31. No fast food for one week

For Easter, Husband and I decided to give up fast food in order to save some money and eat better food.

Our definition was any drive thru situation that didn’t serve me food with a waitress – so things like McDonalds, Lion’s Choice and Arby’s – all of those things.

If I had to go out to a restaurant for a work thing or something similar, we didn’t count those. I figured we could eat better even at a sit-down restaurant than a fast food one.

Let me just say that it was SO much harder than I thought. We ended up cheating a bit – after all, Sundays don’t count in the Lenten observance. Did you know that? The 40 days of Lent don’t include Sundays so my Grandma always ate whatever she gave up for Lent on Sundays after church. I figured that was good enough for me in this case, too!

In any case, we got thru it (sort of) and now we’re back to normal. You know how some people give something up for Lent and then they can’t ever go back to those things they gave up? Um, yeah – that didn’t happen. I am saddened to say I’m craving fries drowned in fat just as much as I did before.

But it did fund Husband’s new Xbox. So it’s a win all around, right? :)

Yes, I realize I’m a dork… but I’m ok with that

This is my latest favorite thing. The Disney Mr. Potato Head. Complete with Mickey Ears and a Disney nametag.

Oh yes. That’s really there on my desk. :)

A colleague at work and I were talking about how many more days until I’m back in Walt Disney World [41 days, 11 hours, if you’re wondering] because she’s a big Disney nut too. :) Who knew?

She asked me if I had seen the Disney Potato Head. I asked her if she meant the one that greets you when you’re in line for Toy Story at Hollywood Studios. She said no, silly, the actual Mr. Potato Head.

I said no, I hadn’t, and immediately ran over to the internets and realized that it’s quite a collector’s item. It’s hard to find!

So this morning, my colleague brought in that little guy to show him off. Isn’t he cute?! She mentioned that she’s a big Potato Head fan and has a bunch of them in various outfits, including this Disney one. I squealed and awed appropriately and then she said…

“He’s yours!”

I couldn’t even believe it! Wasn’t that so sweet? She said she has a bunch of other ones at home and that she thought I’d really appreciate him.

He is currently residing in a place of honor next to Thomas the Tank Engine, my crown from the Shakespeare Festival and all-important calendar.

  It totally made my Tuesday morning. :)

Something that’s been on my to-do list for two years

It’s on of those things on my 101 in 1001 list that I added in the beginning because I thought I could accomplish it really quickly.

This has been on my 101 list since early November when I created that list. But before that, it’s been on my list for YEARS.

We got married three years ago this month and our wedding album arrived around six months after. Since then, I realized that we made a mistake in the ordering. One of the pictures was a duplicate of the one before it – we had two pictures of his immediate family with us but none of mine. I’ve been meaning to replace it and I finally did!

A few weeks ago, Shutterfly had a deal on photos so I was able to get a 5x7 printed to finish the album.

And ta-da! Almost three years after we got married, now we have a complete wedding album!

Now it’s on to the honeymoon scrapbook that isn’t finished…and the wedding scrapbook that isn’t even started. Oh well, at least one item is checked off the list!

I’m actually thanking the IRS now…

A few weeks ago, I gathered up all the W-9s and donation papers and sat myself in front of the computer to file the taxes on Turbo Tax. It was a really easy way to do it, actually – I was QUITE surprised. I picked the most basic package and given our income, we were able to file the federal return for free!

Husband and I made an agreement that any refund we received would go into our “Disney fund” – did I mention we’re going back again? 48 days until we’re there for a family wedding. :)

So imagine my surprise when I saw that refund calculator sitting at $6 – wow, I could buy an ice cream bar at Disneyworld. Well, I realized that I had only entered the income and none of the deductions.

Thank you SLU for giving my husband a place in law school and letting us defer his undergraduate loans!

That green refund calculator kept rising and rising and rising…

The number at the end was VERY pretty. :)

That means we get to pad the savings account, get a nice couples massage before final exams, have some fun money in Disneyworld…

AND get me a new laptop!

Please excuse the poor iPhone quality photo but I’m too lazy to go downstairs to get the real camera.

You can totally see the difference between the new one on the right. It’s a wide screen Acer Aspire with lots of goodies in there, the most important being a memory card reader, three USB ports, good memory so I can run lots of program like I do.

We’ve been shopping for one for a few weeks now, after we realized we would get a refund. My old laptop has been SQUEEKING along for the past year and I’ve worried it was going to up and die one day. I’m lucky that we were able to get the new computer – albeit refurbished – for our price now, rather than waiting for the old one to die.

I would tell you how awesome it is to type on RIGHT NOW but unfortunately the battery died when I was downloading iTunes. Oh well. It’s sitting on the floor next to the bed and charging. I can play with it in the morning.

OH! And I didn’t even tell you the BEST part. Windows 7 allows you to customize the look of your screen and windows and stuff. I picked PURPLE. And you can even pick the shade of purple. WOW. Ladies, it even matches the adorable mini purple mouse I picked up at Target so I wouldn’t have to use the track pad all the time.

It’s the little things in life.

The Easter Vigil

Three and a half hours after I got to the church to practice at the lectern with the other lectors for the Vigil, we left church again.

It was a long evening full of fire and words and songs and silence.

I hope that I was able to breathe a little life in to the Genesis reading at the beginning of the service. I think I did ok… Husband says it was a bit dramatic – but I’m ALWAYS dramatic. That’s why I’m such a good lector, I think!

When I went up to receive Communion, even the pastor said how much he enjoyed my reading. That’s always a good thing to hear, I guess!

I’m looking forward to the next time they’ll let me lector. I love being able to contribute to the service.