OK, I was one of thse crazy people who braved the crowds to get into the new store in town, Aldi. It is a German-owned company, and all their products are "store brand." Not a single Kellogs, Sarah Lee, ProctorGamble name to be found in the whole store (it is a TINY STORE by comparison). So I went in, swooped up some stuff, and walked out with two canvas bags of groceries( Aldi charges for their bags) for a grand total of $40.85, BUT THAT'S NOT ALL.... I had a coupon for $5.00 off a purchase of $25.00 or more.
Tonight I made a complete Aldi meal. Here it is:
Penne Rigate: .89
1 lb 93% ground beef: 3.77
fresh mushrooms: (I used 1/3 of container) .53
4 0z cheese: 1.00
pasta sauce: 1.79
broccoli crowns: 1.39 ( although I didn't use all of them, I did use more than 1/2)
Total cost of meal, for 4 people (and we have some leftover pasta) $9.37. Add to that the cost of a pineapple for dessert later (.99) or peaches (.29 each) and that is an economic meal. I wouldn't want it everyday, but really the prices were good! The pasta sauce was very thick and had big chunks of tomatoes. I don't think the beef was any more/less than the cost at my regular store. The real savings come in at those packaged foods that are not name brand, such as cereal bars (1.89 for generic nutri-grain bars) & tortilla chips (1.19) and milk (2% @ 1.69 a gal, yes, that is a dollar sixty nine cents a gallon!) and bread (1.29 for a 1 lb loaf of whole wheat.)
The tortilla chips were good. I'll let you know what my kids think of the cereal bars.
So the downside of Aldi: No name brands, at all. You have to bring your own bag or pay 6 cents for paper or 10 cents for plastic bags (or it could be reversed, I don't know!) You also have to put in a quarter to get a shopping cart, but you get it back when you return it. On the day I went they were giving customers the quarter to show them how to use the carts. Interesting concept, we will see if it works!

Since I got the "good stuff" after my surgery, I have been dreaming the wildest dreams. I just woke up from one (and I haven't had any hydrocodone in 12 hours) in which we had bought a beach house, on stilts, right next to a cove. Only of course, it needed work. We were painting it. And for some reason, I was stripping paint off an old chest. You know what that's from, the buffet I bought back in March that has been sitting in my garage the whole time, being stripped and sanded in small bursts of energy. It's still my dream to finish that piece. Anyway, back to the main dream storyline, we had two large outdoor decks on either side of the beach house, which in and of itself, was not very big, just 4 rooms. On certain weekends we couldn't use it, because the Dallas Cowboys were playing football in the water and the decks were being used to watch the game, and of course broadcast the game. I sure hope all the players can swim. We also had invited friends out to use the house too, but the refrigerator door broke off, causing some problems. I don't recall if there were margaritas there or not, but you can bet, If I can afford my own beach house, I'm going to to have a Margarita Machine there, too. You are all welcome to come and join me.

Always, Always ask your child, even your teen, this question at a restaurant. Today, Father's Day, John picked Red Lobster for his lunch treat. We skipped church, and got there early. As the kids were getting out of the van I said twice "Don't order Lobster!" thinking this would cover things. Think again. Morgan ordered snow crab legs off the kids menu, not that bad, about $9. Travis on the other hand, order king crab legs. Jeeze. When the bill came, to me of course because it is "Father's Day" his food alone was $26.99. It appears that king crab is sold by the pound. When I asked him how much did he think that the crab costs, he said "ten dollars?" I guess he wasn't paying attention. But you can bet that next time, I will be.
Love you all, and Happy Father's day.

We are back from Colorado! Had a great few days there. Yes, only a few days, left on Thursday, spent the night in Amarillo, then on to South Fork, left on Monday, arrived home about midnight. Why such a short trip? We did the same thing when we went to see the Grand Canyon. It's the Brasher way.

South Fork is really pretty. I had a great opportunity to stay a a cabin that friends just bought and are fixing up. Get with me if you want to rent a place that is only 17 miles from Wolf Creek skiing. It is a cute place, on the edge of town, backs up to Rio Grande National Forest, and sleeps about 11 peeps (but only two bathrooms, so don't over-do it.) We spent time on the front porch rocking and watching the crazy hummingbirds. One reddish one on particular thought that he owned the place, so he kept running the other guys off. We went to Creede, and went to the underground mining museum. My kids actually paid attention to the tour guide, a former miner himself, who unfortunately is also now tethered to an oxygen bottle. Mining is not too good for your health.

After that we determined to take the Bachelor Loop outside of town and see the real ghost towns (or as Morgan now calls them-- ghost houses) and started up the hill, only to have John chicken out and go back down the hill. We then went the opposite way, since all the vehicles seemed to be going down the hill, not up the hill. Did I mention it was a one-lane road? Going up was cool. Lots of ruts (no pavement) and bouncing around, and once, when we had to scoot over for a pickup going down when we went up (you yield to those coming down) we scratched a nice reminder of the trip down the side of my van with the brush. I asked John if he wanted me to drive, since he was kinda nervous, but he said "HECK,NO" or something like that, and so I didn't. Going down was interesting, we were smelling a burning smell from the truck in front of us, but he pulled over and we continued down, only to realize quickly that WE were smoking too. John was freaking out thinking we had ruined the van. I got the brilliant idea (3/4 the way down) that perhaps we should put it in low gear. We obviously survived, but I don' think that was the relaxing experience I was hoping John to have.

The next day, Sunday, we went rafting (or as Morgan kept calling it, Raffling) and that was fun! It was a "self-guided" tour down the Rio Grande, which translates into you are on your own, but don't worry, we've never lost anyone on the short route before. I at least had the presence of mind to only go the short route. But it was fun! the time flew, and before we knew it, the 1 1/2 hrs were over.

Morgan was very insistent on rowing her own oar, which of course she let go of accidentally right at the beginning of the trip. What do you think she did? SHE JUMPED IN after it. Before we knew what had happened, she was in the water trying to get it. Jumped, not fell. Luckily she a) had a life jacket on b) it was only waist deep on her and c) she knows how to swim. The water was a very cold 59 degrees, but she warmed up quickly because it was sunny. We have never rafted before, so we couldn't control our raft very well, we kept going into the side of the river, hitting rocks, knocking into brush, etc. Good thing it was a sturdy raft! I told my kids that it is kinda a life metaphor, sometimes you can paddle and steer all you want, but you just wind up going into the rocks. That's why we need to rely on God all the time. I don't think they were impressed with my profound comments.

The Great Sand Dunes were next (yes on the same day) and we thought they were neat, but I wasn't about to go and climb them, but of course Morgan wanted to do it. She was happy we at least let her run ahead of us a good ways. We did see a whirlwind on the way back to South Fork. It seems like the valley landscape is a lot like west Texas, just add mountains in the background.

Our trip home was not too eventful, just a a couple of thunderstorms and blinding rain. I think the drive from Texas to Colorado is beautiful, but the drive from the Texas border to Amarillo, and then Amarillo to WF could just a well be on the moon, it is so desolate. I can't appreciate that kind of "Miles and Miles of Texas."

Now back home, we have washed clothes, restocked the pantry, gone to football 2-a-days, and I will go back to work tomorrow. John, however, is researching small towns in Colorado on the Internet. Is it fantasy or planning? Who knows, but I do know that if he gets in the mountains he'll never cut his hair, or his beard, again. I think that is his retirement plan no matter where he lives!

The kids are on the trampoline, "play fighting." I am not sure how much of it is play vs just getting frustrations out on the other sibling. They were very quarrelsome right before lunch, and I warned them if there were any more cross words at each other, they would BOTH be grounded from TV and computer. I think they decided to duke it out on the trampoline. Which would be fine, except there is a huge age difference. Travis is 14, Morgan only 7. For those of you who know us well, your probably placing your bets on Morgan to be the winner. She is that aggressive, and if you know Travis, he would never really hurt his sister intentionally.
Have any siblings ever NOT fought? Have any of you ever not either hit or been hit by one of your siblings (assuming you have one?) Today part of our lesson in Church was on Cain and Abel. If you have never heard of this story then you probably didn't grow up in the Northern Hemisphere. Cain "slew" Abel. The first murder. Jealousy. Aren't we all jealous though in some way? Even small things like "I wish I had a pool" could be some sort of jealousy, right? Are we ever really satisfied with the gifts God has given us, or are we always wanting more? Maybe that is a question we should ask ourselves everyday. It's OK to want a pool. Just don't hate your neighbor because he has one. And maybe don't let your resentment of not having a pool cloud your relationship with God. My analysis probably is not theologically correct, but it is worth thinking about. By the way, I have been thinking about a pool a lot lately, but a) our yard is probably too small and b) John wouldn't pay for it.
Meanwhile, the play fighting is over. Morgan came into the house crying because Travis "hit her in the eye." Actually, it is the side of her eye. She recovered quickly. So if you see her and she has a black eye, you know why. Also, you may have lost money on a bet, but there's always next time.

Well John bravely held down the fort while I was gone. The tomatoes didn't die, and they dogs & crabs are still alive. I assume the cats are still alive, although I haven't spotted them, yet. Interestingly, the house looked a lot bigger than I remembered after having spent time in the hotel. It was nice to see the kitchen again. The three small tomatoes were still on the cabinet where I left them a week ago. The bowl of limes and lemons were there too, with some indescribable molded mini-football mixed in with the others: is it a lime? Is it a lemon? Who knows? The same two plates *(dirty) were still in the dishwasher, where I left them. They really weren't needed, because daddy and Morgan ate out quite a bit, which is fine with me. I ate out at every meal, after all. All the laundry is almost done from the trip. John did all of their laundry. Not one piece of unwashed laundry was left. John reminded me it's not easy to go pick up Morgan, and get her to her tennis lessons, soccer party, and work full time with is brief due on Monday. Really? My plan worked. I am more appreciated! I gotta go. I just heard Travis tell his sister that she better mind him, and stop showing off for her friend who is visiting. Morgan then let out a piercing scream, and yelled "Mom, Travis is being an Idiot!"

* I am now printing a retraction. John read my blog and said those are NOT the same two plates that were in there when I left, they are the two plates left over from when they ate the microwave lasagna I got for them. That they had on Wednesday. Today is Sunday.

I often wish my house were a bit more tidy. It's not that it is really bad, just not really good. I have a covetous nature. I covet a clean house. Cleanliness is next to Godliness, right? Plus, chaos makes me nervous. I get a little jittery when I visit a certain relative's house, where things are really messy (think along the lines of that hoarding show on TV, just not quite as bad) and I want to start cleaning as soon as I get home, afraid the genetic link in me will come out and I will suddenly start having to pick my way through junk. I don't have as high of a standard as I once did (pre-children) but I still see dirty places that just, well, bug me. Most of my floors are hard surface, which I love, but you do see all those miscellaneous pieces of grass, popcorn and cereal that fall on the floor. Don't worry, if you are my friend, and your house is less than perfect (or a whole lot closer to "Hoarders" than you care to admit) I don't judge you! I am far less judgmental than you could even imagine. In fact, I love visiting my friends who have less-than-perfect homes. It makes me feel normal. "Cleanliness is next to Godliness" is not in the bible, after all. But there is a fine line between cleanliness and OCD, I am pretty sure. Lets all do our part to stay mentally healthy: leave the mess, have fun with your family!
Love U All, Mary