Weekend

Pernell's mom is in town. We hit the beach yesterday. Our friends told us of this great beach that you can drive on, so off we went to drive on the beach! It was fun fun fun!! The girls (and me!) love playing in the water and waves. And the water was warm (for the Oregon Coast) and didn't even make our legs numb for quite some time!!

After getting all wet, we drove down to Cannon Beach and ate at Mo's. If you have not eaten at Mo's you are missing something.

It was a great day. Beautiful weather. Love the coast!!

OHMYGOSH............

If you are looking for a belated birthday.... mother's day... Anniversary... "hey it's June!" present for me, I HAVE FOUND IT!! This looks so cool! EGG GENIE


I came across the infomercial on TV, and just WANT THIS!! BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!! Not only do you get the Egg Genie, but if you order now-ish you also get the bacon wave, too!

Pernell just rolled his eyes and said use a pan, but NO WAY! Why use a pan when you can make perfectly hard boiled eggs... like THAT??? No more guessing on if the egg is fully hard boiled.. no more worrying if it is too hard boiled.

I want it. Very bad. I will have an Egg Genie. Oh yes, I will. Mark my words!

Check and Mate

When I was 12, my dad gave us a Nintendo (in 1992... a mere 7 years after it was released). Along with the NES were a plethora of games for it. One of them was Super Mario Brothers 3. From Friday night until Sunday afternoon, every other weekend my sisters and I (more specifically the two younger sisters and I) played Mario 3... non stop. The only time we stopped was if my Dad wanted to watch Football *psh*, otherwise we were GLUED. I, personally, never beat the game. I do not remember specifically if my younger sisters did. But I do remember we tried hard and persistantly to beat it, but unsuccessfully.

Three years ago on Freecycle I came across an original NES.... and the quest to beat Kupa continued.... but unsuccessfully.


When the Wii was brought into our home, that was one of the first games we downloaded. Mario Three.

I am proud to announce that after.. WAY too long, I have finally.. FINALLY ..... BEAT THE GAME!!!!!!! WOOHOOOO!!! Not only once, but TWICE!!!!


Cheap thrills, right?

We do not offend... intentionally

It has been brought to my attention that some persons reading this blog might possibly be feeling that the Tipping Etiquette post was aimed towards them personally. Rest assured it was not aimed towards ANYONE, just an awareness post.

However, I would like to point out that if you feel it was aimed towards yOu, then maybe tipping is something you need to work on? I try not to intentionally offend on this blog. (and if you have not read it yet, read it! See if it hits a hot spot for you!)

In other news:

A FOLLOW UP: if you read THIS entry, not only do you see that my sister called me a butthead (....... seriously???), you will know that I had a something of some sort cut out of my leg. A few days after that the Doctor's office called and said that the biopsy came back 'not cool', so they are cutting more out tomorrow... a bigger chunk! YES!!!!!!!! Woohooo! I love nothing more then having my leg cut up. It is going to be so awesome! Hopefully that will end the cutting for THAT spot. Good grief!

A side note, the sister that called me a butthead (.....really???), she takes great pictures! Check out her blog (Aubry Canales Photography) and look at her work! Somewhere in there are pictures of my really stinkin' cute niece and nephew! Now if ONLY she would see it fit to come visit me and take pictures of my kids!

Alright, I am off to seek my destiny.......... will I EVER beat Mario Brothers 3???


** my efforts to make this a colorful post have failed. It now just looks ca-ka-ee. Next time, prettier!

Potato / Potato

Pernell and the girls took his mom to Portland to attend Church at the Deaf Branch this morning.
Ever since, Kaylee and Sam keep talking about how cool the 'Death' Branch is.





MIL is less than amused.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood...

What is this bright ball of.... SHINNY HEAT in the sky?? Bah! It hurts my eyes.

I wait.



It does not go away.



I wait some more.


Never has it stayed THIS long.

This has the potential to change my vampire like skin to something human-ish. NOOOOO!!!!!

Bah! I love the Pacific Northwest.

Tipping Etiquette

Over the past few months I have gone out with different family and friends and have realized that not everyone knows how to tip, or more importantly, when to tip. Nothing has mortified me more then when I went out to eat with a family member, and they 1. Did not tip our server, or 2. Gave a lousy tip (but bragged about what a great tip s/he left).

So, dear blog readers, I am now educating everyone on proper tipping procedures. I would like to point out that I got all of these from tipping etiquette websites (links at the bottom). I feel that EVERYONE should have to be a server once in their life so they get it. If you have ever had to be a server, you will understand. When I was in Utah, I made $2.13/hour plus tips as a server. Tips are how I survived!!

Some of these are no brainers (resturaunts, manicure/pedicure, pizza delivery), but I had NO idea about some (tow truck drivers!).

Let us be educated together:

• Food server - 15-20%. Keep in mind that the amount you tip reflects the total price before any coupons, gift certificates, etc. Just because you get a discount, does not mean that your server did not serve up the full order.

• Takeout - If you get good service, in other words, the waiter gets and packages the food, then at your choice you can tip $1-2 or up to 10%. Nothing is really necessary.

• Barber - $2-3

• Hair Stylist or Color Specialist - 10-20%. $3-5 extra for last-minute service

• Manicure/pedicure or Facial / waxings - 15 - 20% Salon and spa tipping should generally be the same as restaurant tipping.
  

• Porter or skycap - $2 per bag or more if the bags are heavy. $2 extra for curbside check-in is optional.

• Towing service - $5 - $20 depending upon circumstances and your desperation.

• Jump start - $3 - $5

• Tire change - $4 - $5

• Locked out of car - $5 - $10

• Furniture or appliance deliveries - $5-10 per person. If the delivery is huge, then $20 per person.

• Pizza deliveries or other food deliveries - 15%, but not less than $2.

• Hotel: Bellhop: $1.00 per bag; $2.00 minimum if you have just one bag
• Concierge - $3.00 to $5.00 for dinner reservations; $20.00 for booking tours; $25.00 for tickets to sold-out show; none for directions
• Desk clerks - none
• Doorman - none; if service provided $1.00 per bag; $1.00 per person for hailing a cab
• Maid - $2.00 to $5.00 per night (leave daily as housekeepers may change)
• Pool attendant - $1.00 to $2.00 for each service
• Room service - 15 - 20 percent
• Valet - $1.00 to $2.00 each trip

My rule of thumb, when it doubt, tip! Also, when you tip, add an extra dollar to what you think is right. People who you are tipping WILL remember you, good or bad. And trust me, if you are leaving a bad or no tip, your service next time has a good chance of being really shotty.


These are awesome sites:

Tipping site 1
Tipping site 2
Tipping site 3



Thank you. This has been a message from your concerned blogger.

Things I am excited for:

• Summer Term
• Girls Camp
• Zoo trip with Kaylee this week
  
• November
• 2012
• Girls Camp
  
• Sam to stop being an artist on her walls, yes, even the ones in the closet she claims I cannot 'see'
• My sister to move back from Japan (seriously, another four years?!?!?!)
• MIL to come (Wednesday)
  
• MIL to leave
  
• Doctor's appointments over the next two weeks
  
• To win the lottery (mental note: need to play to win.. oh well!)
• Girls Camp.. did I mention that already?
• Harry Potter 6 in theaters
• Twilight (always excited for Twilight!)

A big, heartfelt "I'M SORRY"....

I apologies to my mom. Every year for Mother's Day, her Birthday and Christmas, we always asked what she wanted. Without hesitation, she would say, "A clean house". Bah! Whatever! No fun! So with out hesitation, we would also laugh and go on and buy her something we thought she REALLY wanted.

Now that I am a mom... every Mother's Day, birthday and Christmas... when my husband and kids ask what I want... without hesitation, I say, "A clean house".

Mom, I am sorry I never did that for you. I just hope that my husband and kids are reading this and know that is the ONLY thing I would like!! :-) .......... but would settle for a Black Porche Convertible

Ewww.

Yesterday I had a beauty mark turned bad cut out of my leg right by my knee. I'd post pictures, but then you would have to see my gross leg... and even grosser knee. So just imagine a little beauty mark that is no longer a perfect circle but turned into a 'splotch' as the 'BEFORE' picture. And then imagine a mess bleh with stitches as the 'AFTER' picture. It is lovely. And surprisingly, the only part of the procedure that hurt was getting the numbing junk. Now it just hurts off and on. I imagine it is because the stitches are tugged on my by knee moving. Go fig. Oh well, it is done. Now here's hoping it is nothing bad! YIPPEY!!

Wait! Let me jump back to the only part that hurt was the 'numbing junk'. My fantastic doc is awesome. However, she did not warn me she was going to numb me. Typically this wouldn't bother me, but just the night before I heard on the John Tesh show that if you count while getting pricked with a needle, it won't hurt. I wanted to try that. Maybe next time.

I know I have stuff to blog on, but I can not think of what it is. Sooo random, here we go again!

Today I received my Degree Audit from the College. If you remember about my April, it got off to a rough start, so I ended up dropping all my classes because I just did not have the confidence to be able to miss 1/4 of the term (if you need to know why, read down a few posts) and still get A's. Last term, I earned a 3.95. Don't want to ruin that! So anyway, I am turning in all the paperwork so I do not lose my financial aid, and that included meeting with an advisor and doing a Degree Audit Plan. As it turns out, I am 35 credits away from graduating with my Associates. Which also means that I should be able to start the Elementary Education program at WSU-Vancouver, by the latests, next fall. WOOHOOO!! Closer than I had thought. There is light!

Alright! Until next time! Fair thee well!

Random stuff

GOOD NEWS!! The Honey butter freezes well. Yippey! Life is good.

I am a night person. When I lay down to go to sleep, that is when my mind goes crazy. It takes a long time to fall asleep. I've remedied that now. I have taken to listening to books on CD. Currently I am listening to Harry Potter 7. It is almost 22 hours long. I usually listen to it for about 20 - 30 minutes and BAM! I am out cold! This has worked wonders!! I am going to check out the rest of the Harry Potter series on CD so I should be able to sleep well for a long, long time.

I dropped my spring classes (see Utah trip below). It has been very different because I am not nearly as busy.

It has been raining a lot. I love the rain! I love how it smells when it rains.

Kids are great.

I think I'll make Big Boy Burritos tomorrow.

That's about it.