Things that make me go, "EEK!" UPDATE!!!

VICTORY!!!!

I just went down and the MOUSE IN TRAP setting was up on one of the traps!

I cautiously placed it in a target bag and tied it tightly, just in case.

WHEW.

Good timing because Hubs comes home tonight and "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" just showed up in our mailbox. Mouse-free date night is on!

Things that make me go, "EEK!"

Once again, I really don't mind having a husband who travels, but on nights like last night, I could have used an at-home Hubs.

I was sitting in the basement watching a HORRIBLE movie, doing some work on the computer and had just clicked over to write a blog post about my favorite things when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. You know when you think you see a bug crawling, but it's not a bug because it's way too big? Yeah, one of those.

All the lights were off, because I was in movie theater mode, and I was looking at the computer screen, so I brushed it off as something in the movie playing tricks with my eyes.

Then I saw it again, going back the other way. So I put the laptop down, criss-cross-applesauced my legs and stared.

No denying what it was when it ran from the Bose speaker to a pillow on the floor.

A MOUSE!!!!!!!

I sat, wide-eyed and staring at the pillow. I glanced at Zoe who was perched next to me on the couch, also staring at the pillow.

Crap, that means it's NOT the valium I'm taking playing tricks on me. She saw it, too.

Three seconds later, it scurried back from the pillow to the speaker.

Zoe and I exchanged glances and I said, "Go get it!"

She hopped of the couch and started sniffing and wining at the spot, then paced around the entertainment center. I, heroically hopped onto the footrest/storage trunks and stared, trying to figure out what the heck to do now. I told Zoe to stay and bolted upstairs, grabbing the biggest, heaviest, easiest to bleach clean bowl I could find. I ran back down to find Zoe in the same position. I figure if she's born to hunt, Mickey hasn't gotten past her.

Oh, and I'd like to take a moment to say that I LOVE animals, and I would never kill something, just because, but the moment I saw Mickey scurrying around my nice clean basement, all I could think of was, "DIE MOUSE DIE!!!" Ick, what has it touched or crawled on?! Was he alone? Does he have a mouse family?! The basement just flooded and we didn't see a mouse home when we were re-doing it. OH GRAVY! What if they're in the CEILING! AHHHHH!! Mice dropping all overhead! They're going to be crawling up my pajama legs. They're everywhere!!!

Ok. Deep breath. I stand on the trunk with bowl in hand weighing the situation. I could try to scare it out and try to get Zoe to catch it. But then what if she bites it in half? And eats it? Then I'm going to have mouse blood and guts to clean up, and I will HAVE to clean out Zoe's mouth. Can dogs gargle Listerine? And then I'll probably vomit, so I'd have to clean that up, too. And if SHE scares it out and I can slam the bowl down and trap it, then what in the hay bales am I going to do with it? Try to slip some cardboard under the bowl, take it outside to release it into the wild and risk having it crawl up my arm and bite me? Leave the bowl over it with something to weigh it down? Then just leave it there to die? Three problems with that; 1. that's horrible 2. I'm sure it would be going nuts and we'd end up with a bowl sized hole in the carpet while it tried to escape and 3. that's the kids playroom, so what am I going to do? Say, "Just leave that bowl and phonebook in the middle of the floor. DON'T touch it! Mommy's waiting on a mouse to die."

We don't have any mouse traps (real ones) in the house. I could RUN across the street to the Wal-mart-ish store and hope no one wakes up. I can't call the neighbors because it's almost midnight and this isn't a life or death situation. Hmmm.

After 20 minutes of standing and staring, I finally decide what to do. Leave the light on, hoping this makes the mouse stay in the dark corner of the entertainment center, RUN upstairs and barricade the basement door with a big, yellow beach towel and my laptop bag.

I thought about taping the covers around the kids and myself, but thought that might be overkill.

I then texted Hubs to say, "THERE'S A FREAKING MOUSE IN THE BASEMENT." He calmly replied that he thought he heard something in the ceiling the other week (AHHHH! I was right! They're everywhere and will be dropping on my face while I sleep!!!!). Ugh.

After a not-s0-g00d-night's sleep, I tossed the kids in the car and headed across the street to shop for mouse traps. I tried to call before going to see if they had them, and Customer Service said, "Hang on and I'll transfer you to health and beauty." Umm. Really? Mousetraps are located by mascara?! Ick!

I treated myself to a mocha, because if you're shopping for mouse traps before breakfast, you deserve a little something happy.

I went in thinking I'd have to get something like this:

And the thought of having to dispose of it and keep the kids and dog away from it was skeeving me out, big time. I also wondered how many times I'd snap my own finger in the stinkin' things before I actually got them loaded and set.

We did NOT head to the Health and Beauty section, but instead wandered over to where bug spray was, and there they were. Good, old, wooden mouse traps. But, to the left were bait and wait traps. Of course, they had poison and the dog/kid factor worried me.

There were also these

But then I'd have a mouse on glue paper, and again, there's the kids and dog factor.

Then I saw perfection:

No view, no touch, ignorance is bliss mouse traps. Slap a little peanut butter in there, set it and forget it! There's even a little spot on the top that says, "Set" or "Mouse in Trap," and if it gets tripped with no mouse, it has a "Not Set" button that flips up. I resisted the urge to purchase everyone they had and just got a 2 pack. Well see what happens, however, knowing my luck, I'll have some super smart mouse who flips the trap over, peels back the tape, eats the peanut butter and leaves, smearing mouse-feet peanut butter prints all over the carpet.

And then we'll have ants.

Things that make me go, "Yay!" Back-to-school edition

School is starting back soon, SOON, and to keep my mind off of the fact that my baby will be riding the school bus, I'm embracing the back-to-school things that make me say, "Yay!" And now I'm sharing them with you, because, let's face it, Hubs just doesn't get that excited over this kinda stuff.

#1 Lunch Boxes

******************OHMYBATHTUBS. We interrupt this blog post because, as I just texted Hubs, THERE'S A FREAKING MOUSE IN THE BASEMENT. AHHHHHHHHHHHHH*******

I don't mind having a husband who travels

I do mind having a husband who travels places I love!

When we lived in Florida, travel was a mix of random farms (no thank you) and beautiful beaches (yes please!). I never had a desire to travel then because I either had a small child, had a small child and was pregnant or had 2 small children. So the idea of spending a weekend at the Ritz was not appealing after adding in the packing up of pack-n-plays, diapers, wipes, swim diapers, clothes, lovies, pillows, food, snacks, cups.... you get the idea.

Now, Nugget and Strip are pretty golden. 3+ and 5+ are pretty easy travel ages. They eat what we eat, sleep where we sleep and pee where we pee. But, since Hubs got the traveling job in January, there was nowhere I really wanted to go or could go with work and kids in preschool.

That changed last week when he scooted to Chicago for a couple of days.

Don't tell NYC, but I LOVE Chicago. Love it. I figured I'd enjoy it when Hubs took me there to see Wicked, and even though it was bone chillingly cold, we had a good time. Back with the girls? We had a great time. Back with another couple friend for our anniversary? I want to MOVE there (the above picture was taken on that trip. It makes me giggle every time I look at it)!

When I mentioned to Hubs that the kids and I could "totally go with you," he replied that it was going to be a quick trip and not really worth it for us to go up there." The next morning, when he called, he confirmed that it was "really pretty boring."

Me: Oh yeah? What did you do?

Hubs: We literally checked into the hotel, went to dinner with the ad guys and went back to the hotel.

Me: I love the ad guys! We had a great dinner when they were here.

Hubs: yeah, and now I'm just going to meetings all day, then I'll be home tonight. You wouldn't have fun.

Me: HellO?! I wouldn't go to meetings with you! I'd sleep at the hotel, but the kids and I would head to the Pier, go to the American Girl Store, shop, play!

Hubs: I gotta go.

So once again, Hubs headed out to Chicago. We have too much going on this week to run away with him (because, really HUbs, what would you do if we just showed up at the hotel? Tell us to drive home?), so we're making the most of it. I really miss Hubs when he's gone, but the kids and I have developed a routine, and sometimes things go much smoother when he's not around. Not that he's not a good husband and father. I think it's more that I HAVE to be both parents, so I'm on my game more.

But just to rub salt in the wound, tonight we were chatting before dinner. I'm going through my 5 year plan about cars and discussing the pro's and con's of cars and what car we should get next (not any time soon) when Hubs interrupts me:

Hubs: WOW. This room is MUCH bigger that I thought it was going to be.

So sorry to hear you're slummin' Hubs!

So, I'm embracing my single-lady status and have put the kids to bed, washed my face and slipped into my pjs. I've poured myself a nice glass of wine and am enjoying a scary movie in the basement, since my big girlie husband prefers Twilight over thrillers.

Nuggets from Nugget

Nugget was much slower to speak than Strip. Part of the reason could be that no one can get a word in with Chatty Cathy as a big sister. He's doing much better, but his voice and inflection crack me up. At first he sounded like a caveman (I go. You play.). Now, he's doing better with full sentences, but he reminds me of a cross between Borat and the Dad from My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

Thursday, we had to run some late-afternoon errands and were making our last stop to drop off books at the library. Because the kids were cranky, I was letting them pick favorite songs. Strip picked "American Honey" Nugget rocked out to "Need you Now," then back to Strip with "Perfect Day." When Strip's song was over, Nugget wanted to sing "Our kind of Love," but Strip was done.

Strip: Let's just not listen to music.

Me: No, you picked 2 songs, now it's Nugget's turn to pick a song.

Strip: I just want quiet. I don't want to hear music.

Nugget: Maybe? You don't like music? You can get our of this car.

I almost ran off the road I was laughing so hard. AND, it made Strip giggle and forget that she was cranky pants, at least for a minute.

Then, yesterday, we were running late afternoon errands again because I was meeting 2 different craigs list people. The first one was after we had been at the museum, and I got the kids a giant cookie to split. They ate the cookie on the way to Costco, but Nugget was falling asleep during the 20 minute drive. I grabbed a bottle of water and handed it to him to drink. After chugging 1/3 of the bottle, he was perking up a little, but not totally awake. Strip and I were singing really loudly in an attempt to keep him up.

Out of nowhere, we hear a giant BUUUUUUURRRRRRRRPPPPPPP.

Me: Excuse you, Nugget!

Nugget: Oh. That one taste like chocolate. It was delicious.

Oh boys will be boys, even if they're only three and are falling asleep.

Tic tac vs painkillers

vs

I've done something to my back.

It feels like someone's smacked me in the tailbone with a metal pipe (no one has, although at the med stop, the nurse did ask if I was in a domestic violence situation while eying a large bruise just below my knee. Again, no clue where that came from).

I'd been telling myself it was nothing since Thursday, but today, when it took me a good three minutes to stand up, I decided it was time to call the doctor. Problem? I don't have "just a" doctor. Come to think of it, I haven't had just-a-doc since I lived with my parents. I guess when you see so many -ologists, a primary care just seems silly.

Hubs has one, so I called there to see if he could see me. Just-a-Doc didn't have an opening for a new-patient, so I ended up going to he med stop (not the er, but not wallgreens). The doctor was super nice. But, because I didn't have some catastrophic event to pinpoint it, we really didn't have much to go on, so the plan is, painkiller/muscle relaxers for 2 days. If I feel better, great! If not, back in for mri/x-ray/bone scan to see if I have a fracture.

Really?! Fracture in my back? I am way too young to be falling apart like this! I recently joked with a friend of mine that God put our group together for a reason; if we put together all of our functioning parts together, we might actually make a person.

I took my first muscle relaxer at 5. It's been almost 4 hours and nadda. So what's the difference between tic tacs and painkillers? At least with tic tacs, you get fresher breath.

Oh Mickey. Where is your moral compass?

For those of you who have not watched the new Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, it's a pretty cute show. Mickey and the gang have little adventures and use counting, colors and memory games along the way. Sometimes, they need a little help, so they call on Toodles (oh TOOOodddlles!). Toodles has 3-4 things that will help Mickey and his friends, including a mystery mouse-ka-tool.

While not a substitute for preschool, it's a cute show that keeps the kids involved, reinforces basic skills and invites you to do the Hot Dog dance at the end.

My first, "Really, Mickey?" moment was last year when Goofy said, "Guess what?" to which Mickey replied, "What?" and Goofy said, "Chicken BUTT!"

Really, Mickey?

This morning, I was getting breakfast ready for everyone and Goofy was in some sort of a race. Something happened and he went off course, and at one point, Mickey suggested finding a mouse-ka-tool to help Goofy.

"THAT'S NOT FAIR!"

I thought Strip was talking about how much milk I gave Nugget vs her, so I asked what she was talking about.

"Goofy is supposed to be running this race, and Mickey's going to get a mouse-ka-tool from Toodles to help him. You can't do that. That's cheating. He's going to win the race because of Toodles and that's not fair!"

Good point, Strip.

What next Mickey? What next?

Behold, the power of the pep talk.

I don't own this bear. She is available at www.aubookstore.com. So there ya go.

I've always been big on pep talks.

Strip's been given pep talks for as long as I can remember. My theory is, kids are going to act like kids until you tell them how they are supposed to act. So, going into a store? "Ok! We have to go into the store to get milk, bread and apple juice. You need to hold mommy's hand while we are in the store. The sooner we get in and get out, the sooner we can go to the library, got it?"

Good.

So both kids have been a little nuts-o lately. Nugget is still in grandparent detox. He is insistent on "having 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 snuggles" after we leave or he wants to watch a movie. Really?! Where did that come from? Oh yeah. Grandparents!

Strip has been doing her normal we-thought-it-was-sleep-walking-now-we're-sure-she-just-likes-the-fan-in-our-room 3 am bed-joining. Not a big deal, because I'm usually dead to the world, but if I'm up with Nugget late, then have a Strip invasion, ugh.

Last night was hell, and I finally just caved and tossed Nugget in bed with me. Some would say, "He's three! Let him cry it out!" My kids don't do that. I let him CIO from about 9 until 11:30. I'd go in to remind him that we were there and he was ok, but he just wouldn't settle. I caved at 11:30 because I was exhausted. Strip woke me up at 3. Bad dreams about a wolf (sidenote: I blame you, PaPa. She's been on a "wolves are going to eat me" kick for 3 nights. Finally we were talking about red riding hood and she said, "PaPa said we better be careful because a wolf might eat Ma!" Ha ha ha, she took it seriously.), so I figured I couldn't get any LESS sleep, spooning in her 200* room.

Oh wait! I could! UP sent her the Owl City cd and she insisted on having the "Fireflies" song on repeat. Every time she kicked me in the stomach, I was serenaded, "I'd like to make myself believe, that planet Earth turns, slowly..."

2 hours later, Nugget is in my face, tapping me on the nose. "Hey mommy. Get up. The sun up. I let Zoe out. Let's go eat oatmeal."

Tonight, I started at dinner.

Me: Ok. So tonight? New night. We're going to go upstairs, brush our teeth. Wash our faces and get in bed. We're going to get a snuggle while we read stories and say prayers. Then, Mommy and Daddy are going to leave. No more talking, no more snuggling. Sleeping time.

Nugget: Yeah, last night, I cry, "Waaah! Mommy!! I need a tell you sump-pin!"

Me: Yup, so tonight, you tell me or daddy "sump-pin" before we leave. Lights will go out, and it will be quiet and sleepy time until morning, got it?

Nugget and Strip: GOT IT!

After Family Movie night, we marched up stairs, got ready for bed, got our snuggles and giggles, and I turned out the light. I asked them both (bunk bed night) if they had anything else they needed to tell me.

Nugget: Yeah. Momm-eh? Can we go to the pool tomorrow?

Me: probably

Strip: Do you think we can have waffles for breakfast?

Me: I'll give Daddy the request!

Then....nothing!

I went downstairs and took Zoe out (carpets are still clean today!) and didn't hear a peep from either kid.

Still holding my breath, but we have no shades on our bedroom windows, so I'll have a clear view of any flying pigs.

The Honeymoon's over.

This picture has nothing to do with this blog post. Motivational posters just give me the giggles, and this is the only (safe) one I could find involving "honeymoons" or "marriage."

Zoe came into our lives on April 24th. She's a perfect dog with a side of awesomesauce.

When we went on our yet-to-be-blogged-about beach vacation, I did NOT want to board her. We had not had her that long, and I wanted her to be comfortable in her house, not cooped up in a kennel, so we hired a local college chick to hang out with her for the week.

That week happened to be Storm Fest 2010.

Having lived in Georgia for her entire life, Zoe had not experienced the "It's a twister, it's a twister!" type storms we have this time of year. Hubs and Zoe have a special connection since he was the one who picked her up. They also, apparently, share the same fear and hatred of severe weather.

The poor pup was a mess with every storm, and to repay us for leaving her, she's continued to pee and poop in the house. Luckily she shares our disdain for our upstairs carpet and keeps her business in there. I would, however, prefer that she go outside. She's also now using her go-go gadget arms, legs and nose to snatch food off the counter. Yesterday, she snagged a banana out of the fruit bowl. A few days ago, she ate Nugget's vitamins when he left the table to go to the bathroom.

And even though we are blowing through Nature's Miracle (and gummy vites), she's still our baby! Her birthday was last week, so we had a little celebration:

dog bone cake

Birthday card with treats from Strip

Big bone from Nugget!

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go get more carpet cleaner.

Bright idea

Whose bright idea was it to get the bigger swing set?

Oh yeah. That was mine.

When I stumbled upon the Costco playset, one of my concerns was that it was too small. I didn't want the kids being too tall for it in 2 years. So when we found the build-it-yourself options, I was elated! We took off some of the more expensive options (tube slide, horse swing, etc) and put the money towards the lumber. As a result, we have a great playset, which includes a slide so steep, there should be someone at the top instructing you to lean back, cross your arms over your chest and cross your feet at the ankles, and monkey bars so far off the ground, I've called ahead to the E.R. to reserve casts.

Strip actually went across them tonight, fairly unassisted (she's got strongs!).

Nugget tried, and looked like this:

He then informed us, "I too little. I need a be a little bigger for the monkey bars."

I agree, little friend.

Triumphant return of the To-Do list

But first, a follow up from the last post. Last night, as Hubs and I were settling into watch Forensic Files, an infomercial for a men's sliming T. It's basically a man girdle. And the guy says, "It's not binding!" Really? Isn't that the point? If it weren't binding, it would just be a tank top. Not buying this, don't worry, Hubs.

Back to the point.

A year or so ago, I was looking for a good, daily organizational method, mainly for housekeeping. I wanted a way to schedule out things to do during the week so I wouldn't get overwhelmed, but also wouldn't, oh, say forget to do laundry until we were all out of underwear. Before Strip was born, I stumbled on the Fly Lady. Loved her concepts, but I was getting 87 emails a day, and when I opted out of the emails and would just check the website, I found it too cluttered, which is funny because she's supposed to help you rid your home of clutter (there is also a major over use of "lol." I can't stand lol's in general, but when used as often as punctuation, bleh).

So last year, while googling "to do lists" and "home management" instead of actually just making a to do list or managing my home, I found Simple Mom. Love this site! She's got lots of great resources, and has a wonderful to-do list that you can download and print for free!

I like it because while you can write as many "to-do's" in as you want, you pick three MIT's or most important things that HAVE to be done. You can also map out your day by time. So, I can write in, "Take chicken out of the freezer" or "Start making the lasagna" early in the day and actually do it instead of remembering at 6:00 and saying, "Crap! Who wants grilled cheese for supper!?"

There's also a pocket docket if you don't need a full page (but I'm wordy, so I like having a lot of room). You can see all of her downloads HERE, so go get your life organized!

And now that I've wasted 15 minutes writing about being organized, I'm off to actually make my to-do list.

WOW that didn't take long.

I love infomercials.

I totally get sucked in and fall in love with products. When I was younger I really wanted a Ronco Food Dehydrator , even after my mother pointed out that I hate jerky and dried fruit. But maybe I WOULD like them if I had a R.F.D!

My first infopurchase was the EZ Krunch. I literally put CASH in the mail to order it (ah to be young and clueless again!). To my mother's surprise, they actually sent me one! Giant piece of poo.

Since then, I've purchased Joy Mangano's Huggable Hangers (technically Hubs ordered these from HSN for my birthday, but still a "tv" purchase), Snuggie's, Perfect brownie Maker and a Touch n Brush. Most of those were purchased from Bed Bath and Beyond, but they still count. My online As Seen On TV wants from the past were a clapper and some tinfoil type thing you could cook with in your microwave.

It was no shock that when Wow Containers commercial came on during a show last Christmas, I needed them! Every top is a bottom and every bottom is a top?! Could it get any better?! I resisted the urge to order them online, but have been keeping my eye out for them ever since.

Yesterday, I needed some spinach and after-bite itch cream (not for the same recipe), so popped into the grocery store on the way home from the pool. There, on the end cap, almost glowing were the boxes! A 40 piece set for only $19.99!

We scooted home, and I began to run them through the dishwasher. After the first round came out, I tried to put a bottom and a bottom together. Would.not.click. I told myself it was just because they were hot from the washer and I'd try again later.

Hubs came home and giggled at the sight of our counters covered in drying Wow's, and he too wanted to try to put them together. CRACK. 45 minutes in our home and one's already broken. And still not snapped together. I tried again and could not get them to click (and almost broke two more trying), so back in the box they went.

I am still in the need of storage containers, so if you have some you love, please share. Otherwise Hubs is going to be taking leftovers to work in either Tiana or McQueen snack takers.

Four Strip Sillies

I've been bad about writing down the funnies that come from Strip, so here are four that have nothing in common except for the fact that they all come from Strip:

Stripism 1

Setting: our house.

We've been working with both kids on yes sir, no sir, yes ma'am, no ma'am. Nugget's still learning. Strip asked him something, and Nugget responded, "Ma'am?"

Strip: (with a heavy sigh) UGH! How many times to do I have to tell you?! I'm not a "ma'am," I'm a "what!"

Stripisim 2

Setting: on the way to the pool/water park.

Strip had previously spent the week at PaPa and Ma's who have a water park at their YMCA. They are members there, but apparently, getting a one week pass for Strip is more difficult than than making a bill a law.

Strip: You know? PaPa and Ma have a pool kinda like this, recept it's in Georgia. And only people who live in Georgia can go there. But I don't live in Georgia, so I'm really not allowed to. But I can. You know why? Because Ma is determined. You know what that means? It means even though I don't live in Georgia, I still can go to the pool.

Stripism 2

Setting: Bed time.

We've been working on the whole go-to-bed-and-stay-there-all-night-thing, so Strip's made a chart with a bunch of "Z's" coming out of a sleeping person. Each morning, after sleeping in her bed all night, she gets to put a sticker over a Z and when it's full, we're going to buy Alice in Wonderland (the new creepy version) to "keep forever" as Strip says. The other night, she was stalling at bedtime and wanted to just sleep in our bed, so I said, "Ok, but I guess if you sleep in our bed, you're not going to get a sticker on your chart...."

Strip: That's fine Mom. It's not like this is my last night ever.

I wanted to say, "You never know! We could all die tomorrow!" but figured that would DEFINITELY not help in the sleeping alone category. So instead, I bit my lip to hold back the laughter, agreed with her statement and tucked her into our bed.

Stripism 4

Setting: late afternoon on a rainy day, playing with Bendaroos

Strip was building a campfire out of bendaroos and went on a nine minute tangent about something and how wonderful it was. She finished her spiel by asking, "isn't that wonderful of me?!" to which I replied, "Oh yes! Thank you!"

Strip: Don't thank me, thank the Lord!

I giggled and said, "Ok, Thanks Lord!" She corrected me by saying, "No, say,'Thank you Lord for giving me this wonderful daughter!'"

Amen!

No wonder he upgrades.

I think I've only given Hubs one gift that he hasn't upgraded.

In college, I worked at a fine jewelry store. I sold many engagement rings to many men. It was then that it struck me; why is it that men are expected to purchase a pricy diamond ring, and the guys get nothing? So I figured when I got engaged, I'd buy my future Hubs something nice as well. When Hubs popped the question, he got a Rolex a few days later and has been happily wearing it ever since.

Oh no, make that 2. For his wedding gift, I had a pair of cuff links hand-engraved with the UGA arches. He kept those, too.

So one birthday, he really wanted a shuffle so he could run with music. So what do I get him? A shuffle. What does he do? Trade it in on a nano, purchased the nike + thing and, of course, had to get the shoes to go with them.

Then, I SUPER surprise him the next Christmas and get him a PS3 with an extra controller and 5 bluray discs. Great right? Even better, apparently, is going out and buying 2 extra games and a guitar hero guitar (on a side note, I ROCK at G.H., so much so that Hubs was forced to also buy Rock Band because he was convinced he could school me on drums. I also rock at Rock Band. All instruments).

His birthday is right after Christmas, so I feel like he always gets the shaft on gifts. Plus, gift exchange wasn't exactly even Christmas before last so when I spotted a Kegerator in Costco, I knew I had the golden ticket. I put off impulse buying it, then talked myself into buying it three days later, but when I called the woman said, "Sorry we just sold it!" It? It! There was an "it" in a box, but the floor model was still there! I'm still in the game! "So you still have the floor model?" I ask and she quickly responded, "Um no we sold that one, too...." I wanted to shout, "LIAR!!" but figured I would just scoot over there the next day.

Strip's last day of school, Nugget and I went to Costco and behold! There was the last Kegerator! And it was marked down! I looked around and resisted the urge to lick it, claiming it as my own. I did park Nugget, in the cart, in front of it while I flagged the nearest employee to cart it off for me.

I did the happy dance all the way home and was trying to figure out how I was going to hide it until Father's Day. Then I remembered we would be at the beach for Father's Day, so I'd have to give it to him right before we left and he wouldn't be able to "play" with it until we got back. Or, I could give it to him when we got back, but Hubs has a crazy travel schedule, so I thought I'd just REALLY surprise him and give it to him now!

He loved it! Had that baby up and running, chilling a keg in no time. And it's been great, we've loved it. With the minor exception that it's plugged into an outlet that is on a funky breaker, so we have to watch the power outages, it's been great.

But...

We've noticed the temp has been slowly creeping up. And the manual temp gauge on the outside won't adjust. No worries. Costco takes EVERYTHING back, but I wanted to try to fix it first.

I called Danby to see if there was a part or something I could order and the nice lady said since I had my receipt, I could call the repair man in our area, show him the receipt, and they could fix it for free! Yay!

I called the number and left a message. 20 minutes later, the service center called to apologize, but they haven't serviced Danby products in 2 years and "apparently, it's just too difficult for them to take our name off our list..." and then went into a three minute rant about it.

Ookie dookie.

I called back and got another number. That number was forward to another number...in Boston. I doubt Boston would scoot someone out to me for a Keg repair, so I call back and ask for at LEAST 2 numbers. Other 2 don't service that company's warranty repairs either. Notice a trend? My opinion now? They sell expensive poop that breaks so often, even the warranty repair people are sick of dealing with them.

Ugh. I finally find an awesome gift and it self destructs. So we are chugging keg beer at our house! All are welcome to join! And I'm sure after I return this to Costco, Hubs will find a double tap kegerator or one that comes with a beer wench to fetch him a fresh pint, just to keep the upgrade theme going.

Cheers!

What would the church preschool say to this?!

Strip has a bag that has this saying on it. I'm feeling a wee bit too lazy to go snap a picture, so I googled it, and voila! Someone makes cups that say it on there, too! Adorable!

Well, we are back from the beach and I *think* we've officially grandparent detoxed the kids. It's nice to get back into the grove of things, even if "normal life" doesn't include a margarita on the beach at 10:30 AM.

One thing Strip (and now Nugget) love is role playing. Earlier today, Strip was calling me "Your Highness," and asked if it was ok if she called me that.

Me: You can call me that, but that's what you call a queen.

Strip: ok?

Me: And I'm not a queen.

Strip: thinking for a minute Ok. I can call you that.

Me: Why?

Strip: Well, I'm a princess, and I'm your daughter, so you have to be a queen.

Simple enough!

Today she traded in "your highness" for "ma'am" because I was the waitress, and they were the customers. This entailed me reading them the specials for the day (whatever they were having for lunch/dinner with their choice of fruit, veggie and beverage) and taking their orders.

For dinner, they were dining at our very exclusive Restaurant al Fresco aka the deck. I went outside to read the specials and took their orders, ladies first.

I'll have the toasted cheese sandwich, cut like a flower (if you can't do that, please let me know and I'll pick something else), with oranges and baby carrots. And to drink, I'd like a margarita, hold the tequila.

Nice. Glad I have one who will just say no, but I'm hoping this order doesn't carry into the kindergarden lunch line.