Rental house

We keep working, we keep wondering why we keep having more work to do!

I finally figured out to stain the floors. Some of them were a little worn looking but a little bit of stain makes them look so much better.

It took a bit to match the stain to the existing stain but I think we did pretty good. The door and wall stain are the old stuff, the base board is the new stain:

We're really making a lot of progress on the house and expect to get it back on the market soon but we keep finding new things. Like today, we finally figured out why they left the dishwasher behind (they took so many other things including the stove and every single light bulb in the house!) - Yep, the dishwasher is broken. It has a crack near the door and would leak all over the floor. So, we're not sure if it can be fixed or if we just need to replace it.

It was such a beautiful day, I thought I should take advantage of the weather and get some yard work done. So, I raked the back yard. It was pretty thick with leaves and pine straw but it looks like this now:

On top of all that, we had a flat tire on the way to the house this morning. Some days I feel like I'm not sure what I did to deserve my karma that day.

Couponing, here I come!

Did ya miss me? LOL I'm doing a lot of nothing lately. Well, I guess we're doing stuff here just not much to blog about. We're still working on the house and visiting with friends when we can but I haven't made it to FL for my mid-winter thaw yet.

Anyhow, iVillage just opened up a new board called Coupon Clippers and I'm getting a lot of good tips on there about how to save some money. I haven't been too successful yet but I have an idea on how to save money. Mostly, it seems to be a matter of finding things already on sale and then using coupons too! CouponMom.com seems to be one of the better websites out there that put the two together for you. You can click on the drug store or major chain store of your choice and find the best deals. Or you can click on a grocery store in your state and find the best deals there too. You can click on ALL of them! (I think my brain would be fried if I tried that! LOL) You can sort by any of the columns they show there - the one they recommend is sorting by the last column to find the free or 75% off deals - the highest deals available to you. Sometimes, you can find deals where you'll make money and even if you don't normally buy the product, maybe you have a friend who does or a charity you could pass it along too - they get the food and you get the cash!

I have to try to think outside the box more. I went to CVS today to take part of the deal on coke 12pks. You buy 5 - 12 packs for $15 ($3 each) and then... you get their cash back deal of $5 to use next time you shop making it $2 a 12-pack  - great deal but we drink diet coke and diet sprite in this house - I was going to get some of both. Well, I guess CVS doesn't sell diet sprite (meanies!) and I should have bought 5 diet cokes but walked out with nothing instead. I need to figure out what other deals are out there so I don't mind going back tomorrow or the next day to make the deal.

If any of you have figured this out already, feel free to share tips!

Holidays

Holidays come in all shapes and sizes anymore. It seems like there are 10 or 20 different things being celebrated by different people every day. I thought I'd share some of what look like some fun ones for January...

Jan 1st was New Years Day and we celebrated that with family.
Jan 2nd was 55-MPH Speed Limit Day - I can't say that I would have done this if I had been out on the road - I might have gotten run over!
Jan 3rd was J. R. R. Tolkien Day - He wrote some rather good books, I'd have toasted him if I had known it was his birthday.
Jan 4th - Trivia Day - I keep trying to tell you that I don't know any trivia! Everything I know is important!!
Jan 5th - Bird or Bean Day - sounds like a good day to eat tacos with refried beans to me!
Jan 6th - Twelfth Night - I think that has something to do with the 12 Days of Christmas. I just learned recently that the 12 Days start the day after Christmas.
Jan 7th - I'm Not Going To Take It Anymore Day - Hmmm, I wonder what I shouldn't take anymore. It's a Friday and that's always a good thing!
Jan 8th - two good celebrations! Bubble Bath Day- I'm all over that one! Or should I say under (the bubbles?) and Midwife's Day or Woman's Day - I think Midwives and Women are wonderful people :)
Jan 9th - Balloon Ascension Day - Hot air balloons - I wonder if there will be any to go watch near me. Of course, I hear threats of snow so it might be too cold to fly on Sunday :(
Jan 10th - National Clean off your desk day - With my plans of being more organized this year, I should do this one...
Jan 11th - Cigarettes Are Hazardous To Your Health Day - Yes, they are! So, if you're smoking, at least quit while you're reading my blog. ;-)
Jan 12th - Can't find anything! I'll have to hunt and edit this if I can find something.
Jan 13th - Public Radio Broadcasting Day - I love NPR - enjoy a good dose of it if you can today!
Jan 14th - Organize Your Home Day - okay, now they're pushing it - just because I want to get more organized, doesn't mean I have to do it all in one day!! Sheesh!
Jan 15th - Bald Eagle Appreciation Day - It's the National bird in the USA so if you have any pride in your country - appreciate all the Bald Eagles you've seen!
Jan 16th - Appreciate a Dragon Day - well, maybe we'll watch 'How to Train Your Dragon' if we can.
Jan 17th - Kid Inventors Day - Hmmm, sounds like a homeschool project is in store...
Jan 18th - not a great selection today - Thesaurus Day - I like using a thesaurus so I'll try to use one today.
Jan 19th - Tin Can Day - hmmm, not many to be found these days, I think tuna is still packed in tin and they're suppose to be good to add to a compost pile.
Jan 20th - Women in Blue Jeans Day - I can handle that one!
Jan 21st - National Hugging Day - I'm sure I can find someone to hug that day!
Jan 22nd - Celebration of Life Day - It's a good thing to celebrate
Jan 23rd - National Pie Day - I could have sworn that was 3/14!! Not that pie isn't good enough to celebrate twice :)
Jan 24th - National Compliment Day - I'm sure we could all pass along a compliment sometime today
Jan 25th - National Speak Up and Succeed Day - Hmm, I will work on this one :)
Jan 26th - Lotus 1-2-3 Day - OMGosh! I use to use this program! I might have nightmares tonight! LOL (It wasn't really that bad, it was great at the time even)
Jan 27th - Holocaust Memorial Day - Sounds like another good homeschooling lesson
Jan 28th - Fun at Work Day - it's a Friday so very doable!
Jan 29th - National Puzzle Day - Sounds like fun to me! What kind of puzzle should we do?
Jan 30th - Inane Answering Message Day - hmmmm, you might not want to ask me any questions this day...
Jan 31st - Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day! What a great way to end a month!!!

So, what are you going to celebrate this month?