Wednesday 31 July 2013

A Week in Review (July 21-27)

A Week in Review (July 21-27)

Watched: We went to the Boulevard Drive-In again. This time we took the air mattress that Jack had seen other people have.  We had a bit of problem airing it up as I had brought only part of the converter that allows a car to have an electrical outlet.  But luckily Nick has a McGyver-like brain and he was able to strip the wires and use jumper cables to power it.  Jack loved it.  We watched Turbo and Wolverine.  Jack loved Turbo. I thought it was good and Nick thought it was only okay. Jack fell asleep almost immediately at the beginning of Wolverine, but Nick and I finished it.  I liked it, but Nick didn't think it was a good as other X-Men movies.

Read: I started up and finished Amelia's Story.  I was not a fan of this story.  As a survivor of abuse, I always try to empower myself where as the author constantly seemed to be struggling with thinking of herself as the victim.  It remind me of an Everclear lyric that says "You make yourself a victim, almost every single day.".  I also started up What about Kansas City and The Lightning Thief.  When I started The Lightning Thief, I had no idea that a movie with the 2nd book was coming out.  I keep seeing these previews and it is throwing me off.  I don't want to know what happens because I haven't read the books yet!

Listened: Even though I almost never alone in the car, I started the audiobook of .  I am not sure how it ever made it on my TBR list, but my July partner chose it for me and I am really enjoying it.  I had no idea that it was the novel that the movie Simon Birch was based around.  I am interested into seeing the more detailed character developments that a novel can provide.

Made: Plans for several playdates. Jack got to hang out with our old neighbor and they probably got along better than they ever had!  It was nice to see them enjoying each other's company.  We also were invited to a gymnastics open play place by a family who will be Scarborough, as well.  Even though this child will be attending the afternoon Kindergarten, it is still nice to get to know other families in the school.  Who knows, the boys could be in first grade together!

Felt: Perfectly full after our wonderful anniversary dinner at The Melting Pot.  When we were making reservations, Jack insisted that he didn't want to eat there because he wanted Mac and Cheese. I told him that he didn't have to eat anything they offered and he could just say No Thank You. But once we got there he was totally engrossed. I think he ate as much as Nick and I did. He is already talking about when we can go there again!

Planned: On using the travel trip listed on the duck picture below. But instead of using candy, I'll be using quarters or dollar bills!

Loved: Celebrating our 12th wedding anniversary with such a wonderful man. I am truly blessed to have found such an excellent partner to share my life with.  

Here are the pics for the week:










Week in Review (July 14-20)

Week in Review (July 14-20)


Watched: More American Ninja Warrior. This is a fun little show for the family to watch. We make it more interactive by guessing which obstacle each contestant will go out on.  The person who has picked the most things correctly gets $1 from each of the other players.

Read: I did finish up  Beautiful Ruins and I loved it. It was a story that hooked you from the beginning!  The conclusion about books without a true climax can be difficult, but this author wrapped it up in such a satisfying way. He told you just as much as you needed to know and not an ounce more.  I also blew through Garden Spells. It is a quick summer read.  Sarah Addison Allen  books are generally quite predictable, but  I still enjoy the journey. If you are looking for a quick, light read, this might be just the book for you. 


Listened: To Jack create several different handles for his foam lightsabers. He found he could create them using a PVC connecting joint and then this would allow him to easily switch out the handle for different situations.

Made: A delicious dinner with lamb kabobs and a garden fresh tomato with feta and basil on it. Nick grilled his tomato, but I left mine raw. We were both huge fans. 


Felt: Longing for the relaxing vacation we were supposed to be on. I am sure we will get to enjoy a trip there sometime, but it was so weird because our week was wide open, which doesn't happen very often in the summer.

Planned: My first ever trip to the Farmer's 
Market in Olathe. It was nice small number of vendors and perfect for walking with Nick's knee. Jack found the most darling little cupcake that was better to look at then it was to eat for him.

Loved: The mild summer we have been having. It is such a nice contrast to the extreme heat of last year. We spend several hours outside each day. I just wish I could bottle the excess Vitamin D for the winter!

Here are the pics for the week:  Sorry not many!


Jack's super cute cupcake that he found at the Farmer's Market



Jack and two of the handles he created. We had to take a picture to text to Dad so we could know which one he liked better. 



Sunday 14 July 2013

Week in Review (July 7-July 13)

Week in Review (July 7-July 13)

Watched: Despicable Me 2 at the Boulevard Drive-in. I haven't been to a drive-in since Toy Story was playing in theaters, so it's been a while. We chose the Boulevard because it was the closest to home. The gates open at 7 and the movie doesn't start until 9:10. It is my recommendation, at least for a Saturday night, you arrive early as you can. We arrived at 7:17 and got one of the last spots of first row, which I would also recommend getting. They have the only 4K digital projector going at any drive-in, national wide, which is cool, but didn't change the overall experience for me. They do have an awesome play area that was populated by a ton of kids so the wait before the movie was enjoyable for the kids and allowed them to get a lot of energy out before the movie started. The people beside us brought an air mattress and Jack was jealous. I think I will take one when we go again. The movie was cute, but nothing I would write home about. The minions got a much bigger part and they were popular with the kids. We also stayed for about 30 minutes of The Lone Ranger and it really looked like Pirates of the Caribbean done Cowboy and Indian style to me. 

Read: I finished up Zero at the Bone: The Playboy, the Prostitute, and the Murder of Bobby Greenlease.  I usually reserve 1 star reviews for books that I can't finish. And while I did complete this book, it was only for a reading challenge. The writing was redundant and disjointed. The best thing about this book was the title. I wouldn't waste your time, even if you are from KC and think it would be more interesting because of that.   I also kept working on Beautiful Ruins.  Still really enjoying it.

Listened: To Jack say the most hilarious thing the other day. He said "I learned something about girls today."  And so I "Oh yeah, what?"  And he says "You can't see girls ears because they have long hair." So I say, "You just realized this?"  He looks at me incredulously and goes "Yes"

Made: A crutch bag for Nick.  He was frustrated not being able to carry anything for himself and so when it became apparent that we were going to be doing this for a while, we decided to come up with something. They had several options online, but neither Walgreens nor the medical supply store had anything, so we had to rig something up.  I ended up finding a nice plastic coated gift bag at Michaels.  We cut the handles and punctured them with an ice pick so that we could thread it through the screw that holds that hand grip on. It's not the most beautiful thing, but it serves its purpose quite well. 


Felt: Grateful for all the people who have given us support and words of encouragement during Nick's knee ordeal. It has been nice knowing that everyone is rooting for him to make a speedy recovery.

Planned: On knowing a date for Nick's surgery, but was told that he needed to give his knee time to heal from the original trauma before adding more trauma to it with surgery. They claim this will shorten the overall process. I sure hope that they know what they are talking about. 

Loved: Watching Jack at his Jedi camp performance. He was able to stay all day this year and he really enjoyed it. It did take him a while to get into the groove, especially at lunch time, but once he did, he really rocked it.  He was supposed to have an epic battle, but the stage pits got in the way.  At least his fall looks pretty epic.  HERE is a link to the video.  Sorry that it is inverted wrong, I just took a quick video from my iphone so that I could show it off.  

Here are the pics for the week:

Jack dressed up for Jedi day at camp. He won best costume and got something for free from the snack bar. 


Here is his day of performance. I asked him to give me his best Jedi look and this is what I got. He said it was because Tuscan raiders where after him. 


After the performance, he combined all his lightsabers to make a "supersabsr"


Here is a picture of the crutch bag, just in case you ever need to have a quick idea. 


The last two are from the playground area of the drive-in. 



Sunday 7 July 2013

Why You Could Carry a Pirate's Hat in Your Purse

More than a year ago, I made my friends blog.  You can read it HERE.

In it, she questions why I would carry a pirate's hat in my purse.  Below are the top 5 reasons why I might have had it.

5.  Your son took it on a play date to his friend's house and forgot it there.  The first time you see their mom is at Bunco, so she returns the hat to you and you put it in your purse.

4.  Your work has theme dress up days.  You often forget these events and people think you are a party-pooper when you don't participate.  To be on the safe side, you decide to stuff a pirate's hat in your purse so you are prepared for the next time.

3.  You are trying to win a contest to star in a bit role in the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie. The rules state at any time a producer may approach you and ask to see your hat.  If you can't produce it instantly, you are out of the contest.

2. It was dress up like a book character and so you chose the Pirate Captain from David Shannon's How I Became A Pirate, and you rushed to Bunco and just tossed it in your purse so your fellow Bunco gals didn't think you were a "Crazy Head".

1.  You truly are a Lady Pirate who captains her own ship. You just use your life as a suburban housewife as a clever rouse. Your "husband" is actually a slave whom your captured on one of your many pilferages.  You had to remind him who was boss just before you left the house for Bunco. It wasn't until your arrived that you realized the hat was still on your head, so you quickly stuffed it into your purse. When your Bunco gals notice, you pull it out and laugh it off as a joke so that your disguise isn't blown to pieces. 

A Week in Review (June 23-29)

A Week in Review (June 23-29)

Watched: Jack complete his swimming lessons from McCracken's.  I was really pleased with these swim lessons. They seemed to use language that they helped him.  I also think something just clicked in Jack's brain and made floating easier.  Also, have the entire pool area be three feet was goo because he confident if something went wrong, he could just put his feet down.

Read:  I was able to finish up a couple of my books.  The first one was Cinnamon and Gunpowder.  I enjoyed this story, but it took me a while to get into it.  If you are a fan of culinary language, this book would be perfect for you.  A decent book about a Lady Pirate too.  I also wrapped up Requiem (Delirium, #3).  This book really can't be the final installment in the series. It just ended to abruptly. I don't mind a bit of wondering about the conclusion, but this entire ending left me so unsatisfied that I would not recommend the series to anyone.

Listened:  I listened a bit to Requiem, but overall I didn't listen too much.  I did hear the timeless questions, "Are we there yet?".  He likes to me to calculate our final distance in hours, minutes, and sometimes seconds.

Made: Too many plans!  Nick and I had date nights on Monday and Tuesday night and then we spent the day at Ocean of Fun on Wednesday.  Thursday, I tried to do laundry, make food for Bunco, prep for leaving for our trip to Alliance, take Jack and his friend to the pool, and play Bunco.  It was kind of a busy week.

Felt: Thankful that fireworks are legal in Alliance.  Jack really enjoyed getting them to light them off with his Tio.  He also got to see what stupid things 20 somethings can think to do with Roman Candles.  I think his favorites were Roman Candles, Green Spinners that shot into the air, or Ground Bloomers.  He also learned to distinguish between night and day fireworks.

Planned: On making a Cherry Cheesecake Dip for Bunco.  Well I read the directions once and thought I had committed to memory.  Apparently, I had combined a couple of the ingredients from two recipes and had to improvise a bit.  It was, in the end, extremely yummy.  I was sad that I went out of town and didnt get to eat more.  However, I was glad that I was able to share it with our neighbors so that the leftovers didn't go to waste!  What I did was made one package of cheesecake pudding according to the 5 minute set directions.  I then folded in one tub of Cool Whip.  A quick taste test revealed that it just tasted like Cool Whip still.  So I ran to the store and bought another package of the pudding.  I added it to the mixture (without adding any more milk) and it was perfect.  I poured the mixture into an 8 x 8 pan and let it sit for about an hour.  Then I topped it off with one can of cherry pie filling.  I served it with some graham crackers sticks.  Yummy goodness!

Loved: My child's unique sense of style.  He always puts together the funniest combinations of his superhero costumes.  It makes people smile when they see him smile in the store.  I don't know how long he will like to put these together, but I will enjoy his combos for now.

Here are the pics for the week:



Little did we know that Evan had gotten into the pool with his phone in his pocket.     Miraculously it worked again.  Crazy considering it was submerged for probably 20 minutes. 


Poppa showed up with a surprise for Grandma. He upgraded her from the pool you see above to a 16' by 48" pool. Considering it had to be filled with well water, it was pretty much freezing the entire time we were there. Jack still got in a few times.  I never did brave it. 


A Week in Review (June 30-July 6)

A Week in Review (June 30-July 6)

Watched: Some old movies.  I was in the mood for a good romantic comedy so I rented 27 Dresses.  When I was there I also picked up Lethal Weapon (the only one we haven't watched yet), Hitch (the girl Kevin James falls for really remind me of my SIL, Jess) and Trading Places (Seeing Jamie Lee Curtis go from an actress who plays a hooker to a children's book author must have been quite the jump for some people)

Read: Not a whole lot this week.  Most nights we watched a movie or I was so exhausted by the time that I went to bed that I only got a few pages in my book.  I did start one new book, Beautiful Ruins.  I think that I will really enjoy it once I have time to sink my teeth into a bit more.

Listened: A lot of Fun. on CD.  It is a pretty good for our family.  It's got upbeat lyrics, only a minor amount of curse words, and Jack and I both like to sing along to it.  Since he didn't sleep for very much of our return trip from my Mom's, we sang a long quite a bit.

Made: It home in record time :)  We only stopped twice along the entire 600 mile trip.  Once for gas and snacks and another for a poop break (or we might not have stopped twice!).

Felt: Sad that we had to cancel our trip to the ocean, but I want Nick to be able to enjoy it, and it just wouldn't be happening.  We lost our deposit, but the lady was nice enough to put it on account so that we could use it as a deposit for a future stay.  I am hoping we will have a chance to get down there next year!

Planned: On getting my husband quicker answers that he had planned for himself.  I was walking a fine line between not trying to let him handle it since I had not seen the injury and my desire to know just how bad this injury was.  I know that Nick is not the over dramatic type, so the fact that he had himself driven to the ER and had taken several days off work let me know he was pretty worried about it.  I wanted quicker answers so I tried calling other Ortho doctors in the area.  Apparently these people are extremely hard to get into.  I don't know what they wouldnt leave a couple slots a day open for New Patients.  When I talked to a very friendly lady, she suggested that we go the route of getting a regular doctor to order an MRI so that we could know the severity of the injury.   After a bit of persisitence on my end, we were able to get an MRI completed and the results back on Friday afternoon.  It was then we learned that not only did he have a complete tear of ACL, he also had a stress fracture somewhere.  So for now, we are on hold, while we wait for an Ortho appoint on this upcoming Tuesday.

Loved: Spending the 4th with our neighbors.  Everyone has helped take good care of Nick and so we all set around outside and talked while the kid's play.  We had some good laughs and general tried to focus on the good fortune that we have rather than the injury that has befallen us.

Here are the pics for the week:
A photo of almost all my favorite people. Tio and Aunt Jess are going to explore Australia for several months so we wish them luck and were glad they could spend so much time with us on our trip. 

A beautiful sunrise.  I tried to enjoy it since I knew its final outcome was going to mean Jack was going to be awake. 

A picture of Gimpy in his knee brace. 


The boys recovery from the long day with their mutual ice packs.

Jack had his friend Ava stay the night. We played a few games before heading to bed. As you can see, we were lucky enough for Dora to join us too.