Last Friday seemed to be my lucky day for getting free stuff. My DS (10) won one of the new i-pod nano's with video. He dropped his name in a contest at a local community fair last weekend and was thrilled to find out that he won. I picked it up on Friday. Now if I could just find the time to call Apple Support to figure out why I cannot get it set up, we would be good to go. I also took my car in to my local tire/repair shop for a tire with a slow leak. They found a nail in the tire and patched it for free since I had bought the tire from them. Saved me about $20.00 so I was not about to complain about that.

I also finally finished painting both of my daughter's rooms. I am now being asked by me DD(8) when I will have more time to paint her room and her brother's rooms. I need to get thru Halloween (I usually sew some costumes) and then I can focus on more painting. In the meantime, I am keeping my eye out for good deals on paint. I really like MAB and they usually have a buy one/get one free sale about 2 times a year. I would love to be able to take advantage of that to get the additional paint. If I have to wait, in the meantime I have two bathrooms to paint and already have leftover paint from other projects that I will use for the bathrooms.

I also need frugal ideas for adult Halloween costumes that start with the letter "N". My neighbors host an annual Halloween party that has a different letter theme each year. Last year was "L". I went as a litterbox. I got a flat shirt box, glued kitty litter (yes - clean!) to the bottom, added "molded" tootsie rolls and pinned a stuffed cat to my shoulder. It was really funny and not hard to make. Another neighbor went as a lightening but - she made wings and attached large glow sticks - it was really cute. Others go all out and buy costumes. One year another neighbor who is male and over 6 ft. wore an inflatable "barmaid" costume and definitely deserved to win funniest costume. So, any frugal "N" costume ideas would be appreciated.