Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween !

Spirit of Giving Gala / TCH Monster Mash

If you are looking for a nice Halloween bash that also raises money for charity I would like to recommend the TCH Monster Mash. This is a fun costumed event for adults.

The Centers for Habilitation (TCH) has been empowering people with special needs since 1967. TCH is focused on offering services that help their clients to live up to their full potential.

Guests will enjoy a thrilling evening of costumes, live music, dancing and spine-tingling Haunted House, with food and drink, raffles, prizes and a silent auction. MC'ed by 12 News Anchor Scott Light.

Tickets are $60 each and reserved tables are available. For more information about sponsorship opportunities or to make your reservation, visit www.tch-az.com or call 480-730-4221.

This year the bask will be held Saturday - October 22, 2011 7-11 pm. Location 4633 E Ray Rd, Phoeinx. (Former Stein Mart location).

Trying Something New

The last few months have been a bit stressful with my father passing and a crazy work load. I was at a business meeting a few months ago and mentioned to a friend that I had no energy. He mentioned a product that he was taking and stated that he would put me in touch with the vendor if I was interested.

Needless to say the sales person contacted me and I am now taking a vitamin product called Vemma. The cost is higher than I would normally pay but I am going to give it a go.

I have read a lot of negative reviews on this product but mostly about their multi-level marketing program. I am not interested in selling this product but will give it a trial run.

I am only on day two but will keep you posted on if I think this product is worth the cost.

It is a liquid vitamin product that I will be taking every morning. It has a very pleasant fruity taste.

I am also about to embark on a bodily self improvement program for myself. I need to get active and lose quite a bit of weight. I may be taking this product in conjunction with a new diet.

I am a person with not a lot of willpower when it comes to food and exercise. This will be a challenge. (Wish me luck). I will keep you posted.

Goodbye to a Soldier

1st. Sgt. Richard J. Palmer

1/17/32 - 7/1/2011

It is with great sadness that I say goodbye today to my Father Richard Palmer Sr.

He was a well liked guy with a great sense of humor. You will be greatly missed.

I love you Dad.

Monkey Business

I am not sure when it all started but a few years ago I started exchanging birthday cards, Christmas cards and other cards with my sister in Wisconsin. For some reason I got stuck on Monkey themed cards and then she started sending them to me.

I don't really even like monkeys except for the speak no, see no, hear-n0-evil kind.

I once knew a girl who kept monkeys for pets. They were mean and the stunk. They got out once and as she tried to catch them and put them back in their cages they scratched the crap out of her. They were loud and did I mention STINKY?

But now I have a monkey curse and I see them EVERYWHERE!

Beer drinking monkeys, monkeys with pee pees, monkeys on buildings holding bananas and wearing coon skin hats. Yikes.

OMG. I may have been scarred in 1970. O.K. I admit monkeys make me laugh except for the ones who rip your face off.

There goes my weekend

I've just discovered this live webcam from Iowa with a pair of eagles and their chicks. I cannot stop watching it. Click here for the link.

Sunday Morning Haiku

A sleepy gray day

I should be cleaning house

I snuggle with cat

My never ending project and other thrifty packrat ramblings

After a month of household disasters I am finally getting the house back in order.

I had a plumbing issue where they had to pull up the carpet and cut through the concrete to get at a pipe. This meant cleaning out my most cluttered room and putting everything into the garage until the work was finished.

I also had the shelf and my closet pole come off the wall in another room because I had too many items hanging and the weight pulled it off the wall. This forced me to take all of my clothes out of the closet and also put them in the garage for a few weeks. Thankfully I have a large department style clothing rack to hold it all. Each morning before work I would go into the cold garage and have to pick out my clothes for the day.

Part of the closet issue was that I hang my shoes. I don't have a classy closet so I get creative. I had no idea I had so many heavy shoes. I've decided to hang them in another room to take a little stress off. This of course means shifting and purging items from the second closet.

The new and improved shoe area.

While purging I found items that I had forgotten I had. Some good, some ridiculous. (see last post) I'm definitely a pack rat.

So yesterday my sister-in-law and I pulled together and had a joint garage sale. SIL is a great decorator and she re-decorates often so she had some fabulous decorative pieces to sell and I had some art and we both had clothes. We rocked the sale and people walked off with some awesome bargains.


I get a kick out of the garage sale buyers. Such an interesting lot. There are the folks who need inexpensive clothes and household goods. There are the re-sellers who love to talk about their deals and there are the more subtle re-sellers who buy and don't brag. I like them best. I also like when someone brings their children with them and I love to see what the children are interested in. I must say I am a sucker for the kids and many times just give them what they are looking at or sell it super cheap.


I think that thrift shopping with kids is an excellent way to teach them the value of a dollar. When my niece and nephew used to visit me when they were younger, they looked forward to a weekend of garage sales with their Auntie. They seemed to really enjoy it.


Being thrifty on some items is a passion for me. I'm not above buying retail I just prefer not to if I don't have to. I find tons of cool art at yard sales and some have become treasured pieces for me. One example is my small collection of masks. Rule #1 I have to really like the mask and have a certain feeling about it.

I like to buy items that speak to me. Or if I think it might make a unique gift for someone I know, I may buy it and save it for a gift giving occasions. (or no occasion at all). Yes, anyone who knows me knows that I am not above giving unusual pre-owned items as gifts. This is accepted in my family and we many times give each other interesting little gifts that may have been pre-owned.


Below is an example of some of my masks that I decorated my work office with. All of the masks, the basket and the framed art were pre-owned and bought for pennies on the dollar.

Do you ever buy pre-owned? What do you buy? Why? I'd like to hear about it.

Mostly Fugly but Oh So Decorative

Ok, so we had a disaster in my home office whereby the plumbers had to come and dig a hole in the concrete, fix some pipes, re-cement and then put the carpet back two weeks later. (whew, was that a sentence or what?)

This disaster forced me to take most of the furniture and items in my closet and move them to the garage. Today the carpet came back on the floor and we are done with the plumbing issue. So, this provides me with an opportunity to open boxes I have not opened since before we moved in the house. (hmmmm maybe 5 years).

I unearthed a box aptly labeled "ugly decanters". Yup.I don't now why I have these or even boxed them up. The one on the left has a body that does not match the head. The other is a musical hillbilly decanter.

Up for grabs ya'll.

I should put these on my other blog What I Did Not Buy Today, but obviously I bought these once when I may or may not have been drunk.