Friday, October 31, 2008

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

The Once In a Lifetime Perfect Costco Day

Thought I'd hit Costco on Monday to get steaks for dinner and see if by chance they sold elephant costumes. When I pulled up, the VERY first spot in the parking lot -- the closest possible you could be to the carts and door -- was available. Does that EVER happen?

I found my steaks, loaded up on fruit and other grocery and frozen items and SKIPPED TP, paper towels, water and diapers!! Didn't need any of that stuff for the first time ever! I had LEFTOVER space in my cart! THAT never happens!

Check out lines were short, boxes were available and total bill was under $250. THAT'S never happened either!

Skipped my cart to the first parking space, tossed in my few items and once again very much appreciated that I didn't have water to lug into the car and then to the garage and all the other light, yet bulky items that take up so much space--like TP and paper towels. And of course knelt down in the parking lot and gave thanks that I didn't have to buy diapers.

FINALLY, the cart return was right next door to my car. I smiled at the man waiting for my spot and passed on the good Karma to him as I pulled out. Perfect day at Costco. Don't even mind that they don't have elephant costumes.

P.S. If you still love bottled water and ignore the landfill arguments, preferring to focus on the wonderful world of recycling plastic bottles into who knows what, you can buy water from Office Depot and have it delivered (FREE delivery for orders over $50) to your home--directly to your garage or wherever your storage facility may be. At $7.99 for 24 20 oz. bottles, it's more expensive than Costco. But there are alway $20 off coupon for orders of $100 or more. So it comes to about $5.75 a case. And that is worth the extra .75 a case to have it delivered and not have to haul it into your cart than into your car than out of your car and into your garage 15 times!!!

Friday, October 24, 2008

Current Conversations

This is the conversation I'm overhearing right now from my 7-year-old:
Christopher: I've learned a lesson -- you should never get drunk.
Friend: Why?
Christopher: Because you go crazy.
Friend: Who did you learn that from?
Christopher: My friend who got drunk.
Friend: Who's the friend who got drunk?
Christopher: _____ (I'll keep him nameless, but he is also 7. However, I really don't think he's ever been drunk.)
And now the voices have faded away and I can't hear anymore.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Pumpkin Carving


My favorite night of all the year... at least I try to get excited. And it never is really as bad as I keep thinking it's going to be. Lots of newspaper makes for an easy clean-up and Dan gutted Nicholas' and helped Christopher. We made Marty gut his own this year, which DID NOT make him happy. He wouldn't let me take his picture because I think he was about to puke -- seriously, gutting the pumpkin nearly sends him over the edge. I don't think this one is cut out to be a doctor. As for me, I also bailed on sliming through all the guts to gather all the seeds. I've been pretty dutiful in the past in getting those seeds, washing, drying and roasting them. And the OCD side of me can't let even one seed go to waste. I have to waste 3 minutes separating slime from one single seed instead of just taking the easy ones and not bothering those covered in goop. But I liberated myself this year and I don't have an ounce of regret!







Rebekah sent us a great carving kit and I fell in love with this cute spider web. And then I remembered I'm no artist and my pumpkin's about 2 inches thick and soon realized this was WAY over my head. So I wonder how long this will sit on my counter or if I actually finish it... Happy Halloween!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Spiritual Boost

I just thought this was a must-see. A few things I noticed... In 8th grade I wore the same glasses as the lady back-up singer. Also, I was impressed by how rock-n-roll adventuresome the guitar back-up gets as exhibited by his not wearing shoes. Crazy wild!