A Quick Hello

Wow. Seems like I've been away forever. Hmmm..well, since July. I guess that is practically forever.

I still log in to my blog because I still like to read several of the blogs on my blogroll. I admit, I don't comment much....and I know that doesn't seem fair as when I was blogging frequently, I longed for comments. That was one thing that just made me smile on a cloudy day. A comment. I don't comment much though for a couple of different reasons. One..I am usually lying in my bed when I am reading and it's very difficult to type while lying down...and the other being that while not contributing to the blog world by posting, it's almost like I don't feel worthy of commenting. Like I have to visit in secret. I'm weird...I know.

I have missed you all though. Seems though things are very busy. School and my substituting is back in full swing. Lots of sickness and they are keeping my phone hot. Big Dan seems to be doing well in college. Right now though, I would be hard pressed to find blog topics that don't involve some whining....and we all know those are not what we are interested in. I just wanted to say hi.

It's Fall. I love Fall. Happy Fall Ya'll.
Scrapper Mom

To Blog or Not to Blog...That is the Question

I just visited my blog. Something I haven't done in quite some time. I noticed I had one post for the entire month of July. It seems I have lost that loving feeling. The one that lasted a year, but is having trouble finding it's way back.

I've become so overtaken with life, and seem to spend way more time on my facebook. And although I have felt overhwelmingly guilty for forsaking my blog friends, it's not been enough. I have considered shutting her down altogether several times, but then again, that seems so final. Not sure I wanna do that either. I'd miss you too much.

Maybe I'll just say goodbye for a season. Can I come back, if I should have a change of heart?

I can be a little indecisive at times.

Sun Fun

It's been a while since I last posted. The motorcycle drama has thankfully died down (at least for now while he saves his money) thanks to the purchase of a wii fit and a very competitive father / son duo. It is considered an early gift in honor of mine and Pete's anniversary coming up next week. Oh, I will most definitely have to post some photographs of my unbalanced guys doing the hula hoop. It is quite comical.

But for now I must share the latest happenings.

It has been a whirlwind of a week. One that included lots of eating out (which contributed to a little set back on the scales this morning), and lots of fun in the sun.

Last Tuesday we visited some friend of ours that live on one of Arkansas' beautiful lakes. We took the boat out and did a little tubing, swimming, and snorkeling.

Although I love water slides and an occasional dip in the pool, I wasn't raised too much around water. We managed to visit the ocean once when I was a kid, and would swim in hotel pools while on family vacations. My dad and brother would go on overnight fishing trips, but my mother has a fear of water so she and I would always find something more exciting to do instead of roughing it with the dudes at the camp.....

like shopping.

hmmmm.....camping, shopping, camping, shopping. There was never really any contest.

In the early years of our marriage, Pete was hard pressed to get me to do anything boat, lake, river or camping related, but hey, I've mellowed with age. I guess I'll try anything once....(well, maybe not anything).

I like it.

I like it a lot...especially the part when we take the boat out in the calm of the evening and just enjoy the peacefulness and serenity of God's creation.

and fish.


haha...yeah, we threw him back.

And the beauty of the sunset. It takes my breath away.

Another day we did one of my favorite things. We floated a river that is also near the lake. It takes us about 4 hours from point A to point B, but I find it very enjoyable and relaxing.....(minus the sunburn).


Friday of last week, Pete and I went to a water park in the big city. Little Ann was with a birthday group and we were invited to tag along. It is something we usually do every year at least once without any kids. I know...it sounds cruel, but I can't seem to get enough of those water slides, and I can really let my hair down and be a kid when I don't have to stress over my kids. I tend to do that, ya know.

I've been in the sun so much recently. I think I'm going to turn into one big freckle.

So tell me...what have you been up to this summer?

Let's Just Clarify Something...My Fears

Before all 5 of you who actually read my last post about a motorcycle begin to think that I am fearless, and am okay with the fact that my 18 year old son who has no previous experience on any kind of motorcycle and spent a very limited amount of time on an atv as a child (yes, because of his mother's fears), I must clarify some things for you. The post was actually just poking fun at my teenager and the wonderful theory of ...buy now, pay later.

Oh believe me. I am not fearless by any means.

I fear many things.

Snakes for one. They freak me out. Just looking at them through the glass at the zoo brings on nightmares for weeks.

I fear closed doors at night. What if something happens to one of my kids, or my house catches on fire and I'm the last to know?

I'm afraid that when I die, people won't be able to find good things to say about me.....(I mean if they talk bad about Michael Jackson, what are they going to say about me?) And what if no one comes to my funeral? I guess I shouldn't care. It's not like I'm actually going to be there either.

I am afraid of cruise ships and airplanes. I like my feet to be on solid ground and I've never been on either of these. Don't know if I can ever bring myself to do it. Pete is hoping I'll conquer these particular fears. (I'm working on it)

I don't like shopping after dark. Dark parking lots are spooky and it's not a good feeling. I'm so vulnerable...and clumsy.....and female. A prime target.

I have never let my kids eat hard candy. What if they choke and I can't revive them?

I have always had a fear of things men put together such as rollercoasters and those crazy swings at amusement parks that have you flying over water. What if one just flies right off? The one I happened to be on?

I had a dream one time I drove off a bridge. Since that dream, I have greatly feared not being able to get myself or my kids out of their seatbelts and out of the van. So much that I had Pete purchase a glass breaker and seatbelt cutter to help my insecurities.

So just in case there is any question...I defintely do not want Big Dan to save his money all to spend it on a motorcycle.

Even the very thought of him on something that goes from 0-125 mph in 60 seconds...(or whatever it does)....

terrifies me!

You better believe I'm scared.

Sometimes Kids Are Just Plain Funny

Like when your youngest comes up to you, hugs you, and proceeds to squishy, squishy the flags that are supposed to resemble triceps all the while saying to you...."Mom, I don't want you lose weight in your arms. I like them squishy. They are soft and like my pillow".

Yeah, well, thanks for that, but if that fat decides to disappear, because I am so dedicated to my diet and my 4 miles a day, then who am I to stand it it's way? I'll buy her something else to squish.

But the funniest thing that stands out to me is this comment made by my oldest a day or two ago. It was the day Pete and I both thought our cell phones were going to explode because Big Dan was calling every minute of every hour and the conversation ended with something kind of like this... "Hey, mom, Bubba said I could take out the easy payment plan if you and daddy would just come down here to the motorcycle shop and co-sign for me".

Say What?

Is it as funny to you as it was to me?

You just have to know Big Dan. He doesn't get excited about too much. Studying, no. Bringing down his laundry, no. Going to work, nope. Taking out the trash, well, nada. Even the dating scene doesn't seem to get him too worked up anymore, but I will tell you this. When he gets something on his mind, that is ALL HE TALKS ABOUT for hours. For days. For weeks even. And that is complete with pictures that he forces you to look at, and videos he whines about until you stop and watch.

Big Dan has his heart set on this.

Somebody save me. I'm trying to ignore it, but it's just not going away.

And you know. I am really glad he has found something to get excited about. I'm really glad he's found a reason to save his money and some motivation to go to work. But to me, it's just plain funny how oblivious he is to the real world.

My rebuttal to him asking for my signature on the dotted line? I said "No honey, I'm happy you are excited about your motorcycle, but we won't be helping you go into debt the summer you get out of high school."

"But Mommm!, Bubba says it is the easy payment plan...only $95 a month for 2 years."

all the while I'm thinking..ok, what after 2 years? what about the insurance? I bet Bubba didn't bother to explain the little word interest to you, did he?

I was thinking seriously about marching myself down to that motorcycle shop and thanking "Bubba" for introducing my naive child to the wonderful world of credit. Or maybe a size 6 1/2 shoe......ohhhhh..nevermind. I just get frustrated at how these business people prey on those that don't know any better especially my kid.

The easy payment plan. I love it. This comes right after Pete and I read Dave Ramsey from cover to cover and began our mission this past January to become debt free come hades or high water.

I know Big Dan's gonna learn some great, valuable lesson from our denying him the easy payment plan. He's gonna save, and be frugal and look so cool on his new bike one day...and it's gonna be paid for.....and he's gonna be proud. And I might even get on back and go for a ride with him.....

or not.

Ignorance is Bliss...The Rest of the Story

The movie is called "The Pursuit of Happyness". I haven't seen it in a long time, but if I recall correctly, this man and his son are homeless...sleeping in public restrooms and train stations or wherever else they can find for that matter. He's trying to make ends meet someway, somehow until he makes it big as a stock broker (or something to that affect).

I'm wondering if I somehow got lucky enough (sarcastically spoken) to have slept in the same train station as Will Smith.

You think I'm kidding, don't you.

Upon arriving in the city, we walked around places like this:

We got some of this:

and saw lots of these:

We shopped in some stores such as these:



And although the weather was misty and extremely foggy, we took a ferry boat out to an island to see this:

It was such a breathtaking sight even in the fog. After exiting the subway and coming up right into the middle of Central Park, evening was setting in. Pete wanted me to be able to savor the glitz of Times Square after the sun went down, but Little Ann and I weren't for sure our little feetsy's could take us very much further. It was then that we had the joy of riding in one of these:

all so we could see this:

but as bad as my feet and legs ached from the 100 miles we walked that day, I was happy to be back in Times Square because I got to eat here:

We began to walk the streets in one last attempt at souvenir shopping when we realized it was midnight. I had no idea of the time, but I knew I was feeling every bit of our day settling in my bones. We began our journey back to the train station where we would wait to board a train back to Trenton. This train would, once again, change over to get us back to Philadelphia where our poor little lonely van sat. By the time we finally boarded the first one, it was almost 1 am.

About 15 minutes into our trip back, there were signal problems so we sat idle for another solid hour. I tried to sleep, but there were numerous passengers on the train, and one man sitting close by that was not very happy about the delay and made sure everyone knew it.

Around 3 am, we arrived back in Trenton, NJ, where we were supposed to switch. As soon as we got there, we hurriedly located the little tv screen that told us of all the times for the train's arrivals and departures. I could feel the tears well up in my own tired eyes as I was consoling Little Ann. The train we would need to be on to get us back to Philly would not be leaving until 6 am.

Not good.

And so I rolled up the souvenir tee shirts into pillows, made a make shift bed while Little Ann opened an umbrella to block the light from our eyes...

and slept.

in the train station.

while Pete stood guard.

for hours.

And the moral of the story is.....

If you're from the South and you know nothing about trains...or train stations....or anything else about the city you should probably either do your research or stay home.

Because I'll be the first to tell you, when your stuck in a train station in the middle of the night, you're anything but happy.

A Story to Tell

I got up this morning thinking about what I was doing about this time one week ago. It wasn't exactly what I thought I'd be doing. I know you want to hear all about it, right?

As you know, a group of 3 couples and our kids ventured off to New Jersey to complete a mission project. The whole purpose of the trip was to work for God, but I didn't think God would mind if Pete took me on into New York City for a little play time before we headed back home, would He?

Thursday morning, our group split up...some heading home, others to stop in Tennessee and us to New York. I knew we were chancing it with the weather, but I didn't care. I told Pete even if I had to experience New York in the rain, it would be better than not experiencing it at all. Boy, was I in for a sur-prise.

We were ignorant. And when I say that, I mean Southerners just don't know much about getting around in the North. We drive everywhere we go. We don't have problems finding parking and it's mostly free. What I mean is, it's not a hassle to take my van when I venture out...but our Jersey friends said, it would be wise to leave our vehicle in Philadelphia and take the train into the city. That it would be much less stressful to get around by foot, or subway, or cab. I could handle that. I wasn't getting much exercise anyway. I could use a little walking. I've never ridden on the subway. Something about that sounded kind of city-girlish..unordinary for an Arkansas gal like me. And Little Ann was determined that she would, at some point in the day, whistle and wave for that taxi, just like she'd seen in the movies.

We left our hotel around 9 am, saying our goodbyes to our group and driving in rush hour traffic from New Jersey to Philadelphia. I think what should have taken 30 minutes took us about an hour. Even once we got into Philly, we had no clue where the train station was and drove around another 30 minutes for a place to park. We were suckers, but desperate and so we gave up $20 bucks for a spot that would ensure us the day.

The rain began to fall. It was busy and dreary and I began to question why I wanted so desperately to spend a day so far out of my element, but I did. After mistakenly going down into the subway station thinking that's where we were supposed to be, we were directed 2 blocks down to the train depot. Pete stood in line to purchase round trip tickets to New York only to be asked to hand over $237. He glanced over at me and I gave him this look like "are they nuts?". Get out of that line. We'll do something else.

It was Amtrack. Oops. Once again, wrong line.

By the time we were finally directed to the appropriate line, it was closing in on 11 am. Tickets in this line were for a train that would leave at 11:37 and change over in Trenton, New Jersey, but would get us to the station directly below Madison Square Gardens for only $93 round trip. Sold.

I only wish I would've know it was going to stop every five minutes and take us another 2 hours to get there.

At nearly 2:00, we exited the station and came up out of the ground onto the streets of the city that literally never sleeps.

I was frustrated at the amount of time we had wasted. We were all starving and a little grumpy, but we were in New York. New York people. I was in awe and ready to stomp some ground.

But I think I'll save all that ground stomping, subway riding, cab calling (oh! and believe me it gets better!) for another post. Come back and see me for .....as Paul Harvey says..."the rest of the story".