Cats And Coupons

How many of you have a coat rack? How many of you have fitness equipment? Is your fitness equipment your coat rack? I was just wondering. I haven’t used my exercise bike or my treadmill since before my surgery, and they’re just sitting collecting dust. The treadmill is folded, on one side of the living room. I looked at it today and either my hubby or my older son has left a shirt on it. I have seen my hubby leave shirts on it on numerous occasions, so I suspect he is the culprit. The exercise bike is in front of the picture window. I heard that hubby is picking up the Christmas tree this weekend, which means the bike will have to be moved somewhere, I don’t know where. I know the solution to this problem. It’s the same as the solution to a couple of other problems. We need a bigger house. I really want to add a second story. But that requires money, which who knows if we’ll ever save enough of.

My older son is turning twelve this week. He’s having a movie party, which is where I let him take a number of friends to a movie. Now we’re going to a matinee, which will save a little per head. As far as snacks go I’ll bring some in myself, only buying the popcorn and drinks. But for the drinks if you buy the huge size the theater will give you share cups, which means they’ll give you a stack of smaller cups to split the huge drink into. And the huge size can be refilled for free. Lastly, I printed the invitations myself. I put the image I wanted on one side, in this case a theater motif. After printing ten of those I put that paper back into the printer in another direction and printed the details – movie, date, time, place, rsvp info, etc. After that side printed I folded the paper in half and we were done. Printing the invitations alone probably saves us $8-$12 on just invitations and spares me the time it would take to write them all out. And they’re customized too, because you can put whatever you want on them. Not bad, right?

I have two brothers that really enjoy football. My youngest brother, the one in the Navy, loves the Giants. Another brother recently told me he liked the Saints, but I’ve always thought of him more as just liking the game in general. My youngest brother is really hoping the Giants will make it to the Superbowl. Yesterday both brothers were looking at tickets for an upcoming game, and they were saying how hard it was to get big clocks of tickets together. They had found a block of five for about $500 but before they could purchase them online they were gone. Being as he’s currently stationed in California, I bet that if the Giants do make it to the bowl that my little brother will be looking for some Superbowl tickets, because a trip to Phoenix from San Diego probably wouldn’t be too bad. I can only guess how much they will cost.

My oven broke quite some time ago. It’s been many months since I was able to bake. Last week I went to the Sears part store to buy the $85 part they told me they always had in stock. They didn’t have it in stock. They told me to come back the next day, as one was expected in. I went in the next day only to be told it hadn’t come in. I called a parts store in the next town. They had the part in stock, and for $15 less. I asked my father to install it, so I didn’t spend a lot of money getting a repair man in here. He got it in and it’s working fine, which is a good thing because if he couldn’t fix it we’d need a Miracle burn to cook the dinner.

I have always tried to give my husband nice gifts that he will appreciate and enjoy. He’s had his own friends tell him he’s spoiled, and that he doesn’t deserve his gifts. One year I bought him a big screen television for Valentine’s Day. That same year I bought him a home theater system for Christmas. In fact, if I got him leather home theater seating it would complete the whole movie theme I unknowingly started. But then I’d only have myself to blame for him falling asleep in the living room.

Well, since my son was in the er last night for hives and an acute allergic reaction, and the spots are out again, I will be cleaning, and hopefully not returning to the er. My husband went to work again, and I have my older son spending a good portion of the day with my parents, where he slept last night. My son will be on the couch all day, with exclusive use of the 56″ television. I have the Noggin channel on now, but I’m sure in no time at all he’ll walk over to the stereo cabinet where we keep his dvds and ask me to get a movie for him. I’ll bet the first movie he wants is Thomas The Train.

Drive by my house. Which house is mine? I have a cat mailbox, complete with a head, tail and feet. A couple of years ago my Mom wanted to get me something different for my birthday. So, while we were on vacation in upstate New York, she and I went to a small business that sold nothing but custom mailboxes. This man carried so many neat mailboxes including different animals, fire trucks, cars, people, fish, houses, even light houses and windmills, and many others. I love my mailbox. It’s got a black cat with a tiny bit of white. Unfortunately, when my hubby put it out there he attached it too close to the edge and the door got a bad ding and won’t quite close all the way. So now I think I’ll buy an inexpensive mailbox just for the door, and see if I can fix it.

My husband is a painter. The main client they work for is a huge apartment complex over an hour away. Usually they just paint the vacated apartments. Once a week they usually paint an occupied apartment, which means someone lives in it and you have to work around their stuff. He has come home with some crazy stories about some of the things he’s seen. Every once in a while, like this weekend, they get some total rehabs. He hates those, because you have to do everything including (but not limited to) cabinets, counters, walls, floors and painting. They were given a few of them this week, so he worked all weekend. He ought to be good and cranky by next weekend.

I have two cats, and we also have a dog.
I just finished reading an article on Msnbc about how we feel about pets. A study done by the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association shows that about 71.1 million American households, or approximately 66% of the population, have at least one pet. The article continued to mention that The American Society for the Prevention of Animals states that about 45% of pet owners have more than just one pet.Animals are becoming the social norm. People are realizing the value of companionship. A veterinary professor at Purdue named Alan Beck theorizes that as the generations have gone by society has more disposable income and more free time. We spend our disposable income on our pets – on food, toys, health care, even clothing. As veterinary research and education has progressed, so have our pets health and lifespan. the longer we have our pets, the more we become attached to them.

We got a letter saying our life insurance rate is going up again. The increase is almost $2 per month. Life insurance is a necessary thing, but it can be really expensive. My husband smokes and I’m overweight, so our rates are high. I’d love to save the money we’re paying every month, but since we had children insurance became an important reality. I got our oldest a Globe Life policy a year ago. I’m hoping by starting him early he’ll get better rates in the long run. I wish more than anything I could get a small policy for our youngest just to cover expenses when the time came if I’m not around, but noone’s willing to cover him.