these two away from Penny for awhile just in case. Not sure if the pound checks animals for diseases or not. Pet prairie dogs don't get shots so I don't have to worry about that. They also don't carry diseases (the plague would have wiped them out by now).

I cannot wait until we get these new babies!!

Homemade Rain Barrel and Conserving Water

So I decided to make a rain barrel to save money to water my plants. In some areas (not mine) you can even get free food grade barrels to use for this. Unfortunately, where I live the cheapest is $20 (not close to me though) and then if you want them to have spouts and easily connect to your downspout you are looking at another $24 to purchase those items and attach them yourself. Ones that are already made are $100 and up.

I had an old garbage can with lid that I had used to store my old toys in. So it was clean (only used for stuffed animals and toys) so I decided to try and turn it into a rain barrel. Using a box cutter (that I already owned) I cut out two 3x5? holes on the lid. I then went to Home Depot and bought a roll of screen for less than $6. I thought for some reason that it would be made of wire and that I could bend it to fit up in the lid (I had been thinking of chicken wire). But since it was porch/window screen that wasn't the case. So I just cut out pieces and taped to the inside. I will have to find a glue that will hold up to the Florida heat and also water to use instead. I put a capful of bleach inside with a very small amount of water and put it outside hoping that it would rain.  I will add photos later.

It ended up raining that very night. I could not wait to check on it and did so first thing in the morning. Unfortunately, it was basically empty. My downspouts are down to the ground and attached so that is why I did not have it underneath one of them.

So I have been looking online and scouring craigslist and found a food grade 55 gallon barrel for $25. The guy had gotten them free years ago and had hung onto them. It is huge. I found some do it yourself kits online at Home Depot for the accessories to have spouts and hook up to your downspouts for less than $25 (cheaper than Amazon etc.) so I sent away for 2. Now of course if I can just do this myself so I don't have to spend more money to try and conserve water. I would like to have one for each downspout and possibly even have some connected. But not thrilled to spend $45 to $50 on each one.

I have been trying to keep our water bill down as much as possible. I didn't pay water at the last place so am not thrilled to pay for it here. I had been told it would be about $20 to $30 less than what I have been paying.

I did realize (as gross as it sounds) that I can water all my plants with the water from my son's bath. So I may even invest in a cheap wet/dry vacuum to make that easier. Apparently, it is safe to use that water for plants (I wouldn't use it on any edible plants but great for flowers etc.).

I also put 2 water bottles filled with pebbles and water and put in the tank of our toilet. Also have been more lax on flushing (we don't have company so no big deal). I would love to get a newer toilet since ours it super old and runs constantly. I avoid the running constantly by placing one of those bottles underneath the floating thing and just move it when we need to flush and replace it after the water has gone back up. I know I can fix that but the screw holding it on is super corroded and I can't get it loose.

I plan to look into container gardens and see when I can get that going. Not sure when planting season is for Florida. I just want to plant some tomatoes, peppers, zucchini and not sure what else. We eat tomatoes constantly and if I had them we would eat the other two veggies all the time.

I really wish we could have chickens here but we live in a community and we are not allowed. The neighborhoods all around us are allowed and most places now allow you to have up to 4 hens but no roosters. I would love to have chickens and have fresh eggs not to mention that chickens are absolutely adorable. If the crazy crackhead lady would not have moved upstairs from us in the last place we could have had chickens there. We had a huge (by Florida standards) backyard there.

2 Codes for $5 off to go see Despicable Me 2 in Theaters

These work! I just used them and they worked for me. Apparently, the codes are all the same or at least work more than once each.

6234-EG7HG3-ABC3

A3AG-BBF3D9-HFGA


I was able to purchase 2 tickets (1 child and 1 adult) for only $8.50!!! My son is going to be so very happy when we go this morning. Apparently, when using the codes the prices of the tickets go up to normal prices so no matinee prices. But still less than 10 bucks for 2 tickets is really good these days. We have no dollar theaters in this area. There are free or is it a $1? (older release) children movies I believe on Tuesday mornings during the summer but from what I understand it is a madhouse and all of the summer school programs cart the kids to them.


You can also purchase select movies at Walmart (possibly other stores also) for $5 and get this Fandango movie cash to use only for Despicable Me 2.  I didn't buy any movies (was going to but then these codes actually worked).

Go here to put in the codes: www.fandango.com/promo/WMTDM2

Retro Classic Packaging on Some of Your Favorite Big G Cereals at Target!!

For a limited time Big G and Target will have available some super cool old school style packaging on select cereals. These will surely bring back fond memories of your childhood. As an added bonus there will be a coupon on the back of the box for $5 off Vintage Hasbro games.


I was very lucky and General Mills and MyBlogSpark sent me a wonderful giftpack including the following items.

Don’t forget to go online & print a coupon for $1 off 2 General Mills cereals before you head to Target!

Collect all 5 different throw-back packages that each include a $5 coupon for these vintage Hasbro® board games; available exclusively at Target® from March 15, 2013 to April 30, 2013 while supplies last. Coupon valid at Target stores from March 15, 2013 to December 31, 2013.

 

Participating Big G cereals include: Cinnamon Toast Crunch® (16.2 oz.), Lucky Charms® (16 oz.), Honey Nut Cheerios® (17 oz.), Cheerios® (18 oz.) and Cocoa Puffs® (16.5 oz.)

 

Participating Hasbro vintage board games: Clue® Vintage, Scrabble® Vintage, Parcheesi® Vintage or Risk® Vintage

 

I cannot wait to get some more of this retro looking cereals. I also have my eyes on some of the boardgames. My son is finally getting to that age where I can make him play these games with me!!!

 

***Disclosure: The prize pack, information, and giveaway have been provided by General Mills through MyBlogSpark.

 

Breakfast Savings at Publix

I am a very, very loyal Publix shopper. I shop there on a weekly basis. So when I received an email from MyBlogSpark asking if I would be interesting in participating in this and receiving a $25 Publix giftcard, I jumped at the chance. Publix is having a Breakfast Savings Event from April 1st until April 10th. You can print some coupons for this sale here. 

Some good breakfast sales I see are the following:
General Mills Cheerios Cereal is buy one get one free
Nature Valley Granola Bars are 2 for $5 ( I love the crunchy honey kind)
Thomas Bagels buy one get one free
Keurig K Cups Coffee $6.99 (everyone seems to have one of these coffee makers these days)
Yoplait Yogurt 20 for $10  (which makes it only 50 cents each!)
Peter Pan Peanut Butter buy one get one free
6 count of donuts from the bakery for $2.99
Danish Pecan Ring $4.49 (would go good with some coffee)
Kellogg's Frosted Flakes or Krave Cereal buy one get one free
Nature's Own Butterbread buy one get one free
Dannon Oikos Yogurt 10 for $10
Kellogg's Eggo Waffles buy one get one free
Egg Beaters 3 for $5
New England Coffee buy one get one free

Using this link you can print some coupons for some of the above items.


I went and did my shopping at Publix today and used my giftcard to stock up on some breakfast items. Unfortunately, I forgot to charge my batteries so I don't have a picture to show you of what I bought. I did go over the $25 but I did manage to stay under my weekly $40 grocery budget (this is of course by using coupons and matching them up to sales). Since I used the giftcard for part of it I am ahead this week. Whoo hoo!! 

Here's some of the items I bought:
Thomas Bagels (I have so much cream cheese in the fridge so this was perfect timing)
Peter Pan Peanut Butter ( I was actually out of peanut butter)
Eggo Waffles which will make my son very happy!
Eggs
Yoplait Yogurt
Flour Tortillas for breakfast burritos
and a whole bunch of other items!!

**Important Disclosure: The good folks below were nice enough to send me the $25 Publix gift card but my opinions about Publix, General Mills and MyBlogSpark are my own.

The information, products and General Mills gift pack were provided by General Mills and Publix® through MyBlogSpark.

It's a Sad World We Live In

Here is a copy of a job posting. These are just some of the highlights. The salary ($13,000 yes, 13 thousand) equals to way less than min. wage and rent/housing here is very expensive here.

PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR

Base Pay : $13,000 /Year
Employee Type : Full-Time

Typical work hours vary between 8AM and 7PM. Job may require additional hours. Work hours may change at Management’s discretion with or without prior notice. Must have flexible schedule with ability to work evenings and weekends.

You would have to have a second job just to make ends meet. Though that would be difficult because of the hours and the fact that it sounds like your hours would change at a drop of a dime possibly with no notice. Also today there is no such thing as job security so working hard and working your way up doesn't happen anymore. As soon as they can they will get rid of you and hire someone cheaper or if they can send it overseas. It really leaves one with a very bad taste in their mouth.

I'm amazed it doesn't require a Bachelor's Degree since pretty much every job requires one these days. I don't know how many jobs I see that requires one and at max they want to pay you a whopping $13hr (if that).


I am in school now and I won't lie I am absolutely terrified about my future thanks to companies not wanting nor willing to pay a livable wage. It was so much easier in my parent's time they actually had a chance.

Happy Groundhog Day!!

Yay for spring!!!