Deep Thoughts

Rick Warren (via Twitter): No one can control your emotions without your permission. Who are you allowing to ruin your day?



Tuesday, October 14

Weekend Travels

Here are some of the more humorous and monumental events of our weekend. If you are starting with this blog entry, you might want to go check out our family spot too to see more info about the weekend at cowboyhunts.blogspot.com.


1) Our portable dvd player didn't work when I plugged it in. Upon closer inspection to the unit, I realized the plug looked a little odd and remembered hearing something drop when I was plugging it in while stopped in Tulsa. Unfortunately I had plugged it in in back of the van so whatever fell was under all the luggage. After driving out of Tulsa and Friday rush hour traffic, we made a quick stop to look for the missing pieces. I found two, but there must have been at least one more that remains unfound because the plug still did not work properly.

2) The kids cheered after stopping on the north/east side of Springfield, MO, when I found a replacement dc adaptor at the truck stop gas station. They got to watch a movie for that last leg of the trip. Incidentally, Robbie was the only one who managed to stay awake long enough to watch the whole thing.

3) While touring the town on Saturday, we drove by all three places we lived while in Columbia, the hospital where Robbie was born, playgrounds we played at, and favorite local spots. Lots of growth in the area! WOW!

4) When driving down the road to the one place we lived that we actually owned (a small 1200 sq ft. two story box-shaped house), I was shocked to see that a huge "mansion" now stands in its place! I was floored! It was a good thing it was not located on a busy street because I am sure that I would have caused an accident. For anyone who never visited us while we were there, the house is (was!) outside of city limits on a little over 3 acres of property. We bought the house because we loved the property and the neighborhood. The house met our needs at the time, but was nothing special . . . other than being our first home. We knew the people who bought the house from us intended to rebuild, but it is a totally different thing to actually see it. It was beautiful! It fit nicely in the neighborhood as well because as I always said, our house was the shack on the block. Still, quite a shocker!

5) As I turned on to our old street to the house mentioned in #4, I was telling Robbie that we were going to see the house where he lived from when we was born until he was two. Upon coming up to the house, Robbie says, "I don't remember living here, Mom." HA, you didn't, Sweetie!

6) Back to the dvd player, the cord I bought was a bit loose where it connected into the dvd player itself. With some tape, I was able to fix it for a while. Unfortunately the tape gave out on the way home, so we had to resort with pushing the player up against the side of the seat to kind of hold it in. This worked for a while too. By the last hour and a half of the trip, it was obvious this was not going to work anymore. So, for the last hour of the trip, I held the dvd player in my hand so I could hold the plug in tightly with my thumb. If it were just the big kids, they would have had to find something else to do; however, at this point Cole especially was tired of sitting in the car but had slept all that he could sleep. When my hand went numb enough that I thought I might drop the dvd player, I switched hands. The first hand had been in the same position for so long, I couldn't even move my fingers. Oh, the things we do for our children!


In summary,
We arrived home safe and sound around 7 pm Sunday night to Rob and a prepared dinner. It was nice to be back home altogether again. I marked the trip down as a success. We visited with old friends, made some new friends, and didn't drive each other too crazy in the car. Just in case you were concerned, my hand and fingers have recovered nicely. GO POKES!

Monday, October 6

Too Much Education?

You know your child has been watching too many Animal Planet/Discovery channel type show-videos and/or reading too many non-fiction animal books when upon seeing your husband swim up to you in the pool to give you a hug and kiss, your six year old asks, "Are you two mating?"

Thursday, October 2

Trip to Portland

Well, I haven't been very good about writing lately. Last week I was trying to get things in order because I was going to be gone for a couple of days. I took a solo trip to Portland for a friend's wedding. I had a great time, the wedding was fabulous, and I enjoyed the area as it was my first visit to the northwest. This week I have been busy playing catch up after being gone for a couple of days. I will try to be better as I have lots of ideas floating around in my head to share.