DEAL

Sometimes I make a deal without realizing what a deal it is!!

With the price of gas and the need for more exercise, I have been trying to ride my bike more. This has been a difficult task considering I haven't had a bike in about 15 years (hee hee). So step one: get a bike, when looking for a bike the most important thing I consider is the size of the seat (considering the size of MY seat). Comfort while exercising makes it much more enjoyable, yeah right!! Anyway, my parents were not using their bikes so I asked if we could borrow them and so they gave them to us. That was very nice of them considering the bikes were only about 5 years old, so thanks mom and dad! (They had also upgraded the seats to the extra large padded gel seats, very nice indeed!)

So the kids and I have ridden to town a few times (about half a mile). Our town is very much like Mayberry, Main Street with an ice cream shop, post office, and small library. Also, we have the advantage of having the Perkiomen Trail go through town, so biking is a very great thing to be able to do. One of the problems with a bike is the lack of storage, the girl has a small basket on the front of her bike and I use a backpack but after a trip to the library they get a little full and then I get thrown off balance (which is shaky on a good day). So I have been on the lookout for a big basket for my bike, there is one at stuff-mart that detaches from the bike and is very nice, but I wanted to see what else was out there. While yard-saleing in the neighborhood today (on our bikes) somebody was selling a couple of old 10 speeds, one of them had a huge double metal basket that goes over the back tire. Since I didn't need the bike (such tiny little seats-ouch) I asked if he would take $5 for the basket, sure, no problem!! Excellent! Well, I did have a little difficulty getting the basket home since I was on a bike and the huge basket was not attached to my bike yet, but I made it. The basket fit nicely on my bike and will be very useful! Out of curiousity, I checked out ebay to see how much something like this would go for, this is where I found out what a deal I made. The listing was up to $43 + shipping, and mine is in better condition. I just love a bargain!

Funny

I was just in the process of blogging about a recent trip when I hear the boy come in crying. He had fallen off his bike, a little scrape on his knee and his hand, but mostly just scared. So I clean him up and put bacitracin and a band-aid on everything (I go through a box of band-aids a month-cheap therapy). Anyway, I am explaining about the first aid ointment and how it cleans out the cut to make it heal properly. He then asks me, with a tear streaked face, is there second or third aid?

What a great question!!

A different Faire

At the end of June we had the opportunity to attend the rennaissance faire, which is located in Lancaster, Pa (about 1 1/2 hours away). They were having a special Celtic Fling and Highland games, which included lots of fiddle music and plenty of hammer tossing along with the requisite best legs in a kilt and most freckle contests! Let me explain about our interest in Celtic music, a few months ago I got in touch with a good friend of mine from jr. high, Sarah Knorr (now Reed), turns out she was going to be visiting the area for a Celtic music festival, so we decided to meet for breakfast and go to the festival. This was one of the kids first experiences with so much live music, and there is always something about live music and seeing people playing all sorts of different instruments, the festival had a bunch of different bands playing on a few different stages and we just had a fantastic time. In May, Sarah and Cara (a friend of Sarah's) came to visit for a Celtic street fair, and the kids and I really enjoyed it! So we planned to go to the faire in June. Their was a big concert on Friday evening with Gaelic Storm and Scythian. Then on Saturday it was all day concerts-Sarah, Cara, the kids and I had a blast. One of our favorite groups to perform was Screamin' Orphans, I just loved the different personalities of the girls in the band. This is a pic of Sarah (with glasses), Cara (green dress), the kids and the band, I had to take the picture.
I did end up making the girl a dress for the faire (everyone dresses up) because I figured I didn't have to many other opportunities to make her fancy dresses. And I knew she would love it! While we were there, we went into a little shop that sold "dragons" . The girl was hooked, you know how she loves dragons! We adopted Gwen, who has since traveled to New York and Wisconsin with us. Since the "dragon" survived those trips we decided to get a better cage and add a friend. (You can get green anoles at any pet store.) So we now have Gwen and Zookie and the girl is loving them!

My mom's birthday.

We spent this past weekend in NY with my family. My sister-in-law, Amy and I planned a surprise party for my moms 60th. It all went very well and we had a really nice time. As one of her gifts we put together a video for her, Amy did all the finding and scanning of pictures, my nephew, Alex worked the computer while Amy and I gave him directions. The song is called "Heroes" and was written and performed by my grandfather, Tracy Purcell, who passed away last month. I am sharing it with everyone because I am so proud to be a part of such an amazing and talented family. One of the most important things my mom taught me was to respect and cherish my heritage. It was never a hardship to spend time with the Purcells. I deeply miss grandma and grandpa, but I enjoy the times when I see the rest of the family.