Suzanne's Secret Hideaway

It's been so hot here. I am ready for cooler temps - at least cooler than 100. We went out of town and did some shopping this weekend. Got a little bit of school shopping done. Got a little shopping for me done too, lol. Hubby bought me a new bike yesterday and a bike trailer - Now I can ride all over and have Ariana in the trailer, not having to worry about her in a baby bike seat. It's so neat.. We went on a ride this morning and oh my - I haven't rode a bike in so long - my butt hurt, lol. I am going to get in shape if it kills me. I have gained 15 pounds and I guess it's from stopping smoking. I am going to lose it and a little more too - I just need to get off my butt and do it.

I bought six perennials at Menard's and got those planted. Slowly we get a little more done on the yard. It's coming a long nicely, as long as the storms stop - they have done a number on my flowers and plants. Coreopsis - Baby Sun, Sedum 'Autumn Joy', and Laveandula 'Provence' are the flowers - I am not familiar with any, but they looked neat and they are all full sun - We have a lot of sun and not much shady area around our house. They are said to be hardy, so hopefully they do well. The salvia I planted last year has grown about 6 times it's size and has made it through hail, 100 degree temps and a lot of dry weather. I planted two more of those this year.

Hubby and I were talking about the lottery. I have always thought that the amounts people win are ridiculous. Who needs $50 million dollars? Why don't they have numerous winners? This way more than one person's life is changed in a good way. Spread the wealth. It's enough to give several people a huge chunk of money and not all to one person. Just my thoughts. He agrees. Okay, here's my WYP and I have to go!

July 18, 2007 What's Your Price

Where do you live? Southwest Nebraska. How much is...

1. Cottage Cheese? 24 oz 4% milkfat small curd $2.50
2. Cream Cheese? $1.38 for a 8 oz tub of whipped crean cheese spread or 88¢ for an 8 oz block of cream cheese
3. Coffee? $5.97 for folgers classic roast ground coffee 39 oz or 2 lb 7 oz
4. Sticks of butter? 68¢ for Imperial 1 lb (four stick pack)
5. Kleenex (Facial Tissue)? Wal-Mart brand 85 count box $1.08
6. Loaf of Sandwich Bread? Wal-Mart brand wheat sandwich style bread $1.24

@ 4
Today: Partly cloudy. Scattered light showers and isolated thunderstorms late in the morning...then a slight chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs in the lower 80s. North winds 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30 percent. Tonight: Partly cloudy. A 20 percent chance of thunderstorms in the evening. Lows in the upper 50s. Northeast winds around 10 mph in the evening becoming light.

I am doing a zillion things at once. I have some Pirate pages up at their own site - http://piratescove.graphicloverscafe.com/ an

d am going to add some gifts for everyone to pick up there in a bit. My name is Cap'n Ramona Pegleg, lol. Here's a gift

from Susan aka Jumpin' Lindsey Dread. Thanks so much. I love it. I am trying to get caught up on everything.

We had some high 90° and 100° degree days here for most of last week through Sunday. Ugghhh - I hate it. I really do. My electric bill was $43 more this month. I am very thankful I have central air conditioning, I just hate that I must run it so much. I can't bear to be without it when it's over 85. My AC in the car doesn't work and so I hate going out unless it's morning or night. It's just too hot. One of the back window won't open either. Everything is electronic - not manual, so it's so expensive to fix. Nothing is easy anymore. Hubby recharged the AC several times last summer, but it won't stay cold, so we gave up. I thought about saving up to get it fixed, but who knows what it will cost! First you have to pay for an estimate, then whatever it costs to fix. By the time they figure it out, it's a fortune. Here I am complaining and I should count my blessings.

Sunday night we had a big storm. It knocked my corn sideways, my patio furniture off the patio, and part of our fence down into the neighbors yard and it broke one of his sprinkler heads. Yesterday was in the 80s but high humidity. Last night we got another rain storm. It's humid today and rainy, cloudy. No swimming pool for the kids today!

Kia and Zeno gave me so great ideas for What's You Price. I am really enjoying that meme - it's so neat to see what things cost in other states and countries. Some of the prices totally amaze me!

I stole an idea from Kia and Zeno - I am going to put my Friday Fun and What's Your Price meme posts into their own special place. I love how they did it and decided to do that here. Don't worry - I let them know, lol. I am not really a thief.

July 11, 2007 What's Your Price

Where do you live? How much is...

1. 1 lb. Bologna ? Bar S 16oz package is 99¢
2. A can of tuna fish? Chicken of the Sea brand is 58¢
3. A pound of tomatoes? Roma - 97¢,
4. Vitamin D Milk or 2% milk? $4.12 for vitamin D and $3.94 for 2%!! It went up $1.
5. A Gallon of gas? $3.12
6. A head of lettuce - Romaine or Iceberg? $1.48 for Romaine, 89¢ for iceberg

Okay, I better run. Oh and before I forget, My friend Kris has spoiled me once again. Thanks so very much...Gotta run.

3:40	Tonight: Becoming partly cloudy. Highs in the lower 90s. South winds 10 to 20 Tonight: Partly cloudy. Patchy fog after midnight. Lows in the mid 60s. South winds 10 to 15 mph. Tuesday: Partly cloudy in the morning then becoming mostly sunny. Highs in the mid 90s. South winds 10 to 15 mph.

I started to post this morning. As you can see I never got to finish. The day flew by and I'm really not sure where it all went. I had the kids working on their July 4th Activity Books before lunch. My oldest, Giuseppe had a friend stay over and I said that he can either watch them work on this stuff or he can do it too. He said he wanted to do it, so I printed off a booklet for him. I found some great info and pages at Enchanted Learning and Crayola websites. Most of the pages have interesting facts, graphics to color - There's a flag, the Great Seal of the United States, two Bald Eagle sheets, Two sheets on the 13 colonies flag and the flag today, the Pentagon, The Pledge of Allegiance, Statue of Liberty, US states word find puzzle, 2 Acrostic Poems - America and Freedom, 2 Word games pages - how many words can you find in Independence Day and Fireworks Display, I'm Proud to be an American because..., and a Design your own flag page. The kids were all gung ho to do this, but now the boys are insulting all the things I had planned for the summer. That really ticked me off because I spent a lot of time and printing ink along with paper on this. I really put my heart into it. I have something planned for nearly every day until school starts. I even planned lunches and snacks. Today I told them I don't care if you like it, sit down and do it. I needed them to quiet down and give me time to clean up the kitchen and get them lunch without having to keep leaving the kitchen to see what they are getting into. They all sat at the table and most of them worked really nicely. One didn't, but one out of 5 isn't too bad is it? Having the kids home all summer is really making getting Ariana down for a nap pretty difficult. Bed time too. I am tired, lol. It's hard to believe it's the first of July already.

I have to get some gifts up from my wonderful online buddies. I am really behind, but I'm sure eventually I will catch up. Here is a gift my friend Susan gave me - I just love it. Thanks again for it. It's beautiful! I wish my desk looked that pretty, lol.

July 4, 2007 What's Your Price

Where do you live? How much is...

The information in the parenthesis is an example of the size of the product and brand name. You can display the price for any size or brand you have the info for.

1. Ketchup (Hunts 24 ounce)? $1.00
2. Mustard (French's 14 ounce)? $1.00
3. Barbecue Sauce(Kraft 28 ounce)? $1.00
4. Soda Pop (24 pack of 12 ounce cans - Coca Cola, Diet Coke or Sprite)? $5.00
5. Salad Dressing (Kraft 16 ounce)? $1.50
6. A pound of peaches? 76¢
7. A haircut? $10 to $16 depending on where you go around here.

Okay ladies. I want to wish you all a wonderful week and to all the American's Have a Happy and Safe 4th!