Bargains, Sickness and Family

Yesterday, I woke up at 5:30am and joined my brother-in-law Mike at the anual VFW rummage sale. I found some great deals and it put me in such a good mood the rest of the day. Here's a summary of my haul:
- Working TI83 calculator (which I gave to Mike)
- 2 nice bedside tables
- Barely used humidifier
- New ceiling fan (for Ella's room)
- Hardshell Samsonite suitcase (for our trip to the Dominican Republic)

Total cost, $25
This led me to an epiphany, my hobby is saving money (I also like spending it, which is a little confusing). I never know what to say when people ask me what I like to do, but however lame it is, now I have an interst. I think I like it because I can run around all day and do math in my head calculating all my savings. In addition to the rummage sale I also have spent the weekend steaming and pureeing 200oz of yellow squash for Ella. I calculated that if I do it myself it costs $0.04/oz and it would cost $0.25/oz if I bought it. From now until she's 1 that should save about $200. Okay, so I'm not going to save the bank, but it's better than nothing and it's probably healthier. The only problem is, what if she doesn't like squash? Something tells me she'll learn to like it. Poor baby.

Over the past few weeks we've given Ella a little food here and there to start getting her used to the texture. She finds most of it discusting, but she's a good sport. Here she is eating avacado:


My brother Ethan came up to visit for a little over a week and he was a lot of fun to have around! He watched Ella and was a good sport doing mom things with me. We went to the top of Schweitzer mountain and hiked down:




My dad and brother, Caleb also spent a couple days here on their camping trip around the western U.S. It was hard to see them leave.


A couple weeks ago we went to the Sandpoint Fly-in and saw the new purple Kodiak:


Here's a random picture of Ella passed out in her swing


Poor Ella has been sick the past week. She was so stopped up she had to choose between eating and breathing. She also had a high fever which we took her to the Dr. for, but it was just a cold. She's feeling better now, but still has a runny nose.