What's with all the Monopoly?

I had finally gotten over my Monopoly at Top Foods obsession (you can only get so many repeat loser pieces before giving up) when the exact same game starts anew at my regular grocery store, Albertsons!

How can I escape the trap of buying unnecessary groceries at a store I'm in all the time? I mean, I'm still working on the microwave popcorn I bought at Top just to get extra game pieces.

Even though the games are seemingly identical, I think the Albertsons version might be even lamer. It's hard to get worse than winning a 50 cents off a case of water coupon as your prize like I did repeatedly at Top. But Albertson's offering up 25 cents off store brand applesauce is so crappy, I doubt even the pros on "Extreme Couponing" could do much with them.

Pile of rejects w/crappy coupons I'll never use:



There's no way in Hell I'll ever win this grill. Damn you, elusive Miracle Whip game piece!



Does anyone ever win ANYTHING on these stupid games?

Gem & Jewelry Show

Thanks to one of my best buds with tickets, and one of my other best buds having to work today, I was a free guest at the 2011 Seattle Gem & Jewelry Show (website here).

I've never been to a gem show before, and as you'd expect, it was a gem buyer's dream. I'm too poor to be a gem buyer, but I sure which I was a beader. It's beader's paradise at these shows.


Loose Rubies



Swarovski Crystals



Tumbled Rocks


Strand after strand of beads

The show also features booth after booth of unique jewelry.


So tasteful....



We called this "The Vagina Ring"


I did manage to purchase a small something that caught my eye:


Natural Amethyst Pendant

All in all, I'd go back to a gem show again. The best part is that they don't allow kids under eight to attend. That means an event with no strollers, which is SO awesome. And it means I got to ditch my kids for the afternoon. I wish there was a gem show every weekend!

Slurpeegate at the Lynnwood P&R

I've mentioned before that I hate riding the bus. One of the things I hate most about riding the bus is the Lynnwood Park & Ride. If you get here anytime after 7:00am, your only option is to park in the boonie lots that tack on an extra 5-10 minutes walking time to get to the bus stop. Not a good thing when you don't have a 15 minute cushion of morning time just to use for walking to the bus from your car.

If you get there after 8:00am, you might as well just drive to work cause there are no spots left.

For a year now, I've managed to get to the P&R at about 7:15 and slide into a couple of extra parallel spots that are near one of the 4-way stops. This area of extra space is not official parking spots, but they aren't in anyone's way, and they are always used by people like me everyday. I mean, you gotta park somewhere, right?

But don't forget we are in Lynnwood, land of the cash cow red camera lights that have no proven safety benefits, but touted as "for the children".

So, it of course means that even though parking in these extra parallel spots at the P&R has been just fine for over a year, yesterday they were illegal and we all got $30 parking tickets.

And on that very same day, a news article was released that the Lynnwood Police Department will be starting a program called "Operation Chill" in which they hand out free Slurpee coupons to kids they see around town "doing good deeds". (Story here)

To quote the article:
"Officers will be watching for kids wearing helmets on their bikes and playing nice with others at the park."

So I guess a good deed is just anything not obviously an illegal activity.

Are these two events related? Are the new parking tickets being used for revenue to purchase Slurpee coupons in a ridiculous campaign to reward kids whose only visible virtue is to not be committing a crime at the time police happen to drive by?

I don't know, but I'm going to have to force my kids to earn a lot of Slurpee coupons this summer to offset my $30 ticket.

Before and After Bathroom Pics

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I purchased a lovely new shower curtain in Lenox's Chirp pattern. My bathroom was pretty blah, so I even sprung for the matching bath mat.

The new shower curtain was so pretty (even wrinkled) that it made me hate the rest of the room. I decided the only thing I could do was put in a new floor and touch up the paint. And buy a bunch of new accessories.

It took weeks of shopping, demolishing, tiling, and painting, but I'm finally done.

Before:

Ugly,warped floor


This is mid-remodel after I took the old mirror off the wall.


Chirp shower curtain before bathroom makeover


After:

Chirp shower curtain after bathroom makeover


Closer shot


New mirror


New towel hook


New make-up mirror, soap holder, toothbrush accessories


New knobs (I might have to stain these cupboards, too)


This shelf is old, but I painted it blue. Towels are also new.


New shower caddy


New soap dish


Old vase, new flowers


New shower curtain hooks


New bird wall art



As soon as the bathroom was complete, I took a long bath. And contemplated what I was going to spruce up in the other bathroom.

Sidewalk Sale

One of my favorite annual traditions in the U-district is the University Village Sidewalk Sale.

U-Village is an outdoor shopping venue comprised of pretentious and overpriced boutique type places, plus high-end chain stores. The sidewalk sale is the only time of the year that this group of snooty stores puts anything good on sale.

Sole Food, a $300 per pair shoe store, has a big grouping of tables full of half price shoes, which is of great interest to me. Of course you have to fight the legions of yuppie soccer moms pushing their double wide strollers to get to the shoes, but I'm pretty feisty in those kinds of situations.

I snagged this beautiful pair of Fluevogs for half off:


If you are in the market for Pottery Barn Kids reduced priced bed sheets (only $29.99 for a kid's fitted sheet!) or $12 knobs from Restoration Hardware, then the U-Village sidewalk sale is for you! Sale runs through the 19th, more info here.

Silver Spoon Thai

Thanks to Living Social, we recently tried a new Thai restaurant in Lynnwood called Silver Spoon.

I have to admit I was skeptical, I haven't been to a good Thai place in the Lynnwood area in all the ten years I've lived here.

But it turned out to be good. Really good, actually. Maybe it was the huge Bangkok Iced Tea I drank, but everything we ate here was fresh, well-seasoned, and just the right level of spicy.

Even the kids liked it!

Huge Shirley Temples

Colin had to pretend he was drinking wine for his photo.

Bangkok Iced Tea

Fresh Spring Rolls


Phud Kee Mao (Drunken Noodles)

Yellow Curry

Kids Meal Chicken Skewers with rice

This space used to be a Tony Roma's. They did a really nice job redecorating. The seating was comfortable, the bar area was nicely decorated with lots of dark wood, and they have a huge fish tank in the middle of the restaurant.


Lucy ate fast and spent the rest of the meal squealing over the fish with some other kids. Next time we go, it'd be nice to ditch the kids and eat in the bar.

Corpse Flower

The Corpse Flower bloomed this week at the UW's greenhouse. This flower only blooms every three years or so, and it's extremely rare, so it's always a big deal around town when it does.

The corpse flower is so named because when it blooms (for only three days), in order to attract the bugs that pollinate it, it smells like rotting carrion. Cool!

And it's huge!

You have to climb a ladder to see inside of it.

Even if you miss corpse flower season, there's still a lot of pretty plants and flowers to look at here all year. The greenhouse has visiting hours every day, more info here.

Here are some other greenhouse pics:

Princess Hamster

Why treat your hamster like an ordinary animal, when you can treat them like royalty? Or so the thought must have been behind the manufacturer of this item:


But since it was clearanced out for half price at PetCo, I had to buy it for our little rodent princess, MegaHamster.

Hamster on the box:


Our Hamster:


MegaHamster does love her new fancy exercise wheel.


But I am NOT buying this:

So Many Projects, So Little Time

I'm deep into my new shower curtain inspired bathroom makeover. I have the floor tiles picked out, so I'll be going back to Lowe's soon to buy more flooring materials and a can of paint for the walls. It's a small room, so I can easily get both walls and floors done over a weekend.

However, still waiting for me to pay attention are all my other projects. I went thrift shopping last weekend with Calina, and got a corner shelf to paint. Once it's spiffed up, it will be housing some Fiestaware.

I have a tablecloth waiting for me to sew it. I got some really pretty fabric with geishas on it, and I'm binding the edges with some kimono-style fabric. It should be really nice when it's done.

I have a set of four vintage Seattle drawings I purchased at an antique mall that need to be reframed.

And I have homemade baby shower invites to make for a friend that is soon having her baby.

I've put everything on my to-be-painted shelf:

I am hoping to knock these projects out, one weekend at a time. Of course that doesn't leave me much time to do my yard projects I have in mind. Maybe I'll just take a week off of work this summer...

The Newest Members of the Family

Speaking of Fiestaware (as I so often do), I'd like to introduce to you the newest members of my Fiestaware family.

From Macy's (courtesy of a gift card and a 30% off open stock sale):

Two Scarlett ramekins

From Craig's List:

Rose (retired color) medium-sized disc pitcher.

Why am I so excited about this medium-sized disc pitcher? Well, the medium-sized disc pitcher is not so common. The large disc pitcher is everywhere. The small disc pitcher is not so easy to find, but hardly rare. And the medium disc pitcher is a real find!

My Happy Family

What I'd really like to find in Fiestaware is candlesticks. I have one pair, but I need a lot more. Thankfully, you just never know what you'll find on Craig's List.