Ethan did pretty well at the dentist. Better than me - it was tough seeing my little boy in that big chair He got a filling.

They didn't give me the bill - apparently they're going to run it by my insurance (I know they won't pay it). But it'll buy me a little time before I have to pay. I did have to fork-out $15 for a Wiggles video (the bribe I used for getting him to sit still in the chair).

Folgers coffee is on sale around here now. I'll have to stock up!

We have wild blueberries around here. We always know when they're ripe because the bird droppings are blue instead of white.

the ground buffalo is similiar to grnd beef, only less taste, and no fat. You usually have to add alittle oil when you brown it up. I use it in place of grnd beef because we get it from Commodities here on the reservation. and I season it well. Or mix it with beef for burgers, or meatload. baked as a meatloaf alone, its kinda heavy. Weird, cause its very lean. My family cant tell the diff in a grnd meat recipe.
Walmarts brand of soda pop is always 1.97 for a 12 pack, so is Albertsons. Which is a good deal. WHen I buy soda, Ill get it there. And the walmart brand is pretty good.
We used to live 40 min from a ski slope in Montana. My son misses it. It wasnt very expensive either as I recall. Compared to the BIG name slopes. I tried skiing once, and I fell so much, got so cold, never wanted to again. And getting on and off the ride thing, I had trouble. Then, up in the air, holy moly, I couldnt look down. !! Skiings not my bag. Wish it was, great excercise.
Off to the big city tomorrow for a doctors appt. I hate driving the one hr one way. its getting really old. Plus the gas is terrible.

Idyroper

I was talking to my dh about the baffalo meat and he has had it he says it taste like ground beef too. Gosh, that stuff would sell for a fortune here in Ohio as we don't have it.

I have had deer before, it's o.k. especially the steak.

Not much new to report. Our janitor at work ask me to make his aunt a candle in the cucumber melon scent. Apparently he took it to his day job (he's a supervisor at Ohio State University) janitorial dept. he said his co workers could smell the candle through his bag and now they want to order some so he ask me for my fragrance list. He told them it takes me a week to get new fragrances, they said it smelled so good they would be willing to wait 2 weeks to get one, so more sales for me. Word of mouth has been my best way of selling these. Slowly putting money back into our bank account after the furnace expense. I'm so keeping my fingers crossed that our AC holds up this summer and the water heater. The water heater is at least 18 years old, the central air I think is 8 or 9 years old. We had it installed in February saved us big bucks as the heating/ac guy told us he needed to keep his guys working and gave me a huge discount. I did price comparison and no one could touch his quote. It's a Lennox, our new furnace is too.

Well off to do some research for a co worker. She makes beautiful quilts and theres some kind of Viking festival she wants to take her crafts to sell but she doesn't know how to use the internet so I'm doing a search for her on how much phone number, etc.

Take care everyone and will talk again in the morning.

Oh JJOJ

thanks for checking for me on the syrup, too bad they don't have they caramel that's my favorite. I love the smell of Hazelnut coffee but not the taste.

Anna

There was tile underneath and it is just much better than that awful blue carpet. It took at total of 4 hrs for the ripping up of the carpet and the bleaching and mopping afterwards but its worth it. It looks so much brighter in here now and bigger. I still am going to buy some real bleach, I only had the dollar store cheapy bleach gel and so I'll mop tomorrow to get up the ingrained dirt in the tile but it looks pretty good. Glad I did it. Got to get a new mat for the door and the bleach and some cabbage tomorrow but other than that, trying to stay away from the stores and trying to learn to relax on my vacation.

Leasmom--
Good job on the tearing out of the carpet! That can be a lot of work. Great that there was a nice floor underneath. I did that in my house too--pulled out the carpet and found nice hardwood floors.
Frugal for me was getting a contact solution sample free in the mail yesterday. Great timing too--I'm almost out, and this should get me through the next week or two.
Not so frugal was ordering a refill of my allegra (allergy med) prescription. Our insurance gives us 3 months for the price of one when we use the mail order option. Still, it was $50, but it had to be done.
Hope everyone is having a great day!

I have worked on this house since we moved in-(renting). I've painted the walls in the living room and bathroom, tiled the hallway and laundry room, ripped up the carpet in my room-(had to paint it cause the floor wasn't so nice), and now the living room. I bleached the living room tile floor and it looks so bright and wonderful and plus living here we have a huge flea problem in this area and I had to pay $150 for Terminex to come spray for fleas that were coming in on our clothes from outside. We don't have any pets but hamsters and so now I won't have to worry about it and I can get rid of my useless cheap vaccum that never worked too.

The only rooms left to do, if I decide to do it is dd's room and the huge walk-in closest that's big enough to be a separate room. Underneath is painted wood but I am not quite sure if I want to remove that yet. Usually if something bugs me for awhile I'll do it and so far I haven't thought too much about it. So, we shall see...I may just leave hers alone.

But, I should've known I wouldn't relax on my vacation. I never do...I still have a few days left so maybe I will actaully sit my behind down for more than a minute...LOL!

I found a frugal deal on my lunch today! I have a very close group of girlfriends (almost like sisters we were fortunate enough to choose!), and we always exchange gifts for Christmas and birthdays. Through the course of the year, this tends to add up! One of these friends has a birthday coming up in the first part of April. Today I had a certificate that was sent to me from Express (clothing store) for $15 toward any purchase (no minimum purhcase), and I found her a short-sleeved sweater in the lime green color that is so popular for spring this year for $19, so it was only $4 plus tax! I was pretty happy with that. Hopefully she will be too!

(Sorry for the back to back posts!)

Norma--
I've been meaning to ask you, how did you get so into refunding? I would love to do more of it, but I just haven't been organized enough to have the initial cash to get going and then to keep track of what's out there/on the way. Any suggestions?

Chris posted something this morning that got me thinking.
She was saying that it was "not frugal" for her to refill her allergy prescription.
I think it all depends on how you define "frugal."

I also take prescription allergy medication (Clarinex). I take this medicine year-round and I have to say that in the time I have been taking it, I have been sick much less often. My doctor thinks that I get bad colds or whatever on top of my allergy symptoms and that makes everything seem worse. But using the prescription means that I spend less money on doctor visits, other prescriptions and over-the-counter stuff to medicate my symptoms, and my DH spends less money on fast food when I am absolutely not well enough to make dinner for the family.
So for me, the $17 or so per month I spend on the Clarinex is absolutely money well spent. I consider it frugal for me to use my allergy medicine as I am supposed to, because this small expense now prevents bigger ones later.

Bottom line--Chris, don't feel guilty about filling that Allegra! It keeps you healthy and that's the best thing you can do for yourself.

I have only one thing to say to Leasmom--where the HECK do you get your energy? You are always doing or fixing or learning something....I really admire that!

Barbszy--
I hadn't thought of it that way before, but you're right. Before I started going to an allergist (I take the prescription, but I also have been going for allergy injections and my 5-year series is almost done! And that is completely covered by insurance, which is a blessing), I constantly thought I had a cold. Plus I could not visit anyone who had a cat and could spend very little time around dogs. It has made an amazing difference in my life. And quality of life is really important--certainly not something you can put a price on. Thanks for the perspective! I think we all need that sometimes!