I've been tagged!

DeDe tagged everyone who visited her blog to do this, so here goes! :)

List 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, and 3 random surprises about yourself.

JOYS
1. Family- I love my husband and boys, and am looking forward to the new wee one (girl!) in December.
2. my Church calling (teaching the kids 3-11 each week) There are usually only 6 kids total, but it's a challenge to meet each age group's need. And I love it!
3. Finding good deals on anything and everything. Knowing that I got a great deal makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

FEARS
1. something going wrong with my pregnancy/delivery
2. P-chan dying (morbid, I know)
3. random violence

GOALS
1. after the baby is born ~ lose 20 pounds
2. after the baby is born ~ follow a housekeeping schedule. I can't do it right now (chemicals, bending over, general pukiness, etc), but I will!!
3. Praying more (I'm working on that right now)

OBSESSIONS/COLLECTIONS
1. Computers! I can't stay away from the computer too long or I go crazy! Yesterday drove me nuts.
2. Books - I love reading! I have found that I really like young adult series, since there's no smut and not too much swearing. I am currently reading the Midnighters, Charlie Bone, Inheritance, and Artemis Fowl series.
3. I collect stamps! I have for over 20 years now. Used, new, old, foreign, US, doesn't matter. I will horde it.

SURPRISES (ummmm, what?)
1. I am not lactose-intolerant when I'm pregnant. cheap milk FTW!
2. I don't like milk chocolate.
3. I really like the Twilight books. I never thought I would get into them - I mean, really, vampires? - but I totally got into them. The last book was a bit strange, but I'm blaming my perception on my pregnancy. kwim?

so if you want to, do this on your blog, too!

fun Friday

Here are some pages I've done recently.
This is my friend Penny, along with a totally candid (and thus weird) picture of my family. This is my entry for round 2 of the Supreme Team contest at GoDigitalScrapbooking.
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Kenshin fell asleep in the suitcase!
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the boys having fun in the car
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baby Kenshin! This was my round 1 entry for the Supreme Team.
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after-birthday ice cream
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I've started doing most of my pages in a 8x6 size, so that I can cut them in half (4x6) for easier printing. I got the idea from Maryanne Curth.

LetteringDelights has a new free candy bar wrapper to celebrate the back-to-school season. You can find it in their newsletter here. It comes in PDF, so even if you don't digital scrapbook you can enjoy it! They are also having their Dollar Day sale!

Do you shop at Walgreens? Do you like to save money? Trust me, they're not mutually exclusive! I'm going to use this coupon to save $10 off $40 in 2 transactions, spend $67, and get $66 in rebates.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pnyiq2_9yqcr3TDwmQUT5Nw&hl=en
Don't forget about the Robitussin coupons for $3 off. Use them with the RR deal: buy 3 @ $3.99 each, pay $2.97 after coupons, and get $10 RR to use on your next purchase. Ahh, dang, Wyeth took that coupon down. sorry!

I remember.

I was awakened by a phone call from my sister, Cyndie. I was surprised, because Cyndie knew that we worked late, and so a phone call at 7 am (MST) was more than a little odd.
"Turn on your TV."
"What? Why?" I thought maybe a funny commercial was on.
"A plane hit the World Trade Center in New York. Turn on your TV."
"Bull****."
"I'm not joking. Turn on the TV now!"
"Okay, okay. Hang on." I wandered to the living room and flipped on the TV. "What channel?"
"Doesn't matter. It's on all of them."
And then I saw it. The buildings full of flames. The clouds of smoke. The noise was awful. All those people! I just wanted the reporters to shut up. I don't remember hanging up the phone, but asked Cyndie to find out if Missy and her family was okay (Doug worked in NYC, and I wasn't sure where Missy's office was; they lived in Yonkers). For the next 2 hours, I could not move. I know I woke up P-chan.
And then the buildings collapsed. I could not stop crying. We just sat and watched. There were some phone calls to and from people we knew. Everyone was subdued.
Sometime after noon, I realized we still had to go to work, so we got ready. {We both worked for a call center for DirecTV; P-chan in HR, and I was a floor supervisor.}
I remember the meeting at work, where they told us about all the things this meant for customer service issues (there were a few movies that were replaced by "fluffier" movies), as well as things they were implementing for the employees (counseling, time off, etc). I was concerned about my team, as they'd only been on the phones for a few weeks, and most were fresh out of high school. But every single employee showed up, and every single one did a fine job.
I was surprised that so many customers didn't know anything about the attacks. I explained to one irate customer that the HBO feed was coming out of Los Angeles, because the New York feed was down.
"Why the **** is it down?"
"Because the World Trade Center was hit by two planes this morning and 2 buildings collapsed. Most communication from New York is solely news right now."
He paused, then asked, in a much nicer voice, "Would this be covered by CNN?"
"Yes, sir. I'm watching that coverage right now."
"Thank you. I'm sorry I was such an ***. I didn't know."

Other customers wanted to know why Passenger 57 wasn't playing. "The station decided to not show it, in light of the presumed terrorist attacks in New York this morning." Again, the pause, followed by the question of news coverage.

I remember one employee (under another supervisor) who broke down in tears. The customer on the phone was desperate to learn if their sister was in the towers, and thought we had some way of finding out. The supervisor had to take over the call, and explain we didn't have any way of knowing. The supervisor was crying. Everybody who heard the supervisor was crying. I wasn't even sure if my sister was okay, so I was sobbing.

I remember September 11, 2001. Where were you?

there and back again...

We left 2 hours later than I had wanted to (on Sunday), but we still made pretty good time. Stayed overnight somewhere in Georgia, south of Atlanta. The first place we stopped at was a Motel 6. There was a cockroach running across the welcome mat of the office; I felt that did not bode well. Then the check-in guy was extremely rude and they didn't have any ground-floor rooms, so we decided to find someplace else. Just a block over was a Red Roof Inn, which looked nice. The rate was nice, too, and the lobby was new and clean. When we got up to the room, Kenshin asked, "When does Cooper get here?" I had to explain to the boys that Cooper does not appear every time we stay at a hotel, and that he's still in North Dakota. I'm certain Krillin knew that already, but Kenshin was really sad. After we read a book (P-chan was already asleep), we all hit the sack.

The next morning, I was awakened by Krillin, who wanted to watch TV. I asked him what time it was, and he told me it was 8:14am. WHAT?! Yep, the alarm clock said so. Then P-chan looked at his watch, and informed me it was actually just after 4am, so please go back to sleep. It took some convincing, but Krillin finally went back to sleep. At our wake-up call, the boys went with P-chan to get breakfast, while I got ready. Finding things to eat at the continental breakfasts is always a challenge (due to diabetes), but I had the same thing I usually have at home: 2 pieces of toast with butter. We were on the road by 9am, and the driving was good.

About an hour into Florida, we were pulled over by a cop. He informed us that the tinting on our front windows is too dark. What the? Keep in mind that we bought this car 2 years ago from a dealership, and the only other owner lived in Florida....where the tinting was done. No problem, officer, we can get that fixed! "Yes, you can!" was his cheerful reply. We got a warning, but no ticket. whew! I immediately called Penny to ask her to look up how to remove tinting.

Despite being "behind" in our time schedule, and the frequent stops (food, etc), we made excellent time. I think Google map's estimate was way off! We were "behind" by almost 2 hours due to starting late on Sunday, but still got to Penny's house by the time we intended. She is awesome! She had the tinting-removal instructions for us, helped us unpack the car, and then watched the kids while we went to the store to buy all the stuff we needed for the tinting-removal. When we got back, dinner was ready (lovely chicken pot pie) and the boys had settled in nicely. Kenshin wasn't even afraid of the Max the Chihuahua anymore! By 9pm, P-chan and I were both exhausted, and we had to be up early the next morning, so we all went to bed. Even Penny's family! I don't know what time they normally go to bed, but nobody complained. Thank you for letting us use your bedroom, Madison! Your bed is very comfortable.

We went to Florida because of the court hearing to end our guardianship over my sister. She hasn't lived with us for 2 years, and she's now living with dad. So we drove for 2 days and left our kids with Penny for most of the day while we went to the courthouse in Tampa. The end result? You would think that we've provided enough information and paperwork to show that we really are serious about not wanting the guardianship. That the judge would see that us taking the time and money to travel there would show our dedication to doing things the right way. That they would say, yes, this is good, you are free. NO! They want more paperwork. One is a "plan of person", which is basically a plan for my sister for the next year. This make no sense to me, because my sister doesn't even live with us! We have no information for it! The other thing they want is proof that a new guardianship is being filed by dad. That one shouldn't be a problem, since they've got their attorney working on it. But it has to be provided in 30 days.

So after the hearing, P-chan and I had to go to our attorney's office and fill out the Plan of Person. We also closed a bank account that had been dormant for 2 years. And I got to see my friend (and Mary Kay rep) Jeanette. It was so good to see her again! I could have talked with her for hours, but this wasn't a vacation; we had to get back to the kids, and still leave for home that evening. ugh!

We got back to Penny's in time to eat dinner with Madison before she left for dance with her grandma in the Pimped Out Truck. Penny is not exaggerating! That truck is Pimped Out! It has a bigger DVD screen that our first TV. Dinner was a delicious smoked ham (thanks, Michael! ), a spinach salad (with avocados and sunflower seeds), and yellow rice. Since the rest of the meal basically had no carbs, I had some rice. I know, I live dangerously! Then we packed the car....well, P-chan packed while I gabbed with Penny. We got some pictures, and then we were on the road by 6pm.

We drove until almost midnight, and stayed at a Best Western. Not the most comfortable bed I've slept on, but at least nobody woke me up in the middle of the night. They had advertised a "hot breakfast", so when everyone was ready, we packed the car and headed over to that. Pretty much still a continental breakfast, but they also had boiled eggs, and you could make your own Belgian waffle. I still had toast with butter, but also had an egg and a glass of milk (that's 3 carb choices total, in case you wondered). P-chan and Krillin played a game of checkers, then we checked out.

I drove for most of the day, as being the passenger still makes me slightly nauseous. We got caught in some traffic on the northern side of Nashville (due to an accident), so we stopped for dinner at McD's. The boys got to play, we got some free mini cones, life was good. P-chan did, however, get upset about McD's flag hanging by one end.

Kenshin started whining about being sleepy and wanting to stop at a hotel, but we told him we'd be home before it was time for a hotel. We were in the driveway at 9:30, and were all in bed by 10:30.

All in all, it was a good trip. I am still disappointed that that much time and money went into our trip, and the guardianship still hasn't been released. But it was also nice to see Penny and Jeanette again. And it was fun seeing how different Tampa is in just a short time. I give it a B+.

130th post! oh, and I'm back.

Blogger tells me this is my 130th post. woot!

The trip to Florida and back again was fun! Well, as much fun that being in the car with your spouse and 2 kids for 4 days can be. Things we learned:
Julie likes music. Static is a killer.
P-chan doesn't really enjoy the selection on Julie's mp3 player.
Kenshin likes hotels!
Krillin is really bossy!

Things we are thankful for:
mp3 player
art supplies
sunglasses
interstate highways
friends!

I will post pictures and more info later. right now, I'm tired and just want to sleep. or puke. I'm not sure which.