Mission Birthday Week a Success!!!

Happy Sunday rockers! This week was a whirlwind of chaos, metal and birthday cake! As I think back to the last handful of days, parts are a blur, but I wouldn't have done anything different.

Monday started out pretty typical. School, housework, kids, you know, the usual. Then, just about dinner time, I popped on Facebook and found out that Hinder was playing at a club in the Sacramento area. Within an hour, we got the kids squared away and were on the road to the show. We had one hell of a time! I even got to be the chick in the pit that caught a drumstick!

Tuesday, I consumed A LOT of coffee and recovered just enough so that I could pull off...

Wednesday which was my older son's birthday. I got the cake bombs done and pack up a lovely heavy metal picnic dinner that consisted of beef sticks, cheese crackers, PB&J's and water to take t0 the Uproar Concert. We sang Happy Birthday and had the boys blow out their candle in parking lot before going in. The kids were so excited to see Stone Sour and Avenged Sevenfold and I'm happy to report that they totally rocked. Everyone was still so amped up that we even stuck around for Disturbed, which wasn't part of the original plan (we've taken the kids to see them numerous times and knew we wouldn't miss much, in our opinion) but we weren't ready to call it a night! Hubby took the kids down to get a better view and I hung out with some friends and played "pit patrol" to pass the time. It was a blast!

Thursday was another recovery day. Getting up in the morning and getting the kids to school was a big enough job. Yes, they go to school after a concert day. We're trying to teach the kids that it's totally acceptable to goof off and have fun as long as it doesn't interfere with our responsibilities. Plus, there is the added threat that concerts on school nights will stop (for them) if they flake on school. Needless to say, we all crashed pretty hard that evening. Honestly, I can't even remember what we had for dinner that night.

Friday we ran around like crazy people getting everything done for Saturday's birthday party. Housework, cooking, wrapping, goody bags, decorating and last minute shopping stops took over the whole day. The nice thing was, almost everything was done when I got up Saturday morning. I put four pork roasts in the slow cooker before bed to make BBQ pork sandwiches. I made a huge batch of macaroni salad and got the cake baked, filled and iced.

Saturday all I needed to do was shred the pork and put it back in the slow cooker to keep warm. Then, I put bell peppers and onions from the garden into the second cooker. In the third cooker, I put a bunch of baked beans. In case you're wondering just how many slow cookers I have, the answer is five. Since I had made most of the cake decorations last Saturday, finishing up took me all of about 15 minutes. I love, love, love the way the sugar skulls turned out. I plan on using some of my Christmas candy molds to make holiday sugar shapes to give away with little coffees and teas for gifts.

As far as today, I thought we would take it easy, but it's not working out that way. The guys are pulling the last big useless (meaning you can't eat from it) tree out back to make room for a baby fig tree that our friend gave us this week. I also went to a yard sale and was able to score two more canning jars for fifty cents. Now, I'm getting ready to start some seeds to get the winter garden under way. The nice thing is, there is so much food leftover from yesterday, I get the day off from cooking :)

Until next time, rock on my friends!

We Blew the Budget, And I Sooo Don't Care!

The recovery from this weekend's road trip is coming along slowly. Everything hurts, we're broke until payday and as twisted as it sounds, I don't care! Saturday night, before the Korn show, we all sat down at Johnny Rockets to have some cheeseburgers. We were already hungover and moving slowly from way too many cocktails the night before. As we half finished our dinner, we tried to give each other pep talks of encouragement. C'mon man! Korn's playing in an hour! We can do it! But as excited as we were for the show, sleep kept screaming at us. We were a bunch of tore up metal heads, let me tell you. Then, all of the sudden, my girlfriend's eyes literally bulged out of her head. She was looking at something behind me, but I was too tired to bother turning around. "LOOK, LOOK LOOK, " she whispered. I turned, but didn't see what she could possibly be looking at. Nothing over my right shoulder was close to being that interesting! Her eyes moved over to my left side. She looked like she was about to have a heart attack. "LOOK, LOOK, LOOK RIGHT THERE!" I could tell she was afraid to point, so following her eyes and checked over my left shoulder, half expecting to see the world's largest mohawk. Instead of a mohawk, though, I saw a dude with dreadlocks walking next to our table. I couldn't see his face at first and wasn't even sure if I was looking in the right direction, so I glanced back at my friend for confirmation. She was scrambling for her phone like a mad woman. I can see that now, our friend sitting next to her has "deer in the headlights" eyes. What am I missing here? Mystery dreadlock dude sat down at the table across from us. I gave him a quick peek, but I was interrupted by my husband's elbow in my ribs. I shot him a look that ensured paybacks to come. He said, "Look! It's f*ckin' Munky!" WHAT!!!???!!! I looked over at the table again, actually paying attention this time, and as realize I'm looking AT MUNKY, I suddenly felt my stomach flip. I had to feel my chin to make sure it wasn't sitting on our table. Our friend had successfully found her phone, and tried unsuccessfully, to sneak a picture without Munky noticing. He noticed. We were all so worried that we'd tick him off, which is not something you want to do when someone from KORN sits next to you. He didn't get irritated, though. He giggled with us and posed for the picture above. We asked if, after he ate his dinner, he would mind signing a couple things for us. He said it was no problem. We didn't mind waiting. At all. I sat back in my seat, realizing that I still had half of my food on my plate. Everyone else at the table was texting wildly to all of our people at home. All of the responses were either disbelief or pure anger. As the texting died down, we all stared at each other. No one could eat. We were determined to sit at that table the entire night if that's how long Munky wanted to take to finish his meal. Then, a funny thing happened. Almost all at once, we discovered we weren't tired anymore. We weren't hungover anymore. Apparently we all received a much needed shot of adrenaline that would carry us through this night. We giggled like a bunch of school girls as we thanked the Big Man Upstairs for this amazing surprise. Nothing was going to top this. At this point, the show was a bonus. As promised, Munky took our tickets and things to sign, gave hugs and shook our hands. After we thanked him, he quickly and gracefully disappeared into the crowd. Such a nice guy. Seriously. We celebrated at the bar for a bit and toasted to great friends and adventure before heading into the theater. We laughed at all of the star struck silliness that none of us knew we had inside of us. We asked each other, countless times, "Can you believe that just happened?!?" As I said yesterday, the weekend was historical. Sometimes we all get so wrapped up in our own personal realities that we forget to just go with the flow and have some fun. We forget to stop sweating the small stuff. So yeah, we blew our budget and I so don't care. I'd do it all again exactly the same tomorrow if I had the chance. We laughed until we cried, created secrets, and "inside jokes," broke down walls and strengthened friendships. For everything we gained, I think a busted budget was well worth the price. Until next time, rock on my friends!

Good Deal Alert!

There's nothing worse than finding out that your favorite band is coming to town, but the service fees cost more than the actual tickets! Well, it turns out that for the entire month of June, Live Nation is waiving the service charges for all tickets purchased for events at Live Nation owned amphitheaters. Awesome, right? Hello Mayhem Fest 2010! There's an amazing selection of participating venues. Go over to Live Nation.com for all the details. Have fun! Until next time, rock on my friends!

Fun on a Budget Friday Tuesday Edition

Happy Tuesday rockers! Last time I promised that I would talk about ways we save money when we take our little rockers in training with us on our adventures. These are the trips that take a little more planning. Usually, us adults can go without a thing or two throughout a day, but I know (mom of three here) that's not always the case with the kids. Alright, we've already established ways to get free tickets. We've also covered a few simple ways to keep your day or night out reasonably cheap. Remember, the old tips still apply here, we're just dealing with a few extra needs. The packing list: Sweaters, because even in August it can get chilly at night. We also use them to sit on when we have lawn seats since we aren't always allowed to bring in a blanket (Thanks, Ozzy). Ear plugs, because hello, they're children and I'd like them to keep their hearing for as long as possible. Rocker in Training cards. These are just cards I print up ahead of time with every adults phone number on them, just in case we get separated. Luckily, we've never needed them, but all the kids know that if we do get separated, they are to find a security guard and hand them the piece of paper to call us. I list every one's number because you never know who will have cell service. Also, these little cards are small enough to slip into their shoes if they don't have any pockets. Mom's purse list: I don't normally carry a purse at all, but concert days are where I make an exception. I use a small backpack type purse so my hands are free at all times to hold precious little hands. Usually I keep a few band aids, Tylenol, sun block, bug repellent, hand sanitizer, glow sticks and a deck of cards. The glow sticks are great because I can keep track of the kids in the dark and they have something to play with. It's also cheaper to buy a pack at the dollar store instead of paying up to five bucks each at the event. The deck of cards also keeps them busy in between bands. MOM I'M HUUUNGRY!! Yeah, you've been there, right? Remember to plan on bringing snacks for the road to avoid the drive through. Some standards for us are popped popcorn, crackers, dry cereal, cookies and breads from Baking Day, and some fruit. Don't run out and buy $40 extra dollars worth of junk when you probably have some things that will do for the day. About the only thing extra we buy are water bottles, which we hang onto for inside the venue and on the way home. As far as a drink for the road, we just fill reusable bottles from home with water, tea, or even Kool aid. If we have them, we'll freeze juice boxes too. If we need to, I'll also make some sandwiches for a tail gate lunch before we head inside. MOM I'M STIIILLL HUUUNGRY!! Once you're inside the event there is no going back. Always check beforehand to see what they will allow you to bring in. I can't stress this one enough. Rules will vary, but I always pack each person a one gallon baggie of allowed snacks. Then, all of those baggies go into one of those extra extra large Ziplock bags. Everything that isn't factory sealed must be viewable, so these bags are great. I stay away from perishables since ice chests are a no no most of the time anyway. Usually we all get a PB&J sandwich, some jerky or a beef stick, some cheesy sandwich crackers, cookies or breads, hard candies and as many bottles of water that the place allows. In the past we've also taken shelf stable dips in plastic containers (the kind that you don't need to refrigerate until after opening) with chips and crackers. Why do we go through all of the trouble of packing and lugging all of this stuff with us? Because for a family of five, at one of these shows, we would be spending at least $40 for one meal and one bottle of water for each of us. At an all-day festival that amount could easily triple. Sure, we usually will break down and get the kids an order of garlic fries or nachos to share, and sometimes even a slushy, but we always determine our budget ahead of time and stick to it. The money we save allows us to see more shows! Please don't think we eat like this daily. We generally eat pretty healthy, but concert days are a special treat, and if eating beef jerky for dinner allows us the chance to have some family mosh time, we're OK with that. There's a couple extras that I almost forgot. Save all those outer baggies if they don't get too mangled. We've been using the same ones for two seasons. Not the small ones that had the actual sandwiches in them, but the ones that carried those baggies. Also, freeze some water bottles and keep them in a small cooler in the car along with a few extra snacks for on the way home...just in case you hear MOM, I'M HUNGRY (again) before they pass out in the back seat. Finally, remember a couple blankets and pillows for when that time comes :) Until next time, rock on my friends!

The Concert Binder

Happy Wednesday Rockers! I'm a big time binder lovin' girl. I have a binder for just about everything. Seriously, it's nuts. I have one for Christmas, camping, recipes, coupons, the household budget, gift giving, and this lovely little Crazy Concert Crew binder. Alright, alright, I know that chasing concerts isn't for everyone, but you can nickname your own binder depending on your own hobby.

The record setting 2007 concert season was the reason for this little beauty. See, we hit 18 concerts that year. Some of them with up to 10 kids between everyone. We had an absolute blast, but repetitive list making and direction getting got real old, real quick.

At some point I thought it would be useful to make a reference book of sorts, to keep track of it all and something that traveled well, that I could just grab and go. I started by dividing the binder with tabs marking the different venues we'd already been to. Here's a little list of what's in each tab section:

Directions to and from the venue.

The phone number to the venue.

Ticket purchase information.

Parking charges if any.

The number for the local taxi company. Hey, better safe than sorry! You may come across someone that needs it, even if you don't.

Print out of the seating chart

A list of items you are and aren't allowed to bring in with you.

Little side notes of interest, like local camp grounds, gas stations, restaurants, or if there is a serious lack of these things. Really, one of the venues in my book has a note that says "Get gas at the crazy expensive gas station in town if you need it because you'll run out before you get to the next one 30 minutes up the road." Another one says, " Remember, there are two parking lot H's here. Pay attention!"

In the first few pages of the binder I have our packing lists. The "bare essentials" list is, of course, much shorter than the "rocking with kids" list, but it was important to separate the two for quick reference. I also added a reminder page for things like checking the oil and spare tire, and not to forget to let the cat out. Then, for fun, I added a couple empty pages from an old photo album as a safe place to quickly put ticket stubs and other little souvenirs you pick up along the way.

Finally in the front pocket is where I keep the tickets for the current event, a phone card, road side assistance info, any coupons we may need and few emergency dollars. After all, at the end of a long heavy metal night, we all just want to get home safe, right?

Since keeping my concert binder for quick reference works for me, I thought maybe it was worth sharing no matter what your favorite adventures are.

Don't forget to go check out Works For Me Wednesdays over at We are THAT Family.

Until next time, rock on my friends!