What's been stewing in the Melton Pot

It's time for a little summary of what's been going on since my last post.

1. Russel Owen Goodson- I will start with the best thing. He's my cute new nephew that was born on the 9th. Welcome to the family Rowen! (that is what I think he should go by)
2. Catan take 3- Last Friday (12th) we had our third installment of monthly Catan. Good times. One of these days I hope I win. If there are people out there that want to be included on the invite list, let me know. It's an open invite to people I know.
3. The best Twilight party ever thrown- So since I knew my house was already going to be clean because of Catan, I offered my house to my fabulous friend Amy to host her Twilight party last Saturday. To be honest, I don't really read so I was going out of my comfort zone to pick up anything with that many pages, let a lone four of those things with that many pages. I enjoyed the books (although I wouldn't consider myself a REAL fan since I mostly just read them so that I could go to the party.) I'm glad I did read them though because it was good times. Amy can host a party at my house anytime. She made my house look so classy. Actually I still have a few of the decorations left up to keep up the festive feel--or maybe because I'm lazy. I also have to give Amy and Lori a shout out for their games. AWESOME. Amy put together a game where you had to match different candy bar names up to clues from the books and Lori put together the most fabulous trivia game ever. I was truly impressed. My only contribution to the party was just a little bit of food (there were so many good things to eat they didn't really need my contributions--by the way the spread shown above was not my handy work, I'm only responsible for the sad little white tray on the bottom right of the picture). I was silly and decided to make something new for the party (I know I swore not to do that after the baby shower experiments gone stressful). The colors for the party were black, white, and red so I thought a fitting treat would be red candied apples, and dark chocolate and white chocolate dipped caramel apples. Thing was I'd never made either before. Here are somethings I learned from that experience: Foil (even sprayed with pam) does not work as a non stick surface when it comes to caramel, Braeburn apples are a perfect apple for both candied and caramel apples --sad store red delicious apples are not, getting the wax off the apples was not as easy as I thought it would be, and make sure your apples are really really really dry before dipping them. All in all it was a fun filled night

4. Visitors- About the time that our Catan night was getting started our little evacuee family showed up at our door trying to escape Ike. My friend Courtney and her kids stayed with us for a little while until Houston started to get gas, power, water, and food available. It was fun having them visit. E LOVED it. We had fun going to a baseball game, hanging out at the park, watching movies, and playing Wii fit. Thanks for coming guys. You are welcome any time (As is anyone else that wants to come).
5. Another sugar shock- I spent most of yesterday making some example cookie bouquets. Now that I've put them together and taken pictures, who wants to eat them for me?

Trying something new

I've always thought fruit bouquet were pretty cool and always wanted to make one. I finally came up with a reason to make one this weekend. Turns out they are super easy. I think it looked okay, but I know I definitely need to work on my arranging skills.

Something out of the ordinary

Friday morning E and I headed to Southlake to go to the butterfly festival. Mostly it was just a tent with flowers and butterflies flying around. On the way out of the car I told him we were going to see butterflies and she said "butterfly" clear as day. But like any word he has ever said, he said it only the once and I doubt I'll ever hear it again. Once in the tent there were little pieces of watermelon that you could get to lure a butterfly over to you so you could "hold" it. E just wanted to eat the watermelon and just picked the butterflies right up without it. The best part was when one landed on his shoulder and he kept trying to turn around to look at it which ended up in him looking like a dog chasing his tail. After E was such a good shopping buddy as I dragged him to all my favorite stores. I've been looking for most of them since I moved here and it just happened that they were all there right by the butterflies. On our way out we stopped in and shared a soup, salad, sandwich combo at cafe express. MMMMMMM.

First Days for my boys

Earlier this week was the first day of class for both of the guys in my life. Br is teaching early morning seminary this year and so his day started bright and early. In a world where I was more loving and supportive I would have gotten up and made him breakfast before he left but since I wasn't doing that when he was leaving the house hours closer to the time I actually get out of bed, the best I could do was bake a pan of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls the night before and leave them on the counter for him to eat on his way out the door.

On the same day E had his very first day of day school. Signing him up was very last minute and pretty spontaneous. I thought he'd freak out since I'd just gone and picked him up from his visit with JoJo for two weeks. It didn't even phase him though. He walked right in, found the toys and didn't even notice when I left. When I came to pick him up that afternoon he was just hanging out at the door waving and talking to everyone happy as could be. I think he figured he was finally going to be selected by his new parents. He was sitting there like the cutest puppy in the pet store window waiting to be taken home. Luckily he wasn't upset when he finally saw me.

All in the name of cheap toaster pastries

Today I took three trips to Target within an hour and a half. Why you might ask? In a quest to get 4 boxes of 12 count pop tarts for $1. The first time I pulled into the parking lot I realized that I had grabbed the wrong sheet of coupons. Problem easily solved with a relatively quick run home. It wasn't until trip 2 that I actually walked through the doors. I went straight to the pop tart section to make my selection. They were 4 for $9 and when you buy 4 of any of their selected products you get a $5 gift card. Throw in 4 $.50 off target web coupons and $1 manufacturer coupon and my net was $.25 a box. I picked up a few more things and went to checkout. Halfway through the checkout I realized I didn't have my wallet. I tried to get the guy to stop scanning but he was way too into his job. He said he'd just hold the stuff for me while I went and got my wallet. I would have been tempted to just leave the stuff there at the checkout indefinitely, but it was all bagged up in the bags I brought to the store (I'm trying to fight against the mountain of plastic sacks accumulating in my laundry room). Plus the thrill of such a good deal was pulling me back to my discounted treasures. I loaded E in, drove home and back again. E was not happy when I walked back in those big red doors again. In the end I completed my mission of obtaining near free toaster pastries, but I am left asking myself... "was it worth it?".

Just me, Br, and Fay

So for 4 years I've been saying that we never really got a honeymoon. I think Br hates it because we did sort of have one and then he's taken me on trips since but it wasn't until our trip last week that I finally feel fulfilled. E has been at JoJo's house for a week and a half now and so we decided to take a quick trip to Orlando (sorry to family in Florida that we still haven't visited... we really didn't think that we were going to make it there until our plaen took off.) Tropical storm Fay also decided to visit Florida just before we set off and liked it so much that when she got to the Atlantic ocean, she turned back around and decided to head across FL again while we were there. Fortunately she left one day before we did so we had a sunny ride to the airport.

I'm not complaining though since we've been to Orlando a couple times all at different seasons and it's poured down rain on us every time. So to me Florida=rain, not quite in harmony with their nickname of the sunshine state. Tip to anyone who plans on doing a theme park in the rain-- Ponchos while wearing shorts is the way to go. They are lighter and worked way better than the rain jackets we have previously tried. Also make sure your shoes are waterproof or just wear crocs so the water can flow back out of your shoes. And if the wind picks up while it's raining take cover. There's nothing that can help you then.

Here are my top ten favorite things about the trip:

10. Truffle cream sauce- We ate a the steak house in the Canadian pavilion at Epcot. They had the best pretzel bread sticks ever. YUMMY. My entree came with mushroom risotto with a truffle cream sauce. I forgot there was a truffle sauce on it. I watch a lot of iron chef America and I've always wondered if I would like truffles. Turns out I think I do. YUMMY YUMMY. Since this was sort of our anniversary dinner the waitress brought us a celebratory chocolate mouse. mmmmm.

9. Animal Kingdom - My two favorites at animal kingdom happen to be right next to each other-- Finding Nemo the musical and Expedition Everest. Everest is like the Matterhorn at Disneyland on steroids. You go up. You go down. You go backwards into the dark and then have no idea what you are doing only to find yourself up against a huge Yeti. I love conquering the Yeti. Nemo is a really really fun show. The only down side is that the benches that you have to sit on are SO uncomfortable. I feel silly because I cried a bit at the end when Nemo realized how much he loves his dad and then bubble fell from the ceiling. It made me miss E a lot. I know he would have LOVED the bubbles.

8. Toy story mania- This is a new ride at Hollywood studios. Most of you know how much I love Toy Story (Evident by E's first birthday party where I decorated my house like Andy's room, Wood's roundup, pizza planet, and Al's Toy barn. It's good this ride was not open before I threw the party or I think I might have killed myself trying to duplicate it. We had to wait in like for an hour and 45 minutes but luckily the line wrapped around in Andy's room. Everything was sized as if we were toys. My favorite was the Mr. Potato head there that talked to the crowd and told jokes. It was awesome. He is my favorite character and inspiration for E's party last year. Oh, and the ride itself was really fun too.

7. Our room-Br traveling all the time has finally paid back just a little. His hotel point status got us upgraded from a normal room to a huge jr. suite that overlooked Downtown Disney. We could also see Hollywood studios and Epcot. Luckily on the last night we were there it stopped raining long enough to see the fireworks from Epcot. The other awesome thing was that the closest Downtown Disney building from us was Earl of Sandwich (one of my favorite places to eat and it is making me sad that there isn't one by me anymore.) All American sandwich. MMMMMMMMM.

6. World Showcase- So every time we've been to Epcot we've sort of zoomed through the World showcase. This time we actually went into every country. Wow, it was amazing. That is one thing that I can applaud Disney on-- the details. Everything is perfect and in character.

5. The segway tour- Br has been wanting to do this but you have to be at least 16 to do it so E has limited our opportunity in the past. We went for it this time though. The normal tour consists of indoor training and then a tour through the world's showcase before it is open. Unfortunately it was raining so we didn't get to do the actual tour part. It was fun anyway.

4. Being a movie star- We got asked to play rolls in an action sequence that is part of the "backlot tour" attraction. Br wasn't too trilled but went along with it since he knew I was really really really excited about it. I played the captain and he was the deck hand that provided the comic relief. The only bummer is that we didn't get a picture of us doing the show but did get a picture on the tour train after the show.

3. Dole whip-I discovered this last trip. There is a little shack in Magic Kingdom right across from the Swiss Family tree house. It's a little pricey but oh so tasty. I get the Dole whip float which is Pineapple soft serve in pineapple juice. MMMMMMMM.

2. Rock'n roller coaster- This ride is by far my favorite of all time. It is soooo fun and I could ride it over and over and over again. I only rode it three time this trip though. It was fun because for the first time I got to ride with Br since we typically have to take turns watching E. This roller coaster launches you from 0 to 60 in 2.4 seconds then goes super fast in the dark through neon landmarks of LA. There are loops, turns, drops, corkscrews all while you are jammin to Aerosmith. I LOVE IT!

1. Spending time with Br- I love my E but it was great to spend some time away from him, away from work, in a fantasy land for a few day with the man I love. I'm so glad we decided to go!

You'll be missed LeRoi

I was saddened at the news that LeRoi (mentioned in the post about the concert) passed away due to complications related to his ATV accident at the beginning of the summer. He was a FANTASTIC musician. Truly gifted. I will missing hearing him play.

It's official I'm....

...a coupon shopper. I actually tested the waters last week after Stephanie inspired me during nursery and Lisa gave me a pep talk during play group. I didn't feel like a real coupon shopper until this week though when I've now passed the official test... I got stuff for free. Next week, if my plan goes, well, as planned, I will be the ultimate coupon shopper when I attempt, and hopefully succeed in purchasing something and actually making money on the purchase. That achievement is hanging on a shipment of pert plus (which I traditionally don't use but am willing to try for the great achievement of making two dollars on something that costs three). As my many coupon Jedi masters have taught me, their bargain padawan learner, is taking the time to match the coupons to the specials. Last week my savings averaged around 35%. This week my savings have risen to 56%. That is more than half off. Those that have ever been shopping with me knows that I'm a sucker for half off. In any event, my goal is to get to 75-80%. My coupon arsenal is pretty small right now, and I'm still having a hard time figuring out what is a good deal (I'll be honest- I've been blindly shopping for a couple years now), so I figure after i work on those two things I should definitely hit my goal.

The downside of coupon shopping... It only really works if you actually cook the food you get... Hmmmm we'll see if I can keep that up.

E and his buds

It makes me happy when E is so happy with his buddies.

I'm never going to make it as a paparazzo (Brace yourself. This one has a lot of rambling)

What is this picture of... We'll one of my most exciting moments ever. Last night Br and I went to go see the Dave Matthews Band. It was awesome. We had to exit on the opposite side of the amphitheater from where we parked. On our journey around the back of the place we walked past all of the tour buses and trucks. In a joking tone, yet very serious about it, I asked Br is he thought if we waited around long enough we would see the band walk to the buses. Br just kept walking until...we were stopped. And why were we stopped? To let some buses pull out of an enclosure. It took me a second but I realized that the person sitting in the front of the bus next to the driver was Carter Beauford the drummer. Impulsively I shrieked like a little girl "It's Carter!". The next bus had the (newish) big trumpet player. Once again, but in with an even higher pitch "Trumpet dude!" Then the pinnacle. In the third and final bus I saw Dave himself, up close and personal. I'd like to think he waved at me. By this point I was so excited I was speechless and snapped the above horrible shot above. This was my ninth time seeing Dave in my 7th location so just minutes before I was thinking that next time I go (#10) should be something special. I don't care about that anymore because there is very little that can top this.

Now for my concert report.

The band was joined by their friend Tim Reynolds who added electric guitar to the mix. That kicked the show up a notch and gave it a little harder rock edge. The play list was mostly the new songs from their last album, some classic fan favorites (most of them with a cool twist) as well as a few really fun covers.

Set list: (3 hours of playing)

Pantala Naga Pampa and Rapunzel ( Classic opening songs)

Proudest Monkey

Satellite

So D*** Lucky (Usually a mellow song but they rocked it out. Also, this is from Dave's solo album but they played it. It gives me hope that one day he'll play Br and my song ("Oh") which is from the same album)

Eh Hee (not a huge fan)

Water Into Wine (LOVED this song)

Corn Bread (Don't love)

Stolen Away On 55th & 3rd (Love)

You Might Die Trying (awesome jam session)

Burning down the house (Best ever! It was hard to say who was the lead singer on this one since Dave and trumpet dude sang the whole thing in unison with Carter singing back up. Before the concert I made a wish for the "lovely ladies" (the backup singers on their DVDs) to be there but who needs them when you have trumpet dude backing you up on this song!)

Old Dirt Hill (this one had a spin. I like it a lot)

Lover Lay Down

Money (very fun cover)

Jimi Thing (Another classic jam session song)

Everyday (Mixed with the "honey honey" song and they played the video in the background which is one of my favorite videos ever)

Anyone Seen The Bridge

Too Much Intro

Halloween (really not a fan at all but I forgive you Dave for playing it)

Ants Marching

Stay (Wasting Time)

Encore:

Sledgehammer

Two Step (the last song at the last three concerts I've been to. I thought I'd be mad but it's so good live I couldn't be.)

Finally. My props to the band.

Dave- you are amazing! Stefan - I think we have a special bond since we have a similar "non dance" dance style. Trumpet guy- Wow!

Boyd- You really know how to rock the fiddle. You inspired me to try to learn how to play my mandolin again. LeRoi --(not pictured because he was seriously hurt in June and isn't finishing the tour) I hope you get better.

Carter- You have got to have more than two hands to be able to play like that. Wow. And you smile the whole time. How do you do it? It makes me happy to watch you play.

Lastly, Tim- Thanks for adding something extra this time around!

4 years

It was the day after the opening ceremonies of the last summer Olympics that Br and I got hitched. That makes today our 4 year anniversary. Br, thanks for putting up with me this long!

The fourth year anniversary is supposed to be celebrated with chocolate, right?

E decided that he wanted to add some finishing touches before we had a chance to eat some.

Then Duchess had to leave her mark while we ran to the store.

Brushing my teeth is fun to do, fun to do, to do, to do

A long time ago when E first started getting teeth I got him a tooth brush that played music so that he'd think it was fun to brush. It worked and I got a video like this the very first time he ever tried it. Well, that was short lived and the novelty soon wore off... until tonight. The enthusiasm has be reignited!

Mr. Independent

Yes this make three posts in one day. I must be bored.

In any event E's search for new parents continues. He's tried out every friend we have here and his latest candidates were a lady at the park and one at the shoe store. He just walks up and gives this look that says "Please pick me up". I feel bad because more often than not his nose is runny or his pants are stinky.

Today I think he was testing his theory that he doesn't need parents at all. I took him to the pool and for the majority of the time he screamed if I tried to hold on to him. He just walked around the pool on his tippy toes with a huge smile on his face until he would wander where the water would go over his head. At that point he would "swim" until I lifted him up -- still with a big smile on him face. Then I would have approximately 2.5 seconds to get him back to where he could stand so he could repeat the process. By the end of the day he did snuggle in my arms on the way out. I guess his experiment has ended-- for now.

My Apologies

I have to apologize for deleting lots of comments wonderful people have left on my blog. I love when people comment so I feel a little bad deleting people's kind comments. Tonight I decided that I wanted my blog to be a little more generic so I tried to take out names and such which included some people's posts. Once again. I really am sorry. I hope you can forgive me. Please keep reading and posting.

The flood gates are opened

I think suburbia is having a weird effect on me... I have a strange compulsion to be crafting. I honestly have no idea what is wrong with me. I've even started a little slide show (over to the right) dedicated to the random flow of creative juices since I moved.

Among a few other things, Br gave me a fantastic sewing machine for my birthday. The flood gates are now open. I don't think he realized that the main thing holding me back was the fact that hand sewing takes so long. In any event in the last few days I took a stab at making some appliques to put on onsies to match the last two pairs of shoes I made.



That was followed by an attempt to learn how to embroider with a french knot. Baby steps.