Shit Man was fixed today

Yesterday the kids didn't have school so I thought it would be fun to take Jacob to Annapolis for the day and go to the Chuck E. Cheese. I also wanted to check out a Children's Museum that is there. I saw from the museum's website that they had a special for January: if you brought in 3 empty baby food jars per person, you'd get free admission (normally $3 a person). So since baby food was .49 a jar, I spent approximately $3 on babyfood instead of paying $6 for admission. Annapolis, overall, is a pretty upscale town. The parking lots are full of Lexus's and BMW's. So I was expecting the children's museum to be something special. I was not impressed. It looked like a gutted rambler house that they filled with plastic germy yardsale toys. They did have some other things but I doubt we'll be going back.

I was hugely disappointed that the Annapolis kids also had the day off from school - and I think the majority were at Chuck E. Cheese. It was a zoo. Jacob didn't even want to stay - way too many people.

So since we definitely didn't fill up the afternoon at Chuck E. Cheese, we went to "our" museum in Solomons. Coming home around 5pm I passed this Antiques store sign and got a laugh (I'm easily amused). I passed it this morning and it was still the Shit man, but by this afternoon shit man had been fixed.

Went out to lunch with a friend today - ate at one of those Japanese places where they cook your meal right in front of you.

Let's play.....NUCLEAR WAR!

Bought this game at VV the other day, looks like a fun little game for the family called Nuclear War. On the side of the box it's described as a comic cataclysmic card game of global destruction. And described as a game for all ages, so I'm thinking ages 3+. Paid .50 for it.

Shaving Brush Collection

I thought I would share a pic of one of my collections - this is my shaving brush collection. I look for them when I'm yardsaling but I'm not fanatical about buying them. I don't look for them in high priced antique stores or buy them on ebay. Just look for ones priced cheap at yardsales. They are lined up above the lighting fixture in my bathroom. I guess my fascination with shaving brushes started early - here I am with Dad getting my first shave. The brush that is second from the left belonged to my grandfather.

No Yardsales today (too cold)

No yardsales today - well there was one moving sale advertised but I didn't go. I figured all the vultures would be out early. Well I don't know about the vultures, but I know the hawks were definitely out - I took a picture of one in my backyard today. He/she was checking out the birds at my birdfeeders.

I have several birdfeeders in my backyard. I usually buy the "deer corn" for the squirrels in big 20 lb bags. That reminds me of a funny story - I was doing an interview last year for a newspaper and the interviewer asked me what I bought the last time I went "real" shopping at an actual shopping mall. I had to think a bit and then I told her - 20 lb bags of corn at a Dick's Sporting Goods. How sad is that! haha.

I also buy 50 lb bags of sunflower seeds from a hardware store and I make suet for the woodpeckers. Here's a recipe that I use:

Mix together using your hands the following(it's messy!)

4 cups cornmeal
1 cup flour
1 cup peanut butter (chunky or regular)
1 cup Crisco shortening (or generic)

Shape into patties and put into a suet feeder. Refrigerate leftovers.

If you don't have a suet feeder - you can use a plastic net (like the kind that is usually on a frozen turkey). Then just put the suet patties in that and tie it closed and hang (if you have squirrels in your area, they will get to it in about 2 seconds flat). Othewise you can also smear the suet right into the bark crevices of your trees. Or wait and buy a suet feeder at a yardsale for .50 and then make the suet.

Liquor store with a drive-thru window

I think I finally got the hang of my new computer, as far as organizing and adjusting photos. Here's a pic I took sometime in 2006, I had forgotten where it was stored. It's a nearby liquor store that has a drive-thru window for convenience. I wonder why that bright idea hasn't caught on in other parts of the country...

Really dodged a bullet last week - was doing 52 in a 40

I forgot to mention, I had the opportunity last Friday to speak with one of our fine local police officers about the rate of speed my vehicle was going. As he was looking at my driver's license he asked if I still lived on such and such street. I responded "yes, and A LOT of people speed on that road! I wish the police would do something about that!". Thinking about that comment now, it's really amazing that I ended up with just a warning.

Yardsale buys from the past Saturday

Like an oasis in the dead of winter - St. Paul's had their annual second Saturday in January indoor yardsale. They have super cheap prices. I spent $4.75 and got a bunch of stuff. They sell bags of clothes for $3 and bags of toys for $1. This was the first time they had the bag o'toys deal, I bought 2 bags. Also bought myself a brand new pedometer and a pretty Crazy Horse Liz Claiborne sweater for .50 (I didin't find enough clothes I wanted to do the $3 deal. Also with my $4.75, I got a bunch of books and a DVD, and some small perfumes.

Shells and whatnot from the Chesapeake Bay

Oh I forgot to post this pic from the Cove Point lighthouse, even though it is fenced in, the water still gets thru the fence and washes up all these neat stones and shells etc. I thought they looked pretty so I took some pics. The pic is huge and looks cool when full size on a big monitor.

Cove Point Lighthouse on Saturday

On Saturday Jacob and I went to the Cove Point Lighthouse because it was open to the public (it normally isn't. But you aren't allowed to climb up in it either way). I think it was free admission (not sure but we didn't pay anything) - we had on our admission stickers from visiting our "regular" lighthouse earlier in the day at the Calvert Marine Museum (bought a year family museum membership last May during a half price special for $25).

Steny Hoyer, The Yardsale Queen and Jacob

I'm really not into politics but I thought I would share a photo of me and Jacob taken a few years with this guy, Steny Hoyer. He's now the House Majority Leader. I can't exactly remember the occasion but I think it may have been at my yardsale Queen coronation ceremony or winning some Mother of the Year award or perhaps winning Maryland's most beautiful baby contest (or maybe not). Since, of course, I'm always winning awards like that, it's hard to keep them all straight ;)

Went from bowling a 91 last week to bowling a turkey today!

Don't worry I am not turning this into a bowling blog or anything (and really I'm not "into" bowling that much but we go because its free). Well last week I bowled a miserable 91. And today, a day which will live forever in my bowling history, I scored my all time highest score ever - 168 - and that included bowling a turkey - THREE strikes in a row! Overall I had 4 strikes in that game and one spare.

Time to go watch The Apprentice. Tomorrow I'll add some pics and talk about the indoor yardsale I hit on Saturday.

Boards down again

Yes, the boards are down again today. Its not a problem I caused or anything - hopefully it will be fixed soon. Thanks for your patience!

Took my son bowling yesterday

Sorry I haven't written much lately. Will try to do better.

On Sunday I took Jacob bowling. Some Banquet tv dinners have a coupon for a free game of bowling on the package. They were on sale for .88 the other week at Food Lion. So for only .88 you get a free game of bowling, plus the meal. Only certain bowling alleys accept the coupons but the one near me does, so we are set.

So anyways the final score of the game was Me: 91 Jacob: 89. How sad is that? I mean I've had years and years of bowling experience over my 6 year old son who just stands at the line and drops the ball from waist height. Maybe I can blame my poor performance on my new used bowling shoes. I've had a pair of bowling shoes from the 70's that I've used forever. But now I can't find them, I know they will turn up eventually. Well anyways to rent bowling shoes is $3.99 - highway robbery! I was at a thrift a few weeks ago and found a pair in my size for $3 so I bought them. Maybe I just need a little more practice with them. I have a bunch more coupons to use before they expire at the end of May so I'll definitely be doing more bowling. You can only use one coupon per person per day so that's why we only bowling 1 game, and plus, Jacob starts to lose attention after 1 game. For some reason, they don't charge for kid shoe rentals, only adults.

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