How COULD I forget?

The past six weeks! What ELSE have I been doing? Couponing has been resurrected! Yes, I AM one of those crazy coupon ladies, and I am not bashful about it! When I did it a couple of years ago, my successes included trips such as $465 worth of groceries for $65, and $123 for $0 (that isn't a typo). The big trip included beef and chicken, so don't even bother to start lecturing me on how it's only good for convenience foods that you normally don't eat anyway. So far I've scored $0.25 dish soap, $0.19 boxes of cereal, and several free items. Plus I have $7.00 more than what I spent at CVS the other day. Right now I'm mostly using The Grocery Game, with frequent trips over to Coupon Mom's website. I need to get back in touch with The Savvy Shopper, a gal in Mansfield who has her finger on the pulse of the local goings-on. BTW, if you decide to use The Grocery Game, please use my email (tayaschram AT yahoo DOT com) as the referring member. Once you get it set up, it doesn't take all that much time provided you maintain your book weekly. Last time I figured up my hourly wage to be $60 for couponing, including the time spent sorting the coupons and the actual shopping time. (And remember, you have to shop for food regardless of your methods.) Even if I donate a third of what I get, it is still the equivalent of $40 per hour for my efforts.

Purring cat...

...in my lap. Shadow. Frank's sister. She has quite the motor. I sit here faced with probably the same dilemma that I've had for the past, oh, six weeks? I'm tired, need to pack up and drive home (to the land of no internet access), I desire to blog, but just don't feel the comments to be worthy. Or there is so much jumbled up in the head I'm afraid once I start, I won't stop!

So, what has consumed me for the past six weeks? I lost my knitting mojo. Gone. Finito. Bye-bye. Not sure if it was the abrupt end of the yarn store plans (put on hold indefinitely for bigger & better things), or a burning out as a result of the Sock Madness frenzy (which yes, I realize I STILL have not blogged). Probably a combination, and I'm sure the little skin condition that popped up on my "yarn finger" contributed. Oh, and there was also knitting an afghan square with that HORRID cotton/acrylic yarn -- Knit Picks Comfy. Blech. I am happy to report that the mojo is slowly returning. Not sure if this is linked to finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel for the highlighter yellow socks, or pulling all of my stash together and freezing it. I decided I needed to freeze & bag everything, rather than taking a chance on losing the stash to the moths. The bizarre thing is that I now know I have 44 cubic feet of stash, because I filled my chest freezer twice. Random facts -- I just love 'em. I also participated in the Fort Worth Knit in Public Day.

Wii Fit and Facebook. Don't remember which came first in May. It isn't even my Wii, but I've spent more time on it than anyone else in the family. Facebook has just been fun, and I think part of what might have been my blogging efforts ended up over there. I've reconnected with people I haven't seen since college and high school, and some family members who are distant by geography. I'm also learning more about my local family members based on their pages.

Read a little, did a little sewing, husband came home (Squee!!!!), and still trying to work that Guard transfer. House hunted. Gave a couple 30 minute massages. OH! How could I forget! Hawaiian Falls! Have a season pass, VERY challenging to blog underwater. They frown on taking laptops down the water slides, too. So there you have it. The perfect excuse for lack of blogging. It may also be noteworthy that my brain completely turns to tofu in the Texas summer heat & humidity. (There is a REASON we TRIED to move to Virginia!) I do think the water park is one of the keys to survival. And certainly more fun than a cold bath.