Ways the Library Can Save You Money

I found this article on RedPlum and thought I would share. It was called "10 Ways..." but I only counted 7 in the article. Maybe I missed something. LOL!

By Sally Herigstad

 

The library is not just for books anymore. Check out your local library for these ways it could be saving you money:

Movies and sitcoms. You'd be surprised how many DVDs your library carries. You may have to wait for new releases, but there's plenty to choose from in the meantime. Libraries often carry more foreign films and documentaries - a great way to shake up your viewing habits. Beware: British comedies are quite addictive!

Exercise videos. Aren't exercise videos annoying after the twentieth viewing? With the library's collection, you could watch a different exercise video every week. At least try exercise videos out from the library before committing to buy one.

Language and other educational materials. These can cost a bundle if you have to buy them outright. And when you borrow them, there's motivation to complete the course before it can't be renewed again.

Computer use. Libraries are devoting more space now to computers to provide all their patrons with Internet access. You may not even need to pay for Internet at home if you can get to the library easily enough.

Free classes and talks. Check out the library schedule for classes on language, job hunting skills, health, genealogy, personal finance, and so on.

Few spending temptations. It's hard to spend money at the library. Unlike the local bookstore or video rental store, there's no candy for the kids to beg for, or latte stand calling to you. And an outing to the library is certain to end less badly for your pocketbook than a stroll through the mall.

Books (of course). Why buy books, and then try to find places to store them all, when you can check them out of the library? It used to be hard to find specific books, especially new or popular ones. Now, in many places you can request an interlibrary loan at no cost to you, and have the book you want sent to your library. Never buy a book without checking your library first.

 

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I will add my own entry: ebooks! If you have an ebook reader, a lot of libraries now have ebooks to loan so you don't have to buy them.

We had a wonderful weekend!

The kids’ mom went to Louisiana on Friday instead of Thursday as she had told everyone. But she picked up Jacob, Chance’s son, and took him to visit. (Okay…she can be nice once in a while.) Meredith and Samantha both said that Bio Mom texted them Thursday night that the deployment day was changed to Tuesday.

Chance called me Friday evening and told me that they just found out that afternoon that they would be leaving Tuesday. I told him about his mom’s texts the night before and he told me that until Friday afternoon, it was 50/50 on whether they would leave Saturday or Tuesday. So either Bio Mom is much closer contact with the Lord than I am, or she just took a chance. Oh well, I will not worry my pretty little head about her.

Although it is funny that she ended up getting a hotel in Alexandria….an hour and a half away from DeRidder…because there were no rooms available. Well, DUH, you have to book early for a deployment weekend. Oh, and apparently there were no rooms in Lake Charles either….45 minutes away.

Bob and I got to DeRidder around 1:30 and I texted Chance our room number. About 2:00 or so, there was a knock at the door and there were Mere, Sam, Chance and John (Sam’s boyfriend.) They walked in and said, “What a great room. Mom is staying in a dump.” I did not LOL. We hung out for a while, then headed to a Mexican restaurant for a late lunch.

We had a blast and got stuffed on delicious Mexican food. It was not cheap, though. As usual, I picked up the tab….$89. Surprisingly, I did not pass out. I have just accepted the fact that when we go out to eat with our kids, we are expected to pay. Maybe they will not always be that way. I quit expecting my parents to pay for my meals when I finished college. But, that is me. Not everyone is a perfect child like me. LOL!

After lunch, we went back to our hotel and just hung out. It was hilarious and fun. Sam and John had come up Friday and stayed with Mindy, I guess. Or they may have gotten their own room. I didn’t ask. Anyway, they were coming back to Houston on Saturday, but after we had been there for a while laughing our butts off, Samantha said, “I don't want to go. I want to stay here tonight.” Then started figuring out where everyone would sleep. LOL! Fortunately, THAT did not come to pass. There were 2 queen beds and 5 people. (Since Chance would go back to base.) Anyway, it was pretty funny.

But Sam and John did head back home Saturday night. Meredith went back to Alexandria to stay at the “dump” by herself, as their mom decided to go back to Houston on Saturday. I think that she had already paid for the room and didn’t leave Mere to pay that night, but I did not ask. We told her she should have just checked out and stayed with us. But it was too far away for her to go get her stuff, check out and come back. So, she went back there.

Yesterday morning, Mere and Chance came to the hotel and joined us for free breakfast. Yummy. And lest anyone think that I am less than ethical regarding said free breakfast, I did ask the manager if I could pay for Chance and Mere's breakfast and they said not to worry about it.Then they came back to our room and hung around a couple of hours until almost checkout time. Chance said he needed to go do laundry and I think he needed a nap. LOL! Mere was ready to head home and so was Bob.

There was never a sad moment. Though we did all tell Chance how much we will miss him and how proud we are of him. We told him he was a hero and he said, “I don’t think like that. I am just doing my job.” That made me even prouder of him. We also discussed care packages and what he would like to receive while he is there. Which was great. When he was in Iraq, he would just tell us to send whatever. It will be nice to send something we know he likes, wants and needs. (Though he says he liked and used everything sent to him last time.)

We got home around 2 yesterday, Bob watered the plants, then left to go camping. It is his early Christmas gift. Apparently there are some “big games” on over the next week and this is his favorite time to go camping. I think I will clean out the closet while he is gone. LOL!

Here is a pic. I look more than chubby and I am getting old. But I don’t care. I was really happy.

Our son is deploying to Afghanistan

This is not a surprise....we have known about it for a while. Our baby boy will be 22 tomorrow. Happy birthday to him!

He was scheduled to deploy tomorrow, on his birthday. The day we found out when he was supposed to go, I called and booked a room at the hotel we stayed at when we went to visit him last month. So we have had our trip planned for about 3 weeks.

Chance is leaving his car with his bio mom while he is deployed. His choice...Hubby and I don't mind at all. Our oldest daughter, Meredith, told us a couple of weeks ago that her mom asked her to go to Fort Polk with her mom to drive Chance’s car back to Houston. Mere said she would. Later, bio mom told Mere that she was taking off this Thursday and Friday to go to Fort Polk and get in a last visit with Chance. Mere told her mom that she could not take off 4 days from work, so her mom suggested that Mere just drive over on Saturday.

DUH!

As usual, bio mom decides what she wants to do and everyone else is supposed to work around her. Meredith told her mom that if she drove her car, they would have 2 people and 3 cars. Bio mom said that maybe our other daughter, Samantha, and  her bf, John, would be going to see Chance off, so Mere could ride with them. I guess that was the end of bio mom’s concern about the issue.

I told Mere that she could ride with Hubby and me, if Sam isn’t going, since we are going on Saturday morning. We had not found out what time Chance leaves, but decided that when we did, that would determine what time we leave on Saturday morning.

I have been worrying since then about this. Wednesday, I was driving home, thinking that I needed to call Meredith and find out if she was riding with us. Then I realized that this is not my problem. It is their mom’s problem. She is bringing the car back, so she needs to figure out how to do it. We will still let Mere ride with us, if she wants to and calls us, but I am not going to be calling and emailing people to work out bio mom’s problem.

I was pretty proud of myself that I was able to let this go. :-)

In the meantime, we have been waiting to hear what time tomorrow Chance will be leaving, I have sent message through Facebook and even sent him a text message and I do NOT text. LOL! We have not heard back from him. I got an email from Samantha that she and bf were leaving today at noon, so that meant Mere needed to ride with us.

Then Hubby calls me today. Mere called him. Her mom told her that Chance is not leaving until TUESDAY. Then I got an email from Samantha that her mom had told her the same. Stupid family! Everyone knows that Hubby and I have been waiting to hear when Chance is leaving and no one lets us know.

Hubby said we will still go tomorrow and see Chance for his birthday, stay the night, then come home on Sunday. Samantha is going tomorrow, as well. Bio mom is already there and who knows how long she is staying, but we usually manage to avoid her pretty well. Mere told Bob she does not know if she will go tomorrow or wait and see if she and her mom have to drive back over there to get Chance's car.

Hubby is leaving Monday morning to go on a week long camping trip, so we will be seeing Chance off this weekend. I don’t know who will be there when he actually leaves. Of course, they may change the day again....and again...and again. LOL! I won’t feel bad about not going, as we have spent quite a bit of time with Chance over the last month. And we will see him on his birthday.

Of course, if Chance asks his dad to come back Tuesday, Hubby probably will. That is what happened when he deployed before. We went the weekend before, then Hubby went back on the day.

So, that is what is going on with me. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Being a grandma is fun!

Two of our grandsons, Theo and Wyatt, spent the weekend at MIL's. (She begged Meredith to get their daddy to let MIL have the boys. LOL!) So, Hubby and I went over there Sunday morning, around 9am. Theo came running out the door, saying it must be 9 bacause that is what time we were coming.

He was so excited that we were going to take him to the park. It is really funny, since MIL took them to Hermann Park....a huge place....and to ride the train there. Theo loves that train, but he was just as excited to see us and go to a little park. We went to nice little park near MIL's. Since she still lives in the house Hubby grew up in, we were in his old stomping grounds. It was near the high school, so I am thinking it might have been a nice "make out place" back in the olden days. LOL! Anyway, here are a couple of pics of my "boys".

After we played for a couple of hours, we headed back to MIL's and were happily surprised that Chance had come by. He deploys next Saturday, on his 22nd birthday, to Afghanistan. We knew he would be in town this weekend to see his little boy, but we didn't expect to see him, since we will be going to see him off next weekend. But MIL will not be going as she says it is too sad to see him go. We were surprised and pleased that he stopped by to see MIL, but he laughed and said that he told her last Sunday he would come by. I laughed, too, since she called me every day last week to see if I had heard from him and was he coming over. Despite her insistance that he did NOT tell her, we have a lovely visit. Here we are in the backyard.

So, we had a great visit with some grandkids and a big kid and had a lovely Sunday. Hope you all had a fabulous weekend!

Sluggy's Boring Box Giveaway ends tonight!

Run over to Slugmama's blog and enter her Boring Box Giveaway. She added more chocolate!!!

We have a winner in the Pillsbury Giveaway!!

Pam, you are the winner of the Pillsbury Biscuit giveaway!!

I will send you an email from home this evening to get your address information.

Congratulations!!!

ETA: Pam I need your mailing info. You didn't leave your email addy and I can't find it on your blog.

Trojans don't always lead to pleasure....

Most of last week, this was me...

Every evening....all evening long....Tuesday through Friday. What happened? Trojans. Yes, 2 nasty little trojans took up residence in my computer at home. They weren't causing a lot of trouble, but they were there and I wanted them off. I worked on that thing almost from the time I got home every evening until it was time to get ready for bed. Ugh! Oh, yeah, and on Saturday, too.

I finally got rid of the trojans, but it was difficult and I kept screwing up other things and having to fix them back. And I used to be an IT systems manager. And I built computers!! I have forgotten more than many people know and it just ticked me off last week.

It should not have taken me so long. It is fixed now. Thank goodness. I was almost ready to go visit the Geek Squad and have them fix it. And I have NEVER paid someone to work on my pc. Usually, I am the one getting paid.

Okay. I am back. SonyaAnn, are you happy now?