MK, looking awkward, as I made him stand in front of a molecule display at the National Museum of Natural History. (The place was packed and he felt self-conscious posing for me. Oh, the things we make our kids do all in the name of blog fodder. 😀 )
Author: Karen
Hi! My day job is a CMA in the Precertificiation Department (I work with insurance companies). I'm a mom to two young men. I've been married to the same man for 34 years. I have a lot to say about nothing. Lucky you.
Pick a Book, Any book
Guess what time it is?
It’s time for another Buy A Friend a Book week!
Yep, I’m going to randomly pick a reader out of a hat and send him/her a book of his/her choice from Amazon. No, no, not right now. The first week of July.
Okay wait, instead of explaining it all over again, just click over here and read more about it.
In the meantime, mark your calendars and be sure to come back June 27th and put your name in the comment “pot”. It’s not everyday someone offers to buy you a book for no good reason!
Please help spread the word! Copy the code below and paste it into your blog today!
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Out the Door …
I didn’t have a chance to write an update last night … well, that’s not true, I had a chance, but I was simply too brain dead to form any coherent thought. And I don’t have time to update now, the hubs and MK walked over to George Washington University to check out the bookstore (he wants a GWU hat for some reason) and GD and I are at the hotel room, making ourselves presentable.
We toured the National Museum of Natural History yesterday and though it was interesting, I think the hubs got a little impatient with it because we’re not exactly advocates for the evolution theory and that’s basically 3/4 of what the museum is all about. But it was interesting to look at all the fossils and rocks and I think the kids enjoyed it. More on that later …
We’re getting ready to tour the Air and Space Museum. I predict that will go over a lot better.
We read in the paper that one of the Metro lines, the one we rode yesterday, derailed. We haven’t said anything about this to the kids, we don’t want to freak them out, but suffice it to say, the hubs and I are a little more nervous about riding the Metro today. More on that later …
ACK! I’m out of time. The hubs is waiting for us so come back later if you get a chance! I have some pictures to show you and another TRHILLING story about getting lost – again. 😀
Monday Morning Meme – June 23rd
All you have to do is answer the questions below either in the comment section, or on your blog. And elaborate! Make these questions show your unique and special personalities. This meme entry will post at 12:01 every Monday morning and will be the first postentry listed on WFK all day Monday morning. (This is an all-day Monday meme, so please, play all day!)
June 23rd Questions:
1. What are your children doing right now? If you don’t have children, what is your significant other/roommate/friend, etc. doing right now?
2. How many times a day do you look in a mirror? And be honest with us! WHY do you look? Is it a habit? Do you think you’re attractive? If you avoid looking into a mirror, why? Be honest with yourself!
3. What do you do/eat/say that makes your mother mentally cringe? What do your children/significant other do that makes YOU cringe?
4. Which do you focus on more, eating less or exercising more? Do you think one is more important than the other? Do you have a weight loss system that works for you? How much exercise would you say you do in a day? A week? How active (overall) is your family? What sort of physical activities does your family like to do together?
My Answers:
1. Right this very moment, MK is playing Mario Kart on the Wii and GD is designing some sort of monster thing for a new program he downloaded. The husband is due home any minute (this was written Wednesday evening – yes! I’m THAT organized *grin*) and we’re getting ready to sit down for dinner and have baked pepperoni spaghetti. (I just checked with GD, the program he’s using is called “SPORE – Creature Creator” and is BY the creators of The Sims. It sounds weird, but he’s sure having a good time with it).
2. We have a mirror at the end of our hallway, so I look at myself every time I walk down the hallway (which is about a million times a day because the bathrooms are down the hallway and I drink so much coffee I … well, let’s just say I tinkle – a lot). Other than that? I do have a habit of glancing in a mirror every time I pass one. Not because I think I’m gorgeous, but to make sure I don’t have anything in my teeth or sticking to my shirt because I’m sort of NOTORIOUS for wearing my food. *ahem*
3. I, um, sort of have a potty mouth. In fact, it makes the hubs mad and my kids feel compelled to ask me to clean my language up, sometimes. I’m not proud of this fact, but I am aware of it and try my best to curb my tongue. The thing is, I have a hot, quick temper and spewing curse words is my way of releasing that pent-up energy. I’m not making excuses, but I am being honest.
GD has a habit of making the weirdest, off-the-wall expressions at the strangest, most inappropriate times. It always catches me off guard and after my initial chuckle, I cringe because it sort of embarrasses me that he can screw his face up like that, lol.
MK has the craziest run I’ve ever seen – he holds his arms out like a video game character and I’m constantly having to pull him aside and say, “Reality check, mister! Real people don’t run like that. Pull your arms in next time.”
The hubs has this annoying habit of repeating everything I say but in question form. “I need to go to the store.” I say. “You need to go to the store?” he says. Didn’t I just say that? AARGH!
4. If I had to choose, I’d say exercising is more important but quite honestly, I think both are pretty important. It won’t do you any good to exercise your butt off if you’re eating Krispy Kreme donuts four times a week (NOT that I do that or anything *ahem*). I maintain my weight by watching what I eat and the QUANTITIES I eat. If my clothes are starting to fit tighter, I cut back on my portions and cut out the junk/sweet foods. I am pretty diligent about walking on my treadmill, but I’m weird – I’d rather walk on my treadmill and watch a movie as opposed to parking my expanding butt on a couch cushion. I usually walk about four (sometimes five) times a week and walk 90 minutes and/or six miles each time. It sounds like a lot, but it goes pretty fast when you’re watching a movie. I also do Turbo Jam about three times a week, too. (HIGHLY recommend Turbo Jam).
Our family is pretty active, though we don’t really DO anything special. The kids and I go swimming a lot and we go through spurts where we play tennis and go bike riding on the trails. We’re also pretty anal about eating right so I’d say overall, my family is pretty healthy.
monday morning meme________________________________
Drawing will be held July 3rd.
D.C. Trip – Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
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We’re here, it’s gorgeous and I’m pooped.
We caught our flight out of town at 9:45 a.m. Everything ran like clockwork and we didn’t have any problems on our way to St. Louis. There were only about 12 people on board so it was like we had the whole plane to ourselves. It was a quick and uneventful flight. We arrived in St. Louis, had just enough time to grab a soft pretzel, make a bathroom break and then we were boarding a plane for Washington D.C.
The plane was packed. And the ONE baby on board? Sat directly in front of us and whimpered and wailed the whole trip.
*SIGH*
Finally, a flight attendant gave the man (it was a single father traveling with his son) … something to help the baby’s ears from popping. I couldn’t see what it was, but whatever it was did the trick and the baby stopped screaming.
My ears were grateful. Poor little guy.
When we landed, we had to wait on the runway for about 15 minutes because our gate was having some sort of technical difficulty. The baby started getting restless.
I started praying.
Finally, the tower re-routed us to another gate and we disembarked. We stumbled our way down to the baggage area, retrieved all of our bags (we were glad to see our bags made it) and we walked aimlessly trying to find the rental car agency.
We looked … and saw nothing. Finally, the husband spotted a sign – a shuttle bus would take us to our car rental place. We hopped on board (well, I say hopped, but we had four large pieces of luggage and three carry-ons slowing us down) and we drove another mile to rent our car. We ended up with a white Dodge Journey. This thing is a monster. The seats are hard and the air conditioning sucks, but hey, we had wheels.
And then? The REAL fun began. We exited the airport and PROMPTLY took a wrong turn and got COMPLETELY LOST … in a town where the streets that run north and south are named after states and the streets that run east and west are letters of the alphabet, literally run in circles and where NOTHING makes sense … yeah, that one.
I’m afraid I got just a TAD cranky. Word is, I got juuust a BIT irritated because I had visions of us ending up on the wrong side of town, out of gas and living in our expensive, but useless rental car.
I mean, you MIGHT hear that was the case but the fact was, I laughed it off and said, “Oh well, kids. This is a part of Washington D.C. I bet you never thought you’d see.”
Or … that could have been the hubs talking. That whole episode is a bit fuzzy, if you want the truth. 😀
Somehow, the hubs, through all of my bitching helpful navigational tips, finally got us back on course and our trip to our hotel, the trip that was only supposed to take us four minutes, actually took us 40 minutes.
I have to be honest. I was a bit freaked out and was, er, maybe, but I wouldn’t swear to it, just a tad … er … difficult to be around at that time period.
*blush* I’m not proud of my behavior. I have a tendency to be a little … tense whenever I go someplace new. But I’ve since calmed down and have gotten my bearings.
This is not say that I understand this place, but I’m certainly learning.
Our hotel room is nice, but certainly NOT worth the money we’re paying for it. I suppose the real reason for the price is because it’s in the HEART of Washington D.C., just down the street from The White House, as a matter of fact. We have a pretty nice kitchenette and an awesome view from our balcony but we’ve stayed in better places.
The first thing we did after checking in, was search for a grocery store. We arrived at our hotel room about 3:00 and were ravenous. We asked the valet, who directed us to Trader Joe’s.
It was like entering a foreign country. For those that don’t know, Trader Joe’s is an organic grocery store and everything costs about three times more than we’re used to paying. But we were starving and ended up buying some breakfast food, some deli meat, juice, bread and a couple of pizzas for dinner.
I about had a cow when our total rang up. Uh yeah, we’ll be hunting for another grocery store tomorrow.
After eating our pizza (that was actually pretty good, quite frankly), we left our hotel room to locate the Foggy Bottom Metro Station. After taking a few wrong turns (the streets here – they are INSANE), we found it. It’s literally just down the street and will be VERY CONVENIENT to use for the next several days. In fact, we won’t even have to drive most days – it’ll be great. The boys are looking forward to riding the train and I’m looking forward to not having to worry about getting lost.
Again.
We plan on heading to the National Museum of Natural History and the Old Post Office Tower and Pavilion tomorrow. I’m sure I’ll have lots more to talk about then.
In the meantime?
I need to tuck someone into bed. 😀
Saturday Photo Hunt – Water
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This week’s theme: Water
GD, circa 1994. Can’t you just see him learning about water?
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Drawing will be held July 3rd.
Damn Weather
Oh. My. Freakin’. Gosh.
What the hell is going on with our weather? Excuse my profanity (trust me, I’m holding myself back here), but seriously, WTH? We received three more inches of rain last night. I’ve heard thunder rumbling the heavens for 48-straight hours now. If you watch our radar? Ugly little green blobs keep REFORMING, just one on top of each other and right over Springfield.
HELLO?! *knocks on heaven* It’s now officially summer. Could we please have some summer-type weather? I mean seriously, what is up with this cool, moist air? Do you NOT realize that I just paid $50 on swim coupons and that I only have until August 17th to use them? That works out to 10 swims for me and the kids – 10. And if this stupid weather continues it’s spring-like behavior, I’ll be lucky to MAKE three trips, let alone 10. Which means I won’t be able to cash in those coupons … and that money will be wasted because the coupons are only good for this summer only …
And we all know how CRANKY I get when I pay for something and then don’t get my money’s worth. *major, scary growl*
I seriously need to stop watching radar because it’s seriously pissing me off. Want to know what I’m talking about? Go to Accuweather.com or weather.com, plug in Springfield Missouri and just WATCH the radar – you’ll see what I mean! It’s maddening to get my hopes up because things LOOK like they are clearing away, only to check it ten minutes later and WTH, where did that angry green and red blob come from?!? And … and … is that *gasp* THUNDER I hear in the distance … AGAIN?!
AARGH!
And yet … and yet … I sort of HAVE to watch the weather right now. Why? Because we’re leaving for Washington D.C. tomorrow and I have a schedule, a touring strategy, that MUST be adhered to because God forbid I have to rearrange our sight-seeing schedule.
Here’s our TENTATIVE touring schedule:
Saturday: Arrive in late afternoon (to isolated t-storms – OF COURSE!). Settle into hotel room, hunt down a grocery store and stock up on breakfast and lunch foods to put into our kitchenette. Get our bearings, recoup from traveling all day.
Sunday: Go to Arlington Cemetery at 8:00 a.m. (the earlier we arrive at these places, the less likely we’ll have to wade through a sea of touring bodies). Tour the cemetery for about two hours. Cross the Arlington Memorial Bridge (and this is assuming pedestrians can cross the bridge, if not, we’ll take the Metro) to the Lincoln Memorial, then the Vietnam Veteran Memorial, then stop somewhere for lunch (hopefully we’ll find someplace cheap), see the Washington Memorial and the White House, head back to our hotel room. Notice that Sunday will be spent all day outside – there is a 40% chance of rain Sunday, so I’m thinking I may have to shuffle some days around here.
Monday: Get in line at 8:00 a.m. at the Bureau of Engraving and nab tickets for a tour between 5 – 7 p.m. (The Bureau of Engraving only holds tours in the morning and evenings and if you don’t grab a time ticket, you don’t get in). After we get our tickets, head over to the National Air & Space Museum and spend a few hours there. Go back to hotel room, have lunch, rest up and go back to Bureau of Engraving for our evening tour.
Tuesday: Sleep in. Go to National Museum of Natural History at 10:00 a.m. Spend a few hours touring the place and then go to the Old Poll Office Tower to see the tower and have lunch. After lunch, to go the International Spy Museum (because I will most likely reserve some 3:35 tickets and we’ll need to go at that time).
Wednesday: Sleep in. Go back to the National Air and Space Museum (because apparently this place is huge and this is the ONE place my husband really wants to spend time at so I want to make sure we see everything) and spend a few more hours. Then head out to the National Geographic place because I think the boys would really enjoy walking through the exhibits.
Thursday: Is open. We only have the morning to do something as our flight takes off in the afternoon. So we might not really get to do anything other than check out and head to the airport, but we’ll see how it works out.
Friday: Unpack, do laundry, catch up on email/blog/sleep.
We actually have quite a few gaps between exhibits that we can probably squeeze in some other stuff, but I don’t want to make this trip TOO taxing so we might just head back to our hotel and veg by the pool. We’ll see.
This is a tentative schedule, of course. I’m not as rigid as I make myself out to be. But I do like to have some sort of tentative plan so we’re not running around, bumping into each other, like the three four stooges and saying, “What should we do now? Where should we go now?”
I hate that. It’s such a waste of time.
I’ll be spending the majority of today cleaning house, running errands (must remember to take movies back to Blockbuster – hate late fees), doing laundry, emptying camera cards and making sure all cameras (we’re taking FOUR! Our Canon, Powershot, Pentax [I use that one to shoot short videos] and our video camera) are fully charged and have extra batteries, and of course, packing. I used to get so carried away with the clothes but HELLO, most places have a washer and dryer somewhere and it’s just so much easier to throw a load of laundry in as opposed to lugging around extra clothing. As long as I remember something nice to wear to dinner and our swimsuits, we can wear the same pairs of shorts and t-shirts all week (that sounds gross, but you know what I mean).
Uh oh, I just checked our hotel’s amenities – it doesn’t list laundry options. This could be bad. Oh well, I can’t worry about that right now *makes a dismissive gesture*.
I plan on blogging our adventures. I have a few blog entries set to pre-post, but I’m apologizing in advance now because posts might be a bit sporadic this week and will most likely not appear until the evening when we’ve stumbled gotten back to our hotel room for the night.
I’m really looking forward to our trip! I’m NOT looking forward to our flight. Though I’m not exactly afraid of flying, it’s not something I would choose to do on a regular basis. We’re flying out of Springfield, which is always sort of an iffy venture because we’re a small airport and things inevitably get delayed (mostly due to equipment problems, but we won’t dwell on that).
Oh look, it’s pouring rain again.
Damn weather. We’re going on vacation, PLAY NICE, will ya?
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