The Market of Farmers

Today was a very productive Saturday. But you can only elude the rain for so long....

                                         

       

                                     

It is said that local honey has Fort Myers pollen in it, and if you eat a spoonful everyday, your allergies go away.  I don't really have pollen allergies *knock on wood* but I think it's a good excuse to eat honey....

       

                                              

And then the storms roll in..

       

So it's pool time. In the rain.

        

       

I received some super cute Brody pictures sleeping in his high chair. And then found this beauty at the beach store. Rolling laughing.

                                               

And a "we all thought it was funny, but grandpa wasn't amused" text

Loving life

xo A

     

Problems

Turns out I might like sunflower seeds more than baseball.

Or Bloody Mary's. except it turns out there are only 2 people in this city that can make them good.

Elyse and I.

And that's only because I buy olives, string cheese and beef jerky.

Happy weekend!

xo A

Birthday mooonth

It is birthday month!!! Know what that means?

My birthday is in September!!

Birthdays mean lots of mail (hopefully)! And Alyssa buying a lot of unnecessary 'well it's my birthday' gifts for myself.  While I can't promise that won't happen, I'm going to make some mid-year resolutions as a gift to myself and see how I do.

1.) No iPad/laptop/phone games in bed.

Instead I'm going to try reading, I've heard visual stimulation is bad for sleep and dreaming.

2.) Limit eating at night (and I'm eating a banana baby as we speak)

3.) Limit Facebook, Instagram, twitter, google etc. while out with friends. 

This also includes putting my phone away at meals. I hate going out for supper and seeing phones on every table and people on their phones while the people around them are having conversations. We've become too reliant on technology when we should be enjoying the company we're with. Facebook & Instagram will still be their to look at later in the night.

4.) Stop swearing so much. It's not attractive.

5.) Limit road rage - Stop driving so fast and calm down behind the wheel.

I hit an all time low of 18.5 MPG today. From normally getting 27, and 31 highway, this was quite a shock

6.) Bring breakfast to work everyday. After all, it is the most important meal of the day

Well, lets see how I do.

xo A

Sinks and sinkholes

For the past 3 days, this was my sink.

The rod that held the stopper rusted and broke off. The nut was rusted on and I had a handy man come, he broke everything  aka the stopper) so I visited my local Ace Hardware and.......

Know what this is?

The sweet sweet smell of success.

To all that doubted me? Suck it.

To all that were hoping when I broke my sink, that I would attempt to fix it, then fail miserably? Well that was kind of me, so I'm glad I didn't completely mess it up.

Usually, when I do something for the first time I usually proclaim "I should be a professional __________!" (Carpenter, tire changer, etc.) you will never here me say I want to be a plumber. First of all, it's hotter than hell under that sink. Second, water usually equals rust, and rust stains pretty much everything. Third, plumbers get a bad rep for butt cracks. I do not want to be associated with that.

So first I took everything apart and got all new pieces (it was a kit I had to)

I put the stopper in with the opening to the back, and the 2 washer things around the pivot ball.

The stick goes in at an angle to catch the stopper.

Jiggle the stick and the stopper pops up.

Tighten with your BRAND NEW grippy wrench (necessary? Absolutely vital in this operation)

And done. Sent a snapchat that said I was complete and super excited. Tried to use it and it fell off.

Snapchat sad face.

So. What's the difference in these 2? 

The clip! Only the most important piece in the whole sink.

What have I learned?

Next time I need to fix something, pour a glass of wine first (not mid way through) and stop swearing, it really doesn't accomplish anything.

On another note. Sinkholes have become more and more common in Florida. Why? I dunno read an article about it. 

Again, I'm the navy star - at a low risk of sinkholes, only 2-3 in my county and the last one was in 2008. Except for this one, found on the beach in 2011...which I'm sure they've taken care of by now...

xo A

Iowaaaaaa

Something incredibly amazing happened today.

I got a compliment from cute coffee guy about IOWA. 

After this weekend, I thought I was doomed. But in a fortunate turn of events, this guy knew his stuff. 

We had talked another time and he remembered that I was from Iowa (+1)

He asked where I lived (between Cedar Rapids and Dubuque) oh so kind of close to Iowa City? (+1)

I used to play football in Iowa City every other year. And man, did they do something right with that stadium?! 

Oh yeah Kinnick? (Jack Trice is betterrrrr) 

Man, the way they have the bleachers angled so much, it's great. And the girls? Are gorgeous. I've never seen prettier girls. Iowa is where it's at. (+1) You'd turn around and they were just, surrounding you, it was hard to pay attention.

Hah, I'm glad you think so, most people think all Iowa is, is cornfields.

Which is completely false! It was so beautiful! (+1)

Yes I consider a compliment about Iowa, better than a compliment about me.

And Tuesday started out as a great day, stay tuned to see how my next project goes...

xo A

Guide to idiots.

Some guys are just literally the worst.

I had an encounter with said guy at the bar while watching Iowa State/UNI game.

Grew up in Solon Iowa. So I figured he would be semi intelligent. 

Wrong. After his 5th Budweiser I knew we were on a fast track downhill (Turns out he moved away when he was 10).

This is a compilation of questions he asked and answers I WISH I would have given, and general things not to tell a girl the first time you meet her.

Oh wow, Iowa?! What did your parents and family think of you moving here?

They love it! Now that I'm farther away I don't bother them as much.

Wow you're single? That's incredible, you seem so nice and easy to talk to.

Yeah the doctors thought so too, but only when I've taken all my medication, and I forget a lot.

So what did you do growing up in Iowa? Aren't there just a lot of cornfields?

Oh yeah, thats all it is, for fun we'd run through the cornfields and play hide-and-seek, that's how Children of the Corn movies started because so many kids got lost.

So wait why aren't you wearing purple?

Oh, it's good luck to wear the other teams colors.

Oh, right, so how did you like living in Waterloo?

Man it was great, the hour and half commute to Ames was the perfect time to mentally prepare myself every morning.

So where do you live? I mean I just want to compare to see if I'm paying a good price..I'm not trying to be like creepy or anything, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I just like always wonder where other people live and what rent is ya know?

I live with a girl. But we don't sleep together or anything, she's basically like my sister.

How old are you?

Why did you and your boyfriend break up? <answer>

No but really you can tell me the real reason, I mean I just want to get to know you.

I mean I have issues I could tell you about

Oh wow, no thanks that's ok

But really I mean I want to get to know you <shows me phone that says "Shelby" and a one sided conversation in text messages>

I love my life. I know at least some of you get a kick out of this.

xo A

And ANOTHER thing. Don't smoke in my face.

Friday baseball

First pitch at 7:05. Happy Hour from 6-7 and $1 beers.

Brought our own coozies

                                               

Mitch caught a foul ball off the back wall. Bare handed. And saved us all.

                                                

Miracles win!!

xo A