As the kids & I drove home from church today, I noticed some beautiful zinnias in lots of colors in a yard we passed.
I commented on their beauty:
Me -"Look at those beautiful colorful flowers, guys."
Taylor - "Yeah."
Zach - "They probably used Roll N Grow."
Yeah...I'm sure they did Zach. All beautiful flowers come from an infomercial, right?
With the price of everything steadily rising, it is important to be smart with recreational fun.
We stayed with our friends in Newport News, VA this weeks for several days and had a blast. It was just the kids and I...Mike had to work.
The Virginia Living Museum is an excellent local trip. We all enjoyed it. The friends we stayed with only live about 15 minutes away from the museum, and visit it often, so they have annual memberships.
There is currently a dinosaur exhibit, complete with robotic dinosaurs...a big hit!
The food chain in display:
A "bare bones" robotic dinosaur stripped of his skin. The kids could control the movements of this one and even make him roar. Kind of spooky:
Hands on areas where the kids could get up close and personal with local sea creatures:
A wildlife reserve path outside that includes many fun animals to observe: beavers, otters, pelicans, coyotes, and bobcats (among others):
There were cool "discovery centers" where the kids could learn about geology, archeology, animal tracks-ology, and fossil-ology. I liked the sign that said, "Discovery area: DO TOUCH!":
Our trip concluded with a fashion show in the museum's gift shop:
Although the museum admission was not inexpensive at $15 for me and $12 each for the kiddos, I feel that our little mini vacation was frugal because we kept the travel expenses low: we didn't go very far from home (only 1 hour drive) and had no hotel expenses. We also enjoyed the nearby beach the next day which was a ton of fun and frugal as well, but alas, the camera was left in the car.
My daughter, Taylor(8), surprised me this morning. This was on the inside of my door when I woke up:
Then this on the upstairs banister:
Then halfway down the stairs on the landing:
Then in the downstairs foyer:
Then on the couch in the family room:
Then on the doorway to the kitchen:
Guess what I had for breakfast?
Scrambled eggs seasoned perfectly and cinnamon toast. Yum! And I didn't even have to cook it! :) Sorry I didn't get a picture of the plate before it was all gone! Thanks Taylor! It was a wonderful surprise!
Ok - I'm not a cat person. Partly, I'm sure, because I'm allergic to them. That pretty much hinders my getting close to a cat without itching, sneezing, and runny eyes.
But I had to tell y'all about this new product a friend told me about. The Cat Genie. It's a cat toilet, y'all. You hook it up to the plumbing in your bathroom or your laundry room and it flushes. Yeah, I said it flushes.
Here's what the site says:
The only automatic cat box that flushes away wasteand, like a cat, washes itself clean.
CatGenie uses permanent Washable Granules that never need changing
For your cats, it's like using a clean box of cat-comfy, normal-size cat box filler
For you, CatGenie works like a modern washing-drying, cat toilet appliance
After a one-time, simple DIY hook up to water, you're set
Push a button or preset CatGenie Cat Box to start automatically
Used and recommended by veterinarians, nationwide.
You want one now? The basic version will set you back only $297 smackeroos. Yep. You heard me right. Two Hundred & Ninety-Seven dollars. Wow. That's all I can really say.
Simple, easy, & yummy. These are my requirements for a winning recipe at my house.
Here's one for ya...shared by a friend from college...Danielle...if you're out there, shout out!
Yummy, Easy Crockpot Chicken Alfredo
4 chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces (uncooked, frozen is even ok)
1 8oz. block of cream cheese (I use the 1/3 less fat version...still yummy)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/3 soup can of water
1 packet dry Italian dressing mix
1/2 stick butter
Throw it all in there. Stir to mix. Cook on high for 6 hours or on low for 3. Serve over any type of noodles. Easy peasy!
For more kitchen tips, go to Tammy's Recipes for Kitchen Tip Tuesday.
Dear ants inhabiting my kitchen,
Seriously...could you leave, already? I mean come on. I understand that there's good stuff on the countertops sometimes and dirty dishes in the sink callin' your name and all. But still.
Don't you read the internet? There are pages upon pages of tips on how to get rid of you. I have followed all of that advice and none of it is working. I've tried to give you little "ant motels" to hang out in. Were they not decorated cute enough, or something?
From what I understand, you don't like to cross over a line of chalk or a sprinkling of baby powder. Do you realize that it is not fun having baby powder sprinkled all over my kitchen? Although, baby powder is preferable to having you all over the counters.
We've caulked up the spots you use as your special "doors" and bought the nice expensive Terro stuff the internet promises will make you leave us alone. What is with you anyway? Just go away!
I'm seriously too discusted to cook in my kitchen right now and my family menus and budgets are suffering.
Windex kills you right on the spot and I've got plenty of it, but I'm pretty sick of cleaning up trails of your carcasses all over my kitchen. Just eat that sweet smellin' stuff and leave us alone. You have really overstayed your welcome.
This is a slideshow from last September when my husband & I (no kiddos) celebrated our 10 year anniversary at Tybee Island, GA. It was wonderful. I just thought I'd share my smilebox creation here. Enjoy!
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