Flea markets and more

For the past couple of months all of our free time has been spent at Baum Stadium. Now that the baseball season is over we have all kinds of free time to do other things. It’s strange to go from always having something to do on the weekends to not having anything to do. Although now that Razorback baseball is over we could go to the Naturals games.

Since this past weekend the Naturals were out of town we decided to go to different places like flea markets, garage sales, local shops, and etc. Saturday morning we took the dogs to the farmer’s market and to a few garage sales. After that we took them home and hit a few local shops in Springdale that we have never been to before. We then went to Lowell to eat at Ron’s Hamburger, which was really good but sickening at the same time. After we finished eating we hit a few flea markets. I was surprised at how much Chris liked going flea market shopping. He found all kinds of Razorback stuff for his office. It was strange because he bought more stuff than I did! There are all kinds of interesting things at flea markets. I haven’t been to a flea market in years but I wanted to see what kind of unique things I could find for the house. I love shopping at department stores but I get tired of looking at the same thing at every store and then everyone has the same things in their houses.

This coming weekend is our 6 year wedding anniversary. I can’t believe how quick 6 years has gone by. We have moved twice, bought 3 cars, had several pets, and been on many trips together. It doesn’t seem like 6 years but when you think of all of the things that we have done together and the wonderful memories that we have created it does. I’m not sure what we are going to do for our anniversary yet but I’m hoping that we do something fun like we did this past weekend. Whatever we decide to do I know that it will be another memorable anniversary.

Let's build something together

For the past few weeks we have been doing several different home improvement projects which required us to go to Lowe's every weekend that we had off. Poor Chris is so tired of going to Lowe's but I love going to Lowe's to get ideas for our next home improvement project. If we aren't going to Lowe's then we are going to Target, my other favorite place to shop.

Chris has hung curtains in front of the French doors leading to the backyard and I bought a new rug to coordinate all of the colors of the kitchen, dining room and living room. I'm hoping by doing this that the kitchen won't be as hot and that it will save us some on our electric bill. These were the last windows that didn't have curtains in our house. We have so many windows in the house and if we didn't have curtains on any of them it would be very warm in the house. Chris also finished painting the French doors in the back red to match the front door.


The last project that Chris did required him to go up to the attic and remove all of the wiring for the under cabinet lights that haven't been working for several months. When we bought the house the previous owners jerry-rigged under cabinet lights and the home inspector told us that they were a fire hazard. The lights eventually stopped working because one of the lights burnt out and when Chris removed them it looked like several of them were on fire at one point. We bought LED lights that just sticks to the underside of the cabinets and when they burn out all you have to do is change the batteries. To turn it on you just wave your hand under it and it turns on and off.

You're what?!?!?!

I hope that everyone had a nice Memorial Day, ours was very nice. My family came over and The Gibson’s came up for the day. We ate way too much food and played Wii Fit to work it all off. If anyone hasn’t heard of Wii Fit it is a video fitness game that was released last week for the Wii. At first I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it and I wasn’t sure if it would even really work. After using it for several days I can attest to the fact that it really does work. After the first day of using it I could barely move because I was so sore. If you aren’t big into physical activity and you want something that is fun and easy to do then buy the Wii Fit.

There are several different types of activities that you can do on the Wii Fit. You can do Yoga, Strength Training, Aerobics, and Balance Games. Before you start you have to get on the balance board so it can weigh you and calculate your BMI. It will tell you if you are obese, overweight, normal, or under weight. The game was actually released in Japan first and when it calculated your weight it would say, “You’re fat!” Thankfully before they released it here they changed it. Wii Fitt will also let you set a weight loss goal and it will help you keep track of it. Wii Fit can be used by any age level; my mother used it yesterday and liked it so much that she wanted to buy one for herself.

Introducing Reginald

Here is a picture of Reginald. Sorry it has taken me so long to post it but I didn't want to post a picture until he was clean. It has rained so much here and then we took him on two trips so he was really gross looking. Reginald and I are starting to bond more but it is still going to take me a while to get use to him.

An interesting thing to note about Reginald is that he came with OnStar. OnStar is pretty much standard on all GM cars now. The only thing that I knew about OnStar was that in a car accident and your air bags deploy that they would call 911 for you. But, there are more exciting things that you can do with OnStar.
With OnStar your car has a built in telephone. All you have to do is push the Phone Button and the car will say "OnStar Ready" then all you have to do is say call and whoever the person's name it is that you want to call. Then it will call the person's name. The blue button is to actually talk to an OnStar person in case you need directions, a phone number, or if you're having problems with your car they will do a vehicle diagnostic to tell you what is wrong with your car. Yeah I know that is creepy to me too. Reginald sends me e-mails every month to tell me what is doing on with him. The red button is in case you get in a car accident or need medical assistance.

At first I was freaked out by the whole OnStar thing but I guess it is nice to have in case of emergencies or if I lock my keys in my car. Chris likes having it because I get in car accidents a lot and he also likes being able to find me because I never have my cell phone turned on ring.

And my name is....

We have decided to name the new car Reginald. I know that many of you have asked what the car's name is and I have neglected to post it. I promise I will post pictures of him soon. I haven't posted any yet because it has been raining a lot here and he looks really disgusting.

I've been so busy lately working on the yard that I really haven't had a lot of time to do anything else. I have one flower bed left to weed and then I have to re-weed all of the flower beds again. I have to have everything completely weeded before Memorial Day because all of our family is coming over for a BBQ.

This weekend we are going to Mena for Traci's high school graduation. We can't believe that she is graduating high school and we are both very proud of her. We know that she is really excited to be done! We are also going to a family reunion on Chris's side of the family. So, the next couple of weekends for us are going to be very busy.

Help name the new car

Tomorrow I pick up my new car, a Saturn Aura. I didn’t get the SUV that I really wanted but I did get another Saturn. The dealership couldn’t make the payments work out on the Vue but they could make them work on the Aura. The Aura gets 22 in the city and 30 on the highway. Chris has always loved the Aura and since gas doesn’t seem to be going down I decided that I would take one for the team and get a car. But, I told Chris that eventually I want another SUV. I love driving SUVs, they make me feel safer. I know it’s all just a mental thing with me because I have had so many car accidents. But, I haven’t had a car accident since driving the Vue.

So, since we are getting another car I have to come up with a new name to name it. You might be thinking that it is strange that I would want to name a car, but I have named all of the cars that I have ever owned. The first one was a 91 Oldsmobile Cutlass Sierra named Arnold. I had two car accidents in Arnold and after the second one he went to the big salvage yard in the sky. So, then my parents bought me a 99 Saturn SL1, which I named Arnold the 2^nd. I loved that car and would have loved to keep it but I traded that in for a 2002 Honda Civic EX which was named Jefferson. Jefferson was an evil car that we had many problems with. I won’t bore you with all of the problems but we traded that car in for my current car which is a 2005 Saturn Vue named Kenneth. There have only been two cars that I have really loved Arnold the 2^nd and Kenneth. When I traded Arnold the 2^nd in I cried and I have a feeling that tomorrow will be the same way. I would love to keep Kenneth longer but gas is killing us.

Chris says that I get to emotionally attached to cars, but I know several other people out there that get attached to their cars too. So, if you have any good car names you would like to suggest leave us a comment and let us know.

Are your pocket's empty

I know that everyone must be feeling the prices of high gasoline costs. We are feeling those prices as well and since I drive a gas guzzling SUV Chris and I have decided to look for another SUV that gets better gas mileage. I know you must be thinking why don't we just get a car with better gas mileage, well I feel more comfortable and safer driving a SUV. I have been in several car accidents and my last car accident the driver didn't see me. So, after doing tons of research we have narrowed the field of SUVs down to two. The Honda CR-Vand the Saturn VUE.
They are both comparable in price and in gas mileage. We are going to go back Wednesday so I can test drive them again. I currently own a 2005 Saturn Vue, which I absolutely love and would love to keep Kenneth, yes, that is his name. But, I average 15 miles to the gallon which is really bad. Both of the SUVs that we are looking at get 20 in the city and 26 on the highway, which is a lot better than what I get now. I would love to get another Saturn because I have never had any problems with mine and I love the service and the people there. But we are still debating and mulling it over and we will let everyone know what we decide on later.