what i did today

We made it to town about 5:45 this evening and went straight to our favorite restaurant. We’ve been simply hanging out at the house (my parents’ vacation house in their hometown) all evening and it’s been really nice and relaxing. I thought I’d share a really fun moment from the trip today.

There’s a certain part of the trip that’s pretty tough to get through. You go through a lot of turns like one of these we took:

And up and down a lot of hills like these:

And it’s at the very last part of the trip. It usually makes me car sick and it always seems to take forever since it’s at the end. Anyway, I can’t even remember whose idea it was but we decided to roll all the windows down since it was 80 today and Emma said it felt like she was on a roller coaster since we were probably going 50 through all this. So we went with it and actually had A LOT of fun. Let me show you how much….

Love this one…can you feel the fun?

Even Heather and I got into it…

I highly, highly recommend taking advantage of a really warm day and some crazy local roads.  It really was something that makes you say, “That was fun.”

But then we were on to more normal roadtrip fun…

a nap…

…complaining about the manure from the farms

and also staring at farm after farm like these…

Alright, that’s all I’ll gab about the trip today.  We had some fun moments and we arrived safely.  Happy to be on a little vacation and looking forward to seeing the family.  Now on to more important things like Grey’s Anatomy and Lost…

Guess who’s got Dad’s laptop with an air card on the way to Maryland…me, me, me, meeee!  Heather is (probably impatiently) waiting in the back seat for her turn but for now, I’m catching up on everything because the entire family is strapped in a seat and *I* have a laptop all to myself with nothing better to do.  Wheeee….

Yes, and I even got a picture taken with my iPhone and was able to email it for your viewing pleasure.

So remember that list I had yesterday with seventy eleven things to do? I got one more scratched off the list after I posted last night.

Heather and I decided to head to Wal-Mart and CVS at 11:30pm to hit some deals.  It was killing me that I didn’t have everything checked off my list and well, couponing childless with no guilt because they’re in bed and no one else is in the stores either is just fun.

But.  We didn’t get home until after 2am! I know, self-inflicted.  And Scott was waiting up for me too so we’re all a little on edge today.  I think we’re all looking forward to crashing tonight.  That is after we all finally watch the new Grey’s that’s on tonight.  I also have The Office and Lost on my list but I might be on my own with those two.

Anyway, apparently I was right about the impatient part of Heather waiting in the back since she just said, “Are you done with the Internet yet??”  I guess that’s my cue.

Later.

Scott was able to get off work tomorrow so we’re headed out of town first thing tomorrow. And it just kind of hit me maybe I should oh, you know, PACK. And there’s seventy eleven other things I need to do today. And just to clear my brain here they are:

1. Work. I have a few meetings today and an implementation to verify and and another implementation test before I’m done working for this week. Ended up working also from 6-8
2. Pick the kids up from school and possibly take them to Scott’s GM so I can attend those meetings in some sort of peace this afternoon since I’m by myself with them. Meeting was so much easier. And I did laundry while we were on the phone. See #7
3. Go to our local consignment sale that started this morning at 9 and I’ll miss the rest of because we’re going out of town. Went right after bible study. Spent too much money but got really cute outfits for a good deal.
4. Go to CVS to pick up a few new deals but this is QUICKLY falling off the priority list Uhh..didn’t happen.
5. Go to bible study.
6. Go to church Didn’t happen, had to work. See #1
7. Finish washing clothes. I’m close on this one. Two more loads I think. Last load in the dryer but it’s not anything we need to pack.
8. Clean the house at least a little before we leave. Riigght. Scott did do the dishes and straighten a little but that’s as close as it gets.
9. Oh and PACK. Still have to pack toiletries in the morning.

And seeing that I work until 4, have bible study until 5 and then have church from 6:30-8, it’s going to be a very busy day.

Oh, and we had J&J stop by for coffee which was a nice break and I watched AI.  What is up with the bottom two?  Let me just say *I* was not thrilled with Syesha’s performance but I did call Jason and Brooke in the bottom and neither were.  Weird.

We’ll be leaving around 8:30. If I get really bored in the car, I might post from my iPhone. But normally I drive a lot since I’ve been getting carsick lately and it seems to only help if I drive. I’m so happy to have a 4 day weekend! All this last minute work will be worth it!

Scott called the big orange box again today and guess what?  They  HAVEN’T shipped yet and is on backorder AGAIN.  All they could tell us it would ship in about 2 weeks.  Which is not good because that’s about the time Scott is headed to Turkey for 10 days.  The only good thing is the store manager made a note to give us back 10% when they come in.

Today was quite a busy day.  I didn’t think about the fact that Scott would be sleeping this morning so my plans to go into work today had a little kink in it.  I ended up calling the preschool at 8:15 and they said I could bring the kids over early.  So I ran them over there, came back home to drop off the car seats and then headed up to work.  I barely made it for a 9:30 meeting by the time I got across town.  The entire day was busy with meetings and such.  When I got home I put a quick dinner together and then we headed out for some shopping.  I found a dress for the wedding this weekend that is so cute.  Oh, did I mention we’re going out of town this weekend to Maryland?  We’re leaving Thursday morning and coming home Sunday.  My cousin is getting married this Saturday.  Anyway, by the time we got home, it was time for all my shows.  Mondays are extremely busy now that they’ve moved One Tree Hill over there instead of Tuesday. Dancing with the Stars, The Bachelor, The Hills and One Tree Hill.  Yep, I spend about 3 hours sitting in front of the TV.  And that’s what I’m doing now.  Catching up while I finish up watching The Bachelor on DVR.

A few other random tidbits:

• Still no word on our floors.
• Scott got his letter today about his settlement from his shoulder.  Will probably about a month before we get that.  Yippee!!
• I’ve been dealing with a lot of drama from a few girls in the youth group the past few days.  A few great things and a few not so great things.  Say a prayer for me AND them if you think of it.

Well, I don’t know how much other fun stuff but my hair is really black.  I have really not liked my hair since my last cut (along with a few others, I know) and I think it’s because it was getting so flat with no product and no color in it.  So today I used up one of  my free CVS hair color deals (both were black) and dyed my hair.

In the “other fun stuff” department, Scott and I ended up at an Earth Day celebration at a local greenway.  Really I was just hoping for some free food.  So we pull in the gravel driveway and drive through the peach trees.  As we’re driving through looking at the map, we realize the food is on the other side of the greenway and we should probably turn around and enter from another road that is closer to the food.  We stop and ask one of the teenagers who is “directing traffic” and the kid says no, there is a little road there…it’s not far at all. So we park.  We stop and pet the ginormous horse–it’s in the Clydesdale family.  And then we walk.  And walk.  And walk.  On a gravel road, through sandy parts, over a suspended bridge, up hills, down hills.  And guess what shoes I was wearing?

Yeah, so I wanted to go back to that little kid and tell him he was crazy.  Actually, it was a perfect day for the walk and we had fun since it was just the two of us but oh my, the walking in platform sandals on gravel. and in sand.  and up hills.

Then we get to the barn with the food.  And it’s bbq and hot dogs…$5 a plate.  Fabulous.

And then.  Then…it gets all cloudy.  And windy.  And it starts to sprinkle.  Scott and I scarf down our $5 a plate bbq and high-tail it back up and down the gravel-y, sandy hills to the car.   Thank goodness the rain stayed away until we got back to the car.

And that’s about as close as Amy gets to any sort of nature walk.

This morning the kids were up a little late, thank goodness, and in a great mood.  Emma thanked me for her jammies and asked to get a dress and chewing gum very nicely so I plan on doing that today.

I thought I was going to have to work today but I think there are some issues and it may be tomorrow when I have to work.  I’ve been cleaning a little this morning.  Every Saturday I always hope it’s the last Saturday I have to clean these floors.  Still no call about the hardwoods though.

FIL came and got the girls around 11 to keep them for a few hours which was a surprise so that is nice.  I think Scott and I are going to run some errands and maybe even head out to one of the spring festivals around here.  And maybe I’ll finish cleaning.

Should be a pretty easy-going day.  Enjoy your Saturday!

In exactly 3 months from tomorrow I will turn 30.  When Scott turned 30 3 years ago although he may not admit it he had a little bit of a hard time.  I simply could not understand.  “30 is SO YOUNG!  You have to do what you just did 2 more times!  You’re just getting started!”  Yeah, well, now I’m sitting right outside the door of 30 and getting ready to knock and I completely understand now.

I DO NOT want to turn 30.  I LIKE being in my 20s.  It’s old enough to be considered an adult and yet young enough to do many things that “people in their 30s” shouldn’t do.  “I’m still in my 20’s” is an easy excuse for getting your belly button pierced or wearing a dress a little too short.  30’s seem lost somewhere in the middle of adulthood…not quite young, not over the hill just blah in the middle.

And I have another theory about why it’s so scary.  When you’re a teenager going through high school, plans are made.  What college you want to attend, what job you want to land, what kind of husband you want, how many kids, where you’ll live.  It’s all thought about.  And that puts you about 10 years out into your late 20s.  And then…nothing.  No one ever dreams about what they’re 30’s are going to look like.  Or 40’s and 50’s for that matter.  Yeah, some people dream about what they’ll do in their 60’s when they retire but plans aren’t made for those 3 decades where you’re actually raising those 2.5 kids and working your butt off to retire.

It’s depressing really.  It’s almost as if any life you’ve planned up until now is just over.  No dreams or goals to attain now.  The next few years are a big gray cloudy question mark.  And, no, it’s not fun to be standing at the door and knocking.  Don’t let me in, I’m happy where I’m at, thank you!

So yeah, maybe I’m crazy but I’m not looking forward to it.  My brain tells me to make new goals, dream new dreams…what do I want to do for the next 30 years or even 10 years?  I have no clue…try not to grow too many gray hairs raising two girls and working a job that is quickly becoming dreadful?

I’m sure I’ll roll my eyes and laugh at myself when I look back and read this when I turn 40 or 50 but for now, someone’s going to have to knock for me because if I do, I’m turning and running back down the driveway.