My birthday!

I got another year closer to 40 this weekend (I'm all for 40!).  Some of you know the problems I had getting to these pictures so I hope you like at least one of them!!!

Photo made for me by the Diva:










Did I get to sleep in on my birthday? NO WAY. I three kids doing four performances at our school's annual "Solo & Ensemble" review, which they do for a grade. That is why the kids are in nice clothes in these photos. I'm wearing nice clothes because it was my birthday.

My 11 year-old's very first year doing this and she got a PERFECT SCORE!!! So proud of her!!

My middle child and my oldest also did their solos, but we didn't stay long enough to see what their score was.

(Me with the kids):

So after that we dumped the boy back at home and went into town to look for dresses for the little girl. She has her very first"formal" dance coming up and she wanted it to be special. (I noticed she wants it to be as special as the oldest daughter's prom....jealous maybe? lol) So we've been doing the dress thing. The day before we had went around looking at different stores and trying on different dresses, but none were "formal enough" for her. So we took the oldest daughter with us and she began to try on dresses in the same place we found Poinsettia's dress.

I think she had lots of fun and all the appropriate attention to make her feel special. The dress she picked (sorry, no spoilers, ha!) was only $15 so we were more than happy to get her a couple of accessories to make the deal sweeter. Now all she needs are shoes since she's outgrown all her nice shoes but she's still too small for mine (I wear a child's size 3 and 1/2).

We then had lunch at Cracker Barrel!!

I had my favorite trout and, of course, a raspberry lemonade

Since we were in town we browsed a few car lots for our ongoing search for an acceptable/affordable car for our oldest. While perusing those, we came across this amazing Jaguar!!!

I have LOVED Jaguars since I was a kid and saw one at the beginning of "Romancing the Stone" roughly 150 years ago (lol). This was the first Jaguar I've seen in real life. I also really love Corvettes but do not yet own one. Maybe someday.

I told Poinsettia she may not have this nice a car any time soon because I'll be jealous and she doesn't have enough driving experience IMHO.

Anyway, this car will make someone a gorgeous ride, I'm sure.

Oh, yeah, while shopping I realized that the awesome 90s are coming back!! Check out these awesome biker pants!!!!

Anyway, after all the performing, shopping,and car browsing the girls were getting a bit sleepy.

On our way home we stopped to see my in-laws (my husband's parents). They were working outside even though it was pretty cold:

THE REASON I WASN'T WEARING MY COAT: 

After we got home I made my cake, a strawberry jello "poke-cake" with cool whip instead of icing. My husband grilled dinner and we played a little Magic: The Gathering.

I also started to teach my stepson how to properly shuffle. I've been a card-fanatic ever since I was 12, and I taught myself how to shuffle in such a way as to avoid bending the cards and to keep them all "right side up." I taught my oldest stepdaughter a few years ago and now my stepson wants to learn (sorry the pic is blurry):

Hes getting it.

We finished off the night by watching "John Wick" as a family

and then I read until I went to sleep.

Here's how much I had left to go on my birthday. I'm 94% done with the book today, and I'm hoping to finish it tonight so I can get started on "Revival" (FINALLY)!!!!

Great birthday!

Thanks Tom, Lois, Grandma and Grandpa for calling me!!

And thanks to everyone else who left Facebook birthday wishes for me.

:)

Time for another year!

Pot-Blocked!

I started reading "Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone" (J.K. Rowling, in case you live under a rock) to my daughter, the Diva.

She loved every minute of it and when we finished we watched the movie and discussed the things they didn't put in the film.

Now she wants to read "Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets."

I thought it wouldn't be a problem because my son has the entire Harry Potter series...except half of them are still hiding in the garage.

I looked through about half (if that) of the boxes in the garage, but I couldn't find it. I found the last three books in the series but that was it. I went to a library book sale and found another few books, and now I have every single book in the series EXCEPT "Chamber of Secrets."

So I started looking in our local libraries....

Home library: "We don't have it anymore. Someone took it and never brought it back."

Dear whomever did that....SHAME ON YOU!!!

Sister town's library: "Nope we don't have that one, sorry."

So we drove all the way into "town" and went to the big library. After some searching we finally found it, and we smugly went to the front desk to check it out.

And then were promptly told my library card expired last September.

WHAT???? I checked out "It" in December!! But it is a very small library (here) so I can see how they'd let me check books out without checking the expiration date (I didn't even realize it HAD and expiration date....) so we had to leave without the book.....AGAIN!!!

I drove home and found out the library is closed for whatever reason, so there's no point in trying to get back into "town" today.

SIGH.

I will try to look through the garage some more...its' ridiculous that a book that popular isn't anywhere local LOL. Oh well.

So here's what happened.

Many of you (who check my facebook anyway) know what problems we have been having with vehicles lately, but if not, here's the rundown:

Three years ago we bought a pretty Monte Carlo for our oldest kid to start learning on. It was a solid car and a good size.

Two years ago we bought a Firebird for our next oldest kid to start learning on (and I was extremely ticked off to learn he didn't get put in the driver's ed class....he only just now has his permit and he's already 16!! I'm STILL mad about that!!!).

A year ago we got a cool little BMW 365i that was almost exactly like the one the Mr had in Germany. It was labeled as the Little Star's car but in all honesty I kept (and still am) driving it around. It's smaller and a convertible and is generally amazing.

We bought all three vehicle's cheap because my husband is a mechanic and can fix virtually anything that goes wrong with the cars. The Firebird in particular has had several things to be fixed.

I've had my Dodge Caravan for a while....we got THAT supercheap because the guy who had it before wrecked it TWICE (that he told us about) and used it as a truck to haul (among other things) garbage. We had to do a lot to that van to get it family-safe (and legal) but it was SUCH an amazing van it was worth it.

So last year we suddenly kept having car issues. You all recall that the BMW needed a new throttle pin and a new alternator, which was fixed quickly and pretty easy at that (the alternator was a bit expensive). The Firebird suddenly stopped working and the Mr, my PROFESSIONAL MECHANIC, hasn't been able to identify the problem yet (he doesn't get to spend all that much time on it). The Mr started using the Monte Carlo to go to work, and one icy morning to avoid six deer he slid off the road and into a shallow ditch, which seems to have exacerbated several problems, which ultimately caused the rear wheel shock-housing (the back wheels) to come up off the frame and bent the front axle to the point where it could fall off any moment (not something you want your kid learning on), so the Monte Carlo is set to be scrapped (whenever I find the title o.O). That left us with the BMW and my minivan.

We had problems with the water system on our minivan last winter, but we always got it okay again, other than the fact that it would have the same problem every three days or so. THIS winter the van has zero heat. ZERO! I nearly got frostbite one day just going to the bank! So I drove the BMW pretty exclusively, and since the Monte  Carlo was critical and the Firebird was dead, that just left the very cold van for the Mr to drive to work. We found out the van needs a new ENGINE, which we got, but we don't have the time to put it in the van ourselves or the money to hire someone else to do it. It is still driveable, but we wouldn't be able to take the family anywhere, and to be honest it is just on it's last leg.

So we got a new van (see Vlog on YouTube [soon, I'm a bit behind]). This is the first vehicle I've bought from an actual dealership, and it's the newest vehicle I have ever owned ever. It's amazing!  I still love the little BMW so the Mr isn't allowed to use it to go to work (as a mechanic he gets covered in grease and diesel fuel and coolant and all sorts of dirty things) and I will still use it during the week as I'm only driving myself around.

However LAST NIGHT (now here's where we tell ya what happened!!) we were grocery shopping and when we were done we were cruising car lots with my oldest (the Monte Carlo 'owner') to see about a new car for her. She just got her license and wanted to be able to start driving herself around places. She could feasibly drive the minivan....but only if it's not too hot or too cold, which pretty much limits her to these next two months and then two months (if that) next fall.

So we were pulling into various car lots and looking at their cars. We were in a small car lot at the south end of town  (going about 2 miles an hour) when it felt like I ran something over, it caught on something under the car, and then broke. It sounded kind of like a huge rubber band snapping. I said, "that was weird....did you feel that?" then suddenly all kinds of warning lights lit up all over my dash AND the ceiling check-systems panel. We stopped immediately and checked under the car (all good) then the engine....and the Mr pulled out the alternator belt!!!  We tried to make it home anyway, but the engine started overheating (SMOKE!! SMOOOOOOOOKE!!) so we limped it to my father in-law's house (he is also a mechanic). We were forced to leave the groceries in the trunk and get a ride home to pick up our new van and come back and get the groceries.

I didn't make it home until after 11pm, and I didn't get to go to sleep until 2am!! (Groceries had to be put away, dishes done, and we had to eat dinner because we didn't get a chance to while dealing with our poor car!!)

The Mr did try to start the BMW after we came back for the groceries (overheating is BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD for engines!!!) but it started back up so FINGERS-CROSSED HOPEFULLY it still just needs an alternator belt (the Mr says he will just replace ALL the belts!).

The thing of it is....we just bought this new van to have two vehicles.....and now we're back to ONE.

I sure hope this ends our streak of bad luck with vehicles!!!!!

P.S. ~We did find a few cars to inquire about for the older two to start driving.

New Vlog up!

New Vlog! Number Six

I'm way behind!! But I am working on catching up, so you may see a few posted over the next week or so.

I feel so much better today!!

In other news I don't use my Instagram all that much so I've decided to start using it exclusively for all my pets. I was thinking of starting one just for them for the past month or so, then I got the new phone and thought eh....I don't really use it all that much anymore. So it will pretty much be pets only.

The fantastic weather added to my feeling so much better made today such an awesome day!!

LOVE,
AmyG

New Vlog

Can't really type anything today......I'm fasting for a blood draw tomorrow and my brain doesn't function correctly when I don't eat.

So here's the New Vlog. See you later.