Tech Free Part 2

I've been getting sick of our routine of watching Netflix, while Eric is gaming on his computer and I'm playing on my phone.  Also mildly tired of reading - I just wanted to escape from media for an evening!  So before Steven went home, I went for a jog and he and Eric followed me on bike.  

After Steven went home, Eric and I played a 3 hour game of Monopoly!  The cats were very involved in the game...and Eric kicked my butt. 

Steven got hit by a rogue trash bag. 

I'm running with Pandora running through my phone, and Eric & Steven are playing on the bikes. 

I jumped in our pool when my 3.25 mile run was over, soooo hot! 

Mystic was laying behind Eric with about 3 inches of space, and she kept a paw on his $5 million dollar bills. 

Addy and Eric both looking at me through their eyebrows.

Day 361: No Tech Night!

We are getting our carpets professionally cleaned tomorrow, so we have moved ALL of the furniture out of the dining room, living room, and hallway.  This means that our kitchen has shelves and couches in it, and the office is completely packed with the rest of the stuff...including...dun dun DUN!!!!!!!...the TV!

This prompted our first official "Tech Free Night"!  We started by laying on the floor for awhile trying to figure out just what to do without TV.  We started off with one of our combo roller blading/bike walks - it was super hot out, so we spent more time laying on the floor cooling off after we got home.  Then we had dinner at Subway and tried the new Turkey Bacon Avocadooohhhh sandwich, yum!  Finally we went to bed early and read for over an hour.  I finished a book, and got 50 pages into my next book!

My first ride with my new wrist guards and my helmet.

Day 333: Our Active Life!

Eric was off work today, so he finished preparing my Mexican pinwheels for me!  I made them all last night, but I didn't have time to slice them all up this morning.  He was off work today - so he was able to send some mail, withdraw budget money from the bank, cut and deliver the pinwheel snacks, starts a load of laundry for me, and gets busy with his tax final.

I brought these yummy treats to school because we had a going away party for two retirees and 5 of the staff members who are transferring to other buildings/out of state.  When I got home from work I hung out the laundry, and then Eric and I went for a really long roller blading bike ride - 2.5 miles!  I think this is our new favorite kind of exercise!  I'm starting to pick up stamina and not get tired as quickly...though I did have my first blading wipeout today...

Then Eric grilled a burger for him and some barbecue chicken for me, and we spent the rest of the night working on our separate computers while watching "In Plain Sight" at Katie's recommendation.  Eric finishing a project for his tax class, and me updating this darn blog.  Only another 32 days to go!!!

Mexican pinwheels - refried beans, Rotel with green chiles, olives, and nacho cheese sauce - yum! 

Today Eric called and asked "Do you just line dry because it saves energy, or do you really like the process of hanging it?"  I said that I really do like it, handing them is really relaxing and a nice experience.  I just wish we had line space to dry more than one load at once!  Doesn't it look nice?

I was feeling pretty confident in my skating today - I was flying down a hill, in the street because there was no sidewalk.  After an intersection, the sidewalk started back up again and I went to roll back onto the sidewalk.  However, in Eudora we have those red bumpy bricks at every curb cut - probably as an alert to walkers and strollers that they are about to go into the street.  Well these bumpy bricks also do a fantastic job at throwing roller bladers off their feet!  I knew I needed to dive for the grass in order to avoid a bad injury on the concrete, and barely made it in between two small electrical boxes.  My blades hit one of them with a loud bang, and Eric though I had smashed into it.  


The breath was knocked out of me because I landed first on my hands and then on my chest.  Minus some grass cuts on my legs, I've just got a sore left wrist, left shoulder, and neck.  Not too bad for something that could have been a lot worse.  From now, on, I'll be riding with a helmet.  And as soon as I can find some affordable guards in an ADULT size (apparently, only children need protective gear!), I'll be wearing that too!

Day 331: Multipurpose Porch

After we got back from camping, Eric's blanket was pretty smoky from hanging around the campfire.  I've only line dried twice, and Eric requested that we wait for a sunny day to line dry his blanket!  So I ran a load of laundry when I got home from work and set up my third round of line dried clothes on our porch.

After that was set up, Eric rode his bike and I roller bladed around Eudora - and then we stored his bike onnnnnnn the porch!

Finally, I lit up our grill and grilled some fantastic burgers...on the porch!  We may have a small little apartment, but we use our space wisely!

Cheeseburgers & fries.

Line drying and bikes!

Day 321: O'Reilly & Line Drying!

Oh, Friday!  You are so good to us!  I'll let the pictures do the talking today!

Eric's first day at O'Reilly went well.  He's a little overwhelmed at how much there is to remember, but confident that he'll catch on quickly.

I got to go see little miss Charlotte and Katie on Mass Street for some 3 Spoons Frozen Yogurt.  The guy working misunderstood my punch card and accidentally gave us both yogurts for free instead of "buy one, get the last one free".  Yea!

I spent $1 on nylon clothesline, and $1.50 on clothes pins.  Now I can save electricity and money by line drying our clothes!

My first time line drying!  Lesson learned?  Wear sandals, socks are a bitch and take too many clothes pins! 

We went on another walk/roller blade ride tonight.  Eric decided to take on this "sweet jump" behind the grocery store. 

I had to make him do it three times to come this close to an action shot, haha! 

We watched the movie "Into The Wild" tonight, which was a really good movie about a guy who gives up on our material life and goes to live wherever he pleases, ultimately ending up in Alaska.  We paused the movie halfway through to go on a walk, and landed on this hilarious still frame!

Day 317: Loving Springtime!

Today started with a MAJOR case of the Monday's.  Things just didn't go well for Eric or me.  Luckily, the evening was so much better!  Eric heard back from the boss at O'Reilly - the background check looked good, and now they needed a urine test, to make sure he's not a druggie, before giving him keys to a company truck. It sounds like he's got the job as soon as all the procedural dust settles!

We both got off work about the same time and pulled into our parking lot one after the other.  It was a really nice day, and Eric suggested going for a bike ride.  After working on our bikes for 20-30 minutes, I gave up on mine and decided to roller blade instead.  I might actually take up roller blading this summer, I'm not too bad at it and it's a great workout!

Naturally I started off the day by filling my keyboard with orange juice...  So I had to pry off all of the keys and clean the whole thing out.

Luckily, I'm an excellent keyboard cleaner - ta da!  Brand new!

We had Mexican Chicken Casserole with RICE tonight, it was better than usual.  Yum!

Eric and his two wheeled toys!

Don'tfalldon'tfalldon'tfall...

Eric was amused that I cocooned myself up while watching some "That 70's Show".

Day 48: More Riding

We've decided to replace my laptop - which has a broken fan or something that makes it incredibly loud/overheats, and a dead battery so it has to remain plugged in at all times.  The best time to do this you ask?  The "Back to School" tax free weekend in Missouri! 

Mom, Alan, and Eric rode their bikes - with me on the back of Alan's, out to 135th and State Line where Mom swears there is a Best Buy on the Missouri side.  Well, she was wrong, but we had a nice 35 mile round trip on the bikes!  Eric is doing really well riding, and he's starting to feel a lot more comfortable with it.

Another day without my beloved camera - but here is a picture of me on my old motorcycle in 2004.  A purple 2002 Honda Shadow Deluxe.

Day 47: Bikes and Ice Cream!

Today Eric finally got to ride the motorcycle!  He waited patiently for mom to get home from work and was on the road within minutes!

I met him over at his parents house, where he was showing it off to his parents and Shannon.  As he was sitting on his bike he began looking toward the ground on both sides of his bike and said "You let me ride without a bell?!"  I had indeed forgotten, and we proceeded to drop the bike back off at Mom and Alan's house and headed directly out for me to buy his bell.  You see, it is very important for a biker to have a bell from a loved one fastened on his bike close to the ground...


Many of us have heard the story about Evil Road Spirits. They are little gremlins that live on your bike. They love to ride, and they’re also responsible for most of your bike’s problems. Sometimes your turn signals refuse to work; your battery goes dead, the clutch needs adjustment, or any of several hundred things that can go wrong. These problems are caused by Evil Road Spirits.
Evil Road Spirits can’t live in the presence of the bell, because they get trapped in the hollow of the bell. Among other things, their hearing is supersensitive, so the constant ringing of the bell and the confined space drives them insane. They lose their grip and eventually fall to the roadway. Have you ever wondered how potholes are formed? The bell has served its purpose.
If you pick up a Guardian Bell of your own, the magic will work, but if your bell is given to you, the power is doubled, and you know that somewhere you have a special friend helping to look after you.
So, if you have a friend who doesn’t have a bell, why not give them one? It’s a nice feeling for the recipient to know you care. The bell, plus a good preventive maintenance program by the bikes owner, will help eliminate Evil Road Spirits.

Eric right before his first ride - this is him backing it out of the garage and into the driveway.  Yes, he did wear his helmet while riding!

As we were arriving back in Eudora, we saw LOTS of people at our local Dairy Queen.  Eudora is a very small town, so this sparked my memory that today was the day that all proceeds from the sale of Blizzards would go toward a charity for the Children's Mercy Hospital.  Eric and I headed over and he got the Double Fudge Cookie Dough Blizzard, and I got the Xtreme Chocolate Blizzard.  What a delicious way to help kids!