Miracle of Miracles!

Here is a game AH and I like to play.  It involves me spending hours trying to find him contemporary clothing that he might actually like (which he never does), and then I spend hours returning said clothing.  Doesn't that sound fun?  (Not!)  His closet is getting quite bare and I am getting desperate seeing him wear the same shirts over and over each week.  

Today I was near our local outlet mall and I decided to ventured into a trendy store that had a pretty good sale going on.  I found a bunch of shirts that *I* like but hemmed and hawed knowing most of them would be returned tomorrow.  When I showed AH the shirts tonight he actually liked them all.  Not a single one is going back! I can hardly believe it - I think it must be Christmas. 

The Deal

AH is a master deal finder when it comes to cars and motorcycles.  We have owned 13 cars in our 13 year marriage and each one was an incredible deal.  As an example, the first car AH bought for me after we were married was wrecked a year later (absolutely not my fault).  The insurance company paid us a few thousand more than what we ourselves paid for the vehicle just the year before. How often does that happened?  Not much, unless you're married to AH.

AH's skills extend to two wheeled vehicles as well.  I *think* we've owned 6 motorcycles but can't recall for sure because some only stayed around for a few days and I've forgotten that we even owned them in the first place.  Anywho, that brings me to AH's latest deal.  For years AH has been wanting a newer 250cc motorcycle.  He brings up this desire 4 or 5 times a year and I always give him the go ahead but he is reluctant to part with the funds... until a few weeks ago. 

One very recent Saturday morning AH saw an ad on our local Craig's List for not one, but two motorcycles; a 250cc and a 400cc.  AH is not interested in owning a 400cc but the price was just right for buying them both and the owner wanted to sell them as a pair.  This is where I should mention that AH called owner bright and early that Saturday morning. . . four times in a row because the guy didn't answer the first three times (since he was still sleeping) and so AH was the first person to see the bikes - though the guy had many calls and emails after AH scheduled the appointment.  This resulted in a 2 hour drive south (this drive was actually the hardest part for AH - he hates to drive any distance) and the purchase of two new-to-us bikes. 

Part two of this story concluded today as AH sold the 400cc bike.  When AH combines the money received at the sale today with the reward program check that we will get through our credit card company (we get reward dollars when we buy a vehicle) he will actually have made a few hundred dollars more than what we paid for both bikes originally.  This means his newer 250cc bike gained us a few extra hundred dollars when it is all said and done.   

This man is truly amazing at finding these deals!

 

 

On a side note (for our children when they are old enough to have credit cards), we use our credit card for most of our purchases and we pay it off every month and never pay the credit card company any interest for our purchases as a result.  This was a principal of money management that AH learned from his parents and grandparents.  As a result of our timely payments the money/rewards we earn from the credit card company is absolutely free. . . essentially they pay us to use their credit card.  Like many things in life if you use it properly it can bless you and if you use in irresponsibly it can cost you - the choice is yours.

Summer Evening Pastime

Summer = Termites

 

Termites = Spider Food

 

AH = Teaching Kids to Catch Termites and

Throwing Them Into Spider Webs Each Summer Evening

 

Summer + Termites + Kids Feeding Termites to Spiders = Grossed Out Mom

 

 

Our pediatrician assures me that it is essential for my childrens development that their dad teaches these kinds of thing.  Really????

Organic Beeb

There have been two incidents of Beeb making her mother beyond proud recently that must be documented.  The first happened last weekend while we were enjoying a delicious dinner at AH's brother's home.  During the meal Beeb came over to me at the adult table to quietly speak with me about her own dinner.

"Mom, I can't eat the salad." 

"Why not?" I replied thinking she was just trying to get out of eating her salad. "What's wrong with your salad?"

"The dressing on the salad tastes like CHEMICALS," she proclaimed dramatically. 

This got everyone's attention as they all stopped talking and looked at Beeb.  I barked out laughter and hugged her to me. 

"Beeb you are the best daughter ever," I said laughingly to her. 

*My children have ever only eaten organic dairy free ranch dressing so the taste of Hidden Valley Ranch is not what she was expecting.  Admittedly I hate the taste of organic dairy free ranch so I only use balsamic vinaigrette on my salads. 

The second incident happened today during church.  A speaker was describing our role in the after-life and it came across as hard work.  AH jokingly said that he had been looking forward to the next life but maybe now he'll want to wait.  Beeb, sitting next to him, quietly said, "Then you'd better stop eating Jiff."  He looked at her and asked, "What did you say?"  She looked at me and then back to him and said, "If you don't want to die soon you'd better stop eating Jiff."  I laughed again and hugged her to me.  I whispered in her ear, "Beeb I sure do love you."  Then I laughed for several minutes while AH gave me the stink-eye.

That is one cute girl and I'm super glad she's mine!

Movie Night

Tonight we had some neighbor kids over for a junk food dinner (hot dogs, tortilla chips, salsa, frozen grapes, rice krispy treats, and popcorn) and movie.  After gobbling down our food we settled into the family room with blankets, pillows, jammies and the remaining popcorn while we watched "Mirror, Mirror".  AFTER the movie is when the real adventure happened as the kids ended up in a full fledged pillow fight. 

The fighters:

Everyone survived and they even set their own rules for safe play.  What a great group of kids!