Free Movie Monday!

It is the first Monday of July and that means it is time for another FREE movie Monday!

Today’s code is: 4J7LF6 and it expires at midnight!

Enjoy your free film!

Happy 4th of July!

It is the 4th of July! We are out at the beach to enjoy the sun and time with family and friends. We hope everyone has a safe and fun holiday. Big Monkey is working today, so he will miss out on the fireworks and food. Hopefully they won’t be too busywith people hurting themselves with fireworks tonight!

Bejeweled Bomb

Bejeweled is a time consuming addictive game. It is now available on Facebook. You can compete against your  friends. But be warned, if you start playing you will waste many hours trying to get a higher and higher score and show up all your friends.

Today we were hanging out at the beach house and kept trying to play Bejeweled. It wouldn’t load. We went out to a movie and grocery shopping and came back. We tried Bejeweled again (I told you it was addicting.), still nothing. And now we know why. On the Facebook Bejeweled Biltz page a note had been posted:

BEJEWELED BLITZ IS CURRENTLY OFFLINE

There was a major fire at Bejeweled Blitz’s server hosting facility last night. We would like to say that the heat of everybody’s gem swapping burned up the servers, but unfortunately in this case it was an actual fire.

Bejeweled Blitz will not be available until the damage is cleaned up and generators are brought in to restore power. Our current estimate is that we will be back up later tonight (Seattle Time).

When the game does come back up, you may notice that some of your friends’ scores from this week appear to have been erased. Don’t worry — all scores are safe and secure in our database, and they will start to show correctly as you and your friends visit the game.

Thanks for playing Bejeweled Blitz. We are working very hard to get the game up and running for you as soon as possible, and we appreciate your patience.

- The Bejeweled Blitz Team

Bummer! Guess we’ll have to watch tv and play Wii. Hopefully they will get Bejeweled up and running soon and we can waste more time!

Blockbuster Express?

Yesterday I had to run a couple errands and one included a quick stop into Publix to get some items that were on sale. I was surprised to find a movie rental box inside the store.

Blockbuster Express or Redbox

I was very surprised to see that it was a Blockbuster Express. This is the first one I have ever seen, although I had read that Blockbuster would be testing them out previously. What is even more interesting to me is that there is an actual Blockbuster Video retail store about 100 feet from this “Express” box that is located inside Publix. The movies are some of the same that you can get from the retail store but for only $1 a night. I decided to pick up a movie that Big Monkey had asked for before, Paul Blart: Mall Cop.

The rental process was very similar to renting from Redbox, except that I did not get a confirmation email when I got home saying what I had rented. I also do not have all the details on the Blockbuster Express rental policies. I know it was $1 per day. But I honestly don’t know if that means 24 hours from when I rented it or if it is back by X time the next day (like Redbox is 9pm). I probably should have looked into that better but oh well. I tried to do some looking around online for information but I have been striking out! If I get some more information, I will be glad to let you know! I’m excited about the ability to rent movies for $1 at Publix because it is closer to us than the closest Redbox.

Time To Exercise

Last year we bought Wii Fit for my parents…and this year I decided to get us a Wii Fit. I turned on some of my “MyPoints” and also some of my “Swagbucks” for Amazon.com gift cards. Little Monkey was SO excited when I opened the box and he saw that we now own our own Wii Fit. He has played it many times before at my parents house and likes it. I was quite surprised to see that our Wii still retained all of my information and Wii Fit credits from when I played it with Mom and Dad’s on our Wii last year! I have lots of things already unlocked to play.

Little Monkey likes playing it and also likes watching me play it. I think he likes laughing at me the most! He really likes the penguin game but he hasn’t spent enough time on the Wii to earn it yet so he only gets to watch me play it! The first night we had it, everyone got on and did their basic testing. Big Monkey was not happy with the machine because it said that he was overweight (This is based on BMI) and that his Wii Fit age was 30. I don’t know if he will be getting back on it ever again! Little Monkey also did his test and was in the normal BMI range but his Wii Fit age was 28!! (He needs to work on his balance and control! I’m sure that is not easy for a three year old!)

I look forward to using the Wii Fit more (as long as I am able) to stay active and do exercises (some that certainly don’t seem like exercising) while I wait for the baby to arrive. I am also thinking about asking for the new Wii EA Sports Active game that came out to use to help get back in shape after the baby comes. I’ve heard it is a great workout and really meant for people who need to get in shape, not necessarily just lose weight.

Shoe! Ow! (This is often heard from Little Monkey while playing soccer!)

Golf For A Cause

A couple weekends ago, Big Monkey went down to south Florida with his Dad (Grandpa) to play golf in the PKU Golf Tournament. The event is to raise money for PKU Research. This is the second year that Grandpa has gone to the tournament. This year he also had two other buddies go with him. They all met down in south Florida on Friday and played a practice round of golf. Then they went to a social hour and out for dinner.

On Saturday, they played in the tournament. Big Monkey said there was a decent turn out and they had fun. They did not win any of the big prizes or door prizes, but Big Monkey did get a “PKU Swag bag.” Inside the bag was a coupon for one food company and a gift certificate for another. There was also a box of cereal, mac and cheese, water bottle, banana muffin mix, blueberry muffin mix and vegetable masala meal. When Big Monkey brought the bag home, Little Monkey was SO excited that all of this stuff was for him! He has since tried the vegetable masala and at first said it was good but then we had to fight a bit to get him to finish it. I am excited for him to test out some of the other foods that he hasn’t had before.

The PKU Swag Bag! All for Little Monkey!

The golfers also got golf “swag bags” but I didn’t take a picture. It included a golf magazine, two tshirts, divot repair thingys, coupons and some golf balls. If there was anything else in there, I’m not sure but that’s all I remember.

Fanta Grape

I guess this is another one to add to the category as, “Just not as good as the real thing.”

Fanta Grape does NOT taste like Welch’s grape at all. And neither is a substitute for a Sonic Grape Slushie!

Trade In Your Sad Flag

I know it is getting late in the month of June, but hey, better late than never, right! During the month of June, you can take your sad, old, torn American Flag to any participating Goin’ Postal location and they will give you a brand new nice flag! I took in our old, ripped, torn American Flag and sure enough they gave us a brand new one. There was nothing to buy and no forms to fill out. They will take the old flags and dispose of them properly. I got the new flag home and gave it to Big Monkey. Turns out the new flag is HUGE! Like put it on a full size flag pole HUGE. I don’t think we will be able to hang it from our little flag pole, but we’ll see. So if you have a sad looking American Flag, you can take it in to any participating Goin’ Postal location and get a new one to hang in time for July 4th!

Kohl’s Shopping

Yesterday I ran a few errands and one of my stops was to go to Kohl’s. My mom had sent over a $10 off $10 or more purchase. I figured I would be able to find something for close to $10. I was right!

There was LOTS of stuff on 60, 70, 80 and even 90% off! I ended up getting three tank tops for myself (they aren’t maternity, but they do fit). They were $1.60 each (90% off!). I also got a nice dress shirt for Big Monkey. It was $3.80 (90% off!). And I found a cute Carter’s brand pink sweater for the baby. It was $1.80 (90% off!).  After all was said and done, I handed in my $10 off coupon and ended up paying just $0.43 for all five items! What a great deal! I would not have bought anybody any clothing right now without that. Not that we NEED clothes, but it is nice to get something new every once in awhile and you certainly can’t pass up nearly free!

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

The other day I found this recipe online and really wanted to make it. The recipe called for Mint Chocolate Chips. After looking at two stores and not finding them, I decided to substitute Andes Mints instead. I finally made the cookies last night. They are quite tasty. I started making them while Little Monkey was napping and when he got up he decided that I needed his help. He went and got his apron (I made it for him for his birthday.) and came into the kitchen to help. He was very good at taking the wrappers off the Andes mints and putting them in the mini chopper and then chopping them up. He also helped put the cookies on the cookie sheet using a melon baller.

Using the melon baller to put cookies on the sheet. (Notice the tongue sticking out!)

And because I’m sure that you want it, here is the recipe I used:

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 2/3 cups mint chocolate chips ( I just used one full package of Andes mints chopped up. It was actually probably closer to just 1 cup.)

Directions

1. Heat over to 375 degrees F.
2. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla and salt in a large bowl until creamy.
3. Add eggs; beat well.
4. Stir together flour, cocoa and baking soda.
5. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture beating until well blended.
6. Add chocolate chips to batter.
7. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
8. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.
9. Cool completely.

Alrighty, good luck making your own. They are easy to make and the recipe makes about 60 cookies! Try not to eat them all! I think  I will try and send some with Big Monkey to work so that I do not eat all of them!