Cats

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Hello, Tuesday? I’d like to speak to your manager.

First of all, the weather. It’s like… moist. Humid. Gross. I’m not a fan. At all. This morning was cold and sweatpants {my cool new ones from Bookish Shop that say Don’t Let the Hard Days Win and are the most comfy sweats everofalltimeomg.} Currently it’s warm and muggy and musty and overcast and the air feels heavy. I have rheumatoid arthritis, neuropathy, and a million other weird random old lady diseases and this type of weather makes me more achy. The pool is clean and blue and so ready. I just want to sit poolside and read my book all day, ok? *Sigh*

{Random side note: #OOTD – I haven’t had a haircut in 6 months. I haven’t even dyed it at home because I have some weird scalp autoimmune weird nonsense going on and it’s inflamed so I can’t. I haven’t even brushed it today. Makeup probably from BoxyCharm because they send me personalized stuff each month since I suck at knowing what to pick myself. But I’m accessorized, yo. Necklace is from ThreeBirdNest, one of my absolute favorite shops at the moment. And this Mama Bird t-shirt is from ThePineTorch, another absolute obsession – they’re shirts are long, thin, soft, drape perfectly. I cut the neck to be off the shoulder because regular crew necks strangle me because I have anxiety. The link I added should give you 10% off or something I think. I am a hot mess. Emphasis on hot. Also on mess. Ha.}

Anyway. Tuesdays are lunch day – Abby’s school district has two different locations, one is 5 minutes from our house, where you drive through and pick up a week’s worth of breakfast and lunch items. There’s honestly not very much food at all – but, Abby likes seeing the little juice boxes, frozen burgers, things that remind her of school days and normality, you know? So, we did that. Then came home to do Abby’s school work. But…. her computer.was.broke. Like, Oregon Trail-looking font on a black screen telling me that it had no operating system or soul and haha you bought me 5 weeks ago but I’m done now haha sucker. Because that’s how 2020 DO, you know?

I immediately call tech support (my brother Brian who is a very smart man in the robot world of technical shenanigans) and he walks me through some diagnostics but it seems that my hard drive is just nope. But fast forward 2 hours, battery out, power off, restart, blah blah, and I’d run a new diagnostic that it passed, so I ran other stuff, and I say “just do SOMETHING this time, sweet lil baby Jesus in your manger just please ok I can not even anymore today” and then hit the button and…. Abby’s eyes get so big because it.boots.up.again, like normal, like nothing happened, because the robot gods and baby Jesus heard my prayers and I have no clue what happened but ok. Good. It’s all ok. Thank you, universe.

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A post shared by Meagan Paullin (@sunandsipcups) on Apr 22, 2020 at 7:09pm PDT

Then, there were just other assorted other sh*t shows all day, k? So, no school work done. No house work done. No patience left. Abby’s dad comes to get her for the evening – she goes to visit every Monday and Tuesday evening + every other weekend. I had these 4 little baby waby cuteness rescue kittens, right? And he let her take one to live at his house, about a week ago. But today he says the kitten she brought there {Salty, a little white one that started out really hissy and spitty and scared and mad but ended up being my bff little bro cat} probably has to come back to my house because his girlfriend has allergies so — I’m gonna have SIX CATS and the dog. Cool. Great. Let’s buy another litter box. Ha. I turned 40 last month right after getting these 4 rescues and I didn’t find homes for ANY of the others so I guess it’s just Crazy Cat Lady Lifestyle for me.

Then, after she leaves, I think imma sit down, quiet, finally, for a few minutes, get my head sorted out. Nope. My momma called, she left a sprinkler on in my back gardens. I go out to turn it off. We have about a half acre out there, and the sprinklers that I had to shut off were all the way in the back. As I’m coming back to the house, walking towards the shop, I see a flash of fur, and think I accidentally let a kitten out again. But no. That is black and white and the right size but that is a SKUNK omg. And the dog sees it. My grumpy little old man dog who’s half blind these days and BORKS HIS FOOL HEAD OFF at every other cat and dog in the neighborhood because he is all about that protect and serve, you know? I know he’s going to attack the skunk and I’ve never handled a sprayed animal before and this day is just too much so clearly I know he is going to get sprayed. My boyfriend is on the phone listening to me scream at the dog to “please do not attack the skunk!! Run away!!” I throw a pinecone to distract him. It’s no use. He goes right towards the skunk. And… they sniff each other. And my dog who attacks every animal he doesn’t know… does nothing. Like, all friendly hey what’s up little skunk man. And it’s a BABY skunk. It is so cute. I wait, in panic. But… it runs to hide under the shop, no spraying, nada. But if there’s a baby skunk doo doo do doo, then there’s a momma and maybe siblings and daddies and aunties and uncles. Oh my.

So I grab the dog and run in the house. I’m over today. 1, 3, 5, 7, 9… I Cannot Even Today. {Get it? That’s counting by odd numbers. No even numbers. Because, can’t even? My kiddos joke. Hilarious. I’m delirious? Who knows.}

E X H A U S T E D.

All cool. Very cool and good and ok. How was your day? Leave me some comments. Or come on over to my Twitter – @sunandsipcups – where I like to talk about politics and current events and staying hopeful in a world of idiots that is on fire in every way. Come cheer me up with bad puns and good jokes and memes and pics of your cats. K? Cool. All so very cool today.

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Random Rad Stuff

Since I whined a whole lot and you guys are such good listeners and I love you, here’s some stuff that doesn’t suck, ok? Yay! Just some randoms that I think are extra cool that I’ll share.

FabFitFun. You probably see the posts all over social media about them. A lot of people think only the “influencers” get cool stuff. But, I have a subscription I pay for myself, and get RAD stuff. I just paid for another full year subscription – I like to prepay, so that I get early access to customization and Add-Ons. I got my summer box recently but haven’t even put pics up – you’d think that being a pandemic and all, and me being immune compromised and staying home, that I’d have more time? No. I never have time. Anyway – you can see the Spring Box pics on my Facebook. And if you’re interested – sign up here and get $10 off your box. Every single box I’ve paid for the past year and a half, I’ve loved, and has been worth it.

Speaking of subscription boxes… I’m a junkie for them always. But extra more right now, since there is no leaving the house or shopping or anything like that. {I’m in Yakima, Washington. We have the highest rate of COVID19 cases on the West Coast. It’s bonkers.} I am super in love with BookishBox – last month’s theme was Harry Potter, and was one of my all-time faves of any subscription box I’ve ever gotten. My link gets you 10% off. Another really great book nerd box is Owl Crate – these have such fun stuff. And each month there is a hardcover book, signed, often with a handwritten note from the author with notes about the book/why they wrote it/etc, they’ll have special edition covers, or gilded edges. The personalized touch of a note from the author makes my daughter feel like it’s a super special package, and really motivates her to read. They have a kid’s box, the Owl Crate Jr. – but we get the young adult one, and read the book together. She’s 10, the stories are often in a fantasy, magical, adventure type them. We love it.

And, since we’re all shopping online, are you using Rakuten? It used to be called Ebates. You get cash back on almost everything you buy online. It isn’t *quite* as good as it used to be, I admit, since Pandemic life online shopping has got a little weird. A few sites no longer give cash back, like Target. But, I use this every time I shop, and rack up quite a bit of extra totally free money this way. If you aren’t using some type of cash back site, you are legit missing out. Sign up today and you’ll get a FREE $10 gift card. If you already use it, share it with your friends and get the referral bonus. #winning

How to Save $10 on Pet Food and Supplies on Amazon with Coupon!

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links, and any purchase you make through one of my links earns me $$.

Hey guys…. So, a couple of months ago I shared a post on how to get amazing deals on snacks, baking supplies, household goods, etc – by using the Amazon Prime Pantry stock-up deals, sales and coupons, and the extra bonus coupon they had at the time. It was, by far, one of my most popular posts in a long time! So, when I came across this rocking deal on using Amazon to save a ton of money on food, treats, and supplies for your pets, too – I knew I should share with ya. ;)

So I did a pretty sloppy job of covering up my personal address, I know. And I don’t really care… if y’all want to send me stuff in the mail, or show up for tea, I’m cool with that, lol. Anyway – this shows you the coupon deal, which is super great! If you spend $40 or more on selected pet items, they’ll take a big ol’ $10 right off of your purchase. Amazon prices are already really good – I shop around quite a bit in town for pet food, and everything I wanted on Amazon was slightly lower than what I pay in town. I also found a few really sweet sales. And then when you take the $10 off? Serious savings.

This is my first shipment, that I got last week. The deal is STILL going on, so I stocked up again and bought another big box that’ll be here soon. To give you an idea of savings… In town, buying cat food cans, Friskies is their fave, I average about .55 cents per can, whether I buy it per can at the grocery store, or in bulk. Here’s what I bought at Amazon:

Friskies Party Mix, the big container. {Side note: Do you see that cat’s face?? Like… what type of party is he having with those treats, man? Lol.} My big cat is obsessed with these, so she is pleased now. Or, at least as pleased as a grumpy feline can be. $7.97.
Purina Friskies Canned Wet Cat Food – 40 ct. Variety Pack, $20.48.
Purina Friskies Gravy Wet Cat Food Variety Pack, Extra Gravy Chunky – regularly $13.99, but right now you save $1.27, and it’s $12.72 for 24 cans.

So, this isn’t the order shown in the screenshot above, that’s the order I just put in today. I’ll share that too, in a sec. So, on this order the total for the cat food comes out to .51 cents per can, cheaper than even the best deals I find in town – but then once you add the big container of treats so that it’s over $40, and gets the $10 off – they’re way cheaper! Score, right? And here’s what I ordered today:

Purina Tidy Cats Lightweight 4-in-1 Strength Clumping Cat Litter – Normally $9.99, now $8.73.
9Lives Paté Favorites Wet Cat Food Variety Pack, 12 pack – Normally $7.56, save 48%! So it’s only $3.90. That’s a steal.
Purina Friskies Gravy Swirlers Adult Dry Cat Food – I got the small size, so it was $3.94.
Purina Friskies Wet Cat Food Variety Pack, Fish-A-Licious Shreds, 32 cans – Normally $18.50, save 10% so it’s $16.62.
Purina ONE Tender Selects Blend Adult Dry Cat Food – 3.5 lb bag, salmon flavored. My cats seem to prefer to devour seafood stuff, which is the absolute opposite of me. Ha. This is normally $8.49, save 13% so it’s $7.40.

So – all really great deals on brands and varieties that I already use, and then take another $10 off the total again! Whoo.

Now, a few tips on saving money on pet food at Amazon:

Here’s the selection to choose from: Save $10 When You Spend $40. This is a limited time deal, I have no idea how much longer it will last. I chose a few items I knew I needed – then, to get right close to that $40 mark, I used the search function at the top to “Sort By” price low-to-high. There are small treats, toys, etc. in the under $5 range.

Next, on each item’s page, some of them automatically go to the “subscribe and save” option. If you do that, you sometimes can save a couple bucks, but it won’t work with the coupon. So be sure to click the one time purchase button, before adding to cart.

Do you use the Honey app? I kept hearing about it forever, especially those promoted posts on Facebook. I never signed up, I just didn’t “get it” I guess? But it is SO cool. There are a million uses – I’m sure I’m missing loads, so feel free to give me tips in the comments. But what I did so far is add it to my Chrome toolbar. So the little icon is there, and every time I shop online, I will click it at checkout to see if it can find a better coupon code than what I have. And often, it does! You can use it with Ebates {now called Rakuten} sometimes, but not always. It’ll tell you if you can’t use both. Anyway – it works awesome with Amazon. Everything that’s in my cart, Honey will keep an eye on it, and every day I get email updates if prices dropped on stuff I want. So.freaking.cool. It also shows a little icon when you’re shopping on Amazon, to tell you if there’s a better deal on that same item from another seller. Sign up here to check it out totally free: Join Honey.

And, speaking of Ebates/Rakuten – did you know that it lets you earn cash back on some of your Amazon purchases?? HOW DID I NOT KNOW THAT?? Lol. I’ve used them for yeeaaaaars. But only recently realized this. Because I have that in my toolbar too, so it automatically reminds me anytime I’m checking out somewhere, and asks if I want to activate cash back. It doesn’t do that on Amazon. You have to go to Ebates first, then click through. You don’t earn cash back on pet food – but there are a ton of categories that you DO earn with – I’ve been buying clothing on Amazon more often, and you earn on almost all of that. Def worth signing up. Join Ebates here.

Did you know you can save on Amazon Prime? If you’re a regular Amazon shopper, you pretty much MUST HAVE PRIME. {Plus there’s all the perks like Prime-only pricing, free movies and audiobooks, etc.} If you have an EBT card, you get a discount on Prime. If you don’t have an EBT card, and don’t have Prime yet, you can get a free trial of Amazon Prime here. There’s also a free trial of Amazon Family {formerly Amazon Mom} – which gives you big discounts on diapers, and exclusive deals on baby items. All cool stuff. I have a pile of chronic illnesses these days, so I do the majority of my shopping using Amazon. Can’t recommend Prime enough, if you don’t already have it.

I hope you find these helpful and stock up on deals too!