Penny Pinching Mom

Conserving Water

Water conservation gets a lot of press during drought times, but you mainly hear about it in larger cities. Smaller towns have restrictions on town water usage too, though. While those of us in rural areas who use wells don’t get hit by such restrictions, conserving water is still important. If it gets too dry, we can easily run out.

Luckily it hasn’t happened to us yet, but one of Hubby’s uncles ran out of water last week. And having only lived where we live now for a few months, I don’t know for sure how good of a well we have. So conserving water does interest me.

We could use all new plumbing, and when we get it I hope we can afford something that will conserve water without reducing performance. Moen has some good faucets and showerheads to choose from, and they’re very nice looking. I was watching a video on YouTube about their efforts to make functional yet conservative products, and I was impressed.

A lot of people forget that saving the environment is something we all need to work together on. I’m not the poster girl for sustainability by any stretch of the imagination, but I try to think about how what I do will impact the earth. And conserving water is something we can all do that not only helps us, but everyone around us.

Puppies

Over the past month, we’ve acquired two puppies. You see, Pumpkin’s cousin promised her one out of her dog’s litter. But before we got that one, Hubby talked her into wanting a Treeing Walker puppy out of a friend’s dog’s litter. So we got that one, and I hoped that the other puppy wouldn’t materialize. No such luck, and now we have two little canines running around here.

I was not happy about that at first, but I ended up getting attached to the little boogers. Especially the mutt. He looks like some sort of toy terrier mix, and he’s sooooo sweet. We’ve been keeping him out on the porch until we can get a dog carrier for crate training, and until we can get rid of the small amount of mange he has (which I’m almost positive is the hereditary and non-contagious kind, but you can never be too sure). But once that’s all squared away, he will be a housedog.

I guess we also need to start looking at pet beds, because of course we won’t be keeping the poor sweetie cooped up all the time. I might get some Lassie pads and see if I can train him with those and forget about the carrier, I’ll have to do some research on it. The only way I’ve housetrained a dog was through careful watching and putting it out when it was about to go, and it’s been about 13 years since I did that.

Anyway, it looks like we’re a three dog household now. But it’s all good, because I’ve rediscovered my inner dog lover.

Has It Really Been That Long?

I can’t believe it. I’ve gone three weeks without posting to this blog. Where has the time gone???

Well, things have been pretty rough for the past few weeks. I was sick for what seemed like an eternity, and had to go back and forth to doctor’s appointments due to other health issues. I found out I have fibrocystic breast disease, but that was actually good news since it’s completely harmless. Well, sort of. The doctor said there was no real treatment that would help in my case, just to cut down on caffeine and maybe that would help. But it’s not like I’m in excruciating pain or anything, it’s just mainly an annoyance. And I’m glad it’s nothing serious.

Other than all the health junk, I’ve just been working my butt off trying to get caught back up on my writing. Feeling bad really put me behind, because I couldn’t stand to do much of anything besides laying in bed. But I’ve got to get back on track so I can make some money this month. This month was very lean, and I don’t want to go through that again next month.

School Shopping

I went school shopping on Friday. I was planning to wait until Saturday, because I was visiting my mom in Virginia on Friday. But they had a sales tax holiday up there too, so off to the store we went.

I found some great deals on clothes for Pumpkin. I got her a bunch of stuff on clearance: several shirts and shorts for $3 apiece, a pair of jeans for $7, and two pairs of pajamas for $7. I also got her an adorable little skirt with shorts under it and a shirt to match, and I think altogether that outfit was less than $10. I spent about $65 and got her enough new clothes to last her until the weather cools off, so I guess I did pretty good.

Mom bought her a couple of outfits and another pair of the $7 jeans. We also looked for unique baby gifts for my cousin, but didn’t find anything that struck our fancy there. Besides, I didn’t have the money to put toward that just yet anyway.

Pumpkin’s school supplies are taken care of, thanks to a nearby church. All she needs now is a pair of tennis shoes and a new book bag, and she’ll be ready. It’s a good thing, because school starts this week here.

Fall Is a Busy Time

Fall is just around the corner. School will be starting here next week, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Pumpkin’s birthday will be next month, and I always try to have a nice get-together for her so she can have lots of fun. I don’t know how much we’ll be able to get her as far as presents go, but I always try to make sure she has a good time. And most of the time, she has a blast.

Next will be Halloween. Of course Pumpkin will dress up, but I wouldn’t mind getting all gussied up myself. It’s been a long time since I did that. Maybe I’ll look at some of those cool renaissance costumes. Who knows, maybe I’ll even talk Hubby into dressing up with me (yeah right).

Next is Thanksgiving, which we don’t usually do much for. Sometimes we go eat with my mom or Hubby’s parents, sometimes I fix a good dinner for us, and sometimes we just chill at home and be thankful for each other. That’s what it’s all about anyway as far as I’m concerned.

After that will be winter. I don’t even want to think about that, so I’m going to end this post right now.