January Odds & Ends

I realize I haven't caught you up on Waterstraut happenings for three weeks. It's just there hasn't been all that much to report. I spent most of the last two weeks putting together a book of everything presidents. I ordered it on Shutterfly last night, and I'm so excited to get it, but it's been kind of a time suck. And with the president's project done, I'm kind of in this weird burnt out stage of I'm not sure what to do next, so home school has been lax beyond reading and math and some random events Asa and I threw in here and there. 

Like State of the Union Bingo.... (there's something kind of awesome about hearing your kids say "did he talk about energy independence yet? Because if he did, I've got bingo!".) 

Asa has taken on a couple of birthdays like Joan of Arc and Edgar Allan Poe. Just a quick, hey this is who this person is, and an activity (something easy like Snake Oil or the Bean Game) to drive some points home, and a quick info sheet on the birthday board. 

Hayden, meanwhile, has been keeping himself busy with a variety of Hayden crafts. 

Peyton and I went out with some friends of our neighbrs, but I didn't take any pictures. We also had a documentary movie night (which we're hoping to make a weekly event), and I whiffed on pictures then too. I think my 'January 2016' photo folder is more empty than any picture folder in at least the last year and a half. To give you even more perspective, I left my camera battery charger in Ohio at Christmas, and it hasn't been an issue yet.  I think I just needed some time to regroup. With my book done, I think we'll be moving on to some projects soon. 

I was also gone for a long weekend. My mom had a business trip, so someone needed to hang out with my grandma in Toledo (Ohio) and help her get her breathign treatments and such, so i offered to go. Really, it was lots of fun. We watched old home movies, she told me the best stories. (I've always known my grandma was cool, but she used to rent airplanes to fly around with friends, throw block parties, and buy canned hams to feed everyone --to help soak up the alcohol-- from late night piano parties!) I also got to hear lots about my grandpa (they met roller skating!), and fun stories about my aunts when they were younger. (Apparently, Aunt Pattie has always been the organized one!) 

Anyway, everyone thought I was doing such a great thing, but my grandma is 94, and I know I won't have her forever, and it was pretty fun for me just to spend a weekend with her. I hear I am headed back in a few months. So that will be fun! I didn't take my camera with me- and my mom never took a picture of us, so I'll just have to file the weekend away in my memories. Sometimes it's better that way anyway. 

In the meantime, Asa held down the fort here. In an interesting twist of fate the Steelers (Calib's team) were playing the Broncos (Peyton's team) in the playoffs, and I was not sorry I missed it. 

I did make a trip out to Costco while I was in Toledo, and on an endcap were these really soft blankets for $8. I picked up one, and when I brought it back to grandmas I asked if she would like one. She sent me back to get one for everyone. They've been very popular at my house. 

When I got back Asa was in need of a day out, so we went on a date day to Disney. We finally had Boma for breakfast and it totally lived up to the hype. Best Disney breakfast in my opinion, and you know how I feel about breakfast at Disney. 

Plus, it's at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, so we got to check out the animals. 

Then we headed over to Epcot where we walked the world and shopped in the World Showcase. And I took all of two pictures. I told you, still on the same batteries from Christmas! 

We've had a cold snap, so it's been no big deal to sit on the couch, work on my book, use my comfy blanket, drink my coffee and hang out with my puppy. (I told you I needed to regroup- 2015 was Oh SO much fun, but it did take a lot out of me!) 

Plus, my puppies sure like being tucked in with me. 

We've had Ellie over a month now, and she is just the best.  I'm just so grateful we've ended up with Ellie. She is so well behaved, and so good with the boys and all the other pets. I really feel awful I was so concerned about getting a big dog from the shelter- I just replayed all the things in my head that could go wrong, and as it turns out they were all totally unfounded. Plus, I can't tell you the wonder's Ellie has worked for Calib- losing Sophie and Gracie was hardest on him, and I know Ellie has really helped. Although, he could stop feeding her people food any day now. She gained nearly 2 pounds between her vet visits already. She's up to 65 pounds! 

Sunday was Championship Sunday to determine who plays in the Super Bowl. A couple of years ago, we decided to use the NFL inspired pizza recipes on the Boboli website to make a pizza for each of the four remaining teams, and a tradition was born. 

In the NFC this year we had the Carolina Shrimp Bites vs. the Arizona Fiesta Pizza. 

I thought the Carolina one was better, because it was so unique, but the boys all liked the fiesta pizza more.

In the AFC we had the New England Clam Bake Pizza vs. The Denver Flank Steak Pizza. 

We've had both of these before, Peyton occasionally asks for the Denver one just because he likes it so much. The New England pizza is a different story. The first year I made it, I did it according to the recipe exactly, and nobody liked it much. The next year I substituted crab for clam. It was better, but not great. This year, I took out the clam and instead thickened up some clam chowder (I took some help from Publix on this one- they make some great clam chowder!) and used that as the base. It was REALLY good. Third times a charm, I guess. 

Then we sat down to watch the game. (Complete with his signed Peyton Manning jersey! Remember that day? It was pretty amazing.) 

The game was slightly nerve wracking. 

But we will be seeing the Bronocs play the Panthers in Super Bowl 50. 

The other news of the week is that our Super Target is closing. I'm totally bummed about this (I shouldn't complain too much- there's one 6.4 miles away instead of 1.2), but I really like how close mine is, and the employees. Asa and I were in there tonight, and three different employees told us their schedule on Saturday (the last day it's open), and made us promise to come in. Another one took a picture with me. 

But, my gosh- the sales! A lot of things will transfer to a new store. But something new has been marked down nearly every day. There was the day the alcohol all went 50% off, and when candy went on sale it was all at least 50% off- we stocked up for Easter, and some home school incentives/projects. 

The day produce was marked way down, which nobody was more excited about than Deleno. We got greens for less than $1, oranges for 20 cents, grapes for 75 cents a pound, onions for 29 cents a pound, and garlic for basically free. 

We were going every day, and then sharing the new markdowns. One day bagged beans and lentils were 40 cents, and the day yogurt was 29 cents. Then there was all the cheese marked down to half off...., and then there was the great frozen food sale of 2016. Everything was at least half off. I don't know how many bags of the steamfresh bags of veggies I got- but they were down to 40 cents. We filled two carts, and both of our freezers went from empty to a work of tetris art. Calib was really excited about the Anytizers for $3 a bag. Plus on top of that, they've still been taking coupons, making a lot of things free or nearly free.  There's still some various frozen stuff that keeps getting marked down further and further, so whenever we go, we get more- and the freezers have all stayed really full. 

Today we went and got Coffee half off at the Starbucks, and Eisenstein bagels for a quarter. Fresh bakery bread was marked way down too. Then, we noticed everything with a clearance sticker was an EXTRA 70% off.  We got bottles of drink mixes for $1, Asa got a swimsuit for $4, and I got the boys some hoodies for $5, I got slippers for $1.78 and pajama pants for $4. We also got another bar stool for $20. It was sort of nuts. I should have taken pictures of it all, but I didn't. 

That's it from here. I should have more to report soon, hopefully February has some more exciting events, and constitues more than two blogs. 

Next Up:Our first "Florida Weekend" of the year. 

Happy 2016!

Happy New Year, blog readers! It's my first post of the new year, and while I don't have much to report, I figured we're already a week in to 2016,  and I should at least post something. Last year I posted 123 blogs, a feat I'm not likely to match. (I mean 43 of those are presidents!) 

When I last left you, I told you all about our big President's New Years Eve blow out. We spent our doing doing all things presidents, and we did all stay up to midnight. But, as you can see, nobody was all that interested in the ball dropping. I take the "just another day" approach to a new year, and so does Asa- and it's kind of rubbed off on everyone, I think. 

But, we did have some fake Wine in a nod to Chester Arthur, and Asa had some drinks left from True American, 

So, we celebrated that way. 

Then we went outside to check out some fireworks, and ended up playing basketball with the neighbors at midnight. 

So here we are in a new year. I did get to put up our new 2016 calendar I designed which was fun. 

And Asa has been a cooking machine- using his new cookbooks at ever meal. I LOVED the tater tot poutine. 

And we had our usual new years day cookout. 

The last Bucs game of the season was an away game (which they lost miserably to Carolina), but that meant we could have one last taco bar! The Bucs ended up firing their head coach, Lovie Smith, last night. And while that sucks, because he's a good guy and great for the community, I can totally see it. As a season ticket holder, I'd sure like to see more than 3 wins at home in two years. 

In other news, it FINALLY got cold around here. I could have gone for a cool down around 75- 80 degrees (I was just over the 90 degree high humidity days), but instead we've been in the 50's and 60's. But at least now we have an excuse to wear some hoodies ad bundle up a little. 

Ellie hates being cold, so when I saw the doggie Christmas sweaters were marked down to 75% off, I decided to give one a go to see if she liked it. She is a fan. 

And she looks adorable in it! 

We are still a bit Ellie obsessed over here. She is just the sweetest dog. I know it can take up to a couple months to see a rescue dog's true personality, but Ellie is just awesome. She's playful, but she listens, and she's a snuggler. She communicates really well for a dog, but her barking is almost non existent. She's found her favorite place on the couch- and we had to get her steps for Calib's bed since it was a little too difficult for her to get up them. 

She also refuses to believe she's a big dog, she crawls under the covers with me at night just like Porkchop, and tries to sit on your lap like Phenom. 

We kept saying she was 48 pounds, but she had her first appointment with our vet this week, and she weighs in at 63 pounds. They think 48 must have been her intake weight at the shelter (which is much too thin for her!) They also told us she definitely had puppies, and wasn't treated well. They confirmed she's probably about three and a half, and our Els-a-Bells was super well behaved even during her checkup. 

Oh, and they theorized she was a Boxer and an Australian Shepherd/Cattle Dog. (They were so sure they said she might just be a 50/50 combo.) And now I can't unsee it. That seems pretty spot on to me. 

We did take her out to Petco as a reward for being good at the vets, and the dog trainer there was pretty impressed with her. Ellie, meanwhile, was pretty impressed with the parakeets. Things are going a little better with the other dogs too. Everyone's been playing together and hanging out, and Phenom and Porkchop aren't being quite so mean to her anymore, so that's good. 

We've also had a return of Fancy Nooms, when Phenom got a hair cut. 

And Asa said Porkchop has been less annoying lately- and with Ellie in Calib's room, Porkchop is back in our room at night, which I love. (But Asa does not). 

I don't really have much else to report. We've been pretty low key over the last week, kind of by design. It was so crazy the last couple months, I really just needed a breather and some relaxation. Plus, with Ellie still adjusting to life here we haven't wanted to leave her. Hayden, Calib, and Asa went out again to see Star Wars with Justin, but other than that we've pretty much been home. 

With the president's project over, people have been asking me what's next. I have been working on some things. We can finally get back to some more theme weeks, so we'll have those upcoming. Plus, it's an election year, so we'll be seeing the return of the Candy Bar Election. The more people in that project, the better. This year we're going to do it as a more long term project with primaries and everything. Calib and Peyton need to have a good understanding of the process, because fun fact: this is the last time we'll elect a president where they can't vote. 

2016 also marks a decade since we moved to Florida, which is so hard for me to believe. Hayden being ten in a few weeks seems right on track, but for some reason it doesn't feel like I've lived here this long. Anyway, in an effort to celebrate, we're going to spend one "weekend" a month exploring our state. I've compiled a list of 102 things to do- from visiting the Keys, to free things to do right here in Tampa. We'll see how many we get accomplished by the end of the year, but I am really excited about it. 

We also have a Leap Day this year, and in addition to our Leap Day time capsule, we're keeping our figures crossed for another 24 hour Disney Day. 

And this year we will find a way to celebrate the Summer Olympics like we did two years ago for the Winter Olympics. 

We also are at least acknowledging some birthdays this year. We have a birthday board for some famous people's birthdays in our current month. Asa's taking on some and planning a few activities here and there. So not only will be seeing the return of some presidents (nothing too in depth), but we'll be getting some new guys in there too. 

 Today is Millard Fillmore's birthday and we watched the president in 60 seconds and had a pop quiz. Maybe now and again we'll have a dinner or something for some of our favorites. 

Other than that, I've just been doing some packing away of Christmas stuff, and some cleaning and organizing. Home school central got a makeover. And I put all my president's file folders on the top front and center. 

Asa is in the office this week on a brand spanking new schedule. It will be weird not have him here in the evenings, but we just couldn't pass up the shift differential. 

That's it from here. 

Up Next: Asa's in the office this week, and next week I'm headed back to Ohio for a quick trip. I'll see you when I see you!