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I absolutely cannot stand it when I purchase a picture frame… and the store has put the price sticker/barcode on the glass of the frame. Now, how brilliant is that?! It’s a pain in the ass to get the sticker off… and even then, there’s always a slight smudge left on the glass.
Who comes up with these bright ideas?! Idiots.

Today, I have decided to finally unwrap and put away all of my wedding china. Don’t Judge. I know it’s been five years.
I still have the original box and packing for each set… and today, I’m organizing, cleaning and putting away – and… as I’m unwrapping each piece to put into our china cabinet… I realize that one cup has a barcode price sticker on the inside wall of the cup. WHY would someone do that?!
As I inspect the remaining cups… I find that each cup has that stupid sticker! Really?!
I can’t blame it on the store… because some place settings came from Macy’s, and some came from Bed, Bath & Beyond. So- I guess the manufacturer is to blame. Thanks, Kate Spade & Lenox.
So now… I have to spend extra time soaking each cup to get the sticker off! The stickers have been there at least five years, so this will be no easy feat.
Okay. Rant over… I have more china to put away… and cups to wash. Joy.

Well, I succeeded in posting every day in the month of February… thanks to my 30-Day photo challenge. Except I only did 28 days.
The last two days were dumb anyway – who is my favorite person from history?! I don’t know! I remember once that I got a D in history.
Anyway, 28 straight days of posting… and only 14 comments – thanks guys, ‘preciate ja! I have friends with dumber facebook status updates that get more comments than that! On the bright side, I did have more hits on my site in February than probably ever in my whole 10+ years of having this site. So, thanks for visiting, at least.
I would love to do another photo challenge someday… it really kept me on my toes… and getting to go back and look at all my old pics was fun!

Day twenty-eight: a photo of something/somebody that made your day.

Thanks to Suzanne H. for the edit and watermark on this pic!

Written by Steven – edited some by Stephanie

Every year since 2007, we’ve had a Super Bowl party in our home.
This year, however, would be different. One of our truly good friends, who is in the military, had to leave for an overseas tour back in November- leaving us for an entire year!

February came, and it was time again for our annual Super Bowl party. Luckily, our friend’s wife was going to be at our house for the party.
Our plan was that during the halftime show, we were going to use her laptop to Skype our overseas friend on our big screen TV and talk with him. Of course it wasn’t going to be the same as him being there in person, but at least he could be a part of it as he had been for so many years before.

We had the computer set up and ready to turn to Skype before the game even began. We had coordinated everything with our friend, down to the window of time we would call.

The National Anthem began and I usually stand as if I were at the game in person. But this particular night, I noticed that there was a large amount of trash in our trash can that had already accumulated.
So, I was going to take the trash down to our garage. Well, with the trash bag in hand, going towards the stairs, just as the National Anthem ended, I see our great friend walking up the stairs! He was in his full Army uniform, and everyone shouted in excitement as he entered the room. I couldn’t speak. People were crying in joy as we all hugged our surprise guest.
His overseas tour had been cut short, so he surprised us by joining the party! We were thrilled that we all could enjoy Super Bowl 45 together, just as we had since 2007.
(Yes, his wife knew he was back home – she is a very good ‘secret-keeper.’)

Day twenty-seven: a photo of something you are looking forward to.

MY NEXT VACATION!
It doesn’t even necessarily have to be a cruise… just a vacation – somewhere far away… where I can relax…