Alphabet Meme

While visiting Suz's I read about her Alphabet Meme. I'm new to this whole Meme thing, but it looked like fun, so I decided to play along.

Here's the deal:

Leave a comment on this post and I will assign you a letter. Write about ten things you love that begin with said letter. Post the list on your blog. When people comment on your list, you assign a letter, and the game continues.

I'm not pushy, so if you leave a comment, but don't want a letter, that's okay too.

My letter was "M"

1) Money - Duh! Who doesn't love money?

2) Milk Chocolate - The really creamy kind

3) Milk & Cookies - Oreos especically, but I'm not real picky

4) Milkshakes - Chocolate of course

5) Malted Milk Balls - Anyone finding a pattern here- it's all about the food!

6) Machine Washable Stuff - I love it when I buy something that looks like it should be dry cleaned, but doesn't need to be.

7) Massages - I'm sure I will need one after my ski trip this weekend. My husband gives the best ones though!

8) Meeting new people

9) Mark Wahlberg - Well DUH!

10) Mom - I saved the best for last! She beats out all the other "M's" - even Money and Milk Chocolate!

Where or where are the Boating Gods when you need them?

AHHHHHHHHHH !!! I wonder sometimes why I have cool toys when all they do is break! Why of why can’t the Boating Gods shine upon me? I just don’t understand!

We have had our boat only 4 years- and it was BRAND new when we bought it! We live in a state in which the weather is only cooperative to boaters (unless you fish or wear wetsuits) from around May-September. I work, my husband works, my daughter works, my son does not, but whatever. That only leaves weekends- so not a lot of boating time. This summer due to various reasons, we put our boat in for the first time 2 weeks ago, and then for a second time this past weekend.

We got up early on Saturday morning- what the heck that is about I’m not sure. Whatever happened to the days of sleeping late? Loaded up the boat with wakeboards and life jackets and headed out the door.

First stop- the grocery store. Gotta eat on the water. Why is that anyway? I am always twice as hungry on the water. Probably explains why Michael Phelps eats 4000 calories for breakfast. We loaded up on chips, cookies, fruit, Uncrustables (yes, we all eat them, it saves time and they’re easy to pack) soda, water and Gatorade.

Next stop- gas. Although much better than our last trip, I still ask the question. Why does gas have to be so darn expensive?

Finally, it’s off to the river! The river is much closer than the lake, so on those days when we need to be home for other commitments, ie teenage work schedules, its better to go there. Sucks when the tide is out because it makes for a much more difficult launch, but we deal okay.

With the boat launched – at low tide- we head on down the river to check out the “wakeboard run.” It’s a safety thing for me, especially when the river is low. Although my 2 teens (and Cheerleader Girl’s boyfriend) have driven me to drink on many occasions, I don’t want to deal with an accidental drowning, or big emergency room bills. That makes for a really crappy day on the river. ;) So, now we are way down river (only about 15 minutes or so). The water looks clear, no logs or stumps sticking up, water is like glass.

First up- Bud. He struggles with his wakeboard, my-oh-my how his feet have grown. Finally gets it on, jumps in the water and off we go- DOWN RIVER. Only a few minutes later the boat bogs down. My husband cuts the engine, looks at me, then says “Wonder what that was about.” Bud is pissed because he just missed his wake to wake jump only to find he is floating further DOWN RIVER. We bring him the rope, tell him oops sorry, lets try again. This time we head UP RIVER! This means the boat is going <--- this way, and the river is going ---> this way. Well, whata ya know- the freaking boat bogs down. AGAIN! GRRRRRRR!!! Now Bud is floating AWAY from the boat ---> this way!!!! And we need to go <--- this way. Fortunately the boat starts, we pick up Bud and head back UP RIVER! Unfortunately, the freaking piece of @#$%^&* boat we have used TWO @#$%^&* times this year decides to cut off every few hundred feet! So the next hour and a half consisted of travel up river, engine dies, float down river, engine starts, travel a little up river, engine dies, float some down river, engine starts, travel a little up river, repeat, we finally make it back to the dock. Loaded the boat back on the trailer, which is a huge deal if you have to CRANK it up cuz you can’t DRIVE it up. I have to give a shout out to the nice man who helped my husband! Thank you kind stranger :)

Now- every boat owner knows that your time will come when you have a “boat failure.” Its to be expected! But Helllloooo! My husband is kind of obsessive about maintenance, so we take extremely good care of this darn thing! And we have been out on our boat TWICE this year! This should just not happen!

Whoever said “A bad day on the river is better than a good day at work” is full of @#$%^&* !! They obviously have never had their boat break down! I did feel better after many Hillbilly Surprises! Hope everyone else’s weekend was a good one!

Can you say Balance?

Happy Friday!!

So my daughter turned 16 this year and has started driving. (ahhhh that's a story for another day) My husband and I decided this would be the best time to open up her own checking account and make her keep track of her money. She's working so she is getting a regular paycheck (at least for now). She has gas, car payments, and spending money she needs to keep up with.

I took her to the bank with money from her savings account and she and I sat down, talked to the banker and set up her new account. We all decided checks- the paper kind- were not such a good idea, so she only has her "check card." She can use it for cash at the ATM or to pay for gas, or whatever else she needs. We talked about how to keep track of her transactions in her check register, including deposits. We're fortunate that she's pretty organized, so she has done a good job so far.

This is where the funny part comes in..... A couple nights ago, we sat down to balance her check book. I was showing her what she needed to do, and noticed her registered NEVER had any cents. It always balanced to $ .00. For example, an even $400.00, or $372.00. Not $400.56 or $375.23. At first I thought, okay, maybe she is rounding. Some people do that and then just fix it when they balance their checkbook. But hello... she's never balanced one- how would she even know to do that. Nope, not the case.

When we actually started checking off the transactions in her register, I noticed she would have a deposit for $125.44, description, babysitting and $125.87, description babysitting. Now I know her fee for babysitting(that's her regular "fulltime" job) is $125.00, so I asked her "What in the world are you doing? You can't just make up the cents? You have to write down ONLY what you deposited." Her response was... "Duh!" Come to find out, she was depositing her CHECK of $125 and the CHANGE to make it a whole number. So her deposit slip said checks= $125.00, cash = .44! What a novel idea!!! We laughed so hard we cried, not at her, but I would have never thought of that. After we caught our breath, she looked at me and said, "Is that wrong? Should I not do that?" I told her of course not, but it makes me realize how innocent and naive they really are, even when they want to be all grown up.

Needless to say her check register balanced and all is well in the life of teenage spending habits :)

My Historic Adventure

Isn’t it interesting how you can live in a state or city with so much history and not ever visit any of the historic monuments that surround you? I have lived in Virginia for 35 years and until last Saturday had never been to a plantation!

The Salesman, Cheerleader Girl and I (Bud was busy) set out on our Historic Adventure on Saturday afternoon to tour the plantations on the road from Richmond to Williamsburg. We actually had intentions of touring several, but because of our complete indecisiveness about how we were going to spend our day, we got kind of a late start. Although we saw the outside of many, the only one we actually saw the inside of was Shirley Plantation.

It is the oldest plantation in Virginia, built in 1613 and has been remained after 11 generations in the same family. It’s still a working plantation today. I was amazed that it managed to survive, still in tact through the Revolutionary War, the Civil War and the Great Depression and the family actually still lives there today. Something weird about having total strangers parade through the 1st floor of your house 7 days a week. I guess after that many generations, you get used to it : ).

It was amazing to me how it must have been back then. I would have been a Scarlet O’Hara of sorts because I don’t want to think of myself as anything other, at least not today ;) I can see myself riding in the most grand of carriages, in the most grand of dresses, on a cool day to enjoy tea and biscuits on the veranda overlooking the James River. (Gotta be a cool day cuz I don’t want to be sweating in my day dream). I, of course, would have been greeted by Mrs. Elizabeth Hill Carter, or which ever of the Elizabeths, or Hills, or Carters lived there at the time of my fantasy (the guide lost me after the 2nd or 3rd Elizabeth, Hill, or Carter. Did everyone name there kid after someone else in the family back then, geez, how did they ever keep up?) What a grand day it would have been…………………..

Pop- day dream over :( Back to reality!

Although I didn’t have tea and cookies on the veranda, we did manage to make it to a great restaurant in Williamsburg for dinner, Second Street Café. They have the best dang cookies in all of Virginia. Although not close to home, I will be visiting there again. Their casual atmosphere, but high class service to match the delicious food is well worth the drive.

I am not sure where my next historic adventure might take my family, but I'll be sure to share it with you.

Weekends at the Lake

It was off to the lake for us this past weekend. Believe it or not, we had not put our boat in the water all summer. That seems like such a shame. There always seems to be a valid excuse, but this past weekend, we made it a point to get in the water.

We couldn’t have picked a better weekend. The weather was beautiful and the water was warm. There was lots of this….

So Bud could do this

And cheerleader girl could do this…..

I am ready for next weekend so we can hopefully get back to this

Now if I could just get the price of gas to go down….. ugh wishful thinking :)
How was everyone else’s weekend? Let me know!