Where I Come From...

...This is what we do.

Rifle season opens tomorrow. It's a celebration of sorts. People flock to the area and the town is a sea of blaze orange. A very unflattering color, might I add.

This picture was taken a couple years ago. The man is my neighbor; he shot the biggest buck that year. It was quite the to-do.

I love deer season. It's probably my favorite holiday after Christmas and the 4th of July. Yes, I said holiday. I told you it was a big deal.

I went deer hunting once. It was cold. It was boring. I killed a baby deer. Fortunately I didn't have to gut it, although I did watch. And no, it didn't traumatize me for life. I love wild game. Tastes yummy.

Last weekend Darren went on an archery hunt at Camp Ripley. This is him with the 32-point buck he shot there.

Just kidding. That's not Darren.

But this man did shoot a 32-point buck at Ripley the weekend before my husband went. Look at that beast. Can you say crazy? And you know what the problem would be if Darren did shoot a buck that big? I would have to look at it hanging on my wall for the rest of my life. Lovely image, no?

I think everyone should go hunting at least once; it is fun. Although I did grow up surrounded by it, so I'm a little biased. My mom has pictures of my dad holding us three kids as infants next to dead deer hanging from the rafters in the garage. I remember one year he cut up his own meat in the basement. There are frequently deer heads and antlers laying around the place. Nothing like tripping over a deer head in a dark garage. If that doesn't scare you half to death, I don't know what will.

The whole family gets together for the weekend and there's always lots of food, laughter, and fun. We're heading up north today; I'll be sure to take pictures of everything!

Christmas labels

Vistaprint has free holiday return address labels and To/From gift labels right now. All you pay is shipping. Click on "Get Started" under Your Holiday Headquarters. Then go to "Holiday" on the left and click Labels. There are lots of other good holiday deals as well.




This deal was available last week but it was gone so fast I missed it. Make sure you don't miss it! I'm ordering mine right now.

I think you can only get one of each type for free, otherwise you have to pay. You might be able to make multiple orders, but I haven't checked into that yet.

I got 140 return labels and 140 To/From labels for $4.10!

did you say free?

No, I didn't. It's better than free. It's a money-maker.

Target has a FANTASTIC deal on Glade Holiday Candles.

I made $6.50 and got three candles and two packages of refills. Notice, I didn't say "I spent." I said, "I MADE." As in, I got more money than I spent. Plus candles. How freakin' awesome is that?




Check out the site Couponing for Disney here to see the different scenarios. I did a combination of scenario #2 and #5. Here's how it played out:

-Buy 3 holiday scented Glade candle holders
-Buy 2 holiday scented Glade refills
-Use 2 $2.00 off when you buy 2 coupons, found in the Glade candle holder
-Use 2 Buy a holder and get a free refill, found here (use your back arrow to print a maximum of two per computer)
-Spent $3.50 and received a $5 gift card for a later purchase
-Also, make sure to print your $5 rebate form here (click "CLICK HERE to download the special rebate form"--you can do three of them maximum, but will need 3 separate receipts)

Make sure to snatch some of these up!

Another Month

More Coupons.Coupons.com is one of my favorite sites. Ever. In the history of the world. Go here to view its majesty. All you need is a printer to save some big bucks!

Savings of $9.90 this week, easy as pie. You laugh at all this work for not quite $10, but think of what happens when you save $10 every single week. That's $520 a year, with hardly any work on your part. Coupons are everywhere! Love them to death.

Some of my favorite coupons from this month:
-$0.50 off 2 Pillsbury Rolled Refrigerated Pie Crusts (because I can't make my own. I can't.)
-$0.30 off 2 Pillsbury Grands biscuits
-$1.00 off Nature Valley Nut Clusters (which I'll pair with my $0.75 off coupon I got when I got a free sample of them)
-$1.00 off 2 cans Campbell's cooking soups (on Campbell's website--apparently WalMart has them for $0.58 each this week...talk about a deal!)
-$1.10 off 3 Progresso soups
-$0.50 off 2 Pillsbury Crescent dinner rolls (just made some last night!)
-$0.75 off 6 cups of ANY BRAND, ANY SIZE yogurt
-$1.00 off 12-oz bag Caribou Coffee, whole bean or ground
-$0.50 off Minute Rice product
-$1.50 off 2lbs or more ANY BRAND cheese
-$1.00 off any 1/2 gallon chocolate milk with the purchase of two gallons white, ANY BRAND

Plus many other great coupons!

I love those any brand coupons. They rock my socks off.

family

This is my family.

I love them to pieces.

This picture was taken in November of 2005, the very first year my family went to Hawaii together. All 17 of us.

Yes, seventeen. Yes, it had its hectic moments. No, I wouldn't trade it for anything.


If the family were a fruit, it would be an orange, a circle of sections, held together but separable--each segment distinct. Letty Cottin Pogrebin

my favorite pictures:part 1

I love taking pictures. Love it, love it, love it.

And, lucky you, I want to share them with you!

I once had to write a paper for a college composition class describing a single picture. It was a long paper. Don't worry; I won't punish you that way. I just wanted to show you some of my favorites and give you a little bit of the history behind them.

I took this picture in March 2007 on the island of St. Martin/Sint Maarten.

St. Martin/Sint Maarten is an island in the Caribbean owned half by the French, half by the Dutch. My family first discovered it on a cruise in March 2005. It was one of our ports of call and it was absolutely gorgeous. So we went back.

We rented this three-bedroom house that was a little ramshackle but had the most beautiful view of the ocean. It was up on a little cliff above the beach. You can barely see the ocean in this picture; it's in the upper-right. Mostly you can just see boats at the pier.

I love the black and white. There's something about black and white that makes almost every picture look a tiny bit better. But since this isn't 1907 I try to refrain from too much B&W. Remember back when you had to buy B&W film? Oh, those were the days. Now you can go to B&W with the click of a button, which I love. Enough about black and white.

I love this picture. I love the palm trees and the flowers. Mostly I love the picket gate, half swung open. As if in an invitation.

Or something. Maybe I shouldn't try to read too deeply into it. It's just a gate, for Pete's sake.

Even still, I love it.

Kaia

Kaia is my kitty.

Isn't she a sweet pea?

I love her to death.

Look at that precious face. Who wouldn't love her? Answer: my siblings.

We got our kitties four years ago. Trent had the black boy kitty, which he named Leroy. My sister had the orange one named Baxter. I had the little runt, Kaia. We were only going to get two, but I couldn't bear to send Kaia back, so I convinced my mom I needed a kitty too, and we kept her.

Look how little and cute they were. They are so friendly; they just love everyone. They would always come and sit on our laps and snuggle. They would just scamper around the house and get into all kinds of mischief.

My sister, back when she liked the cats. It makes me sad to tell you Leroy died last summer, and Baxter broke his leg and is permanently living with the vet. Only Kaia remains, which is ironic because she's so tiny and slightly pathetic. She's a total wimp, and my siblings always make fun of her, poor baby.

I love her.