Full of Adventures

I'd been planning on attending the ward party with Adam,
but hadn't put any thought into a costume
and bike decorations he'd need.  

Friday afternoon it suddenly occurred
to me that Adam had a knight costume
and his bike would make a nice dragon! 

Eric said, "No. You'll be up till 4 in the
morning and then be grouchy all day." 

I listened as well as I usually do. 

We had a ton of cardboard and other packaging materials we were gathering to recycle.  Once Eric was gone and Adam was in bed, I started hacking and taping and making a huge mess, as usual.  

And I even finished before 1 o'clock in the morning!

I had told Adam that his bike 

was going to be a dragon in the morning, and you should have seen his excitement when he saw it.  

The dragon was cute, but not complete 'till mounted by the handsome knight.

Everyone loved it!   
And I was the crazy mom who went overboard.

He won a trophy for most unique.  

Then he got to play games and eat donuts.

Hot dogs for lunch.  

And later a water fight in the backyard.

It was a pretty great day!

Grass Killer

A couple of weeks ago, I finally did something about the dandelions growing in my yard.  I knew better than to use roundup since my father still makes fun of women for leaving dead spots in their lawns.  So I got out the weedkiller specifically designed for use on lawns.

On one side of my driveway, the lawn is only a few feet wide, and it blends right in with my neighbor's grass.  I felt guilty about the dandelions growing in her yard since they most likely came from mine.  (She is very particular about her yard.  Okay, so really she's obsessive about it).  So I also sprayed some of the dandelions in her yard too.

A week and a half later, yellow spots started appearing where I had sprayed. 

Not actual image of my grass, but it looked just like this.

I felt awful.  I was sure she was going to kill me.  But, on the other side of the driveway, they lawn was fine.  Plus I had sprayed a lot more weeds over there.  I figured that maybe it was just a different kind of grass on that side.  I thought that maybe she might be forgiving if that was the case.   I hadn't run into her yet to apologize. 

Today I went out to get the mail and she was out in her yard.  When she saw me she looked ashamed and said, "You aren't supposed to be out here.  Go inside."   Then she proceeded to tell me about how she had accidentally used the roundup to kill the weeds on her lawn.

And being the kind neighbor that she is, she also sprayed the weeds on my part of the lawn.  I was so relieved it wasn't me; I found it pretty hilarious.

And the best part;  She used spray paint to 'fix' the dead spots! 

My neighbor killed my lawn, and then spray painted it green!

This may not be a funny story to anyone else, but I'm still laughing. 

Yay! Free Crap!

I have a new hobby! 

It's actually a website:  freecycle.org

It is great! 

People post stuff they are giving away and you can go pick it up.  

The trick is being the first one to respond.  

Things go pretty fast; I've missed out 

on all sorts of things that sounded good.

But I have been able to collect some great treasures!

Laundry Sorter

Bubble Wrap

 Strawberry Starts

I also have some starts for raspberries and daylilies.  

Train Set

And my favorite!

 

 

Bouncy Castle!

 

It's still needs more cleaning, and I have yet to find all of the holes.  

But that is all I've had to pay for it:  

Picking it up, patching holes, and spraying it down.  

Pretty good deal if you ask me!

Evil Socks

Just in case you haven't heard, baby socks are evil.   

I know, they seem so cute and tiny. 

But that's really just part of their evil plot.   

Let me rewind a bit just to reassure you that I haven't completely  lost it.

Last November my washing machine just stopped working, so I had to call a repair man.  He took the machine apart and discovered the culprit:  a baby sock. 

So cute in the package.  Adorable on the toesies.  The darn thing cost me over $100.00.  

The repair man told me this was a very common problem which could be avoided by not overstuffing the washer, and putting those small items in one of those delicates wash bags.  

I had some, but had never used them. 

I used them for a little while, but quickly slacked off.

Yesterday, my washing machine stopped again.

Luckily, I could easily diagnose the problem and had youtube there to help me.
(Not really sure how people did things back in the dark ages, pre-youtube.)

The washer is back in one piece and working properly.
I was so proud of myself, I had to call my dad.  

But I feel I must warn all innocent people out there of the dangers of those little evil socks.