Mothers’ Day is fast approaching – I hope you have a lovely gift picked out already!

If you are getting mom something techie like a new laptop or windows phone, or finally friending her on Facebook, this might be the perfect little addon.

Mique from Thirty Handmade Days has come up with this printable ‘Guide to Technology’ that you can slip into mom’s card this weekend.

It covers the basics of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram in mom-friendly language. Now Mom can pin, post and tweet with confidence!

Ultimate Mom's Guide to Technology

So head over there and download a copy! You’re so thoughtful! (Don’t forget a card to put it in!)

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Last night we spent the evening enjoying a delicious homemade pizza and carving our Halloween pumpkins. We picked them up at the supermarket, along with additional bags of candy, as I had previously broken down and opened some of the chocolates early. My husband generally favours a spooky Halloween pumpkin face, the traditionalist that he is, while I tend to lean towards stencil-type scenes.

I was lacking inspiration this year, but found some in this Pinterest post. I used masking tape to tape off the sections that were going to remain uncut, which worked really well. I think I might keep that idea for next year, as masking tape is a lot easier to adjust than pen marks.

Here are the results!

Also, the procrastintor that I am, I decided today would be a good day to figure out a halloween costume. I pulled out the box-of-costumes-past from the closet and found myself some devil horns and red gloves. Those are going to have to do for me this year.

I have spent significantly more time on a costume for our dog Bowser. Halloween has become “more for the kids” as we approach 30, and since we don’t have any kids, our dog is victim to my need to celebrate the holiday. He tolerates it, but I have a feeling that has more to do with the attention and extra treats.

This year, Bowser is a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle!

Looks like we are all ready for the trick-or-treaters!

Happy Halloween!

I am, self-proclaimed, NOT a ‘dog person’. I am still adapting to having the extra responsibility, vacuuming daily, and improving my dog-drool avoiding tactics. Amongst all the chaos, however, I have learned something about myself – I am maybe the least consistent person ever to have lived.

When Bowser first arrived at our house, the lady who works at K9R&R told us that since the dog is now in a new environment, you have to immediately set the rules. For example, he couldn’t wait to get inside and was lunging at the doorway, but she took the 5 minutes to get him to sit first, and enter after her. She said that people get a new dog and want to give it treats and hug it first, and don’t get around to training it until a few weeks later – but if you do that then the dog will get confused about what it is an isn’t allowed to do. “The most important thing,” she said, “is to be consistent.”

In my opinion, “being consistent” is the single most difficult requirement of having a dog.

It made me realize just how inconsistent I am on a daily basis. The rules and routines in my life change based on my mood, which if you know me, you know is different from one minute to the next. Somehow my friends and family have managed to avoid reprimand by dipping and dodging my ever-changing standards, but this pooch is not so lucky. It looks like I’m the one who will have to change.

My mind is a buzz of rules right now. Currently, we only exit through the back patio door so that he knows that if he has to go out, that’s where to go. I never feed Bowser anything off my plate at the table – in fact he isn’t even allowed within a couple of feet of the table when people are sitting there. Whenever I come in through a door, he first has to sit, I’ll wipe off his feet with a cloth, then stay while I go in first and then invite him inside. The list goes on. Not only does HE have to remember these things, but I have to remember every step, in the right order, every time.
From what I understand about dogs, they don’t mind rules. They just want to know exactly what those rules are so they can follow them and get a treat. A piece of chicken jerky and a ‘Good Dog’ is much more rewarding for them than a delicious drink from the toilet.

Enforcing these rules with words that make sense is also difficult. You can a teach a dog to “Stay”, and he will sit and wait for you to return. But if you are cooking in the kitchen and you don’t want your dog to loiter, you can’t tell him to “Stay Out” of the kitchen, because it is confusing. “Stay” means don’t go anywhere, and “Out” is like go outside. You have to think of exactly what it is you want him to do, and exactly which circumstances it applies to. Is he EVER allowed in the kitchen? What is the visual cue for him to know that the time for him to stay away has started and ended? What are the words that refer exactly to this situation so he knows which rule to follow? I bet that most of the ‘trouble-maker’ dogs are just extremely confused.

One of the hardest trials for me is being calm and strong in the face of rebellion. It sounds funny, but you sometimes have to fight off embarrassment in public places when they are being difficult or distracted. I was taking Bowser for a walk today and when we got to the mailbox, I asked him to sit (so I could get the mail). We had a little face-off as he busied himself, sniffing around a plant. If I had given up, he would have thought that “Sit” means to “Sit, or Sniff Plants instead”. Next time I asked him, he would do the same thing, and think that he was doing what I want him to. Unfortunately for me there were little kids and neighbours about who had to listen to me trying to get him to sit for 2 or 3 minutes (though it felt like forever).

Sometimes when Bowser follows through exactly how he is supposed to and I reward him with a ‘Good Dog!’ and a pat on the head, in my mind I am actually congratulating myself. ‘Good Terrah! Way to stick in there! Way to get it right!’. The relief that I too remembered the steps to this little dance we are doing, stayed firm, and got the expected result makes me wonder if I’m training him, or he’s training me.

Afterall, he’s the one who gets the treat for doing it right.

The answer is yes.

If you look at the amount that you spend every year on something like groceries, it actually ends up being a lot of money. If you spend all that money at one store, then you should expect to be rewarded for your loyalty. I certainly do, and after doing some research, I can tell you that not all loyalty programs are equal.

There are various rewards that a store might offer you, such as a discounted ‘member’ price, cash back, or special coupons. Member prices are a very tricky lure, because the ‘regular’ price is usually much higher than you might find the item in other stores. For example, this week at Safeway, Jack Daniel’s BBQ Sauces has a card member price of $3.19, (reg $3.49). The MOST I’ve ever paid for the same item at Fred Meyer is $2.79 (I’ve bought it there for as little as $1.50 on sale). While there are some card member prices that are actually a good deal, (like $3.99 for Splenda Packets (100ct) ), the “Amount You’ve Saved” on your receipt may be very misleading.

Cash back is another tricky reward. Most stores offer you a giftcard for your rewards to spend back with them – something that is only useful if you shop there on a regular basis. As for special coupons, they are really only useful if they are for items you would buy anyways.

After all my careful consideration, I’ve decided that the loyalty program at Fred Meyer is the one that is best for me. I actually avoided getting a loyalty card at Fred Meyer for a while, because you didn’t need a ‘club card’ to take advantage of the amazing sale prices they offer. Their prices were the lowest of all the stores I had discovered in Washington, so that was good enough for me. Finally a checkout lady pressured me enough to get one – lucky for me. From there I just kept on discovering new benefits to my loyalty card, and as it turns out, you really can save a bundle.

Fred Meyer Rewards

“Cash” Back

When you swipe your loyalty card at the check out, you will get 1 point for every pre-tax dollar you spend (some exclusions of course… not on giftcards or tobacco or lottery tickets). You earn points on groceries, wine, kitchen utensils, windshield wipers, shampoo, dog food, popcorn machines, bedding, compost bins, towels, plants, mousetraps, laundry detergent, storage bins, paint, craft supplies, bocce sets, picture frames, office supplies, socks, vacuums and makeup. Fred Meyer sells a lot of different things, and you earn points on most of them. Points are collected over 13 week cycles (four per year), and at the end of the cycle if you have earned at least 500 points you get a reward certificate for 1% of your points.

Because I do most of my shopping at Fred Meyer anyway, I can use these rewards points on items I would already be buying – so I count this as a savings.

Fred Meyer MasterCard

Fred Meyer also offers a MasterCard, and will give you $25 back on your first purchase at FM when you use it. You also earn an additional 1% back (2% total) when you use your FM MasterCard at the checkout, and 1% on all purchases at stores other than Fred Meyer. Normally I would advise to avoid all store credit cards because of their notoriously high interest rates, but if you are someone who pays their ENTIRE credit card bill EVERY SINGLE MONTH (or every week like we do), then you might want to consider this card. Yes, it is another bill to remember to pay, but that’s really not such a big deal.

For me, I have a different rewards credit card with my bank that I am very happy with, so I was not interested in this particular offer.

Rewards Coupons

At the end of the quarter when you receive your ‘Cash Back’ rewards certificate, you also get 4-6 loyalty coupons. These coupons can only be used when you present your loyalty card, and only at Fred Meyer. They are generally for generic categories – some examples of coupons that I have received are ‘$2 off Produce purchase of $2 or more’ or ‘$3 off Meat/Seafood purchase of $3 or more’. Sometimes the coupons are not as useful as those (’15% off mens clothes purchase’), but in general I have used 2 or 3 of them for things I already buy, every cycle.

Gas Discounts

Fred Meyer (and QFC) have partnered with Shell to give you a discount on gasoline. You earn monthly fuel points at the same rate as regular rewards (1% of your purchase) and once you have earned 100 points you can use your FM rewards card at the pump at Shell to save 10cents / gallon (up to 35 gallons). This reward may or may not be useful for you, depending on if you are able to plan your fillups to get to a Shell station. For me, there is a Shell station on my way home from Fred Meyer! I fill up once a week after getting my groceries, and make sure to save my pennies. Though my car doesn’t get a ton of use, it is safe to assume that with one fill up a week of my 10 gallon tank I would hit the 35gallon limit.

Prescription Discounts

While Fred Meyer does not offer ‘cash back’ rewards on prescriptions, they do offer you 50 fuel points whenever you fill a prescription at the FM pharmacy (except for government programs like medicare). Also, once in a while they will run a limited-time special where you can transfer a prescription from another pharmacy to the FM pharmacy, and receive $25 off your next purchase. Just use your loyalty card when you pick up the prescription, and the discount will be applied to your next purchase. You can only transfer up to 10 prescriptions for the life of your card, though I can’t imagine reaching that limit (… unless you tried).

Online and Preferred Customer Coupons

I love coupons, and have no problem clipping, printing, and carrying them with me. If that all sounds like too much work, you can still save using coupons at Fred Meyer. Online on the Fred Meyer Website You can register your loyalty card to track your points and see when the current points cycle ends. You can also add digital manufacturers coupons to your card for items you often buy. Add up to 150 coupons at a time, and when you swipe your rewards card at the register they will be automatically applied. Just today I saved $0.55 on some vlassic pickles that I didn’t even remember I had added to my card. Click here to see the current coupons.

Sometimes when you check out, a couple of coupons will print out with your receipt. They say ‘Preferred Customer’ on them, and while I am not totally sure this is on purpose, they are generally for items that I already buy at Fred Meyer. Sometimes there is one for something I’ve never purchased there, but they are generally familiar items. More than likely, they use the data from either your current purchase, your loyalty card to figure out what you can be enticed to buy.

With coupons, you could save a little or a lot depending on how much you pay attention to them. I’d say it is not unreasonable to expect you would save at LEAST $1 per month.

Some friends of ours had us up to their new place in Kamloops last weekend, so I started looking around for Housewarming card ideas. One thing I hadn’t done before is to cut the actual card into a new shape – instead of just a rectangle. Kind of a neat idea, So I came up with this design that looks like a sunflower:

Designing the template in MTC was easy enough – make one cuttable in the shape you want the card, mirror it, and weld them together so that the spine is intact. There are tons of example images you can use to import in to MTC. I created a second layer and a circle piece for the middle, and I was ready to cut.

I also cut out a heart and a little house for the front, and the word ‘Home’ in Sego Script. When I was done cutting, here is what I had:

This template is great to keep around, because you can use it for any type of card. It would probably even make a nice little poinsettia card at Christmas. The trick to cutting was making sure the spine of my blank cards was where I planned the spine of my cutting template.

Assembly was pretty straight forward – I inked the edges of the inner flower in Distressed Vintage Photo ink and the inner circle with Precious Memories Manilla ink. I also glued on some little heart buttons that I had lying around, and sat back to admire my masterpiece.

I hope they liked it!

What do you think? Did you download the template? What did you make with it?

Weeds

They think they own the place. I have been picking and scraping them out of my garden for a few months now, and I am tired of it. All around the neighborhood I see beautifully kept garden beds with not a weed in sight. Tired of being the ugly duckling, I decided to bring out the big guns: mulch.

I have avoided mulch in the past because I don’t love the look of it. Most of the mulch I have seen is a reddish colour, and I prefer the dark brown colour of nice topsoil. Luckily, I found some mulch that is almost the same colour as my soil. It is called ‘Deep Forest Brown” and from far away, it actually looks like dirt. Win win!

Turns out, putting down bark mulch is a pretty straightforward (albeit back-breaking) process. A few internet how-to videos and I was ready to go… go to Home Depot that is and slap down my credit card for a cart full of supplies. The landscaping fabric itself boasts a “10 year” lifespan (yea right), so theoretically I would only have to do some small fixing and lay some new mulch at the beginning of the season, and I’m home free for the summer. If it’s true, I’m going to be one happy camper… err … gardener.

What you Need

for a 5×25 garden bed:

• 3-4 Bags of Scott’s Naturescapes Mulch
• 1 roll of Landscaping Fabric/Plastic, like Weed Block
• Big box of Landscaping Staples
• Utility Knife / Sissors
• Preen (optional)
• 5 1/2 hours
• Wonderful husband to cook dinner while project takes way longer than expected
• 2 extra strength Tylenol

Road to Victory:

1. Pull out weeds for the last time. Theoretically, putting the fabric over the existing weeds should kill them from lack of sunlight, but do you really want to chance it? Pull out everything substantial and turn the soil to disturb any weeds that are just starting to grow.

2. Dig the trench. Pull out your trowel and dig a 2″ deep trench around the border of your garden bed. You will tuck the fabric in this trench so it will sit tight against the soil and not blow up in the next wind storm. Digging my trench was mostly just removing rocks, but if you don’t have rocks around your garden, reserve the dirt you pull out to fill the trench back in after the fabric is down.

3. Water lightly. I read online that getting the soil a bit wet before putting down the fabric will help them bond a bit better and help it not slide around. So I did it. Not sure if it was necessary.

4. Lay, look, adjust, look, and staple the fabric. This part takes a little time, but you want to get it just right. Cut yourself an approximate piece from the roll, allowing about 4″-6″ extra for the borders. You want enough fabric to go down into your trench and up the other side. Work slowly from one corner of the garden, placing fabric staples as you go. Cut holes or X’s where your plants are and pull them through, making as small of a hole as possible.

5. Fill in the trench. Put the dirt or rocks back into the trench to firmly secure the fabric. If you have rocks like me, use a little mulch to fill in the gaps between rocks.

6. Mulch it up. Cover the fabric with as much as 2″ of mulch. Make sure none of the fabric shows through, as sun exposure will speed up fabric degradation. You can give the mulch a little sprinkle with the hose after to help it bond together.

7. Sprinkle some Preen. Not sure if this is necessary, but it was recommended by my neighbor… and her garden always looks nice… just sayin…

And there you have it! Sit back, relax, and enjoy not weeding! I’ll keep you posted if any weeds show up, but for now, here is the final product:

How do you like it?

It’s Time to Talk•fool•ery!

<Shameless Promotion>

Just finished listening to the latest Talk•fool•ery podcast on Zune marketplace. I’m glad you guys feel the pressure of the sample ladies too – I always feel so guilty for not buying-after-trying no matter what they are selling! So much that most of the time I avoid taking a sample or even making eye contact!

You should be checking out this FREE podcast available to you through Zune marketplace or iTunes (if anyone really uses bloated iTunes anymore). It goes great with an afternoon coffee! See you next Tuesday!

</Shameless Promotion>

Talk•fool•ery is a free podcast created by Corey Fischer and Iris Dias, chalk full of sarcasm, foolishness, and frank discussions about life’s shenanigans. Plus, visit their facebook fan page to see one-of-a-kind animated videos from last week’s episode.

Category: Comedy
Language: English

So I was looking on craigslist (and finding mostly junk), when I started thinking about the
Ikea Billy bookcase we had here in our office.  Ikea sells them for 70$ a pop, which is an ok price for a student, but more than I would now pay for veneered particle board. I wondered where all of the Billy’s go when the college students get grown up furniture?  As one of the top sellers at Ikea, that is a lot of bookcases heading to the dump. Then, remembering how cheap college students generally are, I realized there is no way they would throw out their 70$ investment.

Typing the word ‘Ikea’ into the craigslist furniture section will give you about 300 sales posted today.  Not all the deals are great, but a lot of people are willing to part with their once loved Allen-key-creations for about 25% of the purchase price. To get the color and size you want, you might have to wait a couple days or maybe weeks.  For me, I was willing to wait 8 weeks for the killer deal, and just today I snagged a 5-pc set of bookcases for $50. Amazing.  $10 a bookcase for two full-size , one narrower full-size, and two Benno dvd towers.  Our office library is now complete, and as I sit here admiring my new shelves, I start to ponder – why isn’t Ikea getting in on this?

It is not unheard of – Best Buy has already started buying back devices you buy from them and giving you store credit towards your next purchase – so why not Ikea? It is genius to ‘buy back’ your most popular items, and pay out in-store gift cards. You guarantee the money (and probably more) will come back to you, plus you get to RE-SELL the items as ‘refurbished’.  Most people would probably prefer to bring their goods back to a store, instead of having to deal with a private sale.  The manufacturing cost is close to zero, save for having someone look over the pieces and replace damaged parts.

In this case, Ikea, there is such a thing as a free lunch.

We have been in a war with weeds for 5 months, and there is no end in sight. First we had to try to figure out which plants actually were weeds, so we went with the ‘If I like it, keep it, otherwise pull it out’ philosophy. So far it has gone pretty well, and we have managed to clean up 2 sides of our house. The front and one of the sides are now under control, but still require a lot of fussing, weeding, and pruning. We are fighting clover, dandelions, and most recently, butter cups. Remember when you were a kid, and buttercups were sooooo cute? Ha. Not anymore.

My recent discovery of Preen has helped out a lot, though I wish I had discovered it during our first and most thourough overhaul of the front yard.  I am also considering putting down some landscaping fabric and bark mulch as I have heard wonderful things about it, but am not sure I like how it looks.

Now that we are in to the summer and have the yard somewhat under control, I am trying to figure out what exactly are the plants that we have allowed to stay in our gardens.  With the help of my pro-gardener mom (thanks mom!) most of them have been identified, but there are still some mysteries.  Can you help me identify them?

If you recognise one, please leave me a comment

I have had this piece of argyle scrapbook paper for almost a year and have been looking for just the right use for it. It was one of those impulse purchases, where it looks so unique that you know it will be perfect for something, you just don’t know what. It’s very spring-y, and honestly it reminds me of a golfer’s sweater – perfect for fathers’ day.

Since it remind sme of a sweater, I thought of making a card cut in the shape of a sweater. I also remembered making an origami tie card when I was in grade school. While looking for directions online for the tie, I came across an entire origami shirt. And as my dad always says, “If you’re in for a dollar, you’re in for a dime’. (I still haven’t figured out what exactly that means, I figure if I say it enough, eventually it will make sense.)

Origami Shirt Card

You will need:

• 1 rectangular piece of white paper
• 1 piece of patterned paper
• 1 piece of matching solid paper
• 2 colourful brads
• 1 piece of contrasting paper (if you want to make the tie)

How to Make it:

1. Fold the white paper in half hotdog way

2. Use the center fold to fold the page in to quarters

3-4. Fold the flaps outwards at about a 45* angle. These will be the sleeves.

5. Turn the paper over. Fold back a small section at the top. This will be the height of the collar.

6. Turn the paper over again. Fold the top right corners in to form one of the peaks of the collar.

7. Repeat with the left side to form the other peak.

8. Fold the shirt in half hamburger way and tuck it under the collar.

9. Cut a piece of the patterned paper the width of your shirt body (not including the sleeves) and long enough to wrap all the way around to the back. Attach it to the white paper using scrapbook tape.

10. Cut a piece of the matching solid paper the same width as the pattern paper, and about 1/2 the length. Place it inside the card and cut where the top of the shirt slopes. Attach it using scrapbook tape.

11. Poke holes in the top layer of the shirt collar (only through one layer, not both) and attach the brads.

Want to add an origami tie?

12. Using the contrasting paper, cut a square where the diagonal length is a little longer than you want the tie to end up. Fold the left and right corners in so that they are right angle triangles.

13. Turn the paper over, and fold the top tip down to the middle of the tie, then fold it back on itself leaving a small margin.

14. Fold the top tip over on itself one more time, so that it create’s a Z-fold (if viewed from the side). This is a very common origami fold.

15. Turn the paper over agian, and fold the two sides in to the middle, narrowing the tie to the desired width and also forming the ‘knot’ shape at the top.

16. Turn it over – it looks like a tie! Attach it to the shirt with scrapbooking tape.

The finished product:

*Note: I used my Cricut cutter to cut out the ‘Happy Fathers Day’ saying. It is on the Calligraphy cartridge. Also, as I didn’t have a matching pattern paper for the tie, i created my own by using a solid yellow piece, and a cut-out overlay that says “#1 Dad”. I think it turned out pretty cute!