Fall, don’t go…I am not a friend of Winter!
I can't believe October is almost over. Fall is my favorite season of the year and it always seems to go by so fast.
Halloween is next week. Marin is going to be Tinkerbell. If you haven't already figured it out Tinkerbell is my favorite Disney character. I've sort of been pushing it on Marin. I did her room in Tinkerbell decor, she has Tinkerbell PJ's and t-shirts and now I am making her be Tinkerbell for Halloween. But she likes it, although if she knew there was a Dora the Explorer costume out there she would be throwing a fit to be Dora instead. I just can't take too much of that Dora but I tolerate it for Marin's sake. We are going to spend Halloween in East Texas again this year. My parents always have a party with a mini bonfire to roast hot dogs. It should be a lot of fun.
I've already done my jack-o-lantern and I don't think he is going to last until Halloween. We may have to toss him by the end of the weekend. He is starting to turn to mush. I thought they were supposed withstand a little longer that a week, but whatever. Marin's cousins came in town last weekend and we went to the pumpkin patch. She picked out a small one and painted it (and painted herself in the process). I was going to try and wash the clothes she was wearing but decided to just toss them because they were covered with the paint and they were old anyway. She sure does love to make a mess.
Eric's job is going ok. And I say "ok" in that he hasn't really done anything in the month that he has been there. He is waiting to get assigned a project. We are hoping he gets in on a project with JCPenney so he can work in Plano. We dodged having to move to Seattle or rather him commuting to Seattle which is what we discussed being the most realistic option since it was only a 9 month project. I am not about to quit my job and sell my house for just a 9 month commitment. I think he has meetings with JCPenney today and Monday to see if they want him on one of their current projects. I am crossing my fingers he gets in!
Anyway, I included some pics from last weekend:
I’m Done with Walmart!! D-O-N-E! DONE!
I have never really liked Walmart. If you work for Walmart I am sorry but it is the worst store ever!! Sunday I went there because they are the only store that sells the refrigerated raw tortillas that we like. All you have to do is put them on the griddle and get tortillas that taste darn near close to homemade. So because of this I had to succumb to doing my grocery shopping there. When I was done I wheeled my cart to the front to find that with like 20 registers they only had 5 people working to check people out. The lines were 10 people deep and that is not an exaggeration, I counted! Most had carts full of groceries. I only had a few items (maybe 25 things) so I went to the self checkout because otherwise I would have walked right out of there without getting anything. But I decided I would have wasted all that shopping time. I am a self proclaimed pro on the self checkout machine...EXCEPT at Walmart! I scanned my items very fast but when I tried scanning my coupons (yes I use coupons, God forbid I use coupons!) they would not take. I have scanned coupons at other places with no problems. If I would have been at Kroger or Albertsons I would have them scanned in 30 seconds and been on my way. But no...Walmart cannot have the same great technology as the other stores (even though they make billions a year)!! I had to have a worker come and tell me I wasn't folding the coupon in order for it to scan. Since when are you supposed to fold a coupon for the scanner to read it?! Then she proceeds to tell me since I am a coupon user I should go to the regular line....oh by then I was fuming!! Because if you are going to tell me that then A) walmart should not accept coupons at all at the self checkout!! and B) they should get a NORMAL amount of staff to work on Sundays so that the "regular" lines are not a 30 minute wait to check out!! I came home and told Eric never again will I go to Walmart. If we need something that only they sell then he is going to have to go. I am BANNING them!! I cannot tell you how much I LOVE my SuperTarget now. I will definitely be going there from now on because not only do they have competent people who work there they have enough to cover the registers. I can't tell you how many times I have gone to the front of Target to checkout and they have someone just waiting for me. "Are you ready to checkout? I can help you right here." Music to my ears! Thank you Target! You are top shelf in my book!
Finishing it up
Yeah so Eric pretty much left you hanging on his Vancouver "series" blog. He didn't quite get you to Day Three, did he? Slacker!! I will finish it up for him...
So on the third and final full day we were there we decided to go bicycling through Stanley Park. This is a huge park. It took 1 hour to ride all the way around it. We rented the bikes from a place right across the street from the park. There were some awesome views of the Pacific Ocean. The weather was perfect...not too cool but not hot at all and we didn't really even break a sweat. If you ever go to Vancouver I highly recommend at least seeing Stanley Park and enjoying the beautiful natural setting. After the ride we were pretty dang tired seeing as how we walked all the way there (several blocks!) rode bicycles for an hour and walked back to the hotel. So we rested up and headed to the Gastown district for some tasty beverages. Yes, Eric had to go back to the Black Frog. After that it was time for dinner so we headed back to the hotel to freshen up and I had made reservations at an Italian restaurant in Gastown called Al Porte Ristorante. It was very nice, not too extremely fancy. We had both been on a low carb diet since June so we decided to go for it. ALL IN! We both had Fettucine Alfredo. It was not the best we have ever had but after not having pasta for so long we devoured it. I had a melon martini there that was totally worth the $9 I paid for it. I mean it was heaven in a glass!! I read all the ingredients they put into it but I am not sure what ratios so I am going to have to experiment to get that perfect concoction. I am sure it is not healthy...well for one, its alcohol...and I am sure there is a lot of sugar in that melon liquor. But I don't care as long as I don't have it but every now and again. After that we went to "The White Spot" which was a restaurant/bar close to the hotel and we had some more drinks and went ahead and had a piece of chocolate cake. It was our 5 year anniversary trip...we deserved it!! We stuck together this long, we were due a huge sugar infested piece of cake. Of course, Eric only had a few bites as he is not big on sweets but he said it was good, which coming from him means something since he is a skeptic on anything chocolate. Then we knew we had to get up early and head to the airport so we just crashed for the night. It was a great trip and we had a lot of fun. Everyone should visit Canada at least once in their lifetime. Very nice people and very beautiful landscapes!
So if that wasn't enough, I am headed to Vegas next Saturday. Yes, Vegas again! Eric is staying behind with Marin since he just started his new job and cannot go. My parents go every October and invited me out there since a family friend's son is getting married while they are there. It is a cheap trip since I will stay in the same room with the parents and I had a credit with Southwest Airlines for the airfare.
So Saturday is mine and Eric's official 5 year anniversary, Oct. 3. We discussed what we wanted to do seeing as how my mom will be in town for her retirement seminar and can babysit that night for us. We already had our dinner date when we were in Vancouver so we wanted to do something a little more fun. So we decided to hang out with our friends at a bar and watch the Sooner vs Miami game. Eric is trying to get into football now...maybe not with my Sooners but he has been watching the Cowboys games. He is getting all the terminology down. He knew what "intentional grounding" was! He is a sports fan in the making!!