12 divided by 3 equals 3 because I said so! Today while deciding which length of shelving we should buy at Home Depot I came up with the conclusion that we should buy a 12 foot piece and then we'd be able to cut it into 3 foot lengths and get 3 pieces. Peter's idea was to buy two 6 foot pieces and cut them in half so we could make 4-3 foot long shelves. However, the 12 foot long piece was cheaper so I convinced him to get the longer piece and had somehow come to the conclusion that we would only have three shelves instead of four. Now the funny thing was I knew that 12 divided by 3 equaled 4, but for some reason I was thinking of four foot long pieces and I only wanted three foot long pieces. So if I took 12 divided by 3 I would get 3 with some left over. Peter bought my idea and went with it. We laid the shelving stuff on the floor, measured out three feet and cut it. Then we measured another three feet and realized that our third piece would be really long. At which point Peter starts laughing and tells me that 9 divided by 3 equaled 3. Sad part was I couldn't figure out why he was coming up with 9 when we had 12 feet. Shortly thereafter I clued in. So just to let you all know 12 divided by 3 equals 3 with a remainder of 3 so you really get four shelves. :)
Now trust me as a teacher, I do know how to do math...I was really good at it when I was in school. Plus Peter the engineer took awhile to figure it out too. :)
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Why doesn't life have a rewind button?
A couple funny mishaps have occurred within the last couple of days. Peter would like to emphasize that he is not the only culprit here. For example, while making my family's famous peppermint fudge I had the teaspoon upside down as I tried to pour out 1 teaspoon of peppermint extract. I couldn't figure out why the spoon wasn't filling up...duh! I'll post the recipe later...its late and Santa won't come if I'm still awake :)
Then today Peter and I were sorting out gifts which ones we wanted to open at my parents' house and which at his parents' house. He wrapped each individual gift for me so it looks like I have like 7 or so gifts from him. I on the other hand stuffed as much as I could into one box, so he has 3 gifts. Now of those 7 gifts, he has left clues as to what they are. By clues I mean, he left the receipt to one gift on the table. Another I told him I found a nice sweater that I liked at the store. He ran out and got that for me. And the third...my recent watch broke and its been driving me nuts not to have a watch on. I was about to go get myself one when he clearly let me know that wasn't a good idea. So yes I knew I was getting a watch...then today it was so funny. So back to the sorting the gifts out, he says, "This one at your parents, this one at my parents, the Pooh watch can go here." Poor Peter, this isn't the first time he let slide the secret he had been keeping from me. So I'm getting a Pooh watch to replace my last pooh watch that broke. How thoughtful :)
Then today Peter and I were sorting out gifts which ones we wanted to open at my parents' house and which at his parents' house. He wrapped each individual gift for me so it looks like I have like 7 or so gifts from him. I on the other hand stuffed as much as I could into one box, so he has 3 gifts. Now of those 7 gifts, he has left clues as to what they are. By clues I mean, he left the receipt to one gift on the table. Another I told him I found a nice sweater that I liked at the store. He ran out and got that for me. And the third...my recent watch broke and its been driving me nuts not to have a watch on. I was about to go get myself one when he clearly let me know that wasn't a good idea. So yes I knew I was getting a watch...then today it was so funny. So back to the sorting the gifts out, he says, "This one at your parents, this one at my parents, the Pooh watch can go here." Poor Peter, this isn't the first time he let slide the secret he had been keeping from me. So I'm getting a Pooh watch to replace my last pooh watch that broke. How thoughtful :)
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Toilet Repair 101
A few months ago our downstairs toilet started leaking. We bought a new flapper and fixed the problem. A couple weeks ago our master bedroom toilet started leaking. The noise kept Peter up most of the night. His quick fix was to turn the water off until he could get a new flapper. Last weekend we bought a new flapper and he fixed the toilet. Shortly thereafter he told me the flapper wasn't the problem and the toilet still was leaking so he turned the water off. About five minutes after that I hear running water upstairs. Yes the spare/guest room toilet was leaking now. Now what are the chances of having three toilets fall apart in the same time frame? Upon further investigation the spare room toilet had a kinked chain or something so that was an easy fix. However the master bathroom toilet is still a nuisance. A second trip to Home Depot and we came home with a flush valve shank washer. Peter insisted that this must be the problem. I suggested we buy one of the complete toilet innards in a box type of thing and then if one thing didn't work we could replace it until we found the problem and stop making trips to Home Depot. Yes I'd rather have too much than too little, after all we do have three toilets, the parts will come in handy some day. Well Peter was convinced that the washer was what we needed so we bought that and headed home.
This morning he decided to fix the toilet. He reads the directions on the back of the box:
1-Turn off water supply to toilet and drain tank. Check!
Remove tank from bowl. "Uh how do I do that?" Me-"Well there's screws at the bottom, probably unscrew those and it'll come off."...remove tank from bowl. Check!
2-Remove flush valve, clean tank bottom where shank washer seats. "What's a flush valve?" Me-"I don't know." He consulted the Internet and it said the flush valve is the same as the flapper (The people at Home Depot later said this was not true.).
So he cleaned everything he could. Check!
3-Replace worn shank washer with new, place tapered edge down. "I can't figure out how to get the washer off."...he disappears for awhile and then I hear water running. Mind you the part is still sitting next to me as I'm typing down the instructions. He comes downstairs and tells me he put the toilet back together and turned the water on. No more leaks...well for the first few minutes at least. He's heading back to Home Depot...not sure what he'll come home with, but if it was me I'd buy the complete set...but given I'm not heading to Home Depot for the third time, I'll fill you all in as to what he comes home with.
"There's this tube that goes through the middle of the tank, there's a big old gasket that sits on the tube and does miraculous things to keep water out." -Peter, toilet repair guru.
"We'll call ours Moses when we get it to work, a Moses gasket."
Story from Home Depot: Peter's goal as he goes to Home Depot is to look perplexed and let them spill their guts. The only problem is if you run into more than one employee you'll get different advice which compounds the problem. Guy #1 said the only problems you could possibly have is the flapper or the floating filler mechanism. Guy #2 said, "You have an angled flapper old toilets have those, you need this special flapper to fit your toilet." Mind you there were like 10 different flappers there. Now Peter's thinking, gee the last flapper I used worked and all the toilets in my house are the same.
Well he returned from Home Depot and got another flapper and washer but this time he got one that had some kind of sealant in a tube. He also got the complete toilet repair kit to use just in case his idea doesn't work. He put the toilet together and announced that it wasn't leaking. Then we headed out the door to a Christmas party. When we returned this evening, much to our dismay the dang toilet was leaking again! ARG!!!! The water is off again and perhaps we'll try again tomorrow morning. After all we have a complete repair kit now :) We're bound to find the problem.
This morning he decided to fix the toilet. He reads the directions on the back of the box:
1-Turn off water supply to toilet and drain tank. Check!
Remove tank from bowl. "Uh how do I do that?" Me-"Well there's screws at the bottom, probably unscrew those and it'll come off."...remove tank from bowl. Check!
2-Remove flush valve, clean tank bottom where shank washer seats. "What's a flush valve?" Me-"I don't know." He consulted the Internet and it said the flush valve is the same as the flapper (The people at Home Depot later said this was not true.).
So he cleaned everything he could. Check!
3-Replace worn shank washer with new, place tapered edge down. "I can't figure out how to get the washer off."...he disappears for awhile and then I hear water running. Mind you the part is still sitting next to me as I'm typing down the instructions. He comes downstairs and tells me he put the toilet back together and turned the water on. No more leaks...well for the first few minutes at least. He's heading back to Home Depot...not sure what he'll come home with, but if it was me I'd buy the complete set...but given I'm not heading to Home Depot for the third time, I'll fill you all in as to what he comes home with.
"There's this tube that goes through the middle of the tank, there's a big old gasket that sits on the tube and does miraculous things to keep water out." -Peter, toilet repair guru.
"We'll call ours Moses when we get it to work, a Moses gasket."
Story from Home Depot: Peter's goal as he goes to Home Depot is to look perplexed and let them spill their guts. The only problem is if you run into more than one employee you'll get different advice which compounds the problem. Guy #1 said the only problems you could possibly have is the flapper or the floating filler mechanism. Guy #2 said, "You have an angled flapper old toilets have those, you need this special flapper to fit your toilet." Mind you there were like 10 different flappers there. Now Peter's thinking, gee the last flapper I used worked and all the toilets in my house are the same.
Well he returned from Home Depot and got another flapper and washer but this time he got one that had some kind of sealant in a tube. He also got the complete toilet repair kit to use just in case his idea doesn't work. He put the toilet together and announced that it wasn't leaking. Then we headed out the door to a Christmas party. When we returned this evening, much to our dismay the dang toilet was leaking again! ARG!!!! The water is off again and perhaps we'll try again tomorrow morning. After all we have a complete repair kit now :) We're bound to find the problem.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
December Nights
Tonight we went to December Nights at Balboa Park. (Formerly known as Christmas at the Prado.) This happens the first Friday and Saturday in December every year. This used to be more of a community holiday celebration. They used to have carolers, singing groups, bell ringers and other performing groups as well as multicultural performances and goodies. Now it has turned into a secondary county fair with a few Christmas carols on the speakers. Two years ago (our official first date) we tried to go there, but the traffic was so bad that we gave up and went to Horton Plaza and went ice skating on their outdoor rink instead. As you can see this adventure was a success in many ways :) **For single guys, take note; ice skating on an outdoor rink is romantic and encourages the girl to hold your hand...or else fall on her butt.
Well today we made it there and boy was it crowded! We had to park really far away and take the trolley to the park. The line for the trolley was about 45 minutes long. When we finally got on, the driver said yesterday there was an estimated 147,000 people. I'm thinking there were probably that many if not more tonight. We walked all over everywhere and at one point looked out from a top view and saw a massive crowd. We stopped and got pansit, lumpia, rice, and a chicken thingy from the house of the Philippines. Peter got Perogies (potato and cheese dumplings) from the house of Poland. To top it all off we shared a strawberry funnel cake from one of the booths. It was great. We also went inside the model train museum. This was probably the best part. Trains, trains, trains and more trains. It's a loooooong track. They had a children's section with Lego trains. Peter thought the Lego cows grazing were pretty funny. It is 28,000 sq feet-the largest operating model train museum-basically the equivalent a supermarket. It was pretty cool!
Well today we made it there and boy was it crowded! We had to park really far away and take the trolley to the park. The line for the trolley was about 45 minutes long. When we finally got on, the driver said yesterday there was an estimated 147,000 people. I'm thinking there were probably that many if not more tonight. We walked all over everywhere and at one point looked out from a top view and saw a massive crowd. We stopped and got pansit, lumpia, rice, and a chicken thingy from the house of the Philippines. Peter got Perogies (potato and cheese dumplings) from the house of Poland. To top it all off we shared a strawberry funnel cake from one of the booths. It was great. We also went inside the model train museum. This was probably the best part. Trains, trains, trains and more trains. It's a loooooong track. They had a children's section with Lego trains. Peter thought the Lego cows grazing were pretty funny. It is 28,000 sq feet-the largest operating model train museum-basically the equivalent a supermarket. It was pretty cool!
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Apple Recipes
Baked Apple Pancake
1/2 (1/4 cup) stick unsalted butter
1 1/4 pounds firm, tart apples (about 3 medium) such as Granny Smith, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4 inch-thick slices
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 large eggs
1/2 cup whole or low fat milk
1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
Confectioner's sugar
1. Preheat oven to 425F. Melt butter over medium-high heat in an ovenproof 10 inch skillet. Add apples, granulated sugar, and cinnamon and cook, stirring occasionally until the apples begin to brown and most of the juices have evaporated, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove skillet from heat.
2. Combine eggs, milk, flour, and salt in a food processor and process until smooth. (This can also be down with an electric mixer or by hand with a whisk.)
3. Spread the browned apples evenly across the bottom of the pan. Pour the batter over the apples. Place the skillet in the oven and bake until the pancake is golden and puffed, 18-20 minutes.
4. Remove the pan from the oven and let the pancake rest for five minutes. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar, cut into wedges and serve immediately.
Serves 4-6
***Note we cook it in a regular skillet and then put in either a glass/metal pan or corningware to cook in the oven. We like it so much we make a double batch if we're making for more than just the two of us. We got this recipe from the Internet and love it!
Apple Cranberry Crisp
2 cups cranberries
3 cups sliced peeled apples
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 cup all purpose flour
5 tablespoons butter, room temperature
Combine cranberries, apples, granulated sugar, lemon juice and salt; turn into a shallow, buttered 1 1/2 quart baking dish. Combine brown sugar, oats and flour. Cut in butter. Spoon over cranberry-apple mixture. Bake at 325 for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until topping is crispy and fruit is tender.
***Also got this recipe from the Internet and we love it too!
1/2 (1/4 cup) stick unsalted butter
1 1/4 pounds firm, tart apples (about 3 medium) such as Granny Smith, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4 inch-thick slices
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 large eggs
1/2 cup whole or low fat milk
1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
Confectioner's sugar
1. Preheat oven to 425F. Melt butter over medium-high heat in an ovenproof 10 inch skillet. Add apples, granulated sugar, and cinnamon and cook, stirring occasionally until the apples begin to brown and most of the juices have evaporated, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove skillet from heat.
2. Combine eggs, milk, flour, and salt in a food processor and process until smooth. (This can also be down with an electric mixer or by hand with a whisk.)
3. Spread the browned apples evenly across the bottom of the pan. Pour the batter over the apples. Place the skillet in the oven and bake until the pancake is golden and puffed, 18-20 minutes.
4. Remove the pan from the oven and let the pancake rest for five minutes. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar, cut into wedges and serve immediately.
Serves 4-6
***Note we cook it in a regular skillet and then put in either a glass/metal pan or corningware to cook in the oven. We like it so much we make a double batch if we're making for more than just the two of us. We got this recipe from the Internet and love it!
Apple Cranberry Crisp
2 cups cranberries
3 cups sliced peeled apples
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 cup all purpose flour
5 tablespoons butter, room temperature
Combine cranberries, apples, granulated sugar, lemon juice and salt; turn into a shallow, buttered 1 1/2 quart baking dish. Combine brown sugar, oats and flour. Cut in butter. Spoon over cranberry-apple mixture. Bake at 325 for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until topping is crispy and fruit is tender.
***Also got this recipe from the Internet and we love it too!
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Thanksgiving Fun
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with fun, family and games. Wednesday I went to my parents house to help clean up and get ready for guests. Peter came over after work and then Abbie, Rafe and their dog Ruby showed up around 6:30. They drove down from the bay area. Ruby is 13 and Gracie (my family's golden retriever) 6 played a bunch. It was funny to watch Ruby bump Gracie with her nose and then spring backward and want to play. Of course Gracie would play, but she had more energy than Ruby, so Ruby would end up leaving the game first. We had a fun evening. Thursday was Turkey Day! Peter volunteered to be in charge of the bird. He brined it(soaked it in water and herbs and stuff) and that made it nice and juicy when it cooked. It was great!
After dinner which was rather early, we all took a nap. Several of us were out for a long time, which made it easy for us to stay up until midnight playing games. Peter and I introduced my family to Apples to Apples, Scum, Pit and we introduced Nerts (which is hard to play with a lot of people) to Peter. We also played Disney Scene It #2. Peter was at the end first, but he missed the winning question and I caught up and beat him :) My mom and sister clearly lost.
Friday morning we made apple pancakes for my family. They are like German pancakes (you cook them in the oven and they fluff up) with apples in them. They are oh so good! Peter's great at making them, and I love them, so we eat them often. Then Abbie, Rafe, Peter and I headed out to La Jolla. We went to the Mangelsen Gallery where we bought a poster of a bear holding a fish. Thomas Mangelsen's most famous photo is called "Catch of the Day" it is of a brown bear standing over a waterfall and a fish jumps out of the water and is headed towards the bear's mouth. My dad has that poster in his office. After that we headed down to the children's pool and watched some cute critters.
At one point there were two divers in the water and they spooked the seals. I took a video clip, but it's not working on this site I keep getting error notes...arg. Basically it was the seals moving rather quickly across the beach. Peter referred to them as giant caterpillars.
It was also low tide, so we went down to the tide pools. Here we have a ton of mussels and a beautiful wave. Next is a dead crab. We think someone purposely put it there because the water was really shallow and it was missing a few parts...We made Rafe touch it to see if it was dead and then for the rest of the day we told him he had dead crab hands. There were also sea anemones everywhere!
Saturday morning we finally decorated our Christmas tree! Then did a little shopping and headed over to raid the fridge for the last remaining pieces of turkey. We had sandwiches and watched a movie.
My break from work was wonderful...I had a whole week off! I got a lot accomplished that I wanted to. I even got to play in my garden. I planted sweet pea seeds and started moving some plants around. My mom informed me that she wanted to turn one of my garden spaces into a cemented area and put a storage container to hide all of the grandkids' toys. This meant me moving some plants around. I started with the strawberries and boysenberries and moved them to the back of the yard where I have other boysenberry plants along the fence. I put the strawberries in front of some roses also in the back area. I still have a bunch of gerberas, carnations, and geraniums to move as well as a few others. However she doesn't plan on cementing the area until after Christmas, so I think I will leave some plants in there so we don't get a muddy area for Gracie to play in. Plus it looks nice with some plants there. I need to get some snap pea seeds into the ground soon, then I'll be all set.
On Tuesday my nephew Joshua-6, came to see what I was doing as I was pulling weeds in the front yard. He asked if he could help and then proceeded to grab giant hedge clippers. I told him he could help trim one plant back by cutting the brown parts. Well thanks to him and my own accidental chop the root in half, we ended up pulling that bush out. He turns to me and says, "Does grandma know you're doing this?" Me-"Well sort of." Joshua-"I think she's going to be mad that you took out her plant." Me-"Well you helped me." Joshua then gets the look of I'm in trouble on his face and then says, "I think I'll go inside now." I reassured him he wouldn't get in trouble and he stayed and helped me awhile longer. I later told my mom and she said she didn't notice the plant missing. There are several out there just like it and they have roots that run. So somewhere it will probably start up again if it hasn't already.
After dinner which was rather early, we all took a nap. Several of us were out for a long time, which made it easy for us to stay up until midnight playing games. Peter and I introduced my family to Apples to Apples, Scum, Pit and we introduced Nerts (which is hard to play with a lot of people) to Peter. We also played Disney Scene It #2. Peter was at the end first, but he missed the winning question and I caught up and beat him :) My mom and sister clearly lost.
Friday morning we made apple pancakes for my family. They are like German pancakes (you cook them in the oven and they fluff up) with apples in them. They are oh so good! Peter's great at making them, and I love them, so we eat them often. Then Abbie, Rafe, Peter and I headed out to La Jolla. We went to the Mangelsen Gallery where we bought a poster of a bear holding a fish. Thomas Mangelsen's most famous photo is called "Catch of the Day" it is of a brown bear standing over a waterfall and a fish jumps out of the water and is headed towards the bear's mouth. My dad has that poster in his office. After that we headed down to the children's pool and watched some cute critters.
At one point there were two divers in the water and they spooked the seals. I took a video clip, but it's not working on this site I keep getting error notes...arg. Basically it was the seals moving rather quickly across the beach. Peter referred to them as giant caterpillars.It was also low tide, so we went down to the tide pools. Here we have a ton of mussels and a beautiful wave. Next is a dead crab. We think someone purposely put it there because the water was really shallow and it was missing a few parts...We made Rafe touch it to see if it was dead and then for the rest of the day we told him he had dead crab hands. There were also sea anemones everywhere!
Saturday morning we finally decorated our Christmas tree! Then did a little shopping and headed over to raid the fridge for the last remaining pieces of turkey. We had sandwiches and watched a movie.
My break from work was wonderful...I had a whole week off! I got a lot accomplished that I wanted to. I even got to play in my garden. I planted sweet pea seeds and started moving some plants around. My mom informed me that she wanted to turn one of my garden spaces into a cemented area and put a storage container to hide all of the grandkids' toys. This meant me moving some plants around. I started with the strawberries and boysenberries and moved them to the back of the yard where I have other boysenberry plants along the fence. I put the strawberries in front of some roses also in the back area. I still have a bunch of gerberas, carnations, and geraniums to move as well as a few others. However she doesn't plan on cementing the area until after Christmas, so I think I will leave some plants in there so we don't get a muddy area for Gracie to play in. Plus it looks nice with some plants there. I need to get some snap pea seeds into the ground soon, then I'll be all set.
On Tuesday my nephew Joshua-6, came to see what I was doing as I was pulling weeds in the front yard. He asked if he could help and then proceeded to grab giant hedge clippers. I told him he could help trim one plant back by cutting the brown parts. Well thanks to him and my own accidental chop the root in half, we ended up pulling that bush out. He turns to me and says, "Does grandma know you're doing this?" Me-"Well sort of." Joshua-"I think she's going to be mad that you took out her plant." Me-"Well you helped me." Joshua then gets the look of I'm in trouble on his face and then says, "I think I'll go inside now." I reassured him he wouldn't get in trouble and he stayed and helped me awhile longer. I later told my mom and she said she didn't notice the plant missing. There are several out there just like it and they have roots that run. So somewhere it will probably start up again if it hasn't already.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Did we win?
Our Christmas tree is up already...did we beat you?
Yesterday Peter and I went out to lunch at In N Out (don't know what that is...you're missing out) and then went shopping for a tree. We stopped at Mervyns which is going out of business to check out their artificial trees and well they were pretty tacky. Then we headed to Costco and picked out a 7.5 footer with white lights. Peter tried to convince me we needed the one with the LED lights that cost about $30 more. He only wanted it because of the lights. I told him we could buy some LED lights to put on ours...so we got the cheaper one.
Last year we decided to buy an artificial tree because neither one of us wanted to carry a real one up a flight of stairs to get it in the house. Nor did we want to have to constantly clean up the needles, and well artificial ones don't get dried up and pose as a fire danger. This one said it was flame resistant on the package. Anyway last year came and went and we tried to get one after the holidays for real cheap, but we didn't like any and they really weren't cheap. So yes yesterday we bought our first Christmas tree, and in a couple years or less depending on the prices of real trees it will have paid for itself.
So there you have it, we have a tree and it's up with lights on it. Perhaps we'll decorate tonight as we start making stuff for Thanksgiving.
Yesterday Peter and I went out to lunch at In N Out (don't know what that is...you're missing out) and then went shopping for a tree. We stopped at Mervyns which is going out of business to check out their artificial trees and well they were pretty tacky. Then we headed to Costco and picked out a 7.5 footer with white lights. Peter tried to convince me we needed the one with the LED lights that cost about $30 more. He only wanted it because of the lights. I told him we could buy some LED lights to put on ours...so we got the cheaper one.
Last year we decided to buy an artificial tree because neither one of us wanted to carry a real one up a flight of stairs to get it in the house. Nor did we want to have to constantly clean up the needles, and well artificial ones don't get dried up and pose as a fire danger. This one said it was flame resistant on the package. Anyway last year came and went and we tried to get one after the holidays for real cheap, but we didn't like any and they really weren't cheap. So yes yesterday we bought our first Christmas tree, and in a couple years or less depending on the prices of real trees it will have paid for itself.
So there you have it, we have a tree and it's up with lights on it. Perhaps we'll decorate tonight as we start making stuff for Thanksgiving.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
More Babies
A couple days ago Peter informed me that he thought one of our platies and one of our guppies might be pregnant. We decided the guppy looked the biggest so we placed her in the breeding tank. The next morning Peter said the platy had her babies and found one...which later died. I haven't seen any alive in the big tank yet. Well that morning we let the guppy go as she was quite active. This morning Peter caught the guppy and put her back in the breeding tank as she wasn't eating...sure sign that she's going to give birth or has already started. So here is the best pictures I was able to take. So far we have 23 baby guppies and still a really fat mama. In the video I also show you the other breeding tank where we have our survivors from another pregnancy...there's one guppy and one platy left.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Conference, Fires and Disneyland Oh My!
This weekend was quite an adventure. It started out with my co-worker (Vicki) and I driving up to LA for a work conference Thursday night. We stayed the night at my friends house. Friday morning in the wee hours Vicki had an allergy attack which kept her and I up most of the night. Friday morning we knew we had to find another place to stay. On our drive to the conference hotel we called another co-worker (Karin). She did not answer her phone. We called Vicki's husband to have him find us a hotel to stay at (mind you this is within a mile of Disneyland so there are hotels everywhere). A few minutes later Karin calls Vicki back and we beg to stay with her in her hotel and we'll split the cost three ways. Karin retells the story to us: She was checking in when we called her and she did not hear her phone ring. The man checking her in told her there was a mix up and instead of giving her a room with one king sized bed, she was getting a room with two queen sized beds for the same price. The man then asked if she would like an extra room key. She originally said no and then changed her mind and said sure, she might have a friend that wants to freshen up or something. When Karin called us back she said "Things happen for a reason. There was a reason why I got two beds instead of one and there was a reason that I changed my mind and got an extra room key." Vicki and I were of course very grateful.
Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning were conferences. I only had one seminar that was completely pointless for me to go to, so I walked out. But that was only after about 20 other people had walked out too. Friday and Saturday night our last seminar was over at 5. So Friday we took the hotel shuttle to Downtown Disney and walked around the stores and ate at the Rainforest Cafe. It was fun! There were some fires burning Friday, the sky was a bit murky looking. Saturday it was pretty bad. The sky was quite orange and dirty looking for most of the day. We only went out for lunch and dinner and then stayed in the hotel to watch a movie(which somehow didn't end up on our final bill, though we did say that we watched a movie.) I wasn't feeling terribly well so I fell asleep during the movie. Sunday morning we went to one of the seminars and then headed out to Disneyland. Kim-my friend had to do a scavenger hunt thingy, so she got her friend to meet us in front of the last A in California and he got us into the park for FREE! Mind you it was a park hopper ticket so we got to go to both Disneyland and California Adventure for FREE!
We went to California Adventure first. Did all the major rides including the newest Toy Story which was a 3D interactive thing, it was so fun. While waiting in line there was a Mr. Potato Head that was talking to the guests. He said something to a little girl wearing a gray shirt and she was like "He's not talking to me, he can't be talking to me, he's a toy." It was funny. Then we went Grizzly River Rafting and we all got soaked!!!!! Luckily it was really dry and hot out so we dried quickly. We soared over California, did Maliboomer, California Screamin and the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror to name a few. Then we headed over to Disneyland got a Dole Whip (funny story behind the picture. It was supposed to be a picture, but Vicki somehow got it to do a video clip, so anyway enjoy the short clip of us totally unaware that it's a video.) . We enjoyed the Haunted House, Pirates of the Carribbean and a couple others. We were only at Disneyland for about an hour and then we had to run back and try to catch the 3:50 shuttle back to the hotel. We were there at 3:51 to watch the shuttle drive away. As we sat to wait for half an hour for the next shuttle, one pulled up. The driver said someone didn't show up to pick up some people from a hotel so he had to do an extra drop off and he was headed back to the hotel. So we hopped on. We left the hotel and were back home at 6. I was in bed by 7:30.
That leads me to today. I stayed home from work today and slept all day. I think conferences are cursed. I went to a conference in New York a couple years ago and came home sick. I went to this conference and came home sick as well. Go figure! I hope to be back at work tomorrow, with a box of tissues.
Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning were conferences. I only had one seminar that was completely pointless for me to go to, so I walked out. But that was only after about 20 other people had walked out too. Friday and Saturday night our last seminar was over at 5. So Friday we took the hotel shuttle to Downtown Disney and walked around the stores and ate at the Rainforest Cafe. It was fun! There were some fires burning Friday, the sky was a bit murky looking. Saturday it was pretty bad. The sky was quite orange and dirty looking for most of the day. We only went out for lunch and dinner and then stayed in the hotel to watch a movie(which somehow didn't end up on our final bill, though we did say that we watched a movie.) I wasn't feeling terribly well so I fell asleep during the movie. Sunday morning we went to one of the seminars and then headed out to Disneyland. Kim-my friend had to do a scavenger hunt thingy, so she got her friend to meet us in front of the last A in California and he got us into the park for FREE! Mind you it was a park hopper ticket so we got to go to both Disneyland and California Adventure for FREE!
We went to California Adventure first. Did all the major rides including the newest Toy Story which was a 3D interactive thing, it was so fun. While waiting in line there was a Mr. Potato Head that was talking to the guests. He said something to a little girl wearing a gray shirt and she was like "He's not talking to me, he can't be talking to me, he's a toy." It was funny. Then we went Grizzly River Rafting and we all got soaked!!!!! Luckily it was really dry and hot out so we dried quickly. We soared over California, did Maliboomer, California Screamin and the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror to name a few. Then we headed over to Disneyland got a Dole Whip (funny story behind the picture. It was supposed to be a picture, but Vicki somehow got it to do a video clip, so anyway enjoy the short clip of us totally unaware that it's a video.) . We enjoyed the Haunted House, Pirates of the Carribbean and a couple others. We were only at Disneyland for about an hour and then we had to run back and try to catch the 3:50 shuttle back to the hotel. We were there at 3:51 to watch the shuttle drive away. As we sat to wait for half an hour for the next shuttle, one pulled up. The driver said someone didn't show up to pick up some people from a hotel so he had to do an extra drop off and he was headed back to the hotel. So we hopped on. We left the hotel and were back home at 6. I was in bed by 7:30.That leads me to today. I stayed home from work today and slept all day. I think conferences are cursed. I went to a conference in New York a couple years ago and came home sick. I went to this conference and came home sick as well. Go figure! I hope to be back at work tomorrow, with a box of tissues.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Where's Waldo?
Last night Peter and I participated in a live action Where's Waldo game down at Fashion Valley Mall. We showed up 30 minutes before the rest of the people and were told to go shopping and groups would come and find us, take our picture and then get our signature. There was a Waldo who had the striped shirt and hat. You got more points the faster you found Waldo. There was a cowboy, business people (Greg and Ellen), a rastafarian (Guy that looked like he was from Jamaica), a Chief's Fan, a girl in a zebra striped shirt, and we wore nearly matching hawaiian shirts and khaki pants, we were tourists. It was quite a fun game. I think nearly every group if not every group found us. One group found us inside of a toy store, two groups found us inside SEES candy, two groups found us at the food court, one group found us as we were going down an escalator, one group were sitting on benches and we walked right in front of them and a couple others spotted us as we were walking the mall. It was hilarious, people would yell tourists and then come running to get a picture with us. We got several funny looks from other people shopping at the mall. The groups after they found us they would see us again later on and shout and wave. It was quite a fun night! This was a regional singles ward activity that we were asked to participate in and boy we had so much fun we would totally do it again.
Afterwards we met up with Chris and Mary and headed over to the Cheesecake Factory. I got lemon raspberry cream cheese cake and it was delicious! I was the only one to eat all of mine. Peter got a super rich chocolate mousse, Mary got a peanut butter kind and Chris got dulce de leche. We sampled each others, I liked mine best but Chris' was a close second. Peter's and Mary's were really rich, a wee bit too rich for me.
Afterwards we met up with Chris and Mary and headed over to the Cheesecake Factory. I got lemon raspberry cream cheese cake and it was delicious! I was the only one to eat all of mine. Peter got a super rich chocolate mousse, Mary got a peanut butter kind and Chris got dulce de leche. We sampled each others, I liked mine best but Chris' was a close second. Peter's and Mary's were really rich, a wee bit too rich for me.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Grocery Shopping
Reasons why you should not go grocery shopping on an empty stomach:
1. 1 Cherry cheesecake
2. 5 Bags of Chex Mix, yes not one, not two, but five bags!
3. 2 Boxes of granola bars
4. 3 Snack packs of fruit cups, you haven't bought these since you were little, yet they jumped into the cart.
5. 3 bags of potato chips, we got these first then went for the 5 bags of Chex Mix.
6. 1 bag of Hershey Heath Bar Baking Chips-never know when we'll need this.
7. 1 box of banana bread mix-I like the fresh stuff better, but this sounded good too and I was hungry.
8. 1 container of Pillsbury Orange rolls (enough for 8 people)
9. 1 container of Pillsbury Cinnamon rolls (enough for 8 again, or two really hungry stomachs)
10. 3 boxes of Toaster Strudel (makes a great breakfast....for the next 18 days)
11. 4 Marie Calendar's TV dinners (for those days that neither one of us wants to cook)
12. 11 frozen burritos (makes a quick lunch at work)
13. Taquitos-they didn't have my favorite kind so, this kind better taste good.
14. 2 bags of cookie mix-perhaps we'll put the Heath baking chips in them.
15. Our Vons has a Panda Express inside it. We ran into Greg and Ellen and they were going to pick up Panda Express for dinner, so we decided that sounded so much better than one of the TV dinners that we had planned on. So 1-3 item meal rounds out the items that jumped into our cart.
Yes we did manage to get some healthy stuff too. And the bill rounded out to $100.73. We bought nearly everything on sale and saved $61.34....not bad. Though there's a lot of things that we wouldn't normally buy and especially not in large quantities.
We also went to Henry's first and bought all of our fresh fruits and veggies. Only a few were items that grew legs and jumped into our cart.
Oranges, kiwi, two different kinds of apples, grapes, peaches, red and green bell peppers, zucchini, leafy lettuce, potatoes, a yam-anybody know how to cook yams?(this one clearly jumped into the cart because we don't know what to do with it), and caramel apple dip. So yes we do buy healthy stuff too.
1. 1 Cherry cheesecake
2. 5 Bags of Chex Mix, yes not one, not two, but five bags!
3. 2 Boxes of granola bars
4. 3 Snack packs of fruit cups, you haven't bought these since you were little, yet they jumped into the cart.
5. 3 bags of potato chips, we got these first then went for the 5 bags of Chex Mix.
6. 1 bag of Hershey Heath Bar Baking Chips-never know when we'll need this.
7. 1 box of banana bread mix-I like the fresh stuff better, but this sounded good too and I was hungry.
8. 1 container of Pillsbury Orange rolls (enough for 8 people)
9. 1 container of Pillsbury Cinnamon rolls (enough for 8 again, or two really hungry stomachs)
10. 3 boxes of Toaster Strudel (makes a great breakfast....for the next 18 days)
11. 4 Marie Calendar's TV dinners (for those days that neither one of us wants to cook)
12. 11 frozen burritos (makes a quick lunch at work)
13. Taquitos-they didn't have my favorite kind so, this kind better taste good.
14. 2 bags of cookie mix-perhaps we'll put the Heath baking chips in them.
15. Our Vons has a Panda Express inside it. We ran into Greg and Ellen and they were going to pick up Panda Express for dinner, so we decided that sounded so much better than one of the TV dinners that we had planned on. So 1-3 item meal rounds out the items that jumped into our cart.
Yes we did manage to get some healthy stuff too. And the bill rounded out to $100.73. We bought nearly everything on sale and saved $61.34....not bad. Though there's a lot of things that we wouldn't normally buy and especially not in large quantities.
We also went to Henry's first and bought all of our fresh fruits and veggies. Only a few were items that grew legs and jumped into our cart.
Oranges, kiwi, two different kinds of apples, grapes, peaches, red and green bell peppers, zucchini, leafy lettuce, potatoes, a yam-anybody know how to cook yams?(this one clearly jumped into the cart because we don't know what to do with it), and caramel apple dip. So yes we do buy healthy stuff too.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Random Survey
This is for Kira and whoever wishes to do the same or learn a little about us.
Mandy's response
1. Do you like blue cheese? Nope
Mandy's response
1. Do you like blue cheese? Nope
2. Have you ever smoked heroin? I think this is a dumb question, but no
3. Do you own a gun? No
4. Wax or Shave your body parts? Shave yes, wax-are you kidding me? No way!
5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? Depends, but generally no.
6. Real or Fake nails? Real, but super tiny because I bite mine, and fake ones only last for so long before I get tired and bite those off too.
7. Favorite Christmas song? Just about any, though I really like the Manheim Steamroller classics.
8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Orange Juice
9. Can you do push ups? Haven't tried recently though I doubt I could. Or maybe I could do one or two, but that's about it.
10. What is your favorite piece of jewelry? I always wear two-my wedding ring and a ring my mom gave me.
11. Favorite hobby? GARDENING!
12. Do you have A.D.D? I don't think so.
13. What's one trait that you hate about yourself? Uh, I don't know...I'm pretty happy with the way I am.
14. Middle name? Lynn
15. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment? I'm hungry. Sweet my hubby just brought me breakfast. I'm the luckiest girl in the world.
16.Name 3 drinks you regularly drink? Water, Orange Juice, Raspberry lemonade and occasionally Italian Sodas.
17. Current worry right now? Uh. Don't know
18. Current hate right now? Writing conference reports...ugh!
19. Favorite place to be? In my garden...or with my hubby
20. How did you bring in the New Year? At Greg and Ellen's
21. Like to go? To gardens, or garden centers like Armstrong and Andersons.
22. Name three people who will complete this? honestly? Whoever wants to
23. Do you own slippers? Yes, they're pink and fuzzy.
24. What color shirt are you wearing? White
25. Do you like sleeping on Satin sheets? I don't have satin sheets, so I don't know
26. Can you whistle? Yup
27. Favorite color? Purple or blue
28. Would you be a pirate? Nope
29. What songs to you sing in the shower? Whatever is in my head.
30. Favorite girls name? Emily
31. Favorite Boys name? Peter, but for a baby I don't know
32. whats in your pocket right now? I don't have pockets in my pj's
33. Last thing that made you laugh? Probably Peter
34. Worst injury you've ever had? Uh I did something to my achillies tendon when I did high jump in high school.
35. Do you love where you live? Yeah, we have a bunch of friends that live so close
36. How many TV's do you have in your house? Two
37. Who is your loudest friend? I'm not sure
38. How many pets do you have? A bunch of fish
39. Does someone have a crush on you? Peter loves me, that's so much better than a crush.
40. What is your favorite book? Probably the Harry Potter Series
41. What is your favorite lollie? Just about any.
42. Favorite sports team? I guess Chargers or Padres, though I don't watch them much.
43. What were you doing 12am last night? Sleeping
44. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? Ahhh I got to sleep in a little bit, sweet!
45. Worst habit? biting nails
46. Do you play an instrument? If you count two years of piano when I was seven or so, sure.
47. How long does it take you to get to work? 10-15 minutes.
48. Plans for the weekend? Well yesterday I went to my work's Halloween carnival and went shopping with Peter. Today I got to sleep in a little, until Peter woke me up.
49.If you could eat anything in the world right this second? Exactly what I'm eating right now, though its hard to type and eat at the same time-Apple pancakes.
50. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Nobody sent it to me, but Kira told me to do it on her blog, so yes I like Kira!
Peter's response
Peter's response
1. Do you like blue cheese? Nope
2. Have you ever smoked heroin? I think this is a dumb question, but no
3. Do you own a gun? Yes my grandpa gave me a shot gun
4. Wax or Shave your body parts? Shave yes
5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? Depends on what they're doing
6. Real or Fake nails? Real
7. Favorite Christmas song? I like them all
8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Orange juice
9. Can you do push ups? Yes
10. What is your favorite piece of jewelry? I only have one-My wedding ring
11. Favorite hobby? Playing video games
12. Do you have A.D.D? No, though some beg to differ
13. What's one trait that you hate about yourself? I'm losing my hair
14. Middle name? Janos
15. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment? How am I going to kill these flying things? How do I get enough money to kill these flying things? Oh crap they got through. (Yes I'm playing a video game)
16.Name 3 drinks you regularly drink? Water, Orange juice, Italian sodas
17. Current worry right now? My hair-I'm losing it
18. Current hate right now? Flying things (video game)
19. Favorite place to be? At home
20. How did you bring in the New Year? At Greg and Ellen's
21. Like to go? Vacations
22. Name three people who will complete this? I don't know
23. Do you own slippers? Yes, they are giant bear claws
24. What color shirt are you wearing? White
25. Do you like sleeping on Satin sheets? Haven't tried it before
26. Can you whistle? Yes
27. Favorite color? Blue or green
28. Would you be a pirate? Maybe, depends on if the parrot is included
29. What songs do you sing in the shower? Everything I know and some made up ones too.
30. Favorite girls name? Mandy
31. Favorite Boys name? I have no idea
32. whats in your pocket right now? Yarn :)
33. Last thing that made you laugh? The last question
34. Worst injury you've ever had? I don't know, I've broken a finger and I've stepped on a nail.
35. Do you love where you live? Yes I do, it's home
36. How many TV's do you have in your house? Two, but only one is HUGE!
37. Who is your loudest friend? I don't know
38. How many pets do you have? We have fish
39. Does someone have a crush on you? Mandy loves me
40. What is your favorite book? I don't know, I like lots of books
41. What is your favorite lollie? Probably a blow pop
42. Favorite sports team? Padres when they're doing okay
43. What were you doing 12am last night? Sleeping
44. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? I need juice
45. Worst habit? Buying video games
46. Do you play an instrument? French Horn and a little bit of piano
47. How long does it take you to get to work? 5 minutes driving, 20 minutes walking.
48. Plans for the weekend? Went shopping with Mandy, set up curtains in bedroom and enjoying video games.
49.If you could eat anything in the world right this second? More apple pancake
50. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Mandy got it from her friend and then had me fill it out, so yes I like Mandy...a lot!
Monday, October 13, 2008
My Slimy Friend
On Saturday I enjoyed spending time at Armstrong Gardens and Home Depot in the garden department of course. I picked up a ton of my favorite plants and some pest control stuff. We had to redo all of our flower boxes because we got infested with white flies that decided to move in and kill all of my beautiful flowers. I am prepared now, white flies won't be eating my plants anymore. So as we were taking out all the old potting soil Peter sees something move. He pokes at the dirt again and sees a slimy worm in the soil. At which point he grosses out. He backs off of the flower box and decides its time to take the trash out. I continued working on the box and tried finding the worm. I picked up a bulb and handed it to Peter to put into a pot, he jumped back thinking that I was handing him the worm. I had the box nearly empty and we hadn't found the worm. I put my hand in, felt around and found my slimy friend. I picked it up and Peter wasn't thrilled. I was then a naughty girl and put it in his face, knowing full well that he wouldn't like it. He didn't like it. Then I had a hubby and a worm squirming. He forgave me though. :)
Sunday, October 5, 2008
The Air Show
This weekend was the famous Miramar Air Show. Peter tried getting a hold of friends to go see the show on Saturday, but everyone he called saw it on Friday. He was definitely down in the dumps, he wanted to go but not alone. Now I have never had any interest in the air show, so of course I was of no help to the situation. At 11:30 on Saturday my mom called and asked what we were doing for the weekend. I told her that Peter was looking for someone to go with to the air show. She suggested that my dad would probably go (he goes every year). As I asked Peter if he would like to go with my dad, he jumped off the couch and said he would go shower and be over there immediately. I told him not to get too excited my mom still needed to ask my dad if he wanted to go. Peter was already in the shower as my dad said yes. Shortly thereafter we were on our way out the door. On the car ride to my parents house Peter asked me to put the Top Gun CD on. He sang the whole way there. His words, "I've seen six year old children less excited about Disneyland than I am to go to the air show." He was one happy boy.
After the show Peter gave my mom and I a detailed account of what they saw. Including hand movements and swishing noises to help tell everything he saw. They showed up right when a F-16 was flying around. There were mock bomb runs and other war demos. They walked up next to a F-22 right as it was about to take off. This was the first year the F-22 has been there. (It's so brand new, they're still producing them. Peter had never seen one before.) It was as he says, uber cool. He says there were a flock of other airplane enthusiasts all staring intently at it as it took off. It was definitely the star of the show, except maybe the Blue Angels that were back this year. The Blue Angels are really hard to compete against. As the Blue Angels took off they played the Top Gun anthem and everyone clapped. Peter might make me watch Top Gun this week. They also had a MV-22 that sat there, several C-130's a C-5/17 he's not sure which one it was. Lots of helicopters and a few vintage aircraft. He touched the tail of a F-18, tax dollars well at work. They also saw an A-10 as they were leaving.
While the boys were off watching airplanes, my mom and I went and saw the movie The Nights of Rodanthe. It was a good love story, but very sad at the end. There wasn't a dry eye in the theater as we left. Afterwards we ran a couple of quick errands and then went home and played in the garden. I loved being able to dig in the dirt, I miss my garden.
After the show Peter gave my mom and I a detailed account of what they saw. Including hand movements and swishing noises to help tell everything he saw. They showed up right when a F-16 was flying around. There were mock bomb runs and other war demos. They walked up next to a F-22 right as it was about to take off. This was the first year the F-22 has been there. (It's so brand new, they're still producing them. Peter had never seen one before.) It was as he says, uber cool. He says there were a flock of other airplane enthusiasts all staring intently at it as it took off. It was definitely the star of the show, except maybe the Blue Angels that were back this year. The Blue Angels are really hard to compete against. As the Blue Angels took off they played the Top Gun anthem and everyone clapped. Peter might make me watch Top Gun this week. They also had a MV-22 that sat there, several C-130's a C-5/17 he's not sure which one it was. Lots of helicopters and a few vintage aircraft. He touched the tail of a F-18, tax dollars well at work. They also saw an A-10 as they were leaving.
While the boys were off watching airplanes, my mom and I went and saw the movie The Nights of Rodanthe. It was a good love story, but very sad at the end. There wasn't a dry eye in the theater as we left. Afterwards we ran a couple of quick errands and then went home and played in the garden. I loved being able to dig in the dirt, I miss my garden.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
A couple weeks old
If you look in the top right side of the baby tank you can spot five baby platies. We had a hard time getting a good picture as the glass kept reflecting back at us. The top of the tank is reflecting a couple of the baby fish back too but it was the best picture we took. We definitely have 6 platies and 1 guppy.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Operation save the babies
Operation save the babies was a success. Sunday Peter decided he would try to save the baby fish. This was quite an ordeal because in order to save the babies we had to take the big fish out, then we had to take out the plants and rocks so basically all that was left was the gravel. The babies were pretty easy to spot once the tank was bare, except one which really liked to hide. We found six and then while I was vacuuming the gravel I told Peter I saw another one. He looked and was convinced I had been dreaming. I kept vacuuming and he screams, "There it is, don't suck it up." So in the end we found seven baby fish that stayed safe in a beta tank Sunday.
Monday I bought a baby tank that floats in the big tank. We then had the fun of getting the babies out of the beta tank. Mind you there was gravel in the tank which made the process a little difficult. To our surprise by Monday evening we could only find five fish in the beta tank. Convinced that we started with seven, though Peter tried to tell me that I was seeing things and that possibly we didn't put seven fish into the bowl...I finally found the two hiding fish. The beta tank had a special slotted bottom that was designed to collect fish droppings. It just worked so well that the babies fit through. We finally rescued all the babies and they are all now back in the big tank inside a safe haven.
Today I bought some ghost shrimp and two other fish. We had two ghost shrimp already. Peter goes and looks in the tank and exclaims, "I see a shrimp....oooh I see two shrimp, they're both out today. Wow!!!! (added exclamation here and a sense of bewilderment in his voice) I see three shrimp.....uh Mandy how do we have three shrimp when we only found two when we were cleaning?" Me not being able to keep a straight face (though I would've loved to tell him he was losing his mind and that we always had more) started busting up laughing. Yes I bought ten today (they were $0.26 each).
Monday I bought a baby tank that floats in the big tank. We then had the fun of getting the babies out of the beta tank. Mind you there was gravel in the tank which made the process a little difficult. To our surprise by Monday evening we could only find five fish in the beta tank. Convinced that we started with seven, though Peter tried to tell me that I was seeing things and that possibly we didn't put seven fish into the bowl...I finally found the two hiding fish. The beta tank had a special slotted bottom that was designed to collect fish droppings. It just worked so well that the babies fit through. We finally rescued all the babies and they are all now back in the big tank inside a safe haven.
Today I bought some ghost shrimp and two other fish. We had two ghost shrimp already. Peter goes and looks in the tank and exclaims, "I see a shrimp....oooh I see two shrimp, they're both out today. Wow!!!! (added exclamation here and a sense of bewilderment in his voice) I see three shrimp.....uh Mandy how do we have three shrimp when we only found two when we were cleaning?" Me not being able to keep a straight face (though I would've loved to tell him he was losing his mind and that we always had more) started busting up laughing. Yes I bought ten today (they were $0.26 each).
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Our new addition
We've had a baby! Actually we've had several babies. Today while switching some of the water in the fish tank Peter discovered a baby fish. He was convinced that it was orange (one of our mollies). Upon further searching we found two baby fish that looked like guppies. We checked out the fish that were fat that we were assuming were pregnant, and they definitely aren't as fat anymore. We are guessing that the other babies have been eaten already. We don't think the babies will last much longer as the bigger fish have found their hiding places and the babies have been getting much more brave and facing the open water. We snatched a picture of one being brave. It's another Where's Waldo picture, this one much more difficult than the last. However if you can blow up this picture a bit you can see right in front of the rock is a tiny thing with an eye. It is almost dead center of the dark rock right above the gravel.
Now it's a matter of survival as we don't think they will last. Peter is excited, we will be heading to the pet store to buy more male guppies as the only ones we currently have are female. He also is going to buy a recording of "Love is in the Air" and play it for the fishies :) We will also buy a breeding tank so we can save the baby fish. So there's our news today!
Now it's a matter of survival as we don't think they will last. Peter is excited, we will be heading to the pet store to buy more male guppies as the only ones we currently have are female. He also is going to buy a recording of "Love is in the Air" and play it for the fishies :) We will also buy a breeding tank so we can save the baby fish. So there's our news today!
Monday, September 15, 2008
Camping Fun
The best thing about having the smallest tent in our campsite:
1-It was the fastest to assemble and take down and fit back into it's bag.
2-No instructions were needed, badda bing badda boom all done!
3-It was free-we borrowed it from my dad.
4-Makes for fun jokes by people passing by...Our primary president "That's the tent where you're supposed to keep the dog." :)
5-It's cozy and we stayed warm.
Our campsite was the talk of the area. We had two campsites right across from each other. One we parked the cars in and the other we put up six tents. It was a lot of fun!
On Friday night we went camping with five other couples to San Elijo State Beach. We went last year for the first time and had a great time except for the trains that would wake us up at night. This year was similar. It was way more fun with a bunch of people. We all cooked our own food (the Nefs and us cooked together...we had delicious kabobs made by Ellen and cooked by Greg-We hadn't used the grill before and didn't realize it didn't come fully assembled. Thanks Greg for putting it together and then doing the cooking.) and then Peter made apple crisp in a dutch oven to share and it was yummy. Saturday morning at 3am a freight train went across the tracks honking its horn for the longest possible amount of time. Everyone woke up! Peter and I wandered around the campsite at 7am and found some families we knew. Shortly thereafter our campsite was awake and we were busy making breakfasts. After breakfast we headed to the beach.
The couples sitting around right after breakfast. Greg and Ellen, Patrick and Carly, Peter and Me, Matt and Carla, Kadee and Jim, Karina and Adam.
So after breakfast we headed down to the beach. These are the crazy people that actually got in the freezing cold water. Peter and I chickened out. We touched the water and said, "No way!" Mind you it was also totally overcast and really cold out.
This is what Peter thought of the cold water. BRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
Notice how we are all bundled up. I didn't take my jacket off until the sun came out around noon. And even then it was still pretty cool out though I managed to get sun burnt on my legs. The three crazies in the front went swimming in the frigid water and came back numb.
1-It was the fastest to assemble and take down and fit back into it's bag.
2-No instructions were needed, badda bing badda boom all done!
3-It was free-we borrowed it from my dad.
4-Makes for fun jokes by people passing by...Our primary president "That's the tent where you're supposed to keep the dog." :)
5-It's cozy and we stayed warm.
Our campsite was the talk of the area. We had two campsites right across from each other. One we parked the cars in and the other we put up six tents. It was a lot of fun!
On Friday night we went camping with five other couples to San Elijo State Beach. We went last year for the first time and had a great time except for the trains that would wake us up at night. This year was similar. It was way more fun with a bunch of people. We all cooked our own food (the Nefs and us cooked together...we had delicious kabobs made by Ellen and cooked by Greg-We hadn't used the grill before and didn't realize it didn't come fully assembled. Thanks Greg for putting it together and then doing the cooking.) and then Peter made apple crisp in a dutch oven to share and it was yummy. Saturday morning at 3am a freight train went across the tracks honking its horn for the longest possible amount of time. Everyone woke up! Peter and I wandered around the campsite at 7am and found some families we knew. Shortly thereafter our campsite was awake and we were busy making breakfasts. After breakfast we headed to the beach.
The couples sitting around right after breakfast. Greg and Ellen, Patrick and Carly, Peter and Me, Matt and Carla, Kadee and Jim, Karina and Adam.
So after breakfast we headed down to the beach. These are the crazy people that actually got in the freezing cold water. Peter and I chickened out. We touched the water and said, "No way!" Mind you it was also totally overcast and really cold out.
This is what Peter thought of the cold water. BRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
Notice how we are all bundled up. I didn't take my jacket off until the sun came out around noon. And even then it was still pretty cool out though I managed to get sun burnt on my legs. The three crazies in the front went swimming in the frigid water and came back numb.
Birthday Fun!
This was my birthday cake and one of my presents from Peter. He ordered it using my computer and then left the website open, so the next time I opened my computer I saw it. It was a great present! I also got a really cool shower head that is higher than the old one. It is so wonderful to not have to contort my body to wash my hair.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Fun in the Kitchen Parts 3, 4 and Beyond
This morning we made another successful batch of plum jam. It was much less messy than the first batch, I think we're getting good at this. This evening we finished a double batch of regular peach jam. These were great peaches. We bought them on Saturday and left them on the counter to ripen until this evening. Most were easy to peel and all were easy to pit. This morning we left our plum jams upside down too long and now they all have the air bubble on the bottom. It looks kind of funny. This evening as we wait we are hearing a chorus of lids popping. It's quite fun. Some pop immediately when we turn them upside down and others wait a few minutes and then pop. We are totally having fun with the jam. Peter was worried this morning that we wouldn't be able to get rid of the jam. I told him not to worry our previous adventures had left us with only 5 jars left over. Now we have about 30 jars of jam and a lot of friends. :)
Our next adventure involves figuring out how to get rid of 20 pounds of apples. We're giving a bunch to both sets of families and plan on using a bunch as we attempt to make apple butter. Anybody have any great recipes? We've thought of apple sauce, apple crisp and apple pie so far. Anybody close by want some cooking apples? They came from Julian.
Our next adventure involves figuring out how to get rid of 20 pounds of apples. We're giving a bunch to both sets of families and plan on using a bunch as we attempt to make apple butter. Anybody have any great recipes? We've thought of apple sauce, apple crisp and apple pie so far. Anybody close by want some cooking apples? They came from Julian.
The Wave
Yesterday we went to The Wave water park in Vista. It was military appreciation day, so Peter's brother Chris, got in for free and the rest of us got in for half price. We had quite a group. There were Peter's parents, his sister Laurel, Chris and Mary and their three girls-5, 2 1/2 and 10mos, Debbie-she's a lifeguard and friend of his parents, and Peter and I. The Wave is a small water park with four slides, a lazy river, a big pool and a children's play place. In the middle of the lazy river is a place to boogie board on waves.
Now Peter comes from a family that has really really white skin. Peter once got sun burned at work during a fire drill. So his brother Chris faces the sun and gets a little pink. Peter wore a shirt the whole time and he's okay but we forgot to sunscreen his head, so that's a little pink. His dad on the other hand wore sweat pants, a long sleeved shirt and a hat-he survived, he's still whiter than white.
We spent most of our time in the lazy river and on the slides. There were three inner tube slides and those were pretty fun. By the time we wanted to go down the body slide, it had closed, but Mary said it wasn't that fun, she somehow flipped over and came out face first, she really didn't like that. Anyway the lazy river was pretty lazy. Little Claire-10mos. fell asleep and spent a few hours napping on the lazy river. She somehow managed to stay asleep as we passed her around from inner tube to inner tube. She was in a life jacket and had a floppy hat on. We all wished we had a camera with us.
Now Peter comes from a family that has really really white skin. Peter once got sun burned at work during a fire drill. So his brother Chris faces the sun and gets a little pink. Peter wore a shirt the whole time and he's okay but we forgot to sunscreen his head, so that's a little pink. His dad on the other hand wore sweat pants, a long sleeved shirt and a hat-he survived, he's still whiter than white.
We spent most of our time in the lazy river and on the slides. There were three inner tube slides and those were pretty fun. By the time we wanted to go down the body slide, it had closed, but Mary said it wasn't that fun, she somehow flipped over and came out face first, she really didn't like that. Anyway the lazy river was pretty lazy. Little Claire-10mos. fell asleep and spent a few hours napping on the lazy river. She somehow managed to stay asleep as we passed her around from inner tube to inner tube. She was in a life jacket and had a floppy hat on. We all wished we had a camera with us.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Fun in the Kitchen Part 3
Where do I start? You'll be pleased to know our kitchen only scored a 2 on the mess scale. This is even after we realized we had too many peaches and therefore had to make a double batch.
We decided to show you all step by step how to make peach jam.
This is steps 1, 2 and 3. Step 1-Get lots of peaches. Step 2-Put peaches in boiling water for one minute. Step 3-Put peaches in cool water to prepare for step 4.
Step 4-Peel the peach. White peaches are WAY easier to peel than yellow peaches. The skin just fell off the fruit. It took us less than 30 seconds to peel each one.
These are the naked peaches.
Now unfortunately when I took pictures of Peter cutting up the peaches I didn't focus the camera very well and the pictures came out all blurry, so hence no picture of cutting the peaches, but that step comes next. Then once you have four cups of peach tidbits, you put them into a large pot and squish with a potato masher. Hence you get peach goo.
Believe it or not, this is how much sugar we had to add. 15 cups of sugar! So once we added the sugar, we had to bring it to a rolling boil. Our mixture was boiling and spitting hot goo. At one point we were worried about the size of our pot. Luckily for us the mixture didn't boil over the edge of the pot.
Of course while your peach goo is heating up, you should rinse out the jars you plan on putting the goo in.
After boiling goo for amount of time specified on pectin box ladle quickly into jars. Very carefully with hot mitts on or in hand twist on caps and turn upside down. We left them upside down for about twenty minutes or so and the lids seal themselves. The jar in the front was the left over goo, only made 1/3 of a jar.
Now we were wondering how white peach jam would differ from yellow peach jam...can you tell which one is the yellow peach jam? It's like a Where's Waldo book. There are a bunch of white peach jams and only one yellow peach jam on the counter. Can you find it?
And that our friends is how you make peach jam.
We decided to show you all step by step how to make peach jam.
This is steps 1, 2 and 3. Step 1-Get lots of peaches. Step 2-Put peaches in boiling water for one minute. Step 3-Put peaches in cool water to prepare for step 4.
Step 4-Peel the peach. White peaches are WAY easier to peel than yellow peaches. The skin just fell off the fruit. It took us less than 30 seconds to peel each one.
These are the naked peaches.
Now unfortunately when I took pictures of Peter cutting up the peaches I didn't focus the camera very well and the pictures came out all blurry, so hence no picture of cutting the peaches, but that step comes next. Then once you have four cups of peach tidbits, you put them into a large pot and squish with a potato masher. Hence you get peach goo.
Believe it or not, this is how much sugar we had to add. 15 cups of sugar! So once we added the sugar, we had to bring it to a rolling boil. Our mixture was boiling and spitting hot goo. At one point we were worried about the size of our pot. Luckily for us the mixture didn't boil over the edge of the pot.
Of course while your peach goo is heating up, you should rinse out the jars you plan on putting the goo in.
After boiling goo for amount of time specified on pectin box ladle quickly into jars. Very carefully with hot mitts on or in hand twist on caps and turn upside down. We left them upside down for about twenty minutes or so and the lids seal themselves. The jar in the front was the left over goo, only made 1/3 of a jar.
Now we were wondering how white peach jam would differ from yellow peach jam...can you tell which one is the yellow peach jam? It's like a Where's Waldo book. There are a bunch of white peach jams and only one yellow peach jam on the counter. Can you find it?
And that our friends is how you make peach jam.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Fun in the Kitchen Part 2
We decided to try our luck with making peach jam today. We've learned from our mistakes last time. Peter said, "We're using the big pot this time."
Peter asks, "Do we have enough sugar?" Mandy says, "Yes we do." Peter- "Now is that a Mandy yes or a Peter yes?" Of course we both knew exactly what he was referring to (refer to fun in the kitchen part 1 if you don't get it), so I said, "It's a Mandy yes."
Now peaches are slightly more difficult than plums in the fact that you have to peel and pit them. Mind you pitting plums wasn't terribly fun, quite frankly it was very messy, but at least we didn't have to peel them too.
Now to peel peaches one must first put in boiling water for a minute. Then soak in cool water. Of course if you soak in cool water too long, they get hard, therefore destroying the reason for boiling. Mandy-"I still can't get the skin off and now they're hot too."
To pit peaches you have to cut in half and pull out pit. Make sure you do this before skinning the peaches or else you might lose a finger or two. However skinning the peach is easier done when the peach is whole, therefore also being very hot, so pick your battle.
The jams have been ladled and are now upside down in hopes that they will seal themselves(it worked last time). Then its into the fridge they go. This time we feel the mess was an average score of 3 where as last time it was well into the 8's. We have a bag of white peaches and a bag of plums so fun in the kitchen part 3 and 4 will be happening soon. If you live close by you might even get to have one of our delicious jams. :)
Peter asks, "Do we have enough sugar?" Mandy says, "Yes we do." Peter- "Now is that a Mandy yes or a Peter yes?" Of course we both knew exactly what he was referring to (refer to fun in the kitchen part 1 if you don't get it), so I said, "It's a Mandy yes."
Now peaches are slightly more difficult than plums in the fact that you have to peel and pit them. Mind you pitting plums wasn't terribly fun, quite frankly it was very messy, but at least we didn't have to peel them too.
Now to peel peaches one must first put in boiling water for a minute. Then soak in cool water. Of course if you soak in cool water too long, they get hard, therefore destroying the reason for boiling. Mandy-"I still can't get the skin off and now they're hot too."
To pit peaches you have to cut in half and pull out pit. Make sure you do this before skinning the peaches or else you might lose a finger or two. However skinning the peach is easier done when the peach is whole, therefore also being very hot, so pick your battle.
The jams have been ladled and are now upside down in hopes that they will seal themselves(it worked last time). Then its into the fridge they go. This time we feel the mess was an average score of 3 where as last time it was well into the 8's. We have a bag of white peaches and a bag of plums so fun in the kitchen part 3 and 4 will be happening soon. If you live close by you might even get to have one of our delicious jams. :)
Monday, August 18, 2008
I might've....
When Peter says, "I might've..." I know he has! He once said, "I might've bought two model airplanes for $60 each, but don't worry I saved $10 on shipping by buying two." Of course he said that as there was a box sitting on our doorstep. He also said, "I might've bought some movies." They were ancient old movies...yeehaw. Not too long later he said, "I might've bought some more movies." They were a box set. He apparently got a good deal. A couple weeks ago, I heard it again. "I might've bought some musicals. Rodgers and Hammerstein box set only $50." 6 movies but with 12 discs ooooooo. So then tonight...It was my first day of school and I was exhausted and falling asleep at 7:30ish....he waits, it's about 8 and I'm in bed and he whispers in my ear, "I might've pre-ordered a Play Station 3 today. I got a really good deal. It comes with a controller that goes bzzzzzzz!" And lo and behold I'm awake now. We hardly ever use our Play Station 2. We still have games that have never been opened. He claims they're critically acclaimed.
Yet he tries to compare the times that I go for a good deal. I bought a case of belly flops from the Jelly Belly Factory.....yes we still have two unopened bags, mind you the entire case of 16 2 pound bags cost $48.
I might've married a nut....but I wouldn't trade him for the world :)
Yet he tries to compare the times that I go for a good deal. I bought a case of belly flops from the Jelly Belly Factory.....yes we still have two unopened bags, mind you the entire case of 16 2 pound bags cost $48.
I might've married a nut....but I wouldn't trade him for the world :)
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Teamwork
Peter and I have come up with an interesting way to put groceries away. Peter was working on shoving everything in the freezer only to find most wouldn't fit. I came in and said I would make it all fit, then I handed him a carton of ice cream that was nearly gone and told him his job was to eat it. He ate the ice cream and I made everything fit nicely in the freezer. Talk about good teamwork!
Bleck!
I finally did it. After putting it off for a couple of weeks, I decided to clean out the fridge and try the year old wedding cake. Well needless to say it didn't taste very good. I went straight for the middle of the cake and the raspberry filling tasted pretty good. I even made Peter try it, though he basically ran away from me as I came towards him with a fork. He did lick the edge of the fork and said he had tasted worse things before. The rest of the cake was disgusting. I took two bites and decided it was time to take the trash out.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
It has been a year and a week
So last Sunday Peter and I celebrated our first anniversary. We had gotten four miniature bavarian cream and raspberry cakes from Edelweiss on Saturday and indulged ourselves Sunday evening. We also took the top of our wedding cake out of the freezer and put it in the fridge to thaw...we still haven't tried it yet. Peter has no desire to try it, but I'm willing to give it a try, I just keep postponing it.
I also got some pretty flowers.
We also went out to Souplantation....my favorite place! Peter figured that out pretty early and we do our best to go at any special occasion or just because.
Monday, July 28, 2008
You would not believe the language I discovered I could speak!
So last night as we were getting ready for bed, I tried giving Peter a kiss. As I was pulling him close I realized he had ACT mouthwash(recommended by 4 out of 5 dentists) in his mouth. At which point I pushed him back and said, "that could be a disaster." With ACT still in his mouth, Peter uttered mmm mmm mmmm! I responded, "No we can't try." He tried not to laugh at my amazing ability to comprehend him and then responded with mmmmm? I said, "No." He appreciated our non verbal communication. He then spit out the ACT and told me that he couldn't believe I knew what he was saying word for word. So for those that want to know, the conversation was:
Peter: We can try!
Mandy: No we can't try.
Peter: Please?
Mandy: No.
And thus we see by using effective communication as a married couple we can avoid getting mouthwash in the bed.
Peter: We can try!
Mandy: No we can't try.
Peter: Please?
Mandy: No.
And thus we see by using effective communication as a married couple we can avoid getting mouthwash in the bed.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Pancake Flop
Peter loves cooking pancakes. Blueberry pancakes are his favorite. Sometimes he is successful and other times, let's say today for example, he is not. When we buy Bisquick we dump it into a container and then throw away the box saving the recipe for waffles and biscuits. This morning Peter realized he didn't have the recipe and figured he really didn't need one. After all real men don't need to follow directions. When was the last time Chuck Norris (Peter's idol) ever asked for directions? It would've taken all of two minutes to do a google search for a pancake recipe, but Peter decided to save time and guess. So Peter made pancakes...more like the gushers brand. He was so kind to give me the ones that looked perfect on the top. After it was syruped I cut into it and took a big bite. It was pure uncooked batter. I cut in again and the batter oozed out. I'm usually willing to try new foods, but this one I just couldn't do it. So with those in the trash, I headed for the darker pancakes and well they were mushy in the middle AND burnt. Peter tried his and found the same problem. We threw out the pancakes and made toaster strudel instead.
Luckily Peter is much better at stir fry without a recipe than pancakes. We won't starve. :)
Luckily Peter is much better at stir fry without a recipe than pancakes. We won't starve. :)
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Mamma Mia
We saw Mamma Mia today. It was great! Loads and loads of ABBA songs, which Peter and I loved! We will definitely own it when it comes out on DVD. Peter thinks since we have a Bat Bear we should also have an ABBA bear. We're currently looking for a bear sized 70's outfit.
Peter introduced me to ABBA while we were dating. I fell in love with the music as I fell in love with Peter. We had some ABBA music playing at our wedding and it is almost always on in our cars.
Peter introduced me to ABBA while we were dating. I fell in love with the music as I fell in love with Peter. We had some ABBA music playing at our wedding and it is almost always on in our cars.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Batman
Today we went and saw Batman the Dark Knight in IMAX. We could've watched it in a theater only 15 minutes away, but no, Peter and our friends wanted the true IMAX quality, so we drove for 1 1/2 hours to Ontario. Luckily our friends and Peter are not big enough Batman geeks to dress up in costume, though we heard on the news that some people did. I had no desire to see Batman, until I realized that Ontario has a giant outlet mall and this mall just so happens to have a Disney Store and a Build a Bear. So I went to see Batman, and Peter bought me a bear. And not just any bear, a bat bear.
We also had fun at the mall for a few hours. The Rainforest Cafe was lunch and dinner combined. It was great! I ate all my food-1/2 slab of ribs, coleslaw and fries, Peter brought some of his lettuce wraps home. Peter and I got smoothies and ended up trading. He liked mine more than his and I liked his and mine, so we switched. I drank all of my smoothie (originally Peter's) plus whatever Peter didn't finish of my original drink. I just couldn't let that good stuff go to waste. For dessert we stopped by Wetzels Pretzels and got a cinnamon pretzel, which I ate most of. I'm only telling you this because as we were wandering around looking for food, Peter was asking me how hungry I was. I told him I was starving! "Do you think you could eat a sit down meal at the Rainforest Cafe?" "I want food, I don't care where it is, I'm hungry and I want food now!!!!!!!" (Peter said to add exclamation marks)So hence I ordered food and ate it all! I think I was hungry don't you?
Peter would like me to also mention, that he had asked me several times prior to the incident to see if I was hungry and my reply was usually, "Yeah a little bit, oooh let's check out this store."
We went to the Disney Store, but it was a big upset. Yes things were all very cheap as it was the Disney Store Outlet, but they had no adult clothes, so we left empty handed.
So for those of you wondering if you should go and see Batman...Peter says, "Batman rocks! Go and see it, but don't take your kids." I say, "Given that I didn't want to see it in the first place, it wasn't nearly as bad as I had thought it would be. Actually it was good, I only had to cover my eyes in a few scenes, but Peter didn't look either on one. So my suggestion, if you liked the first Batman movie then you'll like this one a lot."
Sunday, July 13, 2008
A day at the bay
Yesterday my co-worker and I took six girls ages 5-7 to Mission Bay. It was an auction item that one family bought at our school's annual auction. We played croquet, some paddle ball games, catch games, horse shoes, flew kites-or at least tried to fly kites. It was windy and all, but the kites didn't seem to want to stay up in the air for more than a couple of minutes. The kids played on the jungle gym, played make believe-I ordered a chocolate shake, scrambled eggs and a pancake with strawberry syrup and they made it in a jiffy. They thought it was hilarious that I was pretending to eat dirt. They made plaster molds of seashells in the sand, played in the water, went for a walk along the beach and went for a ride on a pedicab. The kids loved that! At lunch time they made their own turkey/ham and cheese sandwiches, enjoyed grapes and ate their own creations. On our way back to school we stopped and got ice cream cones. When we delivered the kids back to their parents they were clearly exhausted, but couldn't wait to tell their parents all the fun they had.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Mr. Handyman
On Thursday Peter and his dad installed a set of shelves that were in my bedroom when I was growing up. Here's Peter showing how strong he is. He's so strong he can lift up the shelf with one finger :)
While preparing to install we realized we needed to do a Home Depot trip for screws and a trip to my parents' house for cinder blocks to rest the shelf on until we found the right height. Somehow we decided that Peter and his dad would go to Home Depot while I picked up the blocks....Woa did I pick the wrong equipment to carry. Those cinder blocks weigh a ton! I hefted them into my car and then up a flight of stairs to our front porch, where I stopped. When the guys got home they told me I should have left them in my car and they would've brought them up for me. I was superwoman!
Peter and his dad enjoyed playing with the laser level, electric drill and all those other fun manly tools. Now I get to take my bears out of the trash bags they have been living in the past year and put them back out on display. Perhaps I'll even share and let Peter put some of his airplanes on the shelves. We'll post a picture when we have the shelves all arranged.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Fun in the kitchen
On Saturday we went to Peter's parents house to visit with a cousin that had just gotten married. While we were there we picked a bag full of plums. We took the plums home and went out and bought pectin (stuff to make jam). While at the store I asked if we had enough sugar. Peter said yes. I asked, "are you sure? We need a lot." Peter said, "yes we have a full container." We left the store and ran a few errands, then headed home to make plum jam. We got home tired and decided to make jam Sunday after church. We get home from church and start making it. I asked Peter to help by measuring out 8 1/2 cups of sugar. He opens the cupboard and "Uh oh...Um honey you know how you asked me if we had enough sugar, and I told you we did and you asked again, and I said I was sure, well I was wrong. We don't have enough." So jam making was put on hold. We ran over to his parents house and borrowed their sugar, then headed off to a birthday dinner for our friend. When we returned home we continued with our jam. After I had poured all the sugar in, Peter comments, "I think we need a bigger pot, its going to overflow." "Nah it won't overflow, just keep stirring it." Was my response. Well needless to say it overflowed and we had boiling plum puree and sugar all over our stove. We did a quick grab a pot and pour routine and then wiped down the stove. We eventually finished our plum jam and started ladling it into jars. Now let me tell you, hot liquid into glass jars and I'm supposed to put the lid on how? It was definitely a team effort with hot pads and only a few minor burns. Peter's family told us yesterday that they have more plums for us...we're ready for another adventure :)
Friday, June 27, 2008
Our fish
So here's our fish tank and stand. Isn't it pretty! The stand used to be a lot lighter, but with three coats of mahogany stain and a couple clear coats, voila we have one nice stand. The fish were being a bit camera shy. There are really about 40 fish in the tank. And the can of tuna on top, well that's another story :)
Monday, June 23, 2008
Quirks and funny little differences
Peter
*Yes, he still has his string. It goes everywhere with him. It started as one piece of yarn, now it's a whole wad, you know in case he loses one. He used to throw it in a nylon sock and wash to get the kinks in them. Now he irons the kinks in.
*Could care less if his clothes are wrinkly or not.
*Has learned not to ever wake Mandy up again in the middle of the night by tickling to ask for the blankets back. Now he just grabs hold and pulls.
*Super light sleeper, the sound of the ceiling fan keeps him up.
*Breaks out into random songs. Is quite good at making up his own song based on whatever we're talking about.
*Can be totally cheap, or splurge on stuff...Would rather buy two model airplanes ($60 each) to get free shipping, than buy one airplane and pay $10 for shipping.
*Grocery shopping-doesn't need a list, will always come back with meat on sale. Two bags full of apples on sale is common too...they were only 49 cents a pound (yes we did eat all the apples.)
*Clothing shopping-Do I have to?
*Shoes-Own about 5 pairs, don't wear about 2.
*Wakes up at 7:30 on the dot no matter the day.
*Is frustrated when it's his hair that's found on the pillow.
*Will easily spend $2000 on a big HD Widescreen LCD Sony Bravia TV, but will switch cable companies to save $10 a month.
*Collects ferraris, airplanes, castles and video games. Looks at each often. Likes to own a complete video game series, though some are still in the plastic.
*Loves Costco on Saturdays-Free samples.
*PC person
*Loves watching movie trailers on the internet.
*Loves action/adventure movies.
Mandy
*Irons clothes, even jeans and t-shirts.
*Conveniently takes up the entire bed when Peter has gotten up. Even if it is just to use the bathroom, Peter comes back and often has to sleep on the other side of the bed.
*Has tendency to sleep with legs up, and then roll over, pulling all the covers off Peter.
*Likes having the ceiling fan, AC, and/or a smaller fan on all night long during the hot months.
*Can easily sleep without blankets on hot nights. Or sleep with feet out of cover.
*Grocery shopping-Buy what we need and get it done quickly. This is not an all day event.
*Clothes shopping-Want it, Love it, Bought it.
*Shoes-Own about 23 pairs, 5 rarely get used.
*Don't even think about waking me up early on the weekend.
*Likes taking naps.
*Doesn't worry about losing hair.
*Loves Winnie the Pooh-TV-Got it! Waffle iron-Got it! Shoes-Got it! Jewelry and Jewelry box-Got it! Lawn ornaments-Have three! Salt and Pepper shakers-Wedding gift from best friend...get the picture? :)
*Loves bears-scroll down to a previous post to see picture, then add three more bears to the collection.
*Hates Costco on Saturdays-It's impossible to get through with people blocking the aisles trying to get samples.
*Loves chick flicks.
*Mac person
Though it looks like we have many differences, we do, and we love our little quirks and differences. A few but not all the things we have in common:
*We love gardening!
*We love playing Guitar Hero (we have all four editions so far and don't plan on getting the Aerosmith one, but eagerly await Guitar Hero 4), and Burnout (Mandy's getting really good.)
*We like Disney movies and playing Disney Scene It-Peter would win if he didn't always roll low numbers.
*We like to travel. Mandy prefers airplanes, Peter likes car trips, but nonetheless we like traveling.
*We love pets. Mandy likes dogs best, Peter likes anything with four legs and furry.
*We love watching movies together.
*We love swimming. Peter takes awhile to get used to the water, while Mandy usually just jumps in and gets used to the water real fast.
*We like museums
*We hate doing the laundry, more importantly we hate putting the laundry away, but we grin and bear it and get the job done.
*We like going on fun day trips, amusement parks, Seaworld, etc.
*We like hanging out with friends.
*We love being with each other.
*Yes, he still has his string. It goes everywhere with him. It started as one piece of yarn, now it's a whole wad, you know in case he loses one. He used to throw it in a nylon sock and wash to get the kinks in them. Now he irons the kinks in.
*Could care less if his clothes are wrinkly or not.
*Has learned not to ever wake Mandy up again in the middle of the night by tickling to ask for the blankets back. Now he just grabs hold and pulls.
*Super light sleeper, the sound of the ceiling fan keeps him up.
*Breaks out into random songs. Is quite good at making up his own song based on whatever we're talking about.
*Can be totally cheap, or splurge on stuff...Would rather buy two model airplanes ($60 each) to get free shipping, than buy one airplane and pay $10 for shipping.
*Grocery shopping-doesn't need a list, will always come back with meat on sale. Two bags full of apples on sale is common too...they were only 49 cents a pound (yes we did eat all the apples.)
*Clothing shopping-Do I have to?
*Shoes-Own about 5 pairs, don't wear about 2.
*Wakes up at 7:30 on the dot no matter the day.
*Is frustrated when it's his hair that's found on the pillow.
*Will easily spend $2000 on a big HD Widescreen LCD Sony Bravia TV, but will switch cable companies to save $10 a month.
*Collects ferraris, airplanes, castles and video games. Looks at each often. Likes to own a complete video game series, though some are still in the plastic.
*Loves Costco on Saturdays-Free samples.
*PC person
*Loves watching movie trailers on the internet.
*Loves action/adventure movies.
Mandy
*Irons clothes, even jeans and t-shirts.
*Conveniently takes up the entire bed when Peter has gotten up. Even if it is just to use the bathroom, Peter comes back and often has to sleep on the other side of the bed.
*Has tendency to sleep with legs up, and then roll over, pulling all the covers off Peter.
*Likes having the ceiling fan, AC, and/or a smaller fan on all night long during the hot months.
*Can easily sleep without blankets on hot nights. Or sleep with feet out of cover.
*Grocery shopping-Buy what we need and get it done quickly. This is not an all day event.
*Clothes shopping-Want it, Love it, Bought it.
*Shoes-Own about 23 pairs, 5 rarely get used.
*Don't even think about waking me up early on the weekend.
*Likes taking naps.
*Doesn't worry about losing hair.
*Loves Winnie the Pooh-TV-Got it! Waffle iron-Got it! Shoes-Got it! Jewelry and Jewelry box-Got it! Lawn ornaments-Have three! Salt and Pepper shakers-Wedding gift from best friend...get the picture? :)
*Loves bears-scroll down to a previous post to see picture, then add three more bears to the collection.
*Hates Costco on Saturdays-It's impossible to get through with people blocking the aisles trying to get samples.
*Loves chick flicks.
*Mac person
Though it looks like we have many differences, we do, and we love our little quirks and differences. A few but not all the things we have in common:
*We love gardening!
*We love playing Guitar Hero (we have all four editions so far and don't plan on getting the Aerosmith one, but eagerly await Guitar Hero 4), and Burnout (Mandy's getting really good.)
*We like Disney movies and playing Disney Scene It-Peter would win if he didn't always roll low numbers.
*We like to travel. Mandy prefers airplanes, Peter likes car trips, but nonetheless we like traveling.
*We love pets. Mandy likes dogs best, Peter likes anything with four legs and furry.
*We love watching movies together.
*We love swimming. Peter takes awhile to get used to the water, while Mandy usually just jumps in and gets used to the water real fast.
*We like museums
*We hate doing the laundry, more importantly we hate putting the laundry away, but we grin and bear it and get the job done.
*We like going on fun day trips, amusement parks, Seaworld, etc.
*We like hanging out with friends.
*We love being with each other.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Free Car Wash
We went to a wedding reception tonight. On our way home, as we're leaving the parking lot, Peter slams on the brakes, puts the car in reverse and then very very slowly drives through a sprinkler that was spraying all over the street. He figured if he drove slowly enough the whole car would get washed. He even had the windshield wipers going. It was pretty funny.
Peter's side of the story
It's time for me to defend my honor. That spider was really big, it was arguably not a bug, it was wildlife! When it's on you it seems even bigger. There are lots of people given the same circumstances who would've done an even grander spider dance. That is all.
Spider Dance
Yesterday Peter and I were at my parents' house looking at pieces of slate for our aquarium. Peter ditched me at one point to go check out his gladiolus bulbs in the pool area and walked into a spider web with a spider that was "this big" in it. I was on the other side of the house when I heard a lot of commotion. I turned the corner and saw Peter whacking himself with a box and doing the funniest dance I've seen in a long time. My mom was beside herself with laughter. Apparently I missed the part where he was running around the lawn hoping that the wind would blow the spider off him. He claims he was looking for a place that the dog hadn't pooped so he could roll on the ground. (My mom poop scoops all the time, there was no poop out there to be found.) He claims it's still pooped grass even if it has already been cleaned up. So anyway I see him whacking himself with a box. Then he comes running toward me with box in hand and tells me to whack the spider. I heard "spider" and backed away. You kidding me I didn't want him anywhere near me, after all the spider was "this big."
Then several hours later when we were back at home sitting on the couch he kept on grabbing at his hair. Every time he flinched I flinched too and then I started laughing. He was not finding it as funny as I was. :)
Then several hours later when we were back at home sitting on the couch he kept on grabbing at his hair. Every time he flinched I flinched too and then I started laughing. He was not finding it as funny as I was. :)
Sunday, June 15, 2008
New Pets coming soon!
Since our last pet...my rat Smokey died about a month ago we have thought that we need another pet around the house. We need something that lasts awhile, but when it dies you don't feel bad. So we decided on fish. Now my brother just so happens to be totally into fish. He has a 210 gallon salt water tank in my parents' garage. My dad is also into fish. He usually goes and sits all weekend in water waiting for some to bite his bait, but he also has a 60 gallon fresh water tank in his office as well as a much smaller salt water tank.
Now my totally cool and wonderful brother has been selling his saltwater stuff and some of his freshwater stuff too. He has an extra 40 gallon tank and stand that I've been eyeing the last couple of weeks. I had asked my mom about possibly staining the stand a darker color and she said she had the equipment to do it, if my brother sold me the stand and tank. A couple days ago I asked my brother if he was selling the tank and stand and he said he was. I asked him if I could buy it and he said I could have it for free. He also went through his stuff and found some freshwater sand, a filter and a few other things that I could have. When I lived there I had a 10 gallon freshwater tank in my bathroom. It had the coolest things in it and we couldn't find the rocks that I had, but nobody remembers throwing them away, so perhaps we'll find them.
So anyways we're getting fishies! Petco has a great sale on fish until June 22nd, so sometime before then we'll have it all set up and ready. I'm excited! We'll post pictures when it is all set up and ready.
Now my totally cool and wonderful brother has been selling his saltwater stuff and some of his freshwater stuff too. He has an extra 40 gallon tank and stand that I've been eyeing the last couple of weeks. I had asked my mom about possibly staining the stand a darker color and she said she had the equipment to do it, if my brother sold me the stand and tank. A couple days ago I asked my brother if he was selling the tank and stand and he said he was. I asked him if I could buy it and he said I could have it for free. He also went through his stuff and found some freshwater sand, a filter and a few other things that I could have. When I lived there I had a 10 gallon freshwater tank in my bathroom. It had the coolest things in it and we couldn't find the rocks that I had, but nobody remembers throwing them away, so perhaps we'll find them.
So anyways we're getting fishies! Petco has a great sale on fish until June 22nd, so sometime before then we'll have it all set up and ready. I'm excited! We'll post pictures when it is all set up and ready.
Brazilian BBQ
Saturday we had a Brazilian BBQ with our neighbors and our home teachers. It was very fun. I had the best piece of pork I have ever eaten in my entire life. We took it right off the grill. They sliced it on the board. I picked it up from the board and it was so juicy I had juice running down my fingers. I always thought pork had to be boring and dry, but this stuff was fantastic! We also had a ton of beef, roasted glazed pineapple, beans, rice and chicken. Mandy liked the chicken best. We had watermelon too. For drink we had limeade and strawberry limeade. Our neighbors are from Brazil and our home teacher served there on his mission so they were pros. They even brought roasting sticks like they do in the restaurants. The one thing I learned about pork is that you need a thick piece otherwise it will be dry. It was so fine!
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Pool Garden
Behind the pool we have started an extension to my garden. Peter planted gladiolus bulbs and I planted cantaloupe, honeydew, zucchini, butternut squash and bell peppers. We can hardly wait for everything to be in bloom.
To those who don't know. This is at Mandy's parents' house.
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