Sunday, July 31, 2011

I must be losing my mind.

On Friday night, I put the kids to bed.
I tidied up the house.
I put in a movie from Redbox to watch by myself since the hubby was at Scout Camp.
Then I went to grab my water bottle:
Yes, that was me that put the remote control in the fridge.
No, I don't remember putting it there but I do distinctly remember snatching it up off the floor after the kids were in bed.
Total pregnant brain.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Adventures in Business


Last week I decided to enter the world of running an in-home business. I became a consultant for Usborne Books and More.

My first home show is tonight. And I am way too excited.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Racking my brain


For whatever reason, I was at a loss of what to make my kids for lunch this afternoon. Maybe it was the lack of sandwich meat in my fridge or the one more spoonful of peanut butter left in the jar. 

And the fact that both Dick and Jane were both standing at my heels, with starving whines.

Then it came to me. I made some toasted garlic bread "sticks" {for future reference, kids seem to like things more when they're in stick form} and warmed up some leftover alfredo sauce {kids love to dip, too} from the pizzas we made last week to use as dip.

And BAM! Crunchy, creamy, cheesy goodness. It was a hit for both kids.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Twenty-fourth Fun

Where I live, the 24th of July is a big deal.
It is a celebration of the day the Mormon Pioneers came into the Salt Lake Valley.
There are parades and rodeos and community plays and everyone's family comes back into town for the weekend.

My kids loved the parade.
(It was on Saturday the 23rd.)



I always get a little emotional when the flags go by and I've got my hand over my heart. I feel so proud to be an American and so grateful for my freedom. And so indebted to those that went before me so I can enjoy these freedoms.

Awesome floats.


Dick and Jane pausing for a few seconds to oblige me. They were very concerned about missing the parade.

My camera died right after I took this picture and I didn't pack my spare battery.
So I only got a few pictures of the entire parade.
Oh well.
There's always next year.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Oh!

We had a close call yesterday. 
I had a major - and I mean major - accident yesterday morning.


I spilled Jane's cup of juice on the Mac keyboard. Like dropped it on the table and it splashed directly onto the computer. After about .5 seconds it powered down automatically.


"Oh no."


I immediately got some paper towels and wiped it down and then turned it upside down and shook it vigorously. Then I put the fan on it. I sopped up any drips I could see.


{The reason the Mac was on the table in the first place is because I was burning some cds of new music while fixing breakfast at the same time. Just multi-tasking here.}


"Ok." I thought. "It's been dripped on a little before; I'll just try and turn it back on."


Fail.


Tried again. Fail. It would turn on, but only for about five to thirty seconds before it powered down again.


So I called the hubby to see what I should do and took it in town to the computer medical center, along with our external hard drive.


{We back things up pretty regularly, but there were pictures and music from the last few weeks that weren't backed up yet. Like Jane's birthday.}


We waited a few hours for a diagnosis and received the news that it would still not turn on by itself and that it was most likely ruined. But they still had more diagnostics to do.


"Great. Like we can afford a new Mac," we thought.


After they took it apart, they determined that there were some damaged areas and parts of the motherboard were corroded. And basically it would cost $950 to replace the motherboard and another $100 for the labor. $1050 big bucks.


Or they would buy it back from us for parts for $125.


But after talking to my dad a few times {who, thankfully, had talked to a friend of his who owns a communications store}, we determined that maybe there was a possibility that it was not totally toast and that we should maybe take matters into our own hands.


That was the best advice ever.


We went in and picked up the computer {after paying them $94 for the diagnosis and retrieving everything from our hard drive} and brought it home. After dinner, the hubby took everything apart and gently {and very meticulously} cleaned it with rubbing alcohol. We let it dry and put it back together.


We said our prayers and tried to turn it on.


Success. And it stayed on for 30 minutes before the hubby turned it off himself.


Now, I know that only time will tell if it was really damaged or not. But so far, so good.


So my question is, were the computer technicians really about to totally and completely rip us off? Like extremely? Because that's what it feels like. Let's be honest, I trust that they most likely know what they're doing in most cases, but was this an exception? But why?


We could've payed half the cost of the computer to get it fixed or lost it completely for a mere $125, when in reality, nothing was actually that wrong.


I'm still a little sick about it. Sick that I caused such an unnecessary accident and sick that we almost got ripped off to the max.


I guess I can only be grateful that, in the end, we didn't lose anything. {Well, except for that $94.}

Friday, July 22, 2011

What did you have for dinner?


We grilled ourselves some pizzas.
Oh my, they were tasty.
I just made up some homemade dough and grabbed a little alfredo sauce, cubed chicken, cheese, crumbled bacon and parsley.

Have you grilled pizza before?
You must try it.
Go here for some tips.