Big Winter Sale!

BIG NEWS JUST IN!!

BIG Winter Sale:
Beginning December 26th, there will be 26 items at up to 50% off!  The sale flyer is attached to this post.  I am now accepting PRE-ORDERS as several sale items will sell out quickly.  Pay now and your order will be placed right away on the 26th. 

Hostess Benefits:
Book a party between December 26-January 31 and receive EXTRA free toys!

1. Hostess Book & Hold – For booking and holding a $200 or more party from Dec. 26, 2009 – Jan. 31, 2010, Hostesses may select 1 Free Sale item (sale price up to $20.00)!
2. Hostess Bonus – For holding a $500 or more party from Dec. 26, 2009 – Jan. 31, 2010, Hostesses may select her bonus  $50 in Free Products.
   Example: WOW - A $500 party Hostess could earn $160.00 in Products! ($90 Free products from the Hostess Rewards Program + $20.00 Sale item for Book & Hold + $50 Hostess  Bonus and it can grow with 2 Half Price items from the Hostess Rewards Program when a party is booked!)
3. BONUS - If you host a party before January 1, 2010 (that means by next Thursday), I'll throw in an EXTRA $30 of free toys if your party sells over $200. If your party makes it over $550, I'll make it $50 instead - that's on top of the bonuses already listed above! Call me today to book that party!
   

Join the Discovery Toys Team:
Discovery Toys is a family-friendly company that allows you to work from home, maintain flexible hours, and add income for your family while also helping to provide family-friendly toys for families.  I'd love to have you join the team! Currently the kit to join is on sale for $99 (retail value over $390)

Please forward this on to your friends and family - help me reach my goals! As always, thank you for taking time to read this. Discovery Toys creates products that I truly believe in and am passionate about sharing them with others.

If you would like anymore information on anything, please call (616-566-6186), email (alison.major@gmail.com) or check out the website at www.discoverytoyslink.com/amajor.

Blessings!

Alison & Chris Major
Discovery Toys Educational Consultant
www.discoverytoyslink.com/amajor

Contact me if you want to order toys, host a party to earn free toys, or join as a consultant!

"Play with your children... It's the best investment you'll ever make."

Too Many Projects

I've already got way too many projects on my list, but I'm adding yet another one.

This is for an upcoming project... And I didn't want to lose the link, so I'm saving it here. :)

Crochet Mini Sweaters

Found more links for my project...

Mini Santa Hat

Canning Applesauce

We made applesauce again this year with Chris' parents.

Last year I made us do it with the hand-cranked foodmill, because I had never made applesauce before and wanted to know how.

This year we opted for the Kitchen Aid attachment. I'm glad that I did it once with the foodmill... It really makes you appreciate the ease of using a Kitchen Aid. We will probably make it that way every year now... I want one for my Kitchen Aid... :)

How to Worship

I saw this on a friend's blog and had to share it.

I hang out with a lot of musicians, so the lesson on when to clap was pretty funny to me...

Apple Cider Century & Wine Making

I know, I know, we went on this trip about a month ago...

Well, since it's been awhile since I've gone, I don't have much to say about it anymore. Other than it was exhausting and totally worth it.

Chris and I will probably go again next year, so if anyone else wants to join us, it's a fun family bike event!

You can totally do this trip on a weekend without taking work off, but we were both glad we took Monday off to recuperate from the ride.

Check out some pictures on our flickr site.

Also, Chris has been working on his first batch of wine and we bottled it up last night. It's a Pinot Noir... Now I just need to come up with some clever labels for the bottles...

Discovery Toys

It's official!

I've joined the Discovery Toys Team!

I'll be hosting a launch party next week. More details will come, but for now, here's some info:

Wednesday, Oct 7 - 5:30pm-7pm

OR

Thursday, Oct 8 - 6:30pm-8pm

I like to think I ride my bike for several reasons: earth, health, enjoyment.

However, as admirable as those reasons are, sometimes they're not enough to convince me to roll out of bed just a little bit earlier so that I can ride rather than drive.

This week however, Chris' car has been slightly out of commission, so he's been using my car and I've been biking in.

After work today I rode over to Grandma's house to take care of the vacuuming.

"Oh Alison! You rode all the way here!" (shock and dismay in her voice)

"Yes Grandma, I did."

"Do you want to put the bike in my Jeep so you don't have to ride home?"

...I just can't seem to convince her that I choose to ride, and I could just as easily have taken the car if I didn't want to have to ride home. *sigh* Maybe someday she'll understand. For now, she just thinks I'm crazy.

On my way home I headed to the library. A week or so ago I was there picking up some books on soap making (yes, I'm a hippie-wanna-be...) and travel. As I was looking at the online catalog I saw that Twilight was in on the Express Shelf. What a nice idea! The Express Shelf has a shorter check-out time, so instead of getting it several weeks, you only have like a week to borrow it. Those books are always on such long hold lists, so I was excited that it was actually in.

Needless to say I sped through that one, put the next book on hold, got it within a few days, sped through it, put the next one on hold and today Eclipse came in at the library! So I picked it up.

I know. My life is pretty exciting. But you probably don't have much more of an exciting life if you're sitting here reading this. ;)

PS - Apple Cider Century this weekend!

Bicycle Maintenance

Chris is gone at Praise Team practice.

We have a bike trip coming this weekend (Apple Cider Century).

So...while Chris was away, I took the knobby tires off his bike and put on some new slicks.

All by myself.

No help.

Just me, one woman.

I feel so empowered!

Playing with Backgrounds

Okay, I think I've figured out enough to make my own backgrounds now... Sorry it's not that pretty at the moment.

Canning Tomatoes

Saturday we spent the day canning tomatoes. It was Chris and my first solo flight in canning. Last year we did applesauce with his parents and last week I did a batch of tomatoes with my mom.

It went well, but it was a long day. Only one jar casualty! Not sure what happened, it got a crack and made a mess in the canning bath... Oh well.

Here's some pictures:

 

  

See more pictures at our flickr page.

Pies

I got a recipe from a co-worker the other day for some pies, so we made them for our Labor Day get-together at Kim and Chad's last night.

Basically they were like cream pies... One we filled with blueberries and one with peaches. I made the crusts from scratch (good ol' Joy of Cooking is such a help). I'm still learning on pie crusts though... I can never seem to get them to roll out nice without cracking or sticking. Then we made the filling and Chris topped them with freshly whipped cream and decorated them.

If I can bake it, he can make the presentation awesome for it.

Frank's

My parents' friends, Buzz and Marinan, came up to visit and check out Michigan a little before they and my parents headed out to Chicago to do part of the Ride for the Relay Route 66 motorcycle trip.

So we gave them some good old family dining at Frank's. Did you know that place has been around since the 1920s?!

New Slicks

I got some new slicks (smooth tires) for my bike the other day. So... I learned how to change bike tires! I don't think it's quite as quick of a process (changing a flat) as everyone says, but maybe I just need more practice.

Anyway, I feel better having changed tires because now my ride is a little easier (knobby tires make it a little harder on all street riding) and now I know how to change a tire. This is all good stuff in preparation for our upcoming trip, the Apple Cider Century. I don't think we'll actually do the century (100 miles), but there are plenty of smaller options for us to choose from.

Anyway, here's my tire (left) vs. Chris' tire (right) - which is what my previous tires were.


And then here's me with my "naked" xtracycle (no bags or snapdeck on it).


Take note of the shirt I'm wearing... It says "The Pumpkin Patch" on it... You know what that means. Every year, the 2nd and 3rd weekends of October...great family fun! Chris and I won't be there on the Saturdays this year (we have weddings both weekends), but we'll be there for the Sundays. Check it out!

Chicago-land

We took a trip by plane...


By train...


By ship...


No... by flying Ford Anglia!


Chris and I drove down to Chicago to check out the Harry Potter Exhibition. It was a lot of fun! Sure, there was plenty of staff with fake British accents, but it was pretty cool seeing all of the props and costumes from the movies. We couldn't actually take pictures IN the exhibit, so all of the above pictures are from elsewhere in the museum. I bought a book that had pictures of the exhibits so that I could at least have something.


The exhibition runs into the evening after the museum closes. We didn't get a picture by this big banner beforehand, so when we got out of the exhibit, we went to get a picture in front of it and they turned the lights off right when we were about to take the picture... Photoshop helps, but it's still a little dark...



This (below) is a Lego set that was designed based on Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water. They had a few Lego sets based on his architecture, but they were much too pricey for our meager souvenir budget...


After Harry Potter we needed to get some good Chicago eats, so we asked a guy walking down the street where to go. He suggested Gino's East, which was right down the street. World-famous for it's deep dish pizza.


Chris really liked it... It was about 9pm though, and we weren't really hungry that late into the evening, so we each had a slice and took the rest home with us! (I think a slice is worth about half of a normal pizza anyway...)


The decoration at Gino's East is graffiti-like, with people's names written all over the walls, covering almost every square inch. We left our mark, like good little tourists.

Desperately Behind...

I'm desperately behind on my posts... So... Here's a bunch for today.

Ericka and Cas came over from Boston not that long ago for a wedding and we got to spend the afternoon with them. Ericka was one of my roommates in Los Angeles and a bridesmaid in my wedding. Very cool chica. And Cas is way cool too.

This is Ericka and Cas. We had lunch at New Holland Brewery.


Then Chris wanted to give a tour of Hope's campus. We wandered into the Martha Miller Center and checked out the communications (video, radio, etc) area. This picture is not at the Martha Miller Center.


And finally we ended up at Lemonjello's for some Boba Tea. At least, that's what we called it in LA, but here it's just Bubble Tea. Our other roommate (in LA), Jill, loves this stuff. She could not make it out this way...




Someday (hopefully soon!) Chris and I will head to the east coast to visit. Half my family is there and more and more of our friends are migrating in that direction...

Busy Summer

It has been busy the past few weeks. I should probably post some pictures.

But, since I'm not by that computer currently, I suppose a plain text post will have to do.

I'm uber excited for this weekend. Chris and I are driving to Chicago to see the Museum of Science and Industry. I know, I know, it's sounds like fun, but wait til you hear the best part! There's a huge Harry Potter exhibit that's been there since I think May and I'm totally pumped that we're finally going to make it there! It's going to be brilliant!

So... if I'm lucky, I'll come back with a wand and a quidditch ball or something.

Star Wars

I've been meaning to post...

Oh, I'm lacking. I still intend to post the pictures and recipe from the cream eggs we made back during Easter...

Things that have been going on:

• I ran the 5K River Bank Run with Chris (and yes, I actually RAN the whole way!)

• I ride my bike to work almost every day now (and I usually have to, because my Jetta is broken)

• Chris and I planted red geraniums at my grandma's house

• I planted a garden

• Bunnies ate about 11 plants last night (broccoli was demolished, and also some pepper plants)

• Chris and I put a fence up around our garden

• Since the beginning of the year I've traveled 335 miles either by bike, walking or running (mostly biking to and from work and running errands)

• I finally finished reading "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle"

• I've completed several crochet projects (pictures coming soon, I swear!)

I think that's a pretty good list of some of the things that have been going on. Maybe I'll find some time this weekend for a real post.

Xtracycle Video

I got this updated video on Facebook. I like the Xtracycle lifestyle. Someday I hope to do more than just commute with it.

Magical Slideshow - Xtracycle from Xtracycle on Vimeo.

Mandolins

I'm behind in my updates.

Not that there's much to update with.

Chris and I made some pretty good homemade cream eggs over Easter. I'll have to post pictures and recipes, but I's not at my computer right now... Eventually.

So I've been scoping out mandolins. Chris and I visited a local store and they had one for $200. I'll have to do some saving to get it. And check out other brands and prices. If you have a mandolin you're getting rid of... let me know.

I've been reinspired to work on my musical talent. Haven't really played much of anything in years. Did guitar a little in college, but the fingerings were hard for my small hands to reach. The mandolin seems very doable. And it's such a fun sounding instrument!

I should really pick up playing the piano again too... I'll have to dig around and find my music books and retrain myself.

Chris and I have been training for the River Bank Run. We have not stuck to our schedule very well... We were supposed to be doing a two-mile run yesterday, but the weather deterred us. I'm going to struggle in a few weeks when we actually have the event.

I've biked to work a couple of times in the nice weather. I convinced Chris to go on a ride with me instead of going for our run one night and we did about 15 miles. It was fun and the weather was perfect.

Come bike with us sometime!

PS - Here's a good place to check out a wide variety of mandolin music: Mandolin Cafe

BIking and Pizza

Chris and I took the xtracycle out for the first official errand. Yes, I've taken it to work a few times, but nothing where I've had to "haul" anything.

So today, we missed church, so for whatever reason we transformed it into a date night. We ordered pizza at a local place about 2 miles away, hopped on our bikes and picked it up. We ate some pizza there, then ran into Blockbuster, strapped the pizzas to the bike and headed home.

The boxes didn't budge from the bike, but the pizzas rattled around quite a bit inside... Good thing we ate some before it got jostled!

Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera along, so no photos of this trip.

Now we shall spend the evening watching Twilight, which everyone has been raving about.

Blah.

I've been intending to post for awhile now and have not.

And now that I'm posting, I have nothing to say other than I've been sick for the past 5 days... I hope I can make it back to work tomorrow. My biggest concern is spreading germs to my colleagues. But I think I may finally be on the upswing of this...

Ants (Part 2)

So I think Chris and I took care of the ant problem.

We cut some PVC pipe into short pieces to become some new legs for the bin. Then we placed the legs in some bowls of water (I made it soapy for good measure, but don't think that would have made a difference). So basically, the ants would have to walk across the water to get into the bin (or out). It's a good moat.

I had also read some good tips for safe ways to get rid of ants. (Safe for your family and pets, not safe for the ants).

Cinnamon will suck all the moisture out of ants, basically mummifying them upon ingestion.

Corn meal will expand in their stomachs when they drink water, "exploding" them.

Who knows if these two things are true, but we put some down just in case.

Ants

Well... I have a small ant problem.

Don't tell my mom.

I think it's because I don't have enough paper bedding in there yet, plus the food needs to be wrapped better. When we put in our compost for the day, the food should really be wrapped in damp newspaper. I just need to train Chris to do that and do it myself, and hopefully that will take care of the problem...

Apple Cider Century

Yesterday I sent in our registration for the 2009 Apple Cider Century.

I'm pretty excited about it. Unfortunately, the event isn't until September...

But I was very excited to find that Chris was actually interested in going!

Basically, it's a "fall tour" type of a bike-trip. Just a one-day thing. You can choose routes of varying length, the big one being 100-miles (the Century). We'll probably be doing the 37-miler, unless we do a lot of biking this summer.

So we'll get there on that Saturday, hang out, go to the ice cream social, etc. Then we can camp for free in a specified park that night. Pancake breakfast in the morning, then the ride! We'll probably find a local B&B or hotel for that Sunday night, then make the trip home Monday.

It'll be fun!

Worm Bin Pictures

Here's the bin...


Below: with the lid removed. You can see the vent holes along the bottom front and the top back.


Let's peak inside...


Leftover snow peas and some bread crust.


Check out the thin red line in about the middle of this last picture. That's little Jimmy. Ain't he cute?

It's here!

With no tracking information available, I had not realized they'd be coming so soon.

Mom just called... A package from Uncle Jim's Worm Farm has arrived.

Too bad I'm at work until 5. And we're having a pizza party, so I'm not leaving during lunch.

Stay safe little guys!

World Commute

Found this site. Could be cool.

World Commute

It's still a work in progress, but it's fun to track the miles I commute or exercise by non-motorized means.

It even calculates and estimate for money saved and carbon offset.

Maybe I can use the "money saved" portion as an excuse to add moola to the bike envelope more often and pimp out my bike some more...

Time for an update!

Okay, what's new...

I rode my bike to work on Friday. It was a little wet out, but fantastic to get outside. I had about 4 cars pull out in front of me at intersections, but I was going at a very leisurely pace, so I was able to keep space between me and the cars. However, the sherrif car that pulled in front of me was a little ironic...

Chris and I went to the Home Show today in Grand Rapids. It was fun to attend. The main intent was to recon for what other landscaping companies are doing and their marketing pieces, but it was fun. Zero freebies handed out though... I guess it's just another reminder of how everyone needs to be a little tighter with what money they have.

I ordered my worms today! I've been holding off, partly because we haven't put together a lid for the box yet and partly because I've just kind of forgotten... But now the worms are on their way and Chris and I will be forced to pull our act together. The worms are coming form Uncle Jim's Worm Farm.

That's most of what's new. I bought a reflective vest-thing for when I'm biking to work to help my visibility. What I'd really like is the Down Low Glow, but I'll have to save up quite a bit for that one. I'll probably get Glowspek Pedals first, since those are much more affordable.

That's all I've got for now. If you're a facebook user, become friends with Beaker Bob - he's our mascot for our online menu company. He's the one that's a cute little beaker...

Okami

Well... Chris and I spent the entire weekend playing Okami. Great game. But I think today I should abstain from it so I have a life outside of the basement...

Crusty Bread

This is our second loaf. The first one turned out just a little better... I wasn't there for the prepping stages of this one and a few steps were forgotten...

Mainly the baking stone was not in the oven as it was warming up. We used a fairly old stone (at least 10 years)... Needless to say, when you put a very moist dough in the oven with a room temp pizza stone and a tray of water for steam... Well, it's not a good mix. Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of the shattered stone. Yes, it shattered. We heard a mild "thunk" so I opened the oven and lo and behold, it was broken.

The bread tasted good anyways. Check it out.


Check out the steam coming off that baby!

Good Bread

Currently Reading: Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

Made bread today. It was fantastic. Best part? Only took me about 5 minutes of actually working time. Yes, there was 40 minutes of "rest" and 30 minutes of baking. But the actual effort was only 5 minutes. And I guess maybe the 15 minutes it took me to mix up the batch on Sunday afternoon.

Anyways, the bread was fantastic. I'll have to make it for you sometime.

Welcome to Holland

Check out this video. My dad is in it.

Emptying my Camera

This morning started out with baking some Amish Friendship Bread. It took a lot of ingredients - not a lot as in "many" but a lot as in "quantity." But Chris and I successfully made two loaves. Now I need to give away my starters.

I spent some time copying some pictures off of my camera and came across a few that I felt like sharing.

Below are the dogs. My parents are out of town visiting Sean, so the dogs are currently ours. We've successfully taught them to sit and stay while we open doors to let them out and while we're getting their food ready. Now the trick is to get them to sit and stay when people come in the door...

Below is Emma. At some point I tried to take a picture of her and she must have blinked.

Below is Chris' plow truck. You can see my bumble sitting up on his dash. He velcroed the little guy in to keep him company on all those snowy nights.

That's about all I've got. Chris and I have slowly been working on the worm bin. I need to put together the lid and then order the worms. Once it's finished I'll put up some pictures, because I'm sure everyone is dying to see my worm bin... We'll see how this all works out! (I know y'all think I'm nuts...)

Ladies Night

Chris was out having a guys night tonight, so I invited some ladies over that I went to high school with. We had fun catching up on each others lives, drinking strawberry smoothies, and going through old yearbooks and laughing at ourselves in high school.

It was a good time.

We also are attempting to inspire eachother to do a 5K. Chris and I were planning on doing the River Bank Run. One of the other girls was planning on doing it too, and another wants to "train" with us. So we talked about starting a running group.

One of them mentioned the "Couch-to-5K" training program. I'll have to check it out. The link is: http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

Other than that... my worm bin is built. I need to post pictures of it and then I need to actually get some worms for it. It will be an interesting experiment. Some people say a lot of work is involved... I'm not sure. I think once I get the hang of it, it won't be too bad. But the only way to figure it out is to try. And once it gets warmer out, I can always move the worm box outside.

Laters.

My Xtracycle

I'm so excited! I took it for a quick ride in the snow. Works great! I even rode around with Chris on the back.

Almost here!

The xtracycle arrives tomorrow! I'm so excited! Now I just need weather warm enough to take it outside...

It's coming!

I've finally ordered my xtracycle! Very excited. It's being shipped to Velo City Cycles... Should arrive late next week or early the following week.

Now I've just got to trudge through the snow to the shed to pull out my bike and bring it into the shop to be converted.

Yay!

New Addition to the Major Family

On Tuesday, December 30th 2008, I became the proud new owner of this beautiful baby! It is an '03 Honda 919. This is not a sport bike nor a standard. Its rider sits more upright than the traditional sport bike (i.e. not hugging the gas tank) while having more power and good looks compared to a standard style motorcycle.

Although gas prices have been lower lately, I know that this too shall pass and we'll be paying more eventually. Between my recently much shortened commute and improved mpg (40 or so) vehicle purchase, I am looking forward to the warm weather that will be here in a few (maybe several) months.

This picture above would've looked cooler if I took the time to clean the mirror...

P.S. I drove this baby home from Wyoming, MI and it was really flippin' cold on the M6 highway!