New Haircut
I got a new haircut today to tide me over through the summer. I really enjoy making a big change with my ‘do:
Also, Trevor got an iPhone today! He saved up his little nickels. He snapped a photo of me and my new haircut “in my natural habitat” as he put it. This is pretty typically how you can find me any given evening:
In other news I had some really minor surgery on Wednesday. I have had a rather large mole in my belly button my whole life and my dermatologist decided I should have it out. It was too complicated for him so he sent me to a plastic surgeon who took it off. We were both somewhat surprised at how much there was under the skin that couldn’t even be seen before!! In spite of that it’s a small incision with just a few stitches, but it has turned all black and blue for several inches around my belly button. It also hurts a lot! I am ok if I lay or sit very still but once I start moving around it just THROBS. Also forget about bending over or using my ab muscles, for example sitting up to get out of a chair, yikes! I guess I am sort of a wimp. It’s all part of my summer o’ fun medical procedures that began with a cervical biopsy (all clear) and hopefully will be ending in two weeks when I have my wisdom teeth out.
Bear or Mouse??
Help me out people, is this little creation a bear or a mouse?
Cheap date addendum
So our cheap date Friday had an unexpected extension into Saturday. We had an early dinner and then went to the state park that is very close to our house to take a walk. We parked in a different place than we usually do and ended up walking on a different trail than usual. As we were walking we happened upon some paddle boats! I’ve never paddle boated before so I was pretty keen to check it out. It only costs $3.18 for half an hour (or $5.80 for an hour, but I had a suspicion this was going to be hard work and I wasn’t going to want a full hour.)
It WAS very hard work, but it was also pretty fun. We were there just a little bit before sunset. There were some other people, but it was far from crowded. It has been warm here but not hot and the breeze on the lake was wonderful. Even though my muscles were burning like crazy it was still a wonderful, peaceful experience.
Talk about a cheap date!
Trevor and I had a delightful and inexpensive night out last night, beginning with a visit to Quiznos with our free sub coupon in hand (you can print the coupon at Coupons.com!) I haven’t been to Quiznos in ages and it was DELICIOUS. He had the chicken carbonara, I had the cheese steak. We both left satisfied.
We then went to do one of my very favorite things, browse in a bookstore. As a bonus to the fun I had a free Seattle’s Best beverage coupon I was able to redeem! (You can still print this one too by clicking on the link, but its not good for much longer!)
After our visit to Border’s we came home and watched The Duchess on DVD. It was great, but it made me abundantly grateful I am a woman in the 21st century and not the 18th. We have been really taking advantage of our Netflix subscription ever since we canceled our DirecTV.
I’m a coupon dabbler
Lately I have been saving LOADS on groceries by clipping coupons and checking the circulars for the surrounding grocery stores. I was inspired by people like my friend Christy, who saves astronomical amounts couponing, to see if I could save some myself.
I am not doing the extensive coupon lifestyle thing, and I’m not saving as much as Christy or other people who invest that much time and energy into it, but every few weeks I save $15-$40 off our grocery bill by taking the simple steps of looking at coupons and circulars and buying things when they are on sale. Christy (she really is the coupon Jedi master) wisely pointed out to me that things go on sale every 6-8 weeks, so if you stock up on things like cereal that don’t spoil or meat and yogurt that can be frozen when they’re on sale you never have to pay full price!!
So far I’ve found the easiest things to save money on are…
- Cereal (which is just SO EXPENSIVE when you think about how long it lasts)
- Yogurt (if you are not picky about the brand. I eat at least one yogurt a day)
- Frozen veggies (again, if you are not picky about the brand)
- Toilet paper (there are ALWAYS coupons for TP in the Sunday paper and of course various brands are on sale at different times.)
- Meat (this is not so much a coupon thing as a wait for the sale thing. Harris Teeter has loads of BOGO deals on meat if you wait for them.)
We still buy the $6 organic milk and we still eat loads of produce (and we still mostly get it at Trader Joe’s because they usually have the freshest stuff at the best price) but even if we save $50 a month I am hardly putting any time into it and over the course of the year that will really add up!!
