Furry Vegeance

The kids and I rented Furry Vengeance from Redbox. I have to say it is a totally corny movie and the kids loved it. I have to say it has my all time Honeypot scene. Bredan Fraser the main character gets trapped in a port a potty by the animals. The honeypot is from the "Throne Depot". You know I love that. The boys loved the somewhat crude humor.

Do you Redbox? We lost our one movie rental place Hollywood Video. So, I decided to give Redbox a chance. I wasn't ready to commit to Netflix. I love the convenience. Please read all about the security for those worried about skimming. I think Redbox does an excellent job of outlining their security measures in their FAQ.There are some locations I prefer not to rent from because of the shady people hanging outside. I love being able to find the availability online and reserving it online. I miss my video store but this helps to ease the pain.***These are strictly my own opinions. I have not been paid or offered anything to share my review. Not that I would be against that.

Misconceptions of Moms and Back-to-School

Our Summer is winding down. I love my kids(really) but we are ready to start school. I saw this list on Two Peas in a Bucket NSBR Message Board and I HAD TO RE POST my favorites. Here is the whole list. This is totally meant sarcastically and it is funny.

Misconception Number 1: Moms miss their kids when they go back to school

Seriously, I've had enough of you by now. Every morning with the "what are we going to do today, Mom?" is finally over. I've had looked at your face twenty-four seven for the last 77 days. It's over. You're going back to Hogwarts and I get to have a life again. There is a Christmas morning for parents and it's called "back to school".

Misconception Number 2: Moms like to go school shopping.

Are you freaking kidding me, "Whey do I pay taxes?", so I can rack up a 200 dollar bill at Staples for crap that we have laying around my house in junk drawers. Why doe it have to be new pencils? What's wrong with the chewed up, broken strawberry shortcake pencils sitting in the bottom of the toy box for the last 6 months? And how many subject books can you possibly need? What happened to reading, writing and arithmetic. If they added a couple of things for parent to that list I wouldn't mind so much...why not pencils, erasers and vodka..or some NyQuil.

Misconception Number 3: Moms like back to school night.

Why must we do this every year?I got it already. You're the teacher. I'm the parent. My kid is either going to be smart or dumb. If he gets a certain number or colored dot on his discipline chart, he can't get a prize from the prize box. Pretty simple stuff. Listen, I'm pretty old school. If he doesn't listen to you, you can throw something at him. I don't care. But I got a lot of work to do at home and I'm paying a babysitter right now. Plus, I'm pretty sure you are going to assign some project on wigwams made by some Indian tribe I've never heard of, so I need to get home and start my research. So, I got it. We're all here for the betterment of the kids. Blah, Blah, Blah. Can I leave now?

Misconception Number 6: Moms like helping you with your homework.

What? I am scared out of my mind. I'm pretty sure that I forgot everything I learned in fifth grade by the time I was in sixth grade. I have no idea what your are talking about most days. I don't really know my 12 times tables, I read the Cliff notes to all your summer reading and I don't know how to conjugate anything. But I do know that song,"conjunction junction what's your function", if that helps at all. And please don't even say the words "new math" to me. What the heck was wrong with the old one?

Misconception Number 7: Moms can't wait to pack your lunch every day until we die

I hate doing laundry. Making dinner every night is the bane of my existence, so making your lunch every day for an entire year, in terms of "Mom Fun", lies somewhere between brushing plaque off the dogs teeth and scheduling my annual pap smear. Listen, as a child I hated what my Mom packed me for lunch. But, like every kid before me, and every generation to come you will find a kid to trade with. I'm sure someone likes sardines.

Exhaustion

I worked the kids out so hard yesterday that they collapsed in exhaustion. That is the best part of my job. I had Bones and The Princess of Quite of Lot (wrestler name- Fists of Fury) to play. They proceed to build a old fashion shooting gallery for a Nerf course.

Complete with a Saloon sign spelled Sallon. The sign is the white pieces of paper hanging up. That cracked me up. There was lots of tape, paper, army men, foam bullets involved. I love that I was not involved at all.

They set it up and included the whole neighborhood in it. Good times. Isn't this what summer is all about?

Linky Love

Got to have some linky love. It is the weekend where the blogging is slow. These are the sites I have been visiting and inspired by. Hope you will be too.

Love this post at How does She. She took a picture of a minivan covered in Road Trip Stats at Craters of the Moon. Hey, I have been there. Just like her, I would of so taken a picture. The people with the minivan have a trip blog called Slice of America.

I am kinda hooked on Hooked on Houses blog. Check out the Duggars house featured there. Hooked on Houses also has a lot of pictures of celebrity houses and their interiors.

My friend, Carol of Carol's Cookbook, has another blog called "In Just 10". She is an amazing writer who totally writes from her heart. I really loved her post on marriage. You can't read her writing and not be touched.

Last but not least, my kids and myself are thrilled that Lego a Day is back. Our favorite picture of the day has been this one with the cat.

My Follies aka Appliance Repair 101

I seriously think appliances and/or mechanical things are out to get me. Earlier this week I killed my computer. It crashed. I believe it can be fixed but not by me. On Wednesday, I noticed my washer wasn't draining. I have one of those fancy Duet Washers. Of course, my better half is out of town also known as "He who Fixes Things".

In the spirit of "What would Mrs Respiratory Therapist do?" ( She seriously has a ridiculously long line of appliance failures.) I googled my dilemma. I would of never thought of that before except Mrs Respiratory Therapist was telling me how she had been doing that. I can google with the best of them After googling the repair, I thought to myself, I can do that. I got the front panel off - Praise the Lord for German engineering. It was held on by only 3 screws. You know if it had been made in China it would had a billion screws and some of those toy twist ties. I unscrewed the drain thingy-totally the scientific name. The drain thingy was clogged with 3 pennies, broken pen, bread tie, rocks and just general hair debris. I took a picture but because I am not on my computer I have no idea how to get it here. Cleaned the drain thing out and started the washing machine and it ran. But more importantly it drained. YEAH! Then I cleaned the whole laundry room since I was there. Please someone go knock on wood and not the fake stuff either. I am positive my luck is already beginning to run out.

***The moral of this story is that sometimes googling a repair really pays off.

Jam Addiction

Hi my name is Heather and I have a jam problem. I am addicted to homemade freezer jam. The first step is admitting you have a problem and gifting others some jam so they now have a jam addiction. I was gifted some peach freezer jam and some peaches from Mrs Epi. That is where it all started. It is just so darn delicious and a little too easy to make. So far, I have made strawberry, peach, blueberry strawberry. I have to say that peach is my favorite. I am not even sure you need toast with it. See my problem.

Canning and eating seasonally are really the in thing. I don't know how to can but I would love to learn. The Seattle Times have had some good articles(here and here) on how people are blogging about the topic of canning.

Book It - August Update

I was gone during the July Book It hosted by Life as a Mom. I am linking up to her Book It Party here.

I read Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson on our trip on the Alcan. I know another with somewhat of a WWII theme and Pacific Northwest Theme. I am drawn to these books. Earlier this year I read the Other also by Guterson. I prefer Snow Falling on Cedars though both were compelling reads. I haven't seen the movie based on the book.

I also read hand-me-down by Lee Nichols. This is what I call a great beach read. The main character, Anne, likes everything new . She is the youngest of 3 sisters and has fallen in and out of love multiple times. She held many jobs and feels mediocre. She falls in love with her sister's ex-boyfriend. It is definitely a mind candy book. You don't generally don't get good quotes from mind candy books. But there were two quotes I really love from the book though.

You had this dream, you're following through. Someone offers a shortcut, but you don't take it - because the dream isn't about shortcuts to someone else's destinations. It's about getting where you want to go.

But history doesn't dictate the future, it informs the future. It's not a force reaching out from the dead past to keep you down-it's a force to lift you up. Not like a basement, Anne, but a springboard.

Where am I on my goals for Book it 2010? I still have on my must read list to read-2 books. I have read 20 books. My list of read books is on my blog side bar.

Great Sunflower Project

I have my first sunflower bloom. I usually grow sunflower every year. I think they are fun. This year I thought I would take part in the Great Sunflower Project. Here is the start of my project. The Great Sunflower Project objective is to count the number of times a bee comes to pollinate your sunflower during a 15 minute time period and submit your data. The want to learn the current state of bee activity. I haven't done my data sheet as I hope to have a few open sunflowers. Of course, I want to get the boys to help me out.

The picture above is of the Two Man Wrecking Crew - Summer of 2004

The Week in Review

Here is the truth - Last week was just terrible. My car ended up in the repair shop for 5 days. I was driving the beast of the truck to appointments all over the county. I swear I could run someone over in that thing. Did I mention I am terrible at parking? Trying to park a full size truck in tiny downtown spots is a lot of fun. My husband hurt his knee at the SWAT Rodeo. They believe he partially ripped a tendon in his knee. GOOD TIMES. We got to go to Urgent Care and the ER - all of us. Can you say Field TRIP?

The good news is that despite my Hubby crippling himself he came in 25 out out of 70. That is the first time he had been in that kind of match . He got hurt in the last stage so he was able to complete the match. He got some really good prizes. I learned to drive the Beast and park better. I refrained from buying him Tinkerbell seat covers and I didn't run anyone over. Nothing says tough like Tinkerbell. I won't mention all the curbs I ran over. Shh - Don't tell the Man child . The car despite being in out of the repair shop a couple of times is running. Please let next week be less eventful.

Deception Pass or ON the Way to Chuck E Cheese

Bridge over Deception Pass

#1 Son wanted to go to Chuck E Cheesefor his Birthday. However, we had out of town guests and I know they were DYING to go to Chuck E Cheese(especially my 15 year old Nephew). The nearest one is in Mount Vernon, Washington which is quite a ways from our home location. So, we made a detour and explored Anacortes and Deception Pass State Park before going to a early dinner at Chuck E Cheese. We took the very scenic drive to Deception Pass and used the local recommendation from the Anacortes Chambers page. We ended up getting out our GPS as we were lost in the very picturesque Anacortes. The directions left a lot to be desired or maybe it was the navigator (me) that needed some help. Anyway, we were rewarded with a Bald Eagle hunting over the water when we arrived at the Beach at Deception State Park. Here is a link to a previous adventure in 2007 we had at Deception Pass. There is a lot to explore there.

School Supplies

It is that time a year once again to start stockpiling school supplies. It seems real early for me as our school doesn't start until the 8th of September. We start really late compared to the rest of the country so to get the deals you have to start at the beginning of August. This is what I got so far. The camera/phone just doesn't show it very well.

Save at Home Mommy has a excellent list of school supply deals. My kids list this year is very extensive. Things like scissors and rulers I try to recycle from one year to the next. I still have quite a lot still to get (Kleenex, sanitizer, disinfecting wipes etc) I try to get the best deals as some of these things get rather expensive to buy off season or just hard to come by. I also use a lot of this stuff with my before school kids too. Check out my link to school supplies demystified.

Hunters of the Sky

Last Saturday, we took my Father and Nephew to an Interpretive Program at Birch Bay State Park. Sardis Raptor Center was doing a program, "Hunters of the Sky". Ms Smarty Pants has been volunteering at Sardis.

It was awesome to see the birds. They brought several hawks, owls, and 2 bald eagles. The stories about how the birds came to Sardis were fascinating. We enjoyed all the birds but the two Bald Eagles are definitely the stars. I didn't get a good picture as it was dusk. These Interpretive Programs are free but donations are accepted.

The Plover

My Mom, Dad, and Nephew are visiting from Colorado. So we have been playing tourist in our own backyard. This past Friday we rode the Plover from Blaine to Semiahmoo and back. Both Chuckles and #1 Son got a chance to drive. The picture is of #1 Son with the Captain at the helm.

We saw seals including babies, baby seagulls and starfish. My Nephew found this starfish under the dock.

It was a beautiful day to be out on the water. The ferry was quite busy and we ended up disembarking on the Semiahmoo aside. We end up having to wait for it on the return trip so be prepared.

Happy Happy Birthday

Big E !

To my favorite Chef - Hope your day Rocks!

What to Show Out of Town Guests

My Mom, Dad, and Nephew are visiting from Colorado. I am a firm believer of showing them really cool neat things about where I live. I didn't say normal things, did I?

My favorite honeypot aka outhouse is this double wide one called the "Wizard of Ooze." I honestly couldn't make these things up. I am all about being a tourist in your own backyard/honeypot.

Imagine their surprise, shock, shame, embarrassment when I made them pull over and take a picture here. I don't know if they were really surprised that I knew the location of this honeypot. I think this will make a good topic for my Nephew's "What did I do this Summer" paper. Or maybe this might good material for his therapist.

12 is Fine

I can't believe #1 Son is turning 12 today. He starts middle school this fall. I don't think I am quite ready for this adventure. What makes me so proud of my Son? Despite some very substantial obstacles that have stood in his way, he keeps on going and trying. I couldn't ask for more.

Happy 12th Birthday!

It's a GREAT day!

Happy Birthday

MOM!

Forever 21!

Alcan Highway - Fort St John

This is part 2 of our trip up the Alcan Highway. Part One is here. Fort St John was our 2nd stop along the Alcan Highway. I highly recommend the Super 8 there as it has a water slide and Mr Mike's next to it. We visited the Museum in Fort St John. Above is my artistic oil derrick picture. I don't have much to say about this museum out of all of them we went to this was definitely the roughest and less polished of all of them.

Outside of Fort St John is Charlie's Lake. Charlie's lake is where during the War that 341st sent a makeshift pontoon boat across the lake and it sunk. There is a monument. The window you look through and can see approximately where the boat went down. Pappy was suppose to be on the boat but he was late. We tried to drive all the way around the lake but it wasn't possible. Below is a picture of Charlie and Charlie(Pappy) at Charlie Lake.