Rowen and I flew to Northwest AR last Friday and came back Tuesday. Rowen actually did pretty well on the flights. As long as we have the DVD player, we're set. But lo and behold, despite charging the DVD player for 4 days while I was at Dori's, the thing was dead as a doornail when I turned it on during the first flight home. A horrible feeling of dread fell over me. All of a sudden, Rowen was a kicking, screaming monster. My peers were burning holes through me with their stares. I wanted to cry. I started thinking of all these elaborate schemes to get that DVD player working. Surely the flight attendants or pilots had some random chargers lying around. Or surely some nice bystander would happen to have a DVD player they would let me use to pacify this wild child. To my horror, the pilot needed to make an announcement while we were still on the runway and he had to wait for Rowen to quiet down. I was humiliated. When he was finally able to talk over Rowen he shared that we would be on the runway for another 40 minutes. I felt SO helpless. I was so pitiful that its comical. Thank the Lord, though, not more than 2 minutes later, that dear pilot came over the speaker and said we would be in the air in 8 minutes. WhooHOOOOOOOO! Like magic, my little monster then dozed off and was asleep before we were even in the air! Really it was only 5 minutes or so of badness, but I was so worried. God is SO GOOD, all the time.
I had so much fun with Dori, Clint, Jackson and Ben. Jack and Ben are the sweetest and most handsome little boys! Dori and Clint are such awesome parents. I could listen to Jack ramble on about everything all day. He's so much fun. Here's the journey in photos.
Rowen loved Jackson's big back yard and all of his big boy toys
Rowen and Jack got to sit in a real firetruck!
Ben is such a happy baby!
So handsome!
Ben is such a happy baby!
So handsome!
Jack had friends over one night and sometimes the big kids forgot to include Rowen.
He was pretty torn up over it.
Until he realized he could play in the water all by himself.
While in Springdale, we got to catch up with 2 more of our sorority sisters, Nicole and Lisa. It was a real treat to see them! The cool thing is that we basically were able to reconnect because of our blogs and Facebook. Make all the fun you want but I think its pretty neat to be able to reconnect with long lost friends :) Lisa is newly married and just glows with happiness. Nicole is super-mom to 2 precious girls and has quite a knack for photography. Here's her website.
I have a few other random things to write about, so here goes...
- Y'all have got to listen to this guy's cover of "Hey Ya." I love a good cover and this is the BEST. His band's name is Obadiah Parker. He also sings a cover of "Let's Stay Together." Their original stuff is good, too. I've downloaded it from Itunes. He's really struggling to make it in the music industry, so visit his website if you're interested in learning more.
- Speaking of Itunes, I took my Ipod and headphones with me to grocery shop today and I have to say my life is forever changed! I am already really weird about going to the grocery store anyway. I can't stand going during waking hours because I feel like I'm burning daylight when I could be out living life. Well, I basically had no other choice today and instead of being bummed about it the whole time, I felt like I was the only one in the whole place as I jammed out to Phish, James Morrison, Ray Charles, and Xavier Rudd. Something good happened.
- Speaking of grocery stores, I am quite possible the most annoying customer secondary to my heavy use of coupons and reusable bags. I can feel the people in line behind me sigh as I pull out a book of coupons and hand over those bags. Sorry, folks! If you knew how much you could save, you'd do it, too! If you're interested in saving big bucks, check out these websites. Be aware that you will get some junk mail once you sign up, but I've decided its worth it.
Eversave
Coupons.com
Coupon Mom
Shortcuts
Let me tell you what I CAN'T do: go to different stores. I have a lot of friends who save a lot of money at Walgreens and CVS but I just can't get into it. Anyway, let me know what you think :) OHHH, if you haven't taken advantage of the semi-annual Bath and Body Works sale yet, you simply must. I have already been 3 times. I feel like I robbed them!
- Speaking of reducing, reusing, and recycling, I started recycling before recycling was cool. We have been doing it in my family since I was little. I love it! I'm not quite as adept at reusing (it's the first and preferable R!) but it makes me feel so good to harness all of that recyclable goodness. Recycling in Norfolk (and most big cities) is easy, too, so that's nice. But, I have a burning question about recycling and this whole green movement. Are all of the increased recycling efforts and the eco-friendly packaging making a difference? I feel certain the answer must be yes, but pray tell, what kind of difference? I googled this question phrased many different ways hoping some green group out there would have stats about how much less waste we are producing, etc. Nada. Do you have an answer?
- And finally, speaking of being good to the environment and humankind and all that, a girlfriend from middleschool that I recently reconnected with had a link to the 3/50 project and I thought it was pretty neat. I'm starting off by supporting 5 Points Community Market and The Silver Rattle.
Sorry I went link-happy, but maybe you'll run across something you like. I'll leave you with a pic of my new Mac Book. I'm officially an Apple girl now. See ya...I'm off to enjoy the rest of my vacay!
Big Mac and Baby Mac
Hey! We had so much fun seeing you. Thanks for the website plug. You are awesome. ANd I am definitely going to check out the coupon sites and the "Hey ya" cover! You are so funny!
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