Tuesday Tidbitson Thursday \

Tattoos

Lately, my brother Colby has been dropping hints that he wants a tattoo. Well he's been dropping hints since we were 16, but he's been mentioning it almost twice a day for two weeks. About 2 years ago someone discovered that he had already gotten 2 just after high school and had been keeping them secret! My parents and grandparents think 2 tattoos is enough so they were very against it.

A few weeks ago, Colby met some guy at work who needed a ton of work done on his car. The young man was frustrated at how much money it was going to cost him, so Colby referred him to our mechanic. The guy went, and saved $3000 off the initial estimate he'd been given. It turned out this particular young man is a tattoo artist, and to thank Colby, offered him a FREE tattoo.

Great...

So at 5:30pm Colby, Evan and Griffin headed out to get Colby's free tattoo. He is a huge Batman fan and so he decided (against the council of both my mom and I) to get a 1/2 sleeve of Batman looking over Gotham City. Evan sent me some photos from his iPhone to document the process:

Getting Ready to start

My mom and both called to make sure that Colby
knew it was ok to speak up if he didn't
like where it was going, and to have the guy fix it before he continued.

The semi-finished product

Anyway, the boys all came home at about 5:00am. That's right, nearly 12 hours later, and the piece still isn't finished. Apparently everyone was too tired and Colby was in too much pain to finish. Once it heals, he's going back to have it completed.

Does anyone reading have any cool tattoos?

Birthday Dessert

This weekend is my BF's birthday. He was feeling a little blue (even if he'd never admit it) because his entire family is going out of town this weekend. We always joke that he is the least favorite child, because of instances like this. He is usually working during family trips to the cabin, or they forget to tell him they're all meeting up for lunch and shopping. You get the idea.

He swears he really doesn't mind, saying that Birthday's, Christmas and other holidays just aren't' a big deal to him anymore... Well he's dating the wrong girl, because I LOVE any reason to celebrate. I offered to take him out, but he said he'd rather have dinner at home. So I decided that I would make him a nice birthday cake. However, he doesn't eat cake, so I said I would BBQ him a birthday Steak and put a candle on it. I think he liked that idea, but then he brought up the fact that I've never used a grill, so he should probably make dinner. (Plus anyone who knows me knows how AWESOME of a cook I am).

I agreed but decided that him cooking himself a birthday dinner, took away from ME doing it. So I am determined to think of a birthday dessert. I originally thought about an angel food cake with fresh berries and homemade whip cream, but when I gave it further thought, I can't even scramble eggs.... I could make him Jell-O, you only have to add water and stir, and I could totally do that. Then my hunny reminds me that he doesn't like sweet stuff. (He really is a healthy eater). I could always put some candles on a fruit platter, but that is kind of lame. If you have any ideas, please let me know. I'm getting desperate.

I Hate Walmart

Seriously, I hate Walmart. I've only been there a few times and every time I go it's filled with Rednecks with mullets in tank tops. Anyway, I had to go grocery shopping today, and my mom told me that Walmart always has the best prices, and they price match... Hmm, is it possible I could get all my great deals in once place? I decided to try.

I purchased the items on my list that I didn't' have coupons for at other stores. So did the leading retailer save me money? NO! Rollback my behind! I spent 1/2 of my budget and only got 1/5 of the items on my grocery list! I was completely discouraged. If I had any kind of guts I would have said never mind and put everything back, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Driving home I felt like someone had literally taken the wind out of my sails. I was so excited to save money, but didn't feel like I'd get anywhere now. Total bummer. At least now I know that I'm not shopping at Walmart anymore.

Shopping

Not one to be defeated, I made a plan. I was going to get the other 4/5 of my groceries, and I was going to do it on only 1/2 my regular budget. I put on some Muse, and headed out again. This time I was determined. I started with Vons. I must have been quite the site. Decked out in full workout gear, I had my clipboard, coupons, shopping list, and iPod. I meant business. After Vons, I hit up Albertsons, and then Walgreens. Well guess what? I did it! I got everything on my list for $200! Below are some pictures, along with my savings. If you have any questions, or would like to start saving, let me know, I will tell you my secrets.

Total Value:
$332.28

Total Spent:

$201.08

Everything I didn't get at Walmart

Only $100 for everything here!

(click to enlarge)

Walmart purchases (water was from Albertsons)

Seriously, that's all I got!

I was pissed

I forgot to put these in the Walmart pic.

I'm still upset that $100 was spent at Walmart, and all I got was the Ground Beef, Pot Pies, Ice Cream, Chicken breasts and Orange Juice. PS I'm even more upset, because I just saw an insert I got the mail today. Buy 1 Get 1 Free deals at CVS on Toothpaste and 2/$5 Dreyers Ice Cream (I spent $3.50 each at Walmart)... Grr. I hate Walmart.

The Giver
I just finished reading this book. It was supposed to be fantastic, and always on the Top 100 lists. I wasn't impressed. It had potential, but then had a rushed, pretty lame end. I don't reccomend it.