Category: Holidays

4th of July

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Yesterday was quite the busy family-oriented day for us.

First we stopped at K’s new apartment* to drop off some things for her, including an armoire that used to be in E’s room in our home (he actually helped Joe move it into her place thankfully because there was no way I would have been able to move it up a flight of stairs). We also gave her some drinking glasses, a bunch of picture frames, and some Disney keychains – all of which we had tried selling at our garage sale to no avail. We’re happy for them to find a new home with someone we know instead of a complete stranger since they were destined to be donated. We also gave K a house-warming gift which included some cupcakes I had baked earlier, a card, and a bunch of gift cards (Target, Starbucks, Chipotle, and Panda Express).

After hanging out at K’s new place for awhile, we went to Starbucks to meet E’s girlfriend’s (hence forth known as KC) mom. She wanted to meet us before allowing her daughter to come to our house with E which we can understand. She was/is very nice and we enjoyed getting to know her. She added us both on Facebook later that evening too so we can easily keep in touch. I hope now that we’ve met, KC will be able to come over since Joe has K and her boyfriend (hence forth known as ES) coming over in a few weeks for a game night and we’d like E and C to be there too.

After Starbucks we went to my parents to celebrate the holiday a day early. We brought corn on the cob, macaroni salad, and cupcakes and my mom had a ton of food as always. We stuffed our faces and then played croquet using my grandparents’ old set which I had inherited. That game is boring, but my mom wanted to play so we humored her. We then played badminton which is always fun. At some point after having dessert we played one game of Aggravation. We started late so by the time we left we were pretty tired.

Today we haven’t done much but chill out and listen to music and eat some leftovers from last night.

Edited to add: We received a $30.04 check from AT&T in the mail for a class action lawsuit regarding taxes collected on their invoices. Sweet!

* K and Joe reconciled recently (they hadn’t spoken in years) and she just so happened to have moved in with her boyfriend this week in the same apartment building where her maternal grandparents live. Two apartments down, in fact.

Father’s Day, Periscope, & Finding Dory

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Late yesterday afternoon E came by to spend time with Joe for Father’s Day. He got Joe a card which he was thrilled about since it’s the first time he’s gotten one that wasn’t facilitated by me. We went to Bulldog Alehouse for boneless wings, then to the pool for awhile. We also played Uno while I listened to a live stream of The Cure at Madison Square Garden.

I discovered Periscope about two weeks ago and have been following The Cure’s tour through the states which has been fun, even if I have to be careful to start out with 100% battery as the app really burns through it. My phone actually died one of the first times I watched a show because I didn’t realize it was such a battery hog.

I have mixed feelings about Periscoping shows. On one hand I wouldn’t want to be the person standing near these people since the glow from their phone is a distraction, but on the other I love that I can see the shows I’m missing. I guess that makes me a hypocrite. It’s fun to be able to see the band play live and interact with fellow fans in the chat section of the app, though.

I did piss someone off last night, however, because she was talking the entire time she was scoping. Sure, I get that she’s doing the rest of us a favor by even filming at all, but what’s the point if she’s going to talk over the music? She was going on and on about what a big fan she is yet she didn’t seem to be paying much attention to the show. Finally I got fed up and asked if she was going to listen to the music and enjoy herself or something to that nature and she got mad. She didn’t ban me, though, because she was too drunk, lol! That wasn’t my perception – she was telling everyone how drunk she was and that she ran out of money for beer. I just don’t get why someone would pay so much money to attend a show and then do everything but pay attention to it. I’ve tuned into other broadcasts where someone, not necessarily the person scoping, is chatting or laughing the entire time. STFU and enjoy the show! Is that so hard?

This morning we went to a matinee showing of Finding Dory. I hate Disney Pixar movies so much because they never fail to make my bawl my eyes out even during the heartwarming scenes. Needless to say, I loved the movie, maybe even better than Finding Nemo. And the short beforehand, Piper, was ridiculously cute.

We spent a little time this afternoon organizing our stuff for the garage sale we’re finally having this weekend. We only stopped because it’s so hot out we were getting too uncomfortable. We’ll work on it some more tomorrow which is supposed to be cooler.

Dentist, Biking, and Early Father’s Day

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Friday the certified Whirlpool repair service came by to replace the cracked piece on our dishwasher. All is now right with the world (well, at least as far as that is concerned). Their service is quite nice to deal with – they call the night before to give a window, and the guy calls the next morning when he’s about 20 minutes away. Everyone is really nice. It’s refreshing dealing with a company that respects the customer’s time.

Later in the morning we both went to the dentist for a cleaning. With our new Marketplace dental insurance we had to pay $15 each for the cleaning and x-rays which I guess isn’t terrible. I wasn’t even yelled at for not flossing!

We did a little shopping after the dentist and then had a late lunch at Chipotle. They have the best guacamole!

Mallard Lake Forest Preserve

Saturday we got up early and took the bikes to Mallard Lake forest preserve for an early morning ride. We arrived around 7:30 and rode for approximately 45 minutes. We would have gone longer had the trails not started getting so crowded. I was surprised by how many people were out fishing too.

We ran to Aldi’s for a few things later in the afternoon and got iced teas from Dunkin Donuts. I got peach and Joe got the green tea. This is the second time I’ve gotten one of their iced teas and I must say I’m not that impressed. Starbucks’ is way better, although far pricier. The DD teas are only $1 from 2-6 pm.

We spent the evening at my parents’ house celebrating Father’s Day. We had pizza and played Aggravation before leaving around 11 am. On the way home we were listening to the radio and I was surprised to come across Q101 which was playing all EDM as part of their Electric Playground series which airs from 10pm-2am every Saturday. I ended up downloading the IHeartRadio app when we got home and listening to more of the broadcast since I had trouble falling asleep.

Mother’s Day

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I was feeling rather bummed Sunday morning lying in bed thinking about how neither of my step-children ever acknowledge me on Mother’s Day (not that I would expect K to since she literally hasn’t spoken to either of us in nearly four years). Basically I was having a little pity party for myself. Then I walked downstairs and was greeted with some gifts from Joe.

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I should have taken a photo before moving everything, including the single red rose which I already put in water.

He also sent me a long touching email that brought tears to my eyes. I’m so lucky to have him and it really made me feel better. One of the things he said in his email was how I’ve been such a positive influence on his kids, and I hope I have been. I always took the high road even when I knew their mom was bad-mouthing us to them. I also tried my best to do things they would enjoy, and cook meals I know they would like. I don’t, nor did I ever, expect them to fawn over me or anything, but a little acknowledgement on this day would be nice. Ah well, you can’t have it all. I’m so glad I have such a wonderful husband who appreciates me and how I’ve treated his children at least.

Speaking of, Joe made us a nice big breakfast of pancakes (banana and chocolate chip, yum), scrambled eggs, and turkey sausage.

We headed over to my mom’s in the afternoon, arriving around 3 pm.

I invited my cousin over and she got there a bit before we did but no one answered the door when she knocked. That’s typical even though everyone was home as my mom was in the bathroom, my dad was in the back bedroom, and Brother # 1 was in the basement so no one could hear the door.

B (formerly known as Brother # 2) (who lives with his girlfriend at her parents house as of a few months ago) arrived a little later with some ribs and oven browns (potatos) from a place called Hog Wild. I’m not really a fan of ribs but these were really good! J (formerly known as Brother # 1) went out and got KFC too so we all stuffed our faces before going outside to play bags (aka cornhole). We also played What’s Yours Like? because that’s the game my mom chose for her special day.

At some point between games my mom opened her gifts. B gave her photos of him from his 30th birthday party and graduation. J gave her some DVDs including a season of The Middle. I wanted to get her some flameless candles she could use when decorating since she’s allergic to scented ones. Unfortunately everything I found was either ugly or had scent added so I amde her a gift instead:

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She seemed to like them so that’s good.

Since we arrived so early we were able to hang out a long time and still leave at a respectable hour (9:30 pm) so we didn’t end up going to bed at 2 am.

Easter Weekend

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Friday morning we drove down to E’s area to have breakfast at Denny’s with him and his new girlfriend so we could meet her. She’s a freshman in high school and very sweet. Needless to say, we liked her a lot. I was a bit stressed about the bill, but much to my relief everyone ordered off the $2 $4 $6 $8 menu so for the four of us it was just under $20.

After breakfast we did a little grocery shopping. We hadn’t decided for sure whether we were going to get a ham this year for Easter but our produce market, Valli, had the butt potion for only 99 cents per pound so we picked up a 10 lb one. I also bought a bunch of carrots for the cake I was planning to bake.

We stopped by the library to drop off a movie and I decided to check the new releases; I was surprised to find a blu-ray copy of Mockingjay Part 2. Unfortunately it wasn’t nearly as good as the first part but free is always good.

Saturday morning I made a carrot cake. Now I remember why it’s been a year since I last made it – it’s very time consuming. Plus when I pulled out the flour I realized it was expired. Joe was nice enough to run to Target to buy some for me. I also had him get sugar since I had forgotten to write the expiration date on the canister lid like I usually do. Once I got the canisters cleaned and filled with the new staples I wrote the expiration dates on them and put a reminder in my phone that the flour expires at the end of December so I won’t run into that issue again.

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The cake turned out pretty good. A little drier than last time, but still better than anything you’d buy at the store.

Sunday morning we cut up the ham and put it in the crockpot with a bunch of glaze I made. We also cut up the cake so we could bring it over to my parents’ house.

We arrived at my parents around 3:30 pm and Brother #2 was already there playing video games with my other brother. My mom put together an egg hunt and some other games all the “kids” played. I don’t care how old you are, stuff like that is still fun! She also gave us candy and money. We already won money during the games so I felt guilty. She said the extra money (and a $50 Red Lobster gift card!) were for us coming out the past two weekends to move the router (and subsequently move it back; long story). I explained that’s what family does but she insisted we keep the gifts.

Oh, I almost failed to mention we got to play my favorite game, Taboo, before Brother #2 left. He said he hates that game because he’s not good at it but his team (which included my other brother) won so now I don’t believe him. We also played Aggravation later on in the evening. It was a nice holiday.