BIG BLOG CHALLENGE #29: A GOOD EMAIL

Today's challenge is to copy and paste a good email message I've recently received. One of my friends and fellow staff members at Little School sent me this. It actually made me LOL several times and then I realized... yikes! this stuff is sooooo true. :/

YOU might be a school employee if you believe the playground should be equipped with a Ritalin salt lick. YOU might be a school employee if you want to slap the next person who says, 'Must be nice to work 8 to 3:30 and have summers off." YOU might be a school employee if it is difficult to name your own child because there's no name you can come up with that doesn't bring high blood pressure as it is uttered. YOU might be a school employee if you can tell it's a full moon or if it's going to rain, snow, hail... anything!!! Without ever looking outside. YOU might be a school employee if you believe "shallow gene pool" should have its own box on a report card. YOU might be a school employee if you believe that unspeakable evils will befall you if anyone says, "Boy, the kids sure are mellow today." YOU might be a school employee if when out in public, you feel the urge to snap your fingers at children you do not know and correct their behavior. YOU might be a school employee if you have no social life between August and June. YOU might be a school employee if you think people should have a government permit before being allowed to reproduce. YOU might be a school employee if you wonder how some parents MANAGED to reproduce. YOU might be a school employee if you laugh uncontrollably when people refer to the staff room as the "lounge." YOU might be a school employee if you encourage an obnoxious parent to check into charter schools or home schooling and are willing to donate the UHAUL truck should they decided to move out of district. YOU might be a school employee if you think caffeine should be available in intravenous form. YOU might be a school employee if you can't imagine how the ACLU could think that covering your students chair with Velcro and then requiring uniforms made out of the corresponding Velcro could ever be misunderstood by the public. YOU might be a school employee if meeting a child's parent instantly answers this question, "Why is this kid like this?" YOU might be a school employee if you would choose a mammogram over a parent conference. YOU might be a school employee if you think someone should invent antibacterial pencils and crayons...and desks and chairs for that matter! YOU might be a school employee if the words "I have college debt for this?" have ever come out of your mouth. YOU might be a school employee if you know how many days, minutes, and seconds are left in the school year. ENJOY YOUR SUMMER!!!!

NO BETTER TIME THAN THE PRESENT?

Today is the day I start "ridding out." I have been in a serious funk lately. I'm guessing it is less funk and more depression than anything (gotta remember to take those anti-depressants everyday). My house is trashed. My life is complicated. I hate that I'm not enjoying this summer. So I need to pull myself out of this funk before it gets any worse. I've known this for a while, but knowing what I need to do is a whole different thing than actually doing what I need to do.

So today I am making two goals. I figure it's best to start out small that way the chance to succeed is way higher. :p

Goal 1: Take all the kids summer clothes they've outgrown to the resale shop. What they don't take, drop off at Goodwill.

Goal 2: Begin cleaning the clutter from the front room. It's ridiculous. There is so much junk in here I hate to come into the room. It actually makes me nauseous to look at it.

Those are 2 pretty attainable goals really. Especially since the big box of outgrown summer clothes is IN THE FRONT ROOM. Just getting that out and into the van will give me a start on clearing the clutter. :)

I've been told there's no better time than the present so I should get started. I think I'll crank up INXS' Switch album and get busy. I'll have to work on uncomplicating my life a little later. That's going to be a little bit bigger of a job. :(

SOME RANDOM*NESS

I can honestly say I've never been an "obsessive fan" when it comes to Hollywood or the music scene BUT if I were to become one, I would be all about this guy: J.D. Fortune. He is such a hottie.

I've been a huge fan of INXS' music for as long as I can remember, but frankly, no one in the original band was all that good to look at. Don't get me wrong, the original lead singer, Michael Hutchence, (who died in 1997) was an amazing singer and made the band what it was, but he didn't make me go "Ahhhhhh." When the band found J.D. they got the total package. Hot, smart, charismatic, amazing stage presence and yeah, a voice to go with it all. I could listen to this guy sing all day and watch him forever. He's assertive and confident. He's bold. He's opinionated and smart. He's an amazing artist. He is kind. He's got that Bad Boy look (that I've always been a sucker for) with the heart and smile of the boy-next-door. Wow.

So here's my favorite INXS song performed by J.D. before he became the lead singer for INXS. The video quality isn't that good, but I saw this performance on TV and he was... yeah... SMOKIN'

25 OF MY FAVORITE THINGS

So it's the 25th of June and my sweet friend Tiffany at sb.com (the one who challenged me to blog this month) has challenged me to list 25 of my favorite things. So here they are in no particular order:

1. Sunday sermons
2. flip flops
3. the internet
4. creamed spinach (yes, seriously)
5. fresh-squeezed lemonade
6. freshly laundered sheets on my bed
7. sunny, crisp fall days
8. the smell of lavender
9. mint tea (must be a mixture of spearmint & peppermint)
10. the entire Christmas season
11. family vacations/time share condos
12. the color brown (like my son's eyes. and mine.)
13. gathering with friends
14. new pajamas
15. seafood
16. lima beans (yes, seriously)
17. fried green tomatoes
18. a shampoo at the beauty salon
19. spring water (for drinking)
20. scripture
21. being in Keith's arms
22. the laughter of my children
23. car rides in the rain
24. new scrapbooking supplies
25. deep muscle massages

So there's the "short list." I have lots of favorite things. But isn't it interesting that as categories go, my list has lots of things in the FOOD category? Oh well. ; )

3 DOORS DOWN: IT'S NOT MY TME

ALL IN A DAY'S WORK FOR A MOM

It's been a little crazy the past couple of days. All five of us are either helping with or attending VBS at our church this week. As usual, I am the kitchen staff (I have three good Middle School/High School helpers this year), Keith is a group guide for the first time (he has done games in the past), Caitlyn is a group guide for the 4th year and the two younger ones are, of course, attending.

This is an interesting year for Keith. Since it is Garrett's first year of being in an actual group rather than the Toddler Room, Shelly put him in Keith's group along with about 15 other 4-year-old boys. Hehe! Serves him right for always saying how "easy" my job is. He has been more exhausted than me chasing those little boys around, taking someone to the potty every 10 minutes, TRYING to get them to walk in a line (yeah, whatever), and not all want the same songbook. Which is actually quite amusing since none of them CAN READ! ; ) I am loving every minute of his experience.

So in God's great way of reminding us not to take pleasure in the trials of others, He put the idea into Shelly's head that I should make Rice Krispie treats for snack one day this year. Ha! I love eating Rice Krispie treats, but seriously dislike making them. If you've ever made them you know how much trouble it is to stir that sticky, messy mixture and then scrape it into a pan. Well, picture trying to make enough for 170 kids + 35 helpers. For obvious reasons I did not want to make these one batch at a time. I mean, I'd have been there for, I don't know, two days or something. So I decide to alter the recipe and make enough to use 3 family size boxes of Rice Krispies at a time. We have an industrial kitchen in our church with industrial-sized pots and pans so I think to myself how great it will be to make a lot of them at one time and only have to make a few batches. Mmmm-hmmmm. Not the best idea I've ever had. Let's just say that today I found out what it would be like to have to mix fast-hardening concrete by hand. NEVER TRY TO MAKE AN "INDUSTRIAL-SIZED" AMOUNT OF RICE KRISPIE TREATS. Seriously, it's a bad idea. Oh, and did I mention I still had to make 8 pans to have enough? And clean-up was loads of fun. Yeah. We aren't having Rice Krispie treats next year unless someone else is in charge of the kitchen and I'm in Maui. Like I said, God has His way of keeping us humble. (Thanks to all the men who stopped by the kitchen to help me mix, lift those ginormous pots and scrape today! You all have Servants' hearts and I appreciate you!)

So after VBS every single one of my kids wanted to bring a friend home. I couldn't take kids home with us today but I offered to pick them all up and take them to the park since Caitlyn and Luke had made plans to play tennis. I was going there anyway so I figured why not kill two birds with one stone so to speak. As it turned out I had to drive all over the county to pick up these kids. None of them, except Garrett's friend Wesley, lived anywhere near us or each other.

Now here's where it gets fun. We left Luke and Caitlyn at the tennis courts and the younger kids and I made our way to the playground. This park has one slide and it is an old metal one that barely has any sides on it at all. The steps are metal and steep and when you slide down it's like a rocket ship launch - it's FAST! There were 6 swings, a bouncy bench-type thing, and lots of climbing things (not one of our best parks, but it had tennis courts). So guess which thing the kids wanted play on. Yep, that's right, the old metal slide. I wasn't too concerned about the 2 girls, but Garrett and Wes scared me. Those two boys are peas in a pod. Neither one of them has any fear and they are typical rowdy, energetic, stunt-loving boys. Not a good combination. Both of them nearly fell over the side a couple of times and they both catapulted off the end of the slide several times landing flat on their backs or their bellies even though they went down on their bottoms (my rule).

As if that weren't enough my son, who has been the single most stubborn kid to potty train, finally started peeing in a toilet on Saturday. Well, he gets almost to the top of the slide, looks at me and starts to wiggle. I said, "Garrett, do you need to potty?" Of course he did, so I told him to come back down the steps and I'd take help him. The bathroom was clear up by the tennis courts which was a good three minute walk. I knew we didn't have that kind of time so I told him he'd have to pee on a tree. He's never done that and neither have I so it was quite an experience. Needless to say, I learned a lesson today which is: a little boy absolutely cannot pee on a tree without pulling his pants all the way down. I know this because I didn't want to expose Garrett's whole hiney in the middle of downtown Kokomo so I tried to help him pee while just pulling the top of his waistband and the top of his pull-up down just enough to get... well, you know. He peed on his shirt, his shorts, his shoes, my bag, my sleeve, and my feet (which were in flip-flops). I kept trying to get his you-know-what back in his pull-up but couldn't quite do that because he wasn't finished so I wasn't really sure what to do. I just knew I didn't want him to pee on me anymore. I'm sure if it were video-taped it would be hilarious, but at the time it wasn't all that funny. Thankfully there was no one else on the playground. I had put some diaper wipes in my bag though so that was a bonus.

After I got Garrett cleaned up and back over to where Wesley was playing I noticed Wes grabbing himself and I thought, "Oh, no! This isn't even my own child. What will I do?" Wes assured me he did not need to pee, but after about 20 minutes of him walking funny and grabbing himself I told the kids it was time to pack it in for the day. I took all the friends home, took my kids to McDonald's and came home and just sat on my bed for a while to reflect on my day.

It has been exhausting to say the least, but it has also been filled with joy and laughter and beautiful weather. I couldn't ask for a better day than this.

BLOG CHALLENGE #14: FATHER'S DAY

Today is Father's Day and Keith is actually off today - yay! He works most holidays so it's always a blessing when he actually doesn't have to work on a holiday.

father \ˈfä-thər\ (n): a man who has begotten a child
daddy \ˈda-dē\ (n): a diminutive, familiar term for father

So, um, neither the definition for "father" nor the definition for "daddy" is really all that special. That's too bad. It really is. I mean, any man who is capable of reproducing could be a father or, by dictionary definition, even a daddy. So it's too bad that we haven't come up with a term for father that has a deeper, more endearing meaning. I had a father who loved me (and still does as far as I know), but he certainly wasn't the best father. I suppose he was the best father he knew how to be, but he was pretty selfish and very controlling and had/has a host of other issues I absolutely disagree with. In my book he would never qualify for Father of the Year. We've had our ups and downs and while I do love him because he's my father, I don't spend much time with him. Sometimes it makes me sad that I don't have a father that I'm close to and that I truly enjoy spending time with, but I have accepted the fact that, for reasons I will probably never understand, he is the father God gave me and I have an obligation to honor him. I still struggle with what that means, believe me, but I am trying. My father doesn't show any signs of changing so I have adjusted my thoughts, actions and attitudes according to God's commands and, like I said, it's a struggle, but I'm working through it.

Now MY children, on the other hand, do have a wonderful father. Notice I didn't say "perfect." Because he's not. But he is a good father. He is a very good father. He can be overprotective to the point of being obnoxious, he can be quite inflexible at times and very judgmental and sometimes he interrogates our children like he's interrogating a criminal suspect which is simply infuriating. But when it gets right down to it, he is an amazing father. He loves his children with all that he is and works himself half to death to see that they not only have everything they need, but that they have much of what their hearts desire. Not so much that they are superficial or materialistic or that they think the world owes them something, but he likes to see them be able to take advantage of every opportunity they are given if possible. For instance, he makes sure they can play sports if they choose to (and in today's world it costs a small fortune per sport/season), he makes sure there is money for them to attend social events and activities and church camp, there are vacations and trips every year, we go to the movie theater and to restaurants, and they don't have to wear bargain basement clothes (although I do love a good bargain!). In other words, he doesn't just provide for their basic needs which is really all that's required of him. What's amazing to me is that even though Keith works two jobs - he's a full-time Sheriff's Deputy and the school liaison officer for one of our county schools 20 hours a week - and he takes on special assignments and jobs for extra money, he spends TIME with our children and makes memories with them. He takes them fishing and to the movies and on picnics and to the park and to museums. He plays games with them on the floor and reads books to them. When the girls were little he even played doll house and Barbies and dress-up. He wrestles with Garrett and teaches him how to throw the "perfect punch" (I'm secretly hoping Garrett will never need that skill). Keith has taught all three of our children how to cast a fishing line, how to bait a hook and fillet a fish (well, not so much the girls!). He talks with Garrett about anything and everything and even lets him help work on the truck and under the sink. He teaches Garrett how to open doors for girls and to be a gentleman. He takes Garrett to the barbershop, has taken Caitlyn to dinner and dancing and goes putt-putt golfing with Claire. He attends all of their school programs, church programs and sporting events even if he has to show up in uniform. He hugs and kisses all three of them and tells them he loves them every single day. He takes them to church every Sunday morning and helps out with and participates in mid-week children's ministries as often as he can as well as Vacation Bible School. He prays with them and for them. So no, he isn't the perfect father, but he is a darn great one and his daughters and his son know he cares and that they can depend on him. They might not always like his rules or his advice (especially our teenage daughter) or his actions, but they know without a doubt that they are loved. The dad in our family could definitely qualify for Father of the Year.

BLOG CHALLENGE #12: A TREAT FOR MY FAMILY

We are a family of blueberry nuts. We all love them and it doesn't matter if they are raw or part of a fruit salad, blueberry pancakes or whatever. We all just really like blueberries. So this morning I made my family a special treat. I made them our favorite Blueberry Cake. It is a recipe I got from my sister-in-law, Cindi, before Keith and I ever got married. It's quite yummy and very easy to make.

INGREDIENTS:

• 3/4 c. granulated sugar
• 1/4 c. oil
• 1 egg
• 1/2 c. milk
• 2 c. flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 c. blueberries, rinsed, sorted and & well-drained

TOPPING:*

• 1/4 c. butter or margarine
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1/3 c. flour
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

*Melt butter. Stir in sugar, flour, cinnamon. Crumble over cake batter.

DIRECTIONS FOR CAKE: Cream together sugar, oil & egg. Stir in milk. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt into creamed mixture. Gently fold in blueberries. Spread batter into a greased & floured 9x9 baking dish. Sprinkle with topping. Bake 45-50 minutes at 375 degrees. Serve warm.

BLOG CHALLENGE #11: PIECES OF ME

In follow-up to yesterday's blog: I actually CAN walk today, but I'm pretty sore. ; )


So my challenge today is to write about ME and add a photo of myself. I can do that. I'll try to get a decent photo to post (I'm not very photogenic) and I'll try not to write a book, just the basics - some bits 'n pieces:
*Age: 39
*DOB: April 19th
*Birthplace: Beaufort, SC
*Siblings: three sisters - Casey (deceased), Bethanne (32), Julie (26) & one brother - Michael (6, I think - don't ask). All of my siblings are half-siblings, but I don't consider my sisters half-sisters. We lived together during all of my childhood so basically I had/have the best and worst of both worlds. I am the oldest sibling in one family and an only child in my other family.
*Married to Keith for almost 15 years. Married him 6 months after we met. Still in love!
*Children: Caitlyn (14), Claire (almost 10) & Garrett (4) who you've been introduced to somewhat in previous blog posts.
*Education & employment: B.S. in Political Science & Legal Administration (minors: Spanish & Criminal Justice) from Ball State University, 1991. Paralegal in civil practice for 3 years, paralegal for Howard Co. Drug Task Force and to Chief Deputy Prosecutor for 7 years. Child Development Associate from Ivy Tech Community College, 2003. Employed at First Presbyterian Church Little School (preK) since 2000.
*Sorority/Honor Society Memberships: Sigma Kappa (Gamma Eta Chapter) Social Sorority; Pi Sigma Alpha (Zeta Iota Chapter) Political Science Honor Society
*Pets: none at this time. Used to share our yard with Keith's police dog for 10 years but he is deceased. Not really an animal lover - can live without pets. Don't hate them, but I'm allergic to things with dander plus, I just don't really want any animals to take care of. I've got 3 kids and a husband. That's enough.
*Hobbies & Interests: scrapbooking, taking photos, Internet browsing, blogging, vacationing, cooking, music, shopping, high school sports (watching, not participating obviously)
*Favorite colors: brown & red
*Favorite candy: lifesavers gummies wildberry sours
*Things that bother me/Things I don't like: drivers who don't use turn signals; judgmental attitudes; messy beds; earwigs; potholes; body odor "masked" by perfume/cologne; humidity; racial prejudice; cynicism; being too cold; pets on furniture; rude restaurant servers; selfishness; talking on the phone; vomit & poo - human & animal; beets; most reality TV shows; sea foam green; birds, including chickens; dirty feet; dirty fingernails; whining
*My Book of Me
*Friends who are dear to me: Susan A., Sharon H., Patty (in HI), all the gals I work with - you're the best, and all the Cropulators - you continue to rock my world with your wit, charm and compassion!

Some of you who read this will already know many of these things but I bet there is no one who reads this that will be able to say they knew everything I've revealed about myself.

THE JOURNEY BEGINS

Today was the day that I stopped talking about getting off my butt and moving toward a more active lifestyle and finally did it. I have been planning to start the Couch to 5K running program for about 3 months but have been plagued by such severe back pain that I kept putting it off.

A little background: I ruptured a disk in my back in 2005 and since then have another disk that has herniated. I got another epidural injection last January but the pain has continued to get worse. Last Tuesday I took my newest MRI films and had another appointment with Dr. Macadaeg. He said the disk degeneration is definitely progressing and that he now sees significant arthritis in the L4 and L5 joints (I'm only 39). He injected more meds directly into the joints this time (ouch!) and said if the pain is due to the arthritis I would feel almost immediate relief. No such luck which means that, in Dr. Macadaeg's opinion, I need disk replacement surgery. Bummer.

In light of this I decided my back is going to hurt whether I'm active or not so I started the program this morning. The good news is I didn't have a stroke. The bad news is I felt like I was going to! OMGosh, I haven't even done any walking since last summer and it's been um, like THIRTY YEARS since I've done any running. Wow. Fortunately, the program is an interval program where you walk then run then walk then run. Let's just say I walked then ran then walked then walked then ran... In other words I skipped every other running interval. But then again, considering I've gained 30 lbs. in the past two years, have a jacked-up back and haven't exercised in forever, I don't think I did half bad. Keith says I won't be able to walk tomorrow, but so far I don't feel any serious ill-effects from the workout.

I am using a podcast program I was turned on to by my friend, Julie (senora_x) and I really like it. The music is great, there are verbal prompts that tell you when to switch gears and the time seems to pass quickly (even if you do feel half dead) - no need to look at a watch which helps a lot. I'm hoping this program will really allow me to see my progress which will definitely keep me motivated. I want to lose the weight I've gained, but I have three other goals that are actually more important to me:

• increase my stamina and resistance
• strengthen my heart
• strengthen and tone my body
  

Now if I just happen to lose weight while I'm doing this that would be an added bonus for sure. So I'm just going to take this one day at a time and see where I go. I'm not sure I can work up to running 3 miles in 9 weeks like the program says, but if I am ever running 3 consecutive miles I will consider that a huge accomplishment. In fact, if I ever run 1 mile without stopping or passing out, I will consider myself successful. Did I mention I have always hated running?

SUMMER IS... FRESH-PICKED STRAWBERRIES

One thing my kids and I have in common each summer is our anticipation of fresh strawberries picked from my Mom's strawberry patch. Nothing tastes better than a just-picked-warm-from-the-sun sweet strawberry. It's funny because the kids and I will actually race each other to the patch because, well... finders keepers, losers weepers! When it comes to picking and eating those berries we show no mercy. So yesterday my mom dropped by the house with a huge bowl full of fresh strawberries that had already been cleaned and hulled (yay for Mom!) as well as a fresh lemon pound cake. What a wonderful treat that was. It tasted delicious. But I have to admit that huge bowl of strawberries was empty by 10:00 this morning.

BLOG CHALLENGE #8: PHOTO OF WATER

Although it is nearly summer and I do have numerous photos of the Atlantic Ocean and Lake Michigan, as well as a bazillion photos of my kids playing in pools, indoor water parks, and rain puddles, I am going to post a couple of my favorite Fall water photos. We have so many beautiful State Parks in Indiana and Keith and the kids and I visit them often during the fall. The kids get a 4-day weekend in October as a Fall Break which also typically falls right around Keith's and my wedding anniversary. So we like to take the kids and head to southern Indiana to relax for a few days. The fall foliage is absolutely gorgeous. Of course, everyone else in the state thinks so too so October weekends at the State Parks can be quite crowded.

These first two photos were taken on one of our hikes through Clifty Falls State Park. Clifty Falls is located in Madison, IN. In college I had a sorority sister/housemate/best friend who was from Madison. I used to go home with her some weekends and fell in love with the town and the State Park. Madison is a small but beautiful river town that has a rich history. To view more of my photos from our trip click HERE.


























These next photos were taken at McCormick's Creek State Park. These are from a trip we took in October 2001. We stayed at the Inn at McCormick's Creek this time. It was beautiful. The atmosphere was very homey and we really enjoyed it. As I recall, it was stinking COLD that year. Very atypical for October in Indiana. We had to drive 20 minutes to a Walmart and buy long underwear, gloves, and ear bands so we could even hike. Luckily, I had taken the girls' winter coats. Even though it was cold, the girls had a great time hiking and horseback riding. Funny thing, we were the ONLY ones at the horse stable that weekend and believe me when I say those horses were not too cooperative. Even they thought it was too cold! In fact, the stable hand couldn't coax any of them into allowing riders. The girls ended up having to settle for a pony instead and even that pony had quite an attitude! It was pretty funny. For more photos of this trip click HERE.

BLOG CHALLENGE #7: GREAT SUMMER MEMORY

A couple of years ago we spent the 4th of July weekend with Keith's mom and dad at his sister's house. Keith's dad's birthday is on July 4th so we decided to make a weekend of it and celebrate Dick's birthday and Independence Day. The kids had a blast! Actually, we all did. We spent the weekend swimming, grilling out and playing. We also took the pontoon out to Heritage Lake for a day of cruising to summertime tunes by Kenny Chesney and a little fishing. I mostly just like cruising around on the lake listening to tunes. It was a beautiful day. The highlight was seeing all the boats out on the water after the sun went down. Even though Heritage Lake is a private lake there were at least a hundred boats on the water and it was an amazing site to see them all out there with everyone watching a spectacular display of fireworks (my photos don't begin to do it justice). I think the fireworks show lasted at least 40 minutes. A lot of planning and work went into that display. It was one of the best ones I've ever seen. Memories of times spent with family are the best and I'm lucky to have married into a wonderful family.



A few of the
cool fireworks we saw.




















Garrett totally ejoys
being on the boat.
He likes to think
he's "driving."




Grace & Claire just
enjoyed being together
& waiting for it to get
dark enough for the
fireworks to start.



Caitlyn likes fishing
as long as she's
catching something!

BLOG CHALLENGE #6: SUMMER MENU

From my house to yours... a few of our favorite summer dishes begining with a beverage and ending with sweet treats:

SUMMER FARE FROM THE MYERS' PATIO

Fresh-Squeezed Lemonade
Freshly Brewed Iced Tea
Laura's Famous Muenster Burgers
Cheesy Potatoes on the Grill
Fried Green Tomatoes
Corn on the Cob
Honey Lime Fruit Toss
Grandma Wilson's Mayonnaise Cake

I didn't want to post all the recipes here since it would take up quite a bit of space, but you can find them HERE. If you try any of the recipes, let me know how you liked them (or didn't).

BLOG CHALLENGE #5: VACATION MEMORY

I have taken a lot of vacations in my 39 years. And with the exception of one, I have enjoyed all of them. Some more than others of course, but there has only been one that I couldn't wait to get over with. That was the houseboat vacation we took in Kentucky when I was 7 months pregnant with Claire. It was the most boring vacation I have ever been on. I was stuck in a boat on a lake with nothing but a couple of John Grisham novels, my parents, my husband, our 4-yr-old, a VCR and three video tapes (one of which was "Arthur's New Baby" that we watched close to 50 times), some Barbie coloring books & crayons, six days of 90+ degree weather, two nights of severe thunderstorms, fishing, fishing and more fishing (which gets old very quickly) and it sucked. When the highlight of your week is a trip to Walmart, you know it's BAD. And when you are trying to think of any reason whatsoever to GO TO WALMART, well, then it officially qualifies as the worst vacation ever. I have vowed to never go on another houseboat vacation. Put me on a cruise ship to the Cayman Islands, but don't even think about trying to get me on a houseboat on a river. Not gonna happen.

BLOG CHALLENGE #4: MY SUMMER SONG(S)

This has always been one of my favorite songs to sing along loudly with. It's just a fun song. The lyrics are good for sure, but the music is fun and catchy and always gets me in a good mood. This is not an original Nicole C. Mullen song, but I think her version is the best. Of course, pretty much any song she sings gets my blood pumping. She's an amazing artist. Enjoy! [this has a short intro, wait a minute for the actual song to start - couldn't find a better video. also, you may need to click the pause button (>ll) on my MINiPod to stop that music from playing if it's actually working today]



And here's another one of my favorite summer songs. I have been belting this one out for as long as I can remember. It's an oldie for sure, but it energizes me to sing it (and it brings back some fond memories of the summer before college and my freshman year of college). The video is priceless. Be sure to notice the "Happy Rainbow." Wow, stage sets and effects have come a long way, Baby! Not to mention the hairstyles which, oddly enough, look an awful lot like what the high school girls are wearing today. Oh, and pay close attention to the guy who is announcing the band. Those eyebrows - oooowweeeee! Tweezers? Wax? Lawnmower? Anyone?? Anyway, enjoy the video!

BLOG CHALLENGE #3: SOMEONE/SOMETHING I LOVE

Here are my favorite "someones to love": my beautiful daughters, Caitlyn & Claire, my cutie-patootie son, Garrett and my handsome husband, Keith. These are the four people on this earth who can bring me incredible frustration and immense joy. Wouldn't want to do life without them.


Hmmm... and some things I really, really like (I'm trying to get out of the habit of using the word "love" when it's not really what I mean):

1. Orville Redenbacher's Tender White Microwave Popcorn. This is the most amazing popcorn - my absolute favorite! It is lighter tasting than yellow popcorn and the salt-to-butter ratio is perfect.

2. I've always wanted a red 1965 Ford Mustang convertible. My mom and my step-dad got me one for my 16th birthday. Too bad only GI Joe could fit into it. I recall unwrapping that small gift just sure there were car keys inside. But no, I actually found a whole car in there. Bummer. As a side note, I did end up getting a red Ford Mustang as my first car, but it was the newer 1985 version rather than the 1965 one and was not a convertible. Did I mention it was a stick shift? All my friends thought I had a cool car, but I was disappointed. I was an idiot.

3. Cade's Cove driving tour located in Smokey Mountain National Park, TN. If you ever get a chance to go there, do it. The first time we went was in mid-October, 1995. The weather was perfect so we could park the car and explore each area of the settlement. It was breathtaking! Plan on spending the better part of a whole day there. Cades Cove

4. Purple hyacinths are one of my favorite flowers. I just think they are so pretty and they smell great too. I'm always amazed by God's creations. God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars. ~Martin Luther

5. I am extremely fond of fried green tomatoes - yum! yum! They taste so good when they're made with fresh green tomatoes from our garden. I can eat them until I get a stomach ache. And just for good measure, here's a link to my favorite recipe for Fried Green Tomatoes: Recipe

6. One of my favorite vacations involved a little side trip to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC. This was the home of the George Vanderbilt Family. It is amazing, especially when you think about the time period in which it was built. I mean, really. It is an 8,000-acre estate and the "house" has 250 rooms. This place has an indoor Olympic-sized swimming pool with a hallway of private changing rooms, bathrooms with flush toilets and bathtubs/showers, an indoor bowling alley, several kitchens, the most amazing stairways and so much more. The grounds and gardens are fabulous too. Plus, there is a winery and six restaurants on the property. We ate at the Stable Cafe. The atmosphere was pleasant and the food was very good. Plan to spend a whole day here too. No need to rush. There is just too much to see and appreciate. Biltmore Estate

So there you have it, a few people and things that I love and that make me happy. I'm sure I could list a few dozen more, but this will do for now. : )

BLOG CHALLENGE #2: REFRESHING

Our second challenge is to add a photo of something refreshing:



I am a water drinker. Have been as long as I can remember. I much prefer water over soda, juice, iced tea, etc. Every once in a while I like a killer margarita or a nice glass of sangria, but I definitely prefer water. And much to my husband's annoyance, I am not a "sink water" drinker. City water (aka chlorine from a spout) is nasty, well water tastes mostly like dirt and well, who knows what's in there? And soft water, which is what flows from our tap, literally makes me gag. So yes, even though we are on a well at our house and do not pay the city for water, I spend our hard-earned money on something I could get for free from our faucet. And to make matters even worse, I am extremely picky about my water. It can't have any taste whatsoever. That cracks Keith up. He's of the opinion that there is no purpose in drinking something that doesn't taste like anything. Which I guess is why it doesn't bother him one bit to drink city water or well water or soft water. I have tried all kinds of water and my favorite above all others happens to be Fiji brand artesian water. Coming in a close second if I can't get Fiji or don't feel like paying for it is (and I'm sure you'll get a chuckle out of this) good ol' Kroger brand Spring Water. It has absolutely no taste at all if it's icy cold. If it's kinda of warm it tastes a bit like the plastic jug it comes in. Ew.

To me, there is nothing that can quench a thirst or is as refreshing as water. Soda and juice and tea always have an after-taste which leaves me thirsty and needing more to drink. I think it's because of the sugar in it, but I'm no expert so don't quote me on that. Tea can be an acceptable alternative because I don't drink sweet tea, but I don't like the caffeine in it so unless I can get unsweetened, decaffeinated tea, I won't bother. That's hard to do unless you make it at home. Or unless you're my mother-in-law who is very thoughtful and always makes me my own jug of tea for family gatherings. She also keeps bottled spring water on hand for me too.

What do I order at restaurants you ask? It's funny because I order ice water with lemon. That is the only acceptable flavoring for me to add to water that generally comes from a tap and tastes like, well, chlorine or dirt typically.

Something else that gets Keith's goat is that our kids won't drink sink water either - except for Garrett who would basically do anything his father does just because his father does it. But even Garrett prefers bottled water if Keith isn't around. Funny boy. And believe it or not, we go through a minimum of 6 gallons of water each week around here. I love the refreshing taste of H2O!

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

So I'll just admit right off I am on a tangent tonight. I'm mad. In fact, I'm so angry I'm sure there is steam coming out of my ears and the top of my head is probably going to blow off any minute. It frustrates me when companies don't exactly lie to consumers, but they don't exactly divulge all the facts either. In my book, the omission of important details is the same as lying.

Let me give you a little background info for a minute. Last month Keith and I finally decided to upgrade our broke-leg cell phone and to add another line and phone and upgrade our plan. We have had the same cell phone for the past 6 years as well as the same plan. I don't use my cell phone much so we didn't really need a high-end calling plan. Now that our oldest daughter is 14 and entering high school and has a quite active social life we have decided she should have a cell phone at times. So the solution for us was to get another line and phone so that Keith and Caitlyn could share a phone. Keith usually has the supervisor's cell phone at work so he's never really needed one all the time, but on occasion it would've been handy. So we call Verizon and upgrade our $24.95 per month plan (seriously, that's what we've been paying for the past 6 years) to the 700 Minute Select Family Share Plan. This is to include 700 anytime minutes to share between the 2 lines, unlimited nights & weekends, unlimited text messaging (very important when you have a teenager), unlimited domestic long distance, no roaming charges, no activation fee, etc., etc. all for the fairly reasonable price of $99.99 per month. Now that was kind of hard for me since we'd been paying 1/4 of that cost for so long, but I went ahead and made the switch.

Imagine my surprise when we got our first bill tonight in the amount of $287.08. Yep, that's right, almost $300. I nearly went ballistic! I started clicking on links and looking at all the charges and I was getting angrier and angrier by the second. For one thing, they charged us a roaming fee on our OLD phone in the amount of $13 (an account that we paid in full at the end of April), $60 worth of activation fees, and some kind of "get it now" download fees for things that were supposed to be FREE. I kept looking at that and thinking, "Okay, that's bad. But even with all those added fees, it still shouldn't add up to almost $300. So I called Verizon and this very sweet and sympathetic customer service girl told me, "I'm so sorry. I can certainly understand why you're freaking out about your bill; I would be too. The bad thing is, Verizon charges you for the first month, plus another month in advance on your first bill. I don't know why they do that, but they do. I think they just want to make sure they don't get stuck with someone who doesn't pay." Whatever. That's fine for first-time customers, but we've been with Verizon for 6 years and always paid our bill in full and on time.

Wow. In the hour or so that I was on the phone with the customer service rep who was "helping" me upgrade our phone/plan she never once mentioned we'd get billed for two months on our first statement. So yeah, I am more than a little ticked off about this. It's ridiculous for companies to misrepresent (by omission) their services. Would I still have ordered the new phones and upgraded the plan? Certainly because we needed to do it. I wouldn't have liked it, but I would've done it. The difference being that I'd have been expecting a big bill the first month rather than getting this huge, unexpected shocking billing statement.

Well as it turns out, the gal I spoke with was very helpful and apologetic. Of course there wasn't much she could do about the double billing but she did help me out some. She removed the activation fees that weren't supposed to be there and took off that crazy roaming fee that shouldn't have been there (after confirming with me that I wasn't anywhere near Canada on May 2nd - I was just over the IN border in southern MI and hoping they weren't going to consider that CANADA for billing purposes!) so when it comes down to it, we still owe Verizon $216.03. Yikes! I'm still mad but what can you do? If we cancel our service saying we were misinformed they'll charge us $250 as an early cancellation fee. So I'm going to suck it up and pay it and consider it a lesson learned - the hard way. I hate those.

And just for the record, I did not get nasty with the customer service rep I spoke with tonight. I refuse to take my frustrations with companies out on the people who work for them. I realize it isn't their fault and they can only do so much. I've also found through experience they are much more willing to try to help you find a resolution to your problem if you treat them with respect and kindness.

There's my vent. I'm still not liking the facts, but I'm over it and moving on. Let's see what surprises tomorrow has in store. ; )