Today…

Outside my window: it’s kind of cloudy this morning with highs expected to be in the mid 70’s. Unfortunately for my husband who biked to work this morning, thunderstorms are expected on and off today. I may have to pick him up from work tonight if it’s storming.

This weekend we: made up for lost time with each other last week and went on a couple of fun adventures. On Saturday we picked up a bike trailer for the kids off Craigs List for just $30! These things can run from $300-600 easily new so this was a really great steal! We also bought a used bike for me but it still needs a little bit of work on the breaks so I probably won’t be able to ride it until next weekend when Dan can finish fixing it up.

We also: took a little day trip to Illinois yesterday. We’d been planning to go to the Milwaukee fair but decided at the last minute that we really wanted to go visit one of our favorite cities, shop around IKEA (we picked up a great wooden dish drying rack and some new cups that I’ve been wanting – more plastic cups for the kids and small glass juice cups for those days when we don’t really need a full 8 ounces.

We got dessert at the Cheesecake Factory in the mall and did a bit more shopping there as well. It was raining most of the morning and it meant a good bit of driving but we had a great time! We picked up some plush Phineas and Ferb dolls for MM at the Disney Store and just overall had a great time – a Ferbtastic Day you might say! And now we are back in spending hibernation after our little weekend splurge. :O)

Right now I’m reading: Peony in Love by Lisa See – I read one of her other books, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and loved it so I’m looking forward to this book a lot.

On the House Hunting Front: on Saturday we took a quick look at the paint on the exterior of the house – the FHA is asking that we get the house painted so that there is no bare wood exposed and we wanted to know how much bare wood we were dealing with. While we were there we actually got a chance to meet the current owner and her super sweet dog! Glad we got to actually chat with her and learn more about her and her situation – it seems so strange to buy someone’s house and never even meet them, you know?

Some other links I think you should click:

• I’m slightly infatuated with play kitchens. You can bet that when we get this house, I’ll probably start pushing to build one for the kids. I really like this cute one featured on Ohdeedoh last week. It was made from a night table that they picked up at Good Will for $10 – score!
• How yummy does this everyday chocolate cake at Smitten Kitchen look? I could go for some of that right about now!
• Another fun repurposing idea I’m loving is this JEEP bed from an IKEA bed hack – also at Ohdeedoh. I’d love to make this for MM.
• Do you know the difference between Baking Powder and Baking Soda? Neither did I – Caroline @ Armelle explains the difference expertly in a post at the Cafe Zupas blog.

One last thing I want to tell you about before I go: yesterday we had dinner at PF Changs for the first time – SO SPICY! But that’s not what I wanted to tell you about – I wanted to show you the fortune I got in my fortune cookie. Talk about an awesome fortune – definitely inspiring! May you all have a dashing and bold adventure this week!