What a Life!

Thursday is my usual errand day as well as when I fill gas in the car. When I leave for town I always check gas prices in Waverly and then I drive by the cheapest station in Lincoln, which happens to be on the north side of town, to decide where I’ll buy gas.

So yesterday as I left Waverly, I saw that the price for a gallon of gas was $2.15. Not bad, compared to what it has been. I drove to the other station and it was $2.24 per gallon! Oh no! I should have filled gas in Waverly!

I finished running my errands and went home a couple hours later. I got to the station in Waverly and the sign said $2.25! Ugh! But I needed gas so I pulled up to the pump anyway. I got out and got ready to start pumping and it had me select which type of gas I want. I always select the cheapest one – that’s how I know which one to pick.

…And at the pump, the price was still $2.15! Lucky, lucky me!

Ben has a cell phone. Well, not really. It’s a luggage tag he holds up to his ear as though it were a cell phone and he was having a conversation with someone. It’s just a heavily laminated business card with a loop for attaching it to a suitcase. The loop, of course, is the antenna. Too cute!

New, well, maybe not quite. It has a new look though.

Our living room and dining room are one room. It’s rectangular. The front door is about 2/3 of the way down the long side and there’s a big picture window in the larger half. The smaller half is next to the kitchen. When you look out the picture window, you’re facing south.

There isn’t much room for a lot of furniture. We have two matching bookcase/entertainment centers, a large couch, a 19″ tv on a tv stand built for one about that size, and our table and chairs. When we moved in, I had the couch next to the door cutting the room in have. Steve didn’t like that, though. He wanted the room to feel more open. So I put the couch on the wall opposite the picture window. Then we put up a Christmas tree and moved the couch to sit at an angle opposite the tv (which was by the door).

But we didn’t have end tables. One end of the couch (my end) was by one of the bookshelves, so I was able to set my coffee cup either on that or the window on the west end of the room. But Steve had no where to put his coffee cup or beer, for that matter. So I moved the dining room table over so it sat next to the couch and he could use it for an end table. There wasn’t really enough room over by the kitchen for the dining room table anyway with the bookcase along that wall.

Yesterday, though, I had a brainstorm. Move the bookcase on the dining room wall over to the north wall at Steve’s end of the couch. That way the two bookcases would frame the couch, and we would both have end tables. Amber was scheduled to watch Ben when we went to town, but I asked her if she could come watch him at our house instead so she could help me move furniture.

We got it all moved and here is the result:

I just think it looks so great! The room feels very open and spacious, and I don’t have to listen to Steve complain about no place to put his coffee! Even if having end tables wasn’t an issue, I think this would be the best arrangement for the furniture we have.

I will need to repaint the east wall that was behind the bookcase, though. It’s a bright blue and looks fabulous with the drapes and furniture we have. I may change the shade just a tad because it’s a bit more turquoise than I would like. But that will get done in time. For now, I’m just enjoying our new living room.

I want you to know I have figured out your secret recipe for your soup. Are you ready?

1/4 cup Rock chicken
1/4 cup Rock potatoes
1/4 cup assorted vegetables
Water

How to make Rock chicken: take nice chicken meat, roast it at high heat until it is so tough even an adult couldn’t chew it after it’s been soaking in water in a can for months.

How to make Rock potatoes: actually, I’m not sure, but it probably has something to do with Rock chicken. They’re definitely not raw, but I couldn’t cut them or mash them with a spoon or fork. Maybe they’re not potatoes…

Vegetables: use only the ones that weren’t good enough for anything else. The more stems and other extracurricular material, the better.

Yes, we know that the can is only 1/3 full with what has been listed so far. But if you add water, that will fill it up. Since they have to chew the chicken so long, they’ll think there is a lot more of it and they’ll be glad there isn’t one more chunk than there is.

Put it in a can with totally fake soup that looks really good on the front. Then laugh at them when they’re dumb enough to buy the store brand in a can instead of making their own.

We’re transitioning to no naps with Ben. He only takes them half the time, and when he doesn’t take a nap, he goes to bed much earlier in the evening. If he goes to bed early in the evening, Steve can study and I can hold Mary Kay appointments without having to worry about getting a sitter.

But sometimes Ben just needs a nap. He fell asleep in the car on the way home, and when I brought him in, he decided to go right back to sleep where I put him down. I took this picture and then I moved him to his bed and let him take a good nap. Busy little boys need their sleep.

Every morning, if he’s awake, Ben goes downstairs with Daddy and helps him get dressed. Doesn’t it make you wish you had Ben helping you get dressed?