Week 13: Kleenex, Strawberries & Opening Day!

Happy Monday, and Baseball Opening Day, everyone! We'll get to that though. This past week the cold bug hit the house hard. Somehow, my six boxes of kleenex have all been opened. The nyquil has come and gone, and the vicks vapor rub was in high demand. But, we're all on the mend now. Some coughs and sneezes are still occurring, but it's not nearly as bad as it once was. 

After Asa's birthday on Tuesday we spent the week resting up. No big projects, lots of reading, flashcards and workbooks, nothing too exciting. But, a big shout out to my little dog for being ever so loyal and staying by my side. (I think he secretly likes it when I get couch/bed bound for a few days. 

By Friday we were all feeling a little better, and it was a good thing. The Bucs were throwing a party to showcase their new uniforms. I'm not a fan of a new design (in person they grow on you, a LITTLE bit), but any excuse to go down to the stadium and mingle with the players, we're totally in. 

To make it even better it was free food and drinks, as much as you wanted all night long. The boys stuffed their bellies with all the usual football-game fair food. But instead of costing me a fortune, it was a free meal! I'll take it. 

They introduced all our new players, and a bunch of old ones. Josh McCown (our free agent quarterback pick-up) was so funny. The guys been waiting a long time for a shot at a starting quarterback job, and you could tell he wasn't familiar with all the attention. He was trying his best to keep up with fan pictures and such though. 

Even funnier, when they were bringing out some players in the new uniforms all the guys from earlier in the evening we're up on the balcony. People were throwing up shirts and hats, the guys were signing them and throwing them back down. 

And a bunch of them got out their cell phones to take pictures of the new uniforms (as if they hadn't seen them before) 

Overall, it was a fun evening. And you can't beat going out for free. 

Saturday we heard the weather was supposed to be rough, but Cort, Holly, Gwen and Garrett were at Disney for the weekend (they're on a Disney cruise the rest of the week, I'm totally jealous!) so we knew we had to make the trip out there. Asa worked Sunday so that wasn't an option, and due to construction on I-4 and a huge detour all weekend, I was hoping to wait until Monday. But, they were boarding the ship then, so Saturday it was. 

I was really hoping we could make it to the u-pick place before the rain set in, since it was on the way to Disney. They are open such a short period of time, so I knew if we didn't make it Saturday we'd have to go back out that way Sunday or today. Luckily, we made it before the rain hit. I told them to pick fast, and they sure did. 

They also ate some, well... a lot. Peyton did his annual eating of a strawberry fresh off the vine. As he says 'You can't get any fresher than that!'

About half an hour later we had lots and lots of Strawberries! 

Forty quarts to be exact! 

Unfortunately, by the time we made it to Disney, the rain had hit and the pool was closed. We were hoping to add the Bay Lake Tower pool to our list of Disney pools we swam in. No such luck on this trip. 

The kids occupied themselves with games and pushing Calib around for awhile. 

Then we have the 'Trying to get a picture of the grandkids for grandma' sequence. 

A little fuzzy, but thats me and Calib sporting our Florida Gators Gear, and Cort and Holly sporting their UD gear. Dayton was playing Florida that evening in the elite eight of the ncaa tournament. Florida advanced to the final four (I knew that would--- gooooo gators!), but Cort and Holly were pretty pleased with how far Dayton went. 

And more picking on poor Calib... 

Gwen and Hayden happily watching the rain on the balcony. 

And then we went over to the gift shops for Asa to spend his birthday money. Gwen and I tried on some princess hats. 

Peyton, meanwhile, wanted to be sorcerer Mickey. 

While we were up at the gift shop we noticed the afternoon pool party had been moved indoors, so we took advantage. 

We thought about staying longer, but we wanted to make it home in time for the game. Bay Lake Tower is pretty cool, it's proximity to the Magic Kingdom can't be beat. But, not only is it for Vacation Club Members, it's also quite pricey. I'll stick with my value resorts. 

We got home in time for a quick dinner and in time to see the Gators totally dominate the Flyers (I mean, come on, who didn't see that one coming?) And Asa enjoyed an evening coffee out of his brand new Mad Hatter Mug. He's wanted it forever. He also got an AWESOME Mickey pepper mill. He's been wanting one of those since he got into cooking. 

Sunday Asa worked while I processed Strawberries. I gave some out to our neighbors, filled the sink (like TOTALLY full) and still had a bucket. 

Luckily, when we called Justin to see if he wanted some he came over with his nifty little top picker (he so thoughtfully got me one just like it two years ago) and helped me clean all of them. It took the two of us the entire movie of Frozen (I know because that's what the boys did while we worked away). 

I started the disposal several times throughout the process, this isn't even all the tops! We did decide we probably need to start composting. 

And, I don't usually take a picture of our meals.. But this one (soup AND dessert included), came in at under $7 for all 5 of us. I try and do dinner for under $12, but this one was really exciting. We've been buying all our meat at Target, because they've been putting $1, $2, and even $3 off coupons on their meat when it's near or at it's sell by date. We just come home and freeze it. It's awesome. Those chicken sausages there, it was $1.99 for FIVE of them. You can't beat that. And to be fair, our neighbors brought us over some homemade french onion soup after we had taken them some strawberries. The bread was also one of those sell by today things, and I got it for 50 cents! 

Today after getting some things done, Asa and Calib got to taking the old couch apart. We tried to put it up for free on craigslist, and theres really no other way to dispose of it around  here than to rip it all apart. I think they had some fun destroying it. 

Meanwhile, Hayden helped me plant a few herbs that we had picked up last week and hadn't gotten around to planting. 

Then Asa and I took a trip to the store, and Maybel took less than 10 seconds to get into the bags. Silly cat. Her new favorite place to sleep is on top of the rat cage too, this cat, I tell ya. 

Anyway, Asa and I went out to pick up some pepper plants we had been talking about planting, and when we got home the boys all got to work, no questions asked. We even started without Peyton (he was in his bed reading Harry Potter where he's been most of the day ), and he was pretty upset with us. 

The last Monday in March also meant one more day of $5 PDQ meals. We went to pick it up so we could watch the Rays game while enjoying dinner. We had hoped to go to opening day. (It was even on our list of things we wanted to do as a family this year) I just had no idea how expensive opening day would be. We'll make it to a game or two this year. Maybe even a concert series, that would be fun. 

I couldn't find any cracker jacks to celebrate opening day, but we did get some crunch n munch for the event! As I finish up my blog, the Rays are about to take this: It's 9-2 at the bottom of the 8th. I think they've got this! No hitting problems today (and hopefully this year, keep your fingers crossed!) 

Up Next: Mosi Day, Bill Writing &Rain Barrel Building! 

Week 12: Happy Birthday, Asa!

Welcome to my favorite week in the Waterstraut household: tax return week! I know, I know, money can't buy happiness. But, it is super fun to replace some things in dire need of replacement. (Like my couch that had been leaking stuffing all my house for the last six months, and our TV in our bedroom that had been getting more and more blurry, to the point where it was getting hard to watch). 

Tuesday we didn't quite have the tax return (it came in Wednesday), but we knew it was on it's way. So, we headed out to start on our list. Now, we know we can't just spend the tax return all willy-nilly, so we spend weeks perfecting a list of things we HAVE to do (renewing the tags on the car, paying any bills, ect.), things we really do NEED to get (a new couch, and tv), things that will save us money in the long run (we ordered roku's for the boys rooms, and we're getting rid of almost all the DVR's in the house, cutting our cable bill by at least $50 a month, plus working on our garden), and things we'd like (a new camera, some new bedding, that sort of thing) 

The boys stayed at home to work on school work, and Asa and I went out and about. Tuesday was our Florida anniversary (we've been here 8 years, can you believe it?) , so we celebrated with lunch at a very southern place- Lee Roy Selemons. Best corn bread casserole, ever.  

We got some awesome deals at Target. Including a new TV (and bedding-- all for the price we were expecting to pay for the TV, yay for sales!), and loaded up on plants and mulch at Home Depot. We also had a whole foods coupon, so we stopped by and got some buffalo dogs (yup, buffalo), steaks, ground bison and cheese. Good thing the boys didn't come with us, there wouldn't have been any room. (But at $1 a bag, we had to load up on mulch!) 

When we got home we celebrated our Florida anniversary by completing our garden. We mulched out the whole area we cleaned a week and a half before, and put all our plants in pots. We're doing a potted garden for two reasons. 1: Soil in Florida is not great for planting. 2: We're still planning on buying a house in the next year so we want to be able to take our plants with us. A big thanks to our neighbors, who donated a fig tree and a pomegranate tree to the cause. We just woke up one morning, and they were added to the garden. 

We were a couple of bricks short on the end there, I keep meaning to get back to home depot, but I haven't made it yet. 

That night was a not-to-be missed Family Night Out at the Library. It was superhero night! We listened to the story, played a matching game with a superhero and the villain, and then crafted all kinds of fun things. Hayden made a Captain America Shield. 

He also colored a super hero mask, made a Flash cape, and some superhero cuffs. 

He called himself Flaptain America (because he was a Flash/Captain America hybrid) 

When we got home, we all celebrated our Florida Anniversary. Asa and I opened our bottle of champagne from Tennessee, and the boys had some sparkling cider (though they seemed more into the strawberry quick). 

We had a cookout (with Buffalo Dogs!) for dinner, and instead of listing our favorite parts of the day, we listed our favorite things about living in Florida. 

And we finished up with some smores! 

Tuesday was couch hunting day. I had my eye on an Ikea couch, but I wanted to go to stores to shop around. After a disappointing morning, we stopped at PDQ for some lunch. 

When we got to Ikea, we headed over to the as-is section, and lo-and-behold, the couch I had my eye on was there-- at 49% off! (And it was only as-is because it was a floor model!) So, we went upstairs and ordered the chaise to add to it (it's modular, so you can add pieces as you see fit-- kind of awesome), and discovered when you pay for delivery, they'll deliver any number of items for the one flat fee. So the couch, the chaise, and the headboard we'd been eyeing (since we got our new mattress we've been headboard-less), and a coffee table we picked out (for $29! a total steal!) could all be delivered together. And because we got the couch 49 percent off, the total cost of our whole order was less than we expected to pay for just the couch! I love a good deal. 

We stopped at Costco, to load up on food and pillows (they have awesome pillows, at awesome prices!) 

And when we got home, I discovered our tickets for Calib and  mom day for the Florida Gators March Madness games had arrived! 

I now have 12 pillows on my bed, by the way. I may have gone a little overboard. 

Thursday, Calib and I got up and went out to Orlando. The Amway Center (where the Orlando Magic play), was hosting rounds 2 and 3 of March Madness, and the Gators so happened to be playing. Now, this is where my camera totally died. It's been taped together, and on its last legs. But, I did manage to get a few pictures before it totally crapped out on me. 

Way to go Dayton, by the way! They are the Cinderella team this year. Applause erupted in the stadium when this appeared. I'll root for them unless/until they play the Gators. Which could happen Saturday, if they both win Thursday. 

Anyway, Calib and I had a great time. We got to see Pitt beat Colorado, and then we stayed around while the great danes of Albany were beat by the Florida Gators. Being so close to Gainsville, the arena was FILLED with blue and orange. It was awesome. 

Saturday Asa had to work. I took the boys to a friend's birthday party. It was at a pizza place, with games included. The boys had a good time, but I don't have any pictures of it-- because my camera had died. 

I had seen a couple of cameras on clearance at Target, so when Asa got out of work on Saturday, we went over to check them out. I ended up saving a ton of money on an awesome new camera. It's better than I've ever had before. I was pretty excited about it. (I still am, for the record, it's awesome). 

Saturday our furniture was delivered, so Asa put it all together. We're loving the new couch and coffee table. 

But, I also LOVE our new headboard. It even has nice little shelves in it for the unsightly bedside necessities. It keeps them all hidden away. 

Monday our Magic Bands finally arrived! 

And Peyton and Maybel enjoyed playing in all the empty boxes from Ikea and Amazon. 

We're so excited about using our new magic bands though! As soon as Disney calms down from all the Spring Breakers, we're so totally there. 

Monday Asa took a class, and passed of course. Instead of celebrating with rootbeer floats (which we have slated for later), he picked up PDQ on the way home. We noticed when we were there the previous week that on Mondays during March they have $5 tender meals (drinks and fries included), so we had to take advantage. 

Tuesday was of course, Asa's birthday! We had plans to go to Airheads (the trampoline gym), the Ropes Course and out to lunch. But, the boys had come down with some colds Sunday, and I had finally caught it. I felt terrible, and Asa's toe was still causing him issues (I MAY have dropped part of the chaise on his foot in attempt to help him put together the new couch). So he decided what he'd really like for his birthday was a low-key day at home. 

He slept till noon, we had subs for lunch, and then we played lots and LOTS of Lego Harry Potter. Then I managed to make an epic low country boil (complete with fingerling potatoes and crab legs). 

We had cheesecake instead of your traditional birthday cake. 

And then we all watched the first Harry Potter movie. (Peyton finished the first book last week) We also had a skype call with all the Sattlers, as my mom is watching Gwen and Garrett this week for their Spring Break. 

Asa says it was a great birthday, even though we never left the house. Today, I'm still not feeling all that well. I'm hoping that changes by the weekend, because we have plans to go to a Buccaneer Season Ticket Holder event on Friday, meet up with Cort, Holly, Gwen and Garrett Saturday, and we're planning to go out for Asa's birthday celebration Monday. Plus any minute now, you-pick Strawberries will be open for the season. 

Next Up: Another Busy week, hopefully we all get to feeling better ASAP.