Lots of stuff going on!

Well, it’s been awhile since I updated so I do have some news to report!

Most of the footings are done! Last Friday, they were able to complete the footings for three sides of the house, leaving just the last short side and the retaining walls. And the basement walls and the porches, but that will all come. We went out to see everything that night, and Yoshi branded the footings while the concrete was still wet – so now we have footings that look like Hollywood Blvd with the footprints! It was pretty funny.

We also had some more gravel hauled in, and I believe more concrete is being worked on today! Yay!

We ALSO are very very close to getting the electric poles set and hooked up. I believe that will happen in the next few days after all the paperwork is processed correctly. Let me tell you, it’s a little more involved to decide where you want to place the last big pole…you have to think of things like where the stabilizing wire will end up and still at the same time get it as close to the house as possible to avoid spending more on the wire to actually hook it up to the house. It was a process, that’s for sure. Hopefully we will be happy with the results of our choice – it’s a little late now to change our minds!

Last weekend, we planted 60 flowers! (They were little.) I wanted my flowerbed to be beautiful and full so it will look nice if someone wants to look at our house. Unfortunately, we haven’t had too much interest lately, but I’m due to relist on a couple websites, so once I get that done, hopefully things will pick up. This weekend we are going to a fish fry at A’s parents to thank everyone who helped with his grandparents’ sale. There are quite a few people invited so it should be a pretty happening place! 

Random Items of Interest

**My Pampered Chef items arrived on Tuesday, so last night we delivered packages (as many as we could) before we had band practice at 8:30. Hopefully we will finish delivering tonight!

**I am really looking forward to having the fair (which is next weekend) over with. I think we may have a bit more free time and I can definitely use some of that.

**Along with the fair next weekend, A’s family from Iowa is coming for a visit and is planning on arriving Thursday next week. It should be a pretty hectic weekend! His cousin (about 14 years old or so) may stay with us Friday night, so I am frantically (at least when I’m not delivering Pampered Chef) trying to get the spare room to look more like a spare room than a storage closet. This has not been successful so far, but I’m hoping to make progress this weekend.

**Also on the agenda this weekend is brownies! I’m dying to try out my new bar pan and I think brownies will have a good fat amount in them to help season the pan. (A also said that he would not mind coming home from working on the fairgrounds Saturday to a house smelling like brownies. He doesn’t ask for things like that very often, so I’ll probably oblige.) I need to make some banana bread, too. But not in my bar pan.

**Yoshi is loving this cooler weather (I am, too!) and is being pretty energetic in the evenings! He likes to jump. I’m hoping to get some time to take him on a very long walk one of these evenings so we can all get out and enjoy the nice weather.

**I just finished a book called “Before Green Gables”, which was a prequel to “Anne of Green Gables” and now I’m rereading my Anne books. I forgot how much I like them. They just make me laugh out loud at some of the antics the kids get up to.

**When picking up my Pampered Chef items from Mom’s house, I found out that I had accidentally left a box of books behind! Needless to say, I was very happy to find that box. It had several books I’ve been looking for in it, and I was worried I had lost them in the move somehow. (Which I guess is partly true, since I just found them.)

Pampered Chef galore!

Well, my Pampered Chef party officially “closed” yesterday. It was fantastic! Far surpassed my expectations – my party sold over $500 worth of products! This means that as the hostess I won 2 half price items, and $90 worth of free product. But wait! That’s not all. The August hostess special was an extra $50 of free product if you sell more than $500. So I get 2 half price items and $140 of free product! And that’s not even all. The other hostess special is 60% off one of 3 different items. So that’s a 60% off item, 2 half price items and $140 of free product. You could just have knocked me over with a feather when I found out my party had done so well. I am very thankful that so many people support me so much.

Anyway, last night was the phone call with my consultant to finalize all the orders and pick out my “prizes”. I really wanted an 11 inch grill pan, but no matter which way you sliced it, it really took a chunk of money, or almost all of my free stuff (it’s regularly priced at $135). So I won’t be getting the skillet. Which is really ok with me, since I don’t HAVE to have a Pampered Chef one – any old grill pan is hunky dory! And I wanted to get as much out of my awards as I could. Make it stretch kind of, you know? So here is what I chose (you can go to www.pamperedchef.com to see pictures of all the different products or you can click on the links below):
Free Products:

1. Quik Stir pitcher (2 quart size): very cool things – they stir your drink without a spoon!
2. Large Bar Pan: this is stoneware and one of the things I’m most excited to get
3. Food Chopper: you’ve all seen these – chop veggies nice and small with no knife
4. Egg Slicer plus: also good for fruits (kiwi, strawberries) and small softer veggies
5. Serrated Peeler: I don’t really know how to describe this one. Rest assured, it is cool.
6. Classic Batter Bowl: oven safe, microwave safe, dishwasher safe, comes with a lid, is really big. Come on, what’s not to like here?
7. Measure-All cup, 2 cup size: measures dry and wet ingredients, just flip it over! Yay!
8. Citrus Peelers: got 2 of these. I can’t peel oranges (or any citrus, really) to save my life, so I’m excited for these little dudes!
9. I-slice: this is one of A’s choices. It slices plastic wrap envelopes, papers, whatever you want. And it’s a lovely shade of cranberry.
10. Mini serving spatula: because how else do you get food out of a pan?
11. Large serving spatula: for those really BIG jobs….

My two half price item choices are a large bamboo serving bowl and a rectangle stone (it seems very multi-purpose to me). For my 60% off item I chose the stainless mesh colanders (it’s a set of three) and I’m very excited about them, too.

After adding up all the full-price totals, I’m getting a little over $230 worth of stuff for about $50. Can you beat that? Seriously?

I mailed off the check to the consultant today so hopefully all this stuff will come in soon. I’m kind of excited for everyone to get their items. I want to see how much they like them!