Hayden's Business Plan

So Hayden has been talking about his beer making company a lot lately. This afternoon he told me and Phedora over lunch what everyone will be doing. Apparently every one in the family has a job to do. Nana gets to load the boxes of beer into the truck, Grampee gets to close the truck doors. Hayden is going to drive the truck while Dan sits in the passenger seat with him. Myself, Phedora and Grandma are the beer tasters. Grandpa gets to change the tires if they get a flat. Auntie Kiki and Uncle John get to watch the truck drive away and then close up the shop. I asked him who was going to make the beer and he said that the other guys in the factory will make the beer.

Just thought I would share the plan so that we are all on the same page and know what our jobs are when the time comes :)

Our Weekend

This weekend went by too fast. This also happens to be something we say every weekend and this one is no exception. Saturday morning Dan had to go in for a few hours and I had to be to the pool by noon to register the kids for swimming lessons. I took off and headed over to the pool following the directions the lady gave me on the phone. Of course I get lost so I call Dan who looks it up and walks me through it turn by turn. I was actually at the pool when I called him but it seemed so small and there was no sign. Anyway I get there and there are a few people in front of me. I however have come prepared with the registration form filled out. No one else bothered to do that. Sp while they are all filling out the form I am getting the kids into our first choice. Yeah! So we start swimming lessons this morning at 11. IN a non holiday week we would go M-F this week and M-Th next. Each class is 25 min and 9 days long. However, since its the 4th on Friday we wont have class. We are hoping that the swim classes will help out with the kids and some behavioral problems we have been having lately. I am looking forward to 25 minutes soaking up the sun pool side as well.

After I got back we had some lunch and headed over to Sears to look at another elliptical machine I found on line. We got there and looked at it, looked good got on it and started going and... squeak, squeak, squeak. Ok next. There's quite a few on sale and a few floor models and are available for a really good deal. But we did that with the washer and it turned out to be an ordeal so we decide new is best. We try out all the Nordic Tracks and they seem weak at best. Then I hop on this Horizon, its really just for fun since its a bit out of our price range. We wanted to stay under $400 and this one was $599 on sale. I get up and start going and I am instantly in love. Dan is over on a Nordic Track with no price on it and he liking that one. So we switch. The Nordic Track is nice I like it but I am sure that its at least a G note. Dan likes the Horizon which is on a good sale its $400 off! We go over and ride a few bikes, but I really want an elliptical. We see the sale is going on until the 7th and decide to go home read the reviews and sleep on it. Its a big purchase after all.

After sears we took the kids over to the play area for a little bit. Afterwards we walk over to see what time Wall E is playing. The next one starts at 4 so we buy tickets and go over and watch the water fountain for a bit. It was pretty hot out so when I say a bit I mean it! Wall E was such a cute movie and the kids loved it. Phedora wanted to stay and watch it again.

Sunday, Dan mowed the lawn and I cleaned up the kitchen. Then we headed over to Sears to buy our new elliptical machine. After reading the reviews and it getting 4.4 out of 5 stars we were pretty much sold on it. We did spend the extra $100 to get an additional 3 year warranty. When we got home Dan had to go pick up Jake and Jenna from the airport. He brought them back here so that Jake could help him bring it in. Its a big heavy box. Last night we all put it together and I did 20 minutes on it. I thought I was going to die. I did another 30 this morning and I am loving it. I am so happy that we got this one instead of the others that we looked at. All in all it was a great weekend. The only thing that went wrong was Dan didn't respect the V slicer and sliced the tip of his finger off. It made it a little more difficult to put the elliptical together but he managed.

Annoyed with WalMart

Dan said he wanted to get me an elliptical machine for my birthday. So, last night we went over to WalMart to look at one I found online. We get there and its up on a shelf. So we pull it down. I am not about to buy one without trying it out first. The sticker on it says that its $329. Online its $268 and you can have it shipped to the store for no charge. What the... So I go find a guy and ask him why its so much more here in the store. We show him on Dan's phone that its $268 online. He goes and talks to a manager. Then comes back and tells me that I can just buy it online and have it shipped to the store. What kind of a store doesn't even price match their own online price??? Needless to say I am pissed and am done shopping at WalMart. I will go pay the extra few cents and shop at Target from now on.

Today I want to go over to Sears and look at one I found online. It seems pretty nice though the reviews are mixed on it. But its a good sale its regular $500 on sale for $350 and maybe even cheaper in store. Apparently its last years model so its on close out. Wish me luck!

My Birthday

Well, I officially have one year left of my twenties! I better make it a good one :) Yesterday was my best birthday in the past six years. The kids and I spent the morning going to play dates and running errands. I was oh so excited that I was finally going to have a Sprinkles cupcake. The kids and I headed up to Scottsdale yesterday afternoon and got 4 cupcakes for $14.03. They better be good right!?! Hayden got the cinnamon sugar, Phedora a vanilla milk chocolate and two black and whites for Dan and I. We came home and Dan took the kids to the store to get stuff for dinner. The kids brought me some pretty daisy's.

For dinner, Dan made the moistest chicken breast I have ever eaten and seared scallops with the a butter sauce drizzle. The sauce was so light and refreshing with a hint of citrus and ginger. Mmmm it was delicious! He also made a crab risotto, stuffed mushrooms and steamed broccoli and carrots. Everything was wonderful. I am so happy that I have such a great hubby who loves to cook fabulous food. You all were missing out last night!

Here's a few pics that I took during the preparation of dinner.

Dan being his usual goof-ball self. This is why I love him....

The kids taking after their daddy, being goof-balls too.

Dan drizzling on the butter sauce. Again this was the best sauce ever.
The finish plate. Sorry about the shadow. It was so good!

Sprinkles Cupcakes...

They were dry and crumbly. They were not all that I had expected and then some and were definitely not worth the $14.03 we paid for them. But to give them the benefit of the doubt we bought them at 1 in the afternoon, they were probably made in the wee hours of the morning and we ate them at 7 at night. We are going to give them another try, but head up at open and eat it right then. But we both have had much better cupcakes before. They sure are pretty though and we didn't end up with a half a cake left to eat afterwards. So in the end it worked out.

All in all I had a great birthday, I just wish all of you could have been here with us.

Thoughts on future projects

I haven't blogged in awhile so I guess I should do a update. We have been busy trying to keep busy. We had a nice relaxing weekend. Well relaxing for us I guess. Saturday we lounged around for a few hours and then went up to the goodwill. I have not had any luck finding anything good since we got down here though. It seems like people take stuff to the goodwill that would be better off in the trash. I am specifically looking for a little shelf like this once I saw at Ikea. I want to see if I can find something similar and then paint it. I am really just being cheap though and will most likely go buy the shelf one of these days. This is the shelve that I saw at Ikea. I figured we could hang it up and put a little table underneath it. Phedora has this cute little tea set that is in need of a home and it would be perfect in here.

I am hoping to get a sewing machine in the next month or two. I cant wait to be able to make some stuff for the kids' rooms. My first project will be to make both the kids some curtains. I want to make Hayden some Thomas and Phedora Dora. I then want to make some curtains for the rest of the house. We have all these little windows that need a covering. But they are so small that I cant find curtains for them. Not to mention I am sure once I find them they will cost a small fortune. I have been looking at sewing machines but I am not sure which one I would like to get yet. So if anyone has one that they love I would love to hear about it.

I'm also going to plant a container garden out back. I need to look into a little more as it may be too late in the season. I want to plant some herbs and a few vegetables. Initially I wanted to rake all the rock aside in the back corner and plant in the ground. But the ground is so hard I think I would need a roto-tiller and I don't have one. Plus I imagine with the ground being so hard the soil is probably not the best to plant in. So since last year I was able to produce some vegetables out of the container garden I wanted to try again. Hopefully I can get that up and going this weekend. If not I may have to wait and just plant some pretty flowers. Which would be nice too.

Espee Park with Grampee

Monday I took the kids and Grampee up to Espee Park to play for a little bit. We were there for probably 45 minutes or so. It was pretty hot out!

Hayden is trying to get Grampee to come play in the water. As a last resort he starts kicking the water at him. He is determined to get Grampee wet at least.

Father's Day

Dan spent his father's day doing what he loves to do best. On Sunday, we had a little BBQ with Dan's parents and his dad's friend from Jr. High and his wife and son. Dan made BBQ ribs and they were the best yet. We were a little bummed that we couldn't find any good corn to go with our dinner. His mom made a potato salad and I made a fruit tart for dessert. It turned out pretty good for it being my first attempt at a tart. The only thing I would have done differently was made my own crust. We bought those pre-made pie shells that you just bake and fill. Well while it was baking the shell fell on one side cracked on the other and overall just didn't look good.