things i like nowadays

1. Couponing. I follow a lot of bargain hunting/couponing blogs, but I could never really take advantage of the deals they posted because most coupons still come in print (even though you can get some online). Then I came across a fantastic deal for Sunday delivery of the LA Times--only $9.88 for one full year. I figure I can easily make back the $9.88 through coupons over the next year, so we now get Sunday newspaper delivery. For some reason I really enjoy getting the newspaper delivered to my doorstep on weekends. It's nice to laze about the day before another workweek starts and flip through the paper. The LA Times isn't that great, but I do get a kick out of getting much better coupons now.
   
   
2. Teaching Stewie new tricks. We always thought Stewie was a bit unteachable when it came to tricks (he's not the quickest dog in the world), and he is pretty picky when it comes to treats...he just won't eat some. He also doesn't really respond to praise or affection. But we finally came across a treat that he goes crazy over and that we feel okay feeding him regularly (dehydrated chicken breast), and I think he's gotten comfortable with us enough that his little brain can now take in new information. He's learned how to shake hands and how to stand up on his hind legs on command. Now I'm trying to teach him how to spin.
   
   
3. The AAA Westways Magazine. N's parents got us a membership to AAA now that we are car-owning folk. It's already proven very useful after Stewie locked himself in the car with the keys when we were filling up at a gas station in the middle of nowhere. Besides that, we started receiving their Southern California-specific magazine "Westways." It has a very comprehensive list of events for the following two months, and most of them are very interesting to me. For instance, this upcoming weekend is the US Open Sandcastle competition along with the La Habra Corn Festival. Although I would really love to go to the sandcastle contest, it's so far south it's almost at Tijuana. Hopefully we'll make it to the corn festival, though.
   
   
4. Carrot juice. It's sold at Costco in 3-bottle packs, organic, with no other ingredients besides carrots. It is completely refreshing, slightly sweet, and oh-so satisfying.
   
   
5. The X-Files. Having Netflix streaming allows for some really great old-TV episode viewing. It has the entire X-Files series on it...I remember loving the few episodes I watched when I was little and also being absolutely terrified by them. I first tried to watch all the episodes in succession, but then I decided to cut it down to the mythology episodes (which there are still a ton of). I still have about 15 mythology episodes to go until the series finale. I wish there were shows like the X-Files on nowadays.