Favorite things...

Vacation has come to an end...but it has been a great week! Although we didn't take off for some exotic location and Tanner was sick on Thurs and Fri, it was still a good week. I feel relaxed and I actually got several projects done around the house. I know that may sound like work for some, but it gives me great satisfaction to cross things off my list. A little sick perhaps, but true nonetheless. So...a couple of things I discovered this week that are near the top of my "favorite things" list.

1. First, a nifty feature that Google has called Google Reader. If you are a blog reader, this thing is totally awesome!! I have several (ok...quite a few) blogs that I enjoy reading and the Google reader makes it so much easier. You enter all your favorite blogs, and it gives you a recap of all the new posts whenever you log in. So no more surfing all over the interet, checking all your favorite blogs to see if there are any new posts. Now, you just go to one place...and all the new posts are there for your reading enjoyment. I don't know how long this fabulous invention has been around, but I have been thoroughly enjoying it this week!! I guess that makes me a little geeky that I find this so neat...but oh well :)

2. Next is the most incredible cleaner called Jomax. Again, I am demonstrating how easy it is to impress me...but this stuff is absolutely unbelievable. The siding and wood trim on our house has been slowly growing a black/green mildew coating for the last year. And it was simply starting to look hideous. I knew we had to do something about it, but I had this horrible feeling that it was going to take a lot of elbow grease and sweat so quite honestly I was just procrastinating. Not that it was getting any better, mind you, while I procrastinated. My dad told me on several occasions that I needed to use Jomax on it. He told me that you just sprayed it on and it would fizz and just roll off. Yeah right! Nothing in life is that easy! Or so I thought...which is why I kept putting it off. I hate to even admit that we actually had a bottle of Jomax but I just couldn't fathom it was going to be that easy. Well, I have to say that Dad was right...again! This stuff is absolute magic! In fact, I told Chris that every new home owner should be given a bottle of this stuff. I mixed some water, bleach and Jomax in a tank sprayer and sprayed the house. Right before my eyes, the mold, mildew and dirt simply disappeared. Amazing! If I could only spray Jomax inside the house and have it magically clean in a few minutes. Now that would be something! Here is a before and after picture - in case you thought I was exaggerating:




3. And finally...a girl's best friend, chocolate! If you have not tried the Ghirardelli Brownie Mix - run to the store right now and get some. This stuff is sinfully delicious. And yes it comes out of a box and is not homemade, but it is truly divine. In fact, if you are on a serious diet then don't even tempt yourself. And I say serious diet, because I feel like I am always on a diet...but it never seems to be very serious! In fact, I think I hear some brownies in the kitchen right now calling my name. Heaven help me!

Water fun

Chris and I are taking vacation this week - long overdue! We originally planned to go down to Rockport for the week, but the forecast was calling for wind and rain. Not exactly the weather you want for the beach. So we decided to stay home and do some fun day trips around here. We went to Schlitterbahn yesterday, which Tanner loved! The boy has no fear and wanted to go on EVERY SINGLE ride!! I think his favorite ride was the Der Bahn Speed Slide - a three story body slide that you would think would terrify a 3 year old. But oh no! He rode down with Chris and absolutely loved it. Here is a picture from the website since I didn't have my camera for this ride:



We were there for 8 hours and soaked up a lot of sun. I was slathering sun screen on every few hours and kept Tanner well covered - as you can see from the pictures. Poor little guy has my fair skin rather than his daddy's nice olive skin. Overall it was a great day! Here are some pictures: