Can I Have This Dance?

I hope you are all gearing up for the long holiday weekend. Not much on tap here, except to try and get the painting finished on the house! We're getting closer. I also volunteered to work about 5 hours this weekend, as the volumes are apparently up in my account at work. Not that I help much in the volume of things! I am quite slow right now. It is hard to type fast when you have to listen to the same sentence at least 5 times and then decide you can't understand a word of it! I do enjoy doing it though. I know when I get to where I can understand these doctors, I will really love it!
Emma is so excited because she is signed up for dance classes at McCabe Lutheran Church in the Leap of Faith program. She starts Sept. 8. She has been so interested in dancing, especially lately. She has been wanting me to show her how to do a pirouette. I can't dance to save my life. I wish I had learned. I remember going to high school dances and sitting along the edge watching. Most people sitting on the edge watching are doing so because they don't have a date. I had a date. Scott. I thought he danced like a chicken (which is better than I could do!). I would only dance if it was a slow song. Not because of the closeness, but because I couldn't (or wouldn't) dance to the fast ones. I don't want Emma to follow in those footsteps. I hope she learns how to dance. She is very excited about it. Maybe I should sign Gage up too? I don't want him to resemble a chicken when he dances. When I lived in Mississippi, I had some colored friends who said I didn't have rhythm. They were right. So, I figure it's pretty much useless learning at this point in my life. We don't go to many dances, so typically it's not a big deal. At the Ducks Unlimited staff's annual Christmas party, dancing usually starts up near the end. Then, it's more fun to sit and watch anyway. Especially if someone asks Scott to dance. Sorry Scott! :-) Anyway, Emma is very excited about her upcoming dance classes, and so am I!

Salesman Gage

Gage's day went pretty good yesterday after school. I think he's adjusting to this all day business. He was sooooo excited when he came out of the building. He says, "MOM, WE GOT OUR FROZEN FOOD FUNDRAISER PACKS!" Oh, great. He apparently enjoyed that last year. Not Mom. I just hate trying to sell things. I would starve if I had to live as a salesperson. I think he just really remembers liking the prize he got for the amount of stuff he sold.
I have done some painting today! Believe it or not. I had no excuses this morning. The weather was nice, and no rain clouds to be seen. I can't do a whole lot with Emma, however. She seems to be good at sneaking off to the neighbors' house without telling me. She has become good friends with Dr. and Mrs. Ramos, who lives just south of us. And also Jazzie's parents. (Jasmine is a little pomeranian dog that lives 2 houses down). Emma just LOVES Jazzie, as we call her. Anyway, I got the front picture window trimmed, Emma's south bedroom window trimmed, Gage's north bedroom window trimmed and the back door of the garage trimmed. Only 8 more windows to trim, but I can't do those until the 2nd coat of blue is put on the house. So, get to work Scott!!! :-)
Things are fairly quiet around here as I can't think of much to talk about.

Hump day

Well, it is hump day. Half of the week is over and I'm not complaining. Emma had her Jr. Kindergarten Open House at the YMCA today. There are a few kids in her class that she knows from last year, so that is nice. She went off and played with toys while I listened to the information from the teacher. It will be the same teacher as last year. Actually, this will be my fourth year in a row to be with these teachers, as Gage had them his two years of being there at Preschool and Jr. K. They'll miss me next year! Kathy (the teacher) told me that they had stuck Emma into the other classroom and she had to fight to get her back into her room. When I had filled out the paperwork this past spring, I asked Kathy how to be sure I would get her again this year, as they were having alot of changes with their program. She told me to just write her name on my sheet that I turn in. I did that, and she made them get out the paper to show them I had requested to be in her room. I appreciate that. I don't have any problems with the other teacher, but I have had the same teacher for 3 years, why change now? Anyway, we got the teacher we wanted. Emma will have swimming lessons one day of the week with her Jr. K. program. Last year she had 2.
The past few days I have had several things I needed to do. Monday, I had a doctor's appt. scheduled with the neurologist to discuss the MRI and EEG and also to discuss maybe using migraine prevention medications. I told Scott Sunday night that I had the appointment and he was planning to come home during that time to be with Emma. Well, I completely forgot about it on Monday morning, and so did Scott. I felt terrible, as I had called them the week prior with a severe headache. They were probably thinking it must not have been that severe if I don't even make it to the appt? Well, that wasn't the case. I am just having some problems remembering things I have scheduled. It's either because I have too much going on, or I'm getting "old-timer's" disease? I'm afraid it's the latter. I have been writing myself a note each night before I go to bed of things not to forget the following day. So far it has been working. I haven't missed any appointments the past 2 days!
I talked to my Mom on the phone today and was sure to give her my web address to check out my blog. I don't think she gets my emails, so now I know she will be checking it out. Jari, you will have to get her set up so she can leave comments (although some of them might be scary! HA).
I've got about 1 hour here before I go to pick up Gage from school. Wish me luck. I think he's been going to bed at a decent time, so hopefully he's getting enough sleep. The reason I say "I think" is because typically right after supper, I head down here to the basement and start working until late. Scott has had bedtime duty alot lately. He's doing great at it. Last night I could even see him outside painting through the basement windows. I was glad to see that. We need to get that 2nd coat on before it snows! :-)
Nothing else really too exciting to blog about, so I will either post again tomorrow, or later this afternoon if Gage gives me reason to! HA!

Sugar bugs!

Well, the sugar bugs have invaded our house. Emma had an appointment with the dentist today and had her first set of x-rays (they have their first set when they are 4). She has a cavity. I am not surprised. She eats candy all the time. I don't even know where she finds half of it. She tries telling me she doesn't, but she hasn't figured out that picking up the empty wrappers might keep her out of trouble! Gage has not yet had a cavity, so I'm not sure of what filling a cavity entails in a child these days. She has already told me she doesn't want a shot. I told her that I don't know what they will do, but if she has to get a shot, then maybe she'll stop eating so much candy, or try to brush her teeth after she eats it? I have a feeling, even though she is the second child, that there will be a lot of "firsts" yet to come. Her appointment is in December, so we have plenty of time to worry about it.

Whew, the first day is finally over!

Gage had a great day at school. Immediately I asked him how it went and what all did he do. "I can't remember Mom." UGH! So, I had to play 20 questions. Was lunch good? Yes. What did you have? Pepperoni pizze, green beans and fruit choice. What did you choose for your fruit? Pineapple. Did you eat it all? Yes. Where is your water bottle? I guess I forgot it. Then half way home...Where is your snack bag? It's in my desk at school MOM! I told him we needed to go back and get those things. MAJOR MELTDOWN ENSUED! Long story short, he lost computer privileges for 2 days, and was begging for more. I told him I understood it was a LONG day, but we needed to go back and get those things so I could send fresh water tomorrow and I needed his snack bag for his snack. (I sure didn't want to bring it home after it had sat in his desk all night long with an empty, not washed out, container of cottage cheese!) Anyway, he is in for a long week. He loved school, but it is going to be tough getting back on our strict bedtime schedule after being lenient over the summer.
I just finished working and I need to get to bed myself to prevent any meldowns from Mom tomorrow!! G'night!

First Day of School

Gage's classroom

Already hard at work!

Dad gives Gage some
Fatherly advice.

Gage has number 17
He says, you have to be
17 to apparate Mom!

Gage - 6 years old

First Day of School

Gage's favorite breakfast
toast with "warm butter and

peanut butter".

Well, Gage is at school. He is so excited. I think he thinks Mom is a little nuts though. He didn't want to give me a kissing hand (probably only the people who have read that book know what that means), he says, "MOM!" Then, finally, when we decided to leave, I had to go back in the room to tell him to remember that we are going to meet him around the corner of the school when he gets out at 3:05. He says "I KNOW MOM!" He's growing up too fast. You should be proud of me though, I walked away with dry eyes. On the walk home Scott had to look to see if I was crying, and I said, "What, are you going to cry?" HA HA! He just said he was checking to see if I was yet.

It's a chilly, dreary day. Darn, no painting today. Emma and I are going to have to find something to do to keep us busy. Cleaning her room will pretty much take up the whole day. I'll try to do another post after school (that is, if Gage isn't having computer withdrawal at that point!) :-)

Nervous

Well, I wonder if Gage is as nervous as I am about his first day of First Grade? I just can't believe he's going to be gone all day long, 5 days of the week! I know Emma is going to miss him, but I don't know if she'll miss him as much as Mom will? :-) I know he will be fine. I made up a badge type lanyard for him to wear to lunch with his number on it. They are supposed to have it memorized, and I think maybe he does, but I just want to make sure he has it just in case he forgets. He's excited about lunch at school. They are having Pepperoni Pizza, green beans and fruit choices (whatever that means?). This year they bring their own snacks every day instead of one child bringing snacks for the entire class once a month. I like this better, as I know he will have healthy snacks. I talked to him tonight about lunch time, and that alot of times they don't have alot of time to eat, so he should make sure to eat his lunch before he gets involved in conversation. Yeah, right! I tried convincing him by telling him if he just sits down to eat and didn't mess around, he would probably have more time to play at recess after lunch. Hopefully that helps. I know he will do fine. I guess it's what mothers do best, worry. I'll update you tomorrow on how the first day went! We'll see if Mom can walk away with dry eyes or not. I will be sure to have the camera with me, so I'll try to post those as well.

We did alot of painting today. We nearly have the entire house with at least one coat of paint. There are a few high boards on the south side that we will have to get a taller ladder for. Then there's this part on the north side of the house, behind the garage that is above the patio. I wonder if whoever built that patio and put the roof on it, ever wondered about how difficult it might be to paint one day? I doubt it. This is not going to be easy to do. For one part that is just above the patio roof (I'm not sure what you call it? awning maybe?) we will have to lay down on the top of the shelter (I'll just call it that), and we'll have to by laying on some type of plywood board, or we'll be falling through it onto the patio floor. Then, for the other part, you cannot reach it from the roof of the garage (I tried that today), and you can't stand on the roof/awning of the patio, and you can't use a ladder either because the roof comes out too far. I really have no idea how we're going to get that part painted? Hopefully neighbor Dave will come up with a clever plan! :-) The front side of the house is nearly finished. I just have to trim around the picture window and that side will be done! The north side is done, except for the soffit (sp?). It's hard to get much done during the week, with the kids. (Although I will be short one tomorrow). Then when Scott gets home from work after 5, we eat supper and then I go to work in the basement about 6pm. Weekends are the most productive time for us. We have some possible thunderstorms also, so pray it's not too heavy until we get our gutters back on the house. That's all we need is to flood the basement! UGH!

The kids made pictures today to take to church for our babysitter Erin. She is leaving for college this week. We are so sad. Emma drew a picture of herself with a frown and tears falling down her face, and drew Erin with freckles. Gage just drew a picture of himself. We also gave her a little photo album with pictures of Gage and Emma in it to hopefully keep her from getting homesick. Good Luck at college Erin! We will miss you!

Today is my sister Kim's birthday. She is 45 today. I hope her day went well. I turned 35 this month and I see 40 just around the corner. I hope she's not looking around that corner! Happy Birthday Kim!

He is going to be alright. There is nothing to worry about. He won't starve to death. He'll know where the bathrooms are. He will be fine. Until tomorrow..................

Productive day

What a beautiful day it was here in Bismarck, ND!! We spent the entire day outside. The kids played, and I painted. I painted the back side of the house, and let me tell you, that was not easy! The back side of our house is 2 stories. I started out just painting as high as I could reach on our regular ladder. Then after I had that finished, I decided that I was going to try and get the high parts as well. I had to use our neighbor Dave's extension ladder for that. I wasn't sure I could do it, but I did. I kept imagining myself falling off the ladder and hoping my kids would know to call 911. It was really hard around the bushes. I thought that if I fell then, at least I would fall in the bushes and that would break my fall. But then I decided that might not be good either, as I would probably get speared by a branch and become shishkebobbed (sp?). Sometimes having a nursing background isn't so good. I know too much about what could happen. Oh well, it gave me some interesting things to think about. Not that I didn't have enough to listen to with the kids. They fought alot of the time. The Webkinz are now in hiding. They won't come out until there's alot of polite talking going on between Gage and Emma. They may never get them back!!
It's funny listening to your kids talk/play when they don't think you can hear them. Gage constantly plays Harry Potter. He casts spells like there is no tomorrow. EXPECTO PATRONUM! The neighbor kids showed up a little later in the afternoon and played for a few hours with Gage and Emma. I was quite entertained with the topics of conversation. I think they were pretending they were in their dreams, but in real life. Gage's friend kept wanting them to be naked in their dreams? Thank goodness Gage didn't want to. I'm not sure what that was all about. I think it has to do with nearing the age of nine. I think kids around ages 9 and 10 are so annoying. I'm not looking forward to those ages. Or the teenage years for that matter!
Gage is doing his best to get his Webkinz frog back. I told him that there was going to have to be alot of politeness going on. He then started picking up the toys that were laying around, and comes upstairs to ask, "Mom, is there anything I can do to help you?" Why yes, Gage, there is! He organized the shoe closet, cleared off the kitchen table, picked up all the DVD's that were lying around out of their cases. I suppose I'll have to give it back eventually. The problem with Emma is that she doesn't really care that I took hers away. So, she's not going to be suckered into doing anything she doesn't want to do. UGH!
Scott and the kids are upstairs watching the original Star Wars movie. Their last night of staying up late. Tomorrow night they are going to be in bed quite early, to try and have a good day at school on Monday! Gage is so excited. He's not half as excited as I am though! HA HA! I'm anxious to see how his day goes, being at school all day long and eating lunch there! I hope he makes good choices. Actually, I don't think they have choices for lunch the first couple days of school. He's a good eater though, so I don't think I have to worry much. It's just hard knowing I won't have much control over that part of his life anymore! I try to always feed them healthy meals, although I know sometimes I get lazy. I can still send a nutritious snack. School lunches aren't always the most nutritious, but they are trying to improve, I think.

Sucker!!

Yes, I am a sucker. I admit it. The kids and I went to the mall today, and they each came home with a Webkinz. I swore I would NEVER buy another stuffed animal as long as I live. Yeah, right. If the dumb things weren't so cute! I am using them to my advantage though.....Emma's room is getting cleaned, as I type. I spent a few hours Monday cleaning her room, and it never fails, when she has friends over, it gets trashed. I tried making them clean before their friends went home. Gage and his friend did very well cleaning his room. Emma, well, she's a different story. I do NOT know how to motivate her to help out? I try threats, and even if I act upon them, it doesn't work. She just doesn't care. I get so aggravated about her room, I can't even stand to go in it. Anyway, after we left the mall, I told them that they wouldn't play with these Webkinz, online pets, until their rooms are picked up. Gage went right to it. He was getting irritated though, as Emma won't help. She just dinks around and lets the other person do it all. She's smart I guess? So, I'm thinking, at least with Gage, I have some leverage and every day, there will be no Webkinz/computer time until their rooms are picked up! I should include the rest of the house too. :-)

Out of commission

I'll bet you were all wondering if that last post was going to be my last, huh? Sorry, I've been out of commission today with a nasty migraine. It was on it's third day, and was halfway tolerable the first two, but today was another story. Had to call my doctor's office this morning and ask for the nurse to call me back. It was so bad I was crying on the phone. Two hours later, I called again to make sure they gave her the message, and she was very busy. Not long after that she called me back and called in a prescription for some meds. Naprosyn and Flexeril. I've taken those 2 things before, but for my back when I had problems, but I hadn't heard of it for headache. My friend Shannon (bless her heart) picked up the prescription for me and then took the kids the rest of the afternoon so I could sleep the headache away. It worked, thank God! Emma told me at supper, "You know why your headache went away Mom?" I said, "Why, Emma?" She said, "Because Shannon prayed it would." Thanks Shannon. It worked. I go in to see the Neurologist again Monday about the tests (which by the way were normal), and talk about prevention medication. I'll be all for that. I'm so tired of these things.
Jari, it appears you figured out your problem with leaving comments? I'm not sure how to help if you haven't. I'll copy your question to my next post and see if anyone else can help.
My friend Emily sent me a very funny ebay listing that I want to share with you Pokeman cards It's so funny, be sure to click on it and check it out.
Scott is working late tonight, so I won't be able to start working until later. He has to give some presentation at the Ramkota I believe?
He's loving his truck! Not as much as I'm loving not having to take him to work and then go get him! I'll have to take a picture and see if I can figure out how to insert it into my posting.
Does anyone know anything about Web skins? It's some stuffed animal thing that you play with at the computer? Gage borrowed his friends' little sister's (she's not even 2) stuffed animal that he tells me is a Web skin and you can do things on the computer with it. It felt too soft and squishy to me to have any kind of computer in it? He told me to go to the website, but I had no luck finding it. He said some other friends of his has one? I have no idea. We'll have to call them up. He was quite upset that I couldn't find the website. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!
I best get going. Gotta get the kids to bed so I can get to work. :-) L8R G8R.

Technical difficulties

Sorry all. I am having technical difficulties. Thanks to Emily, I think I have it figured out! :-) I think I may have deleted one of your comments Jari, in the New Car! post? Sorry, if I did. Be sure to check out the link below in my other post (Van). It's great.

New Car!

Well, good news. Scott bought a truck! YEE HAW! He got a 2002 Toyota Tacoma SR5 Extra cab. Even better news, it cost around $40 to fill the gas tank! We'll be rich just living off the savings in gas! HA HA! Earlier this spring we downsized my vehicle from a suburban to a Honda Odyssey minivan. That was HUGE savings in gas! We went from $120 to fill up, to $40! So, we can now fill up 2 vehicles in less than we could fill up just the suburban! Scott's 4x4 Chevy truck wasn't cheap to fill up either. Anyway, I am thrilled to death I don't have to play taxi cab driver as far as Scott is concerned! He spent the evening organizing the garage so he can get his new baby inside. He has never had the luxury of parking in the garage, as his other truck was too tall, mostly because our garage door sags in the middle when it is up. He'll be loving it this winter when he doesn't have to scrape ice off the windshield!!!I'm suffering from another stinking headache today. Went in this morning for an EEG. So hopefully with the MRI yesterday and EEG today, we can get something figured out. They may figure out there's not much of a brain in there. HA HA!Gage has his Open House at school today. He gets to meet his teacher. We already know her from the kids' developmental screenings every 6 months until they turned three. She is so nice and we are thrilled to have her. There are so many kids (100+) in Gage's class that they have had to hire a new 1st grade teacher (the one Gage got), for a total of 5 1st grade classes! It's a huge school, but really, it hasn't seemed that big. We'll see how it goes this year with him attending all day. I'm sure the 3:05 after school pick up is going to be fun with over 600 kids piling out of the school at once. Thank goodness we live within walking distance to the school and don't have to get involved in all of the traffic issues!I think my sister Jari Jo is enjoying my blog. She just sent me an email to send her the link at work! :-) Hey Jari, I think our neighbor has an older car for sale? You can come up and test drive it and see if you would like it for Katie! :-) I'll check on the price for ya.

Van

While I was outside vacuuming out my minivan, I was thinking about Emily and her blog. She posted a great You Tube video that I would like to share with you all. This is why I am trying to keep my van clean. Mom My Ride

Old

Did I mention I don't want to be old? Every night before I go to bed, I comb through my hair looking for grays. I haven't found many lately, until last night. I think I found 6 total! I pull those suckers out as quickly as I can get ahold of them. I suppose when I'm bald, they will be easier to spot.
I worked last night til about 11 pm. Some of you may not know that I am now employed part-time. I started working for a company called MedQuist out of New Jersey as a Medical Transcriptionist. It's quite difficult trying to understand most of the foreign doctors. Anyway, I have discovered since working, why, back when I worked as a nurse on the 3-11 shift, why I hated it. I just can't shut my brain off when I'm done. I looked at the clock last about 3 am. I had to get up at 7 am as I had to go have an MRI of my head and neck today, to try and figure out if there's another cause to my migraine headaches. I can think of one other cause, sleep deprivation!! UGH!
It's wet out again today. Guess I can't paint. Darn. Scott did get a little bit painted last night on the south side of the house. It's looking good.
I saw that my sister Jari Jo, visited my blog! :-) She thinks I am windy. She is probably right. We'll see what happens when the newness wears off. Maybe she can show Mom how to find my blog.
Only 6 more days until school starts for Gage! He will be in First Grade this year. Seems unreal. Makes me feel old. HA! We're counting down the days. I'm not sure what Emma and I will do to stay busy while Gage is away all day. They only do half-day Kindergarten here, so this year will be a new adventure. Emma starts Jr. Kindergarten on Sept. 5. I'm hoping I can rearrange my work hours to be during the time they are in school, so I can get some more sleep!
Not much planned here today. Scott has the car, so we're stuck here at home. He's searching for a vehicle and I will be SO GLAD when he finds one. Being a one-vehicle family is for the birds!!

Well, we found Emma some shoes at Target. They were half the price of Scheels' sale price, so instead of saving money, I bought 2 pair. A girl needs shoes, right? I was also quite excited to find a couple of pairs of jeans for her, that fit around the waist AND are long enough!!! She wasn't sure she liked them around her feet. I said, "Emma, that is the way jeans are supposed to fit, not like you're expecting a flood!"
I found a store I'm in love with at the mall. C.J. Banks, which I believe is Christopher and Banks for fat people. HA! I didn't know it was for fat people until I walked by their store window display, which had a very cute skirt, that lured me in. I went in and found it (with some help) and then discovered it was a store for us full-figured women. :-) Anyway, I really liked it, and it wasn't very expensive, but I had to think about it so we went on to Target. On the way back through the mall, I went in and bought it. I decided to spend some of my birthday money and have a new outfit for church. They had some awesome sales and I found 2 tops to go with the skirt. Then, Scott wanted to stop in Eddie Bauer, so we did. I found a sweater/blouse in there that matched my skirt too! It was on sale, from $40 to $9.99, but they were having a sale on their sale, so I got it for $7! I bought 3 outfits for under $80! Who cares if they are all with the same bottoms? Each top makes the skirt look different, so maybe no one at church will notice? Now I need some shoes to go with it. HA HA!
We've had 3 wet, dreary days in a row. I'm not complaining, because I love that type of weather. The problem is we need to get our house painted! We have 2 sides to go, and they each need 2 coats. I hope we can get it done before it snows!
I'm enjoying my blog so far, but I don't think my family is checking it out? Actually, I think Kysa did, as I see a Creston, IA on my neocounter. Maybe the Redfield is some family? I guess that would be the equivolent to me being in New Salem? They need to post comments on my blog and let me know what they think.

Where do I start?

I'm doing pretty good, huh? Are you impressed that I figured out how to get that little neocounter on my blog?? I was!! However, I didn't think about my blog being visited by people who don't know me. I know no one in the United Kingdom or Germany. The only out of country visit I would get would be my nephew, Ryan, who is in South Korea. Although, I'm not sure I know his email address to send him the link to my blog? Kim, J.L., or Sara, if you are reading, maybe you could fwd him the link so I could get a visit from South Korea. Thanks! Oh, and for whatever reason, that neocounter thinks I am from New Salem, ND. I have never been to New Salem. All I know is that Scott tells me they have a big cow there, named New Salem Sue? So, I don't know really if I can trust the thing? I saw someone from Illinois visited, and the city isn't familiar. My sister Kim lives in Illinois. Also my niece Sara. It could be her, I guess. Maybe it could be a little suburb off of Chicago. I'm not sure. So, Emily, if you are wondering who might be visiting your blog from New Salem, it's me, Stacy, down here in the basement.
I couldn't sleep last night. I'm blaming this blog. I was trying to think of things to write about. I think it was nearly 2 a.m. when I finally crashed? Then, at 3 a.m., the little red-haired girl decided to hop in bed with Mom and Dad. I guess she didn't "hop" in. It was more like she plowed through. She had troubles making it to the head of the bed because "there are too many feets in the way". That was funny. She actually didn't stay long. She wanted Dad to take her back to her room, she says she was too hot.
The weather was great last night. A nice cool breeze coming through the bedroom window. Fall is in the air. Speaking of fall, the stores in Bismarck are getting ready for Halloween. We went to Sam's Club yesterday and they had some Halloween decorations out already. There was one cool thing that I would love to have. It was a big cage that you hang from your ceiling or wherever. There was a skeleton in the cage on his knees with his hands around the bars. As we were walking by, there were several people standing in front of it. I stood back until the crowd thinned down, then walked up to check it out. It was talking. I thought it must be activated by a motion sensor, because it would talk when you stood in front of it. It said, "Hi lady in the purple shirt". I looked down to see what shirt I had on. It was more blue, I think. Then, this kid, about 12 years old, walked by and it said, "Hey kid in the gray shirt". He looked down at his shirt and then looked at me. I looked at him, I know with a puzzled look on my face. I was trying to figure out how this thing could differentiate colors. Then, Gage came up to it, and it started talking to him. I believe he was holding up a big box of granola bars to it, and it said, "I would love to have one of those granola bars, I haven't eaten in years, you can even see my ribs!" Then it talked to Emma. I walked away and stood in another aisle off to the side to watch. An older lady walked by and I didn't hear what it said, but I saw her give it a double take, and a dirty look. I was amazed. Then, Scott came up to me and clued me in that there was a man standing in the cell phone booth talking into a microphone. I think I must have some of those blonde genes that all of my sisters got? DUH! Then, the 12 year old boy came up to me and said, "I figured it out!" I didn't want to be outsmarted, so I said, "Yeah, I did too!" HA HA! Man, I would kill to work a day at Sam's Club if I could have control of that microphone. Although, I would probably have to purchase some Depends, in bulk. Gage was a bit disappointed later when Scott told him there was someone operating it with a microphone. Emma did nothing but talk about it the rest of the day. She was quite entertained by the fact that when she held up a multipack of toothpaste from our cart in front of it, it said, "What, do you think I have bad breath or something?" Funny. Anyone reading who lives here in Bismarck, it would be worth the $40 Sam's Club membership fee just to go take a look! I love Halloween.
Oh, and I was reminded that I needed to mention in my blog, another way in which I am "behind the times". Emily thinks it is just hilarious that I don't have a cell phone. I remember when we first met, I had called her I think, and I was giving her my phone number and she asked if it was a cell phone. I told her I didn't have a cell phone. She didn't believe me. I told her that I knew I needed to join this century. Fact is, I hate cell phones. I do like that I can call others on their cells, but I don't want one of my own. Scott has been telling me he has been thinking about getting me one. I told him I didn't want one. He says he would like to be able to get ahold of me wherever I am. I don't want a cell phone. If, I happen to get away from the house, without the kids, or Scott, I am not wanting to be getting phone calls from them! There are times when I think it would be handy. I also think, that maybe for emergencies it would be nice. I also worry that when I'm not at home, and if the kids were to get hurt or sick at school, how would they get in touch with me? Then, I float back into reality and realize that I don't need one. If someone needed to desperately get ahold of me, they'll find me. I'm not far away. And, for emergencies, well, Scott has a cell phone, call him! And, if I'm ever anywhere far away and have an emergency, odds are, Scott will be there too, and he can use his. I don't want a cell phone. We'll see how long I can live without one. My Mom and Dad even have one! It's a track phone. Although, I don't know if they know how to use it. It's just for emergencies they say. Although, when an emergency happens, it would be nice to know how to operate the thing!!! :-) Did I mention, I don't want a cell phone?
Well, I need to go. Emma needs a pair of tennis shoes to start school. We went to Scheels yesterday and their children's shoe department was PACKED with people. I couldn't stand it, so we left, without shoes. I think we're going to look at Target today. Scott, who is quite the shopper these days, says Target has some nice ones. I'll let you know what we find. Later.

Behind the Times

Ok, I know, I am behind the times. I am trying to catch up though, I mean, I even have an iPod now, and have figured out how to purchase music from iTunes!!!
I'm not sure why I'm starting up this blog? Well, yes I do. My friend Emily is a blogger. I love reading her blog. Every day I check it out to see what's new, even if I have spent most of that day with her! I enjoy hearing her take on the days' events. Now, the real reason I started my own blog, is because Emily has this cool little "neocounter" posted on her blog that lists daily, the cities where all the people are from that have visited her blog. How cool is that? I may soon find out that I'm not quite as popular as Emily though. I mean, she has people visiting from countries I've never even heard of!!!
I hope this blog doesn't end up like all of the journals I have started, and not kept up with through the years. I don't want to start and fail to continue. (That would be like Jody's blog! HA HA!)
I'm hoping that maybe this will help to keep my sister from threatening never to call me again because I am never home to answer the phone anyway? Maybe she will be able to keep up with me and what's going on if she can log on daily to see what we're up to? (I guess if she does that, I will have at least one person showing up on my nifty little neocounter!) Maybe my Mom, who is more behind the times than I am, will figure out how to check this out, and maybe I can make her laugh on a daily basis? If I can do those things, I guess then I've accomplished what I have set out to do! So, until tomorrow.....................