Baskin-Robbins 31cent Scoops

In case you did not get your Ben and Jerry’s Free Ice Cream Cone yesterday, or you just really like ice cream, today you have the chance to grab some more for a cheap price! Baskin-Robbins is hosting 31cent scoop night tonight from 5pm-10pm. There is a limit of 10 scoops per person, per purchase but I can’t imagine that’s a big problem for anyone. You’d have to be really hungry to eat more than 10 scoops. Check out Baskin-Robbins Website to find a location near you. This event benefits The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. You may also be able to make a donation to your local fire charities. Once again I will not be able to attend this event because I will be babysitting during the evening. I’m hoping to send Big Monkey out to get us some ice cream though! So go out and have some ice cream and support our firefighters.

Gym life…

I went back to the gym on Saturday and worked out for a bit. I have started taking a small notebook with me so that I can record each day what I do while I’m there. I am trying to track the machines I use, how much weight and reps for each machine, and my time and distance on the treadmill. I am also tracking my weight but just for the reason of knowing it more than seeing it go up or down. Not that anyone really wants to see their weight go up, me included, but it wouldn’t hurt either I’m sure. Plus if I am gaining muscles then I should be putting on weight since muscles weigh more than fat.

We also went back to the gym yesterday and once again Big Monkey’s shift did not show up before we left. We drove by the station so that Little Monkey could see him and say hi. Today we all went to the gym together and worked out. While we were there, today’s on duty guys did come in to work out. Little Monkey seems to be having fun playing with the other kids in the childcare room too. And when I went to pick him up I asked him to pick up a couple of toys. He picked up a toy and put it in the toybox. I told him thanks for helping out. He then proceeded to pick up another toy and then pull out all the toys that were under the picnic table and put them away too. We finally got him to stop even though he had almost picked up all the toys. He is a good little helper when he wants to be. While we were at the gym today I remembered that there is a class on Tuesday nights that I wanted to try out. Looks like maybe next week I’ll try and go because I was not going to go back again tonight for yet another workout. (Plus we spent a most of the afternoon in the backyard trimming trees. We have a HUGE pile for the yard waste guys to pick up tomorrow. It was quite a project getting everything trimmed, cut down to bundling size, bundled and then carry around front.)

An Email from HP

So today I was excited to see an email in my inbox from HP. I thought that this would be a great email explaining what they found was wrong with my computer and that they were shipping it back. It was scheduled to be back in my hands on Friday. Well quite sadly, this is not what the email said. In fact it was just about the opposite. It said that they were not sure that it would make it back to me by the original estimated delivery date. They did say that if it was not going to be here by then that someone from HP would try and contact me to let me know what was going on. I’m hanging on to the small ray of hope that it will still make it back on Friday and be in much better shape than when it left. Here’s hoping!

Free Ice Cream Day

Since we do not have a Ben and Jerry’s close by that is offering Free Cone Day….I urge you to go to your local Ben and Jerry’s and get your free Ice Cream Cone. This is one problem with living in the middle of nowhere…no Ben and Jerry’s. Not that we would frequent the establishment, but we would go every once in a while and we would definitely go for Free Cone Day! So go enjoy your Ice Cream and feel bad for us that we are not doing the same.

Check out Ben and Jerry’s Website to find a location near you that is having the event.

Adding to our family

As was mentioned before, we have discussed adding another child to our family. We feel like adoption is the best way for us to do this at this time. After much discussion, we have now begun talking with Melanie at Place of Hope in West Palm. This is where my sister works and they are helping us to get started in the process. It is very helpful to have someone who knows us already than to jump into the process totally blind.

We are looking to begin the process of filling out paperwork, taking the 30 hour MAPP class and having our home study done. Once all of this is completed, we will be able to send our paperwork to agencies across the state. This way there will be lots of eyes looking for the child who will be the best fit for our family. The process could take a while so we are trying to get started on it. We are looking forward to finding a child who will be a great fit for our family and who we can give a forever home to. We are excited to begin the process but we are also trying to remain level headed and rational about it. We know it could be a very long process and possibly be years before a child comes to join our family.

Crazy hours

Recently there have been quite a few options for overtime for Big Monkey at his fire department job. Normally this would be great and he would even want to work them all if they were a bit spread out. This has not been the case this week. Let me show you how the past week and a half has gone.
Wednesday: Regularly Scheduled Shift, Thursday: Overtime from a call out, Friday: OFF, Saturday: Regularly Scheduled Shift, Sunday: Held over for Overtime from a call out, Monday: OFF (but we were gone most of the day with the gym and getting our will finalized), Tuesday: Regularly Scheduled Shift, Wednesday: Worked 2 hours at second job, OFF, Thursday (today): Overtime from a call out (got called at 7:15am to be in at 8am), Friday: Regularly Scheduled Shift, Saturday and Sunday: OFF!!!!! Finally! Two days in a row! Amazing!
So while this is not normal and it does stink that he has worked 3 48hour shifts in a week and a half, the money is nice. So I cannot complain too much since we could use it. (When he was out on injury there was no working at his other jobs and also no overtime.) We can always go up to the station and have dinner or hang out but it is not the same as being home. Thankfully Little Monkey hasn’t been a complete terror this week! Hopefully next week will be mostly just Regularly Scheduled Shifts!

Gym Today

Little Monkey and I went back to the gym this morning. There were not very many people there and Little Monkey was the only kid in the childcare. I spent some time on the treadmill again, about 30 minutes. Unfortunately, when trying to change my speed on the treadmill, I accidentally hit the STOP button. So once again I have no idea how far I managed to walk. I’ve got to get better about that!

I also did a few machines. The abdominal machine, leg extension, leg press and hip abduction. I took a small notebook with me today so that I can chart my progress for how much weight and how many reps I can do for each machine. Thankfully my Ipod worked just fine today and I was able to listen to some of the songs on my gym playlist. I have to skip around on my playlist each day though because I have over five hours of music in the gym playlist! The current plan is to go back to the gym on Saturday, hopefully in the morning and hopefully with Big Monkey.

Back to the gym-

Yesterday we went back to the gym. Little Monkey and Big Monkey both came along. I started with walking on the treadmill again but was only planning to walk 35 minutes so that Big Monkey could show me how to use some of the machines. I have no idea how far I walked because as I went to hit the cool down button, I accidentally hit stop. And then I forgot to check out my time and distance which were covered with my towel. After my cool down, I went and used a couple of machines. I did bicep curls, leg press and leg extensions. I was not able to lift very much weight on any of those machines but it was a start. I’m thinking I should take a little notebook so that I can track what machines I use, with what weights so that I can track progress.

Little Monkey and I went back to the gym this morning. Big Monkey was supposed to be there with the on duty guys, but they actually showed up just as we were leaving. Little Monkey at least got to say hi to Big Monkey so he was happy about that. I walked again on the treadmill for 29 minutes for a total of 1.79 miles. It was very hard to walk today because my Ipod was stuck thinking that it was still plugged into my car, so it wouldn’t work. It helps to be able to zone out listening to the music a little. Oh well, I watched Who Wants to be a Millionaire? instead. Not too exciting though. I also did a couple of machines today. The leg extension, leg press, abdominal, and hip abduction. That went okay I guess, but of course, not that much weight was being used. I’ll get better the more I do it I’m sure.

Going to the gym has been nice because it does get us up and out of the house with a good start to our day. Since they only have childcare first thing in the mornings, that is when we have to go, unless Big Monkey is around to stay home with Little Monkey. I was actually not to happy that I didn’t end up going to the gym on either Saturday or Sunday but oh well, these things happen! We’ll probably be back at the gym on Thursday morning.

No gym again…

So the plan was to hit the gym yesterday, but we all see that did not happen. So the new plan was to go this afternoon after church. No problem Big Monkey would be home to watch Little Monkey and I could go. Until someone called out for shift today and Big Monkey would have been held over whether he volunteered or not. No problem. Little Monkey’s Grandma was coming for the afternoon/evening. She could get play time and I could go to the gym. Then we get home from church today and there is a message on the answering machine from Little Monkey’s Grandma. She woke up with a migraine and is not feeling well. She will not be coming unless Little Monkey’s Aunt comes too. Little Monkey’s Aunt was not planning on coming so that option was out. Only problem now….can’t go to the gym because there is no childcare on Sundays. The bad part of this is that I’ve now taken three days off from the gym which will probably show up in my time/distance for tomorrow.

Looks like we’ll be just hanging out today. Later we’ll take a trip to see Big Monkey because Little Monkey has been asking for him. We might also stop at CVS if I can get my stuff together and see what they might like to pay us to take out of the store this week!

Garage Sales

Yesterday Little Monkey and I got up bright and early, just after Big Monkey left for work and got ourselves together. The plan was: 1. Go to Walmart to get Free Wild seed Card and Free Reusable Tote. 2. Stop at neighborhood near Walmart for a couple of garage sales. 3. Go to McDonald’s to pick up breakfast. 4. Go to another neighborhood that was having a neighborhood-wide garage sale day. 5. Go to the gym to walk on the treadmill for 50 minutes. 6. Go to CVS “Family Fun Day”. 7. Go home and attempt to be somewhat productive.

 1. We were able to take care of this one. We got to Walmart about 8:30am and it appeared that no one was giving anything away. I couldn’t imagine that they had already given out all the free items they had. So we looked around and picked up a couple more seed packets that we hope to plant soon. When we went to checkout, they finally had passed out the bags and were giving them out. Here’s the dumb part. Every cashier that I watched give them away free, simply handed it to the customer and then proceeded to bag up all their items in plastic bags. I’m sorry but I do believe someone missed the point! We also got out wildflower seed card on the way out the door.
2. We stopped in at three garage sales in the neighborhood close to Walmart. One was not so great, the other was also not so great but we did by a little chair for Little Monkey. It’s like a camping type chair and he really likes ours but I’m always afraid he will fall down. This one is the perfect size for him. Cost $2. The last garage sale did have some great things…but I knew that Big Monkey would be quite upset if I brought home yet another Little Tikes table and chairs or another toy organizer. Where would we put it all? So I left it all there.
3. McDonald’s drive through for breakfast. Little Monkey ended up eating half of a hash brown and I had an Egg McMuffin. SO very exciting.
4. Big neighborhood-wide garage sale. I’ve been to this neighborhood before and while not everyone participates, lots of people do. It is hard to drive around because people park just about anywhere they can so you have to be really careful. Last year one house had girl scouts and they were selling the rest of the girl scout cookies they had. No such luck this time around. We got a “fill a bag” with clothes for $1; eighteen items in total, many that look like they haven’t even been worn. At another garage sale, Little Monkey would not stop playing with the baby doll stroller (this is the most wanted toy in the toddler class at church). So even though it is ALL pink and has Winnie the Pooh on it (At least it’s not princesses or something) we got it; I’m sure I’ll hear about it from Big Monkey when he sees it. Cost $0.50. (Little Monkey has been driving my old Cabbage Patch kid around in it for a good portion of the afternoon.) And finally at one more sale (even though we stopped at MANY more) we got two wooden signs to hang in the house and a Blue’s Clues pillowcase (if I win the auction on Ebay this will be handy since the one on Ebay doesn’t have a pillowcase). Cost $2.
5. Gym…yeah…we didn’t make it here. They only have childcare on Saturdays from 9am-10:30am, so since it was 10:15am as we were getting close to the gym it was obvious we would not be going there. Now I must go tomorrow.
6. We went to CVS “Family Fun Day,” which wasn’t all that fun except that the fire trucks and police cars were there. Little Monkey and I both got properly sized for a bicycle helmet which the Fire Department was giving away free. We also got a goodie mostly junk bag from CVS and a balloon. Little Monkey was thrilled with the balloon. They also had free hot dogs, sodas and chocolate milk but we did not have any.
7. Define productive. I called HP about my non-working computer. We went through Little Monkey’s toys, organized them and replaced many dead batteries. (Sometimes I wonder why I bother with this because it will just be a mess in a day or less.) We also cleaned up a little bit and went on a walk.