Miscellany: REI, pumpkin votives, & I want something unnecessary.

Happy Thursday, frugal peoples! It’s time for some miscellany.

REI is skipping Black Friday.

For real.   You can read all about it here.   They’re closing their stores and sites and encouraging people to go outside instead.

I don’t really love the way that Black Friday has been creeping backwards until it runs smack dab into Thanksgiving day, so I like that REI is going against the flow by giving their employees an extra paid day off.

And I love that they’re not afraid to make a decision that could hurt them financially.

(Although I feel hopeful that this will just solidify their customer base even more and possibly win over some new customers.)

I remembered to get out my pumpkin candles!

I’m not a big seasonal decorator unless it’s Christmastime (and even then, I don’t really go all out).

But I do own these little terracotta votive holders, which my girls love, and I actually remembered to get them out at the beginning of October this year. So, yay me.

I, uh, bought these at an after-Halloween clearance sale some years back. Because of course.

Can we talk about my dishes?

So, I’ve had these black Pfaltzgraff dishes for about 18 years now, and miraculously enough, a great percentage of them survived the years when my children were all small.

Well, that’s not entirely true.   I still have plenty of big dinner plates, but I’m a bit lacking in the smaller-plate department because a lot of those bit the dust.

Anyway, I’ve been wishing for a set of plain, minimalist-looking white dishes for some time now.

(Why yes, this would be partially motivated by the fact that white dishes are good for photography. Ahem.)

Also I just really dig white dishes.  But my frugal, practical self is having issues with this. I mean, the black dishes do still work fine.

I dunno.   I need to think about this some more.

I’m reading the new MoneySavingMom book.

It’s not published yet, but it IS available for pre-order on Amazon.   I was lucky enough to get an advance copy to read, though.

#bloggerperks

I’m only a few chapters in, but I’m liking it thus far, and I think it’d be really helpful for anyone looking to start up a business doing something they love.

Our router died.

This last weekend, our internet gave out, or at least it seemed that way.

Luckily, this is an area where Mr. FG shines, and he figured out the router had gone kaput.   He ordered a new one, but then rummaged through his spare parts box to hook up an old extra router while we waited for the new one to come in.   That way we didn’t have to be without internet for days.

Wives who blog appreciate these kinds of things, you know?

The new one router came yesterday, so now we are back in business for real.   I’m so glad that Mr. FG deals with our techie stuff because it’s really, really not my area of expertise.

There’s an ePantry giveaway goin’ on.

Enter to win a complete set of Mrs. Meyers’ products, which consists of one of everything they make!   Plus the winner gets a bonus set for a friend.   Schweet.

(14 items in all, with no purchase necessary.)

This is really quick giveaway, so if you want to win, enter right away! The winner will be emailed on Friday, October 30th.

And of course, you can also still snag your 3 free Mrs. Meyers’ products plus free scrub brush plus free shipping when you spend $20.  

(That offer is for new customers, but existing customers, click here and you’ll get a free Mrs. Meyer’s hand soap added to your next order!)

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Oohkay! I think that does it for this week’s miscellany.