Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Right Now

Right now I am thankful for...
My mother in law - she is out on a bike ride with the kids, and I am outside checking to see if the weather might just force us to stay in Florida and extra day or so
My vacation time at work that allows me to take a break in the dead of winter
Fresh fruit, we just had the most amazing strawberry shortcake drenched in ice cream and whipped cream
The sun, it is amazing how much I missed being outside
Heated pools, the girls swam this afternoon and even with sunscreen Lanie's cheeks are a touch pink and her freckles are back
My husband and the fact that he actually is excited for us to come home, he was missing us by his 2nd day alone

Struggling to Survive, Haiti's Poor Eating Dirt

Reading the Tampa paper this morning I came across an article with this title. Recently our church took a quiz called Grow, it asked 3 questions in 14 key areas and allowed you to score yourself on different aspects such as prayer, bible knowledge, evangelism etc... My lowest area, Misssions...It's not that I don't support missions, or want to help. I think I feel so insignificant in my own town that to tackle the world seems next to impossible. However, as I read that the people of Haiti are forced to eat "cookies" made of dirt, salt and vegetable shortening it made my heart just ache for these people. Food prices around the world have spiked due to the higher oil prices and prices for basic ingredients such as corn and wheat have also increased due to the global demand for biofuels.
The most depressing part? At the market in the La Saline slum, two cups of rice now sell for 60 cents. 60 cents? I am sure most of us can find 60 cents in our cars, pockets, couch cushions, the washer a variety of different places. So what am I going to do now that I have this knowledge? First I will pray for the people of Haiti and second I will search for an organization that helps these people. I never read the paper, thank you Lord for putting this article before me and opening my eyes to greater issues than my own...

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Can we live here?

Ally asked her dad tonight if he could come down so that we could live here and we wouldn't have to go back to the cold. Looking at the Michigan weather forecast I am wondering the same thing?

Bippity, boppity, boo and a little crying too!

As you know we, me and the girls, are in Florida for a visit with my in-laws, nope Trent isn't with us. I am super lucky that my in-laws will take me without their son and I am ok with coming without him. My mother and father in law are such wonderful people and we have had such a great time. We got in super late on Friday night, I think we pulled into their house at 2:00 am, and we'll be here until Thursday evening. The temp has been a bit chilly for Florida but AWESOME compared to what we left. Saturday was in the 60's and we weren't afraid to pull out our capri's and sweatshirts. Floridians had on coats but hey we're in Florida I'm not taking off my flip flops off until we head back to the cold. We spent the day just moseying... we slept in, rode bikes, hit a flea market and made a run to Target for a few of the things we left home. We had dinner at Crispers, which is kind of like Panera, with really good flatbread pizzas. Sunday I awoke to Lanie telling me it was time to go to church and I was going to miss it. The night before I confirmed that church was at 10:00. I can see the church out the side window of the house, so we need to leave at oh, 9:59 to get there on time. I of course jump out of bed and it's like 8:15, I am thinking to myself thanks for starting my day with a mini heart attack Lanes...We went to lunch at Sweet Tomato's which is a soup, salad, pasta, bakery buffet - it was very good and I left there feeling like I never wanted to eat again I was so full, but isn't that what you do on vacation? We then went to see the Manatees at Apollo Beach, outside of Tampa Bay. The power plant there discharges warm water and the Manatees move in when the water gets cold. The girls thought this was really cool and the girls got their science lesson for the day! Monday the temp was prob about 67 and we spent the entire day at the Magic Kingdom, which was just a fabulous day. We got a little later start than we should have but thought it would give the girls a little more staying power for the 8:00 fireworks display. We saw the Wishes Come True show at Cinderella's castle with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, the Princesses, characters from Peter Pan and the mean witch from Sleeping Beauty. Lanie's face was priceless as she marveled at all the characters on stage, until the witch arrived and scared her. Her face went from magical to downright ready to go, "me no want to see mean witch" were her exact words. Ally being the good big sister that she is said "it's OK Lanie, she'll be gone in a minute". After the mean witch was gone smiles returned and we made our way to Toon Town at the back of the park. We saw lots of characters along the way but as we tried to get in line, they were already closed as the character had another adventure to get to. That was a bit disappointing on this visit we only got Bert's autograph from Mary Poppins, we already had Mary's...
We then saw and walked right by the Tea Cups as me, Grammy and Boppa all knew we would get sick twirling round and round, I almost puked the last time I went on that ride, yuck. We kind of wandered for a bit at this point because everything had a 45 minute wait and we had an appointment at the Bippity Boppity Boutique in 45 minutes. The girls had an appointment with their fairy Godmother in training to get there hair and nails done. Since they were running about 30 minutes behind they give you a pager and you can go back out into the park as long as you stay within a certain distance. We were able to ride Dumbo while we waited and then we headed over to our special appointment. This was a Disney Dream for Ally and Lanie well, not so much. Ally picked the princess hairstyle that came complete with tiara and diamond Mickey clip. Not sure what Lanie was thinking when she picked the Pop Princess funny colored hair sticking all over the place do. They don't let the girls see their hair as they are doing it I guess for a big exciting reveal, Ally was turned around and her face was priceless, she was so excited. Lanie was turned around and her face was also priceless as she started to cry and tried to tear out her hair!!! Ok, so as you can imagine all things Disney are not cheap and I am tearing up because I am so disappointed that she is disappointed and of course I am thinking, am I really going to have to pay for something we are going to be pulling out immediately?? They can't modify the hairstyle at all so the lady was ticking me off, because I thought if we just pulled out the colorful crazy ratted thing on top of her hair she'll be fine and we'll just move on. She tells me no but I can do whatever I want to it after we leave the salon, at this point the tears are about to start streaming down my face. I am not even sure who said "do you want to look like a princess like your sister", Lanie nods yes pouty lip and all and they redo her hair. I guess this is what I wanted to happen but didn't really expect it. Once again Disney deserves a shout out for its excellent customer service. So after that ordeal the girls looked adorable, Lanie was much happier and we went to have some lunch. We ended up at the Starlight Cafe and that was really disappointing. Everything is usually fantastic at Disney but my food and Ally's was not very good, I maybe would have complained had I not been drained from our Boutique experience. There was also some creepy Alf like character singing and trying to make jokes, couldn't they have put someone like I don't know, Mickey up there? Note to all reading, don't go there, I just don't recommend it. We continued our day on different rides and adventures, we only waited for like maybe 10 minutes for it's a small world and we waited about 50 minutes for the Peter Pan ride. You may have just noticed I didn't capitalize it's a small world, either does Disney, it kind of puzzled me...
We skipped the Spector Magic parade to ride a couple additional rides and were able to see the fireworks over Cinderella's Castle. All in all it was a fabulous day, the girls did well with the exception of the hair meltdown, and the only thing I could have asked for was just a bit more time, we didn't even see 1/2 the park. Oh well, I guess that gives us something to look forward to. Today was like 75 and sunny and we spent the day riding bikes, relaxing, laying in the sun and the girls had a chance to swim. Sorry for all of you that are braving the pouring rain and dropping temps, I guess you will be waking to something really exciting. More about our trip later...

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Happy Birthday

So it has been a while since I have been off the couch. I spent my birthday yesterday curled up on the couch praying that I wouldn't cough because it just hurts too bad. I started feeling sick Monday night, by Tuesday morning it had caught up with me and I had a fever, bad cough and just all around achy. I tried to go to work and was sent home by my friend Julie that did not want to get sick. I don't blame her I wouldn't have wanted to be around me either. I thought if I went I would be ok, but sadly that was not the case. Ally started this bug last Thursday. Lanie was fighting it off Friday and by Monday night it had gotten to me. Lanie and I are both going to the Dr. today to verify what we do or don't have. On the up side my husband did give me Guitar Hero III, which I am pretty excited about, we haven't opened it yet because yesterday was such a crappy day. Maybe tonight we'll be rock stars...

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Thought for the Day...

Imagine What You Can Achieve. Achieve What You Can Imagine.
Support. Participate. Volunteer. Give.

Found on the web page
Chelsea Center for the Arts


Weekend at Bernies?

If you loved the movie Weekend at Bernies you may get a kick out of this story, seriously people are such idiots. I need to start a new blog just to post the dumb things people do!

Saturday, January 5, 2008

A mistake?

Mom in ‘Hannah’ hoax speaks

This mom made up a crazy story about her daughter's dad being killed in Iraq to get Hannah Montanna tickets. What is wrong with people???

Twins

I saw a video clip from msn news today about a mom that had one of her twins in her pant legs. Amazing story however, I can't get past their names. Curt and Curtis, huh? Isn't that kind of the same name? I don't have twins but I have twin brothers and sometimes their names just seemed like one. In this particular situation I guess they kind of are...

I am Normal

The other day as I was sitting on hold I found myself blog hopping through the friends of friends blogs, I am not sure exactly where I found the post on "normal" but it was like reading a good book, it inspired me, got me thinking...
"Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for - in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car, and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it.” ellen degeneres
Wow! This quote hit me like a ton of bricks! I so don't want to be normal but, I am. I think there is so much for me to accomplish, so much I can accomplish but how do I do it? I wish I could answer myself.
How do people go from normal to extraordinary? We are all brought into this earth the same way, we all age day by day, and we all grow up influenced good or bad by our surroundings. Most of us eventually leave home to begin our own lives, sometimes doing what we intended to do and sometimes just being caught up in the motions and sometimes doing something amazing. When Mary was born she had no idea she would give birth to the Mesiah, when Ben Franklin was born, who knew he would harness the power of electricity? Every day there are people making a difference, I am caught in the motions. Don't get me wrong I thank God everyday, well pretty much everyday, for what I have and for what I don't have. I have an amazing family, amazing friends, and things that I love in my life. But I am still normal.
What do I want? I used to want a high power career, a lot of money, a big house and a nanny. Thank goodness we grow up, and sometimes we change. What do I want now? To make a difference in the world, to be a good example to my friends and family, for God to be proud of me. A song that often times plays over and over in my head is American Baby, by Dave Matthews..."God's grace is gone and the devil is proud" I certainly don't want to make the Devil proud. What can I do to make God proud? This is my new quest - to be used for God's glory in whatever, not in what I want but where he wants me. This will be hard, it is difficult to actually let God be the Lord of your life and not try to put your own will ahead of his. I know I am selfish but I am going to try, I will consciously continue to seek and hopefully find my way out of normal.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Four degrees...

This is our temp this morning in good ol Michigan unless you want to go by wind chill which is -8. We will be heading to Florida at the end of the month and that date can't come soon enough! We are lucky that Trent's parents now winter in Lakeland, Fl and my parents live full time in TX. We love warm places to visit!

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

I believe

This was sent to me from my dad...Thought it was a good one to pass along.

I believe... That just because two people argue, it doesn't mean
they don't love each other. And just because they don't argue,
it doesn't mean they do love each other.

I believe... That we don't have to change friends if we understand
that friends change.

I believe .... That no matter how good a friend is, they're going to
hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that.

I believe.... That true friendship continues to grow, even over the
longest distance. Same goes for true love.

I believe .... That you can do something in an instant that will give
you heartache for life.

I believe ..... That it's taking me a long time to become the person
I want to be.

I believe..... That you should always leave loved ones with loving
words. It may be the last time you see them.

I believe .... That you can keep going long after you think you can't.

I believe ..... That we are responsible for what we do, no matter how
we feel.

I believe .... That either you control your attitude or it controls you.

I believe ..... That heroes are the people who do what has to be done
when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences.

I believe.... That money is a lousy way of keeping score.

I believe..... That my best friend and I can do anything or nothing
and have the best time.

I believe..... That sometimes the people you expect to kick you
when you're down, will be the ones to help you get back up.

I believe....... That sometimes when I'm angry I have the right
to be angry, but that doesn't give me the right to be cruel.

I believe..... That maturity has more to do with what types of
experiences you've had and what you've learned from them,
and less to do with how many birthdays you've celebrated.

I believe..... That it isn't always enough to be forgiven by others;
sometimes you have to learn to forgive yourself.

I believe...... That no matter how bad your heart is broken the world
doesn't stop for your grief.

I believe....... That our background and circumstances may have
influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become..

I believe ....... That you shouldn't be so eager to find out a secret.
It could change your life Forever.

I believe ....... That two people can look at the exact same thing
and see something totally different.

I believe....... That your life can be changed in a matter of hours by
people who don't even know you.

I believe...... That even when you think you have no more to give,
when a friend cries out to you - you will find the strength to help.

I believe...... That credentials on the wall do not make you a decent
human being.

I believe ...... That the people you care about most in life are taken
from you too soon.


The happiest people don't necessarily have the best of
everything; they just make the best of everything they have.