Adventures: DIY and Bday Present

For months, I have been trying to figure out what I wanted to get us for some sort of memorial for Esa.  I looked on Etsy and saw some items that I liked (bracelets, keychains, etc.), but haven't taken the time to really go forward with it.

Then I was looking at the May 2014 Better Homes and Gardens magazine.  This was on the last page.  Seriously....

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/73957618856070650/

Do you see that?  Of all of the names/initials, they use in this publication E S A.  Now, if that is not a sign, I don't know what is.  I have thought about making something, but never really knew what I wanted.  There you go, idea solved.

Today (May 30), is Dan's birthday.  This post is/was a work in progress (and not published until May 30 - just in case Dan decides to look at the blog).

Trial run with paper 

(and a backward letter - what can I say, I don't use stamps very often)

I used 2 Creative Memories tools to get the ovals (used the middle of the tools) .  I purchased the stamps at AC Moore and had the ink pad.

Of course, the next idea that came in my head was maybe I can make a Zed one too, but with his REAL pawprint!

Friday, May 23 afternoon

It took me about 4 tries to get the bottom right large one done.  It's a mess, but I decided to keep it and it would be mine for a reminder how much problems I originally had!  LOL!  I guess it would have helped if I had cleaned the stamps BEFORE using them on the clay!  Like I said, I don't use stamps very often.

I TRIED to do Zed's pawprint (he is so patient!), but his paw is bigger than the large oval AND even when I pressed on his paw, it didn't really make a mark.  His nails did, but not his paw.

Zed's charm has is adoption date on it.  Esa's has her birth date on top and death date on the bottom.

So side story - I made these around 1 pm in the afternoon and had it sitting on the oven to cool when I went on a walk with Zed and our neighbor, Lynne and Sable (Esa's best friend) around 2:15 pm.  I figured - plenty of time to hide everything before Dan gets home at 4 pm.  I had cleaned up the mess when the charms were in the oven, so only the pan was out on the stove.  

Lynne and I come around the corner and who is sitting on our porch but Dan!  PANIC!  I thought for sure that he saw the charms.  So I immediately said, "What are you doing home?  Did you see what was on the stove?"  He said no that he saw that the leash was gone and immediately came out to the porch.  He said he saw something sitting out, but didn't go inspect it.

So, truth will be told on Friday when he gets his presents.

Wednesday, May 28

The finished products.

Dan's

Mine

I enjoyed making these.  It was a quick and easy project that means a lot.

From D.I.N.K to O.I.N.K - March Summary

March was not the greatest month for us.  Supposed to be a happy time - my birthday month!  Unfortunately, my brother passed away.  We had extra expenses with travel, gifts (funeral expenses), and eating out due to travel.

Over budget on:

• Auto
• Gas for the Jeep
• Service on the Hyundai
• Dining out
• Entertainment
• Caps tickets - final payment for the season
• Gifts
• flowers for the funeral
• my birthday gifts from D
• gift card for upcoming wedding
• Household
• service on the vaccuum cleaner
• Personal care
• I HAD to get my hair done for the funeral - it had been 3 months and the grays were really starting to show down the middle
• Travel
• security deposit for the beach (which we will get back)

Adventures: Catching Up

The last week (and this holiday weekend) has been slow and uneventful.  Dan has been sick (and home) since Wednesday and Saturday went to the doctor and was diagnosed with the flu.  It was weird because it wasn't like a full blown flu like you would think, but he was tested & came back positive with it.

I have also been under the weather but nothing out of the ordinary - minor sinus stuff and then an upset tummy yesterday.  Stuff that happens every once in awhile.  Of course I blame hubby!  He's the one that has been sick & was trying to get me sick!

Now, Dan could have become sick because we were out and about the weekend before.  Saturday was a busy day for us.  First we had a birthday party for our 3 year old neighbor then that evening, we went to see Burnt Orange at Duke's Lounge in Warrenton, VA.  We met up with Dan's sister & husband for a little bit.  But the main reason to go was to meet up with Paul who is the singer with Burnt Orange.  We go way back to when I was skating & playing hockey (in the early 90's).  Paul played guitar at our wedding too.  It was great to see Paul and catch up after so many years.

We did have a visitor to our sick household this weekend (plans that were made before the sickness came on).  Esa's best friend, Sable (who lives 4 doors away), came over while her family was gone on a family outing Saturday evening & Sunday during the day.

The girls playing.

As you can see, Sable was right at home with us.

Zed wasn't too happy the first night Sable was here - just because she has so much energy, that plus she was taking away attention from his mama & daddy-o.

Becoming Betty Crocker: Doggie Birthday Cake

Our baby girl, Esa, turns 6 today!

A couple of years ago, I made some cupcakes with a recipe from this website, but this time I decided to make an actual cake with the same recipe.

The recipe:

Peanut Butter Carrot Birthday Cake

• 1 cup flour
• 1tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 egg

Mix flour and baking soda. Add remaining ingredients. Pour into greased 8" round cake pan and bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Let cool.

 

A sleepy Sous Chef supervising

 

All mixed and ready to bake.

All baked!

 

And used this recipe from this website for the frosting.

 

Super Simple Kosher Peanut Butter Honey Frosting
The peanut butter frosting is easy to make and makes enough frosting for one 8-inch cake.

• ¼ cup Creamy Peanut Butter
• ¼ cup Honey
• 1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Mix all ingredients together thoroughly and spread evenly over cake or muffins and serve.  The frosting can be made in larger or smaller quantities by keeping the ration of one part peanut butter with one part honey. Add only enough oil for a creamy consistency and easy spreading.

The frosting all mixed.

The finished product -

The kids enjoying the cake -

And I'll admit it - I tasted it - it was pretty dry.

NOTE:  I will admit, I am more comfortable baking items than cooking. :)

A Much Needed Mini Vacation

Saturday, I headed up to Western NY to visit my family (Dan and the pups stayed home).  The visit was mostly just hanging out which was definitely what I needed.

I ended up taking the new car because the Jeep is now leaking gas.  Yes - still not fixed.  Two weeks ago, it was back at the shop because of the gas fumes.  The body shop said that the gasket was bad and they fixed it.  Two weeks later, I fill it up and the fumes are still there and even worse after leaving the gararge door open all night.  I look underneath and there's a puddle of gas.  That's new.  I had already called the shop on Friday to tell them it needed to come back in - that was before I saw the puddle.

I did do some driving around to different cemeteries when I was "home" to get pictures of my ancestors headstones.  I have started to use Find a Grave in my genealogy research.  I can remember visiting the cemeteries before - it's just been so long and back then I didn't take pictures of the headstones.

My brother is going through chemo again and this time it is really wearing on him.  He's in a lot of pain and is very tired.  He's aged a lot this time.  When I look at him, I see my 90 year old aunt (skinny, hard to move around, soft spoken) - he's only 54.  He keeps fighting and the doctors feel that he is on the right track.  He is stable and hopefully this round will kick the problem out of his lymph nodes.

Today, is hanging out with hubby - it's his birthday.  We are going to go geocaching and to the movies - a nice relaxing day.

I can be found on Ancestory.com at rmcwentz and at Findagrave.com at rmcwentz

Wordless Wednesday



Happy 43rd b-day to me!



Sent from my iPhone

Geocaching Weekend and Birthday

Hubby's birthday is Monday, and since he's obsessed with geocaching, we are on a mini vacation in Lexington, VA to do some geocaching.
We stopped in Strasburg, VA on the way down to get a geocoin that celebrates Stasburg's 250th anniversary.  The first stop was at the Stasburg Museum and by the 2nd stop, we had a feeling the multicache was the same as the walking tour.  Luckily, we had picked up the brochure that was at the 1st stop.  By the 5th stop (out of 11), we were all hot and we could tell Esa had enough.  So we cheated a little and went right to the 10th stop (on the walking tour), but it wasn't the 10th stop on the multicache!  After a little bit, we figured we'd go to the 9th stop (on the walking tour) to see if that had any of the answers.  Sure enough, it did! 

We ended up at the Stasburg Hotel and Dan went in and said the magic words "Is Mrs. Murphy cooking today?" and got the geocoin.

We then stopped at McDonald's and got some lunch and came down to Buena Vista to our lovely Budget Inn room - I'm actually surprised on how nice it is.  It has a large separate kitchenette, which give us plenty of room with the pups and it's been recently remodeled.  The kitchen and bath are both updated.

Once we got settled (around 6 pm), I ran out to Food Lion and got some stuff for supper.

One little surprise to both of us - I had bought a little lavender sachet to put on Zed's collar to help calm him down in the car and it seemed to work!  We were both really surpised.

Catching up

Caps Game - March 11
Friday, March 11 was our last Caps game in our 5 pack.  Dan picked me up and we got to Verizon Center a little early.  Looked around in the store and got in line.  Within a few minutes, they started to let people in.  I went into my purse and only pulled out 1 (one) ticket - OH NO!!!!!  I always feared this would happen!

I figured it MUST be in the car where I switched purses.  So Hubby headed back to the car (3 blocks away).  I got a text from him - "Did you get in your purse when you were waiting for me?"  I couldn't remember.  Next thing you know, he's walking in with the ticket and said that he found it on the ground - where he dropped me off.  Whoopsies!

The Jeep is back in action
Saturday morning (like 9:30 am), I called the dealership to see if the Jeep was ready.  Nope - what the????!!!!  Supposedly the part didn't get in until late Friday.  Whatever - probably just because they didn't make any money on it.  By 1 pm, they call and say that it's ready.  We picked it up when Dan was heading out to work then I went to AC Moore.  Dan followed me and of course I had to test the Jeep - he said when I stepped on the gas, all he saw was a puff a smoke behind me.  LOL!  Anyway, we are back in action.  No issues.

Out of the Office
Tuesday, I got to go up to our offices in Wheaton to visit my co-workers there - and to do some work. : )  I picked the right day, because I was able to see 2 former co-workers who were meeting others for lunch.

Birthday Weekend Celebration
Friday, the oldest nephew came down from NY.  Can't believe he'll be 25 this year, but it's also cool because he can drive down anytime and go out with us whenever.  This is the 2nd year in a row he's come for my birthday weekend.  There always seems to be a concert that I want to go to around my birthday!  He got to the house around 6 pm so we went out to dinner and then came back to the house to watch hockey.  Our neighbor DS came down and hung out with us - finished watching the 3rd period of the game and then we all went outside to sit around the firepit and eat smores.  I finally went to bed about 12:30 while the guys waited for Dan to get home.

Saturday, we went to Red Robin for a late lunch/early dinner and I got my free birthday burger.  We also got a free appetizer since I just signed up for the frequent customer card.  About 7:30 pm we headed up to Baltimore to Rams Head Live to see Charm City Devils and Halestorm.  We got to see a little bit of Madame Adam (they sounded pretty good).  It was nice to see CCD since it's been awhile.  John threw a CD single out into the crowd.  Next thing I know, it's at my feet!  So I grabbed it!  WOOHOO!  What is it with seeing them play live and getting a free CD?  John gave me the demo when I saw them as Forty Acres way back when.

Halestorm was AWESOME!  Lzzy has as strong a voice in concert as she does on the CD.  They played the whole CD along with 2 covers and 1 new song.

Sunday was Chipotle for lunch and by the time we got back VJ needed to head out. : (  Then DH and I went to Home Depot to get yard stuff and spend the rest of the day in the yard.  The neighbors/Esa's best friend came over for about 30 minutes.  The pups hadn't played together all winter.  The rest of the evening was TV time.

Today I walked into the kitchen to presents!!!!!  WOOHOO!  Dan got me Season 4 of The 4400 and a replacement neck wrap.  He said that another present is on it's way.....

Coming up this week is Janet Jackson on Thursday with my friend, NW.  Then Junkfood posted that they will be in Herndon at Ned Devine's on Saturday.  The celebration keeps going!

Changing the blog.....

So, I’m missing my blogging about everyday life. I thought I was going to blog in Facebook & Myspace, but that hasn’t happened. I enjoy sharing my “frugal” stories and this blog was going to be just about that, but then I figured, there are a lot of friends who aren’t on Facebook or MySpace and still want to know what’s going on.

Our life is pretty boring, but every once in awhile we have some fun and interesting things going on, sometimes just funny stories.

I think what started me thinking about this is last weekend – we had a lot of fun (along with celebrating my bday!). My nephew, VJ, stopped to visit on his way back from Florida on Thursday night. Friday, Dan took off from work and the three of us went to dinner at Red Robin and then to Jaxx to see ZO2 & Kix. Why Red Robin for dinner – coupon for a FREE burger for my birthday, of course! Bonus – free sundae, balloons & the waiters singing to me. Double bonus – the manager handed out scratch-offs for a future promo and we got ANOTHER free burger (and 2 free drinks)!

ZO2 & Kix were great!  I would have loved to seen ZO2 play longer.  Kix was the same as ALWAYS!  Same show as 15 years ago.

Saturday, we FINALLY got up and around about 12 noon, went to the grocery store and got items for our neighbors (Dan & Stephanie's) for a cookout.  Then it was time smores at our house!  It was the me & the boys, with the newest boy, Jackson (Dan & Stephanie's baby).  I'm sure that will be the first of MANY visits to our house.  VJ headed home around 10 pm.  Although the visit was short, it was great to see him.

Sunday, we just hung out and then mid afternoon, headed to Maggiano's for a late lunch/early dinner.  Oh, and the reason for Maggiano's, a $10 off coupon!  I was amazed that we walked right in and were seated.  I so expected to have to wait.  Right after we sat down, a family with 2 tweens sat in the booth behind us - the reason I mention this - the one girl was moody and like any sister, the other girl was giving her a hard time about it.  Then finally the girl got in a better mood and the next thing you know, they are singing Tic Toc.  Oh, but they couldn't say "bottle of Jack" so they were saying toothpaste.  LOL!

Then we stopped for a couple of groceries and then at Dairy Queen for buy one get one free Blizzards (birthday coupon).  We came home and chilled.

Oh, besides all of the free food for the birthday - PRESENTS!  It was a MUSIC birthday!  Dan gave me one present before the concert - because it was ZO2!  He knew I would want to buy the CD at the concert.  What he didn't expect, was that they had the DVD of Z Rock.  I said to Dan "you want to get the DVD?" and he said "no"  I'm like "WHAT?"  He said "Look at me - no"  Then I realized - BECAUSE he got it for me for my birthday!  So when we got home from the concert, he gave it to me.  On Sunday, Dan gave me Charm City Devils.  Tuesday, I got a $50 Itunes card from my former boss, Stephanie.

It was a really good birthday.

Entry for March 21, 2007

Entry for March 21, 2007
03/21/2007 11:51 am
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Birthday Day is going well -



Zed got two points last night and the Caps play tonight. Can't think of a better way to celebrate!



I got a card from Dan and a cat photo frame from Steph. Which is a perfect gift since I was just thinking the other day that I didn't have a picture of Babe with her ashes and her baby doll (which she had since she was a kitten - that's another story).



We're going out to lunch next week to Picante's to celebrate. It will also be LaTonya's last day.



******



4:20 - Steve (our contractor) surprised us all and took us out (to Harry's Tap Room upstairs) for dessert. YUMMY!

Entry for May 27, 2006

Entry for May 27, 2006

05/27/2006 04:28 pm
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It's the start of Dan's birthday celebration (his birthday is Tuesday).



I let him open up his presents today and one of these days, this weekend, we'll be going to Kobe Japanese Steakhouse for dinner. Tomorrow, Pam & Jessica are coming over for a cookout.



Besides that, laying low. Today I slept until like 11:30 a.m.! And I went to be like 10:30 p.m.! I haven't done that in forever.

Entry for March 22, 2006

Entry for March 22, 2006

03/22/2006 08:21 pm
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The birthday week continues -



The rest of the hockey pictures are up on the photos page.



Today, I received 2 birthday cards and my name in a national publication! WHAT? Yes - I was quoted in the magazine ARN (www.AirportRevenueNews.com). I was contacted by a reporter and (as per Westfield procedures), contacted our VP to let them know the reporter called. She reviewed everything before e-mailing it off, and VOILA - I'm in print. LOL I'm not sure if the pictures will work, but they are on the pictures page. You can print them out and should be able to read it.

Entry for March 21, 2006

Entry for March 21, 2006

03/21/2006 08:20 pm
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So far birthday week has been good.



Sunday, Dan gave me two items that were on my Creative Memories wish list.



Monday started great with a surprise call from my "adopted" parents - Ted & Ginny Johnson. They were my "adopted' parents even when the parents were around! I basically spend EVERYDAY at their house up until I moved to VA - and I mean EVERYDAY. I found out that Ted & Ginny actually called the house and woke Dan up first - no one lead on until I said to Dan - they called the house first didn't they!



Monday evening - dinner at Chipotle and then the hockey game. Montreal won - which I figured would happen. The Caps haven't been doing well. Our seats were great. They weren't where I thought they would be - I thought we were going to be close to the end of the Montreal bench and ended up being closer to the Caps bench and behind the box that the cameraman is in - USUALLY - BUT - no cameraman last night so we had an AWESOME VIEW! Check out the pictures that I took - the batteries on the camera started to die, so I didn't get as many as I wanted, but good enough! BEWARE - some of the pictures ARE blurry - a couple of times as soon as the camera came on, I was able to click and not even know if I got anything - LOL! I DID get a pretty good shot of a body check that happened RIGHT in front of us.



Today has been good too - Stephanie, my boss, got me a cloth makeup bag. Co-worker, Christina bought me a Strawberries & Cream Frappaccino from Starbucks (YUMMY!).



The best - I called Helen and just had to hint a little - She asked where I was (Work); then I asked "Do you know what day it is?" No response. I say "March 21"; She says "It's someone's birthday!" Then she starts apoligizing that she didn't send me a card - she didn't get out last week, but she probably could have when to the gift shop downstairs - LOL! HEELLLOOO - you fell and went to the hospital????? NO - I didn't say that - just thought it.



Anyway, I said, well, you can sing to me then - she started singing the traditional happy birthday; I said what about the church way - so she started singing it - she didn't realize it - but I started to tear up. Tears of joy and precious moments. She's the only one that has sung the church birthday song since moving down to VA, so it's special.



Friday is lunch with the co-workers. It was supposed to be a surpise, but Stephanie let me in on it today. Chris was planning it and planned on taking me to Picante's. He didn't even lead on yesterday when I told him that's where I went on Friday - AND I made the comment about not hearing about any plans yet. Stephanie said that Chris was ALL happy that I liked the place.



Anyway - now the day is winding down - I'll be spending the rest of the evening - sitting in front of the TV with Babe.



Oh - VJ did make it by on Friday (for like 10 minutes - and I got my first gift EVER from him (that he bought with his own money)! It's a Disney hockey puck - so fitting.

Entry for March 20, 2006

03/20/2006 09:16 am
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WOOHOO! HOCKEY TONIGHT!



The birthday celebration started yesterday - Dan gave to two presents (a photo storage box and photo software from Creative Memories) and then 2 sugar cookies (YUMMY!).



Tonight, he'll be taking me out to Chipotle for dinner and then to the hockey game - WHERE WE WILL BE RIGHT BEHIND THE MONTREAL BENCH! The camera's coming with us, so check for pictures later in the week.