Peters Family Band

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Epic Journey 2014: Kentucky

Posted by Erin aka Conscious Shopper at 9:36 PM

My mom and older sister are major plan-ahead types. Every year, sometime around July, one of them will call me and be like, "So have you given any thought to Christmas?" Um, no. I will give some thought to Christmas in maybe November. First, I've got to give some thought to school starting, Labor Day, Halloween, three birthdays, and Thanksgiving. Then, I can think about Christmas.

To clarify, I am not a spontaneous person. At all. Compared to any normal person, I am also a major plan-ahead type. But my mom and sister are soooo extreme, I come off as spontaneous. (Also around them, I come off as laidback and a slob.)

So anyway, the Alley family has been planning a reunion in Michigan for a good long while now, and after approximately a year of my mom pestering me about my plans, I finally decided a month before the trip that if I had to drive 12 hours to Michigan, I might as well drive eight hours to my parents' house in Kentucky and spend a couple days there before driving eight more hours to Michigan. Then, I got this bright idea to swing by Nauvoo on the way to the reunion, and if I were going to do that, why not also swing by St. Louis?

So two weeks before the trip, I decided to take the boys on an epic journey around the Midwest. In the Camry. Camping. Without Michael.

Let the journey begin...

New Pet

Posted by Erin aka Conscious Shopper at 9:11 PM

Eli brought home the class pet for the summer: a little grey hamster named Smokey. When I told my mom, she said, "Oh, no. Why????"

We had a series of hamsters as pets when I was a kid, and they always lost their lives tragically. Many, many times, our hamsters would escape their cages in the middle of the night, and we would find them later in the sump pump. Once, some little kid, the child of some guests my parents had over for dinner, squeezed my hamster to death (or maybe he threw him? I can't quite remember). One very terrible time, we made the mistake of putting two hamsters in the same cage, and one ate the other.

It's understandable that my mom is no longer fond of hamsters, but so far Smokey has survived his stay with us and only needs to stay alive for three more weeks before we return him to his rightful owner.

Not surprisingly, considering that he's the pet in a classroom of 25 kids, Smokey is not fond of people. He doesn't like to be picked up or held...or touched. He does like to bite. We made it our mission to acclimate him to humans this summer, but although he has made progress, I doubt he'll ever get to the point that he likes to be held. He has the personality of a really old dog...he's not mean; he just wants to be left alone.

Here's a little side story about pets from my childhood: At some point in my later elementary school years, a friend and I did a school project involving three mice. I have absolutely zero memory of the school project, but I do remember the mice because my friend took one home as a pet and I took the other two. Their names were Donny and Joseph; my friend's mouse was named Jordan. ❤ NKOTB ❤

Mice may not be as cute as hamsters, but they do make pretty fun pets. Sadly, I think my mice may have lost their lives in the sump pump.

Introducing the newest member of our family...

Posted by Erin aka Conscious Shopper at 8:47 PM

We bought a new car in March. After ten plus years with only one car, we were forced by my new job (ie commute) to expand our vehicular family.

We went in to the car buying process with a very specific plan in mind - a certain car, a certain price - and came out with a very different car with a much higher price tag. Not because we were schmoozed by a car salesman but because I met this car and fell in love.

She's really a beauty...a 2013 Toyota Camry Hybrid with a moonroof and heated leather seats. And so quiet! On average on my commute, I would get about 38 mpg, but on our recent Epic Summer Journey, I got about 42/43 mpg. The best part about her is the bluetooth function - I can listen to podcasts and albums on my phone but through the car speakers.