I'm closing the contest a few hours early- it's going to be a busy week for me & my husband. We are moving to our new apartment this Friday so my internet may be sporadic until we get it installed in our apartment. (I'll only have my cell phone for internet).

Soooo..... I've used random number generator to select a winner! Out of 23 valid entries.... the winner is....



Please check your email, I will be sending your $10 e-certificate to Fortune Cookie Soap! Congratulations! And thank you to everyone that participated!

(I am not affiliated with Fortune Cookie Soap, I just love their products!)

A few more things I ordered for our apartment since it was payday! :-)

Arista Arm Chair- Black and White Floral (Walmart)

Throw pillows for our black sofa:

Danica Studio Cushion- Zaza (Amazon.com)

Brentwood Channel Stitch Pillow- Turquoise (Amazon.com)

Shower Mat (to go with our rubber ducky shower curtain):

Ginsey Rubbermaid Vinyl Bath Mat- Turquoise (Amazon.com) Was: $7. Now $11.

Had to take advantage of my free 2 day shipping with my 1 month trial of Amazon Prime! ;-) I got a free trial when I ordered my Kindle Fire, (which I love!) I ordered most of my Christmas gifts on Amazon this year. We are trying to pack a few boxes every weekend. Only 2 more weeks until the big move.

(I do use Amazon Associates, but not because I've made any money- because I haven't! lol! But I like that I can show a picture/link with a product when I'm blogging. Plus I do recommend Amazon.com for their low prices. That or Ebay!)

I borrowed $3,000 from Citibank for our furniture budget for the apartment- since we only had bedroom furniture. We stayed well under that. We spent under $1,000. So I was able to return most of the money I borrowed from Citibank. :-)

We are also thankful to my Dad in law & Mom in law, for helping us with the down payment on our apartment & helping us with the furniture we needed. Thank you so much! We really appreciate it! 

My parents gave us a microwave so we are definitely thankful for that since it's one less thing to buy! And my Mom said we could have some dishes and cooking stuff too. :-) (We have a few dishes, a coffee machine, coffee press & rice cooker already.) Most of our smaller items, shower curtain rings, mop, broom, bucket, cleaning supplies, etc, etc, etc; we will get at Dollar Tree or Big Lot's.

I did free site to store shipping for most of the items we ordered. We still have to pick some of these up. Walmart rocks! Here's some of the goodies we ordered!

Living Room

Atherton Home Manhattan Convertible Futon

Parsons 3 Piece Coffee & End Tables

Better Homes and Gardens Poly Resin Birdcage Lamp (2)

Linen Hardback Table Shade (2)

Open Sided 3-Shelf Bookcase

Curtis 19" Class LCD 720p 60Hz HDTV

RCA Digital Flat Amplified Antenna

 Dining Room/ Kitchen

Mainstays 5-Piece Wood and Metal Dining Set

Rival 2-Slice Toaster ($6.00)

Black & Decker Electric Can Opener ($9.00)

Hefty Swing-Lid 13.5-Gallon Trash Can

Bedroom

Mainstays 4-Drawer Chest

Mainstays Floor Lamp

Bathroom

Rubber Ducky PEVA Shower Curtain

Misc

Dirt Devil Express Quick Vacuum with Tools

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Last week F.B. & I put a down payment on a one bedroom apartment about 10 minutes from where we are staying with my parents. We weren't planning on moving so soon, but circumstances have come up & changed our plans. (Please keep my family in your prayers they are having financial difficulties). We will be getting the keys & moving to our apartment December 9th.

We have a 12 month lease for a 1 bedroom apartment for $650 a month, water included. We will have to pay for the other utilities. The kitchen comes with a fridge, stove, dishwasher. The apartment is 700 square feet. And very roomy, with one big living room/dining area. And one big bedroom. Plus two huge windows in each room. There are 5 closets. 2 big closets and 3 smaller closets. Plus a shower/tub in the bathroom. Each building has it's own community laundry room which you get a key for. And each apartment has it's own entrance door, so the outside looks a little more like a house. Plus they allow smalls animals!

Last year I remember looking at apartments in this area and they wanted $800 just for a studio apartment. 1 bedrooms were $800-900. I think the economy has driven the prices down. Also last year pretty much none of the buildings allowed pets and all the ones we looked at in person & online do allow pets now.

Here's a few quick photos I took the day we took our tour of the apartment complex; (this isn't our unit but it is exact to ours):

Living Room:


Bedroom:

 Kitchen:


We picked up boxes & packing tape yesterday and we got 5 boxes packed up today. Still a lot to pack up though. And we will be renting a U-haul truck on our big moving day. (I think December 10th, since December 9th is when we sign paperwork and get the keys to our apartment around 10am.)

I took a balance transfer from Citibank to get some furniture. We ordered some of the furniture online and I will be picking up the rest of the stuff we need from Walmart. (Dollar Tree & Big Lots, 2nd hand store.) The prices are unbelievable at Walmart though! I thought it might be easier to move with furniture that hasn't been assembled yet, since our apartment is a 2nd floor unit. (We only own bedroom furniture).

Here is the 5 piece dining set we ordered ($129.00):


And our black futon sofa ($299.00):

Fennel passed away Thursday evening a little after I arrived home from work. My poor old man was very very frail, and he had cataracts in both of his eyes so he couldn't see well anymore. The last few days he was with us he had stopped eating his rat food. He only wanted his yogurt peanuts & Ensure. His brother Barley passed away in October. Fennel would have been 2 years old in March.

I adopted Olive in April of this year. She traveled with her sister Fern, all the way from Star's Rat Rescue in South Dakota. Olive was a feisty adventurous rat. About a week ago Olive started having some slight balance issues. She kept tipping over. She was on antibiotics for about a week for treatment of a possible ear infection. She seemed to be getting better and was more active but still having balance issues. She also was losing weight.

Then she took a turn for the worse. I'm pretty sure she had a pituitary tumor, like my rat Spice had years ago. She was very weak the one night when I came from work, she could only hobble a little bit and she would tip over. The next morning she couldn't walk at all. She would lay on her side and move her legs like she wanted to move, but she just couldn't. She stopped eating & drinking. It was so sad because she would lift her head up and stare with her dark eyes and look at you like she wanted to get up and run around, but her body wouldn't cooperate. Olive passed away in the late afternoon yesterday... I only had a very short time with, but I will miss her so much...

Fern & Olive when they lived at SRR

Olive & Fern after arriving from their long journey from SRR

Honey & Olive

Olive the morning before she passed away.