Ensured or Cursed?

Each Spring brings high hopes for a bountiful garden.  Seeing old dirt over-run with weeds...

 

 

...turned over and ready for new life is invigorating, encouraging, inspiring. 

 

 

And when then those little seeds begin to sprout

 

 

and your first harvest is ready, you begin to think...

 

 

"I've got this!  I am a gardener! 

I will be successful!!"

 

But then Mother Nature (mixed with a chaotic schedule to say the least) has another plan and the beginnings of a drought are taking their toll on gardens everywhere. 

 

 

Oh my poor basil.

 

With all the promises of rain in the forecast that have been missing our corner of Ohio, I have found a foolproof way to ensure that we will get tomorrows storms.  Guaranteed. 

 

I watered my garden. 

 

 

Or perhaps I did the opposite and I cursed us with more possible rain that will miss us.  How did I do that?

 

Well, in order to water my garden I emptied my entire rain barrel and can do no more watering until it fills back up.  But that's okay.  Its supposed to rain tomorrow, right?

 

 

So there you have it. 

 

I either ensured our rain because my garden no longer needs watered.  Or I cursed us all by using up all my water reserves in knowing that we'll get more rain tomorrow.

On Our Way

We had garage sales.

 

We had lemonade stands.

 

We bribed the kids to keep the lights off.

 

We took on side jobs.

 

We made wise spending decisions.

 

And although there are many blanks spaces left on our board...

 

...we will be on our way to the most wonderful place on earth very soon.

 

As many of you may have heard me profess, we would not be going to Disney unless we could pay cash.  And that is exactly what we did!

 

So about those empty squares.... 

 

I honestly had no idea how much it would cost for a family of five to visit Disney for any length of stay.  The bar was set pretty high at attempting to save $5,000 with even higher hopes that it would not be that much.  With lots of help from a family Disney expert, great timing, and lots of patience, our family of 5 is flying and staying on site at Disney for eight days, seven nights with the dining plan of one quick service and one table service each day for a grand total of $3250!!  When the do-or-die time came to book the trip, we were surprisingly only a few hundred dollars short!  So we knuckled down at home and the hubby picked up a side job and VOILA!  A Disney trip paid for in cash and it will be worth every penny. 

Dad's Day

Ah, putt-putt. 

 

What a fun, simple, everyone-can-play-and-get-along way to spend Father's Day.  I grabbed my putter, slung my camera bag on my back, and turned around to discover.....  the kids had already started.  And trying to stop them at any point to get a picture was not going to happen.  So here is a picture version (with minimal words) of our Father's Day Outing at Country Corners Miniature Golf. 

 

 

 

 

Just gotta love the attempt to be in front of the camera for once:

 

 

But we did manage to capture a semi-decent one.

 

This putt-putt course is out in the middle of nowhere and is run by a lovely retired couple who just wanted something to do.  What a great way to spend retirement - watching families and friends come together and laugh over a game of golf.

 

One of the highlights of the day was also a great surprise.  

 

 

All putt-putt games that day were free of charge!!  A local life insurance company sponsored the day by paying for the games AND they even provided free water, snacks, and giveaways to all players - with special freebies just for dads! 

 

 

We continued celebrating this special man in our lives at home with boxes of cereal, Faygo pop, and yummy buttermints meant just for him.  Pinky swear.  It hardly seems enough but what can you really do or give the man in your life, the father of your children, to show your appreciation for all the tireless hours of work and driving, chores and homework reviewing, house repairing and yard work, and side jobs that he does?   

 

 

Well, I'm not sure what is enough but I hope he knows how much we love him.

 

Happy Father's Day!



Track Star

Our town offered a two week track session in June complete with championship match at the end.  Since it had very little time commitment, we gently coaxed Bree into giving it a try.  And it turns out - she loved it!!

 

 

Running warm-ups.

 

(Warm ups)

 

Every day she got to try something new to see what she liked, was good at, or in her case, was a natural at!

 

High Jump. 

Not her forte.  She couldn't get her footing right for the take off and the landing scared her a bit too.

 

 

 

 

200 Meter Dash.

Or in other words, half a lap.  Running is not her forte either but the coaches wanted all athletes to compete in one running event.  I applaud her for not choosing the even shorter race of 100 meter dash.

 

Bree is the one in the middle of the screen in black shorts.

 

Long Jump.

Who knew she would be a natural at long jump?  From her first run through, she was hooked and focused on the coach, absorbing all she could. 

 

 

She took first place in this event with her longest jump being 7 foot, 2.75 inches!!

  

 

 

7 ft, 2.75 in.

 

6 ft, 9in.

 

6 ft, 1.75 in.

 

Now that she's had a taste of track and the victory that comes with doing your best, I think she'll be back for more in future years. 

Another New Adventure

 

 I belong to a few e-mail groups that are dedicated to saving people money.  One of them decided to take the plunge and give Dollar Shave Club a try.  Her reviews were positive and inspiring enough to make me take the plunge as well.  So here it is.  Another New Adventure on the road to saving money and saving time and saving a second trip to the store!

 

 

New Adventure

Everyone is looking for ways to save money and make life easier and I am no exception.  Case in point.

 

A while back a friend had mentioned needing to hop online to purchase some toilet paper.  What?!?  That struck me as odd but she swore it was cheaper so I tucked the conversation into the back of my brain, promising to someday find out if that information is correct.  Since sales on toilet paper are few and far between lately and  since its been even longer yet since I've had a coupon to pair up with a sale, I thought I'd give this ordering toilet paper online concept a try and look what showed up on my doorstep today!

 

 

Here's the breakdown:

 

To get 864 sq.ft Cottonelle at Wal-Mart means:

1. hauling 1-3 whining kids to the store

2. then around the store

3.  while trying to shop for items off the grocery list (that may or may not have included toilet paper in the first place)

4. to get home only to realize I forgot to buy toilet paper resulting in a second trip to the store for a grand total of...

 

 $17.83 + tax.

 

 

To get 864 sq. ft. Cottonelle from Amazon.com means:

1. Placed the subscription on June 11th and my order of toilet paper will be on my doorstep every two months - automatically - until I stop it - from here on out for a grand total of 

 

$17.69 total*. 

 

If sales and coupons start popping up again, I'll cancel my subscription and buy it in the store.  But until then, I'm going to sit back and never worry about running out of toilet paper again.

*Price is subject to change as most Amazon prices do.  If the price of cottonelle on aAmazon drops before my next shipment is processed, I will be charged less.  If it goes up, I will get charged more. 

This is how we roll

Summer days - slippin' away.....

 

Summer days are so jam packed that it is no wonder they slip past in the blink of an eye.  Some days are so exhausting that we land in bed at extremely early times.  But other days....  Other days look like this.

 

The typical day starts with heading off to work, spreading library joy everywhere, then its home to change into track clothes.

 

 

On this slightly more rare day, we had approximately 35 minutes after track to stop home and grab a very quick bite to eat before changing into ball clothes and heading off to the diamonds.

 

 

Then back at home its time to take advantage of the absolutely perfect summer weather by playing in the yard. 

 

 

 

 

We enjoyed a second supper at 9:10pm because the first one was eaten with such speed you didn't have time to taste it. 

 

With bellies full, it is time to do THEE most important thing of all summer things. 

 

 

Catch lightning bugs. 

 

Or do you call them fireflies?

 

Before the sun fully sets, its off to bed to we can wake and start a brand new day.