Musings on Music

First a little backstory. Justin works at CompUSA and last year he calls me because they have this great deal on XM satellite radio. The radio was free and we had been talking about possibly getting satellite radio. I was in the don't really care/don't want to add another monthly bill side and he is in the shiny pretty new gadget/deep playlist/commercial free radio side. We talked about it and I wasn't sure if XM was the way to go, I was thinking of Sirius because of Stern and English Premier League Football (GO Chelsea!!!!!!) I thought that this was settled and we were going to wait until the new year.

Guess what I got for Christmas last year, and early to boot. XM. Justin tells me that he was thinking of my commute and the amount of time I spend in my car. I do spend a lot of time on the road, 90 miles a day, so he had a point. Needless to say, I was a little pissed. It felt more like a I want this, but need to figure out an angle to make it seem like it's for my wife kind of gift. Well, flash forward to today. I absolutely love my XM and it makes my drive so much better. It helped that they had World Cup coverage this summer, and for a month, if you got in my car it was non-stop Football. I listen at work online too. Love, love, love it.

Today, I am listening and hear a song called 3 Strange Days by a band called School of Fish. I really like this and will probably buy it from iTunes. I love that XM plays stuff I haven't heard in a while, like The Plimsouls and stuff I have never heard. I have discovered lots of new music on the international pop channel too. It has reminded me how much I really do love music.

I tend to save CD purchases for my birthday and holidays, so that my husband can buy them for me. It is kind of a joke between us that he always buys me CDs. I think it's kind of fun to perpetuate it. You would think with the CD collection we have, I would listen more at home. We passed the 1000 mark and I just can't keep straight what we have anymore. Justin knows though. I went through a period of time where I just kind of forgot that I love music. I have to thank Virgin Radio UK for rekindling my love, with bands like Keane, Snow Patrol, and Damien Rice.

I like the XM because I can expose Andrew to tons of music genres. Sometimes he surprises me with what he reacts to. He loves Mr. Big, Ozzy, in short, hard rock/metal. (No doubt that he is ours.) Then we're in the car and Joy Division comes on. Andrew starts rocking out and I am not sure how to react. On one hand it's cool that he is responding to music, but it's Joy Division. As Justin calls it, music to slit your wrists to. Joy Division can be horribly depressing, but it's got a good beat. I like Joy Division and the surviving members went on to become New Order, who I love. Still, it makes me wonder about my kid. Maybe we should stick to the kids channel for a while.

Waiting for the Great Pumpkin

So it is that time of year again. The time when I set aside my reasoning skills and work myself into the ground in order to finance Christmas. It's pumpkin farm time.

This is my 3rd season, those of you playing the home game will realize that my first season, I was 7 months pregnant. Our financial situation wasn't great at the time, so I was always on the lookout for extra income. I saw an ad in the local paper for Kuiper's and called them up. I told them on the phone I was very pregnant and they asked if I could run a cash register. Of course I can. So that's how I came to work in the "Corn Crib Cafe" @ Kuiper's. What I really liked about it was that it is a seasonal job, about 6 weeks and it's over.

But those 6 weeks are brutal for me. Esp. this year. Last season I only worked Saturdays, it's hard to work 7 days a week without a close babysitter. This year, I am working full weekends. I am not sure what I was thinking, other than Andrew's birthday and Christmas are within a few days of each other. December gets a little expensive. So, starting next week I am working 7 days a week until the end of October. The only exception being Oct. 22nd, because I want to take Andrew to the pumpkin farm. He is going to love the pony rides. My only reprieve is that from October 12-19, Justin and Andrew will be in Florida visiting my dad and stepmom. So, I will be able to veg out or see friends without taking away from time with my boys.

Today was my first full day this season and I am beat. I am fine while I am there running around, but as soon as I get in my car to drive home, it's like I have been beaten with a stick. Being on my feet like that all day is tiring, especially because I have a regular desk job during the week. But it is fun and the people are really nice. Some of the teenagers I work with actually have brains. It is fun to see all the kids running around being kids. I wouldn't go back if it wasn't fun, but man am I tired.

How tired you ask? So tired, that I was glad the coupons I was going to run to the Jewel tonight to use were already expired. I think that says it all.

Guess who's got yogurt

As I said in the first post, I will probably post about the bargains I get when shopping. I like to share the information and help others learn to save money. Eh, who am I kidding, it's brag time.

So today I bought yogurt. The stars aligned and the coupon age of aquarius arrived. (Cue the "Hair" music.) Jewel had the Dannon Lite andFit Crave Control yogurt 2/$4, I checked my Avenu (Jewel's in house coupons) to see if the Crave Control coupon was back in my offers. It was. $1.25 off each, limit 6 per visit. The thing about the Avenu coupons is that you can combine them with manufacturer's coupons. So here is what I did:

6 - Crave Control 4 packs 6@$2.00 = $12.00
6 - Avenue coupons 6@-$1.25 = -$7.50
4 - Manufacturer's coupons 4@-$1.00 = -$4.00

Total cost of yogurt $0.50 plus tax. (A less than $0.10 a 4 pack) So I gave 2 packs to my mom, and have 16 cups of yogurt in my fridge. I am thinking I might want to freeze some, maybe add some fruit and make smoothie popsicles. Not as good as the 10 boxes of Pop Tarts that cost me -$0.75, that's right I made money and got 10 boxes of PopTarts. I gave some of those away too.

Maybe another day we can have a discussion about toothpaste, although it may be when you get a Christmas package from me and it contains a couple of tubes. Current count is 14 tubes and I still have a few months left. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Oh, the things toddlers do...

We are trying to teach Andrew about picking up his toys and cleaning up. One of the things we have worked on and he loves is throwing his dirty diapers in the trash. Another thing he is really into is feeding me things. Fruit snacks, cereal, chicken nuggets. Whatever is handy. Which is okay because he is a good eater and likes to share.

Can anyone see where this is headed?

So tonight he poops, I change his diaper and give it to him to throw away. A few minutes later, he returns and puts his had up to my mouth and says, "Here mama". I am so thankful that I did not just take what he was forcefully trying to shove into my mouth. It was, you guessed it, poop. He has a piece in each hand and is trying to shove one into my mouth.

Needless to say, Justin laughed really hard over this one. (So did I, but not nearly as hard.)

Introductions

Well here I am. I have been meaning to do this for a while, but things have been crazy lately. For those of you who know me, that is nothing new.

I guess I should explain the title to those of you not familiar with me, although it should be easy to understand. I love a good bargain. I have recently stepped up my game and am on my way to being the "crazy coupon lady" I have always aspired to be. When my husband is being nice, he calls me frugal, but we all know that I don't like spending money. If it is not a bill and costs more than $100, we call it a "cashendectomy". Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a nice splurge occasionally, it just hurts to do so. You may hear tales of my shopping on here. I have been told that some of my friends would be interested.

So let the fun begin..................