Whew! I forgot how hectic it was to work and have kids. Sorry about no post last night. I'm sure nobody missed me.

Let's see....where was I.....

Monday, July 2
We woke up at 3:30 am to make it to the airport by 4:30 am. We did. And we sat until our flight took off at 6;40 am. We flew to Memphis and then to Montego Bay, Jamaica. We had to go through customs and immigration in Jamaica, which scared me, but which also turned out to be no big deal.

I took this picture in Montego Bay at the beginning of the bus ride. The city surrounding the airport was touristy and um, shall we say, risque. This apparently was a souvenir shop.

Once in Jamaica, we had to board a bus that would take us to the resort. It was 1 1/2 hours of driving through RURAL Jamaica. VERY interesting. I was afraid that by staying at a resort, we wouldn't get to see much of the real country. Well, this bus trip took care of that. It totally looked like we were in Africa. Or some other "developing" country. I figure part of it was just the rural nature of the place. These are some school girls walking home from school on Monday afternoon. All the school kids wear uniforms and each school has their own colors. Throughout the whole drive, we mostly saw Jamaicans sitting. Just sitting. And everybody was outside standing on the side of the road! I am so surprised we didn't hit anybody.

Even though I was starving and exhausted (see previous post about the midnight hospital visit), I'm glad we had to drive a ways. It really opened my eyes to another part of the world.

That night, there was a welcoming banquet and we got introduced to the managers. There was also some local craft vendors who brought their wares onto the property and sold them to us. You had to bargain, so luckily my garage sale skills kicked in. I got 3 handmade Jamaican dolls for $15. The lady originally said they were $10 a piece. They probably cost her 50 cents each to make, but hey, they come there to make money. And we have better souvenirs than t-shirts or mugs.

This is a picture of the booth where I bought the dolls. The lady had some clothes, but none that I thought I'd wear past our vacation. I inquired about one cute outfit and was told bluntly "it not fit you". She was right.
This is the ice sculpture at the banquet. Yes, it was melting very quickly. But it was so nice! It made us feel all rich and stuff. Now I see why you pay beforehand... That way you're not thinking about how much all of this is actually costing you even if it is "all-inclusive".

After that, we just ate and then crashed! I had gotten 4 hours of sleep Saturday night and then barely 5 on Sunday night. I was TIRED!

Tomorrow, Jim and I RELAX and hit the pool!

What a week!

Hi, all! We have had one heck of a week! So much so that I'm going to split it up into small pieces and blog about them separately.

So think of this as a real time blog. Only it's a week off.

Saturday, June 30 to Sunday July 1
Beta started having breathing problems again. I gave her the inhaler, but it wasn't helping much. I even called the after hours line. About midnight, the nurse said she was going to need steroids and to take her to the emergency room. *sigh* AGAIN. Back in May, when Jim was out of town, I had had to take Beta there because she was not getting enough air.

So, Beta and I sat in the emergency room from 1 am until 5 am. I swear. Why can't my kids get sick at 7:00 pm on Saturday night? Why 1 am???

Anyway, to make a boring story short, we got sent home with a steroid dose and some antibiotics. She was also diagnosed with the beginnings of pneumonia. Wonderful.

Meanwhile, we were scheduled to leave on vacation that very afternoon! I debated whether or not we should even go, but Beta was dead set on "going to grandmudders house". I figured all I could do was sit here and give her medicine, which my mother could do as well, so we went.

And tomorrow, I will detail our long trip down to JAMAICA! It was a 10th anniversary/second honeymoon type of trip. It was AWESOME!!!

I'll leave you with a view of the Caribbean Sea as seen from our airplane. Those are clouds, not bubbles! And yes, it really was THAT blue!

I'm there, baby!

July 26, 2007

Tulsa, Oklahoma

Tulsa County Library

LIVE MUGGLECAST!!!!!

This might be embarassing to say, but every week I download and listen to Mugglecast. It's a podcast done by some guys (ok, boys & 1 girl) from Mugglenet.com. Yes, it's about Harry Potter. But these guys rock! They have cool ideas and are very entertaining. They are also very smart. Sometimes they sound nerdy, but that means I can relate to them. :)

Jim just scrunched up his nose when I showed him the gig. I've now got to find a Harry Potter friend to go with me. Jim would go if I made him, but I think I'll look for someone else first. Besides, if he went we'd have to find childcare. Or take the girls with us. I'm not sure how that would go. We'd have to bribe them with something.

Oh, well. I've got a month. Either way, I'm there baby!

I'll be a woman on a mission!

Hi! Jim and I watched TV tonight. Yes. Real TV. Just vegged out and sat there on our patooties. I had to make him turn off the xbox first, but he did it.

One of the shows we watched was Food Network's "Unwrapped". I love that show! This show was about "bargain" foods and shopping. They showed Ramen noodles, mac & cheese, and then a cool story about a website called The Grocery Game. It's a website that somehow has created a database of when stores haave their sales. It keeps track of the coupons in the Sunday paper. Each week, you can print off a list of which items in your local store are on sale, which have coupons, and which are both on sale and have coupons. The list is color-coded to help you "stock up" and also buy "necessities". The basic idea is that you stock up when things are really cheap, and then you only buy what you need each week.

UNFORTUNATELY, the only store that has a list in Arkansas is Dillon's. Have you ever heard of Dillon's? Me neither. No wal-mart or kroger or harps. Bummer.

So, I have decided to become a woman on a mission to pay less for groceries! Ever since we moved here, it has been costing us more to eat. I have several theories why. However, I'm going to take a week and compare prices and see if I can't find ways to save money. I'll report back with what I find.

Wish me luck!

Dancing in Kohl's

Ok. So we're at Kohl's tonight buying Jim a new swimsuit for vacation. The men's section is right next to the luggage. As we're standing there, both girls hop up on a luggage display rack and start doing "the booty bop" -- the same dance they were doing on the swingset the other night.

Jim and I sternly tell them to quit and then melt into the floor. Thank goodness Kohl's was not very busy.

You know, they don't prepare you for this kind of thing in school......

Pictures my girls will hate me for

So, Aunt Robin. You miss your precious little pretty nieces? Maybe you'd like to know what they do when they think no one is looking.

These pics were taken last night while I was at church. The same night Beta cut her hair. (But before she did that.)

This one is going in Beta's senior year book. Or at least on a slide show.


These next two are of a "dance' the girls were doing. That's all the comment I'm going to give them.



Heaven help us.

A Tale of Two Haircuts

The FIRST Haircut

In my 6 years of parenting, I have yet to have anybody give themselves a haircut. Until now. It seems that while I was at church, Beta got some scissors and decided to test them out on her hair. We're not sure if big sister had a hand in this or not. They both say no, but I'm not sure she didn't watch and egg her on.

Here is a picture of the hair that got cut:



Beta put it in the trash can "so you would be happy, mommy"! Jim says he told her that when I got home, I would be upset. He says maybe he'll word things differently from now on.

The SECOND Haircut

A few months ago, we got a gift bag from the Welcome Wagon. It contained a letter for a complimentary haircut at a salon in town. So Tuesday afternoon, I head over to this place to get my free haircut. It's a salon and spa, and it's definitely keepin' Fayetteville funky! (That's the chamber of commerce's business slogan.) I get sent back with this lady who was polite but not overly friendly. I hand her the letter. She scrunches her face up in disgust at it, tries to mumble "so you just moved here?" and then goes up to the front while leaving me standing there confused. I overhear her at the front saying, "I had a gift certificate earlier today, too."

Okay. So I take it she's not entirely happy about working free of charge. I can understand that. I also start to worry about my hair. One person you don't want angry with you is your hairstylist!

To make a long story short, she cuts my hair very well and gives me a good cut after the horrible one I had a few months ago. I try to tip her with a check but she says she doesn't take checks. I guess I should have tried the debit card, but I felt awkward. So I ended up not tipping her.

So what should I do? Do I go back and give her some cash? Do I even go there again? The payment issue is really between her and her manager/owner. She cut my hair ok, but she wasn't very talkative or friendly. (I SO miss Heather in Little Rock!)

What do you all think?