Our Happy Easter Weekend

It was a happy Easter here in the Sunny South, and a gorgeous weekend in many areas so I've heard.  The flowers were blooming and the skies were clear and blue.  Saturday night we had a pre-Easter/birthday combination dinner with DH's family.  In addition to Easter, we were celebrating my niece's and bil's birthdays.  We had grilled lamb, and a red velvet birthday cake for dessert.

The fastest hands!

 Happy Birthday!

Afterward we dyed Easter eggs.  That was the first in years for me.  It was fun, and they turned out pretty good, considering we had blue, green and 3 oranges to work with.  I don't know what happened to the red and yellow.

Ready, Set, Go

I think the Easter Bunny would be proud of these!

We started off Easter Sunday by attending the Easter service with Ashley and Kevin and the kids, followed by a pleasant lunch at El Paisano.  Then Ashley and I and the kids went to PetSmart to get hermit crabs, while the guys went home to check out the leaking refrigerator.

I got a short video of the crabs, named Hans (Scott's) and Cannonball (Michael's).  Hans is wearing the natural colored shell and Cannonball is yellow and black with a red stripe.

I suppose you're wondering why the boys were telling the crabs to say "crab cakes".  When I took pictures, instead of "say cheese" I was going to do "say crab flakes", like the crab food, but it sort of came out wrong - hmmm...what was I thinking?

Hans actually got out of the shallow dish three times, so we had to get a deeper container to prevent further escape.

"I've got a plan."

We hung out with them for the rest of the day, and had a wonderful beef stew for dinner. Ashley's Dad and Kevin's brother's family all joined us in the kitchen for dinner.  

Happy Easter everyone!

Quote of the Week

This comes a little late this week.

A hug is a great gift - one size fits all, and it's easy to exchange.  

- Author Unknown

This is a gift we all benefit from, both giving and receiving.  

A New Addition

Saturday was an exciting day for us.  This type of event doesn't happen every day or even every decade for that matter.  My DH is now the proud owner of a 2002 Honda Accord.  It's got it all, comfy leather seats, power this and that and...drumroll please...a sunroof!  That is a first for either of us.  This ends his two-year search for just the right car.  He went through several phases like I'd like a Corolla, no maybe a Civic.  We looked at car after car in under the broiling summer sun until he concluded that he'd just keep his car for now.  OK.  It was always brimming just under the surface though, the notion that the time was winding down to replace it.  Next there was the "I can just get another Saturn" phase. There were a few out there, but that model/body style is getting hard to come by, and that passed into "I'll just put new tires on it and keep driving."

When my car died back in November, I launched a search of my own.  That renewed his interest as well.  My search took us through the dead of winter and we endured bitter winds as we looked at car after car, and test drove them through snow and slush.  In the process so began his Accord phase, and we drove 4 before finding the right one.  We almost ended up with a silver one (no leather), but our offer was declined.  Fine.  Things usually work out the way they are supposed to if you don't force the issue.

On Thursday we found another gold one on-line.  We looked at it Friday evening, and went back the next morning for a test drive.  Once the decision was made that this was the car, and we had our "number" in mind, Tim, our long-suffering salesman came out to give us their "number". Can you guess?  They weren't exactly in the same neighborhood.  Again I said, "I'm sorry, I was hoping you'd be getting a new car today".  Tim said he would take our offer to the manager to see what he'd say.  Tim had been gone for a while, so thinking we were just out of luck again, we were about to leave.  But wait... here comes Tim, and he's walking with purpose.  Apparently the fact that we were there with our checkbook ready to buy and drive carried some weight, and our offer was accepted.

So here it is! 

I am happy and excited that he has a "new" car.  Now, it's my turn!

Restaurants.com - 80% off...Again!

Restaurants.com has a new promotion going on now through April 6.  All gift certificates are 80% off.  Just use the promo code CHOW when you check out, and your discount will be applied.  You can get $25 gift certificates for just $2. 

What a great way to eat out and save!

Spring has Sprung!

Here is some of Nature's bounty.

 

The out-of-control Forsythia beside the driveway.

A Tulip Tree blossom at Sci-Works.

A budding Snowball.