Katie received a bonus for being rep of the quarter and with that bonus we bought new couches. It was time - the old ones were just falling apart. I think the new couches make the room finally look finished which it is not but close enough.
A while back we went to Higgins Armoury in "beautiful" Worcester. For us it was tad disappointing as we've been to the Tower of London and its a little hard to follow in those foot steps. However, if you've never been to the Tower then Higgins would be pretty good. Its the largest collection of armour in North America which is really not saying much.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Sunday, May 22, 2011
100th post
Yes, this is my 100th post to this blog. Insane - I know, but no time for fan fair I'm busy watching the Family Guy - Return of the Jedi special. I let Morgan play with the camera and she did not disappoint.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
2011 VW Jetta Sportwagen
We bought Katie a new car and a couple days after picking up the car my problems started. As I was arriving home I felt a small drop in power and response from the engine. It was small and that feel normally means it had leaked or burned enough oil to be low. I checked it and sure enough so I put in a quart and really thought nothing of it. I left the next morning and the car felt right again. When I was nearly at work I felt the drop in power again so I got off the highway and stopped at the nearest gas station.
As I pulled in the check engine light just came on. I checked the oil again and again it was a quart low. I was alarmed but I figured I'd put another quart in, make it to work, and then decide what to do next. I left the gas station, the check engine light was out, and it felt fine again. A mere mile or so down the road I heard a load bang and then a loud grinding and clacking noise. Oil went everywhere the dashboard lit up like a xmas tree. I was in a construction zone at that point. A snow bank on one side and a concrete barrier on the other. There was nowhere to ditch the car and it died in the road. I pushed it to the next driveway which was for an office. There I got it into a parking spot.
I knew that engine was done, and there is no point in replacing an engine for a 12 year old car. I took the plates off, grabbed my stuff and told the charity I donated it to where to pick it up.
I then went online and asked for quotes on various different cars and started my research again. Now I must say getting quotes online is the way to go. You are in control and you should be - its your money. You sit in the comfort of your own home and you pit dealer against dealer which increases your chances of getting a better deal and we did. When I actually stepped foot in the dealership I already had an agreed upon price so there was no fuss.
As I pulled in the check engine light just came on. I checked the oil again and again it was a quart low. I was alarmed but I figured I'd put another quart in, make it to work, and then decide what to do next. I left the gas station, the check engine light was out, and it felt fine again. A mere mile or so down the road I heard a load bang and then a loud grinding and clacking noise. Oil went everywhere the dashboard lit up like a xmas tree. I was in a construction zone at that point. A snow bank on one side and a concrete barrier on the other. There was nowhere to ditch the car and it died in the road. I pushed it to the next driveway which was for an office. There I got it into a parking spot.
I knew that engine was done, and there is no point in replacing an engine for a 12 year old car. I took the plates off, grabbed my stuff and told the charity I donated it to where to pick it up.
I then went online and asked for quotes on various different cars and started my research again. Now I must say getting quotes online is the way to go. You are in control and you should be - its your money. You sit in the comfort of your own home and you pit dealer against dealer which increases your chances of getting a better deal and we did. When I actually stepped foot in the dealership I already had an agreed upon price so there was no fuss.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Xmas 10
January has been a tough month. We've had several feet of snow. Every week we've had a big storm. I had to get up on the roof and shovel it off to make sure we didn't get an ice damn or overload the roof.
We are planning on replacing the Oldsmobile this spring when the snow melts, but another breakline burst. I was able to fix it myself for 12 bulks by splicing in a new line but Katie is ready to retire it sooner then later now. We are looking at several vehicles. The Honda Fit, and Ford Focus are the top contenders right now. Katie wants something small but big enough that two adults fit in the back plus a weeks worth of groceries.
Now for something not snow related. I found a UK food wholesaler in Westford with a nice online store. What makes these guys different from where we have gone in the past is they sell Walkers "crisps" potato chips. They are made by the same company that makes Lays. The difference being the UK version has odd flavors like turkey and stuffing, prawns, beef something, and roasted chicken. The roasted chicken is our favorite.
For Katie's birthday we went to a British pub in the middle of nowhere in New Hampshire. The food was just so so but the deserts were awesome. Bannaoffe I think it was called. Bananas and toffee were the main components and it was good.
We are planning on replacing the Oldsmobile this spring when the snow melts, but another breakline burst. I was able to fix it myself for 12 bulks by splicing in a new line but Katie is ready to retire it sooner then later now. We are looking at several vehicles. The Honda Fit, and Ford Focus are the top contenders right now. Katie wants something small but big enough that two adults fit in the back plus a weeks worth of groceries.
Now for something not snow related. I found a UK food wholesaler in Westford with a nice online store. What makes these guys different from where we have gone in the past is they sell Walkers "crisps" potato chips. They are made by the same company that makes Lays. The difference being the UK version has odd flavors like turkey and stuffing, prawns, beef something, and roasted chicken. The roasted chicken is our favorite.
For Katie's birthday we went to a British pub in the middle of nowhere in New Hampshire. The food was just so so but the deserts were awesome. Bannaoffe I think it was called. Bananas and toffee were the main components and it was good.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Can we fix it?!
Katie had some friends and their kids over. I've never seen so many kids in our house. Anyway some of the kids got into the secret passage and wrecked Morgan's legos. Some buildings were totally demolished. She was very upset to say the least about it so I helped her fix things.
Of course her attention span for fixing soooo many lego sets was limited so she took off with the camera and filmed her own little monologue. I guess there is some kid(s) at school who doesn't believe any of Morgan's stories. Like that she has a secret passage, has been to Paris, lived in London, and saw the Queen in the trooping of the colours parade. I guess that does seem a bit far fetched if your 8 and have lived in small town USA your whole life.
During Hanukkah we bought some draddles to donate to the kid's daycare. We played a game before handing them over. I think the draddle must be weighted or something. Statistically each side should have a 25% chance of coming up, but we hit the nothing happens symbol where you get nothing but don't have to put anything in the pot more times seems possible. We played with M&Ms since I was fresh out of chocolate coins. Gwen didn't understand why we were playing with our food and why she couldn't eat her winnings.
Of course her attention span for fixing soooo many lego sets was limited so she took off with the camera and filmed her own little monologue. I guess there is some kid(s) at school who doesn't believe any of Morgan's stories. Like that she has a secret passage, has been to Paris, lived in London, and saw the Queen in the trooping of the colours parade. I guess that does seem a bit far fetched if your 8 and have lived in small town USA your whole life.
During Hanukkah we bought some draddles to donate to the kid's daycare. We played a game before handing them over. I think the draddle must be weighted or something. Statistically each side should have a 25% chance of coming up, but we hit the nothing happens symbol where you get nothing but don't have to put anything in the pot more times seems possible. We played with M&Ms since I was fresh out of chocolate coins. Gwen didn't understand why we were playing with our food and why she couldn't eat her winnings.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Legos and Disney - Does it get any better?
For Morgan's Birthday I purchased two tickets to a Lego event in Boston. It was insanely crowded and the first area we went to was all ads and non Lego stuff so I was really down about the whole thing, but things turned around. A Lego master builder gave a presentation which was amazing. He talked about how they build life size models, how he got the job, and some tricks of the trade. That guy was awesome and that presentation was my favorite part of the whole day. What was Morgan's favorite part? Crappy pizza at lunch I think. Actually I think the best part was all the attention she got from her cool new Lego Digital Camera. So many snot nosed dorky brats wanted to see it.
Morgan learned it is easier to find the Lego you need if you sort your Legos by color. I remember as kids Jeremiah, Dan and I talking about ideas like that but it sounded like too much work. As kids we did develope a way to comunicate what type of brick we needed by the number of bumps wide and long. The pros do the same thing but some of the verbiage is slightly different from what we used as kids. When we got home that night Morgan and I sorted out her spare legos by color into bins.
A few weeks later Katie and I went to Disney World. Katie had to go down to Orlando on business so we took advantage of it. Going to Disney without our children has been near the very top of our to-do list for a long time. We originally planed to go to Disney World on our honeymoon but things didn't go as planned.
I will say this when going to Disney World I would recommend not staying at the Value line of resorts. I figured we are only going to sleep there so why waste the money on some fancy pants hotel? We knew the cafateria style breakfast buffet would suck so we brought our own breakfast. We stayed at the Pop Century Hotel and you can only take a bus to the parks. The bus service for our hotel sucked. Luckily there is more to Disney then busses.
We ate at an amazing place at the Grand Floridan resort called Sarcosee (spelling). It was right on the edge of the lake in front of the Magic Kingdom. So our table was set up to look out on the water with the castle lit up in the background. Sounds expensive because it was. Luckily I signed up for the Disney meal plan and got a great deal on it to boot. Basically you pay a base rate for a sit down meal, quick meal , and snack credit. Normally a resuturant costs 1 sit down meal credit. This place costs 2, but it was worth it.
I'm also pleased to say Disney still does the smoked turkey legs in frontier land. There is nothing better then waiting in line to go on a roller coster eating a turkey leg.
Here is the video. I would have done more with it but our camera broke on the thunder mountain ride. I think my car key hit the LED screen and broke it in my pocket while going around one of those crazy turns. So I guess I know what Santa will be getting me for Xmas.
Morgan learned it is easier to find the Lego you need if you sort your Legos by color. I remember as kids Jeremiah, Dan and I talking about ideas like that but it sounded like too much work. As kids we did develope a way to comunicate what type of brick we needed by the number of bumps wide and long. The pros do the same thing but some of the verbiage is slightly different from what we used as kids. When we got home that night Morgan and I sorted out her spare legos by color into bins.
A few weeks later Katie and I went to Disney World. Katie had to go down to Orlando on business so we took advantage of it. Going to Disney without our children has been near the very top of our to-do list for a long time. We originally planed to go to Disney World on our honeymoon but things didn't go as planned.
I will say this when going to Disney World I would recommend not staying at the Value line of resorts. I figured we are only going to sleep there so why waste the money on some fancy pants hotel? We knew the cafateria style breakfast buffet would suck so we brought our own breakfast. We stayed at the Pop Century Hotel and you can only take a bus to the parks. The bus service for our hotel sucked. Luckily there is more to Disney then busses.
We ate at an amazing place at the Grand Floridan resort called Sarcosee (spelling). It was right on the edge of the lake in front of the Magic Kingdom. So our table was set up to look out on the water with the castle lit up in the background. Sounds expensive because it was. Luckily I signed up for the Disney meal plan and got a great deal on it to boot. Basically you pay a base rate for a sit down meal, quick meal , and snack credit. Normally a resuturant costs 1 sit down meal credit. This place costs 2, but it was worth it.
I'm also pleased to say Disney still does the smoked turkey legs in frontier land. There is nothing better then waiting in line to go on a roller coster eating a turkey leg.
Here is the video. I would have done more with it but our camera broke on the thunder mountain ride. I think my car key hit the LED screen and broke it in my pocket while going around one of those crazy turns. So I guess I know what Santa will be getting me for Xmas.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Morgan's 8th Birthday
We went on a canoe trip down the Nashua river. We were out for over four hours and I think everyone had a good time. We don't own a canoe and renting one was kind of expensive so I think if we were to do it more we would get a used a canoe.
Sept 11th was Morgan's 8th birthday. I don't recall being old enough to have an eight year old? My mother won a birthday party at an aerobic dance place from a soccer raffle. The raffle took place in June and we didn't get the prize until the end of August. The person in charge of the raffle was extremely incompetent and I think she wanted to keep the prize for her own use. By the time we got it we could not make an appointment in time so we tried to give it to someone else to use but that didn't work out. So the whole thing was a waste and we won't be participating in that raffle in the future.
After Morgan's birthday we went to Davis Farmland. It's an old dairy farm converted into a petting zoo. The kids really enjoy going there and we normally get discounted tickets.
Sept 11th was Morgan's 8th birthday. I don't recall being old enough to have an eight year old? My mother won a birthday party at an aerobic dance place from a soccer raffle. The raffle took place in June and we didn't get the prize until the end of August. The person in charge of the raffle was extremely incompetent and I think she wanted to keep the prize for her own use. By the time we got it we could not make an appointment in time so we tried to give it to someone else to use but that didn't work out. So the whole thing was a waste and we won't be participating in that raffle in the future.
After Morgan's birthday we went to Davis Farmland. It's an old dairy farm converted into a petting zoo. The kids really enjoy going there and we normally get discounted tickets.
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