Marsha's Spot

Friday, July 6, 2018

Frugal Friday With Marsha -- Been MIA

Seems I have so swamped with everything since coming home from my week away with hubby at the motel! I didn't get this post done last week, and it's later in the day today already.

Speaking of the motel, one thing I didn't mention in my post 2 weeks ago was how much shampoo, conditioner, lotion, and soap we are accumulating. Hubby chooses to put the bottles in his suitcase every morning before work so that they will put out more.
I cleaned out the drawers in the bathroom vanity and now the bottom draw is full of soap and lotion. The middle draw is shampoo and the top draw is conditioner.
I am very pleased with how my hair looks and feels with the conditioner from the motel where he currently is staying, even though I have no idea what the brand of it is.
We are well stocked, and will not have to spend money on any of that stuff any time soon!
Some different motels also offer other amenities, so we also have some mouthwash, shower caps, wet wipe make up removers, and ear plugs as well.

Is it wrong to make sure to get new each day and hoard it like we are? I know lots of people do the same thing. It means that is money that we don't have to spend buying those items. Plus, we also can donate the excess to people in need as well, as we did when we filled Bags of Blessings that we gave to the homeless shelter.

I've also still been working very slowly at getting areas of the house cleaned and organized. It's coming along, but will take awhile at the rate I am finding the needed time to do things right.
The first thing I did when I got home from the week at the motel was to completely clear my desk to set it up like I had the desk at the motel. It is much more conducive for my work with the way it's set up now instead of devices on top of things. I'm now on the hunt at amazon for a drawer storage unit to put under my desk for all the things that were on my desk.
I think I will start with this one as it seems it will fit and give me the drawer space that I need for sewing supplies, pens and pencils, and paperwork. I'm not sure though as I believe the drawers will only be less then 2 inches deep. Either way, I need to earn more amazon before I can order.

Let's get to some freebies for this week!
First is the Friday Freebie, which is candy this week. I always love this to have around to share with the grandkids.

Free Fish or Sour Patch Kids for Kroger & Affiliates

Here are some others that you might want to check out:

Free Subscription to Weight Watchers Magazine

Free Sample of Truvia Natural Sweetener

Free Where is Bear & Amazing Me! It's Busy Being 3 Books

Free Sample of Rituals Cosmetics Foaming Shower Gel

Free That's Tasty Organic Microgreens

Free Arrowhead, Ice Mountain, Ozarka, Deer Park & More

Free Harley-Davidson Racing Stickers

I would love to hear if you are sending for freebies, and what you are doing to live frugally!

Monday, July 2, 2018

Mailbox Monday -July 2, 2018

Last week was SO super busy with things away from home that I didn't get this post put up!
I had been away the week before and came home to not find much mail for the week at all.

This picture shows mail from the past 2 weeks:

2 Time magazines
Sports Illustrated magazine
Entertainment Weekly magazine
2 People magazines
Culture magazine
Sample of Nikwax waterproofing wax for leather.
Moose Tracks sticker
The World and Everything in it sticker
In Touch daily devotions
Salonpas pain relieving patch samples

Here are some of the things that I sent off for today plus some others that you might be interested in as well.

Free Elemis Peptide4 Skincare Samples

Free SmartyPaws Organic Dog Supplement

Free Sample of Breathe Right Extra Clear Nasal Strips

Free Samples of Astroglide Lubricant

Free Stella Rosa Birthday Cake Lip Balm

10 Free Promise Cards

Free Depend Sample Kits for Men & Women

Free Scorpion Sticker

Free Heart Paw Keychain

Free Cordless Vacuum

Free Nomad Breakfast Sample

Free Ernie Ball Music Man Sticker

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library - Free Kids Book Every Month

Until next week, Happy Freebie Hunting!!

Thursday, June 28, 2018

The Craft Kingdom -- DIY and Craft Projects for Kids and Adults -- Review and Giveaway Open Internationally!

The Craft Kingdom is filled with DIY and craft projects for all ages.
Choose from over 90 projects. Most take materials that you already have around the house such as toilet paper rolls, nail polish, candles, string, soap, and even sticks.

The illustrations with each project are vibrant and simple. No special skills required for these projects, but the ones that involve a glue gun, knives, or scissors need to be adult supervised.

I can't wait to try some of the projects!

I've been saving toilet paper rolls for awhile, not having a clue what I would make with them. Now I can use the to make roll art and 2 types of present boxes. What fun!

Did you know that you can turn a pillowcase into a nice bag? I did, but not using the easy method that is shown in The Craft Kingdom.

No more throwing away the ends of bars of soap for me either. From now on I plan to use them to make pretty soaps with a mold.

I know that I will be putting this book into use for a long time. I love to make homemade gifts, and the choices are plentiful!!

**Wait!!** One lucky Marsha's Spot reader will win their own copy of The Craft Kingdom! Just enter using the rafflecopter form below. The giveaway is open internationally too!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I rec'd a copy of the book for the purpose of this review. I was not compensated in any other way and all opinions are my own. Sponsor responsible for prize delivery. Post contains affiliate links.

Friday, June 22, 2018

Frugal Friday With Marsha - Still at the Motel

I have to start out by saying that I am sitting here shaking my head. I was just downstairs and housekeeping was throwing 4 huge bags of blankets, comforters, and pillows into the dumpster. I can't help but wonder why they do not donate those to a homeless shelter or another agency who will give them to families in need. 😮😦

It's been a good week away from the chaos that is usually surrounding me. I find myself wishing I could just travel with hubby all the time. I actually would if I didn't miss my family, if I didn't have activities at home that I would dearly miss, and if this motels wi-fi wasn't so spotty! He's here at this motel at least 2 more weeks, and this is the second week in a row here.
I miss hubby when I only get to see him around 24 hours on a weekend. It's been nice to see him every day.
(In case you are wondering, hubby's company pays for the motel stays. He's also fortunate that he is reimbursed for his food up to $25 a day. I didn't want to burden him to pay for my meals while I'm staying with him, so that is the reason for buying groceries for me.)

We shopped for my groceries for the week. I bought a dozen eggs (brought the Eggtastic to cook them in the microwave), a box of saltines, a package of sugar wafer cookies, loaf of bread, mayonaise, 1 Armour lunch kit, a bag of cheese sticks, salt and pepper shakers (which we will also take on our family camping trip) and 2 bananas.
Hubby had already bought my Dr. Pepper for the week, so we brought that with us. We also had the free cranberry juice from last week's Friday Freebie that we brought along.

Those food items, along with foods that I got from the free breakfast, have had me eating a lot better than I usually do. Most days I've brought up an apple or banana, a cup of yogurt, a glass of milk, peanut butter packets, margarine packets, plates, napkins, and plasticware from the breakfast room. This along with drinking a glass of orange juice and eating a bit while in the breakfast room.

I've had the peanut butter either on apple slices or saltine crackers each day. I've also had a yogurt each day. And, I've had a glass of the cranberry juice each day.
One day a friend and her hubby came to visit and we ate lunch with them at the Huddle House. One other day while out, hubby got called to deliver buns to the Burger King. Since it was lunch time, we went ahead and had lunch there as well. We also at at Subway inside Wal-Mart when we went there to do the grocery shopping.

I'm pretty sure I have actually gained weight this week!

Speaking of the Friday Freebie, this week it's bagels, so you won't want to miss that. Well, mine says free , but they are showing here bread. Personally I would rather had had the bread. Which did you get this week?

Free Nature's Own Perfectly Crafted White or Multigrain Bread

Here are some other freebies that you might want to check out:

Free Made In Nature Organic Supersnacks

Free Sample of bioDOGradable Bags

Free Coffee Grounds for Your Garden at Starbucks

Free Sample of Derma E Nourishing Shampoo & Conditioner

Free Healthy Pools Pool Test Kit

FREE 12 Easy Weeknight Dinners eCookbook

Hey! Hubby just called and is done working for the day super early today. He wants to take me out to lunch.

Until next week, Frugal Ways to All!

Thursday, June 21, 2018

Learn to Draw 75 Animals in 10 Easy Steps!

Walter Fosters publishing's newest book is released today, June 21, 2018.
10-Step Drawing: Animals features illustrated tutorials for drawing 75 different animals. Each is broken down into 10 simple steps. All you need is a pen or pencil and paper to get started.

75 animals in 4 sections which include:
Wild Animals
Aquatic Animals
Woodland Animals
Farm Animals and Pets

Where Proportion might be an issue in the drawing the author includes measurements. I sure like this idea!
Hints are given on following the steps and finishing the pictures with coloring.

10-Step Drawing: Animals is a really fun book!

I am not an artist, but I can look through this book and find lots that I want to try to draw now. I've started with this cute penguin. I found the steps easy to follow, and hey, it didn't come out half bad.

I gave the book to my husband to choose something to draw. He chose the Hammerhead Shark.

I have artistic children and grandchildren that I know for a fact will enjoy 10-Step Drawing: Animals. My question is, who to show it to first! I can see a fight ensuing with all of them wanting to use it.

If you like to draw and want to learn more, I highly recommend this book for sure! It will also make a great gift for any artist, or want to be artist you know as well. I am really impressed as I've seen learn to draw books before, but not as simple to learn from as this one.

Check it out today!

Disclosure: I rec'd a copy of the book for the purpose of this review. I was not compensated in any other way, and all opinions are my own. Post contains affiliate links.

Wednesday, June 20, 2018

WIP Wednesday -- Away From Home

I left Sunday afternoon to spend the week away with hubby. My main objective? To have time to sew while he's at work.
Monday seemed to go pretty well as I got a lot of different things worked on.
I'm still working, and still have goals, but so far it's not looking like a single thing that I brought with me will be done. Not unless I really get busy!

I'm almost done sewing the binding onto my charming stars quilt.

I have worked on both double folded hotpads and microwave cozies. You might notice on the corner of my table that I also have been doing some work on the plastic canvas blocks as well.

I worked preparing double towel scarves for completion.

I finally finished the quilting on this table runner. Now I'm debating on going ahead and sewing the binding on without trimming first, since I didn't bring along a cutting mat and rotary cutter.

All in all, I am happy with what I have been able to get done. I need time away for sewing since it's so hard to get my machine out at home! I still have Thursday, Friday, and Saturday morning to see what else I can get done.

I link up with the following blogs:

Jo's Country Junction: http://www.joscountryjunction.com/

KatieMae Quilts for BOM weekly linky. https://www.katiemaequilts.com/blog/

Monday, June 18, 2018

Mailbox Monday -- June 18

This last week ended up being a pretty nice week for freebies in my mailbox.

Time magazine
This Old House magazine
Entertainment Weekly
People magazine
Sports Illustrated magazine
Pet stickers from ASPCA
Highlights Hidden Picture poster, which I took out of the advertising mail to buy the books.
Sun Maid Raisins recipe book
Persist bumper sticker.
The Craft Kingdom book for review.

I'm on "vacation" this week with hubby while he works, and also taking care of learning a new job online, but here is a nice list of freebies that you might want to check out:

Free Subscription to Fast Company

Free Subscription to Inc Magazine

Free Sample of Tameology Shampoo & Conditioner

Free Animal Rights Stickers

Free Subscription to ELLE Magazine

Free Sample of Garnier Whole Blends Oat Delicacy

Free Colorado Ski SKull Sticker

Free Dead Punk Sticker Pack

Free Harley-Davidson X Games Sticker

Free Subscription to O, The Oprah Magazine

Friday, June 15, 2018

Frugal Friday With Marsha -- Still Working

It's been a week of still working to organize and de-clutter the house. I've made some changes, but mostly I've worked on putting things where they actually belong, even if that place is the trash!

So much that I wanted to get done before traveling with hubby next week and being gone an entire week, but time is not on my side most days.

We did a lot better at getting leftovers eaten at meals this past week, but not quite good enough. I had to throw away a large container of chicken alfredo because I didn't get it put into the freezer for later. Quite a shame to get good food go to waste, and definitely not frugal!

Speaking of food, here is this week's Friday Freebie:

Free Ocean Spray Diet or Light Juice for Kroger & Affiliates

I'm slacking in getting freebies sent for to fill my mailbox. I sent for a few things this morning that you might want to check out for yourself as well:

Free Sample of Sephora Collection Clay Mask

Free Animal Rights Stickers

Free Sample of Tameology Shampoo & Conditioner

I've not paid attention to TopCashBack before today when I seen this offer:

TopCashback - Free Ozark Trail Folding Chair

I may have messed up because I went ahead and clicked the cash back from Swagbucks when the page came up. I'm sure we can't "double dip". I guess I will know soon enough. I will just know not to activate Swagbucks in the future.
We are taking our annual family camping trip the first weekend of August, so either way, we needed a chair of our own.

Here is something else you might want to check out....all the freebies available this weekend for Father's Day!

Father's Day Freebies & Deals RoundUp

Wednesday, June 13, 2018

WIP Wednesday -- Little Done

It's just not been good for me, time wise, to get much sewing done.
I tried one day to get out my sewing machine, but an 8 month old that is now pulling himself up, and my machine on the table, just doesn't mix.

I am always working off and on on filling in the plastic canvas squares for the jingle bell blocks, but I don't want to take a picture until I have my whole pile filled in.

At sit n' sew I did a little more work towards completing the blocks on my Arkansas Crossroads quilt. No picture as it wasn't enough to warrant one.
Instead, I spent most of the sit n' sew time putting the borders on my Zipped Kitties.

Otherwise the only thing that I did this past week was to cut up a panel with horses to make into pillows. These will go to church for the youth to stuff, and then donated to the police and fire department.

Next week I am going out of town for the week with hubby. My plan is to sew while he's at work and work on my computer stuff in the evenings when he is sleeping. I have projects packed to finish....items to be listed in my Etsy shop. However, I find myself wanting to take a couple of other projects that I can at least progress on. I guess next week's post will tell you what I decided LOL.

In the meantime, I link up with the following blogs. I do hope you will check each of them out.