Time to Start Using Some PTO

PTO.....I love those letters.....Paid Time Off!!!! I have only used 3 days of PTO so far this year. With the time I carried over from last year I really have to get going with using my time. This coming week I am taking off Friday and the following Monday. I am planning on doing some spring cleaning and getting my herb garden going. I may hit the gym and have some me time.

I have picked a lot of my time and still have about 5 days that I can use here and there. The funny part is when your children are young your time off from work is based around their school schedule. Then all of a sudden you can take time off just to take time off. It is strange and actually a little hard to get used to......just another turn in the road of making it all about me. Jenn and I will have some days off together and that is always fun and very busy!!!

But to sit at my table in the morning, have a cup of coffee from my Keurig and plan my day......just sounds lovely. Time to read or write......time to dream or plan......time to create or change.......there are a million options for what I can do on my PTO days.......one thing I am sure of is they will all be about me......

The Produce Stand

Although I hate the fact that it is warm so early......there are some up sides. No jackets have to be worn. Never had to give up the flip flops. I actually had to turn on the central air for a little while today. I am worried the summer will be ungodly hot since we never really had much of a winter. I am going to make an appointment to have our central air serviced this week (better now than in August). I drove by Lowes today and the herbs are in the racks so I may go back tomorrow and get some for planting. Also might get some hanging baskets along with the red ant killer and the weed spray for the cracks in the driveway.

But the nice part about the weather is the local produce stand has set up shop and is up and running. I stopped there last night and picked up a head of lettuce, 5 tomato's, 3 cukes, 6 ears of corn, 3 potato's, 3 green peppers, 3 lb bag of onions.....grand total $12. Just the cukes alone were selling in Walmart for 72 cents each and the peppers the same. In fact, I stopped at the produce stand today and got more onions, peppers and corn....another whopping $5.60. How can you beat 3 lbs of onions for $1.50 or 3 cukes for a dollar or 3 peppers for a dollar. And they are all fresh......so when I make sausage, peppers and onions this week....yum.....and with turkey sausage too!!!

I love buying fresh produce.....there is something about walking around in the open air and seeing all the veggies there are to pick from. The gentleman who waited on us last night was the same person to wait on us today.....when Jenn left he said "see you tomorrow" with a laugh. You never know.....we might be there again tomorrow.....nothing like it.

And This Is A Relaxing Saturday??

We leave the house at 9:40 for our pedicures. We are both finished by 12:00. While I was getting my pedicure, Jenn went to the Post Office and then to Publix to get us a sandwich to share for lunch ( I was starving since we hadn't had breakfast before we left the house). We eat on the road while we drive to the Village of Sandhills. Jenn goes to NY and Company for some clothes.....I sit in the car and listen to Pandora radio and play with my Iphone. She is in the store about an hour. Then it's off to Victoria's Secrets for more shopping. From there we head to Lowe's but have hard time getting across Two Notch to get in the parking lot. Instead we continue on to Sears so I can get Bob a leaf and grass blower. Once that purchase is made we head to Sams. My gas light goes on so we get gas at Sams first then Jenn goes in for the few items we need. From there we head to Lowe's for a few things we need for the house and a gift card for a friend. Final, stop is Aldi's for some flavored water. We pull back in the driveway at 4:45. We unload our purchases. I pull out the bills and weekly paperwork that needs to be done. Now, it is almost 7:00 and I am finally done with the paperwork. We call and order a pizza and I start working on my blog entries. It is now almost 9:00 and I am back to my blog.I still want to get the ironing done tonight.

Tomorrow, we are going to the gym early, making a quick stop at Publix and then a run through Bed, Bath and Beyond. I have to drop Bob off at 12:30 to meet his friend to go to the USC baseball game. I will then come home and make Weight Watcher Pumpkin Muffins and Taco Soup.

Week-end over......whew......

Free E-Books....right up my alley.....

I have been a fan of the site The Frugal Girls on FB for a while. I hadn't really paid attention to the free book offers they advertise on a regular basis. This week I started checking them out. I purchased free books on NY, Muffins, Vegetarian Recipes, Weight Watchers Salads and Grandma's Cookie Recipes to name just a few. Of course, it was so easy to do the purchase.....turn on the Kindle, hit the amazon button on the Frugal Girls website and hit the purchase button on amazon and ta da the books show up on my Kindle.

I love getting things free!!!! I will have to keep an eye out for more Frugal Girls offers. There are always updates about coupons and freebies.......I am not sure why I didn't pay more attention before but I can assure you I will be reading their offers much more carefully now.

I love saving money!!!!!!

What A Way To Shop.....

Remember those dreaded shopping trips with your Mom. You would like something and she wouldn't. She would pick out something and you would hate it. In all honesty, most times my Mom had great taste. Every once in a while we would not agree in an outfit but when it came to prom dresses or my wedding gown.....we were so on the same page.

Shopping with your daughter now is very different. You pull up to the store and she gets out. You find a parking spot. You do not leave the car. You can listen to your IPOD and play games on your Iphone. When she finds something she wants you to see......she sends a picture of herself in the potential outfit in the dressing room as a text message to your Iphone. You send back your critique in a text message back to her. While she is still shopping, you check your e-mail. Well what do you know.....you find an e-mail with coupons for the store she is shopping in......you forward the e-mail to her. When she gets to the register she shows the cashier the e-mail and the cashier scans the bar code on her phone. How much easier can it get?

Just one problem.....it was so nice today I think my left arm got sunburn while I was waiting in the car.....oh well.....it is a small price to pay for going shopping with your daughter....

Calling people in my own house....LOL

We have reached a new height of laziness in my house. Instead of yelling to Bob 9 times that dinner is ready(he is definitely hard of hearing.....although he does hear what he wants to hear)......I now pick up the phone and call him. He can see my name and cell phone number come up on the TV screen and he knows dinner is ready. You do need to know that when I call him I am in the kitchen or living room and he is in our bedroom watching some sporting event. Thank goodness I haven't caught him yet watching "Hillbilly Hand Fishing" and calling it a sport!!!! OK our house is not huge......it doesn't have two levels.....it doesn't have a basement. It is just that Bob has the TV so darn loud he can't hear the shrill of my voice yelling"BOB BOB BOB". I will call Jenn in the morning if I don't hear her moving after her alarm clock has gone off. Jenn has called me at night to tell me to turn on a channel with a show I will like. When I was very young, my parents didn't have a phone. I can't imagine not having my phone within arms reach to either contact someone or play a game or look something up. I am more addicted to my Iphone than I thought I would be. I love it!!!

But somewhere I am sure my Dad is disgusted at the laziness of making phone calls to each other in the same house....LOL. When something really annoyed him or he thought something was stupid he would say "ugh".....well I am sure he is saying "UGH Irene look at how lazy they are"......sorry Dad but it works for me....

The pants hem.....

I was ironing Jenn's work pants last week. It is a trade off.....she irons all of Bob's clothes and mine too as long as I iron her work pants. She hates ironing creases and I love creases. So I really make out on the deal ....I iron 4 pairs of pants (she wears jeans on Friday) and she irons all of my clothes that need to be ironed and Bob's uniforms.

Anyway, while I was ironing her pants something caught my eye......it was a stitch in the hem of her pants. I turned the hem inside out and started to cry. MOM. These pants and all of Jenn's and Bob's pants had been hemmed by Mom on her last visit here. It had become a standing joke with us that once she got here there would be sewing for her to do. I can see her having Jenn stand on a chair in the shoes she would wear with the pants. Mom would hold the straight pins in her mouth and carefully measure the hem. Sometimes there would be so much extra material she would have to cut some of it off. At least once while she was sewing them hems she would say "Donna, I can't believe you don't hem pants." I would say "Why should I learn to when I know you will be coming to visit'" Then we would both laugh and she would say something to Jenn like, "Thank goodness Nannie came to visit or who knows what your mother would do about these hems." I would mumble something about scotch tape and glue....Mom would laugh. As I write this I can see the chair she sat in just 15 months ago needle in hand lovingly sewing Jenn's hems. It is like the ghost of her is sitting there sewing, chatting and laughing. I am having a hard time writing this because I can't see the keyboard because I am crying.....

I tried something else this week Mom has suggested.....I put the alarm on so when the dryer stops if I run to the dryer and get the clothes out right away I don't have to iron so many things......she always used to say "Donna, I don't know anyone else who irons like you do'" I would respond, "Kathy does." She would then say we were probably the only two people who still iron and we would laugh. I have to say she was right about the dryer. I have been able to save at least 2 pair of my work pants from the ironing board by getting them out of the dryer right away. Score one for you Mom!

Tonight it is ironing time again and when I iron Jenn's pants my fingers will touch the stitches put there so lovingly by Mom. I touch them like they are diamonds on a beautiful necklace.....they are like diamonds.....each stitch done with love....by hands that held mine as a child, that baked cookies, that were used to tell stories during a Hula.....that waved good by the last time I saw her.....to hold those hands one more time.....priceless