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Author Archives: Jen

Exotic snack store attack!

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I looooove chips. So I might have gone a little crazy at the local exotic snack store!

The last time I did something like this was probably over a year ago when Tom and I wandered into a Japanese grocery store and we bought a bunch of chips (and I think we only have one bag left—we just open a bag every now and again and do a taste test with Anna and David). So I dragged her along with me…

I know the flavors are probably hard to read, so I’ll share a few:

  • Roasted Cumin Lamb Skewer
  • Salted Egg
  • Fried Crab
  • Seaweed
  • Sweet Basil
  • Spicy Garlic
  • Sichuan Pepper
  • Wild Mushrooms and Sour Cream
  • Creamy Forest Mushroom
  • Green Onion
  • Scallop Butter Garlic
  • Salmon Chili Lime

March Mania Top 25 all four weeks!

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I had set a goal of 200 items for the March Mania competition — last year I think I did just over that but this year has been slower so I thought 200 was good. And I managed to pull it out in the final hours of the last day!

I also made the Top 25 in Sales & Total number of products sold each week! This was a huge accomplishment since I only actually won one of my four weeks!

Spring Break Day 6: State Parks

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We were up early to start the day at Weeki Wachee State Park — we were planning on hitting the waterpark and the live mermaid show (which they are famous for). But unfortunately, Linda and I BOTH read the information completely wrong in the exact same way…so the actual waterpark (slides, lazy river, etc.) wasn’t open. There were some birds wandering around but other than that it was pretty dead.

We did stay for the mermaid show and though it was neat it wasn’t super exciting. I guess it’s a cool “Hey we did that” time!

So then Lin wanted to head to another park—Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park. We stopped for lunch at a random pizza place I found on Yelp and had to laugh when it was right next to a Marine Corps recruiting office!

I can honestly say I’ve never seen this sign before:

Then we stopped for ice cream on our way home…because how could you NOT stop at this huge ice cream cone?!

And then it was time to go home…which the kids were excited about because Grannie said we could go to the pool and promised Owen he could drive!

It was pretty dead when we got there around 6. I actually went in the pool and underwater with Katie! She was impressed I could do a front and back somersault — and she finally did a back one on her own. When Owen and Grannie came back about an hour later, the pool was empty except for my two.

Sidenote: The yacht-rock-esque station is playing Soldier of Love by Donny Osmond. It’s from 1989. GET OFF MY LAWN.

Then Katie and I sat on the back of the golf cart for our final ride…and had some fun as we rode over some bumps and Owen took some corners a little crazy.

Spring Break Day 5: Manatees!

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Linda surprised us and told us she wanted to take us swimming with the manatees! So, being in a wetsuit was a first for me and the kids!

Unfortunately, this time of year is the end of the season — most manatees have already begun the trek to warmer waters — so we actually had to hunt for them a bit. We eventually found this mom and baby and followed them, hoping they’d go into calmer waters…which they did, but they didn’t really go to a place we could easily get to them.

We did eventually get into the water but it was hard to see much since the water was so cloudy. That said, at one point, a manatee swam directly under me! Like inches below me!

The guide was taking photos for us so that was nice not to have to worry about…but the manatees weren’t very calm today so we didn’t get pics of us with them underwater. This is about the best we got of us in the same photo:

The kids loved the guide’s description of them as “2000 pound sea potatoes!”

We definitely wanted a selfie with our guides!
I wrote them a review on the car ride home!

Back home, we completed the beach glass puzzle with one day to spare!

Owen was serenading us with his snoring.