The Locals

We had a very local kind of day today!

Since I'm home now with the kids, I was looking for stuff for us to do. (Besides watch that friggin' TV!) The Fayetteville Farmers Market is downtown on the square every Tuesday and Thursday. (and maybe Saturdays) Alpha had gone there last year with the summer camp she attended. She loved it! She would always come home with the neatest stuff to either eat or display. So I thought we'd take a trip there and see what we could find.

We bought peaches, blackberries, and a whole quart of blueberries. Beta used these, along with some strawberries and an apple (purchased locally at Harps....lol!) to make a wonderful fruit salad for dessert tonight.

We also bought some cherry tomatoes, lettuce, and carrots for a dinner salad to accompany our hot dogs. :) It was very good as well!

Lastly, we bought a bouquet of flowers. They are VERY pretty. They remind me of my wedding flowers because of their various bright colors.

Here is a picture of the fruit salad Beta made:


Here is a picture of our lovely bouquet:

While the girls were playing in the fountain on the square, I had a funny experience that needs sharing. I overheard two people talking about rainbows and how one was just up there in the sky even though it wasn't raining. Curious, I looked up and sure enough! It was a fire rainbow! We saw one back in April 2007 on our way out of town one weekend.

It looks like this:

Anyway, I turned around and said to these people, "wow, that is a cool rainbow!" I tried to say it was a fire rainbow caused by water droplets high up in the sky, but they began telling me that it was "because of all that stuff they spray" and that a rainbow like this appeared above Haiti right before the big earthquake occurred....So anyway, I just, um, moved along.

Since we were done shopping, and to get away from the crazy people, we stopped in at a little store off the square called Bliss Cupcake Cafe. Oh my goodness! The word "bliss" is in the name for a reason. These cupcakes were heavenly! They were tender and truly did melt in your mouth. They will only be an occasional treat, however. They were $2.75 each! Plus 11.25% tax! Yikes! I ate mine slowly..... You should click on my link and see their menu. It's like gourmet cupcakes! We'll have to go there the next time any of you come to visit.

Gina's Homemade Lemonade

Y'all have GOT to try this. I made Gina's Homemade Lemonade this afternoon. It is absolutely delicious! Gina is the wife-half of the Neely's on Food Network.

I ended up only making 2 quarts instead of an entire gallon. It calls for 2 cups of lemon juice. I used an entire bag of lemons (total of 9) and I only got 1 cup of juice. Now I know why Simply Lemonade is so expensive.

I probably won't make this on a regular basis. Squeezing the lemons was very labor-intensive. Not to mention painful! (I found every paper cut on both of my hands.) But the fresh lemon juice made it WAY better than any other lemonade I've ever tasted.

That's Why I Married Him

With the girls camping with their grandparents, and J4 at a babysitter's, we decided we could finally go out and celebrate me getting my CPA license. So Monday night Jim & I loaded up the mini-van (oooh sexy!) and headed out on the town. Specifically, we went to "a very expensive place." LOL! It was a nice restaurant on Dickson street that people rave about. Jim had told me once that when I got my CPA license, he'd take me there.

We were dressed up and ready to feel like adults rather than just parents. The place was decorated with very modern and trendy decor. We had to wait a few minutes for our table, but were soon seated in a very dimly lit room at a small table with nice linens.

Jim said we should go all out, since it was a celebration, so we began with an appetizer. I guess the menu listed it correctly, but I was still surprised when our crab cakes consisted of ONE crab cake. Yes, the menu had listed it as "crab cake", but you know, I figured there'd be at least two. Anyway, the two of us split this crab cake (singular) that was about the size of a hockey puck. It was VERY good. But small.

Next came our entrees. I got seafood linguini and Jim got a steak. I forget which kind of cut. As expected, the food was absolutely DELICIOUS! But the portions were small. Now, this was not necessarily a bad thing. Too many restaurants pile on the food nowadays to where it's way more than any one person should be eating. But for the price each of these entrees cost, I wished it had been just a bit more food.

Finally, we saw a dessert menu. The only dessert that really appealed to us was gelato. We LOVE gelato! However, it was listed as $6. At this point, despite the food being fabulous, my price-to-value radar was going off. I figured we'd pay $6 for one SCOOP of dessert that we'd have to split.

So split we did. Right after paying the bill, of course. As we were leaving, Jim asked how I liked it. I told him the food was delicious, but the price was just way too high for what you got. He immediately blurted out, "Next time we go to Doe's!" as if he had been waiting to say it all evening. My thoughts exactly! I breathed a sigh of relief as well.

The next day, he was telling a coworker about our experience. When he told him about my agreement on Doe's, he said, "That's why I married her!" For that reason, folks, is why I married him!

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Hesitation pays off!

My bargain guardian angel is back! This time with a vengeance!

I was shopping at Dillard's a few weeks back for J4's baptism outfit. I found some cute newborn boy outfits, but not exactly what I was looking for. One of the outfits had pants and a little sweater vest. It was $25. I decided to think about it.

Fast forward to last weekend. The girls, my mom, and I headed to the mall. I had decided to get that outfit since I didn't find any other outfit I liked. When we got there, it was gone! AACCCKK! I was worried. Thankfully, I turned around and saw the clearance rack. It was on there and priced at $15!!!! My hesitation saved me $10. (Well, ok, mom bought it....but I saved her $10!)

Also a few weeks ago, I got J4 a bathing suit at Baby Gap. (Click to see it!) I didn't buy the matching shirt because I wasn't sure we needed it. Thinking about babies and sunscreen, though, made me think we did need it. I went back this morning. Amazingly, they not only had the shirt to match his suit, but it was in his size and was only $7.99 instead of $14.50!!! Another $6.51 saved!

A similar thing happened at Children's Place. I had bought the girls some clothes one week. Two weeks later, they were on sale! Now with that one, I was partly annoyed. We had paid full price. But that didn't stop us from buying more of our favorites for less the second time around.

Now, we are hopefully done with summer clothes shopping!