Not Much Going On

We don't have too much going on these days, but here are a few recent pictures.

First, I must tell you that Doug bought the giant marshmallows - have you seen these things? They are larger than a golf ball. I tossed one to Doug, but it landed on the floor so he didn't eat it. There wasn't a trash bag in the garbage can, so I pulled a bag out and held it over my head so he could throw the marshmallow into it and open the bag for me. Doug had another idea. He threw the marshmallow at my head, but he hit me right in the eye. I asked Doug, "How am I supposed to explain the black eye in the morning?? I was hit with a marshmallow?? Yeah, people will believe that." HAHA I knew I wasn't going to get a black eye because I've been hit harder in the eye and didn't end up with a black eye (with a rock by my little brother, who then told me to roll in the dirt and tell mom I fell down the hill - we were hiding behind cardboard walls and throwing rocks at each other and his rock went right through my peep hole).

Next...
We have a white board at work that says, "Have you thanked someone today?" and there haven't been many "thank you" things written on it lately. I wrote a thank you to everyone that was in the office and then other people started writing thank you notes as well. It was really fun to watch people read it and then write their own. Have YOU thanked someone today??
Here's my most recent rental car...I had a tune up done on my car. The tune up went well, but the extras they found weren't fun to pay for. I always thought the shaking in my car was the alignment or the wheel balance, but nope - my axle was breaking. My engine assembly was also leaking oil internally (into the spark plugs). My $500 tune up turned into an almost $1100 bill. Gotta love cars.

And last, but not least. My arachnophobia at it's best (or worst):

We've seen a spider in the house every day for the last week and I saw 3 in the last 24 hours (so much for the $70+ we pay quarterly to get rid of spiders and bugs huh??!!). I was beginning to go crazy and on a couple nights I wouldn't go downstairs.

Yesterday when Doug got home there was another spider that crawled out of the couch and after Doug killed it with his fingers, I lost it. I went upstairs and I didn't plan on coming back down. I was upstairs cleaning for a while and when I came downstairs I saw the couch torn apart. Doug took the couch apart and sprayed a whole can of Raid under, around, behind, and on the couch. You might remember when we did this last year as well. I get to a point where I'm scared to be on or around our couch or downstairs.

Doug took it upon himself to take the couch apart and spray all over the living room after seeing my obvious frustration on Saturday. I feel so much better...and our living room has such a wonderful fragrance now - it may not smell good to most people, but (to me) the smell of Raid smells like death to spiders and it makes me happy. My favorite Raid scent is Country Fresh :)

I just randomly thought about a time years ago when Becky and I sprayed so much Raid in a storage unit that we started coughing and choking...ahhh, good times. HAHA

The sad thing is that I know how completely irrational my fear is, but I can't help or stop it. You can laugh at me, I do.

PS. In the middle of the night last night Doug loudly says, "Chillax!" like Gru on Dispicable Me. What the heck!?? LOL

Racing

Doug and Ben set up a surprise night out on a double date. The planning portion was funny because we needed cash to get into the races and luckily Breanna had cash with her so we could get in. The woman at the ticket counter was so sweet because were were short $2 and she offered it to us. It even required Ben digging in his car for change to get enough money to get in. This little guy was a champion! He started a half lap behind his fellow riders and he still beat them.We had fun, but sitting on metal bleachers is not comfortable. We got hit with some clumps of dirt - one hit me right in the eye and Breanna picked some out of my hair. We watched dirt fly into people drinks too.Here's a blurry picture of us:This race took forever to start because the pink line only lifted on one side each time, but they finally got it fixed.

We decided to leave early and get some ice cream. We always have fun with Ben and Breanna - thanks for hanging out with us again!

Refrigerator Items

I remembered what I was going to share with you. Doug had a soda called Guarana on his mission 10+ years ago and he has a coworker that found some locally. I searched a few of the stores around us, but I didn't find any, so his coworker bought him a bottle. It has a light and different flavor than the typical sodas we drink.While remembering what I was going to tell you, I couldn't find my camera cord. Geez, why didn't I think to look in the refrigerator HAHAHHA

Mrs. Doug's Wife

We made blueberry muffins for Doug's employees last week and one of the guys asked Doug for a piece of paper and a pen. It was an odd request because they work in a warehouse, but Doug gave him what he asked for. They made me a thank you card!! It's funny because the front in is Crayon and the inside looks like it was written by kids because they don't have desks or surfaces to write on. It's hanging on our fridge.

I haven't posted a random commute photo lately, so here ya go:

There's nothing like watching a random spiral staircase cruise down the street.

We ate a giant dinner tonight and I can't think of what else I was going to post while dealing with this impending food coma. We ate steak, salad, mashed potatoes, edamame, and Hawaiian sweet rolls. Then for dessert, we ate fresh strawberries and whip cream. My stomach is going to bust open.

I Need To Scream

So you get to hear it...or see it in this case... Have you ever dealt with so much stupidity that you just don't understand how people function on their own???!!!!!!! I have been so frustrated with a couple people over the last couple days that I just want to scream at them! Pull your freakin' head out and use your brain!!! (I'm going to need to go to Costco to buy more exclamation marks.) People can be so useless and/or lazy and I just don't understand it! Yesterday evening I felt so beat up and it was because of the lazy stupidity that I dealt with all day and then I started making my own mistakes because I was so frustrated and today seems to be running the same way.

I know Doug would REALLY love to scream at some people too!

**deep breath**deep breath** inhale** exhale**

Weekends Are Too Short

On Friday night Doug and I went to dinner with a friend I haven't seen in years. My friend's name is Nathan and I've known him for 5-6 years. The funny thing is this was only the second time we've met in person. He lived in Utah when we met the first time and after that it was a phone friendship. It was nice that Doug finally got to meet him too. He drove 8 hours to check out a job he applied for, had dinner with us and then took the scenic route home. That's a whole lotta driving in a weekend!

On Saturday I went to my work-wife's housewarming party. I was finally able to meet my work-mother-in-law :) too. It was nice to hang out with Kristie and Sheldon for a little while and meet/chat with their parents. I also got to chat with a friend that works in the home office of the company I work for - there's some stuff that's going to hit the fan on Monday and it was nice to talk to him about it. I'll probably fill you in about all that tomorrow, but the quick summary is my company is taking more job duties away from my department.

When I left the housewarming party I took some flowers to my grandma and aunt. Sadly, I hadn't seen them in many months. My grandma showed me their hydrangea bush - it's so much prettier in person!
Their backyard is so cute and all their flowers are blooming; their allergies don't think their backyard is so cute though.

As for our backyard - We saw our first lemon of the season!! (middle of the picture):

Our mandarin tree isn't looking very good, but we're trying to keep it alive. My brother-in-law told me to "till about its roots" because it worked for his mandarin tree, so we'll see if it works for ours. The lemon and orange trees are growing like crazy and our little lime tree is trying to catch up.

Today was such a nice and lazy day. We went to church, did a few small chores and took a nap. Why did I fight naps so much when I was younger? They're great! Although, I don't think I fought the naps, they are hard for me because it takes me so long to fall asleep - when I finally fall asleep, it's time to get up.

Fraud Alert

I was getting gas yesterday and received a phone call from Visa's fraud department regarding suspicious transactions on my card. Oh great!!

Here's the story....

When we shop at the grocery store, we get $0.10 off per gallon if we spend $50 or more and $0.20 off per gallon when we spend $75+. We recently bought groceries and had $0.20 off per gallon of gas - I needed gas in my Hyundai, but I didn't want to waste a big discount on my little car. When I got home yesterday, I took the red truck over to the gas station to fill up since it needs premium gas and the $0.20 dropped it to the regular gas price - sounds like a great savings, but it still cost $60 to fill the tank. Anyways, this gas station has hoses that stretch so you can pump from either side of the car and not wait for a open spot depending on where your tank is located. After running my card I realized the hose wasn't quite long enough to get across the truck (I parked too far away). Rather than driving forward and repositioning the truck, I cancelled the transaction and pulled over to the open spot across the aisle. I was bummed because I thought I just lost my $0.20/gallon, but I didn't.

I drove the truck home and then drove my car over to fill it up (I'm sure this all seems pretty crazy, but when the gas prices got down to $3.88 around here I had to get gas!). They give $0.03 off per gallon just for having a "club card" so I was only paying $3.85 for gas - it was kind of exciting since gas was almost $4.20 a couple weeks ago. While I was filling the "Smurf" my blue tooth started singing to me and when I answered the call it was an automated voice telling me that there was suspicious activity on my card. The robot voice asked for identification information and I automatically thought, "Yeah right, let me type my banking information into a random robot voice system.....SUUUUURE!!!" So I hung up. I called my bank and asked them about the call; I was given the 800# for the fraud department.

I was hurrying home while trying to deal with the 800#. While working through the prompts I couldn't get the keypad to work. I'm in panic mode at this point and all I got out of their system was a charge for $1 at 7pm Eastern Standard Time. I hung up again and called Doug to ask him if he's made any weird purchases on our card, specifically $1 - he said no. I was waiting for our laptop to boot up so I could check our account online and I called the 800# back again. Rather than deal with the computer prompts again I pressed 0 for the operator. The man asked me some things to identify myself and he started looking through the suspicious charges.

To make this 12 pack a 6 pack....
I set off the suspicious charges and phone calls on our account. OOPPSSSS!!

When you swipe your card at a gas station it automatically holds $1 to make sure it's a legit card, then I cancelled that transaction, charged $60 for gas, then headed home and a few minutes later I was charging MORE gas to the same card. The phone call wouldn't have stopped Joe Schmoe from filling up every one's gas tanks, BUT it's nice to know the bank was on top of it! All this happened within about 20 minutes.

The moral of the story: I dunno, I don't have one. I got an instant headache thinking of the mess we were going to have to go through again. I'm glad I was the suspicious character using our card :)

Mmmm.... Raw Fish Water

Last weekend I pulled the patio table covers off and scrubbed the chairs again. Freakin' cats left poop in our chairs again.Our tile was replaced, but it's very noticeably lighter. It's also rough to the touch, so I'm wondering if it needs to be sealed. The tile company was supposed to be here at 9am, but by 9:20 they weren't here, so I called the company and they were going to find out where they were and call me back. Another 30 minutes went by and I was getting very annoyed because we rearranged our day for them. I called the company back and they didn't answer the phone, so I called the builder - he's a lot like me and he was instantly annoyed and said, "If they said they would be there at 9am, they should have been 10 minutes early." He immediately called the owner of the company. Shortly after I spoke with the builder, the tile company called back and said the guys were on the way. The woman said they guys had to install baseboard so they're running a little bit late. I said an hour isn't a little bit and then I asked how much longer it was going to be until they got to our home and she said 30 minutes. An hour and a half late is a "little bit"?? I wonder how long a "long bit" would be to her. I was so annoyed because no one bothered to call and let us know they would be late, we rearranged our day, the woman had an "oh well" type attitude, and the couple hour installation turned into over 4 hours of our day.

I know our other tile is aged 4 years, but good grief it looks dumb.

On Friday night we went on a double date with Ben and Breanna. We went to Mikuni's so the boys could eat sushi. We got there a little before Ben and Breanna, so I went to the bathroom - holy heated seat Batman! It was so warm and cozy!! I shared my enthusiasm for the warm seat so Ben and Breanna went to the bathroom to check out the seats. I guess the guy's seat isn't heated. Our table was ready, so we followed the gal to the table. We figured out what we wanted to order, got our drinks, food and we were chatting and laughing like we normally do. Then the waitress brought our bill and our food and drinks were all free!

Yes, you are missing a BIG part of the story. Are you asking yourself: "How do you get $100 of free food/sushi/drinks/dessert at Mikuni's??" Were we the 1 millionth customer?? Do we know the owner?? Nope, it's much more simple than that.... just have a bus boy fumble the bucket of plates, glasses, and all the nasty fish juices, water, sodas that come with the bucket and dump them right behind you and have a small tidal wave of nastiness on your purses, pants and shoes.

Breanna and I had our backs to what was happening, but I heard a plate break right behind us, turned my head quickly, felt a plate bounce off my hip, saw the guy juggling the bucket and watched as more stuff spilled out. GA-ROSS!!! Breanna's new purse her mom just got her had a bunch of stinky juice on it as well as her shoes and jeans, the front of Ben's jeans and shoes had juice on them, the back of my jeans, purse and shoes had juice on them and Doug was dry - the last time he went to Mikuni's he had food dumped on him by a friend he was with, so I guess he got a free pass this time. If the guy was 2 inches closer, it would have been down our backs.

After all the noise of plates and glasses breaking, Mikuni staff members came out of nowhere with brooms and towels. One woman brought us a glass of seltzer water to help get the food and juices out of our clothes and purses, then the manager brought his business card over and let us know to contact him with any dry cleaning bills. We were mostly concerned for Breanna's new purse, it's a canvas material and soaked the stinkiness right up. We weren't mad because accidents happen, but it was so gross. I felt really bad for the young bus boy and I was worried about him getting into trouble or the crappy night he might have thinking about it. Doug said the guy didn't do anything wrong; he bussed the table behind us, he was carrying his bucket and stopped to let some people by, but when he looked up the stuff in his bucket must have shifted and that was all it took. Poor guy. Total change of subject, this was the cute puffer fish in their fish tank.

And another weird story - I was getting into the shower yesterday morning and I looked out our window and there was a guy sitting in his car on the corner. It seemed weird, so I watched him for a moment and then he hunched over, put a pipe in his mouth, lit his bowl and started smoking weed. I though, "are you kidding me right now??" Of course I ran for my camera so I could post a picture for you all. HAHA When I got back he was lighting up again and when my camera got into focus he was just starting to drive away, so I only got the back of his car. Then he pulled into a driveway THREE doors down. What a dingbat.

I got into the shower and then headed to Kevin and Debbie's house. I got there later than I expected, but we spent all day organizing their house. It was kinda fun; I'm sure Doug was relieved because I wasn't home rearranging things. It was nice to spend time with them even if it was cleaning and organizing.

Storm and a Haircut.... two bits

Are you picturing/hearing Who Framed Roger Rabbit in your head? "No toon can resist the old 'shave and a haircut' trick." -Judge Doom



Yet another storm... June came in with a bang, literally. We had thunder, lighting, blue skies, hail and tornado watches yesterday. Today is sunny, but the rain will be back tomorrow and through the weekend. Then more thunderstorms are expected on Monday.
It's been over a year since my last haircut, so I was definitely do...LOL I made myself laugh, get it "do", hair do. hee hee

I've realized I'm a semi-drastic hair changer. I get my hair cut and then wait too long for my next haircut and then I chop 8+ inches off. I did it again... another 8 inches gone. It's so shiny and straight
My new shorter hair from the side:

People, lets get serious for a moment! I've pulled about 6 WHITE hairs out of my head over the last couple weeks. WHAT THE HECK!!!!!!!!