Wonderling

Recyclable Organization!

I've been looking for a pocket-sized accounting ledger to keep track of what I spend "on the go", but I haven't found anything smaller than letter size. I'm at the end of the week from hell and it's threatening to continue through the weekend, so I took a breather and decided to look for small ledgers again and this amazing little website called pocketmod popped up bringing a ray of sunshine to my gray day.

The best part is that you can make anything into a pocketmod booklet. I've seen tourist guides to Italy, Mac OS mini-handbooks and all sorts of other sites with pocketmodded cuteness.

How to get free stuff (and other money saving ideas)

It seems that free stuff is always too good to be true. That there's a catch. You have to sign up for something and call in 30 days to cancel or they charge your credit card, you have to visit 12 sponsor sites, your email inbox turns into spam central, etc. Well, I've spent the morning checking out some websites that are all about free stuff and here's what I found.

The good:

gogoshopper.com: freebies listed by category. The links usually take you right to the free sample page and none of the sites required you to enter credit card info. The only downside is that a lot of the offers had expired.

justfreestuff.com: a lot of the same deals as gogoshopper, but with occasional commentary about the link. Also broken down by category and also a lot of expired offers.

Walmart: yes, we are supposed to dispise walmart, but I think we can suspend our hatred just long enough to get some free samples every so often. These offers are current and ever changing. They are also extremely easy to get. All you have to do is enter your mailing info into the walmart site (not into all the different vendors sites)to get your samples.

mygrocerydeals.com: this was my favorite of all the sites I checked out today. I'm putting myself on a strict food budget and this will help immensely. You enter your email address and zip code, then pick your favorite grocery stores. When you log in the site displays all of the sale items from your "preferred" store with sale end dates and even the option to add items to a printable grocery list! It will also tell you if a coupon is needed to get the sale price.

gutenberg.org: project gutenberg is a website devoted to online books, as in whole, complete books. Not just snippits or sections, but the whole thing. There aren't a lot of new books in the database, but there are plenty of great not-new books to read. There are also audio books and even sheet music!

opensourcefood.com: if you haven't been to this site, you are missing out. It's full of amazing recipes that all have photos! I have a hard time wanting to try recipes that I can't see first (I'm a visual person!). You can browse other user submitted recipes or submit your own. Not only that but the website is really user-friendly and the recipes are fantastic!

The not-so-good:

startsampling.com: there were a few coupons. not anything I would have wanted to buy anyway and only one actual free sample of powdered lemon juice.

myfree.com: a lot of links to free stuff that you could find for free on your own very easily (recipes, "ideas", jokes, health and fitness tips). also sweepstakes notices....I'm really not a fan of online sweepstakes.

freebiesgalaxy.com: the freebies that I would have liked were all linked to "try 2 of these silver offers" websites.

There are endless "freebie" websites online. These are just the few that I took the time to try this morning. I have a "junk mail" email address that I used to register with the sites and I highly reccommend having one if you're going to delve into the world of online free stuff.

There's a lot going on lately.....

so I officially moved Wonderling to wonderling.org today! yay! But don't worry, it's still at typepad, so all previous links/feeds and such should be fine. 

After finishing the last Harry Potter book I picked up House of Leaves. Adam recommended it, saying it was really scary. So far it's been creepy, not scary yet, but very odd and creepy. The writing style reminds me a lot of Jeff Vandermeer which is refreshing after so many months of reading books written for a teen audience.

Paper Brain is in the final stages of recording and there are even teasers on the Paper Brain myspace page.

I've also been watching Lost, from the beginning. I tried watching it a while back and it really isn't entertaining if you haven't seen it from the beginning, but once you see it from the start it really is as good as everyone says it is.

Book Learning

I finally finished The Devil in the White City. I have to say it was really good. A lot of people I know had already read it and when they saw me reading it they would all ask the same question, "what did you think of the ending?". Now that I've finished the book I could say what I thought of the ending, but I didn't find it all that different from the rest of the book.....so I'm a bit perplexed.

Now I think I will finally read the Harry Potter(Book 7) book. I've been putting it off for months because I just didn't want the series to end, but now that it's summer and I will have no school to interrupt my leisure reading I think it's time to find out how it all ends.

The Scoop

Here's what I've been up to lately...just in case my life interests you.

Reading:

suggested by my Psychology prof.

Eating:

Sad I know. I've been making a lot of really good stuff lately, but sometimes you just need a quick fix!

Watching:

I love this show. I will shamelessly say it. 10 seasons and I've watched them all!

Loving:

soooo sooooo good. Especially when making nachos!

 

Heelys!

I must get these out of my closet and start rolling my way around the isles in the grocery store again!

Nancy King. She performed at our "noontime concert" today. amazing.

 

weekend ho!

I don't know how I did it, but I've managed to get not only this last Monday off (thank you presidents!) but I've also got next Monday off. So I'm looking forward to a jam packed - packed with fun - weekend. Here's what's on the agenda.

Saturday - thrift shopping in all it's glory. and possibly a new bike purchase???
Sunday - Paper Brain plays the Fort George Brewery (In Astoria, OR)
Monday - is devoted to my humble vehicle. It needs a flat spare tire patched and the handy little unlocking/locking gadget isn't working so well. So before it quits on me completely I need to get it replaced.

In my absence I have rounded up some websites that will occupy your time (they will surely be more entertaining than this blog)

NetBabyWorld - this was one of the first websites that I know of that had the whole SIMS thing...customization of your character. It's super cute and there are plenty of games that even I can play well

NeoPets - Safe for for your 3 year old to get involved, yet fun enough for you to play too! I suggest going to the giant omelette and grabbing a piece!

Forever21 - this is where I waste most of my time. I'm pining for an HandM here in Portland, but until then I will satiate my cravings with the cheap and wonderful offerings of forever21 (the website has stuff that wont be in your local store, so you're less likely to get caught in that awkward...oh we're wearing the same thing moment.)

Amazon - honestly, what isn't on amazon? I have spent many an afternoon gushing over all of the wonderful books I could get for only 75cents. I've even gotten a brand new book for a penny. it's craziness. There is also an amazing array of plants for sale. It's just a wonderland that Amazon.com.

Paper Brain - shameless plug. But our myspace has a new song and it's absolutely wonderful, so make sure to waste some time there too :)

weekend ho!

Since it's (FINALLY!) Friday and everything I've posted this week was a picture with a link I will recap my 'crazy' weekday adventures. In list form.

(1)Monday I had band practice and a quiz.
(2)Tuesday my office mate and I placed a grow pirate into a large beaker. grow pirate, grow!
(2a)I became a hurricane at home and cleaned like I've never cleaned before. Bear was perplexed.
(3)Wendesday was my brother's bday.
(3a)the peanut bush sprouted green stems!
(4)Thursday, another band practice after being stuck in traffic for over an hour.
(5)Friday (today!) a show! We play Slabtown tonight at, most likely midnight. whoop.

oooh, exciting. One perk of this week was getting a ride home everyday! Not that I don't enjoy my bus time, but man...it's nice to have a ride every once in a while. I also started reading Candide. I get the strange sensation that I've read it before...but it's not familiar enough to be sure.

well, on to the weekend then :)

Collared

I've finally gotten a collar on Bear....one that isn't hot pink. His tags came from the county, so I figured it was time to fully domesticate him (although the tags were labeled: feline, male, Beatrix). He's spent most of the day almost getting his mouth around it.....we'll see how long it lasts.

I've also finished a few projects that were in dire need of finishing

1. My history essay. It's done, it's submitted, it's now in God's hands! ha!

2. My reading for the week....but, on to next week. ugh

3. I finally got fruits and veggies for smoothies in my *new* blender!

4 and last...I recorded a song that I'd like to have on the upcoming Paper Brain album.

Mike and I will go to look at a studio tomorrow that we're both really excited about. I think I've been in shock lately about how quickly things can progress. There's not a week from Feb to April that we don't have at least one show. It's all really really good.

One thing I'm really loathing right now is my lack of downtime. Well, really it's the lack of time to clean. My apartment was clean for a day, then I did laundry....now it's piles of clothes waiting to be hung and empty boxes that need to be recycled. I was also hoping to get some sewing projects in soon, but with all the reading for school I just can't justify it. ugh.

With that wonderful thought, I'm going to glance at Mr. Equiano, then try to watch Becoming Jane without falling asleep :)

new book fun

I'm intrigued by this book. I hear it's a school/fantasy book, but more along the lines of Stephen King. My first taste of this genre (yes, I have only just started the Harry Potter series!) was actually a book called Inkspell by Cornelia Funke, which I found very pleasant. This may have to be my next read (after all the textbooks of course). Via bookshelvesofdoom

I am a student once again :)

Today marked the beginning of the winter term. I'm taking a couple of classes online (yay!), trying to finally get my BS. Although it's only the first day of the term, I am already loving online courses. Everything is outlined, you know exactly when exams are and what they are and you have a nice long window of time to sit down (at home, in peace) and take them. I've already completed my assignments for this week (yes, I'm a geek).

Not Martha is reading Vampirates. The name is absolutely wonderful. I may have to see if I can find it at the library and take it along on our upcoming short tour (if I can put my knitting down long enough!)

I also came across a site where a granny will knit you something, like socks. You just ask the granny to knit it and viola, she does. Since my granny didn't knit me stuff as a kid maybe I can reconcile all those bottled up feelings I have about not getting nana-knits. Via Craft.