Staying Little

I promised a promotion to the owner of "Staying Little" because she has helped me out with some of my crochet hats and she has asked me to help her as she starts her little hat adventure. She specializes in making hats...crochet, sewn or otherwise. She is really super nice and does great work.

Much like when my wife started her vinyl sticker, sign making adventure she too had help from some friends to help spread the word. I'm glad that we all have these fantastic talents we can share with one another to help enrich the lives of those around us.....(okay that was cheesy).

In any case, take a look at her site. I've made some hats, which people have commented they like and want, but she's doing a giveaway, plus she's a pro, so her hats are going to be much better than mine!

(these are actually easter bags I made....but the kids like them as hats)

Coupon Game

I have been trying to use coupons since we had a class at church about couponing. It has been about a month now and I have used them when I can. My goal was to not buy things that I wouldn't normally buy even if it was a great deal. You can get great deals on a lot things but reality is that I don't need some of those things. So I have been sticking to that goal. Today I went to Randalls with the ad in hand and my coupons. I purchased only things that were already on sale and then had coupons for a lot of those things as well. At the end of the reciept was the savings of...$58.10. I was so excited. The thing I hate though is chasing around to several stores. I would never shop at Randalls normally, their prices are crazy high but when the items are on sale it makes the savings higher. The other thing that I like is that you can accumulate discounts on gasoline. So that saves even more. The more money I save the more exciting it is.

Sometimes one voice can make a difference...

I must confess that I am a TV watcher. I love it when the kids are in bed and I can just sit and watch. A while ago there was a Jack in the Box commercial that really made me mad, frustrated and disappointed. My kids happened to be watching with us one night and this commercial came on...the commercial goes something like this. A guy is in a fast food restaurant and another guy comes in wearing Richard Simmons type work our shorts and top and starts stretching inappropriately in front on the other guys face and it is gross. I won't go any further but you get the picture. I was thinking how gross it was and that my kids were watching and what did they think about it. I try to teach my kids about what is and isn't appropriate behavior with their bodies and then this comes on TV and shows them something different. Well, I had seen that commercial before that a few times but that time really did it for me so I went straight for the computer and got onto the Jack in the Box website and made a complaint. I told them how ridiculous that commercial was and what were there advertising people thinking and a few other things and you know what? I haven't seen that commercial since. I kept thinking as soon as I blogged about it it would come back on but it has been over a month and still haven't seen it. Just watch, tonight I will see it. But it goes to show you that maybe one voice can make a difference.

FINISHED!

I finally finished the Twilight series. I really enjoyed the first book and the last the best with the second being my least favorite. I was discouraged after that one but I am glad I got through them all. It took me longer than I had hoped to finish them...life gets in the way sometimes. Anyway, I can't wait to see the movie, I only wish that it encompassed all the books! I guess I will just have to wait.

Whats for sale?

A couple of weeks ago, I came home from work and found the kids and a couple of their friends set up to sell.

They set up a little card table and bring out all of these toys and whatever else they can find.

Its kind of cute to see them get excited about selling something, but I think they need a lesson in targeting their audience.

I see 2 naked dolls....one of which is Raggedy Ann. I'm glad no Barbies were present and I'm glad Raggedy Andy wasn't naked either.

Then there are all of these truck toys that have probably been buried in a backyard, wheels don't turn, etc..

Then there is the mystery candy that is older than dirt and looks like it was pulled out from underneath a dresser or couch.

Then there is everything else and they try to flag down cars that are turning into the cul-de-sac and pestering adults to come look to see if there is something they want.

The funny thing is that in the end they come and ask us for money to buy stuff from their own sale. This is truly one of the only times as a parent that you'll pay for something, just to turn around and throw it away when the kids aren't looking.

More Hats

So while I was on my trip, I spent my evenings in my hotel room crocheting. I found a cute hat on another blog (Franco Fab Five) and she was nice enough to share the pattern with me. I had made a couple of hats with the pattern, but we tried them on some babies and they didnt fit too well, so I made some more.

I altered the pattern a little bit as well to accomodate what I was trying to do. I think these look pretty good and I'm sure I'll have more to "show off" because the kids are buggin me to make them one.

My sister wanted one with ear flaps, so I took the design from another pattern and applied it to the basic frame of the hat.

The first "worms in the grass" hat I made was too small and was a finger weight yarn. This one I made with the soft cotton yarn. I made a little design, crease, all the way around where I was slip stitching into the end. Lessoned learned to follow the directions, but its cool...I think.

I followed the original pattern, but just didnt add the "brim" on this. Plus I added a little "charlie brown" stripe. Hooray for me!

Cincinnatti/Louisville Trip

I was able and fortunate to go on a business trip last week to Cincinnati and Louisville to do some training and visit a couple of factories.

The group I was with was able to go to a Toyota facility where they build the Toyota Avalon, Camry, Solara and the new Venzo. That was really cool to see cars being built from scratch. It takes about 20 hours for one car to be built, but once the assembly line is full, cars are coming off every minute. They wouldn't let us take pictures, so I don't have any, but it was cool.

The other place we went was the UPS World Port facility outside Louisville. We are a customer of UPS and we reviewed our contractual agreements, goals and trends. We were able to tour their massive operation. The coolest part was going to the "airport" facility where 90% of all UPS packages go and get sorted. There is over 127 miles of conveyor belt and it takes a package 13 minutes to be processed from the time it gets unloaded to the time it is ready for its final destination. The packages only get touched twice! Once when they come off the plane and once when they go back on.

The coolest thing though was being able to fly a Boeing 757 aircraft simulator. The simulator is $12million and worth every penny! It was so much fun! It is really like flying a commercial airliner. We didn't do anything too fancy, but we got to take off and land. My landing wasn't too great the first time....I over corrected at 130knots upon landing and I'm sure I died. I landed good the 2nd time though. That is something I will brag about. I'll have to attach a copy to prove it.

No Pes For You!

Phone or no phone?

In our family we seem to resist technology, not because we don't like it but because other things usually come first. Take for example our computer...it is 7 years old and in the computer world that is past retirement age. Also we don't have cable or anything like TVO. We also still watch a lot of VHS movies...it was funny because Emma had a friend over a few weeks ago and they watched a movie and the girl had never seen a VHS tape. We also didn't have a cell phone until we moved here. I was left to sell our home and Justin was here working so we thought it would be a good idea. Justin and I usually share the one phone with me having it most of the time but there have been a few times that having two would have been nice.



So on Saturday we drove over to the wireless store and got Justin a phone. It was fun. We walked in and started talking to the guy and he offered us a new cheap phone and then a credit for me to put toward an upgrade. I know that Justin was thinking that he wanted a nicer phone. Then the guy asked us who we worked for because some companies have accounts or something and you can get a discount. So he looked and our company was on the list. So instead he offered us two nicer phones for free and then 8% off our monthly service...8% is better than nothing. We were excited because we thought that was a good deal. I know that phone companies give phones away all the time but this was fun for us.

Justin...welcome to the world of wireless technology!!!

Twilight...should I go on?

So my sister-in-law gave me the whole series of Twilight books over the summer and Saturday I picked up the first one...it took me a hundred pages or so to really get into it (I had tried once before a few weeks ago and gave up). So I ended up really liking it, but then I finished New Moon yesterday and I didn't like it as well so the question now is...should I go on? I thought New Moon dragged a little and the werewolf thing threw me. Will Eclipse be better? I hope so.