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You thought I forgot I had a blog, didn’t you?

May 2, 2012 - By Ashley Johnston 53 Comments

Nope, didn’t forget. Just having a little too much fun.

First of all, do you want to know how to get a free dinner? Here’s how:

Have a reason to celebrate and find a really good restaurant to eat at. (Yay, my husband passed the PANCE, his national exam!! He is now officially certified. I’m pretty sure my insides have never felt so nervous. But, now that’s over. Whew. Hooray. ……….sigh)
Then, skip on just ordering water and happily ask for a nice and sticky strawberry lemonade.
When the server comes to deliver it, be sure to make him nervous somehow…….and allow him to spill said beverage all down your front. (my husband was the recipient)
Then, be sure that your server doesn’t have any control over his language and throws out a few colorful words in front of your 3 young children.
Next, jump up quickly out of sheer shock and head to the bathroom.
When the manager arrives, tell him everything is okay, and no you don’t need to dry clean your blue jeans. And even when he insists on making a great big huge enormous deal, tell him it’s not and that everything really is okay. However, mention that you are disappointed at the language used in front of your children by the clumsy server.
When the manager insists on paying for your whole meal, gladly accept.
And then learn from our mistake. And order dessert. :)

Edited to Add: I may have confused a few of you who read the above story about our free meal. We didn’t intentionally enter the restaurant with the idea to trick our server into making a mess. That’s just what happened (and has probably happened to many of you too) and so I decided to re-tell it with a little sarcasm. Mostly because I figured it was relatable. We weren’t really trying to receive a free meal……that’s just what happened. Sorry if I confused any of you. And no, I don’t really think you should follow the above steps to receive a free meal. And yes, even though our meal was free, we tipped him. He did great other than the spill (and his language) and we totally understand that the spilled beverage was just an accident. :)

We were little stress buckets for a week and a half…….but hallelujah! My husband is done with school, done with tests (until he has to re-certify), and done with rotations. We’re not really sure what to do with ourselves. He feels a little guilty not having his face in a text book in the evenings and it feels strange to have him sit right next to me on the couch after the kiddos are in bed. Weird. But we’ll adjust. Ahhhhhhhh.

And to kick off our school-free celebration……….we have had some great friends come for a visit from Idaho. We couldn’t be more thrilled. Except we feel a little bad that they have been sleeping among a few unpacked boxes and completely naked walls. (Sorry friends!) When we have a free week when friends have a free week, we must take advantage of it. Unpacked boxes or not!

But we have been trying to squeeze in a little something each day. All 10 of us (4 adults, 6 kids). And so far, the zoo has been the most fun. We kind of adore those animals, the winding paths, and this beautiful weather.

You thought i forgot i had a blog, didn’t you?

And you know, giraffes never disappoint.

And are friendly little buggers.

I’m not sure we could have asked for more beautiful weather.

This little lady always liked to be in charge of the map. She looked at those trails, studies the colors, and told us right where we should go.

Until we found the animals she was looking for. Like this mountain lion.

And this little monkey? We didn’t really here much of a peep out of her. She looked and listened and studied everything…….while kicking back with her feet up. I’m pretty sure I’m going to trade her spots next time.

These little rascals ran from here to there and everywhere. Everything was so interesting. Definitely a great place to go with our good friends.

And this little guy was an angel, even though he was feeling a little icky. And holy smokes, those big blue eyes kill me every time.

It’s been so fun to get together after not seeing each other in so long. Our kiddos play like little cousins……and we love that!

But they’re not related……..so we can oogle over this all we want.

Today? We’re off to the aquarium. Hooray.

I’ll be back to normal next week. We’ll be flying solo again and my husband starts his first day of his real job. Pinch me, I still can’t believe our school days are over.

See you soon!

-Ashley

Author Bio

Article Info

Ashley Johnston

Administrator at Make It & Love It

Ashley Johnston is a professional DIY costume maker, sewist, crafter, and owner of Make It & Love It. She is a mom of 5 and a wife to a very patient (with the craft clutter) husband. In case you’re wondering, she always chooses crafting/sewing/designing over mopping/dusting/wiping base boards……but bathrooms/laundry/full bellies are always attended to. Whew!