Busy Monday, July 21

Today's 'To-Do' List

• Write this Blog 
• Write Menu
• Grocery Shopping
• Laundry
• Lunch with Peter
• School Supply Shopping with the Kids. - I have a $15 voucher from Staples because they couldn't fill my order that I had placed with them which of course upset me so I brought it up to them and they decided to compensate me. Works for me. I still think companies should be able to fill the orders but it is what it is and they did a lot more for me then some companies would so they've saved face.

Menu

Well things I had planned for last week didn't happen last week. Thankfully that was only really one real day that was totally off and we still ate out of the house.

• Chicken Curry, rice, peas
• Pulled Pork & Chips
• Spaghetti
• Turkey w/gravy, mashed potatoes, corn
• Pizza
• Banquet Country Chicken Bake (kid requested)
• Cheese Stuffed Chicken (kids went through cookbook), stuffing & green beans

This Week's 'To-Do' List

• Decide when I'm going on vacation. -- My cousin's wedding is coming up and I wanted to take the kids to go see my grandfather and other family up in South Dakota. It wasn't exactly a trip I 'planned' so I'm having to figure out how to juggle my vacation time. I have to make the decision ASAP!
• Go to the gym at least twice. - I haven't accomplished this even once in the last couple weeks but I'm going to keep putting it down. Though I am a bit demotivated since my pedometer has gone missing. 
•  Clean up around the house 
• Start packing for trip
• Finish cabinet door craft

Last Week

Tuesday... So my car A/C went out again and I took it into a new shop. Well it turned out it looks like it is not electrical but the chinese part keeps breaking on a sensor switch so if this one breaks again we will need to get a hold of the dealership and get an actual 'real' replacement. The guy at this other shop only charged us $40 and even showed me where the part he replaced was and explained how it worked and talked to me about some other engine noise which I had been wondering about. Needless to say another part I need to replace and probably should do it before I take this drive but Pete hasn't really talked to me much about it. Thankfully I have roadside assistance if need be. 

Wednesday, I was at work and just checking Facebook real quick and I saw a posting from a custom cabinet store we have used. They had 250 thermal wrapped mdf cabinet doors for free!! So after work I called Brielle to let her know I was going to be late and I drove out the half hour it takes to get to the shop and while I didn't find any doors that would fit my kitchen cabinets like I had hoped I did grab a bunch to do crafts with. 

Thursday after work I took the girls down to the library since I had a book that was overdue so I wanted to take care of that and pick up another book (The last one I had since the beginning of April I think it was I just haven't had time to read). I showed Brielle how to talk to the people there because she needed to find a new series but really liked the last series she read so I showed her if you just ask the people there will be more than happy to help you look up authors and series of books that are similar in ways to other authors or series. 

Friday... Earlier in the week a friend of mine gave me box upon box of old candle jars with wax in them. I've got all sorts of different scents of wax now. I ended up Friday having time to process 3 jars of the wax. Lemon bar! My house smelled amazing!

Saturday all morning we were busy on the yard and the house.  We had to get ready for a big cookout. It wasn't suppose to get that big but it did. I think at our peak we had 20-21 people (including us)! We cooked out a bunch of food, set off fireworks and then amazingly the kids all played and the grownups got to sit around and talk!! It was a wonderful night as we all told stories of things our kids have done or stupid stuff we did as kids. Brielle had a friend spend the night also. 

Sunday we realized that in our wild and crazy party (not really but it sounds good) our toilet seat broke so Peter and I went out to buy a new toilet seat. We then went to the game shop so Peter could pick up a couple packs of cards and then we went over to Jo-Ann's because I'm thinking of things to do with these cabinet doors that I got. After coming home I sat around for awhile and pouted and then pushed myself out the door and went to goodwill and a couple different dollar stores. I came home and started a cabinet door project. It isn't quite done yet I realized I better put in the hanging hooks before attaching everything else because with the doors being mdf they may need more pressure to screw things in. 

Busy Monday, July 14

Today's 'To-Do' List

• Write this Blog 
• Write Menu
• Grocery Shopping
• Laundry
• Make sure the kids go through all their clothes so we can start making a back to school wish list

Menu

• ... Truthfully no bloody clue. I'm going to have to dig through ads. We are not very stocked we cleared the fridge before vacation, we just had a weekend of a houseful of unexpected guests too so our pantry and freezer are looking a little sad too.
  Hopefully next week I'll be more organized! 

This Week's 'To-Do' List

• Take the van to the mechanic Tuesday.
• Go to the gym at least twice. - I've totally slacked on this and need to get back on it one way or another even if it's just swimming with the kids.
•  Clean up around the house
• Get luggage into attic - Have to wait on my husband for this I found out I have an extreme allergy to our insulation and it causes me to break out in hives. 

Last Week

Perhaps I should say the last weeks! It's been crazy it really has!

Peter and I went to the Ren Fair one weekend with some friends of ours. It was very hot and humid and a few times I tried to collapse from it so there was much drinking of water and of course home brewed root beer

My turkey leg lunch! It was HUGE needless to say I could not finish it!!

.

Our knight we were cheering for. The poor horse didn't want to get up and go but we found out later that the horse was 21! Which is pretty darn old for a horse! All of the horses for the Ren Fair are rescue horses! Pretty darn awesome!

So as you know the A/C in my van didn't work the compressor was out and it needed some other parts changed. So about $1100 later and a week without my van I finally get my van back after playing the car shuffle with Peter and I have an A/C! Awesome! We get the kids from the airport before vacation and get all the way to N.C. for a couple days on the beach. 

While in N.C. Hurricane Arthur had other ideas and we lost a day but at least we were not evacuated which was a very real possibility and if we had been up at Nagg's Head like we normally are then we would have been.
Where we were at though had their fireworks scheduled for Thursday the 3rd instead of on the 4th so of course we were not having fireworks during a hurricane so on the 4th we drove inland to a small community and went to their fireworks display. It was a very nice area without a bunch of tourists like we were and people were out having picnics and it was just a generally nice time. 

The kids got their faces painted and got balloon animals from a clown.

We all shared some funnel cake.

We watched a very pretty and very good fireworks displayed. 

So after the fireworks we went back out to the van to get back to the rental house and the AC would not turn on and my poor car was acting like she had a tank full of water not gas. She's been acting this way for awhile so the same day we were leaving for vacation I had her oil changed and her fuel injection system cleaned. So no AC we're driving back and it's hot and humid and there is an accident on the road so it takes us over an hour to get back. The car shutters before we are almost back and completely turns off. We get her going again and get back to the house. From there I'm calling my father back in Oregon to talk to him and Peter is googling things. Thankfully this time with the last shutter my check engine light came on which had not been on before. Peter read the code and we figured out what we thought the problem was. By 8am we had the car loaded because it was our last day there and though I had wanted to spend more time on the beach we decided to head out and we had located the closest autozone. We bought the $12 piece and they loaned us some tools and we spent a little money on some other tools and Pete changed out the part while I walked the girls over to Bojangles' to figure out something to eat. Pete got it changed and my van has been acting good ever since and the check engine light went off. So that Monday after we got back I got up early and took the van down to the shop because the AC wasn't working. They kept it for a week and then said it was an electrical problem that isn't covered by my warranty even though there was never this problem before because you could make the compressor kick on it just didn't work. So now Tuesday I take the van back down to be worked on by another person and Peter and I are trying to decide how much money to put into this project because it is draining us. I do know though I have a 16 hour drive in a couple weeks (that's not counting stops for food or potty) with just myself and the kids and I really need to have an AC for this trip. I'm going out to visit family and one of my cousins is getting married. 

Peter cutting up a limb in my messy backyard (person we hired to come clean up the yard never has shown up. Never pay upfront for services!

Otherwise I've been really hard at work at work. They've had me all over the place and with meetings and just UGH I don't want to think about what I have to go back to tomorrow! It's really been stressful which is why I'm so far behind on my Monday updates. 

 Here are some other pictures though from my vacation. 
(Dairy Queen at Topsail)

(Sound Water)

(The drive home coming through the Smokies)

Picture from last week of the kids washing the car. 

We also had a full weekend long sleep over with two of their friends I just haven't uploaded any pictures but they washed my van for me. Any excuse to get into the water since it's been so hot and humid recently.