The Simple Pleasures

I felt rewarded this afternoon in a strange way. Maybe someone decided to throw me a bone for: 1) Being ALONE all week with the kids, or 2) Getting a flat tire, which resulted in sitting at the Costco tire center for 5 HOURS on a Saturday with two kids, or 3) Feeling like a pregnant hippo and trying to enjoy it. :)

Lowe's is next to our Costco, so while we had plenty of time to kill while waiting for 4 new tires to get put on the van, that was one of the walks we made. I was just going to look around and dream like I usually do (I know people other than me do the Someday when I'm rich... thing - I usually covet those awesome HE washer/dryer combos). Lo and behold there was a brand new dryer that was being discontinued. For $98!! Now, I am blessed to have a dryer (and a washer) - I know how hard it is to not have a washer/dryer - and I totally don't know how people can do it. But let me tell you about my dryer. About a year ago the timer broke, so it runs and runs and runs. And not only does it run forever, but it only heats on the HOTTEST (translation: nearly on fire) setting, so my clothes come out feeling fried, and everything shrinks. It gets to be annoying to set a kitchen timer so I can remember to open the dryer to get it to shut off. And I can't go anywhere when the laundry is in. I've found lots of used ones for $100-$150 but never made the purchase. So this $98 find was like Christmas for me! Who cares that I had just forked out $400 of hard-earned money for new tires - this was a deal I wasn't going to pass up!

I scored a two-year parts and labor warranty (for $9!) and paid for it, telling them I would return when I once again had a car. We skipped back to Costco (a little more optimistically than we had done all morning) and waited. Tyler thought he'd died and gone to heaven as he got to watch the "cool" tire guys put the new tires on the van. We got the keys back and drove - very smoothly, I might add - over to Lowe's to get our new dryer. We rolled home with a lot of new stuff and a lot less money. Now I just need to find some strong men to bring it inside and hook it up for me! That may have to wait a few days while I wait for a husband again. But, I can't WAIT to do laundry!

On a totally random note, I've been procrastinating putting a really attractive "belly shot" on the blog but I've had some requests, so I'll get up the guts and maybe do it in a couple weeks.

Also, I've been itching to be crafty so this last week I neglected some things that needed to get done to work on these items. The first is a sign meant for the baby's room...I don't love how PINK it is, and haven't decided to use it for sure. Gotta love vinyl. Then, I did Emma's name to hang in her room (the colors didn't show up). And finally, I decorated one of those rustic metal stars that everyone seems to have; I wanted mine to be different and unique and I'm quite happy with how it turned out. I have a lot of black frames/etc. on my wall so this will fit right in. In addition to doing lots of digiscrapping, I know I've met my craftiness quota for at least a month, so I think I'll take a break and get my house back in order!