Saving Money

I'm not big on clipping coupons. I wish I was, because I have read so many stories of people paying practically nothing for their groceries because of them.

One day in my blog reading, I stumbled across a Website/blog written by a 25-year-old woman who is devoted to saving money and living well within her family's means. The Web site is http://www.moneysavingmom.com/. It started as a perusal, but now I have to admit that I am somewhat obsessed with the site.

There is a lot of confusing stuff on there, like how to use the Extra Care Bucks (ECB's) at CVS to pay pennies for your products. But, frankly, even trying to figure out what she is saying gives me a migraine.

I focus more on the little freebies she talks about. And, I kid you not, Seth and I have gotten gobs of free stuff from this site (she finds all these offers because thousands of people e-mail them into her and then she publishes them all online for us!).

So far, I have gotten Seth and I (everything is absolutely free and brand new by the way) 2 sets of Panasonic iPod headphones, 2 BellSouth walkie talkies, 2 magazine subscriptions (a home decor magazine and Woman's Day), shampoo, razors, cake mixes, free Starbucks, Ben and Jerry's, a cutting board...YOU NAME IT!

And I know what you're thinking. No, to answer your question, I do not get any junkmail in my e-mail or mailbox from this (they can't fool me: I work in marketing and I know how it all works!) *hint: if you sign up for any free stuff, always look for the little box that says "Yes, I'd like to receive additional communication from xxx" -- uncheck that!

You should check it out - I'm sure you'll love it too! Let me know what you think about it!

Oh, and Happy Birthday, Matt! Hope you had a good day!!

Back to Work...

After 11 consecutive days of no work, I am back into the swing of things today. There were lots of e-mails and voicemails to return, and lots of office "going-ons" to catch up on.

And let me tell you...I am surprised that I have been able to hold my head up all day because that puppy, though cute as a button, has me dead tired already. Heaven help me when I have a child. (Rumor has it they are more exhausting than a puppy!) haha :)

Like clockwork, we go to bed at 10 p.m., and like clockwork, Bentley thinks it's time to play at 5:45 a.m. Over the last 5 nights, I think I've slept a total of 25 hours.

We joke that he is just like me: he loves Seth (like his momma), has a small bladder (like his momma), likes to nap (like his momma), and can be stubborn (like his momma....and daddy). In a book we bought, it says that in order to own a boxer you need to "have a sense of humor or prepare to get one." How true it is! He is SO funny.

The other day, I yelled at him for biting my Pier 1 basket in the living room.

He looked at me, walked out of my arm's reach, and sat down. Facing away from me. And would not look at me no matter how sweetly I said his name or tried to get him to look. It was hysterical. But we now know: he does not like to be offended!

To add to the Boxer fun, when Michelle and Jason went with us to pick Bentley up, they broke down and bought another one. It is out of the same litter, so Bentley's sister, Lexi, is now a part of the family, too!

That's all the dog news for now--I'm sure we'll have lots more.

In the meantime, Happy Anniversary, Ben and Salli. Enjoy your day! :)

We're Back!

We're back from Florida!! We had a great time! It felt like the surface of the sun it was so hot, but we managed. We spent some time golfing, laying by the pool, mini golfing, going out for dinner, hanging around, etc. Seth and I went to two Disney parks-Epcot and Animal Kingdom. We also went to Kennedy Space Center one day and the beach another.

And, speaking of the beach, good Lord, was I (am still am, in fact), burnt. Not your typical one-day sunburn. I'm talking the "is-my-skin-going-t0-make-it-through-this?" burn.

I love the beach so much that I sometimes make bad decisions about sunscreen. I insisted that, even though we were much, much closer to the equator than I typically am, sunscreen is overrated and that a tan is what coming to the beach is all about. After a lot of pressure, I finally applied some....in the worst application of sunscreen in the history of man. Seriously, you could see EXACTLY where I stopped with the sunscreen. Any millimeter of my body that did not have some was fried to a crisp.

Plus, in walking to the umbrella rental stand, I burnt the bottom of my feet on the hot sand. And, even though I love the beach, I do not love ocean water (exception: clear, Caribbean water). There are sharks and other creatures in there I care to never see. So, it didn't help matters that when I burnt my feet, I wouldn't walk to the water to soothe them. The one time I did trek to the water, I saw about 60 jellyfish.

But that didn't stop Seth and Jason. They were in the jelly fish-infested water the whole time. And, I kid you not, him and Jason had a jelly fish fight with a youth group on a mission trip (think: who can hit the most people with jelly fish).

It was a ton of fun, but I think Thursday would have been better spent in the Orlando Burn Unit.

On Friday, Seth and I made the trip to Spring Hill to see Grandma and Grandpa Ran. We had a lot of fun at their house--they fed us until we could eat no more (though it was great!) and we swam to our heart's content (while drenched in SPF 90, of course). They were super hospitable and excited that we could make the trip. It was well worth it!

Today we headed home to pick up the newest member of our family....BENTLEY! He is our 2 month old boxer and he is super, super cute (you can check out pics at our drophots site(s).

Well, I hope to add pictures to this later and possibly do some more updating but this is the basic. Updating the pictures will take me a bit, so keep checking back!

The Puppy!

Well, we've picked him out. I'm not allowed to share his name, which is absolutely killing me!

To get him, we drove to the little podunk town of Ronks, PA which is near Lancaster. It was seriously Amish. When we pulled in, we saw many barefooted women doing yardwork, housework, etc. Two small children--Samuel and Annie--"talked" to us (more like started at us intently since we were, of course, wearing shoes and talking on cell phones).

We were told Mr. Lapp was at the barn so the women, in true Amish fashion, sent a little girl on her scooter (barefooted) down the street to get the man we had been speaking to. Several minutes later, we saw Mr. Lapp coming down the road in his horse and buggy.

He left his horse outside and went inside to get the pups. I was freaked out the entire time he was gone because the horse kept swiping his leg into the dirt like he was getting ready to charge at us at any moment. I had planned in my head every possible escape route should he choose to charge.

But soon enough, the breeder brought the male puppies into an octagon pen for us to play with. We had pick of the litter, so we got to see them all to choose! We probably played with them for about 25 minutes. We ended up picking the one that ran RIGHT to Seth and clung onto his ankles for dear life. He was super excited and curious, as boxers should be.

He is 8 pounds right now, but will probably be about 10 when we pick him up. Which, by the way, is now on July 26 instead of August 2. Turns out the breeder told me the wrong date for pick up. Needless to say we are THRILLED! :)

We leave for vacation bright and early tomorrow and come home next Saturday. We are landing at the airport, coming to get our car, and heading right to Lancaster to get him! :)

You can check out our dropshots for more pictures of him!

I May Have OCD.

I used to like packing for vacation. It was always so fun organizing outfits and anticipating the trip. But sometime over the last....oh, two years, I've stopped enjoying it. Maybe it's the new rules from the airlines that I can take approximately 5 things with me on vacation without being charged. Maybe it's the fact that I know that the more I take, the more I wear. And the more I wear, the more laundry I have to do. And the more laundry I have to do....oh, you get the idea.

Also in those last two years, I've discovered something else: I am obsessive compulsive about packing. No longer can I just gather my things onto neat little piles and pack them in a suitcase. No....now packing involves lists...with subcategories (toiletries, shorts, shoes, other)...alphabetized (joking, of course!). And seriously, how are you supposed to know what to pack when you don't know what you're doing while you're there?! What if I NEED a dress or a purple shirt?! What if a cold front comes in and I need jeans?!

Yet, even through my OCD, Seth doesn't seem to give packing one millisecond of thought until about 10 minutes before we are ready to walk out the door. He totally doesn't care about what he takes on vacation (or else he is hoping his OCD wife remembers everything he forgot). :) I think I need to be more laid back like him.

In fun news: we are picking out the puppy that we want on Friday! It's a boxer, and we are super excited! We will officially be able to pick him up August 2nd, but we have pick of the litter, so we are heading to the breeder a few weeks early to pick out the cutest one. I'll take some pictures!

Well, I'm off for tonight. Vacation is in less than three days.

And I haven't even hit the toiletries part of the list yet! ;)

Did I Really Break Down and Do This?!

Seriously, I think everyone in the free world has started to blog. Every time I sit down at my computer, I'm pretty sure someone else has begun--which only means I spend that much more time reading blogs each night.

I swore to myself several years ago that I would never, under any circumstances, begin to blog. But then I got married, got a new job, bought a house, made plans to get a puppy (etc, etc...)...and went against everything I believe in.

My job tends to involve quite a bit of writing, so it only seems normal that I would keep people updated on what is going on in the life of the Rans, especially since many of our family members don't live near us.

So, here it is! I'll be frank right now: I could very well hate this in a few weeks and back out, so don't be shocked. :)