Long desired goal fulfilled

Hahaha, this picture was making me laugh last night. I know it's not wonderful quality, but I was taking great pains to get Emma and Nora to both look at the camera last night as we watched them. When I finally got them both looking, Emma started falling over and looked terrified on the way down for the 1 foot drop from her sitting position.

Anyway, last night after we put the girls to bed, Justin was going to run to Dairy Queen to get us a Blizzard. As we were getting our cash out, Justin heard the bell of the Ice Cream Man that bikes around our neighborhood. If you don't know, this is going on our 3rd summer of trying to catch this guy! In past years we have tried to note the nights and times he drives by and we've even sat out on our driveway in lawn chairs with flip flops on waiting with money in hand. This was all to no avail, he has always eluded us. We've even contemplated if he was a ghost. We always heard his bell , but when we ran to find him, he'd be nowhere in sight. Justin and I decided we would give it our all to catch this man before we moved from Eau Claire and last night that goal was fulfilled. When Justin heard the bell, he grabbed the money from my hand and ran out the door. Totally forgetting about the girls, I ran after him yelling, "What are you doing?". All he could say was, "The ice cream man...the girls!" I handed him the rest of my change, told him to get me whatever, and waited in the house. He brought us back two ice cream bars and a little bit of nostalgia from my childhood. We had a similar ice cream man in our neighborhood growing up, only he drove a truck that played music. We always made a point of playing outside in the front yard on the day and time the ice cream man would come. What a summer treat! And now we're on his route...though I think half the fun was chasing him down. He was excited to know we had been seeking him for so long and even gave us a $1 off coupon for next time.

I also want to take a moment to brag on my Mother's Day gift from Justin, a Rowenta iron. I have been told about Rowenta irons from Martha Stewart and Megan Holmen-the only 2 people I know who actually get enjoyment from ironing. Megan is the Ironing Queen and that must make me the Ironing Peasant. I am now realizing that some of my hatrid for the task was not being successful at it. You know, you get out the ironing board then iron the shirt and it looks just as wrinkly afterward. What's the point? Anyway, from Martha and Megan I have learned a few tips and thought I might share them with those who share my sentiments.

1) You need a thick ironing pad. I guess the 1 layer of fabric one I got from Walmart in college wasn't thick enough. A few months ago, my mom graciously bought me a $20 thick ironing pad. It was sad to me to think of a good $20 going to something like an ironing pad, but when I used it, it did help some.

2) You need a heavy iron. My Sunbeam brand cheapy also wasn't cutting it. I now also recommend Rowenta brand-and eek the good ones are near $100. That motivates me somewhat to iron more to get our money's worth out of it.

3) Having the iron on the right setting really does make a difference. I ironed even with my Rowenta with no sucess. Then I actually to a second to look at the fabric of the shirt and match it with the setting on my iron and to my suprise I got all the wrinkles out of Justin's dress shirt.

I can say, I did find a slight bit of enjoyment out of the task, until I looked at the clock and saw that it had taken me 20 mins. to accomplish this. So I accept that I never will be an Ironing Queen, but I do appreciate being able to decently iron a shirt if need be...