Kat the Acrobat’s Neighborhood

Sophie and I got a girl's day out today. Victoria had a slumber party and Josiah went to Six Flags with his bestest friend in the whole wide world.

I had to track down a movie theatre in the area that was still playing the American Girl Doll movie. Seems it got bumped from a bunch of theatres because of The Dark Knight. I had been promising her all week we would go. Most of the showings were too early. I finally found one in Annapolis that was showing at 4:10pm.

I got everyone else to where they were going and we headed out. I was super excited because there is an Amish market AND a Whole Foods in the same shopping center. I needed more truffles (Yes, I finished off the box I bought Monday night, but in my defense I shared with the kids, my mom, my sister in law, and broke them out on TV Thursday.) and wanted to grab some creme fraiche since no local store sells it.

The movie was good, but a bit of a tear jerker. Not once, not twice, but like 5 times at least. The Great Depression was definitely depressing. The cool thing was almost every group that came in consisted of a mom, some kids, and a great grandma (at least, I'm assuming it was a great grandma, they all looked like my Mom-Mom). There was even an elderly couple by themselves. I couldn't help but think that my Mom-Mom would've enjoyed it, considering she lived through the Great Depression herself.

After the movie we hit up Whole Foods. I bought my truffles and creme fraiche. I also picked up some cute grocery bags that were made from recycled plastic bottles. I love me some reusable bags. I hate plastic grocery bags with a vengence. They always seem to multiply and it's gotten to the point that I feel horribly guilty throwing them away knowing they are just going to sit in a landfill somewhere. The hardest thing is making sure I remember to take my bags into the grocery store when I shop.

On the way home, Sophie was dropping hints about going to dinner at Sakura, a Japanese hibachi restaurant. I was trying to steer her toward a local Korean restaurant, even reminding her that Jon and Kate Plus 8 just made Korean food. She could have some just like they made. She wasn't buying it though.

Steve got home shortly after us, and was like, let's go to Sakura, without Soph ever saying a word. Needless to say, she was thrilled. She was also thrilled to find she is too old for the kid's menu, so she got an adult portion. Nothing like a good dinner and enough leftovers for lunch the next day. Knowing Sophie, she may just break it out for breakfast.  

So, anyway, I'm rambling. Soph's in bed, so Steve and I are going to curl up and watch a movie.

really..well, half a day off. When was the last time that happened? I would have blogged about it and I don't remember blogging about anything like that so it's been at least over a year and a half. I've had alone time but not time I've taken for myself. I usually use that time to catch up on stuff that needs to be done around here..not today though, I got the opportunity and jumped on it faster than a greased pig being pursued by a pervert farmer.

Like I said earlier today, DeWitte's radiator hose broke at work so he had to fix it after. Nathan wanted to help so DeWitte kept him at the office for the afternoon so that they could do it together after work..he's such a good Dad.

The first thing I did was come home, grab my 20% off coupon for Bed Bath and Beyond and shaved my legs. After the bleeding stopped, I went off and got a pedicure. It's been a while. The place I used to go to isn't even owned by the same people anymore. There was a sign by the cash register that said "Please sing-ins" but I didn't see anybody singing anywhere, ins or outs.

After that it was off to BB&B. I got a new mandolin. Not the kind with the strings, I can't play one of those but the slicer kind which I do ok with. I haven't sliced a finger off yet, anyway. My old one had gotten really dull. After that I went to Target but as I was walking over, I noticed that everybody around me was on the phone. I called DeWitte to see how he was doing with Nathan so that I wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb. I got a new bra and new underpants. DeWitte asked if they matched, I told him only if them both being comfortable counts.

After that it was off to the fancy grocery store. So fancy I don't usually feel like I belong but I did just have a pedicure and I had new underpants, even if I wasn't wearing them just then. The people there are so fancy you hear words like "commodities" and "brokers" dropped so often you trip over them. You also hear them talk about the nerve of the proletarian's like me invading their incredibly high quality produce department. It's a place so fancy, you can accidentally buy baby leeks instead of green onions and the 16 year old cashier knows the difference. I didn't even know the difference. That's ok, though, the baby leeks went into the dill and baby potato salad even if they did cost $2.99 instead of the 79 cent green onions. I should look at my receipts more often.

By contrast, my grocery store, which I had to stop at because I forgot to buy dill and you can't make dill and baby potato salad with baby leeks without dill, I followed a guy with a sleeveless camofloge shirt around because he was going at a snails pace. A place so un-posh, I didn't feel weird paying for my $20 plus order all in one dollar bills because I was trying to get rid of them. I had so many in my purse, I was starting to feel like a stripper.

I need to do this more often. Maybe I'll have a look at DeWitte's alternator belt.

I got a small mention in the mainstream press. Yee-hah! Quite small, but I'll take it.
It's an article about art on Post-it notes in the Seattle PI online.
They found me through this post on C-Monster, one of my favourite art blogs. If you wanna know what's going down in the art world, add C-Monster to your RSS pronto.

If you are in the Victoria area tonight, be sure to make it to the opening of Abracadabra, an art show and book launch. It features over 30 artists (including me), mostly from the area. The full colour book is really well put together, and centers around the theme of magic and metaphysics.

Show info:
Opening Friday July 18 - 7pm (with music by Dubtet)
Open for viewing July 19-21 10am - 6pm
Closing Monday July 21 - 7pm (featuring a magic show by the Great Giffoni & musical guests)

Admission Opening & Closing Nights: $7/ $20 with book
Daily Viewing Free Admission

Where: The Sunset Room, 1810 Store St. (behind Value Village)

Get the full details here.

Abracadabra_cover

Crazy, geeky cool!

How do you travel to and from work - personal vehicle, bus, subway/train, pedal power? What does it cost you per week in gas or fares?
Submitted by Jan.

I use my car.  I pay between $35-$40 a week for gas.

So I made another call to Jardine today to ask about the crib status.  It's still not showing up in the system.  The rep told me that it could still be in the mail or it's still being processed.  I understand cause really there are tons of people that are submitting theirs.  He did tell me though that if it's still not in their computer by next Wednesday, they have a process of still giving the vouchers to those people whose stuff got lost in the mail cause it happens and they'll issue us a voucher.  *whew*  That's all I wanted to hear cause  really I can't submit another support slat or bolts.  We only had 1 crib.

Speaking of cribs, the new one came in already and we were supposed to pick it up at BRU yesterday but we had no way of getting it home.  We don't have a truck and we were about to rent one from Lowe's or Home Depot but none of their rental trucks were available.  Hopefully the hubby can get it today when he gets off work.  We're pretty much staying home this weekend to work on some stuff at the house and rearrange furniture.  We're putting the crib back in the other room.

I think everybody knows the rules..if you don't, just ask..

1. What was I doing 10 years ago

10 years ago I was desperately trying to get pregnant and working on this house. I'm still working on this house but my uterus is useless and I wish it would go away.

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list

Well...DeWitte's radiator hose came off when he pulled in the parking lot at work this morning so he's got to stay after and fix it. Nathan and I took him some tools and play clothes at lunch and Nathan said he was disappointed he couldn't help. DeWitte, being the awesome father he is, offered to let Nathan stay at work with him the rest of the afternoon so that he could help him fix the truck later. So, that leaves me the afternoon to myself, so my to-do list has changed dramatically...

1. Clean living room Get a pedicure.

2. Clean kitchen Shop for a new bra.

3. Vacuum downstairs Take my 20% off Bed Bath and Beyond coupon and see what kind of goodies I can find.

4. Yard work Hit the fancy grocery store for heirloom tomatoes and whatever else strikes my fancy.

5. Cook Dinner Cook killer dinner from ingredients found at fancy grocery store.

It's amazing how things can change in just a moment.

3. Snacks I enjoy

Cheddar chipotle cheese sticks, radishes, celery, fresh salsa..yet I'm still fat. Go figure.

4. Things I would do if I was a billionare

Buy all the houses on this side of the street and knock em' down. Hire a garden designer to come help me create one kick butt yard. Hire someone else to cut the grass (I'd do the flower and vegetable beds myself..I really enjoy that.) and someone to clean the house. Add a sunroom. Move the laundry room and water heater upstairs. Hire someone to finish the downstairs bathroom. Buy a new couch. Yeah..sorry, I don't dream that big.

Oh..and not put more than 100 thousand dollars in any one account. I have no problem learning from others mistakes.

5. Places I've lived

Salt Lake City, Utah..but only till I was 3 or 4.
Maple Heights, Oh
Bedford, Oh
Northfield, Oh
Streetsboro, Oh
Norfolk, Va
Chesapeake, Va

6. Jobs I've had

Lets see...

Cleaned houses
Babysitter
Ice cream/pizza shop
Grocery store cashier
Telemarketer
Doughnut shop
Gas station
Convient Store
Burger King
Factory worker
Dry Cleaner

and a couple more I'm sure I'm forgetting..all before I was 23. Either I had a strong work ethic or I couldn't hold a job. I'm not sure which (I was never fired though!)

Phone survey person
Nanny
Photographer (still make money from that)
And current position..Mom.

7 Bloggers I'm tagging.

I tag anybody that hasn't done this yet..it's a fun one. (Yep..taking the easy way out.)

Ok..better get working on that to-do list. I'll start by shaving my legs. I'm sure the pedicure lady will appreciate it.

Edit...or I will get on it after I stop the bleeding. Sheesh..I've been shaving my legs for over 25 years, you'd think I'd have this down pat by now.

SRAM

Intel is founded on July 18, 1968 by former Fairchild Semiconductor Company engineers Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore. The name Intel is a shortened version of "Integrated Electronics." The company's first money making product is the 3101 Schottky bipolar 64-bit static random access memory (SRAM) chip.