Theme post: Cheap Gadgets I had to Buy

Today is a theme post called 'Cheap Gadgets I had to Buy'.

Please check out my other two blogs to see what cheap gadgets I bought for the garden and kitchen.
For $3.00 this little gadget says it will 'organize anything'. Anything? Really? Because I am having a lot of trouble organizing my coupons and magazines and I really don't see how this is going to help. Sounds like false advertising.

I purchased 2 of these so I could hang my brooms up on the wall. One for the inside broom and one for the outside broom. If you feel the need for a Funnel Fits Universal Organizer visit their website.

Look at the bottom left corner......it's safe and secure. I better check for warnings. I might need to save the warning with my other warning (from the watering cones) and mattress tags. No more warnings but look closely......Made in China.....now I'm skeered.

I nearly forgot........Goooooo Smoke. Tomorrow's race at Bristol should be a good one. I'll miss the last part of the race because we are going to a Piston/Miami Heat game. If you have never been to a NASCAR race and only can go to one, Bristol is the race to go to. I've attended the night race at Bristol. It is unbelievable. 140K plus of people around a short track carved out of the mountains in Tennessee. Also the best way to attend a race at Bristol is through a race tour. They take care of lodging, tickets, transportation, and VIP tent. It just a little more expensive than buying your own tickets but you get free transportation to and from the track (worth hours of time saved), probably better tickets, and the VIP tent gives you the opportunity to meet drivers, win prizes, eat, and possibly tour the garage area before the race.

Paint Journal

Have you ever forgotten exactly what shade of white you painted the living room ceiling? How about this.....you are in the store and you have found the most fabulous fabric on sale but you are not sure if it will match or coordinate with your bedroom walls?I found the cure......a Rubbermaid Paint Journal complete with pockets and dividers, plus a template for wallpaper and fabric swatches. All this in a little 8" X 7 1/2" binder with a nifty elastic band to keep it closed and contents secured. What I really like is the fact that you could put it in your purse whenever you go shopping and at a turn of the page have all your paint, wallpaper, and fabric swatches at your fingertips. No more returning items that do not match. No more passing up on a good deal because you are not sure. No more regrets that you did not buy that fabulous fabric at a dollar a yard because you could not return it if it did not match.I have no idea what the actual retail cost of this journal is because I scored mine at Goodwill today for a mere 39 cents. Brand new and everything intact. Now I just need to find my paint chips.

A creative person could easily make this same journal out of an old Franklin planner. The elastic band is attached by having two small holes on the back cover. Here is a photo of how Rubbermaid did it.

I also bought the book, Early American Homes North Edition printed in 1956. This book set me back a whole 50 cents. With my luck I'll have to spend a fortune on the South Edition if I find a copy.

"R, do you need some help?"

Today was another beautiful day, unusually warm for a St. Paddy's Day. I can remember many a St. Patrick's Day having ice storms and at the very least snow on the ground. Today was in the high 60's, as was yesterday.

Our plan is to get all the outside yard work taken care of at the Torrey Road house before moving on to 'The Gear'. The weather in March is typically unpredictable and I would rather not start an outside project only to have it snow or rain right in the middle of it.

So we have been enjoying the weather by raking and raking and raking. We filled 10 trash cans and 9 paper yard waste bags full of leaves and twigs. I would estimate another three full days and the Torrey Road house will be ready to fertilize the lawn and then it is on to 'The Gear'.

Today's project was not one of those big projects but required several trips to get the right tools. Last fall during a wind storm, one of our Purple Robe Locust trees split and we lost a major limb. In an attempt to keep it from dying, R drilled a hole through the split part and using a threaded rod, large washers, and a couple of nuts (not tree nuts but nuts as in nuts and bolts) was able to pull the loose part and the trunk back together.

But not before he received some supervision from Mr. Peacock."R....do you need some help?? I saw something like this on HGTV while I was sitting on the fence looking in the window at the TV."

"R...I don't remember it taking this long. It was a 30 minute show and well.....this is taking like 3 hours."
"I give up.....he won't listen or let me use the tools."

"Listen....I'm not just a pretty face.....I know things.....I watch TV, I greet the mailman, and I let you and the whole neighborhood know when the loud UPS and garbage trucks are in the area."
"Oh look at him....R thinks he's something in that blue shirt."
"Nobody does blue better than me. I mean look at me.....I'm purdy."

Right after I stopped taking photos cars started stopping and we nearly had an accident in front of the house. I love it when a car drives by and then you hear it quickly stop and turn around only to drive by real slow. Some even completely stop causing the oncoming cars to quickly hit the brakes.

Mr. Peacock is extremely nosy. Not much goes on without him knowing it. Sometimes he just lays down and watches. The other day he was on the deck with his tail feathers down. R let the two kitties out for their morning walk around the bird feeder and they promptly walked right on his tail feathers.

If you are wondering how he keeps those feathers straight up in the air, here is a photo of Mr. Peacock's infrastructure.It's not every day that you get to see the back end of a peacock.

More Free Stuff and a Time Update

The mailman delivered free goodies today. Yippee!

Several days ago I received an email from My Coke Rewards saying that my free Black and Decker Cordless Rotary Tool was on back order. But.....to expedite my order they were upgrading me to a Cordless Dremel 4 point something volts. The free Dremel arrived today.

And these................2 free tickets to the Detroit Pistons vs Miami Heat. Those are not the first free tickets we have received this winter. We also have tickets to the New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets. Three weeks ago we saw Lord of the Dance for free. R says "don't tell people I went to see Lord of the Dance." While we were walking back to our car he said, "that was the longest 4 hours." I looked at my watch and replied, "we were only in there 1 hour and 50 minutes and they had a 20 minute intermission." He said....."it still seemed like 4 $%#!* hours. The first dance was cool and the second one was OK but really how many times do you need to see them do the same thing? And what was the deal with the little gold pixie chick?" I guess he didn't understand the symbolism. If it's not a race car he's bored. I'm surprised he agreed to go in the first place. Somehow I think around July when I start complaining about 400 dollar tire bills for the race car, I am going to hear this.....

"I didn't complain when you dragged me to Lord of the Flies."

If I had a nickel for every time he has said Lord of the Flies instead of Lord of the Dance.....I could buy him a set of tires and not have him say "you dragged me to Lord of the Flies."

Here is how you, too, can get free tickets......in Michigan the Meijer stores are giving away 2 free tickets to various Piston games and assorted events at the Palace of Auburn Hills. All you need to do is buy 2 of the weekly designated items plus $20.00 in groceries, fill out the supplied form, and mail receipt and a self addressed stamped envelope to the Free Ticket Zone at Meijer Program.

Today I purchased 2 of the required items. It was tough......Meijer Oreo like cookies. We are hoping for Harlem Globetrotter or Laker tickets.

Time update.......In my last post I lamented about how did people back in the day set their clocks? Today while watching one of my favorite programs, Cultivating Life, they talked about time. According to the expert, all clocks sold during colonial times came with a small window sill sundial. Every day around noon someone in the house checked their sundial and clock for accuracy. Which leads me to my next question. Why not just use the sundial and save the money you spent on the clock???