No trips to speak of.....

No trips to note about since my last entry. I have been spending most of my time addressing the hole we have in the backyard that resembled and has been use as a pool in the past. It currently looks a mess. We had to hire a contractor to address the cement that has no support underneath it, and purchase as well as have it installed a new pool liner. NONE of this is cheep. Putting a damper in the vacation planning this has as we are short on the funds to do such.. (Here is what the pool looks like currently)

 Basically the liner had a hole in it somewhere and over the winter it drained pulling the sides away from the shell, what made things worse and perhaps the most costly of the project is that the concrete surrounding the pool has cracked and gave way, due to the water eroding beneath it. It had to be replaced or we would be dealing with this again fairly soon, plus it was a hazard.

Needless to say the work needs to be done, so we are going to be spending less traveling time this summer then I had hoped. Which means I have to step up my game on creativity and find ways to take trips for free or next to nothing. I still have the State Park pass, and Ithaca has tons of beautiful parks to explore, so I put it out to my girlfriend to see if she wanted to take a trip with me, her boys and mine. Unfortunately she has baseball with the kids. Not defeated, I decided to explore the Ithaca site and came upon a place I had accidentally found when I was lost the last time I was in Ithaca. The Museum of the Earth.

I went right instead of left last Tuesday when I was trying to find The Pure Romance team meeting, and I turned around in the parking lot of this Museum. Unsure what it was about as I had never heard of it before, I was surprised to see it was on the website. I popped on the tab and guess what. This Saturday is the museums Community Day, and guess what that means.....it is FREE admission for this Saturday only. At $8- a pop for adults and  $3- for kids that's a $22- savings. Plus we can go to any of the surrounding State Parks for FREE as well. I figured we could hit the museum, which is all about the Earth, which may be not so interesting to some, but since Gavin has been studying rocks and rock formations, and Ben will be taking Earth Science next year, what an awesome time to learn about this stuff. PLUS it is FREE. We can enjoy the museum, and then hit up one of the beautiful State parks and take a hike. It should be a great time. Now I just have to convince them to do it. I am excited to have something fun to do this weekend, as my folksmarch for the month has been tainted due to the fact that NONE of my walkers in crime are available this Saturday. I thought about going myself and I just might to stop in and get some information on Walk a Mile Monday, but my focus is going to be on getting to Ithaca for the day. Wish me luck.

I did do a few fun things yesterday, I stopped at the Thrifty Store (one of favorite things to do) and was excited to find the last book and recently released Sookie Stackhouse (HBO Series True Blood) hard cover on their cheep shelves. Originally $27.99 I got it for $2- and it looks new. I also scored a brand new phone charger for the car. ($.99) and a beautiful necklace for $2-. I looked at a bunk bed for only $75- and decided that I just couldn't fit it into my car or my budget and went home. Later in the evening I attended the Vera House In service, (this one was less then interesting it was about the computer program) and visited my mother. I took the back roads and enjoyed driving along the streets I once walked, the parks I once played in, and noted the changes in the tree's homes and found it amazing how things can change such over time. Meadowbrook is a long street that has a stream down the middle and eventually lead into a pond and a park. The community had bird houses on each intersection of the street, and I thought someday I might have to stop and take a look at these creative little boxes. Some were actual bird houses others were airplanes and one was a giant orange basketball with the SU painted on it. Someday I will take the time to stop and gander. Appreciation in the everyday has become a motto for me since I ceased working and I am truly working at this.