I found a fatal flaw in the logic of love.

I'm Shipping Up To Boston

I put that song by The Dropkick Murphy's on a mix cd for my nephew for his 5th birthday.  We call it the pirate song.  I informed my pirate nephew yesterday that Uncle Evan and I were indeed shipping up to Boston tomorrow and that I would take pictures of the ships in the harbor for him.  Then he asked if he could come.

Tomorrow Evan and I are heading to Boston for a week so that he can attend a design conference and I can walk around and take photos for a week.  We'll be eating well, visiting family and regrouping and I couldn't be more excited to do so.

I'm giving myself a hiatus from internet/email/blogosphere except for intermittent Twitter updates.  So I'll give a full report with photos when we return.

Have a great week everyone!

Choose to be Healthy

Things I'm doing to make strides towards healthy living:

• Cut out all High Fructose Corn Syrup & Partially Hydrogenated Oils from our diet.
• Learning to treat meat as an accent to the meal, the bulk of the meal coming from grains and veggies.
• Shopping local for produce, the weather is nice and I love the Farmer's Market!
• Planning meals in advance which aids in saving money and eating more healthfully
• Taking a multi-vitamin every day
• Use Catalog Choice to get rid of unwanted/unneeded junk mail and catalogs that just cause me to want to spend money and keep up with the "Jones"
• Subscribed to Freecycle.org and have chosen a clean out the garage/basement day.
• Replaced the majority of our light bulbs with energy efficient ones.
• Seriously considering/planning on a Prius for our next car.
• Taking our dog for more walks.
• Organizing, de-cluttering and general spring cleaning of our abode.

Tell me, what steps do you take towards healthy living?

This is the List on our Chalkboard in our Kitchen Currently

Troa Tank
Rear wiper blade
Granola
Muffins
Cut Grass
Clean Sheets
Wine

Do with it what you will.

Bathroom Fixtures and Budgets

Last night Evan and I met our contractor at Home Depot for some bathroom shopping.  Side note: I borrowed our work truck which is a Chevy Silverado 3500 and I felt the other men at home depot worrying about their shrinking penises while comparing their trucks to mine (Evan said I shouldn't be thinking about other men's penises), but I digress.

Anyways, we were shopping for shower fixtures after already picking out the faucet for our sink and we were debating whether we needed the shower fixtures to match the sink faucet.  Evan had the opinion that yes, it should, but I was looking at the price of $185 and thinking "ummmm... if we just go with the same finish I'll be happy".  But I conceded to Evan since being a designer, he has a better eye for these things and we chose the matching set, which was the last box on the shelf!

At check out, the cashier called the manager over and they began discussing our shower set, I noticed a yellow sticker on the side of the box and pointed it out to Evan, they set was on sale for $120!  We rejoiced at the $70 we were saving.  However, once the manager walked away, the cashier told us that actually?  The shower kit had been discontinued and rang up in the system as $40.  FORTY DOLLARS.   Hello $145 cheaper than we expected!

That my friends, is how you stay on budget.

Question

Does anyone else equate the smell of lilies with dead people?

Coveting

   

Holland Tulip Festival

The Best Kind of Chaos

Squealing, laughing, giggling, tiny little people voices. 
The first "Auntie" except it sounded like "Augie".
Pure joy, child joy.
An abundance of love.

My heart is full even if my eyes are a bit heavy.

Yeah, I want one.  Maybe two.  Definitely not four though.

Welcome to the Romper Room

Tonight Evan and I are babysitting 4 kids under 5.  In our 1000 sq ft home.  With our dog and turtle.  On the agenda is a pizza/pj party and some Wii fun.  We'll see what kind of coordination these kids have.

Full report and photos tomorrow. 

If we survive.

Exactly How I Supported the Economy This Weekend

I've always known that I spend oodles of money when going to Target.  I swear they put something in the air so that when you walk in, you think of all of these things that you need want and have to have at that moment.  You also believe that you have the money to purchase all of said things.

This is not a new concept to Evan and I.  Normally we hit Target after church on a Sunday.  We go in with a list, dog food, method lavender spray, swiffer wet jet pads etc.... and we come out with raw hide bones, a new puzzle, 5 greeting cards for upcoming events, granola bars et al.  For example, a few months ago we went in for some of these items, and came out with a new book case.  Naturally.

The other thin we normally do at Target, is glance or deliberately meander down the video game aisle, checking out sale items and new releases.  We're nerds, we love our DS and our Playstation so this is what we do.  We also usually check to see if there are any Wii systems in stock.  Just a glance to have the knowledge that hey, they do exist on store shelves sometimes.  We never see them, sans once around Christmas time and the only reason we noticed was because there were a swarm of soccer mom's running to aisle, calling people on cell phones and all but pulling hair to get a system.  We laughed and walked on.

Oh we've dreamed of owning one.  We thought about using some of our Christmas money, or our tax returns but always decided something was a higher priority and also?  We could never really find one, so we were able to carry on with our Wii-less lives and push the thought further from our minds.

That is until yesterday, while passing the electronics section I glanced at the shelf and gasped.  Low and behold, there was a Wii system.  Silently taunting us.

Long story short.  Yesterday we walked into Target with a list:

Dry Dog Food
Method Lavender Spray
Kleenex

We walked out with:
Dry Dog Food
Method Lavender Wipes
Kleenex
Raw Hide Bones
3 Greeting Cards

and a Wii.