The comings and goings of the fab four

We were so lucky to have our friends Pat & Kelly come through yesterday on their way to Ft. Lauderdale. They have 3 kids, Andrew (10), Kiera (almost 5) and Jamie (almost 2). The kids just ran around and played. Andrew is a super kid – he played with all of the little kids – Miles LOVED him – and Andrew didn’t even seem to mind playing with Miles! Lydia thought Kiera was the coolest – she kept calling her “Bera” (like our babysitter, who is also known as Bera). Jamie and Miles just enjoyed the pandemonium. Pat and Kelly, Robert & I had so much fun talking, and Pat was very well behaved during the UNC game. The kids all loved hovering around him while he played brain age. Kelly and I were able to go for a nice 4 mile walk – the weather yesterday was beautiful and perfect. Robert and I had hoped to go to the beach today, but it’s overcast. Oh well… Hopefully the sunshine state will live up to its’ name while they enjoy their spring break down south.

We added two Little Tykes plastic play toys to our backyard collection – I was able to buy them from a friend of mine. We are not sure they are within the neighborhood covenants – actually pretty sure they are NOT allowed – but we figure that if our next door neighbor on one side has pink flamingos hanging out in his front and back (very beautiful, meticulously kept) yard, and the lady on the other side has a pink stucco house with white shutters and white rocks beds with an abundance of gnomes, a few plastic toys shouldn’t be too horrible. We’ll see if a Dear Neighbor letter arrives in the coming weeks.

One more thing! Robert completed his Green Belt (unofficially) today! This is HUUUUGE. It will probably be finalized next week. Way to go Robert! We are so proud of you!

Today begins Spring Break on “The First Coast”. Since it’s so nice out, Rebecca and I decided to take all of the crazy hooligan kids to the beach. Lydia and Sydney had a blast running and screaming and playing. I think they spent about 95% of their time just running with the watering cans (glad we had two!) from the water to our spread, dumping the water and repeating the process. It was great. Miles didn’t like the water – he got knocked over once when standing next to me and got his rear a little wet, and really wasn’t into it after that. I would try to put him down and he would lift his legs up so they were sticking out straight in front of him – instead of allowing them to touch the water. He’s such a turkey. Isaac played nicely in his tent for a while, but started getting antsy. The child LOVED the sand, and ended up making a nice snack of it. After a while, what can you do but just let him go at it! He was hilarious.

We also saw a blimp while we were out.

Q:

Snow White : Animals
as
Pam : ___________

A:

Snow White : Animals
as
Pam : Ferguson Children!

Our kids love Pam. Whenever I talk about her, Lydia immediately perks up. When Alex and Pam came over on Wednesday afternoon, Miles ALSO loved her, and wanted to sit on her lap. Poor Pam is 7 months pregnant, and had my dear sweet Miles crowding her space. But as usual, she rolled with it. She’s very laid back.

I have been wanting to do a favorites post recently. I LOVE it when people give personal recommendations on their blogs for whatever – websites, makeup, personal products, food, cleaning products – any of it. So I figured that I could do one to share some of my new favorite things. If you think this is self indulgent, well, sure, it might be, but you don’t have to read it!

This year one of my New Year’s Resolutions was to go greener with household items, including personal products and cleaning supplies. SO I have been purchasing (or trying to focus on) SLS and paraben free, as well as cruelty free products. A few of my favorites:

Kiss My Face olive oil soap – I like bar soap, and this is a great one. I am picky about my bar soaps – I love Dove, but this is a great replacement. I will try some of the other varieties with my next order, but I think I’d be perfectly happy sticking to this one.

Dr. Bronner’s Liquid Castile Soap – Baby Mild – if you have never used Dr. Bronner’s soaps, now is the time! My dad used to use them on camping trips, and I always loved them and was fascinated by all of the quotes on the label. They are kind of expensive, but if you buy a pump foamer and fill it up with water, and just put a squirt of the castile soap in (or from what I’ve heard from my friend Kerri, this works for most any soaps) – it foams beautifully and your product lasts for-evahhh! So begone store bought foaming soaps! I have been using my foamer bottle from another product that was dumped out – just reusing the bottle. Anyway, Dr. Bronner’s soaps are my favorite – I love peppermint and almond the best for myself. I love how sweet and clean the babies smell with the baby soap. And I don’t have to worry about it causing problems with Miles’ super schizo skin. They are super concentrated so you always want to dilute.

Lumene Time Freezing Day Cream – I was hesitant to try this, but I love it (even though it says it’s for 40+). It smells great and absorb quickly.

Humm Foods Larabar – Apple Pie – yeummmmmy! They’re raw, so full of fruits and nuts. Delish! I have also tried cherry pie (love), ginger snap (ok) and chocolate coconut chew (ok). If you’ve ever seen Alton Brown’s Good Eats episode on energy/granola bars, you will probably be as grossed out as I was, and want to head in a different direction.

Everyday Minerals – I was introduced to these by a childhood friend’s wife’s blog – and they have a free sample makeup kit where you can choose 3 foundations, a blush and concealer. I have tried bare minerals and didn’t really like them. I LIKE this though. I also ordered the flat top brush and it is really soft and awesome. I like it a lot better, and it is MUCH softer than my bare minerals kabuki brush. AND it’s much cheaper than bare minerals. You know I love a good deal.

If you have any good rec’s, I would love to hear them.

Why is it that the two times that I’ve gone to the gym at 5:00am this week, I come home at 6:15 and everyone is still asleep (and it’s 6:30 now and everyone is still asleep). When I didn’t go to the gym yesterday or the day before everyone was up by 5:45. Maybe it’s God’s little tap on the shoulder, “Go to the gym in the morning, Jessica”.

Hi everyone-
I wanted to share a story. We had some work done on our Honda in the Fall – new tires, rotors, fluids, alignment… about $700 worth of work. We had originally taken the car to Goodyear on 220, and they had given us the estimate of $1200, but we went back and forth between Tire Kingdom on hwy 17 and Goodyear, and got the price down to under $700. In the winter we took the Explorer in and had some work done on the rotors at Tire Kingdom, they somewhat won my trust when they told me the rotors were not bad, and were actually high quality, just needed to be machined down. Fast forward to a few weeks ago, the check engine light came on in the Honda, and we went back to Tire Kingdom. They told me that the upstream 02 sensor needed to be replaced, and also *suggested* that I have my struts replaced. We had been having some issues with what we thought was the transmission, so they had gone in and looked at the front end at my request. The price of new struts – $800. At the same time they were telling me all of this, they told me the rotors were warped and they were machining them down (before I could say yay or nay…however it was free because they were still under warranty through TK since they had just been replaced in the fall), and wanted to get into the struts TODAY. The manager (Cory) also told me that I needed transmission fluid, his exact words were, “I’m not sure if the transmission fluid has EVER been changed”. Interesting enough THEY had changed the transmission fluid in the Fall. I declined the struts AND 02 sensor that day. I questioned how the rotors would be damaged enough to need machining at this point, he said that that’s just how it goes – I really couldn’t get a straight answer as to why they would need machining, or if this was normal. I don’t recall ever having to have the previous struts machined prior to this – and we’ve owned the car for 4 years.

I called around this morning to get prices on struts and 02 sensors. I spoke with Suburban Automotive on 17, and they began questioning why I would need new struts on a 2000 Honda. He acted like this was very strange, and said I needed to come in and have them look at the car before they could give me a price. I went in and they looked at the tires and struts. Turns out the pressure on the front two tires was significantly higher than recommended AND higher than the back two tires. They said that this was probably why the car was shimmying, and that I *did not need new struts*. Seeing that Tire Kingdom is the only establishment that has dealt with our Honda in the last 6-8 months, I feel that the only way this could have happened was if Tire Kingdom had added the extra tire pressure to sell me new struts. Suburban Auto corrected the air pressure in the tires, and diagnosed the 02 sensor as needing to be replaced (something TK apparently hadn’t falsified). They made it sound like this wasn’t uncommon with that particular Tire Kingdom.

SO, if you take anything away from this, it’s don’t deal with Tire Kingdom at 3575 Highway 17 in OP! It is insulting and infuriating to think that we could have blown an unnecessary $800, however, the fact that they seem to have tampered with our car is terrifying. They are obviously not an ethical business, and hopefully they haven’t done anything that could potentially harm or injure anyone else.

Sorry for the long email, I felt this was important enough to pass along. Feel free to forward it along to anyone that you feel might have an interest.

Jessica

Hi everyone-
I wanted to share a story. We had some work done on our Honda in the Fall – new tires, rotors, fluids, alignment… about $700 worth of work. We had originally taken the car to Goodyear on 220, and they had given us the estimate of $1200, but we went back and forth between Tire Kingdom on hwy 17 and Goodyear, and got the price down to under $700. In the winter we took the Explorer in and had some work done on the rotors at Tire Kingdom, they somewhat won my trust when they told me the rotors were not bad, and were actually high quality, just needed to be machined down. Fast forward to a few weeks ago, the check engine light came on in the Honda, and we went back to Tire Kingdom. They told me that the upstream 02 sensor needed to be replaced, and also *suggested* that I have my struts replaced. We had been having some issues with what we thought was the transmission, so they had gone in and looked at the front end at my request. The price of new struts – $800. At the same time they were telling me all of this, they told me the rotors were warped and they were machining them down (before I could say yay or nay…however it was free because they were still under warranty through TK since they had just been replaced in the fall), and wanted to get into the struts TODAY. The manager (Cory) also told me that I needed transmission fluid, his exact words were, “I’m not sure if the transmission fluid has EVER been changed”. Interesting enough THEY had changed the transmission fluid in the Fall. I declined the struts AND 02 sensor that day. I questioned how the rotors would be damaged enough to need machining at this point, he said that that’s just how it goes – I really couldn’t get a straight answer as to why they would need machining, or if this was normal. I don’t recall ever having to have the previous struts machined prior to this – and we’ve owned the car for 4 years.

I called around this morning to get prices on struts and 02 sensors. I spoke with Suburban Automotive on 17, and they began questioning why I would need new struts on a 2000 Honda. He acted like this was very strange, and said I needed to come in and have them look at the car before they could give me a price. I went in and they looked at the tires and struts. Turns out the pressure on the front two tires was significantly higher than recommended AND higher than the back two tires. They said that this was probably why the car was shimmying, and that I *did not need new struts*. Seeing that Tire Kingdom is the only establishment that has dealt with our Honda in the last 6-8 months, I feel that the only way this could have happened was if Tire Kingdom had added the extra tire pressure to sell me new struts. Suburban Auto corrected the air pressure in the tires, and diagnosed the 02 sensor as needing to be replaced (something TK apparently hadn’t falsified). They made it sound like this wasn’t uncommon with that particular Tire Kingdom.

SO, if you take anything away from this, it’s don’t deal with Tire Kingdom at 3575 Highway 17 in OP! It is insulting and infuriating to think that we could have blown an unnecessary $800, however, the fact that they seem to have tampered with our car is terrifying. They are obviously not an ethical business, and hopefully they haven’t done anything that could potentially harm or injure anyone else.

Sorry for the long email, I felt this was important enough to pass along. Feel free to forward it along to anyone that you feel might have an interest.

Jessica

Hi everyone-
I wanted to share a story. We had some work done on our Honda in the Fall – new tires, rotors, fluids, alignment… about $700 worth of work. We had originally taken the car to Goodyear on 220, and they had given us the estimate of $1200, but we went back and forth between Tire Kingdom on hwy 17 and Goodyear, and got the price down to under $700. In the winter we took the Explorer in and had some work done on the rotors at Tire Kingdom, they somewhat won my trust when they told me the rotors were not bad, and were actually high quality, just needed to be machined down. Fast forward to a few weeks ago, the check engine light came on in the Honda, and we went back to Tire Kingdom. They told me that the upstream 02 sensor needed to be replaced, and also *suggested* that I have my struts replaced. We had been having some issues with what we thought was the transmission, so they had gone in and looked at the front end at my request. The price of new struts – $800. At the same time they were telling me all of this, they told me the rotors were warped and they were machining them down (before I could say yay or nay…however it was free because they were still under warranty through TK since they had just been replaced in the fall), and wanted to get into the struts TODAY. The manager (Cory) also told me that I needed transmission fluid, his exact words were, “I’m not sure if the transmission fluid has EVER been changed”. Interesting enough THEY had changed the transmission fluid in the Fall. I declined the struts AND 02 sensor that day. I questioned how the rotors would be damaged enough to need machining at this point, he said that that’s just how it goes – I really couldn’t get a straight answer as to why they would need machining, or if this was normal. I don’t recall ever having to have the previous struts machined prior to this – and we’ve owned the car for 4 years.

I called around this morning to get prices on struts and 02 sensors. I spoke with Suburban Automotive on 17, and they began questioning why I would need new struts on a 2000 Honda. He acted like this was very strange, and said I needed to come in and have them look at the car before they could give me a price. I went in and they looked at the tires and struts. Turns out the pressure on the front two tires was significantly higher than recommended AND higher than the back two tires. They said that this was probably why the car was shimmying, and that I *did not need new struts*. Seeing that Tire Kingdom is the only establishment that has dealt with our Honda in the last 6-8 months, I feel that the only way this could have happened was if Tire Kingdom had added the extra tire pressure to sell me new struts. Suburban Auto corrected the air pressure in the tires, and diagnosed the 02 sensor as needing to be replaced (something TK apparently hadn’t falsified). They made it sound like this wasn’t uncommon with that particular Tire Kingdom.

SO, if you take anything away from this, it’s don’t deal with Tire Kingdom at 3575 Highway 17 in OP! It is insulting and infuriating to think that we could have blown an unnecessary $800, however, the fact that they seem to have tampered with our car is terrifying. They are obviously not an ethical business, and hopefully they haven’t done anything that could potentially harm or injure anyone else.

Sorry for the long email, I felt this was important enough to pass along. Feel free to forward it along to anyone that you feel might have an interest.

Jessica

To Jessie & Miguel on the arrival of their beautiful baby Susanna yesterday AM! Sending lots of love to you guys! Susanna looks like a beautiful blend of Jessie & Miguel from the pictures. Can’t wait to meet her in person!