Wow - it's been awhile since I wrote here!

It's summer in the Twin Cities.  Finally, after a way weird spring of goofy weather, we merged into what the calendar often dictates and found some weather that goes hand in hand! 

For me, it's been a whirl-wind of running around.  Mom taxi I think it is ...  travel soccer games all over the metro, fulfilling social calendar appointments (not many of my own, but still interesting for the kids), and dealing with the crunch at the gas pump. 

One of my greater accomplishments was finally deciding to join Costco.  Sharpening my pencil often enough to see where expenses could be cut was becoming exhausting, and this decision made uber-sense.  I realized how much $$ we were spending on groceries and household stuff, and how to battles the excessive outflow of cash by swinging into Costco and pushing a cart around to cash in on the savings.  LOTS of savings I might add!  I might save that for another blog, just citing all of the great deals I've come across.

Now that travel soccer is done (districts came to a screaching halt with a loss in the first game in St. Cloud) ...  I can focus on other things, like going down the check likst of stuff we did, and why it feels like the peak of summer ought to be here (or is beginning to wane):

*  Did vacation up north to Cass Lake - check.

* Got enough sun on the skin, and bought enough bottles of sunblock - check

* Didn't catch quite enough fish, but it was fun trying! - check

* Ran to DQ waaaay too many times, so that's fulfilled - check

* Took enough pictures of soccer and summer fun to fill plenty of scrapbooks - check

So - I guess that just leaves the State Fair, a trip to Marshalls Market for veggies and fruit,  and school preparations.  I'd like to forget the latter, but it's inevitable.   The Aquatenial is this week and into the weekend, but I'm not sure I want to venture out into that rat-race.  Hmmmmm.....

Are the DDOS *really* upon us then?  

I'm gonna grab another cuppa joe and ponder it while I slide into laundry mode.  I am ... THE... proverbial Irish Washer Woman!   Woooo hoooo!

With the prices of gas going nowhere but up, I'm finding more reasons to enjoy my new car!   It's not "new", but it's new to me, after driving an SUV for the past few years. 

I found a great deal on an '05 Nissan Altima with all the bells & whistles (i.e. fully loaded with leather).  Tooling around and getting much better gas mileage is so huge right now!  It feels and drives like a sports car (in my mind anyway).   It's black and looks pretty cool.

That's about it for now - I may write more tonight while I'm decompressing after having to work on the weekend (something I don't routinely do).