My Handy Carport

This is my carport. It's great! It protects my car from the heat of the sun, the rain and the snow. I rarely have to scrape my windows in the winter time.

I'm very grateful for my carport; however, there is one drawback. Every year one pesky and persistent bird returns and builds a nest in the corner of the carport. This winter, we used some polyurethane foam, which gets really hard, to block the opening. But when the spring came so did that freaky bird and wouldn't you know, she pecked at the foam until there was an opening big enough for her to squeeze her way in there. Can you see the foam in this picture?

Why would we care about a bird in the carport? This is why!!!

I'm pretty sure she's aiming for our car because she doesn't want us parking in her space anymore. Next year we're trying duct tape....

I'm a Plumber!!! (Viewer Discretion Is Advised!)

My bathroom sink, which I share with Sam, has been draining extra slow. So slow in fact that if I don't turn the water off in between brush rinsing while I brush my teeth, the sink fills almost to overflowing. Because it drains so slow it is super dirty. My whole bathroom is in desperate need of being cleaned, but I just can't make myself clean it when I know the sink will be super dirty again as soon as we use it. So I decided to fix it myself. Why? I thought you'd ask, so here are the reasons I decided to fix it myself:

1. Why pay someone to do something you can do yourself?*

2. Pouring harsh chemicals like Draino and Liquid Plumber are bad for the environment. Don't get me wrong we use those for our tub because it too drains slowly quarter-annually and it takes a whole bottle of chemicals to clear that up so I'm trying to reduce our pollution prints on this Beautiful Earth.

3. I'm very much like a plumber in that I got a sunburn strip on my back while gardening on Saturday. This means I flash the world and sun alike while bending over. I deserve it though. My sister in law did it first last weekend and I totally made fun of her.... I'm a jerk, I know. To read all about her burn click here.

4. I'm an idiot.

Naturally, I peeked down the drain once the decision was made. I could see that just inside past the stopper there was something... And it was dark. So I of course got out the appropriate tools: My Tweezers!

This is what I pulled out with the Tweezers. Some hair and black gunk which I can only assume is our (Sam's and mine) spit, used toothpaste, skin cells and poo germs.

Wow! After I pulled all that out, I turned on the sink to watch the water flow happily and quickly down the drain.... No improvement. So I got under the sink and unscrewed this little thing that attaches to the plug on the inside of the pipe. It's job is to attach the plug and the thingy that is behind the faucet which you pull to make the plug go down and stop the water from draining. You know, that thing. It was not easy but I got it unscrewed and got the plug out. Isn't it lovely?

I then used another very appropriate tool: a baby spoon, which I stuck down as far as it would go and scooped out more gunky black stuff mixed with hair, which, by the way, did not look red. At this point I couldn't turn the water on to check the flow until I screwed the thingy back on down below. So I did that, and it was not easy, and then turned on the water... NO IMPROVEMENT!

Remember how much I have in common with plumbers? Well, of course I busted under the sink and took off the U-bend. Luckily, I had the fore sight to get a towel and a bowl before I did. It came off no sweat. And it did not smell pretty, let me tell you. And I could see an odd bunch of hair hanging from where the tubes had been connected. I'm no fool (though I am an idiot - remember?) so I grabbed a wad of TP and yanked on the hair. Out came the biggest mass of the black gunky stuff ever know to mankind.

For Your viewing pleasure, I took a close up of it. You are very welcome!

It was roughly the size of a small rat. I put the U-bend back on, reattached the plug to it's thingy. And screwed the other thingy back on and stuff. That part was not easy. Then I turned on the water and you can imagine my delight when it flowed beautifully and naturally down the drain, as it should.

Now I have no excuse for not cleaning the bathroom, Dang it!!!!

*Answer: Because it's freakin' gross and YUCKY!!!

Sam's 8th Birthday!

Wow! Time flies. I can't believe my baby is 8 years old. I've been asking him to stop growing since he was 3 but he says he can't help it. We don't let him have a friend party every year. So this is the second time he got to have one, that he can remember. We had a party when he turned one and then five. The next two will be 12 and 16. I'm sure some people think that's harsh but on the non friend party years we have little, family parties with his choice of dinner and cake.

Since he doesn't get a party every year he went BUCKNUTSIES and invited 50 people, including his whole school class. The rest were cousins and kids in our immediate neighborhood. Lucky for me 26 showed up. It was super fun and we were blessed with beautiful weather.

We had a water party and there were two pools and a sprinkler as well as beach ball sprinkler. And they had a great time tossing water balls around. Matt and I spent all day setting up.

We made 72 cup cakes. They weren't the most beautiful things ever and I'm glad they won't show up on the Cake Wrecks Blog since I'm not a pro. But they were tasty! Thanks for the frosting recipe Beck. And thanks for the fab arrangement Sav.

And thanks to Liz who let us use her patio furniture and umbrellas without knowing it. And to Blaine, one of our great neighbors who let us use her water spigot when ours didn't have enough pressure to make two sprinklers spectacular. And of course, thanks to everyone who came to support our boy on his birthday.

Here are some photos for your viewing pleasure.

The pools were filthy by the end of the fun. Pretty nasty.

Swine Flu*

This is what we did with our Saturday night. We watched the 5th Harry Potter Movie and gave ourselves pedicures.

Do my boys love me or what?

Sam's dainty little feet and ankles.

Julie's pudgy feet and cankles (For those of you who don't know - a cankle is when you can't differentiate between the calf and the ankles - there's just a foot at the end of the leg.)

Sam, hypnotized by the TV.

Matt didn't want his picture taken, but I'm putting on the blog anyway. He said he'd get a pedicure when PIGS FLY.

*Get it Swine Flu? Swine=pigs Flu - Flew Hahahahahah!

Tulip Festival

Last Thursday, I went to work in the morning and then I hung out with one of my friends. We went to Target because I had a baby shower and a bridal shower to go to in the next couple of days. We were also going to go to Kohl's but we got worn out at Target and the kiddos were sick of shopping, for sure. So we went home and parted ways. But I had plans to buy a cute sweater at Kohl's and I had a $10 off coupon and it was going to expire soon. I started to think of when I could make it over there before the coupon became trash. I had 30 minutes before Sam needed to be picked up from school. So I headed to Kohl's.
As I pulled into the parking spot I saw something there so I was careful not to drive over it. When I got out there was a dirty little purse right outside my door, on the ground. I picked it up and opened it and it was stocked full with a wad of cash. At first I thought I was on that What Would You Do show with John Quinones. Have you ever seen that show? Anyway, I headed into the store and after looking at the ID, had the owner of the purse paged. She didn't come over. So I went to grab my cute sweater, which had been marked down another 15% so it was down to 65% off. Then I went back over to where I had her paged and paid for the sweater. With the $10 off I got if for $8!!!! What a deal!!! So I asked if the purse owner had ever come over. The clerk said no, so I asked if I could leave my name and number for her since I found her purse in the parking lot. She called her manager who called the loss prevention dude because the two girls thought I should leave it there with them. I wasn't about to do that. It would get stashed somewhere and I know they are busy so it wasn't guaranteed that they would have time to try and contact her. And since I found it in the parking lot I thought there was a good chance that she never even made it into the store and so wouldn't think to check there. The loss prevention dude couldn't have cared less, so I walked out with the purse.
Once home, I rifled through it and found a clue. This clue led me to believe she worked at Thanksgiving Point. First, Matt looked up her name and address and found me a phone number to try. By the message it didn't sound like it was her number but I left a message anyway. Then I looked up Thanksgiving Point. There are 47 phone numbers for that place.... Which to choose.... I chose wisely and the first person I spoke to knew her and took my number to give to her. She called right away and came to pick up the purse. When she got here she told me she didn't even go to Kohl's... Like I thought. I'm glad I stuck to my gut instinct and kept it with me. Agatha Christie would have been so proud of my investigative skills!
She was really nice and gave me some passes to the tulip festival. We are so grateful to have been able to go for free. I think we'll have to make it a yearly event. Though it would have cost us a pretty penny to get 6 of us in there. I'll start saving now for next year, or maybe I'll find her purse again! Be sure to look below at the pictures I took. And then scroll down even farther to see my brother Peter and his fiance, Whitney, rolling down the grass amphitheatre. It's kinda weird.....

Tulip Festival - A Photo Essay