Delicious Grilled Cheese

Use real butter and an American processed cheese single (seriously). When you put the cheese inside, add some spicy mustard. Cook in a pan on the stove top. Creamy and delicious! You can thank me later.

Frugal Office Decorating: Volume I

When I start my internship in late August, I will have my own office! A real office with four walls, not a cubicle. ;) I decided that I would like to bring in my own chairs and decorate a bit. I was so very delighted today when I found the chairs in the top picture for $20 each. They are in perfect vintage condition. They are exactly what I wanted, but even better than what I had imagined. There is really no end to God's provision!!

The pictures and mirror in the second photo were free from a friend, as was the lamp base in the third photo. I am still on the hunt for some more items and will continue to post as I find things. I will also post a 'finished' photo in September! I would like to see how cheaply I can decorate.

Free Stuff

I inherited some stuff while helping my friend B. pack for her upcoming move to KS. I love free stuff, but I (mostly) only took home stuff I could use. I really needed a hamper (above photo) and corded phone and answering machine (bottom photo). I also received shoes, books, workout clothes, belt, purse, vase, and some movies. Some stuff I will sell, which she knows. One book has already been requested on Paperback Swap!

Bread Machine!

This has been on my yard sale wishlist for a while! I had had no luck in locating one, but then a friend shared that she had purchased one that she didn't need since she was going to inherit her mom's machine. Price: $5.

Blog Break: Housesitting

I will be housesitting for the next week, so it is unlikely that I will be able to post. I should not have taken this on right now when I am so overwhelmed by everything I have going on, but I did.

Counting this week, I have five weeks of school left. This would normally be a good thing, but So. Much. To. Do.

Two weeks from today, I will be 25. I still enjoy my birthdays!

See you in a week.

Wow!

This is my first successful attempt at changing my template! I was inspired by Frugal Upstate last month as she encouraged the blogosphere to clean up our blogs (Yeah, I know I'm late. Better late than never.). There are still several things that I am not sure how to do, but, baby steps. Baby steps.

Sometimes You Have to Strong-Arm Them

Rebate companies. Bah. I've never had problems with Staples rebates until recently. I was supposed to receive a check for three Avery label packages ($32.94), and I only received the amount of one package ($10.98). I don't have time to call companies, although that would get the job done more quickly. Instead, I emailed and got the run-around twice. Finally, I stated firmly that if this was not resolved immediately, I would file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. I can't imagine that a company as big as Staples would care, but those were apparently the magic words. My check should be on its way today.

Stand your ground!

A Crockpot Conversation

(Note: I purchased a small Crockpot for $2 a couple of weeks ago at a yard sale to supplement my large Crockpot. This is an actual conversation my mother and I had about it. It has some light stains at the bottom rim.)

Mom: I'm concerned about the stains in this Crockpot.
Me: Mmm-hmm.
Mom: I mean, you never know what people cooked in it!
Me: Yeah, that's true.
Mom: It could've been drugs or something.
Me: Oh. I was thinking something much worse.
Mom: What??
Me: You don't want to know.

Have You Noticed?

If you think that I am not posting as much lately, you are correct. It will probably be this way until the beginning of July. This semester is much busier than I thought it would be and I am still working on the dreaded dissertation. So I will continue to post, just not as often.

Works for Me Wednesday: Bring Your Own Vase

There have been many times over the past few years that I've gotten flowers for someone. This has typically occurred when one of the employees of our school clinic was leaving to take a different job. One of my friends and I always split the cost, and we always go to a discount florist. Flowers in a vase look much nicer, but when purchased from the florist (even the discount florist!) will run you $3-$5 more than the paper wrapped variety. There is a dollar store conveniently located near the florist, so one of us typically goes to the dollar store to buy a vase while the other goes to get the flowers wrapped in paper. This has the added bonus of allowing us to arrange our own flowers (and get rid of the hideous baby's breath!). Since it's yard sale season, I've picked up a couple of vases for .05 and .15 each. I now carry one in my car wrapped in paper so that I am always prepared for inexpensive flower gifts. Preparation: works for me!

Ha Ha Tonka

Today Mumsie and I went to Ha Ha Tonka State Park. The story of Ha Ha Tonka is pretty interesting. Basically, a rich dude came to the Ozarks, thought it was beautiful, and decided to build a castle to live in. Then he died, the family had a hard time keeping it together, and the castle and surrounding buildings burned down. Then Missouri bought the land and made a state park. You can read the story here. The top photo is the castle and the middle is part of the carriage house. It is really fun to hike around there!

T Minus 8 Weeks...

Eight weeks and classes are OVER...

FOREVER!

In His Presence

On Tuesdays, I see patients from 9am to 3:30 or 4pm and then I have class from 5-8pm. Last Tuesday, there was a tornado warning for the county that my graduate school is located in as well as the county where I live. There were also heavy rains that began at about 6pm. When I got out of class at 8, I prayed my usual rainy day prayer: "Please, Lord, no wrecks." I don't have the best vision at night anyway, so rain makes me nervous.

That night was different. The rain -which was heavy everywhere else- was light for my entire hour long drive home. And then there was the lightning. Every time I had trouble seeing, lightning would light up the entire sky and allow me to see miles ahead. There are spots in the highway where the road is not clearly marked. Whenever I hit those spots, there was the lightning again. It became increasingly clear that God was, for some reason, blessing me with his very clear presence. I don't know why He did it, but it made my week. I do know that sometimes God uses these moments where I have no other choice than to be still and pay attention to show His mighty presence.

Just a reminder to all of us to be still every once in a while.

Little Things Add Up: April $

As I've mentioned before, any money I earn right now either goes to savings or to pay on student loans. I don't have a real job right now, I just do side gigs. Here are some things that I am currently doing to net some $:

* Mystery shopping
* Paid surveys
* Consigning my clothing
* Selling on eBay (although I haven't done this much lately)
* Saving rebate checks
* Selling on half.com

For the month of April, this has made me $104.04 with virtually no effort on my part. I plan to get more involved in mystery shopping and eBay selling, so hopefully I will continue to make a little profit. I won't do clinical trials or plasma "donation". I won't do the clinical trials because I am a hypochondriac and don't want to worry about poisoning myself with some new drug. And I don't do plasma selling because I don't want to blow a vein and I dislike needles. :P

Friday's Yard Sale Finds

I had a busy day Friday but managed to squeeze in a few yard sales in the early morning. I went to two church sales and one regular sale. Here's the price break down:

* Three baskets at .05, .10, and .10 to use for gift giving

* Large embroidery cloth new in package .25 (I have delusions of learning ribbon embroidery)

* Two vases at .05 and .10

* Vintage Hallmark Christmas stationery .10 (I am such a sucker for stationery)

* Easter cellophane bags .25

* Cloth napkins, .25 for three

* Three beaded necklaces (one not pictured) for .25 each

* Tennis racket $1 (Once again, delusions of learning to play tennis)

Spring Fling Swap Pretties

Look at all of the pretties that my Spring Fling Swap partner Maureen sent me! Everything was packaged beautifully (and I was able to save the bubble wrap, tissue paper, and so on for future gifts- you know that makes me happy!). Here is the breakdown:

S: Skeins of yarn

P: Pin cushions, picture frame

R: Remnant

I: Iron-on applique

N: Notions (zippers, thread, rick rack, buttons), notebook

G: Green bag, glass votives

There was also dark chocolate (my favorite!), candles, a pretty nail polish, and a super cute handmade mini tissue dispenser. Thanks, Maureen! I love it all.

Odds and Ends

* I didn't post over the weekend because I had a weekend class. Blah. It was Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 8-5. I am happy that my days as a student are numbered!

* Have you heard of www.bibleinayear.org? They send you daily emails of scripture and you get to set up what version you use and in what order you read. The end result is- surprise!- that you end up reading the Bible in one year. I really like this. In case you are wondering, I am reading the NIV in chronological order.

* Speaking of numbered days, I have nine weeks of class left. That includes this week. Yay, yay, a thousand times yay! Except I really need to get to steppin' on the ol' dissertation.

* I received my Spring Fling swap from my swap buddy Maureen and it is fabulous. I will post pics on Wednesday.

* I went ahead and got a Tracfone. I really like it! Well, other than the fact that I cut myself twice just opening the packages. Attention family members: I have a new phone number that I need to give you.

* Note to Grandma- we need to book Daniel O. tickets soon. :) I think the May shows might be sold out, but November is still available. They are around $47. I will email you soon and I love you!

Happy News!

In August, I will move to a town not-too-far-away where I will do my one year internship. In this town, there is an education building that houses branches of a state university, a community college, and a private university. In the interest of paying down my student loans and because I think I would like to teach someday, I have decided that I would like to try to get a job teaching at night as an adjunct professor of psych. I submitted my vitae and apps to the community college and private university branches so that they could contact my references and 'approve' me or not. Today, I found out that I have been approved to teach four courses at the private university! This means that in the future they will contact me as needed. I am very excited! :) In case you were wondering, the courses I have been approved to teach are Intro to Psych, Abnormal Psych, Lifespan Development, and Biopsychology. Yay!

Spring Fling Swap: What I Sent

My swap partner has received her package, so I thought it was safe to post these! I tried to tailor my gifts to her interests, so I had to use a lot of adjectives in order to meet the criteria that each gift start with one letter of the word spring. I will spare you the adjectives, but what I sent was the following: green yarn with pink flecks, Staples Stickies, a mystery novel, a pretty embroidered handkerchief, handmade notecards, and a thrifted dish. I hope you can click on the pics and have them enlarge, particularly to see the cute green and pink ribbon that I used!

Works for Me Wednesday: Thrifty Fun Shreds!

Okay. Are you familiar with those bags of shredded paper that you can buy for gift baskets? They're sometimes called "fun shreds" or "tissue shreds", etc. I really, really, really hope you aren't buying them when you can make your own! Use whatever you have lying around: construction paper, tissue paper, computer paper, wrapping paper, card stock. Whatever is cheap and handy. Put a clean bag in your paper shredder, run the paper through, crumple the shreds, and voilà! Your very own shreds for gift baskets. Tip 1: Using stiffer paper like cardstock will allow you to position items in your gift basket with ease if you have heavy items. Tip 2: Store a clean bag in underneath the full bag in the paper shredder for quick use. Tip 3: Don't have a paper shredder? Staples has them free after rebate this week. If you can find them. Cheap shreds- works for me!