1 Chocolate Pepper

Need gas?? It's probably worth a trip to Slater, depending on where you live. Gas in Slater is way cheaper than in Ames ($2.63 in Slater and $2.89 in Ames, last I saw). So for a round trip of less then 20 miles, you can save $.26 per gallon. Our car gets about 33 miles to the gallon, so a round trip from Slater to Ames take around 2/3 of a tank or $1.75 worth of gas. If your car gets similar gas mileage, then you'd be saving money if you got over 7 gallons of gas*.

The Huxley Casey's is currently selling gas for $2.74 a gallon, an $.11 difference per gallon. It's about a 10 mile round trip, which would use about 1/3 of a gallon of gas or $.88 worth of gas. In this scenario, 8 gallons or more of gas would have to be purchased to create a savings*.

*These calculations are only taking into account the actual monetary value of coming to Slater to get gas. The joy you might experience if you stopped by to see Aaron and the dogs and I is just an added bonus.

Belly Flops

We got our water bill the other day and WOW!! Slater recently increased their rates and it must have taken effect this last month. Our bill was at least 150% of what our bills used to be. That's a pretty big increase for one month and it got me thinking. I'd like to take this opportunity to issue a formal apology to my parents...

• I'm sorry for all those times I took a 30 minute shower, just because I was feeling lazy. Or even those times that left the water running the entire time I was brushing my teeth. What a waste!!
• I apologize for all those times I complained about how cold the house was, instead of just cuddling up in a blanket or just joining you in the basement in front of the warm fire. And for all the times I whined about how hot it was, I should have just turned on my fan. Turns out, electricity is expensive!!
• For all the nights that I grumbled about having the same old thing for dinner, I'm sorry. Actually mustering up the ambition to make dinner after being at work all day is hard itself, but as it turns out, you have to come up with an idea first!!
• I couldn't believe that you made me sort my laundry instead of just leaving it all in one big pile. Now I'd like to say, thanks for letting me get by so easy!! The washing, drying, folding and putting away are tough work.
• When I thought you were the "worst parents ever," because you wouldn't buy me a $100 pair of jeans, I was so wrong!! You can buy 4 pairs for that price, and no one can even tell the difference unless they're looking at the tag. Turns out, you were great parents!!
• I rolled my eyes when you asked me to turn down the music in my car when you were riding with me. But now I understand. It's hard to hear over the music if you want to have a real conversation with someone without screaming.

I may have been a pain in the butt a few years back, but don't you think it was all worth it?? I mean, look at who I've turned out to be and all the things I've learned.

Soft Puppies!!

What a great weekend!! This is the type of trip I'd love to take all the time. We didn't just do all of the normal touristy things and had a wonderful time. On Saturday morning, we went to a great farmer's market with fresh, HOT donuts!! Then we took the "El" downtown and walked around Millenium Park, Michigan Avenue and Navy Pier (okay, so that's a little touristy). That night, we went out for "Here Style Pizza" as we called it while we were there and had some amazing Chicago Deep Dish Pizza!!


Sunday , we went to IKEA, which was worth the trip alone :-D I'm thankful that we haven't moved into a bigger house yet, or I don't know that I would have been able to contain myself. Then we went up to Wisconsin (about 3 miles into it) and went to Jelly Belly Lane. We got a great tour of a Jelly Belly distribution center and got tons of "Belly Flops" or Jelly Belly's that just weren't quite the right shape, but still taste great!! Forest Park was having their Centennial Fest, so we went and listened to a Dave Matthews Cover Band and watched some great fireworks.



I can't wait to go back...

Almost # 200...

Have you ever seen the VH1 show, "Best Week Ever!"? It talks about different celebrities and those that have had especially good or bad weeks. Aaron and I thought we were in the running last week (it was a great week), but they didn't include us on the show. Weird!!

This week, however, seems like it's just dragging on and on!! Maybe it's because everyone is just anxiously anticipating the three-day weekend, making the days leading up to it seem never ending. I'm not sure.

I do know that the weekend needs to be here soon, because people are starting to get very irritable...myself included.

Roarke's first day of Kindergarten was "AWESOME!!"

We have watermelons!!

There were 4 watermelons last time we checked (on Sunday). There are two the size of the one in the picture (with a tennis ball next to it for comparison) and two that are about the size of the tennis ball. As long as we can keep the boys from trampling the vine, which has way outgrown the garden, then we should have tons of watermelon soon!!

Pepto Bismol Pink Patio

Iowa State Fair...the pictures say it all!!

We started off the day with a Pork Chop on a Stick and immediately headed for the shade, because we were there on the hottest day of the year.

I love babies!! We saw newborn (some only 1 day old!!) pigs, cows, sheep, goats and chickens. They had staff members holding some of the babies, but they even let me hold the chick!!

My husband the farmer, my mother the corndog and me as a cardinal. Who thought up this cutout?!?

Elated to be riding "Ye Olde Mill." My parents were right behind us, so we behaved on this romantic boatride!!

We're upside down. We were also sideways and backwards and every other which way.

Yummy!! We got a large bucket of hot cookies right before we sat down to listen to the Bee-Gees cover band. It was a great day!!

Dust Bunnies

Even as few as 4 years ago, I never would have thought that my mom and I would become friends. I was that teenager who thought she had no need for parents... But we are friends now and it's wonderful!!

This is us at Prairie Meadows on Friday night. We watched the horse races all night long.

On Tuesday we went to the fair together. We had a great time despite the heat!!

State Fair Tomorrow!!

Have I mentioned how much I love our garden?? For the last 5 weeks or so, we've been able to harvest at least a gallon size Ziploc bag full, which we've frozen, plus a meal or two. All that, from a $0.59 bag of seeds!!

We've also been able to get about a meals worth of broccoli every week. This week, we've had over a dozen tomatoes ready to pick. And the good news is, we have about another two dozen tomatoes still to come - all from one plant!!

Anyone who has known me for more than a couple years knows that I didn't used to eat any vegetables, so it's a huge change for me to be this excited about veggies!!

In Aaron's words, "I can't believe the dogs got a vacation home before we did!!"
This is the kennel we put up for the boys out at Aaron's parents house. It's 7.5'x13' and 6' tall. This was step one of tiling- because 2 dogs running around would not be very helpful.

My name is Blakely, and I'm addicted to Chocolate Covered Peanuts.

Slowly, but surely, we're getting the house done. In recent weeks we've painted the exterior, put a coat on the trim and started painting the basement. But that's nothing compared to what the next couple days hold!! I'm excited to report that starting tomorrow we'll be tiling our kitchen and mudroom floors and kitchen countertops. Aaron took a couple vacation days, that paired with his days off for the week, give him 4 days to work on the house.

I love my hardworking, handsome husband!!