Remember me?

Okay, this isn't me... AND I didn't have another baby...

(Time is moving right along and I haven't taken the time to update family on what has been going on down in SLC, so this is part of the October catch up.)

BUT Chay, Blade and I did go to the zoo and saw the baby elephant, soooo cute being so playful and running around. I've never seen an elephant move so much or so quickly (kind of similiar to that of a human mom and a toddler)

We attended a Halloween "carnival" at the zoo, the price seem right at $1 but the line were very loooonnnngggg to do an activity for one bite size candy. However, Chay and I split up and each waiting in lines and when Chay got to the front, Blade moved over and then came back to my line.

Being the lucky kid he is, Chay spun a wheel and landed on the right number and won a pass for 10 carousel rides! And he figured out which ducks to scoop up so that he and Blade won little stuffed animals instead of a bite size candy! (I was so proud of him...!)

During UEA (Utah education association-and a couple of days when the teachers supposedly attend conferences), it was FREE day at Tracy Aviary at Liberty Park. I have lived in SLC for many years and had never been, had talked about it numuerous times but never quite made it.

This year I MADE IT with the boys! (and we saw Chay's 6th grade teacher THERE)

It was very tranquil.

Until we saw this Huge vulture. Of course when I pulled the camera out, it put it's wings down...kind of like with my kids-when the camera is out, the picture is gone. But the wing expansion was impressive.

I'm not sure what Blade measured up to...

And whenever we see Flamingoes, we have to take a picture because it's Dave's favorite bird and we want him to know what he missed out on. (Just so there is NO confusion, Dave can't stand flamingoes so don't go out looking for pink flamingoes for him).

I thought I was climbing the walls but I was mistaken, it was Blade climbing every pillar that we passed.

While enjoying the park and the birds, we did our part and Made a Change with our change.

We escaped into a wetland area through a curtain of chains.

That white dot is a bird. (That image in the foreground is Chay)

I had been losing weight and was starting to look good with that last 15 pounds I lost but then I had a craving for caramel popcorn and found a quick and easy microwave caramel popcorn recipe and made it 3 nights in a row and ATE it 3 nights in a row (I had that recipe memoried) That was the beginning of the end for me...I haven't verified it yet but I think those 15 pounds are back on and so I'm back to the weight I was when we visited Canada.

I love the free workshops at Home Depot and Lowe's. "I" have been able to make some nice things.
This one ended up being a firehouse bank with 3 compartments for spending, saving and sharing. Why all 3 sections were the same size is bewildering to me but a great concept.

A nice Dad across the table offered to take a picture of Blade and me...dang, he doesn't look exactly like me but, even I can see the resemblance.

This next one was a ball toss. (I realize that I really need to take more pictures to document the final result)

This next picture is for Sheila. I picked up some bike parts she had ordered for Julia and met this nice couple. She's going to be famous in the BMX world so, remember this face.

On my days off, Blade has been my shopping buddy and has been doing a great job staying by me and allowing me to keep an okay pace. We visited IKEA to get some solar lamps so that the kids would have light in their rooms in the evening and we were welcomed with a "free breakfast" sign. So of course, we had our free breakfast before shopping. Blade went crazy with the pepper.

And ever since I saw these Dyson hand dryers for the first time at Costco, I have wanted to take a picture of them. I'm still impressed with them, and IKEA had them, and I had a camera and so I took my picture!

October 15th, a BIG day for Dave.

This is a picture of him dropping me off at work.

And this is a picture of him when he picked me up from work.

It's kind of hard to tell but he had his braces removed. Everyone should celebrate their 47th birthday by having braces removed...(I just put all that information out there because I'm not creative like Jacqui; I'm still impressed with her work).
I really didn't notice Dave's braces that much because there was just one metal wire and so it wasn't a drastic change like when Nicole had her braces removed. And now, I don't really notice Chay's braces that much (which reminds me, I need to take a picture of him with his bottom braces because he had those put on recently).

Happy Birthday Dave

Nicole and Chay were fighting over who would light the candles (they are both pyromaniacs and like to play with fire)

...apparently, Dave is amused by how old he is....
(I don't know what ratio the kids figured out for years to candles)

Like father....

....like son.

Grandma's birthday gift was dinner out. I was willing to go out to eat after getting home from work but Dave decided that he wanted to spend a relaxing evening at home and so we ordered pizza from a new place for us (they left a flyer on the door) and were impressed with the pizza.

Last week end, Nicole continued the tradition of decorating Halloween cookies and invited two girlfriends over to decorate. I was running around with Saturday activities, one being Blade getting Halloween pictures taken at Target, so expect those pictures in the mail in the near future. When I walked in the door, I was impressed with the organization that Nicole displayed. She had made the cookie dough, cookies and icing by herself and had the counter and table lined with paper and all the supplies laid out.
Nicole expressed that she loves to use that white paper whenever the opportunity arises. The "white paper" is a large roll of paper that we can pick up free at the Distribution Center...when we are lucky enough to go on a day when they have bolt ends out on a cart by the front doors.

I baked some more cookies on Sunday because Chay didn't get the chance to decorate any.
Blade found it easier to use the canned icing.

this is his finished project...

...actually, THIS is his finished project...

Chay and Blade attended the Warren's annual Halloween party last week end and Dave and I were at a movie and so I didn't get a picture of them in their costumes. BUT I will. Their costumes kind of go together.

Lately I have been doing the Angie thing and "thrifting". Everyone knows how I like to find a great deal and now I want to find an excellent deal by finding something old and making it new to me. A few weeks ago I had the thought to go to DI to look around, I don't normally go to DI. I saw a couple of coffee tables that would work for me and I was debating over the $7 one. I decided "no, I don't really it, I'll save money". They also had a quality futon for $25 that looked like the one we bought used for $300 (but ours had a mattress that fit). I did find a jar bank that counts the money at you put it in for $1! I was excited about that because I've actually bought new ones that are smaller and they weren't $1. Afterwards I kept thinking, I should have bought that table. I was surprised by some of things I saw there that weren't too bad. And so now, I want to keep checking the DIs out. I haven't seen any nice cheap tables though. And each time I went, I forgot to look for silk ties to do Easter eggs next year. But yesterday, Dave and I both had the day off, me because there weren't alot of patients and so I got called off, and Dave because someone needed to switch a day. Dave and I never have a day off together without a child. So, what did we do? We went to 2 DIs, sad but true. I remembered to look for silk ties and was surprised how most of them were silk, and surprised that one DI sells them for $2 and the other for$3, what's up with that? While I looked for ties, Dave looked at the shirts...not a good thing when Dave is in a store waiting for me. He found 11 (?) laundered quality like shirts (actually, 2 were new with tags) for $4-$8, two were 8. And of course the $8 were from the "expensive" DI.

Today Nicole is home with the flu, and I left Blade home with a sleeping Nicole. Poor Nicole, she hasn't ever had the chills as bad as she had them last night...then the sweats come...she would much rather have the sweats than the chills. She's feeling better at this moment. I hope she's over the worst of it because she has to take (write) the ACTs tomorrow.
Anyway, so, today I hit the Sugarhouse DI because I was in the area and purchased an old solid wood dresser for $18. I have plans for it. I want to paint it brown or black and put it upstair and put crafting supplies in it. I have new knobs for it too. Hopefully in the near future I'll have before and after pictures to show.

Okay, I'll share something with you. I'm one of those "crazy" moms out there looking for "the" toy this season, the zhu zhu hamster. I thought I would check out toyrus and there was a short line (and the store opened later than I thought) but, I waited in line. There was a sign that indicated that there was a one hamster per customer per day limit but when an employee came out to hand out the tickets for "your" hamster, she said there was now a 4 hamster limit. I got excited because now I could get all 4 colors and decide. (I have a friend at work whose granddaughter wants the hamsters. Blade doesn't say anything about them but I'm thinking that he may as the hype gets bigger and bigger). Well, as fate would have it, the lady in front of me was the last one to get all 4 colors. There were only yellow and white ones left. The two behind me got that last tickets. I traded one of mine with someone who wanted a different color and then I gave one ticket to a lady who didn't get one. The people a head of me didn't want to trade with anyone nor give up their tickets. (They were serious about the hamsters, they have been going to different toysrus and waiting in lines for weeks and getting hamsters). I was so close, one away. It could have been me with the last of "all 4" but a lady a head of me called her mom and told her to come and she arrived in time to get the tickets and of course took her 4-I would do the same.
For those of you new to this, each hamster has a different personality and that's why people want the different colors. I would like the brown, tan or grey one because those seem more boyish than the white and yellow ones. But at least I have ONE.

Until next time...