Grounded

So last night Dan and I went to get our Taxes done. I know, we're late and that is an even LONGER story. We decided to go with a friend of the Poen's as we didn't get any tax info for Dan's trust. I must admit it was cheaper than what we've paid in the past few years, but it was still pricier than I had hoped. I suppose if you are going to have a professional do it, $85.00 shouldn't be that bad. the depressing part is that he totally proved my tax skillz wrong and we are NOT getting a $5,000.00 refund. BOOOO! BUT... we are getting a refund. So I suppose I can't complain too loudly. Still..... I had dreams for that $5K.

After the tax issues, we decided to go out to dinner. We decided to go to WingNutz in West Valley. I have to admit that I like their place a lot better than the one at the District.

We took in our Kindles. I LOVE my Kindle. The only problem is that I so don't want to carry a paperback around now, but it's pricey to buy books on the Kindle that I already own.

Anyway, after explaining to Dan the way the English Monarchy works. (why Prince Phillip is not King, Camilla will not be Queen, Kate is a Duchess, and if Will and Kate have only Girls the oldest will be Queen and her hubby can only aspire as high as Prince.)

So after a tasty dinner and some pretty good live singing from the guitar guy there, we headed home. We got there and Dan took the trash cans to the middle of the Cul-de-sac. He placed his Black covered Kindle on my black colored car, and dragged the trash can as well as the recycle can out.

Guess who forgot to grab their $200.00 Kindle off of my car??????

This morning I walked out the door and down the steps when I came to a stop as I viewed the back of Flaming Bob the very Black Honda. There where he put it was Dan's Kindle. Of course it had rained that night into morning and the cover was soaked. However the devise itself was working fine. A little slow due to the cold, but otherwise working very well. Whew.

I picked it up and wiped it off. I took it to Dan's car Chuck and put it on the passenger seat. Then I got in Bob and sent Dan a text message telling him he is grounded from his Kindle.

Later at work he sent me an email on how mortified he was that he left it there, and how lucky he felt that it was still there and not damaged. Guess that $50.00 cover I bought was worth the price.

Really? It's just a penny.

So Dan and I went to the BR last night for some cold sweet treat.

When we left the house, I asked if I should bring my purse. Even though we were also going to the store before the BR trek, Dan said that I could leave my purse home. So I did.

We did our thing at the store and then drove to the closest Baskin Robins. There was a bit of a line, but it moved pretty fast. I must admit I was very impressed with this location.

they had someone directing the line and passing out laminated lists of the flavors available for consumption, as well as notes to the "extras" prices on the back. They stamped each and every hand (they even stamped the baby in front of me. LOL). They determined how many people came in at each time, and had numbered signs for servers. You stood in line, when the door opened the person who opened it told you what number line to go to, and the counter person took your order.

You got your order with a ticket that said how many scoops total. You gave that to the cashier (the only line beside the entry line that was more than 2 people deep). Then you took your ticket and showed it to the guy at the "exit" door and he let you out. Really it was probably a wait of 10 minutes at the most.

So we got in line and scoured the list. I saw that my FAVORITE BR flavor was on the menu along with my tried and true second. I decided to go all out and picked a third.

Gold medal ribbon (fav)
Rainbow Sherbet (2nd fav)
Snickers (always a good i-cream choice).

Dan got:
Chocolate chip
Mint Chocolate chip
Chocolate peanut butter.

(note: Dan like the chocolate chips and was attempting a theme. however he did not care for the chocolate peanut butter)

We got in and went to counter sign # 2. Two boys in their teens were there to help us. The boy who took Dan's order was about 16 or 17 with a big fro of brown hair. He had a smile on his face and was very enthusiastic. The boy who took my order was about the same age maybe a bit older and had the enthusiasm of a cavity filled kid going to the dentist. he wasn't rude, but it was slightly obvious that he was hating his job at the moment. I was slightly disappointed that my ice cream scoops were not put on my cone as per my order. I wanted Rainbow, Gold Medal, Snickers. instead I got Gold medal, snickers, rainbow. But oh well. It was still YUMMY!!!

So we took our ticket of 6 scoops and went to the register. The total came to $2.01 Dan gave the girl two dollars and reached in his pocket for the penny. Oops, no change. He dug around and looked at me. Nope I left my purse at home remember? He even paused enough to give the counter girl the chance to say: "don't worry about the penny", but nope. Not a word.

Finally after another moment (which seemed like an eternity) Dan just handed her another dollar bill. Then she gave him back the $0.99.

I was kind of surprised. I mean it was just a freaking penny. She could have just waived it off and let it go. I realize that cashiers want to be accurate with their registers, but come on. When I was a cashier I ALWAYS kept 4 pennies on my register just for that purpose. Why hold up the entire line? If we would have paid separately it would have been exactly $1.00 each. But due to tax, together it rounded up. It's all good in the end, but really. It's just a penny.

Baskin Robins and my hunny

So today Shannon told me about Baskin Robins having a deal going on where scoops of ice cream are $0.31 up to 3 scoops. Wow. I love the BR, and their 31 flavors.

this is a promo to help firefighters. What better way to justify my BR needs?

I sent Dan and the Poens an email telling about it, and that I was heading there.

My sweet hunny replied back: Ok, when I get home we’ll go then.

I love this man!

to get, or not to get that is the question of today.

So. As many of you don't know, or may know, we use Cricket for our phone service. This has worked out well for me for the past 8 years as they have unlimited almost everything. I don't know many people outside of Utah, so I didn't need long distance, and the phones have worked well every where. Well.... almost everywhere. The house we live in is located in a cul-de-sac. It's not even a big cul-de-sac, but it seems to be the dead zone. It's been hard for us to get calls, make calls, continue calls. It's like a vail is over the entrance and once past the entrance all Cricket service is subject to the whims of fate. If a cloud goes overhead the call drops. If I move two feet to the left, the call drops. If I sneeze, the phone goes silent and if I don't get my head back in place, you guessed it. The call drops. I have put up with this simply because Cricket service was cheap. really. We have a "house" phone. It's with vonage which we have been with for over 5 years. Oddly enough I have discovered that customer loyalty means nothing I guess. In the past years the price of the Cricket has gone up slightly (who the hell still charges $5.00 a month for voicemail?). And Vonage has gone up slightly too. (taxes). I think companies should follow the insurance companies and give some sort of discount for every year you are with them. Anyway..... So a month or two ago, (time slips away from me these days), our good friends the Poens, decided to get new mobile (I still call them cell) phones. They went with Sprint and got really nice phones. Dan says to me: "Hey how come our phones don't do that?" meaning Internet etcetera. I said: "because we don't pay $150.00 a month". But... that got me to thinking. We pay $96.00 a month for Cricket, and $36.00 a month for Vonage. That is: $132.00 a month. If we went with Sprint, (where we could get cool phones), it would only be a difference of $18.00 a month. With Sprint, we both would have nationwide calling (I currently do not have long distance w/Cricket as it's an additional $5.00 per month), unlimited mobile to mobile no matter what carrier the other person is with, and ta-da! Internet access. I figure that right there is worth the 18 bucks. then my good friend Jill told me that our work offers a discount. So hopefully that will bring the price down even farther. We know because of the Poens that Sprint service is excellent in our house/cul-del-sac. So I am happy camper. We get rid of Vonage and Cricket, and get nice cell phones. BUT, the hard part is of course the shelling out money for the new phones. $300.00 for two Evo Shifts. Plus you need accessories. We both would like Bluetooths. And covers. The next item to decide on is out TV. We currently have comcast. I HATE paying that much for TV that I don't use. By this I mean, I watch up to 20 channels. I don't watch them constantly, but I like certain shows on each channel. However in order to get those channels I have to pay $63.00 a month BEFORE the fees and taxes and charges for equipment. Total Bill for TV portion is about $102.00 a month. It just seems ridiculous. So I have been researching getting satellite. I think I have decided going with Dish Network. They have a deal for $50.00 a month for the package that will give us the channels we like, for 12 months, and then it goes up to $70.00 for another year. But we get the equipment for the service for free, and it's only a small fee to upgrade the equipment to DVR. I estimate I can save about $20.00 to $30.00 a month for the first year, and break about even for the second. We will still keep comcast for our Internet, as Dan really likes the broadband, but we need to cut costs somewhere. Now I just got to come up with the funds to get all this started.......

Who actually buys that kind of Sweater? Really!

So last Saturday Dan, Andy, Stef and I went to see the movie Paul. I didn't want to go. It looked really stupid. Plus I HATE alien movies. (certain movies excluded like Men in Black).

But the husband and friends prevailed. I'm glad they did. It was very funny. I learned a whole new terminology. I wouldn't recommend taking your kids. It's rated R for a reason. But it was freaking funny!

After the movie we decided to go to Applebee's for dinner. I have to admit I was not impressed with my meal, but since it wasn't awful I ate it anyway. The company more than made up for the food, and we were having a great time.

During our dinner and talking another table was seated behind Andy. I had to take a double take. I noticed that the man seated directly behind Andy was wearing a Red and Green stripped sweater. Who the hell actually buys a Red and Green stripped sweater? I mean really? Then I noticed his hat. It was a brown fedora. yep. you heard it. The only difference between him and Freddy Kruger was that the man was wearing black shorts.

I couldn't help it. I had to have a picture. It's not the best ever, but you can see what I mean.

I had dinner with Freddy Kruger!

Doing it again anyway

So Friday I met with Dr. Swanky-raccoon. He wants to do the right leg at the end of April. Really? That soon? sheesh. I suppose he's worried that I won't do it if we don't get it going now. He also talked to me about an exercise bike instead of a treadmill. He thinks it will be easier on my joints. I think he may be right. I will start looking at them tomorrow. I'm not looking forward to getting the other leg done. I have noticed a difference in my left leg, but they both are so darn weak that I just know this will make the right one weaker. Of course if I can be good and do the bike thing, then maybe I will gain some strength. I'm really sad to say that Disney World is out this year. Between me getting sick all the time, and Dan getting bronchitis we just won't have the vacation time. I am in hopes that maybe Dan and I can just sneak away for a few days. We've always wanted to go to Durango Colorado, so I am thinking maybe we could do that for a few days. Just something different. :) well off to do something about the laundry. With Jay living here I am uncomfortable doing anything downstairs. This is going to be a long month.