New to the Dark Side

There is a new link on the right column. Welcome Scott to the blogging world!

Identity Security

Last Friday I was doing our banking and bill paying. I noticed a weird comment on one of our credit card accounts requesting to verify charges. Ben immediately called and it turns out that the error was legit. Someone in the South used our card number on 2 purchases at the big W equaling $1500. CC flagged it as fraud since we never shop at that store. We have had amazing customer service with this situation (cards cancelled, all fraud charges removed, card monitoring) and are not worried. We do wonder how they got the number but figure that mystery will never be solved.

Even though I am not worried, I do believe in taking action to prevent future problems. I have already started to improve our security and then stumbled upon this article today. It made me realize I have so much more to do and be aware of.

More $$ for Princess

After some online research, I decided to spend $40 on a fancy comb for Princess to hopefully eliminate the fur all over the furniture. Ben was highly doubtful, but we were both shocked at how AMAZING The Furminator works. Seriously. Worth every penny!

Bonus - Princess actually LOVES being combed. Crazy pretty kitty!

SlyDial

I totally forgot to blog about this when it came out weeks ago, so I'm doing it now. I haven't tried this system yet (I have no reason to avoid talking to someone) but it seems pretty cool and useful in certain circumstances.

Me...Domestic?

So I had a relatively boring weekend (except for dinner and drinks with friends on Saturday night) and did chores. A new one for me this weekend, ironing. Yep, I press Ben's shirts à la June Cleaver now. I just no longer saw the point in sending the $3 Gap and Old Navy shirts to the dry cleaners to get laundered and pressed for $3. Environmental pollution and a waste of money, so I bought a $10 ironing board (we already had an iron) and figured I could do it while I watched TV.

Put on The West Wing (figured it was appropriate since we are in presidential election season) and three hours later 20 pressed shirts were hanging in the closet. Saved $60 (plus driving to/from the dry cleaners), not bad!

Big Thief?

She was arrested for overdue library books! I have been getting nasty grams from the Library for 2 books I have out (I am still using them), so I think I am going to finish up and return them ASAP!

Hot Pot Fondue

Ben and I were given a fondue set from some very sweet friends as a wedding present recently, and we decided to break it in last Monday night with Emily and Scott. I was trying to get off of work early to clean the house and start the sauce, but it just didn't happen (I got home around 6:30pm). So I used this very fast beef broth recipe:

3 cups of water
2 cans of beef broth
1 pkg. of Onion Soup Mix
2 bay leaves
4-5 cloves of garlic
2 t. dried parsley
2 t. ground pepper
Let simmer for 1 hour

Ben stopped by the grocery store on his way home and arrived around 7:30pm with a chuck steak, broccoli, mushrooms, sharp cheddar and monterey jack cheese, and french bread. I quickly thinly sliced the meat and washed and cut the veggies while Ben cut the cheese into little cubes and cut up the bread. I was amazed that we were sitting down to a great, fun meal at 8pm!

Cold Stone @ Home

This product is a great idea. I love it!

I adore Cold Stone's Peanut Butter Cup Perfection, but unfortunately I live in Small Town USA so the store closes VERY early. Now when Ben and I get a craving late on Friday night, our wish can be fulfilled and we save $10!

Not Bad

I stopped by the gas station on my way to work this morning and filled up the tank for $3.99/gallon!

To date myself a little bit...when I first started driving in the late 90s, gas was $0.99/gallon. So a 300% increase in 10 years, Crazy!

Showering a Baby

The baby shower was a success this last Saturday. Food was consumed, games were played, presents opened, and good times had all around.

We all were quite beat when we got to my parents house in the early evening and proceeded to watch the COMPLETE women's marathon in the Olympics and munch on some pizza. Watching the marathon must have given us some energy, because we started an exciting game of BANG! that lasted until midnight with me losing to Scott.

Definitely slept in on Sunday morning and enjoyed a late breakfast at the Hilton Club in Pleasanton. We got to see Matt and Heather's new place and Tegan's nursery before hitting the road home in the late afternoon.

All the pictures from the shower can be found here.

The Ross Special*

Making the shower favors last night, I was introduced to Project Runway by Emily and Scott with a marathon of all the episodes from the current season. The characters (tanning boy), the drama ("you took my sewing machine!"), the fashion (the "koi pond"), I think I am addicted now!

*I have nothing against Ross. That is how we described the latest losing design, which was very, very bad. Look at it, you will understand us.

Wacky Weather

I feel like I should be in the South. It is humid with a small thunderstorm (rain, thunder, and lightening) that actually took down our internet this morning. Crazy, not what I would expect for a California summer!

Movie Review: The Dark Knight

A group of us got together and saw this movie about 2 weeks ago in a packed theatre. I have not seen any of the Batman movies, so I can't compare it to anything, but I enjoyed it. It is a little long (this country really should start the whole movie intermission thing) but I felt the story moved along well enough. The acting wasn't very good (actually for certain people it was very, very bad), but I will say Heath Ledger did the best of the bunch.

Overall I would recommend seeing it (not necessarily at full price on the big screen, the effects weren't that amazing) since it was entertaining and fun.

Slacker Blogger

So I am a bad, bad blogger. I have no good excuse, just too busy lately. Here is the picture re-cap from the last three weeks with my promise to be better!

MIA

I’m still here! Just have been quiet for the last week due to work, a busy social calendar, and an emergency house guest. I should be back in a few days!