An awfully big adventure

Well, friends, I realize I haven't been posting much lately, and I won't be posting at all for probably another 3 weeks. The reason for all of this is the "trip of a lifetime" that I vaguely mentioned in my previous post.

The big news? Tomorrow morning, Husband, Kiddo and I are departing for South Africa/Lesotho to meet Husband's family. This will involve many planes, a bit of driving (on mountain roads-- scary for a girl from the Plains like me) and will take a lot of (travel) time. We are very excited, as neither the Kiddo nor I have ever been there or met Daddy-O's family, but also exceedingly nervous, as this will be Kiddo's first time traveling by plane and my first

overseas adventure!

Please pray for us that Kiddo will maintain his wonderful, sunny disposition as he is far

from his home, Elmo videos, and toys-- and also that his Mommy won't have a nervous breakdown from the stress!

We hope you have a wonderful New Year and look forward to catching up with you when we return.

I've been tagged! (by Kaela)

Don't know if anyone still reads this dumb blog, but if you do, here's some random stuff about me...

A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

5 Things I was doing 10 years ago:
Well, this is kind of sad, because 10 years ago...
1. My beloved grandmother had just passed away.
2. My boyfriend of a year broke up with me the month before-- although this turned out to be really a GOOD thing.
3. I cut about 8-10 inches off my hair because I just wanted to change SOMETHING. Wish I'd known then to donate it!
4. I was way behind in some of my college classes because of #1 and #2.
5. I was praying about whether to serve a mission or not. (I didn't)

5 Things on my to-do list today
1. Laundry, laundry, laundry!
2. Pack for the trip of a lifetime.
3. Upload, save, print out photos to take on trip.
4. Pick up prescriptions.
5. Try to eat well and get a good night sleep-- the past few weeks have been super-stressful.

5 Snacks I enjoy
1. Cake donuts with chocolate frosting.
2. Cookies-- well, pretty much anything baked.
3. Really good bread with butter
4. Ice cream sandwiches from Aldi-- they are delicious and inexpensive
5. Chips and dip
-- I am a junk-food junkie, obviously!

5 Things I would do if I were a Billionaire
1. Save for future (retirement, missions).
2. Pay for education of my kid, all my nieces and nephews, and get a nicer place for my Mom.
3. Adopt children, if they would let me!
4. Be like Oprah or Dikembe Mutumbo and build schools or hospitals, but probably in Lesotho.
5. Buy a house big enough for a room for my books and crafts!
6. Make that SIX things: I forgot that FIRST, I'd pay off all our school debt. DUH!

5 of my bad habits:
1. WORRYING about every possible thing.
2. The junk food thing... and then, not exercising.
3. Extreme perfectionism.
4. Procrastinating.
5. Forgetting to cook for my family because I'M not hungry...
... and there are plenty more bad habits where those came from! argh.

5 places I have lived
Well, let's put it this way: I've lived in 18 "homes" in 11 towns in 3 states, but all in the midwest!

5 Jobs I’ve had
1. Sales associate in Draperies and Domestics, Montgomery Ward
2. Babysitter in many forms and places
3. Student Clerk in Patient Transportation, UIHC
4. Clerk in Records & Special Testing dept., ACT
5. Educational Associate, Ames Community Schools

5 Things people probably don’t know about me
1. I like to sing really loud when nobody's home.
2. When I was a kid, I really wanted to be famous and I used to come up with my own plot lines for all my favorite TV shows, writing in a character for myself, of course! Now I have NO desire to be famous.
3. At different points in my life, I was a member of fan clubs for the Smurfs and New Kids on the Block.
4. I am addicted to what I believe to be the stupidest, shallowest show on television, but I'll bet you can't get me to tell you what it is!
5. Whenever I watch "You've Got Mail," I pretty much want to be Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan)... the clothes, the figure, the cool apartment/furniture, the upbeat personality, the book store-- only I wouldn't want mine to close!

So, if there's anyone out there still reading this blog, other than Kaela, I tag you! Amy? Melissa? Mom? Anybody?

It figures...

"Who, me?"

In an earlier post, I mentioned how our little guy had "lost" the power button to our television set. Here is the update: we now have just ONE of the FIVE buttons originally on the TV.

"Which one?" you might ask.

Well, the Volume+ button, of course! So, he may not be able to change channels any more or turn the volume down, but he sure can blast out our brand-new neighbors. Hopefully, the fact that they have a baby will make them more tolerant of our little tyrant.

If not, here's hoping that the last button "dies" soon!

(note: just in case you're worried, he typically watches one pre-recorded show a day and if he continues to increase the volume after being scolded, the show is stopped altogether... so we're not so bad to our new neighbors! Although... then he sometimes screams [sigh]!)