As Red as a Beet

Last night was our monthly date night when the kids are treated to their own night at the YMCA. They have a blast with pizza and games, and we have our own blast with a kid-free dinner and (this month) shopping. We still had some family fun with snow cones after we picked them up. 

Abigail and I each had a cupcake with cream, Daniel a melon blast, and Cooper a coconut. Yummy! But, the real story you are here to hear came after the treats as we headed home. 

We were walking up to our car in the parking lot as another couple was existing their car, which was parked beside our suburban. The young lady existing next to us was wearing a bikini top and daisy dukes (cut-off denim shorts) that were both much too small for her. 

My lovely and, obviously, outspoken daughter says to the young lady...

"Come on people, put some clothes on."

As if that was not enough embarrassment for me, Abigail continued on as Daniel opened the car for her.

"Dad, did you see that lady? I was like 'Come on people, put some clothes on.' " 

Oy!   

Skinny Dippers Unite

Last week it was National Donut Day that we all missed. So that you don't feel left out, I want to make sure you're aware of tomorrow's significance - National Skinny Dipping Day. Guinness (the world records, not the beer) has created a new category for the largest number of people skinny dipping simultaneously, and tomorrow will be the day of counting. (Question: Are we unpatriotic if we don't participate in National Skinny Dipping Day?)

To be officially counted, you may wear a hat and/or water shoes, but no socks or any other clothing. If you're not too fond of skinny dipping, but still want to be included in the record books, they will allow you to take your suit off after getting into the water as long as you hold it up to prove your nakedness. I guess you could consider it a summer holiday from pants! But, please, oh, please, don't take a vacation from your sunscreen!

Here in Austin, Hippie Hollow will certainly be full of participants. And, there's even a travel agency here, Bare Necessities Tour & Travel, that books nude cruises. Who knew there was such a thing as a nude cruise?! The owner recommends you bring a towel to the naked swimming, unless you're not planning on sitting down anywhere. Can I get a collective, "Ewww...."? 

It's too late to submit official forms to register your club or group with the American Association for Nude Recreation, but you could surely find a local group to join at Saturday 3 p.m. Eastern Nudist Time. 

Secretary of the Department of Defense Against Dirt

UPDATE: A few of you asked about the Shark steam mop so I thought it best to give you a better review. It's takes no more effort or time than any other mops I've owned: Clorox mop, regular sponge mop and Swiffer spray jet. Plug it in, and it's ready in about a minute. (One tip I'd suggest is to get the mopping pad damp before using it.)  One of the best parts about it, is that the floors are dry just a few minutes after cleaning them, thanks to the hot steam. No residue or streaks are left behind. Once you're done, throw the pad in the washer and put the mop back in the closet. I see them on sale at Target every so often for about $50. There is a newer "Deluxe" model out, but I'm not sure what makes it so special that it is priced at $100. I've also heard that the Bissell Green Tea is a good steam mop. 

I've never thought of myself as a collector. Unless you count the shoeboxes of baseball cards I owned as a child, or the mounds of shoes I contributed to our marriage years ago, I've never had a formal collecting hobby. That is, until I was cleaning floors at home last night. In one night, I happened to be able to use every electronically powered floor cleaning device I own, which is 5. How can that be? How did this happen without me even realizing it?! However it happened, I'm not going to apologize for the obsession, err... I mean, collection. Each part of my floor cleaning family has a special job and I couldn't keep the house clean without it.

The Dyson Animal was the first to join our family. We were living in our first home with carpet since owning a dog (didn't have carpet in our townhome in Hawaii), and were aghast to discover just weeks after moving in that our dog's hair was embedded in the living room carpet. Although freshly vacuumed, the carpet yielded mounds of dog hair as we raked our fingers through one spot we were sitting in. We went right out to Linens 'N Things and spent way too much money on this thing, but it's so worth it. I love, love, love this vacuum. My favorite part about it is being able to clean the stairs and leave the vacuum at the bottom because the nozzle will stretch up to 20 feet!

My Roomba, or robot vacuum, was the next to join the crew. It's not the tidiest of the collection, but wonderful for a quick surface clean of a room without having to be there. 

Soon after acquiring Roomba, her sister, Scooba, came to live with us. I love, love, love Scooba because I hate, hate, hate to mop. Like Roomba, Scooba doesn't get the floors super-duper clean, but she's cheaper than a maid and just as productive.

This past Christmas, my mom gave me the Shark sweeper. It's awesome, and gets used at least once a day in the kitchen. In fact, I store it in my pantry. And, Abigail loves to vacuum with it since it's light and easy for her to handle. It cleans up carpet as well as the tile floor and keeps it's charge for a couple of weeks.

On my recent birthday, Mom brought another Shark, a steam mop, into the family. My favorite things about this new mop is that it doesn't require a specific cleaning fluid, only using water, and seems to be the most sanitary way to clean a floor since it emits so much hot steam. I feel like I'm sterilizing the floors. 

If you're still reading this, you're just as crazy as I am, and for probably the same reason. After not sweeping the kitchen floor after breakfast, lunch and dinner yesterday (because I knew I was going to do some deep cleaning later), I discovered why I love and absolutely need all the assistance available. Feast your eyes on one day of damage to my kitchen floor.

 

Need I say more?

Tuesday Treats - Tortilla Cobbler

My mom made this for our family reunion last month, and it was so tasty. The best part is that she said it's simple and quick to put together. I have yet to bake this, but I'm serving a Mexican meal next week and I'm certainly bringing it out then. I can't wait!

Ingredients

2 cups water

2 cups sugar

2 sticks butter

2 cans pie filling

Flour Tortillas (16-20)

Cinnamon/Sugar/Crushed nuts mixture

Combine water, sugar and butter in pan and stir to warm.  Fill each tortilla with about 2 tablespoons of pie filling, roll up and place in 9x13 baking dish just as you would an enchilada.   Pour warm mixture over the tortillas and set aside for two hrs at room temp.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  (You can bake it after the two-hour wait or put in refrigerator to bake the next day.)  Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon and nuts. Return to oven for 5-10 minutes.

Movie Monday - Revolutionary Road

I thought I was getting an award winning chick flick with this one. WRONG. Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio? Why would I think anything else? Titanic was probably the cheesiest award winning chick flick ever. The thought never crossed my mind that they would come back together and star as man and wife who hate each other, or love each other but just don't like each other, I still haven't figured that out. 

This movie was one of the darkest movies I've ever seen. Especially considering that the couple had two children, the misery of their homelife left me uncomfortable rather than entertained. 

The screenplay was adapted by a book published in 1961, and I think I would enjoy the book. I can take, and even enjoy, dark literature much better than on screen. It's considered one of the best English-language books since 1923, so I may be adding it to my stack of books to read. As for the movie...

I'm not sure if it's a bad movie or just not what I was looking for that night. I don't know. I just know I won't be seeing it again. Ever.

Meet & Greet

We are settling in nicely at our new church and actually starting to make some friends. At our last church, in South Carolina, when we joined a Sunday School class there were just two other couples in the class. Needless to say, it wasn't difficult to get to know them and develop good relationships with those couples. As the class grew, it was easy to get to know each couple that joined, since it was usually just one at a time that was added. 

However, our new Sunday School class is quite large. We greatly enjoy the teachers, an older couple who puts a lot of time into the studies and effort into getting to know the families. But, we shied away from the class at the beginning because we felt it was too large for us to find a place for ourselves. In visiting around, we found that there weren't any smaller options available at the church, so we forced ourselves to find a place in the original class we liked. 

We were just in time for a new social activity they began that is allowing us to get to know people. One of the ladies has organized Meet & Eat. All interested families signed up to have a meal with one other family each month. It allows us to have some individual time with another family and get to know them outside of the few minutes of chatting we get before and after class each Sunday.

May was our first month of Meet & Eat, and we were looking forward to it while dreading it at the same time. It's essentially a blind date for families. I was envisioning all these episodes of the reality dating show Blind Date we used to watch in horror. But, it was a great experience. We had a wonderful lunch with Brooke, Brandon and their two daughters after church one Sunday. The guys had fishing and fatherhood in common. And, what two moms can't find something to talk about for an hour or two?! 

We are hosting our June family next week, and I'm no longer dreading the experience. I'm looking forward to meeting the Holders and getting to know someone outside of our neighborhood. And, we're trying to find some time to get together with Brooke and Brandon again this month. Before you know it, we're going to have friends and an actual social life again! Who knew?!

A Day in the Toilet

We are foregoing our usual summer Saturday at the pool to be locked up here at the house. But, it's for a good cause -- I HOPE! I'm finally giving in to Cooper's potty desires. He's been asking to potty for months, and he's certainly old enough, but I just haven't had the time, desire or energy to deal with it. 

So, I brushed up on this book that gave us our magic day of success with Abigail.

We're stocked up on plenty of underwear adorned with cars, cowboy boots and horses.

And, both training potties are out of storage, cleaned and ready to go.

I'm so hoping that Cooper is just as successful with this as Abigail was. I'm not interested in Pull-ups or regular accidents. After I spent that long day of training with Abigail, she had just a handful of accidents. I'm praying we see the same successful results this time around!