Fantastic find

I have always been amazed at the things that people throw out. I'll be driving around our sub-division and see piles of things people just put out on their curb with their trash. Furniture things like dressers and desks to lamps and other miscellaneous. What we found this week though takes the cake.

Ian was driving and saw a TV. Not a small, old funky thing but one like this,

It's a Sony 42 inch, in great condition.

Obviously since it was thrown out we figured there was a problem with it. Fortunately, a friend of ours was here visiting and he's an electrical genius who loves to take things apart and fix them! :) So, the guys bring the tv inside and he looks it over. Diagnosis? It needed a new projection bulb.

A quick search of Ebay showed we could get one for $100.

A quick google search priced the value at $1500-$2000.


We ordered the part, installed it and ~VOILA~ works perfectly!

Sometimes it pays off to look at people's trash.

Differences

The first few months living here in the Midwest I didn't really take the time to compare it to Washington. Sure there were a few obvious things, like the absence of greenery, hills or mountains. What struck me though was a conversation I had with a few kids in our homeschool group here. I'm teaching a little study on birds and I was showing pictures and I asked if any of them had ever seen a seagull?

Nope.

A pigeon?

Only a couple.

Wow.

I could tell that my kids were looking around thinking that that was weird, and frankly so was I. It sunk in though how different things are here. Things my kids have grown up with these kids hadn't seen and vice versa.

For instance, it wasn't until last week that we got to see a firefly.






Here those are common place, but to us they are fascinating!

So that has just left me curious as to what else we took for granted back in the northwest...and a bit sad that my kids are young still and may not remember those things...like sand dollars...and slugs....digging for clams....the ocean...

*sigh*

I guess I'm a bit homesick, yet inspired to look for all the different things here we have yet to discover.

Yeah,

I can't imagine why this 13 month old little guy isn't walking yet....

Mary, Mary, quite contrary...

How does your garden grow?

I'm so excited to be seeing progress on my plants!!


~Cilantro~


~Jalepeno~


~Cayenne Pepper~

~Tomatoes~

I can taste the fresh salsa already! :)

Bookmarks

I was just sitting here clicking around to a few places on the web that I visit and I kept going back to my trusty bookmark tab. Which in turn made me think and wonder about what kinds of things other people bookmark. Mine are things like:

Places I visit daily,

Facebook
Google Reader
Twitter
Hotmail
Gmail

Places I go occasionally,

a couple blogs I like but don't subscribe to
online bill paying sites
pandora radio

Places I've found with info I want for later,

etched glass instructions
free printable bible curriculum
recipe for homemade coffee creamer

Things for kids,

Webkinz
Spelling City
ABCya
Starfall

What do yours look like? Are there sites you go daily...occasionally...weird random ones you saved for later??? Please share!

Sure fire way to make your kids hyper & happy!

At our house things can get quite crazy and silly...take this for example. Ian lined up the kids and pitched marshmallows at them to catch in their mouths. We ALL laughed hard, it was hilarious to watch...see for yourself. :)

So, what fun wacky things go on at your house?

Where did the last week go?

I logged in here ready to type only to realize that it's been a whole week since my last entry. I know that there are many weeks when I only post once but seeing this just made me think...what did we do?

I guess that uneventful is a good thing, less stress right?

In the next week we have a few things to do....like:

*Go back to the water park now that it's open during the day (not just evenings/weekends)

*Saturday there is a giant carnival/play day put on by my Dh's employer

*Next week starts our summer homeschool co-op
*I need to make lesson plans for said co-op (I'm teaching a nature study on birds)

*Bi-weekly grocery shopping (does this seem like a major chore to anyone else?)


Looking over to the side at my pregnancy ticker seems a bit unreal too...can there really be less than 90 days left?