Penny Pinching Mom

Sold Some Stuff

Hubby and I have been trying to sell some of our unwanted stuff for a while now. We hadn’t had much luck with our local trading post paper in the past, so we didn’t bother with it. We put it on the radio and on Craigslist, hoping to get a better response.

Neither of those worked out well at all. We got one legitimate response from Craigslist, and that guy expected us to meet him halfway with the tires he wanted or knock $20 off the price. We were actually going to meet him, but when I told him where we lived and asked where a good meeting place would be he never wrote back. I guess we lived further away than he was willing to drive halfway to.

The radio responses were no better. We got more of them, but they were all people who just heard “tires” and called because they missed the size. We also got one call about the air hockey table from a woman who said she would come look at it the next day but never showed.

So I finally broke down and put the tires and the air hockey table in the paper. And we sold them both this weekend! Now I’m thinking about putting some more stuff in there. We’ve got a little bit of everything laying around in the garage, with the possible exception of iphone accessories (and I don’t think many people around here would have use for those anyway, seeing how none of the local cellular companies offer service for them). I still haven’t made heads or tails out of the car parts, but there are lots of other things that might sell. I’ll have to find a few to put in the paper before the deadline this week.

The Party Went Well

How rude of me. I mentioned that I was having an Oscar Mayer House Party, and then I didn’t tell how it went.

In case you were wondering, it went great. We had a blast, and everyone loved the hot dogs, even picky old Hubby. Since we don’t have satellite radios and no regular radio stations pick up very well here, I burned a CD for the party. We listened to music, ate lots of food, and had a massive water fight. It rained off and on for the first hour, and by the time we got to hook up the water slide, most of the kids were gone. But they still had a blast playing outside between showers and watching a movie when it was raining.

I hope I get to have another House Party one day. It went over very well, and everyone had lots of fun.

Attention Guys: How to Buy Jewelry for Your Girlfriend/Wife

I hate to say it, but most men are clueless about buying jewelry for their significant other. Yes, I know, it’s a generalization, but it’s true. Some just don’t know how to choose the right piece. Others get the timing all wrong (like the guy who bought me a diamond ring after our first date). It’s not their fault, really. Jewelry just doesn’t seem to speak to them like it does to women.

The fine folks at Bella True know this. And they have taken it upon themselves to do something about it. They’ve dedicated a portion of their site (ten pages to be exact) to educating men about the intricacies of selecting jewelry for their wives and girlfriends. I know, they’re selling jewelry, but it almost seems like a public service.

This isn’t just a tutorial about choosing the best engagement rings, although they cover that very well. It goes into detail about choosing the right piece of jewelry for every occasion, and when to give jewelry “just because”. It tells how to determine a woman’s favorite gemstones and metals, and which pieces are best for which holidays. It’s like the gift-giving bible for men.

I think my dear husband should take a look at it. If he read it carefully, maybe he would know that I would love to have something like that beautiful ring pictured above. And maybe, when the time was right, he would buy it for me. A girl can dream, can’t she?

Partying on a Budget

On Saturday, I’ll be having my first House Party. More specifically, it’s an Oscar Mayer Top Tasting Dog House Party. I’m a little nervous about it, worrying about whether or not anyone will show up and if everyone shows up whether I’ll have enough food. But it should be lots of fun.

I’ve got to do my shopping tomorrow. They sent me coupons for the hot dogs and some of the toppings, as well as paper plates, napkins and party favors (coupons and wiener whistles), but I’ll have to provide the buns and side dishes. I’ll have to get some charcoal and drinks, too. I had planned on asking each guest to bring something, but I can’t get a firm commitment out of anyone, so I guess I’ll just be getting everything myself as cheaply as possible.

As of right now, I’m planning on having the hot dogs, finger sandwiches, pasta salad and baked beans. I’ll have to buy chili, cole slaw, onions, mustard and maybe a couple of other toppings. I’m just hoping that it doesn’t get too terribly expensive.

I’ll let you know how it goes. If things go well, maybe I’ll apply for some more house parties. I love getting free stuff and sharing it with others. But if no one shows up, I guess it will be my last one, because I hate going to a lot of trouble and expense for nothing.

Maybe I’d Be Better off Paying for Eggs

A guy that Hubby works with raises chickens. He has given us eggs off and on for some time now. And up until today, with the exception of having to clean them myself, all has gone well.

He gave us five dozen yesterday, so I thought we would be set for a while. Hubby said he wanted some scrambled eggs for supper this evening, so I got out a bowl and some eggs and got to work. The first egg I broke had a busted yolk, but I assumed that I had done it and broke another one in the bowl. And then the scent hit my nose, and my stomach turned. I’m not sure about the second one, but the first was rotten.

I ran out the door and poured the contents of the bowl out. Then I came back in, gave myself a minute to recover, and washed the bowl. Figuring it was a fluke, I picked up another of the eggs I had washed and broke it into the bowl. And that one came extremely close to making me vomit. It looked bloody and smelled absolutely disgusting.

Once again, I ran out the door and poured it out. And then I asked Hubby if there was something else he could eat. He decided on a hot dog, so I fixed him one and sat down for a while. I was starving before I started cracking eggs, but the sights and smells curbed my appetite better than the world’s greatest diet pill.

I’ll probably throw all of those eggs out. I hate to do it on the chance that some of them might be good, but I just don’t think I can handle going through that again. I’d rather pay a dollar and change a carton at the grocery store.

Classic Video Games Rule!

I’m not a hardcore gamer by any means. In fact, I just can’t get into most of the newer games. But I love, love, love some of the older ones. There’s just something about those ancient Atari games that takes me back to my childhood. And besides that, they actually make a reasonable amount of sense to me.

I also like some of the games from the Nintendo/Sega Genesis era. Pumpkin has a Super Nintendo, and we were all major Donkey Kong Country addicts for a long time, until we finally beat the final level. And yesterday, my brother-in-law let us borrow my favorite game of all time: Zombies Ate My Neighbors.

My cousin bought me that game for my birthday when I was a teenager, and we would spend hours on end playing it. It didn’t have the most cutting-edge graphics for the time or anything, I just loved the whole concept of it. Each level was like one of those cheezy old horror movies. Sometimes there were guys with chainsaws after you, sometimes it was giant bugs, and sometimes it was clones of your character. Awesome stuff.

We brought it home and played it for a while last night. Even Pumpkin loved it, which surprised me seeing how even little things like the noise that hand dryers make scare her. One of the books she had to read for school gave her nightmares, but that game does not bother her in the least. Go figure.

If you need a video game fix on a budget, classic games are definitely the way to go. You can find old systems in good condition at yard sales or on eBay for next to nothing, and the games to go with them are even less expensive. You can also find some of the older games on those joysticks that plug right into your TV. Happy gaming!