Wicked Wednesday!!

I'm an idiot but every time I see this one it makes me laugh really hard. I think this one is A.Marie safe.
Have a great hump,
SonyaAnn

Almost a Winning Lotto Ticket!

I'm almost afraid to jinx this one. So I'll speak softly and hopefully I won't tempt the bill gods.
My neighbors were in a pickle. The were going away and their dog sitter backed out on them less than a day before they were supposed to leave. I'm not even going to get into the fact that the woman that was going to dog sit was going to lock the dogs in a cage in the back yard for $25 a day or the fact that her boyfriend decided that that wasn't enough and wanted $50 or it wasn't happening.
So anywho, I said that I would do it. The dogs are under 5 lbs each and I had no plans. So I grabbed our mail and walk over to let the dogs out. As I'm walking I'm thinking, "Self, I wonder if this good deed will be repaid." Now don't think that I wanted money from them, that wasn't the point. She tried to pay me and then my kids and no one would take it. Everyone helps each other around here and we let karma reward us.
Karma was good to me! I let the dogs out and then sat at their table and went through our mail. Low and behold, there was a letter from Blue Cross. I figured that it was from when DJ tried to paint the house in puke. But no, it was from when Anna had her wisdom teeth removed. Our dentist had given us a referral to the oral surgeon. But what I didn't know until after wards was that had we went to our Dr. we could have gotten a referral from him and it would have been covered. I know that it was a surgery but still it didn't even cross my mind to go to our Dr about her teeth.
I was talking to the office workers at the Oral Surgeon's office(after the surgery) and they told me of my mistake. They said they would try and submit it but our insurance group doesn't back date so it was a loss. CRAP! That was almost $1500 down the drain. A small piece of my frugal heart died that day!
I'm afraid to say that the paperwork has been approved. Now I'm sure that this can change and I won't believe it until I see it but I felt as if I had hit the lotto! What a huge relief. We are getting slammed by little college bills here and there. I've been paying what I can and then taking the rest out of Anna's savings(with her permission, of course). It's $50 here or $250 there, and it is adding up. So I'm going to take $1000 and set it aside for all the little college bills. So fingers crossed.
We will have to wait for the oral surgeon to cut us a check so it may take a while. Den said that I should call and thank them and try and find out when they will be mailing it. But I think a plate of cookies may be in order.
If we do get it, I'm going to tithe $150 and send it to our local food bank. $1000 for any college expenses and maybe save the rest for our Six Flags passes or the WI state fair.
I did think about throwing it all at the "funds". It would knock it down a lot faster but I figured that I'm still on track and all the college bills would throw me off anyways.
I'll let you know if it all works out!
Thanks for coming to see me,
SonyaAnn

Zote!

I know that this soap has been around for a long time but I just found it so it is new to me. All I can say is it is amazing! I found it in the laundry aisle at Woodman. It was $.89 so I figured I would give it a try. I was using it for just spot treatment but I can see how this would make great laundry detergent. And it is said that you can use it to catch fish. I don't know if I believe that one but if you wanna try it please let me know if it works! It has a million and one uses.
I heard somewhere on the Internet that one woman would just get one article of clothes all soapy and then add it to her washing machine. She did that instead of using laundry detergent. I don't know if I would go that far but it would work if you ran out of laundry detergent or were on an emergency budget.
The only thing that I found as a slight drawback was the scent. It has citronella oil. It smells kind of like a pine floor cleaner so you will need to spray your clothes when they are dry with a little homemade fabric softener(vinegar or water and fabric softener diluted).

But here is the proof that it is a miracle worker. This is our reusable mop. Every morning, we use it to mop the kitchen floor. Well not so much we as it is Anna. It's her job but I sometimes get the honor when she is running late. It is over a year old and it was pretty dingy. I soaped it up and threw it in the wash. It looks almost like new. I wish that I had taken a before picture but you can imagine what it looked like after a year of use. So this product is getting the Sonya stamp of approval. I really need to get a life!
Thanks for stopping over,
SonyaAnn

Anna's Famous!

Anna did really well at her Track meet and she landed on the back page of the News Sun. It's a pretty big paper around here. I told her that only huge athletes get an entire page and the back one at that! She said that now she can cross one thing off of her bucket list.
Thanks for stopping over,
SonyaAnn

Help Frances!

Can you believe that Frances thought this picture was too risque for her blog? Her niece needs your vote so please run over to her blog and vote. Are you sorry that you stopped over?
Honestly, this picture has nothing to do with the voting(its for softball). I just liked it and Frances was nice enough to share Sweet Knee's picture with me.
Thanks,
SonyaAnn

Friend's Friday!

And my Friday snot is, umm, I mean my booger, ummm, I mean my friends for this Friday is..............Heidi from Tried and True Cooking with Heidi! And you have to check out her recipe for Grandpa's Mint Brownies all I can say is the picture looks amazing so I bet they are wonderful.
Have a great weekend and thank you for stoping over,
SonyaAnn

Extra Money!

I never get to say that we have extra money but I think we do! And I have to hurry and put it in a fund. I have found that if I have any money and it isn't earmarked, I spend it. It's weird but if I don't label it, its gone. But at least, I have realized this odd quirk so hurry and help me.
I saved $700 for glasses. Mine only cost $316.22. Den went through his contact supply and has more than enough to last him until next year. He also wears his glasses quite a bit so that should help to stretch it out a little longer. And the good thing with Den is that his prescription hasn't changed much since high school.
My eyes are getting better! Now that my thyroid is being properly dosed and my adrenial gland is also being regulated my eye sight is getting better. I never knew that there was even the possibility of that happening. It feels almost as if my entire body is healing. I have never ever experianced this kind of good health in my entire life. But that is for another post!
We have an extra $383.78 left over! Wow! So it is going to be fun money.
We love going to the WI state fair. That was the place where I wore a bruise under my toe nail. Who would have guessed that it still wouldn't have fallen off! Anywho, the fair is a wonderful time but it is super expensive just because you have to eat like a pig. Sorry but it is the law in WI at the fair.
Or we could get Six Flags passes and a parking pass. But Den and Anna aren't real big fans. DJ and I love it. Another draw back is that one of the parks has already closed Kentucky Kingdom. I know that they are restructuring because of bankruptcy so maybe this wouldn't be a good investment. It's $65 a pass and $70 for parking for a grand total of $330.
Or maybe we could just save it for little things here and there like the movies or the drive in. A little festival here or there. But I think that we would blow through it pretty fast.
Any ideas?
Thanks for stopping over,
SonyaAnn

Wicked Wednesday!!

This is super funny! But should we let A.Marie see it? Click here and then come back and we will vote. This should be good.
Have a wicked Wednesday,
SonyaAnn

A Frugal Crucifixion

Stay calm! Take a deep breath and try not to hunt me down. I'm sorry, I'm saying 12 frugal hail Marys. I keep telling myself that to fail is to learn but why did my budget and savings have to suffer. So my total for our month of healthy eats was $603.69. Yuck, its like bile on the tongue. So it was $150.92 a week for four weeks. And it was a meal plan that none of use were really happy with. We thought we would love having fish twice a week but it wasn't as well received as we had hoped. And because I suck in the kitchen a lot of times Den had to come home and cook. I wasn't even going to chance ruining a salmon fillet. And that made me feel really bad like I wasn't taking care of my family. Awwwww, it almost sounds like I'm trying to be a good wife and mom.
But a few good things have come out of this heart wrenching experience for me. And yes, it is heart wrenching when you are as frugal as me. Two weeks in to this mess, Den and I had a talk about how much we were spending. So we are going to divide and conquer. After work on Fridays, he is going to go to some of the ethnic stores on his was home and buy their loss leaders. I'm going to do the same around here and try not to spend too much in gas. And then once a month, I'm going to go and pick up our staples from Woodmans(30-35 minutes away but the cheapest around).
I also, went to the library and picked up a few budgeting books. Most of it is a brush up but Den is really starting to get into it. So it would be great if he would happily get involved. We will see but he seemed to like the idea of freeing up some money so we would be able to do some fun stuff.
So it looks like I will be doing more work on our monthly grocery list and our monthly budget. Oh well, its not as if I have anything else to do.;)
And of course, I will keep you posted!
Thanks for stopping by,
SonyaAnn

PS- Look what I found under the tree in the front yard! The funny thing is just a few feet away there is still snow!

A Response!

I broke every frugal law when I threw out the rotten Pepperoni and didn't return it. I was in a hurry and I was too repulsed to put it back in the frig. I know, Bad SonyaAnn.
I fired off an email about how I loved their product yada, yada, yada and sent them the picture of their pepperoni. They responded that it was Walmart's handling that caused it. Who to blame?
But they did send me a coupon for $4 so I'll shut up about it now. I just hope this next one isn't green!
Thanks for stopping over,
SonyaAnn

Friend's Friday!

My booger is Bill from Laws of Attraction. He is amazing. I love his writing and feel like he put so much of what I was feeling into words. His whole blog is about balance and inner peace. When ever I need a pick me up, I go there. He is a wonderful soul and I feel lucky that I found him.
Have a wonderful weekend,
SonyaAnn

Best Frugal Tip Ever!!

Poor Ralphie blind from soap poisoning, I'm about two days behind him. And on with the show........
Like I have said so many times before I'm getting healthier but it has had a few odd draw backs.
I'm taking anywhere from 25-30 pills a day most being holistic pills. I'm not sure if I can blame my little problem on my pills or just genetics. It's probably genetics but I''ll let you be the judge.
So I'm lying in bed and my right leg gets this very odd sensation running down the side of it, something between a light electrical current to a flutter. If I move my leg, it completely stops. But the minute I'm completely still, it starts all over again. Let me just tell you that this is like Chinese water torture. It doesn't hurt but you can't relax enough to sleep. Let's just say that I was a terrible crank butt the next day. I tried to a take a nap the next day but every time I was still it started all over again. It was maddening. Since I consider myself more qualified than my doctor, I diagnosed myself with Restless Leg Syndrome. I spent the next day researching it. And the conclusion I came to was I need to go to my primary care DR. He would just tell me I was depressed and amputate my arm. Not in the mood for that.
As I lie in bed that evening counting off my twitches like you would contractions(Every 2 seconds, mind you) I remembered that my mother had said this had happened to her while she was visiting my dad's family. My cousin told her to put a bar of soap by her feet. And she said that it stopped right away. What the Hell, I'm game. After a few nights with very little sleep, had I thought that gluing my eyelid to my thumb nail would have helped me sleep, it would have been a go! I grab the bar of soap out of the shower and put it under my fitted sheet. NOTHING! Now just to make me in a little bit of a better mood, my other leg starts to get the same feeling. It would have been nice if they could have collaborate on it but no. They were completely out of sink. One leg and then the other would flutter. DEAR GOD! So I get up again. I rip the bar of soap out from the sheets and stomp off into the bathroom. I put the soap back and think about going for a jog. That should tell you how bad it was, if a fat ass like me was willing to take up jogging at 3am to get some relief.
The next day, needless to say, was not an improvement for my mood. I needed to do something but I wasn't thinking real clearly. I somehow managed to get through the day without dismembering anyone. But that night as I lie in bed, I was starting to think that amputation was my only hope. My mind wandered back to the soap. What the Hell. I'm already a mess, I sleep with a mouth guard in and pink earplugs. What is a couple of bars of soap in my socks! And yes, I went into the hall closet and got two little bars of soap from a hotel stay. I unwrapped them and got into bed. I slipped one into each sock. At first, nothing. Great how am I going to get around once I amputate my own legs, I thought! And I was starting to think that it was a good idea, a few nights without sleep and the insane becomes the sane.
And then it stopped. Just like that, it was gone. It seemed that once the bars got warm, it worked. Never mind the fact that the soap was burning my feet. Warm lye and skin react. But the burning sensation was easily over come, it was nothing compared to the zapping feeling.
OK now this is where the fun begins. You were thinking that the worst was over. But alas, you were wrong.
I woke up and had to take my 3am pee. I will just say that trying to walk on bars of soap will help wake you up. CRUNCH, SNAP! Whatever, I'm tired and have to pee. Nothing like pieces of soap in your sock to help you on your journey to the bathroom. I figured that I should pick the soap out of my sock. And then I realized that only one thing was going to happen, wipe or socks. Wipe it was!
I wake up the next morning much better off than I had been in days. Besides crushing the soap to dust the night before, I was cured. I carefully take the soap out of my socks and start my day. Only to realize that whenever I stop moving, it starts again! UGH!!!! I have stuff to do. And I had learned that I couldn't walk on soap. And then it hit me!! I've been saving all the super tiny slivers of soap. I put the thinnest one that I had in the arch of my foot. Once it heated up, it was flexible and thin enough that I could walk without cracking it.
I bet this is a tip that you have never gotten and it works! So the next time that you have a sliver of soap left, don't smash it to the next bar of soap. Save it for your Restless Leg Syndrome.
Thanks for coming to see me,
SonyaAnn

Wicked Wednesday!!

This is an oldie but a goodie!
Thanks for stopping by,
SonyaAnn

Santa's Secret!

Thanks to Jane4girls $800 Annual Budget, I was able to add a few more things to my Christmas closet. I spent a total of $7.39 for the three of them. The Sorry and the Monopoly were $1.99 each and the Pictureka was $2.99. So my grand total so far is $32.34!!!!


Me($25)-bathset($2.30)
Den($25)-
Anna($250)-bath set($2.30),Monopoly($2.13)
DJ($250)-Pictureka ($3.13)
Dennis($50)-
Donna($50)-
Cindy($50)-
Chris($50)-
Justin($50)-
Sheila($50)-
Kyle($50)-
Erica($50)-
Nicole($50)-
Chris($50)-11in1 tool($.95)
Grandpa Mott($50)-
Willie & Margie($5-10)-Basket*done*($.06)
Emily($25)-
Aaron($25)-
Al & Phylis($5-10)-Basket*done*($.06)
Laura($10-20)1 Snoopy($.47)bath set($2.30) , Sorry($2.13)*done*
Tom & Marsha($5-10)-Basket*done*($.06)
Carolyn & Gene($5-10)-Basket*done*($.06)
Jennifer & Jason($5-10)-Basket*done*($.06)
Savannah-($10-20) 2 Snoopy dolls($.94) and puzzle ($3.03)*done*
Dee & Terry($5-10)-Basket*done*($.06)
Bruce & Lauren($75-100)Basket & Ski Santa w/friends($1.70) jokebook($3.03)&bathset($2.30)
Alex($25)
Andrea & Daniel($5-10)-Basket*done*($.06)
Daniel($40-50)
Jason($40-50)
Spencer($20-30)
Donna & Steve($10-20)-?????-I know you are reading this!
Jordan($15-20)
Bekah($15-20)
Mail Lady($5-10)-Basket*done*($.06)
Jennifer($25)bath set($1.30)
Kristen($20)bath set($1.30)
Karate Teacher-Anna($5-10)-bath set*done*($2.40)
Betty($5-10)-Basket*done*($.06)
Gerald & Maureen($10-20)
Juan($25)
Chio($5-10)-Basket*done*($.06)
Martha($5-10)-Basket*done*($.06)
Soledad($5-10)-Basket*done*($.06)
Anna($5-10)-Basket*done*($.06)
Gloria($5-10)-Basket*done*($.06)
Litsy & Uritsy($20-25)
Mrs. Bauer($25)
I'm getting a little closer ever time!
Thanks for stopping over to experience my OCD,
SonyaAnn
A.Marie-I bought these before you told me about the deal!

A Twisted Tip

As I've said many, many times, if you live in this house you are a mess in one way or another. But if you give me enough time, I'll experiment on you and you will improve or be injured. After a few years of messing with the dog's skin, I think we have gotten it under control. I'm not even going to bring up how much we have wasted at the vet's. It is too upsetting to think that we paid all of that money and she didn't get any better.
We started adding oil to her food. Sometimes we add a special oil made for dogs and sometimes it's good old olive oil. Den baths her in moisturizing shampoo and uses oatmeal conditioner on her. And I have the pleasure of rubbing her down with a hydrating lotion every day. I'm still living the dream. So when someone asks me what I did for the day, I can say, "I rubbed lotion on my dogs tits." Nothing like tweaking a dog teat to start the day off right. The sad thing is she chewed one off so she has 7 and a half nips. It's an adventure.

I think she fits in perfect at our house, she is just a bit possessed. Now go back and reread the title for this post! I am funny or odd.
Thanks for stopping over,
SonyaAnn

Friend's Friday!

My booger for this Friday is Abigail from I Pick Up Pennies! Stop by and see her.
Have a great weekend,
SonyaAnn

Is this right?

I know it's a little hard to tell in the picture but the two packages to the left are a tasty brownish/green. I'm pretty sure that pepperoni isn't supposed to be that color. So I had to make a pasta dish for a party that we were heading off to. I was running behind and Den made the dish for me. Yay for marrying a chef. (And the one thing that I find amazing is, when he chops something, it is all the same size.) Anyways, I went to dump in the pepperoni and well, let's just say that our pasta didn't end up with pepperoni. So here is where I screwed up, I just pitched it. I didn't bring it back to the store. I know not very frugal but it was making me gag so I tossed it. We were in a rush and just the thought of putting it back in the frig and letting it molest any of our other foods made me sick. I took this picture and then Den took it to the trash outside. I wrote Hormel and they did answer. They said that it was the way that Walmart handled the food. They said they would send me a coupon to replace it. We shall see.
Anyone hungry?
Have a great day,
SonyaAnn

Wicked Wednesday!!

I'm a little concerned about the sheep! Go here for you dose of perversion.
Thanks for stopping over,
SonyaAnn

A Quicky

Don't forget to put any clothes that need to air dry on top of the running dryer. If I don't have anything that needs to lay flat, I put the next load of clothes to dry on top of the running dryer. It is amazing how hot they get before it is there turn. I wonder if I could heat up leftovers on top of the dryer. I bet potatoes would reheat quite nicely inside the dryer.
Have a great day,
SonyaAnn

A new floor

So have I said before that I don't like this house. I wasn't fond of it when we looked at it and my opinion of it hasn't changed. I got talked into this house and it never has been good since. But then again, I shouldn't blame bad karma on a house. Anyways, this house is falling apart. It is always in need of something. It has had so many owners and none of them really kept up with it. Just imagine one idiot after another half assing a project and us trying to undo it. That's what the name of this house should be half assed.
So after 15 very, very long years in this house we finally put sticky tiles down in the laundry room. Well, Den put the tiles down. My job was to keep saying,"why bother it's just going to flood again?" It must be oodles of fun working while I'm around.


It made a huge difference! I almost want to do laundry. Almost. So for $33.80 I can stand in an almost nice laundry room and complain while I turn wet jeans right side out.
Now all I need is a ceiling in the dungeon and I'll have to change its name.
Thanks for stopping over,
SonyaAnn

Friend's Friday!

My booger for the day is......slugmama from Don't Read This: It's Boring! She is a sweetheart and has been trying to help me get my food budget under control. Poor thing, I can't even imagine what a difficult task that is!LOL.
Have a great weekend,
SonyaAnn

Awesome tip

I had such a terrible tip rotating the video clip of my nephew. My SIL Cindy shot it with her cell phone and it was sideways. If it was a picture I would just have flipped it with Piccyfix. But they don't rotate videos. I tried using Windows Movie Maker but I would have had to pay to upgrade it. And we all know how cheap I am so that wasn't going to happen! So I poked around and found DVDVIDEOSOFT. com. It sounds like a wonderful porn site but it is not. Sad! I downloaded the program and flipped it in about 30 seconds. So if you have any videos from your phone that you want flipped go there!
I have to say that it was an experience trying to find a picture for this post!
Thanks for stopping over,
SonyaAnn

Wicked Wednesday!!

I'm wondering how many young men will now want to convert to Judaism. It is a bit risque. Click here!

Have a wicked Wednesday,
SonyaAnn

More flippin' lists!

Thanks to dear Uncle Sammy, I'm moving along on funding everything for the year!
Anna's Teeth $1500
B-days $500
All other holidays $350
Car Stickers $300
WI Fee $65
taxes $25
glasses & contacts $700
Dr.ER&Dentist $200
Vet fund $125
garage door $750
flowers & garden $200
Pool fund $250
registration $200
school supplies $200
pictures $100
kids graduation $200
car fund $800
house fund $200
4th July $75
hair cuts $100
clothes $125
Thanksgiving $100
Xmas $1700

Total left for the year-$3800.

We have about $400 coming from state but we are still $300 short for the year. I think I can close the gap and maybe trim a little off of the list. So this plan should work as long as we have no other problems! I'm so funny.
We wrote the first of many checks to EIU. So my guess is, my little plan isn't going to work. And we are going to be really short after paying for all of the little extras that she is going to need. We have been pretty frugal and have started collecting things for her. Anna's cousin gave her everything from her dorm room. So we won't have to buy a frig, microwave, tv and hook ups, storage bins. I couldn't stop thanking her. I'm sure though that I will be back here to complain when she starts school. Anna is doing pretty well saving her money from her birthday, Christmas, and cleaning and she has almost enough to pay for her car insurance for the year already. It's not fair that she will have to pay for her car insurance while she is gone but we can't afford it. We talked about selling the car but she wants to keep it because after her freshman year she can bring a car to school. I'm just not real jazzed on the idea of her being on the road in that old car. I did talk to the insurance agent and he said that she will get a large discount because she will be an absentee driver. So that should help. I'll keep you posted!
Thanks for stopping by,
SonyaAnn

Uncle Sammy!

I'm kind of lovin' dear Uncle Sam right about now! How often is it that you hear that?
We were expecting our tax return. It was $1742. And don't say that we should adjust our with holdings, there is no way that I would be able to save the extra $33.50 a week. Real life would get in the way and I would have nothing. Anywho, because I'm super anal I balance our checkbook every day. Habit! If only I was that disciplined with my diet. You know, I'm pretty pleased with how I'm turning out in just about every other aspect of my life except this one. Sorry, it's like I have ADD.
Anyways, I called to check the balance of our check book and glory be, we had gotten our refund. And dear Uncle Sam had tacked on an extra $500. My first feeling was YAY and then what kind of evil trick is this. Was this a ploy to get me in trouble?
But alas, it was not some cruel and evil trick! It was our money. My FIL forgot a deduction a year ago and the U.S. government caught the mistake. Which in its self is a bit scary, why are they looking at little ol' me? Anyways, the money is going to fund the funds! And it couldn't of come at a better time, we were falling a bit behind because of our new "healthy" diet. It is costing a bit more and my monthly budget isn't compensating for it very well.
So that is what is going on in my life.
Thanks for stopping by,
SonyaAnn