Don't Forget to Vote!

I've never voted before, so I feel strange reminding others to vote. But I think this is an important election. If you can vote, you should. Regardless of who you vote for, get out there and exercise your right as an American!

OK, I'm off my soap box now...

Surprise!

I can't believe it.

My husband planned a surprise 30th birthday party for me. This is a huge deal for my husband. Not that I don't think he can do things like this, but we generally don't do things like this. (For instance, I received 2 birthday cards from him. One was all lovey dovey and the other one had 2 pigs sleeping in bed, under which he wrote, "Here's to the most boring couple in the world". LOL. ) Also, because he is horrible at keeping secrets. He just can't wait to tell people (i.e. me) things. Every Christmas, I know what I'm getting weeks before Christmas actually arrives. He just gets so excited when he knows he's done good.

This was also an unbelievable feat because both of the kid have known for weeks. A 5-year-old and a 2-year-old kept a secret for 3 weeks. It's totally possible that they slipped and said something that, to a normal person, would be a clue. However, my brain fuzziness prevents me from picking up on things like that right away.

I've never had a surprise party before. And I've always secretly wanted one. I think it's because I've never really been surprised by anything before. My life revolves around planning things, so it's normally really difficult to get one by me. But this was amazing! He had someone to get me out of the house all morning and there were actually people there. This surprises me because I don't have any real girlfriends, I have a very small family and they live pretty far from us, and while Doug's family is bigger and all live only about 30 minutes away, they act as though we live on another planet and it's so hard for them to "make it up". But there they all were! It was mostly Doug's family and friends, who I've come to be friends with as well. And my dad and brothers made it, which was really nice too. And the kids were occupied because there were other kids there, which was great!

I did, unknowingly, throw him a curve ball a couple weeks ago. Apparently he'd had this party planned for quite some time, but it was supposed to start at 4pm. So when I called him a few weeks ago to tell him not to make any plans on Nov. 1, he must have panicked. Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwod from "Who's Line Is It Anyway" were going to be in town but only for that one night. I bought him tickets as an early birthday gift for him. The show was to start at 8pm, so he had to call everyone and change the time! So we both planned surprises for each other on the same day. Too funny!

Then, after the show, we met up with our friends for drinks. We got home late and then were invited to our neighbor's house, who had a party as well. So we got to know our neighbors a bit and finally made it in around 2am (the kids were staying at grandma & grandpa's overnight). We had to get up sort of early because we had to go to the grocery store, pick up the kids, and take them to a birthday party. Holy cow...we did more this weekend than we've done in our entire 7 years of marriage! We were totally exhausted by last night, but were glad we did everything.

I guess it's back to our old, boring life again. I am hoping all the fun we had this weekend will remind us to get out and do more things.

What fun things did you do this weekend?

Random Acts of Kindness

While we were in Disney this month, someone bestowed upon us a Random Act of Kindness. We were in Animal Kingdom and sitting on a bench trying to figure out what to do next. It was a pretty secluded bench in the games area of Dinoland. A young couple walked over to us and handed Charlie a small stuffed dinosaur. They had won it at one of the games and must have felt that Charlie would be much more happy with it than they would. Well, I believe they were right. That dinosaur is almost his favorite stuffed animal. The whole rest of the week we were there, that dinosaur had to be with him at all times. Even still, the dinosaur shows up everywhere he is around the house. And don't even think about losing it at bed time!

I'll bet that couple has long forgotten this act of kindness, but my 5-year-old has not. Neither have I. My thoughts constantly revert back to that day, and I'm glad they do, because that is when I decide I must bestow a Random Act of Kindness myself. Some recent RAOKs I have done include leaving coupons on store shelves, sending coupons to random people, and opening a door for a woman with a walker while I was passing by. I know there are others, but these stand out in my mind.

What Random Acts of Kindness have you done lately?

Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers

I picked up the Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers on a whim (combining a coupon with a sale, of course) and paid $1. I normally don't buy frozen foods, but I figured it would be good to try and review. Thank goodness I did not pay full price (but, then again, I don't pay full price for ANYTHING anymore LOL)! I'm a little disappointed that I paid anything for it at all, really.

I had the Grilled Basil Chicken flavor. As I was looking at the directions, my first thought was, "this looks complicated". The 'Heat' instructions were simple enough, just put it in the microwave for 5 minutes. That I can handle. But then there were separate 'Serve' instructions. You have to take the "basket" of noodles, chicken, and veggies out and dump the contents into the bowl of sauce, then stir it around. While executing the dump, I dropped part of the basket's contents onto the table. Had I been at home, I would have scooped it up and put it back in. Since I was at work, I passed on that. So I lost some right from the get go.

So I sit down to eat it, thinking how yummy it was going to be because it smelled heavenly. But when I took my first bite, there was almost no flavor at all! I thought, "OK, it was just the first bite, maybe I need to stir it some more or something. Give it a chance." Nope. By the time I was halfway done with it, I still had tasted no yumminess whatsoever. I could only down half of it before I threw it in the garbage. Very disappointing!

Bottom line: While the concept of a quick, healthy, steamed lunch is a great one, I tend to lean towards those that will offer some taste as well. They could have saved themselves some money by omitting the sauce altogether and it wouldn't have changed the taste at all. Try Stouffer's macaroni and cheese (in the red box). Not nearly as healthy, but a much higher yum factor!

More Giveaways!!

Over at Frugal Finds From Your Frugal Friends, they are giving away a $5 Old Navy gift card. Also, score at $10 Barnes & Noble gift card. Wisconsin Mommy is giving away a $25 BP gift card. Who couldn't use free gas??

Enter more giveaways at Bloggy Giveaways.

Good Luck!