Gas and grocery bill

I figured out my April gas and grocery bill for the month. Our gas bill was $708.46 and our grocery bill was $249.36. I am definitely happy that I am getting my grocery bill down so low but I can't do much about the gas bill.

Our corrolla still isn't fix. My mechanic friend redid the brakes, replaced the pads, turned the rotors, and adjusted the calipers. Apparently that didn't fix the vibration problem. So far to try and fix this problem we have had the tires balanced, replaced the axles and did the brakes. The current mechanic is going to test the fuel injectors and the valves next. I certainly hope it isn't a valve because that could run 1,000!

Check out that fuel image above. Can you believe just four years ago gas was averaging $1.85 a gallon? Here in CA our gas is around $3.95 a gallon. It is just crazy. They need to get rid of the taxes we pay on gas and give us a break! Did you know the federal tax rate for gas is 18.4% and CA tax rate for gas is 18%. So we pay 36% of our gas fees in tax. So if you said gas was 4.00 a gallon, got rid of the fed and state taxes you would be paying $2.56 a gallon instead. Big difference huh!

Well over a year since make up

Today we had a mom's luncheon for our mom's group at a nice Italian restaurant. I decided to take the opportunity to dress up since the last time had been over a year ago at hubby's Christmas party in 2006. Aly watched me with fascination as I put make up on and asked me to apply some on her. I made sure to only put lip gloss on and a little powder since this is a very sensitive matter with hubby.

I kept my make up light as I think it really just looks best that way. Less is more! My hair turned out really pretty, unfortunately I didn't take a picture of the back of it. Some of my fellow mom friends said they didn't even recognize me. They are used to seeing me with glasses, no make up, and casual clothes. It was fun to feel pretty for an afternoon.

Check back tomorrow so I can tell you the wonderful prize I won at the luncheon. I was so excited!

Easy Chili recipe

Here is an easy yet very delicious chili recipe. I personally love a 3 bean chili and hubby prefers an all meat chili so I took both of our preferences and made it into one! I personally like to use the crock pot but if you are in a hurry you could use the stove top method as well.

1 can black beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can enchilada sauce
1 pound ground beef
1 pound cut up cooked steak meat
red pepper

Brown the ground beef and put into crock pot. Use a pound of your choice of meat and cut up in bite sized pieces and brown, add to crock pot. Add all three cans of beans and the can of enchilada sauce. Cook in crock pot on high for four hours. Use red pepper to season to the desired spicy taste you can handle.

Hubby's B-day celebration

We celebrated hubby's birthday this week. I made him a mint chocolate chip ice cream cake with chocolate mocha frosting. It was sooo good. The girls loved it just as much as we did. The frosting recipe I used called for 1/4 cup of coffee so well it gave it a coffee flavoring, it wasn't over powering. I used a brownie recipe for the cake part. It was really soft, moist and delicious.

Here is an interesting fact you may not know. Hubby and my mom share the same birthday. Yes, they are both Taurus's. Really easy for me to remember both of their birthdays. Hubby turned 24--yeah right that is what he wants us to think!

What a week

It has been a long tiring week here at our house. Hubby has a project deadline of May 9th and is working 6 days a week 12 hours a day plus his hour commute each way. On his birthday we saw him for half an hour, the next night another half and hour, didn't see him last night due to volleyball, and will be lucky enough to spend an hour and a half with him tonight. He will be working over the weekend but said he will take Sunday off.

His lack of sleep has affected my sleep as well. I find it weird that I have a hard time sleeping when he is not next to me. I have woke up many mornings this week around 4-4:30 and have not been able to go back to sleep. This lack of sleep has really caused me to be avoiding blogging.

Hopefully this weekend I will have a chance to catch up. I want to post some birthday cake pictures.

If you have a chance and you need clothes for your children Walmart marked quite a few things down to $1 a piece today. Mostly leggings and long sleeve shirts. (Don't know what is marked down in the boys section since I don't have any boys) Anyway, great deal for clothing! Better than used clothing prices and they are brand new.

Weight Loss Mondays

Well I haven't posted any weight loss news for almost two weeks due to our vacation. Just before leaving on vacation I managed to make it down to 129.6 and was thrilled. Of course with vacation brings bad eating habits and no exercise. I wasn't surprised to return home to see my weight had jumped to 132.0 Fortunately through exercise and diet I was able to step on the scale this morning to see 128.8. I was shocked and didn't even believe it at first. I got on the scale two more times just to make sure it was true! I felt soo happy. I have now to date lost 11 pounds! I can't believe it. Now my new problem will be trying to find money in the budget to buy some clothes that fit! ;-)

Disneyland splash mountain

I just had to share this photo we bought from Splash mountain at Disneyland. Aly and I are in the middle of the boat and our friends Amy and Taylor are in the back. While Aly didn't like this ride I was very proud of her for how brave she was and how well she handled herself. The big drop at the end was the only time she screamed and we were done she politely said she didn't want to do that ride again.

Did you know that KK was big enough to ride the Matterhorn? Apparently you only have to be 35 inches and she is just between 35-36 inches tall. She also was tall enough to ride the Mickey Mouse roller coaster. She loved the Mickey Mouse roller coaster and asked to go on it again and again. She rode the matterhorn but we were not too sure if she liked that one or not. She kept her hands over her eyes the whole time.

Aly didn't really like the Mickey Mouse roller coaster and didn't even want to try the Matterhorn. She wanted to stay with the mellow rides. Hopefully next year when we go she will be ready for some more thrill rides, otherwise KK will be passing her up on most of the rides while she stays behind watching ;-)

Previous Family photo pics at Disneyland

I thought it would be fun to go through my pics and find some of our old ones from previous trips to Disneyland.

I am not quite sure on the dates of these pics but my guess would be that Kayla is somewhere near one and Alyssa is near 3 years old with the picture on the left. The picture on the right perhaps Kayla is 4 months old and Alyssa is 2?

The picture on the left was last May just before the girls turned 2 and 4. The picture on the right was this trip.

Can you tell Disneyland is our favorite family vacation? After all it is the happiest place on earth!

Our trip to Disneyland with the Glanville's

On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week we went to Disneyland. We met my best friend Amy and her family. Amy used to live in Pollock Pines but she moved to Montana almost two years ago. We try and meet in Disneyland once a year to see each other. Alyssa and Taylor used to be best friends so it was really fun for them to see each other.

The first ride we had to do was Dumbo and it ended up being one of the favorite rides. The picture on the right is Alyssa and Taylor in Minnie's House.

The picture on the left is Kayla and Mommy in Minnie's house and the picture on the right we are on the teacups ride.

Teacups was definitely a family favorite ride as well. We even got Taylor and Timmy to love this ride.

I think we must have gone on the Merry Go Round 20 times or more. Eventually due to tired feet both Mommy and Daddy started riding on a horse too!

Since Daddy liked spinning so much he took all of the kids on the teacups while Amy and Angela wimped out and went on their own teacup and didn't spin it! Aly is showing off her new hat in the picture on the right.

Our family vacation

This week neither started as planned or ended us planned do to unforeseen circumstances. We did however manage to make it to the San Diego Zoo and Disneyland. We had a great time at the San Diego Zoo. We got there at 9 a.m. and left around 3 p.m. Believe it or not we were able to see all of the zoo except for the petting zoo.

The girls had fun climbing on the hippo statue and climbing in caves.

Daddy's favorite spot was the Bonobo's exhibit. He must have spent a half an hour looking at them!

Mommy's favorite thing was the hippo exhibit. The girls really loved the giraffes and it was the giraffes first day in their new exhibit.