how does a thrifty momma get rid of almost a foot of snow?

with a shovel? nope. With a snowblower? yes but not just any snowblower. A piece of junk snowblower. One that is older than she is and runs like crap but this thrifty momma also knows a bit about making things work so when it would not staying running because the carburetor is messed up, this momma took some scrap wire that was in the garage and wired the choke into the on position, wide open, and blew the snow out of the driveway. There were flames coming out of the side of the snowblower, more like long sparks, but I was not shoveling our 150 ft driveway or our 2 sections of sidewalk, nor the end of the driveway that had a good 4 ft of snow in it from the snowplow. I maybe thrifty and I am definitely not lazy but I am not stupid either. LOL.

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free 8X10 pic from walgreens through tonight...use code freegift at checkout. no other purchases necessary. Ordered mine for my parents as a christmas gift. good for one hour photo too.

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no coupons for the next two sundays. Boo! but on the other hand it gives me a good chance to get my coupon organizer cleared. I did a good job of that with the walmart trip the other day but there are a few more things that I need to clear out of there and then I am redoing my system for 2009. I hope to get a baseball card organizer for coupons for Christmas. It is on the wishlist!

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Have you been reading the financial news lately? It saddens me. Some reports are not expecting a turn around to the economy until 2011. oh my!! It scares me. Last night I had a long chat with a single male friend of mine. I don't generally discuss my couponing, etc with guys because they just don't get *it*, but I talked to him about it last night because he is concerned about us, with hubby being laid off and he heard some pretty dire things about the company my hubby "works" for. The things he said were not a shock to me as I always anticipate the worst so when what other people consider the worst actually happens, I think it is pretty good and not as bad as I thought. That is just a wierd quirk I have, but it gets me through times when others would be completely lost. So anyway, I told my friend about my stockpile of food and other essentials and I'll tell you his response came as a HUGE shocker to me. He uses coupons as well. OMG! But the biggest shocker, he was not at all surprised by my thrifty-ness. He was actually pretty impressed by it and asked me to give him some pointers and maybe even join in on our barter system with my brother. Way cool! He is a mechanic, self and school taught, so I am thinking this barter thing may really pay off for us and for him as well. Like most men, he despises shopping but considers it a necessary evil, so if I can do the shopping for him and he will change the oil in our vehicles, or say put a new muffler on a certain thrifty woman's car that so badly needs one, we can work out a pretty good trade I think :)