Can anything else possibly break?!?

So over the past weekend, we had three major "appliances" give out. First was the dishwasher. That one sucks just for the simple fact that I hate washing dishes...lol. The second was the air conditioner. It got hotter than blazes in the house Monday. I had someone come out and fix that yesterday. The third is the hot water heater. Tony discovered that it was rusting and when the guy came out to fix the air conditioner he looked at it and said we need to get it replaced ASAP before it explodes and floods the basement. YEA US! So Tony and I went to Nebraska Furniture Mart and bought a new dishwasher tonight. We got a pretty good deal on one. Nothing fancy, but it washes the dishes! Tomorrow he will be heading to Lowe's to purchase a new hot water heater.

I'm about ready to give up on the house. This place is a money pit! Last winter the furnace went out along with the washer and dryer. We need new siding and a new roof. Those won't be happening anytime soon...lol. Oh well. Thanks for letting me gripe! :)

Tony is just cruel....

We went out to dinner Saturday night with the kids just to unwind and catch up with each other. While we were eating our dinner we decided to make a list of things that the kids wanted to do before the summer was over. It consisted of the usual; Worlds of Fun, swimming at the lake, go bowling, try out the new Lee's Summit water park, etc. At the very end Brody added "Chicago!". Tony turned around and with the straightest face told him that we weren't going to be able to go this summer but he promised we would next summer. The look on Brody's poor face was unbearable. I almost broke down and told him. He was so disappointed. So I absolutely can't wait for the reaction next Friday when we head out to the airport and he finds out where we are going. He's going to flip!!

P.S. If you haven't figured it out, it's a complete suprise to the kids, so don't mention it on Saturday when we see everyone!

I couldn't resist...

I ran over to my Mom's this afternoon to bring back some stuff I had borrowed from her. Bad idea. She gave me a coupon to JC Penny's for $10 off a $10 purchase. So I figured I would just run over there real quick and see if I could find anything I couldn't live without...lol. Well I did. And then some. They were having a huge sale (everything 60% off). I wound up getting a bunch of stuff for real cheap, so I guess it was worth it. At least I got some cute new stuff for our trip to Chicago in a couple of weeks!

Rediscovering my love for music...

I've spent a couple of hours tonight rediscovering my love for all types of music. I absolutely love finding new little "hidden gems" in the music world. I find it so relaxing. Of course I also love to listen to some of my favorites that we all hear on the radio. So take a few minutes to browse my new playlist and maybe you'll discover a "hidden gem" of your own!

My Budding Scrapbooker

I had to teach a class tonight up at the Scrapbook Workshoppe and Holly wanted to go with me. I figured, "What the heck". So she went with me and I re-discovered how much she loves creating things whether it's with paper or legos! Here she is with my Mom helping her out with her album. Too cute!!!!



BTW...in the above picture she created Noah's Ark (except only puppies were allowed...lol!)

Paper Bag Album

So I got around to getting my "sussie" out last week while I was on vacation (see earlier blog post to explain this). It's a really cute paper bag mini-album. It's made out of 5 paper bags and some fun summery cardstock and embellies. It's been killing me not to post it on here, but I had to wait until Toni got it in the mail because I didn't want to ruin the surprise! Here's what I created for her little buddy Cole:

New Website Discovered

So when Tony and I took the kids to the Zoo last week, we were online looking for coupons. We discovered this website and it has a bunch of 2-for-1 deals in KC on it. I just thought I would share it with everyone. Have a great weekend!!

2-for-1 Specials : VisitKC.com Official Travel Source

I've never done so much in such a short amount of time...

I got to spend a couple of afternoons scrapbooking last week while I was on vacation. I accomplished a lot, but I still have some unfinished projects. Maybe I'll get to those this weekend. Check it out!

It's finally over...

Well the big sale is done. Have I said how much I hate garage sales?!?!?! We were able to get rid of a lot of stuff and make some money. We almost made enough to pay for our upcoming Chicago trip, so I guess it was worth it. The remaining books and children's toys will be going to Holly's daycare. The rest of the stuff will be going to Goodwill. Unfortunately, now I have the huge task of boxing it back up and getting it out of my garage permanently so I can park in it again...lol. I can't wait!

An Exhausting Week...

I'm on "vacation" this week, but I'm working more than I would if I had actually gone to work. The past weekend consisted of deep cleaning the house. That was fun...NOT! Then I spent all day on Monday sorting through boxes of stuff from our storage unit we just emptied. Tuesday and Wednesday consisted of many errands and a little scrapbooking. Today I actually got to spend most of the day with my Mom which is always fun. We scrapbooked a little and then we came back to my house to get ready for tomorrow's events.

Tony had this bright idea to have a garage sale. I absolutely detest these things, but since we have so much STUFF we decided we might as well try and sell some of it before giving it to Goodwill or the Salvation Army. When I actually got out there and started pricing stuff and putting it on tables it made me sick to my stomach. We currently have six 8' long tables that are absolutely piled with stuff and Tony just went to get three more. Not to mention all of the stuff that is still sitting on the garage floor. I'd post of picture of it, but I'm actually quite embarrassed that we have so much excess.

This whole process has really made me stop and think about material possessions that we spend so much money on. My kids certainly don't need the amount of toys that they have piled in their closets when others are going without anything. This has actually been a good learning experience for them too. I don't think they realized how much stuff they had either until we started going through it. I didn't force them to get rid of anything they wanted, but they cleaned 3/4 of their stuff out of their rooms on their own. Holly was actually starting to think of it as though "some other little girl would really like to play with this". It was rather refreshing.

Needless to say, I will definitely stop and think twice before just picking up that toy for Christmas or a Birthday just for the sake of having packages to open. By Saturday night, I will be ready for a nice stiff drink...lol!!!

Note to Self...

Do not use a loofa when washing little girls with new earrings.

I was giving Holly a bath tonight and I was washing her face with her little loofa and it got stuck in her earrings. I had to yell for Tony to get the scissors so I could get it off. Lesson learned. LOL!!!