A Carinval, Car Work & Corn On The Cob

For some reason, Autumn decided to wake up all bright and chipper and ready to go at 6:30 am this morning!!! It’s like pulling teeth trying to get her to wake up at 7:00 during the school week, so why does she get up early on the weekends?  UGH!  Anyways, I put on some cartoons for her & then she went and helped Papa make omlettes when he got up around 7:15.

When Mimi got up, we got dressed and ready for the day and Autumn even got a French braid in her hair … fancy!

Mom showed us a little empty bird’s nest in the garden shed.  It’s right behind the A & R letters.  She said there was a Mama bird in there w/ 4 eggs about a week ago, but the eggs must have hatched b/c they are gone.  We took my car over to Firestone and dropped it off to get the oil changed, state inspection, and alignment done.

Then we headed to WalMart to do some grocery shopping.  Riannon had called earlier (luckily before we left the house) to let us know that she & Baby Olivia had been able to catch a military flight from Spain to Maine!  So, Mom & I scoured the internet for over an hour to find her a hotel to stay at for the night, and a flight here to DFW tomorrow.  We’re so excited to have them stay for a few weeks.  Anyways, part of the reason we had to go grocery shopping was to get some diapers and wipes.  I was able to find 4 really nice shirts that were on clearance for just $5 each!  I also got a new swimming suit for this year.  I loved these Adirondack chairs that WalMart had, but I couldn’t justify spending $16 on one.

Mom dropped us off at Autumn’s daycare b/c they were having an Open House w/ a Carnival theme.  They had fun games set up in each classroom w/ prizes, and all sorts of cute decorations.

Autumn loved the “food room” b/c they had lemonade, popcorn, mini corn dogs, fruit, and cake pops.  Those cake pops were SO GOOD!  I could have eaten 10 of them, but restrained myself and only had one.  Autumn had a great time going to the different rooms & trying the different games & seeing some of her classmates.  Her favorite room was where they were doing rainbow looming.  I finally had to pull her away b/c Mimi had come to pick us up.

She dropped us off to pick up our car, and I am NOT happy w/ Firestone.  The only reason I went there was b/c they offer a lifetime alignment for $175.  They had told me when I made the appointment that it was on sale for $150.  Well, they charged me the full $175.  Also, while Autumn & I were at the carnival they had called and said that my car wasn’t going to pass the state inspection b/c I had cracks in the rubber of my windshield wipers & my tires didn’t have enough tread.  I told them to go ahead & replace the windshield wipers b/c I knew they were in bad shape.  But, I told them they’d just have to fail me on it and I’d take my car to Costco to get new ones.  They called back a few minutes later & said they were able to convince the state inspector to let me squeak on by w/ the tire tread on my cars … yeah right!  They just were trying to scare me into buying tires from them.  I was SHOCKED to see that they charged me $33 EACH for new windshield wiper blades.  Highway robbery!  I will never be going back there again for anything other than my lifetime alignment.  I hate companies that try to upsell you on everything & rip you off.  NOT HAPPY!!!

Autumn & I went to Hobby Lobby b/c Autumn wanted to use her money from the tooth fairy to buy some more rainbow loom bands.  She’s made so many that she’s out of white & is getting low on a few other colors.  We had to walk down some of the other aisles to check out the fun things they have.  We loved this pretty pink paper umbrella.

This big metal flower for the yard (which was huge) screamed my name when I walked past.  But, I couldn’t justify spending $17 on it when I had just spent so much money on my car.  Maybe some other time …

This cute chair w/ the matching child’s chair also caught our eyes on the way out.  But, again I couldn’t justify the cost so we just settled for a picture instead.

Dad had one of Curt’s workers here helping him all day in the yard.  They got a lot of things done.  I was out in the garden & noticed this onion that has gone to seed.  But look at how funky it grew!!!  It grew straight up, took a wonky curve to the right, and then kept on growing up!  I’ve never seen anything like it before.

We had grilled Ollie North chicken & our first corn on the cob of the season for dinner out on the patio.  It was so delicious, and the weather couldn’t have been better.  Autumn wanted to go swimming, but it was way too cold.  So, she and Dad just stuck their feet in the pool and Dad had her practice counting to 200 by 2’s since she needs to be able to do that to move on to 2nd grade.  We got A LOT done today, and are so excited for Riannon & Baby Olivia to get here tomorrow.