In my efforts to be barefoot as often as possible, my feet are paying the terrible price. It was getting pretty ugly. And painful I might add. After seeing the ad for the ‘Ped Egg’ on TV and then reading tons of rave reviews I thought it might be worth trying, and it wasn’t overly expensive either which is a bonus. So when I was in Wal-Mart a few days ago and saw a stack of Ped Eggs right by the register, I grabbed one, paying only $9.88. I wasted no time, and tried it out that night. I was kind of skeptical at first, it didn’t really seem like it was doing much, but after a few minutes I realized that it was, my feet were getting smoother with each pass. By the time I was done, I was a total Ped Egg convert and confirmed rave reviewer myself. This odd little foot shaver really works! Now, be warned, this little egg thingy really does collect the sicky/gross dead skin that is shaved off of your foot. Lots of it. Kind of shocking actually. And you would be surprised at how many times I had to empty that thing for just one foot. It’s kind of disturbing. But worth it, so if you can get past that part, you will have gorgeous feet in no time. I kid you not. Oh, and if you Ped Egg your feet in front of your kidlets, be warned that they will be grossly fascinated and overly interested, and will want to empty your egg out for you so they can closely examine the gross shavings themselves, all while exclaiming loudly how gross they are, but still examining them closely all the same. No, I don’t get it either. But who cares, my feet are gorgeous!

On Thursday we went in for G-bee’s 2nd birthday party (Happy Birthday G-bee!), and had an incredibly fun time.The kids splashed and played in the wading pool and had a blast in the bounce house, and the adults were able to sit, chat and catch up on all of the new happenings in the middle of all of the kiddie chaos. We had a delicious dinner of grilled burgers and hot dogs, and several different salads for good measure. And may I just say that my burger was the best, ever! James, you have mad burger making skills, and anyone that says differently has never tasted one of your heavenly creations. Amen.

Speaking of food, I had made a lovely fruit salad to bring with me, even doubling my usual recipe to make sure there was enough. As we’re loading up to go, I set the bowl down on the floor in the back of the car so I could help one of the little ones into their seat, and turned around just in time to see G take a mis-step and end up ankle deep in the fruit salad. *sigh* So in the interest of not wanting to serve my family foot salad, I took the bowl of tainted goods into the house and instead grabbed a container of Spaghetti Ranch salad leftover from dinner the night before and hoped it would suffice. It did, but I think Heidi almost dis-invited me anyways, but since I owe her $20 she relented. Just this once.

After all of the eating and playing, we gathered on the side lawn with several other families from neighboring condos for a great show of fireworks put on by Gary and Austin. There was even some risk to life, limb and arm hair. Thankfully, all arm hair is still intact, and Austin will live to start school this Fall. I had a great time and I know my kids did too, so of course I was very unpopular when I finally tried to round up my brood to head for home. Thank you for inviting us Heidi, and I had so much fun with everyone, I can hardly wait to get back together again for more! I love my family, I swear I never laugh so hard as I do when I’m around all of them.

On Saturday, Craig and I loaded up the van with everyone, and headed south to a park about an hours drive from our house. It was the annual family reunion with Craig’s family, with this one being bigger than usual since it included all of his cousins, aunts, and uncles from his mom’s side of the family. We had a great time visiting with and meeting new people (new to me I mean, because of course Craig already knew everyone), and I was especially thrilled to get to catch up with family members that I rarely get to see, and really, really enjoy spending time with, some having made the long trip from out of state even. I really love my husbands family, they are an incredible bunch of people, and so much fun to be around.

One of his sisters is the most incredible artist (she is ‘this close’ to getting her masters degree in fine arts), and she showed me two of her most recent sculptures that she had finished. I was blown away, she is so amazing and beyond talented, and so very humble about her incredible skills. Seriously, she is just so amazing and I can never spend enough time with her, I love her to death. Another sister-in-law has a very successful business involving vinyl lettering, and she had brought a large box of her extras for everyone to go through. She was more than kind enough to give me two pieces that will make a gorgeous plaque, and I can hardly wait to get the wood and get it done.

There was tons more visiting, eating, laughing, water fights, volleyball, family pictures, and lots of catching up. The kids were everywhere playing their hearts out and having a great time, and I’m sure everyone took a car full of sand home with them afterwards, as every child seemed to be covered in it from head to toe by the end of the day. And then all of a sudden it was time to go. We were hot, tired and exhausted, but none of it set in until the drive home, we had been having far too much fun to even notice before. I am so grateful we live close enough to family that we can do this every year, sometimes more even, Craig’s family is so much fun!

And I have no pictures of any of the fun. Because? Well, I have my hands full as it is wrangling my kidlets, making sure they get something to eat, applying sunblock, and keeping them in my line of sight, and I really just want to spend any time outside of child wrangling visiting with everyone anyways, not constantly worrying about capturing every single moment on film as it happens. So now you know just how lazy and un-caring I really am. That, or I talk too much. Either way, there’s still no pictures.

I’ve been tagged to tell about my husband and our dating years….

Husbands Name: C How long did we date: over a 6 month period we were friends first, then dated, then we quietly eloped.
How old is he: 37
Who eats more: C Who said ‘I LOVE YOU’ first: C

. Although the weird thing was that I knew he loved me well before he told me. Can’t explain it, I just knew.
Who is taller: C by about 6 inches.
Who is a better singer: C, C, and definitely C.
Who is smarter: Depends on the subject. He’s a math and computer genius, and I kick butt in English and stupid trivia.
Who does the laundry: Me, I’m a laundry nazi. I freak out if anyone else dares to touch the laundry.
Who does the dishes: I would say it’s 50/50 for us. He is always willing to unload the dishwasher without me even asking, but I’m weirdly particular as to how it’s loaded, so I prefer to load it myself once he is done. What can I say, I’m also a dish nazi.
Who mows the lawn: C (and sometimes D for his chores).
Who cooks: I do. I’m also a kitchen nazi. And by now, you’re all wondering just why this poor man is still even married to me what with all of my nazi’ing.
Who drives: Mostly C, but he has no problem having me drive either.
Who proposed: C did. He asked me one night in a quiet moment after we had returned from a date, and totally caught me off guard. He told me later he had planned to wait until the Fall to ask me, but for some reason that all went out the window and late Winter/early Spring won out. It must have been my overwhelming ‘hotness’.
Who is more stubborn: Me. More than you will ever know.
Who is more sensitive: Me, definitely! (”She was daddy’s little girl” *sob*sniffle*sob*) -name that movie…
Who wears the pants: Overall he wears the pants, but he is not averse to me having my say about things either.
First Kiss: C, he totally went in for the kiss while we were snuggled up on the couch during a movie we had just started. I had no idea he was even thinking about it, and it caught me totally off guard. I think I wasn’t paying enough attention when we were dating, I sound so surprised all of the time.

TAG! You are it!

What happened? I used to post pretty much every day. Now, once a week, if I’m lucky. Life is busier than ever, but we are getting a lot done and spending a lot of time together as well. Gotta love that. And the house? Well we’re still hanging in there. We’re in a hard place because the house is hobbled by it’s small bedrooms, the way the house sits on the lot which makes for poor use of the yard space, and the unfinished part of the basement that scares a lot of people off since not many people want to take on a remodeling project, which we totally understand since we don’t want to take it on either. The single bathroom is also hurting us a bit, but we still have tons of showings with a lot of interest. And the market, after taking a huge dive this summer has recently begun to perk up again, so we’ll see. But we may pull the house off after a while if we aren’t getting anywhere. It’s hard trying to sell a house in a commuter town, with gas prices so high, people can’t afford to live too far from their jobs, and it’s apparent in the lack of real estate sales here this summer. Oh well, all we can do is keep moving forward.

One of the things I really love about our house are the numerous garages and work spaces we have. The RV garage is my favorite, conjuring up many an art/pottery studio fantasy, and wishing the house was bigger with more bathrooms and bedrooms and actually fit us so we could continue to live here and I could make it all a reality. But alas, one bathroom, and 9 of us. It wasn’t meant to be.  So the RV garage is currently “home” for D’s band ‘T E G’,

and they practice almost every single afternoon. If we ever sell the house and move it will be hard to find as ideal a location for him and his bandmates to utilize, so it works for now.

And maybe this is weird, but I have often thought the RV garage would be the perfect place to hold a funky party.

The rafters could easily be strung with some lights and cool lanterns/decorations, and by opening the many doors you could have access to either the grass or the courtyard.

I don’t know, maybe closer to Fall I might decide to brave some sort of Back to School shindig for D and C and their friends. I love an excuse to cook. Oh, and our garden is growing like crazy and I am so excited at how well it’s doing. Woooo Bessie! Look at that corn grow!

I can hardly wait to harvest something. Man, I am such a nerd. Oh well, nothing new there.

I have been reading every review I can find, and any and all information I come across in my search for the best heavy duty mixer, as I am still without one. My ‘Sunbeam Mixmaster’ is still on the fritz, but even if it wasn’t, it’s not meant to handle heavy loads, being better suited for cakes batters and such. So, I’m still stuck in non-bread baking limbo, but I have been able to narrow everything down, and this is the mixer I really, really want…

the ‘Electrolux Magic Mill DLX Assistant’. You can read some of the info on it here, and here.

I know, I keep hearing from many different people how much they love their Bosch, I have read numerous wonderful reviews for them, as well as watching my mother use her own trusty Bosch from the earliest I can remember, time and time again during her bread making days. But in the end, after all is said and done, the Electrolux kept coming out on top with the Bosch always right behind at a close second. Unfortunately for my budget, the Electrolux is also the higher priced of the two, averaging about $500 for everything you see in the pic above. Not exactly pocket change, right?

The good news is that Bosch is running a special on the last few remaining Classic Universal models thay have left in stock, and you can get one for only $339.99 here with free shipping.

I am considering this option right now myself since the Bosch really is a great mixer and would do a fantastic job for me for a long time to come. But I still really want the Electrolux DLX mixer, it’s my first choice, and if I can find a way to swing it I will, but the Bosch may just have to do if I can’t. The Electrolux rarely comes up for bid on Ebay, and when they do, they still go for about $300+ each time. At that price I almost feel that I am better off coming up with the remaining money and buying it brand new anyways. Either way, I am dying to make some fresh bread, it’s just so good! Even D’s friends have been asking me when I’m going to bake bread again as several of them were here that day my mother-in- law was showing me the ropes, and they helped us to devour the delicious end results. Anyways, whichever mixer I get you already know I will be posting about it as I won’t be able to contain my bread baking excitemtnt. Go ahead, you can say it….my nerd status was confirmed long ago, and I’m not afraid to admit it.

Ok, so it’s summer. And yes, I have totally been neglecting my blog. What can I say, it’s been beyond busy, and we are having a great time. Here is a bit of what we have been busy doing these last few weeks…

I bought this ugly, hammered brown desk at the D.I. for $6,

which I then sanded, primed and painted,

making it fit for a princess. H to be precise

A roll of art paper hangs from the side with a handy little papercutter made from a length of yardstick C bolted securely onto the desktop, and the drawer pulls are the girliest, sparkliest, crytal-like ones I could find. C used his awesome carpenter/power tool skills to cut the desk down to child height, and eliminated the odd wobble it had when I bought it. Needless to say, H loves her new desk and the space to draw and doodle to her little creative heart’s content.

We went to my parents to celebrate H and M’s birthdays, and had dinner followed by cake and ice cream with their aunties, uncles and cousins.

And yes, M’s cake is pink. Strawberry to be precise. It’s his favorite cake, and his favorite color. What can I say, my son does not feel bound by societies restrictions on colors for little boys. They grow out of it quick enough anyways. They had fun opening all of their presents from everyone, and were not ready to leave when it was time to head back home.

Madeline is VERY popular at our house. H and G adore their little rag doll friends, making them their constant companions anywhere we go, especially at bedtime. G earned her doll by not having any accidents, and staying dry through the night for one week. She did it in record time, much to my absolute relief. I was sick of the extra laundry, believe me I have enough as it is.

H got her doll for her birthday,

and her Auntie Heidi gave her a Madeline nightlight, which is the cutest thing I have ever seen!

I can see we are probably going to end up with the rest of their bedroom getting decked out to match very soon.

My mother-in-law came to my house, bringing her own Bosch mixer, a huge bag of wheat for us, and a wheat grinder (which she was for me to keep, yay!), so she could show me how she makes her whole wheat bread from scratch. She spent the morning showing me all of her secrets and tricks that she has learned over the years making her own bread, and it was so much easier than I had ever imagined. We ended up with four gorgeous loaves of homemade deliciousness,

and they were all gone within a few hours, happily devoured by every single one of us.  I was amazed at how fast and simple the whole process was, but of course her Bosch made the real difference, and now I am dying to get a mixer of my own, we need more fresh baked bread!

Auntie Patti, Uncle Al, and Grandma C. arrived  for a quick visit last week since Uncle Al never misses a chance to come down for the Cruise-In. We love that we get to see them for a few fun filled days, it’s such a treat to spend time with them. And I didn’t get any pics of their visit due to the fact that I forgot my camera. A poor excuse, I know, but what can I say.

Big Family+Big Vehicles=An arm and a leg at the gas pump…So needless to say we stayed home for the 4th of July. Which sadly meant we also missed out on seeing Jon & Lor when they were in town, but hopefully will get to see them on another visit. I went ahead and had a lot of fun making a huge spread of grilled steaks and burgers with garlic mashed potatoes, fresh corn on the cob, and strawberry spinach salad. Dessert was an ice cream and cookie kind of springform pan combo I came up with in a moment of desperation that turned out to be a big hit with everyone, and was beyond easy to make. Gotta love that. D had several friends over, so I made sure to have a ton of food since teenage boys really do eat a lot, it’s no joke. Actually it’s mind boggling. Anyways, we all sat out on the front lawn afterwards and lit off some fireworks,

then we all jumped into the van and drove downtown to see the big show put on by the city. It was big, loud, and beautiful. The kids loved it, right up until the end, then they decided it was too loud for too long, so we left just as it ended, thus beating the crowds and making it home in only a few minutes. The 4th of July is one of my favoritle holidays, and I really enjoyed myself, it was great!

 I know I am not the only one busy with fun summer stuff, so I don’t feel too bad about my lack of posts, but I do hope that everyone is having as much fun this summer as we are!