Everyday Randomness

Shoe Shopping…A Girl’s Best Friend

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My sister in law’s birthday is coming up on the 16th, and I still have yet to find her a present. At least she’s one of those that I don’t have a very hard time shopping for. She’ll be 13 this birthday, and she already thinks she’s 21. We all know the type. I think we’ve all been there!

At 13 she already has a vast love for shoes. I can attribute that to her older sister having a massive shoe collection, and I’ve given her some pretty cool shoes over the years. She loves sandals with chunky heels, but she’s finally starting to grow out of that phase of wanting the tallest shoes she can find. She’s already a pretty tall girl.

She pointed out some shoes to me a couple weeks ago when we went shopping, so I decided I’m definitely getting her shoes for her birthday. I found a really cute pair of tsubo shoes that would totally fit her personality. They are gray sneakers with orange laces. Not only does she love fun shoes like that, but she’s a huge Clemson fan. They’d be perfect!

It’s so hard to pick just one pair for her though! I already see a ton of other stuff on Infinity shoes she would like in the seychelles shoes and the minnetonka boots categories although I don’t think I want to buy her boots for this time of the year. The child is still growing, and just my luck she’ll outgrow them before it’s really boots weather again. Right now I think she needs cute sandals. I may just have to consult the older sister in law on this one. She is the “Shoe Diva” after all!

I personally really love the Miz Mooz Ronda sandals, so I might just have to pick up a pair for myself!

Busy Beautiful Day

I know I’m awful quiet today, but for once I’m enjoying the great outdoors. It’s so nice today. It’s currently 78, and we’ll be pushing towards a high of 83 today, so I’m taking advantage of the beautiful weather.

I helped my Grandma plant some flowers this morning, and then I helped her weed two flower beds. I’m pretty sure I ended up pulling up more than just weeds, but hey I’m learning. I don’t think this Miss black thumb messed things up too horribly bad.

Now I have to make a few phone calls. Yesterday we noticed oil leaking from the valve cover on the bike. We’re about 700 miles away from the 28,000 mile service, so I’ve got to call to make an appointment with the dealership. Thank goodness everything is still under warranty, so servicing it and repairing anything on the engine like that is still free.

Most of the time I’m anti-extended warranties, but I’m glad we bought the extended warranty and the pit pass for the bike. The pit pass is $900, but it covers all servicing for the life of the bike. It paid for itself in less than a year since it costs $150 just for a basic service. That’s not counting any parts we’d need or the various oil and lubricants.

The extended warranty paid for itself the first week it went into effect. That’s when we blew the transmission and needed a complete rebuild. I don’t know what I would have done if I’d had to pay for that out of pocket.

Anywho, I’m off to setup the appoint. Then I’ve got to get in touch with my aunt. We’re supposed to go shopping today for stuff for her new house. I know she wants my opinion on curtains for her kitchen. I’m just hoping she wants to go early enough for me to swing by the bank. I need to deposit all the change I rolled this weekend!

Vehicle Expenses

While Hubby’s off running his errands I’m going to make the most of my time this morning. First I’m doing some online window shopping this morning.

As soon as I’ve got my bike in hand I promised Hubby we’ll buy the things we’ve been wanting to get for the Blazer. I’ve got to look at Chevy grills. We want a billet grille, and then we also need to finally get our reese hitch. We really needed it awhile back, but now that Hubby will be needing to pull a trailer more for work it’s a must have. Luckily his boss offered to pay half of it since it will really help out at work. Right now his boss has to make his rounds to all the job sites delivering the tools and material Hubby can’t fit in the back of the Blazer. That leaves him driving between Franklin and Cashiers at least 2 or 3 times a day, and that’s an 1 hour drive one day.

It’s also going to come in handy with the bikes. We’ll need to get a new trailer, but being able to haul both bikes is a definite must. Lucking up on the really nice cheap leathers I got him this weekend really helped, too! His leathers were next on the buy list, but I lucked up on a new pair of Shift MX1’s for $300. They’re $400 cheaper than the pair he wanted, and these are a full 1 piece race suit like he’ll need for TrackDays.

The Perfect Mother’s Day Gift

I can’t believe how close it is to Mother’s Day. I still haven’t settled on an actual gift for my mom yet, but I do have my plans made. Hubby and I have decided this year we’re going to send flowers to both of our moms at work. I normally give my mom flowers, but I give her something potted that she can plant in her garden. Last year she loved the flowers, but she was kind of bummed because everyone else got deliveries at work, but she didn’t.

This year we’re going to take advantage of the mothers day gift delivery service from 1800flowers.com, and she’ll be happy to get something at work just like all the other moms!

Right now I’m just trying to narrow down what flowers I want to get her. I might get her the Blooming Love™ Azalea because not only is it pretty, but it’s something she can plant and enjoy. She has azaleas already on one side of her porch, but she’s mentioned wanting to plant more on the other side.

I have no idea what to get Hubby’s mom, so I’ll let him pick that out for her. That way it’s something special that comes from him. We’re also going to take them out to dinner on Mother’s Day, and that will be interesting because I honestly don’t think we’ve ever taken our moms to dinner together. They don’t really know each other, and I think the only time they’ve really talked was at our wedding!

I’m going to head back over to 1800flowers.com to look around. Who knows, I might find something else I like better than the azaleas for my mom. Now don’t you guys forget to buy something for your mom! If you’re the forgetful type, consider going ahead and ordering some flowers. 1800flowers offers up to 40% savings for ordering early!

Food & Hand Guns

Friday night we stopped by to see my friend Kasie. She’d just been to a cooking convention with her mom, and she asked me to come over to check out some of the cool stuff she got at the convention. I keep telling her she should have went to culinary school because this girl loves to cook, and she’s awesome at it.

While I was checking out her new cooking goods, Hubby was checking out the newest gun her boyfriend purchased. He’s a gun collector, and he has a really awesome collection…locked up in a very expensive safe for protection I might add.

Kasie mentioned to me she had also purchased a new gun that I should check out. It’s a .22, and it’s one of the coolest smaller hand guns I’ve seen in a long time. Since she makes a lot of trips to Atlanta by herself for work, she has a permit to carry concealed. She already has one handgun, but she’s afraid to keep it in her purse because she thinks the stuff in her purse could end up bumping it and making it fire if it’s cocked and loaded.

The new .22 doesn’t have anything that can stick out in the way and get hooked on something like a keyring or bumped by anything when it’s loaded. She can stick it in her purse without worrying about it going off.

That had me thinking about my mom. She has a permit to carry concealed as well, and when she had to travel she always takes her gun with her. She’s got a very nice 357 magnum, and thankfully she’s never had to use it, but she’s got it if she needs protection. She absolutely would never keep it loaded in her purse, but she still carries it if she’s going to be traveling.

Then this morning I saw these Galco purses that have a built in gun holster in them, and I thought that would be absolutely perfect for my mom.

I still haven’t bought my mom a Mother’s Day present yet, so I might just talk to Hubby about ordering her one of these if I can afford it. I think it’s a great idea for a present.

I’m definitely going to show these to Kasie, too. I bet it would give her a little more piece of mind knowing she has a built in compartment especially for the gun.