Throwback Thursday

The date: Christmas 1979ish

The place: Middleton, Wisconsin

The mood: Nothing says lovin' like a Snuggle Sack from Grandma Elinor. This is Kevin and his cousins Shane and Kolt (from left to right). These Snuggle Sacks were Christmas presents. Aren't the prints just lovely? According to Kevin's description, these Sacks were like sleeping bags with feet, armholes and a hood. So I suppose you could put it on to watch Love Boat and Fantasy Island while eating popcorn and then get up and walk straight to bed without taking it off. With the hood up, they probably looked like Jedi Knights if Star Wars would have been set in the 70's. I am sure they were quite comfy in those long cold Wisconsin winters. His sister Stacie (the only granddaughter on that side of the family) remembers that she didn't get one for Christmas and she really wanted one. I'm checking ebay every day for her. Maybe they will make a comeback this Christmas.

Let's get ready to rumble

Triple coupon days start Thursday at Harris Teeter.

(This is the first time since I've gotten serious about saving money that they've had triple coupons. My goal is to get a few items that we use/eat/need for close to free. We'll see how it goes.)

Walkin' on Sunshine

Here are the pictures from the SkyHike in Stone Mountain.
This is my niece Anna on the top level. I was trying to show just how high up this thing was. Anna is a total daredevil and flew through this thing like she was walking on the ground.

Group shot - Aunt Stacie, Anna, Papa Charlie, Kevin and Fletcher on one of the platforms waiting for their turn.
Kevin and Fletcher just getting started
Anna "threw down the gauntlet" and said she didn't think Papa Charlie could do the SkyHike. Here's a picture of him proving her wrong."
Aunt Stacie getting a good workout.
Lending a helping hand.I'm not sure if this is a look of concentration or sheer terror.

Gaining a little more confidence.

Dad carried him across the really high one.

I am so proud of him.

Proud of my boys

We had a fun weekend in Stone Mountain. We are all tired and we are all sick with colds so this will be short and sweet.

Here's why I am proud:
Fletcher: My 4 1/2 year old hiked all the way to the top of Stone Mountain (at least a 45 minute hike) with Kevin, Aunt Stacie and his cousins Graham and Anna. He never asked to be carried AND he walked back down too. It is not a leisurely climb! They also (including Papa Charlie) did the Sky Hike while I stayed on the ground with Luke. The SkyHike is hard to explain but it is like a series of various bridges made out of rope or wood that you have to cross while wearing a harness. There's no way to fall because you are hooked on by a cable above you. The adults said it was really a workout! I know Fletcher was a little scared because those places were pretty high up but he did the whole thing and Kevin only had to carry him across a couple of times.

Luke: He has still been having serious "stranger anxiety" and won't let anyone but mom or dad hold him. He still didn't want anyone to hold him this weekend but he did let Grandma and Aunt Holly push him in the stroller and he had fun playing with his cousins. There were lots of new faces for him so I am proud he didn't just cry the entire time! He also had his first McDonalds hamburger and fries on the ride home. For a kid with two teeth, he had no problems gumming those fries!

Kevin: He was (and still is) sick with a terrible cold, but he was a trooper all weekend and still did all those fun things with Fletcher when I know he probably would have preferred to be in bed.

I was stressed for most of Friday and Saturday worried about my family in Houston and Sulphur and Hurricane Ike. They were not in low lying areas so they were not under mandatory evacuation. Thankfully, I was able to keep in touch with them throughout the storm to see how they were doing. Fortunately, they had no major damage although my brother in Houston and sister in Sulphur are still without power. I really feel for the people who just got back on their feet from Hurricane Rita three years ago and now they have to do it all again.

Hopefully, we'll have more pictures to post later in the week.

Stone Mountain

We are headed to Stone Mountain, GA for a little get together with Kevin's side of the family. Last year Fletcher rode the tram up to the top. This year he told us he wants to hike to the top. We'll let you know how it goes and hopefully have lots of pictures.

There's a new thing there this year called Sky Hike. I have a feeling we will try it. I am sure it will be something to blog about. It might even top my whitewater rafting experience.

Throwback Thursday

The date: Around 1994

The place: NASA, Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX

The mood: Fun and silly

This picture was sitting on the desk in our home office. When Fletcher first saw it, his eyes got really big and he took a deep breath and asked, "Mom, you were an astronaut in space???"

I was sad when I had to tell him that I really didn't ever go into space. He looked disappointed. He has picked up this picture several time since then and asked the same question hoping that one day I'll tell him that I really was an astronaut.

The guy on the left with the giant nametag that says PHIL is a real engineer for NASA. He's a smart one. He gave my friend Shelly and I a tour of NASA (obviously before 9/11). Not like the touristy tours, but a real backstage one. It was very interesting to see the water tanks they use to simulate weightlessness and see all the space gadgets. They were even doing an experiment with this guy in a room. Oops, I forgot I'm not supposed to divulge anything I learned that day. Phil also filled us in on the details of the Vomit Comet - the plane that they use to simulate weightlessness. You can make your own conclusions as to how it got that name.

On our "tour" there was an astronaut suit available so of course we had to take a picture.

A Few of My Favorite Things

I'm not really a "gadget" person. There are tons of cool things out there supposedly designed to make life easier, but I don't jump on every bandwagon. I just don't like clutter. While I am sentimental about some things, there are other things that I have no problem getting rid of if we are not using them. So my philosophy is "why buy them in the first place?"

If we are all about honesty here, I have a few confessions to make. Deep cleansing breath. Here goes...

I've never owned a George Foreman Grill. I know - shocking isn't it. How can I live in 2008 having never owned one of those? Mainly, it is because Kevin loves to grill and I always felt that if I had a George Foreman I would be taking away from one of my husband's favorite hobbies. Bread machine? Nope. Juicer? Nah. BowFlex. Not happening. Buns of Steel? Not really. Need I remind you of this conversation?

And before Kevin throws me under the bus, I will confess that in a moment of weakness, I did order some Tae Bo videos once. On VHS tapes. I was young and newly married. What did I know? They are on a shelf at Goodwill somewhere marked down to $ 1.00. Last I heard, Billy Blanks is still churning out videos.

I'm getting a little off topic here. Today I thought I would share some gadget that I really do use.

Kevin likes salad, lots of salad. We were spending $$$$$ on bag salad since it was so convenient. I decided we could save some money by buying heads of lettuce instead.

This salad spinner is awesome. I can tear up the entire head of lettuce and spin the whole thing in here. Fletcher loves making it spin.

Then we keep it fresh in this lettuce keeper. But notice it has a divider if you wanted to store more than one fruit or veggie. It also has a dial on the side where you can open or close the holes to store things like berries, celery, broccoli, etc. If you are like me and don't know whether the holes should be opened or closed, they have a list right there on the side of the keeper. It is more of a rectangular/oblong shape so it fits much better in the refrigerator than the old round Tupperware kind (am I old or what?).

Along those same lines, Rubbermaid makes these produce keepers that have a tray insert and a hole in the lid to store things like fruit. Our fruit has lasted alot longer by using these. The lids and trays also snap to the bottom when you are not using them as opposed to the lids getting lost in the sea of plastic (another thing that drives me nuts).

My last favorite thing is in my bathroom. Our dog is fond of trash. If a trashcan is available, she helps herself to whatever is in it. Consequently, all of our trashcans in the entire house either have some type of lid on them or they reside on the top of the toilet tank. I know, lovely sight for our visitors. Well, when I get ready in the mornings, I seem to use a ton of QTips, Kleenex, cotton balls, etc. I can't have a trashcan next to my sink because of Sadie so instead I found this. It is a mini trashcan called Trashi made by Umbra. It is only 7 1/2 inches tall and fits perfectly on my counter without taking up space like a regular trashcan would. When it gets full, I just dump it in the big trashcan.


NOTE: All of these items were purchased at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Gotta love those 20% off coupons. Unfortunately, I am not getting paid to promote their products. Maybe I should have stuck with Billy Banks.