A Mom, Money, and More

Fab Abs Friday!

2012-02-10T06:24:00.002-06:00

Have we done him already? I can't remember.
Have a great weekend,
SonyaAnn

Hot for Christmas

2012-02-09T06:32:00.003-06:00

Things are looking up. I got another $25 from BP.
Pinecone $3
Toluna $60
BP $75
For a grand total of------$138!

I also had the oddest thing happen. I received 2 $10 Chili's gift cards and I know that I didn't order them. The last thing that I ordered was the Boston Market gift cards. Hmmmm, so how do I count this one? Free? Please tell me what you think because I don't know how to count it. I checked and I received everything from Christmas 2011. I'm at a loss.

And this is what I have in the Christmas closet.......

2 $10 Chili's gift cards(free?)
3 felt hats at $1.93 each. $5.79 for all(50% off)
2 Christmas bells at $4 each. $8 for all(50% off)
1 tabletop ping pong for free(was $10 marked down to $5 used my CVS bucks to pay for it)
6 spatulas for1.92 each. $11.52 for all(70% off)
9 plates for 1.92 each. $17.28 for all(70% off)
11 cookies jars at 6.39 each. $70.29 for all(70% off)

I've spent $112.88. If I had paid full price, it would have been $387.88. I'm at 70.9% savings. Almost looking forward to Christmas,
SonyaAnn

Wicked Wednesday!

2012-02-08T06:22:00.005-06:00

I think I will stick with M&Ms.
Dear Lord what have I done to you,
SonyaAnn
PS-No wonder they banned it!

?

2012-02-07T06:16:00.000-06:00

Again with the crap pictures! My phone is dying and the camera with it. Hmmm, I wonder if I cleaned the lens if that would help.I wonder if cleaning the lens would make the speaker phone shut off since that is all that works now.
Anywho, as some of you knew last week I was sooooo sick. So sick I didn't look at the computer for days and I smelled a bit. Maybe like cheese. It was funny when I was sick, not so much now. Den said I smelled a bit swiss-y.
I did find something that helped-the aerate button. Not for the smell but on the blender!
I love the powdered mocha coffee drink from Aldis. It is the best that I have found. I tripled the amount of mix I used and mixed it with hot water. Then I ~~blended~~ aerated it with 7 ice cubes. I'm going to put Caribou coffee out of business.
Off to aerate,
SonyaAnn

Rhymes with Kasino

2012-02-06T06:05:00.032-06:00

I'm going to be very cryptic about this post. I don't want to be judged by you so just try and figure it out from the clues. I may or may not be at the casino.
It's not my fault! The casino in the WI dells sent us $100 in free play cuz we are high rollers, lol! And we had a free night at the water park up there. All we had to pay for was gas and food! Seriously, how can you turn that down?
We also, may or may not have booked a trip to Vegas in June using free airline tickets. Den has been remodeling a bathroom to pay for our trip. We have the car and room paid for, now all we need is gambling money and food money. Hell who needs to eat, we just need gambling money.
Tomorrow's post will be on penny pinching your way to getting your mortgage payment back.
At least, Den and I are getting along. Den blames the kids. Life does seem to be better when they aren't around. Shhhhh don't tell them!
And now I have a gambling challenge for you. I'm a pusher what can I say. Go here. Go to American roulette. You will have $1000 in your fund. You get 10 rolls. How much are you up or down? I got $1225 in 10 rolls.
Go big or go home,
SonyaAnn

Fab Abs Friday!

2012-02-03T06:37:00.000-06:00

I'm getting a bit tired of the abs. Have any ideas?
Thanks for stopping over,
SonyaAnn

Not Sure What to Name This Mess

2012-02-02T06:30:00.019-06:00

I got another $40 from Toluna. I'm not going to complain!
This is the breakdown for 2012 so far........
Pinecone $3
Toluna $60
BP $50
$113 this early isn't too bad. I made $906.50 last year so I hope that I can beat that this year. I'm pretty sure that I can. We paid $603.16 OOP for Christmas last year and I hope to get this down to $0. My family doesn't want to exchange so that will help. I'm not even going to bring up the fact that they won't send my kids a text for their birthdays let alone a card.

And this picture is your WTF moment for the day. And no it isn't me, smart ass.
Smile,
SonyaAnn

Wicked Wednesday!

2012-02-01T06:19:00.000-06:00

The force is strong!
Have a great day,
SonyaAnn

The Prettiest Thing

2012-01-31T05:58:00.015-06:00

That you will never be able to read. LOL! I'll translate that big blur on the screen for you. It's a picture of out BP credit card statement for the year. We paid $0.00 in interest fees for 2011. Doesn't that make that blurry mess of a picture that much better? I'm not bragging but it makes life so much easier without credit card debt hanging over your head. We paid no interest on any credit cards last year because we pay everything off every week. Yup, I pay every credit card that we have a balance on every Friday. That way the balance can never get away from us. I save the receipts as we charge and they go in the bill basket and get paid like every other bill we have. They are just as important as the other bills.
And the best part is we made $437.50 off of our BP credit card and out Bank of America card.(I'm not even going to figure the value of all the free panties I get from Victoria Secrets!) There is something to be said for getting your financial house in order.
I think I earned a cookie,
SonyaAnn

An Out of Control DInk

2012-01-30T06:39:00.039-06:00

As you know, I babysit from time to time for Dalten. He is 3 and absolutely adorable. His mother is in nursing school and needs help some afternoons into the evening. His dad is a UPS driver and never knows when he will get home. I'm flexible so it works well for everyone.
DJ hasn't gotten his license since he has turned 16. Most kids want to run out and get it but not him. He said that it is terrifying to drive around here. I agree, it scares me too sometimes. I haven't been pushing him but I can't see him waiting much longer. And I'm sure that the insurance company is going to jack up the rates soon. The jacking of the rates is his problem not mine. We told him it is the same deal as Anna, he is responsible for paying his car insurance. I'm very afraid of how much it is going to go up even with a good student discount.
So I came up with a solution for all of DJ's problems, I will watch Dalten until he gets home and then he takes over. He gets to keep the money even though I will have him for a few hours. I figure this is my way of helping him. I don't think that it is fair that his rates are so much higher than Anna's were. She had the white car to herself and he has to share the van with me and is still going to pay twice as much. I blame his testicle, he didn't find that funny.
I was making dinner the other night when we had Dalten. He said that he had to go potty. Awwwww, it's so cute when they are that little and say potty. Anyways, I told DJ to take him upstairs and help him. DJ rolled his eyes.(This is probably the best birth control ever for a teenage boy! I said to him one day while Dalten was having a little fit, "Just think if you have sex, you could end up with a Dalten." He said, "the thought of that was terrifying.")
Dalten is a HUGE talker and was jabbering on as they got in the bathroom. Then it hit me, I forgot to tell DJ to help him. And the catastrophe happened a little something like this......................
Me-"DJ push his dink down."
DJ-(Horrified) WHAT?!?!
Me-"Push it down!"
DJ-"I'M NOT GOING TO...................OH MY GOD, KID!"
And I bet you can figure out what happened from there. He hosed down the bathroom.
After Dalten finished and washed his hands, he came downstairs clapping. I joined in cheering him on and gave him skittles. Hey, even if you don't hit the pot in this house you still get skittles. DJ, on the other hand, was not clapping and shot me a dirty look. He stomped off with the windex and paper towels to go clean the bathroom. I lovingly reminded him that everyone in the family pushed his dink down when he was learning to go on the pot. He's always mad at me and I don't know why.
T.P anyone,
SonyaAnn

Fab Abs Friday!

2012-01-27T06:37:00.000-06:00

Me likey!
Have a great weekend,
SonyaAnn

My Wood

2012-01-26T06:39:00.000-06:00

As you can tell from the terrible picture, I didn't get a camera for Christmas. Maybe I should ask for one if I want to get one. Just a random thought.
This is what your chairs look like when you have a teenage boy in the house. He has broken three of the four kitchen chairs. He seems to think that they are recliners. Den wanted to beat him with one of the legs. I stopped him but had to pause for a bit to really think it through.
The good news is Den is really good with wood and fix it. He is just getting tired of fixing the crap that he breaks. But we did come to the conclusions that we aren't replacing crap in this house until the kids are gone, there just isn't any reason anymore. We can't keep up with it. It is kind of freeing in a way. Only two and a half years until our little lumber jack leaves. How did I get this old? Oh and thank God there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Love him to death but he is lippy and wrecking our house. And when you bring it up to him, he isn't pleasant about it. TEENAGERS!
And if you look really closely at the terribly blurry picture, you will see a round circle on the top of the table. Ms. Anna put a red hot frying pan on the table years ago. That poor table. It was the first piece of furniture that Den and I bought together. I still love it but it has seen better days. It needs to be completely redone and it will be in 2.5 years or it will be kindling, we shall see.
Have a great day,
SonyaAnn

Wicked Wednesday!

2012-01-25T06:34:00.002-06:00

Bad, bad, bad!
Have a wonderful Wednesday,
SonyaAnn

Christmas Deal

2012-01-24T14:16:00.000-06:00

Hurry, hurry, hurry! I found a Christmas deal for you.

Savelogy has $10 Boston Market gift cards for $5. Go here!!!
That is all,
SonyaAnn

Boring!!!!

2012-01-24T06:09:00.006-06:00

Not much going on here with Christmas but it's still January. I got another $3 from Pinecone. I have a couple of checks coming in from Toluna and one from BP. I'm not getting as many surveys as I used to, ebb and flow, I guess. I'm also not trying as hard before. C'est la vie.
So this is my little Christmas fund already........
Pinecone $3
Toluna $20
BP $50

And this is what I have in the Christmas closet.......

3 felt hats at $1.93 each. $5.79 for all(50% off)
2 Christmas bells at $4 each. $8 for all(50% off)
1 tabletop ping pong for free(was $10 marked down to $5 used my CVS bucks to pay for it)
6 spatulas for1.92 each. $11.52 for all(70% off)
9 plates for 1.92 each. $17.28 for all(70% off)
11 cookies jars at 6.39 each. $70.29 for all(70% off)
My life is boring but I'm ok with that.
Have a great week,
SonyaAnn

A Happy Ending

2012-01-23T06:21:00.052-06:00

Is it wrong to laugh at someone else's pain? Moral dilemmas, I love them. I say laugh because in the end, someone will end up laughing at you.
For my 40th birthday, I went to the spa with my MIL, Donna and Anna. Den paid for all of us. He did this willingly. It was keep me happy or I might destroy everything in a 5 mile radius. I don't do well with aging. I'm fine with the hard won knowledge that comes with age just not the wrinkles and droop.
Anyways, my sister in law called to wish me a happy birthday. It is probably best that I don't name her since she was the victim of the assault. I know that news papers give people aliases so I'll do the same. We will call her Cindy. Her real name rhymes with Cindy-but alas, I have said too much.
"Cindy" called while we were at Red Lobster. My MIL took us there for lunch. Turning 40 did not suck! I could turn 40 every week if I got spoiled like that. Anywho, Cindy called to wish me a happy birthday and to say that she wished that she was with us. We promised her that we would do a girl's day when she came home next.
We were telling her all about the spa and massages that we just got. She seemed to have a lot of questions. I asked her if she had ever had a massage and she answered that she wasn't sure. Hmmmmm, that was an odd statement. I'm pretty sure that you know if you have had a massage before. Because I have such tact and class I asked her, "How the hell can you not know if you have had a massage before?" Tact and class, baby. That question seemed to upset her a bit and she laughed nervously. "Well I have had a massage-sort of?" I'm happily munching on my cheddar biscuit, thinking about how weird she is.(God I hope she never reads this!) "Well did you or didn't you have a massage?" I asked as I wiped cheddar biscuit crumbs from my boobs, this happens more than I like to admit to. She exhaled, "I had a massage in the Dominican Republic." So now I'm really confused, what does the country have to do with it? She had gone on a cruise a few years back with a bunch of friends. What does that have to do with a massage? So I decide that I really need to get this information out of her-purely to help her, mind you. "So did you or didn't you get a massage in the Dominican Republic?" Again with the pause, "Yes, I think. My friend and I went for a massage but I'm not sure about it. We got undressed and the woman.......ummmmmm...... massaged us." Long pause. I just waited cuz I was so interested and my salad arrived. "She massaged my boobs too." I start laughing and choke on a crouton. "WHAT?" I asked laughing really hard. "She really got in there too. I'm glad that I had a towel over my face because I was so shocked that I think my eyes popped out of my head!" she said over the top of my laughing. "Wait, wait did she do this to your friend too?" I asked. "Yes," Cindy answered. "So this woman molested you both?" I asked with extreme compassion-not really. "We decided that it was a European thing," She stated. I would like to point out that they weren't in Europe. I also asked my BFF Donna who is from England about this. She was horrified that anyone could think that booby rubbing was something that they did in their spas. So it is not a European thing.
I happily pointed out to Cindy that they were probably in a massage parlor and that they got a happy ending. With therapy and time I'm sure that she will recover. In time, I will still be laughing at them!
Any stories you would like to tell me,
SonyaAnn

Fab Abs Friday!

2012-01-20T05:40:00.000-06:00

I'm so happy that it is Friday!
Have a great weekend,
SonyaAnn

Hole

2012-01-19T06:10:00.025-06:00

This post is an utter waste of your time, feel free to leave. I'm a void. Since I have nothing great to write about I will give you a few fun facts about me.

I am writing my 3rd book. The second one will never see the light of day, it is too violent against women. I have issues but you know this.
I will never finish my 3rd book. It just won't end.
I have a love/hate relationship with writing. I'm not very good at it but believe that I will improve eventually. When I try to stop writing, a voice in my head won't stop nagging.
Yes, I hear voices.
It's easier for me to write books than blog.
I'm like Mark and don't know the difference between then and than.
In high school an English teacher told me in front of the class that I should stick with writing my name and not stories.
I never read a book until I was a sophomore in high school. It was the first book in the myth series by Robert Asprin.
Robert Asprin is my favorite writer and I also love Steven King.
Dear Robert sent me a signed hard copy of one of his books before it came out as a Christmas present. He died not too long after.
I didn't know how to read until 4th grade.
I was so far advanced in math in grade school that they had to bring a junior high teacher in.
Donna Freedman is my hero. I strive to be a better writer and person because of her.
I have never written a post with bullets. At least, I think that is what the dots are called.
When my inlaws fight, my MIL gives away my FIL's toilet paper.

I think that is all the boring information that you need to know about me.
Run away,
SonyaAnn

Wicked Wednesday!

2012-01-18T05:39:00.000-06:00

Funny!
Have a great Wednesday,
SonyaAnn

Shocking

2012-01-17T05:45:00.023-06:00

Well if one good thing came out of our little gambling snafu is the fact that I'm overly committed to saving money. I always get like this the beginning of the year. I want to get back on track in every aspect of my life.
I usually end up not being able to write for weeks when the kids are off. I always think that I'm going to stop permanently but I start getting cranky and miss it terribly.
The house always seems to have something out of place for weeks after Christmas/kids getting back to school.
I also stop couponing for weeks. I really don't know if this is a good or bad thing. Sometimes I feel as if I'm chasing deals that don't matter. I'm also having a hard time finding any deals that have been posted online. Everything is usually wiped clean so my effort has been wasted and my ink!
I just hate the feeling of everything being out of sorts. I'm a sorts sort of person.
I also came to the conclusion that I'm fat. I know, shocker right.
Just posting about all of my problems will make it all go away, right? So if you could all wish me thin/rich/intelligent/organized I would appreciate it.
Fine since you aren't going to make my dreams come true, I'll work on it myself and keep you posted.
Like the old Bartles and Jaymes comercials-thank you for your support,
SonyaAnn

My Confession

2012-01-16T05:56:00.064-06:00

My confession is that I would love to see that priest shirtless. Drool! Wishing he was the fab ab Friday man! I know that I'm going to Hell, DJ promises me all of the time that they are working on a glorious throne as we speak. Mark, I'm not even going to bring up some of the naughtiness you have committed. But I bet that it was HOT!
I'm going to tell you this and please show some self control in the comment section. One of us needs to have some control since I have none.
It started off so innocently. Well not really but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Den and I thought(Den and I thinking together should never happen again. When we combine forces and agree, bad shit happens. We are better off on opposite sides at all times.) that we deserved a little grown up time. Honestly, porn shops ans strip clubs would have been a better choice.*sigh* We managed to dump off DJ on his grandparents on Saturday. Most of you would be thinking that a nice romantic dinner and sex would be great but no on that one too. We decided as a couple that we would go to a casino just over a hour south of us. We had planned to go on Sunday morning but decided that we couldn't wait.
I think this is the point that I need to interrupt myself. A few weeks ago when Anna was home and DJ was off school , we took the kids to the WI Dells. We dumped them off at the water park/hotel and we went to the casino. I had been working on an algorithm for roulette. Yes, I work on math problems for fun. It is great trying to figure out a way to predict the unpredictable. DJ would even join in and help me. And yes, I thought that I had solved one of life's mysteries-roulette. I impressed myself by being able to come out ahead the majority of time on an online site. And no, I was not teaching my child to gamble-it was a math exercise.
We cleaned house in the Dells. And I'm not kidding! We walked out over $300 up. We had a blast. We were there over 12 hours. We tried to sneak into our room at 4 am but we were far from stealth and pissed the kids off to no end. We won all the way around.
So we figured that we were unstoppable. Do you have a smug look on your face yet? Gloat, its fine. We took out $200, yes $200 and went to the casino. For some reason, we walked out of there with no money. None.
The next day, we decided that it must be the casino's fault and took out another $150 and hit a casino a hour north of us. Would you like to guess how this one went? We lost again. Hmmmm, $350 down in two days. And now is the point where someone needs to pick sluggy up from the floor. I bet she won't even be able to type.
I am now cured of gambling. Den I'm not so sure about. He said that he wanted to go back and try and get his money back. I said a better bet would be to rob a bank. It ain't happening anytime soon-the bank robbin' or the casino.
You could say that we are only $50 down but what I left out was the fact that I gave the $300 to my MIL to pay for our car when we go to Vegas in the summer. I don't even want to think about what will happen when we go back.
Signed,
The fuctard

Fab Abs Friday!

2012-01-13T06:14:00.000-06:00

You can only see a little abs but use your imagination, I am.
Have a wonderful weekend,
SonyaAnn

Helping You Get Fat

2012-01-12T05:40:00.012-06:00

My new job is to help you gain weight for the new year. I made french bread rolls for dinner the other night. I didn't have a dessert planned(yes, this is important in this house. More important than dinner) so I mixed half a stick of butter with 3 tablespoons(ish) of cinnamon and sugar. We then spread that on the dinner rolls. WOW! Everyone was happy and I got rid of the extra rolls.
Just here to help you accomplish your weight goals,
SonyaAnn

Wicked Wednesday!

2012-01-11T05:46:00.000-06:00

I could see this happening to Mark.
Have a great Wednesday,
SonyaAnn

Stuffing My Stocking Already

2012-01-10T06:25:00.011-06:00

Your prayers worked and I found an awesome Christmas sale! I was starting to sweat it a bit! I also got $50 from our BP card. So I've made $70 so far this year. I'm going to track not only how much money I make this year but where I get it from. Sooooo.......
Toluna $20
BP $50

I bought-
6 spatulas for1.92 each. $11.52 for all(70% off)
9 plates for 1.92 each. $17.28 for all(70% off)
11 cookies jars at 6.39 each. $70.29 for all(70% off)
total for all is 99.09.

The new list....................

3 felt hats at $1.93 each. $5.79 for all(50% off)
2 Christmas bells at $4 each. $8 for all(50% off)
1 tabletop ping pong for free(was $10 marked down to $5 used my CVS bucks to pay for it)
6 spatulas for1.92 each. $11.52 for all(70% off)
9 plates for 1.92 each. $17.28 for all(70% off)
11 cookies jars at 6.39 each. $70.29 for all(70% off)

I've spent $112.88(I owe me money, lol). If I had paid full price, it would have been $367.88. I'm at 69.32% savings. I've finished 32(ish) people.
I'm happy with how this year is working out. I've never said that before but the day/year is still young!
Have a great day,
SonyaAnn