Ding dong! Look who is kind of back!

Yes, I have been busy and going batty. Figure I should fill you in on where I have been lately and update you on how everything is going!! I have tried sitting down and typing this blog out several times...and I do not get very far. 


First, lets talk about the camping trip over the week of my third wedding anniversary (May 19th). Camping is suppose to be fun, relaxing, and enjoyable?? Right? Well the first day and a half it rained and rained and rained. Oye!!! In addition to all the rain, our camp site was full of goose poop. Yuck! That stuff is just as bad as dog poo or worse. Before even setting up our tent and all we had to de-poop the site, in the rain. Finally by the afternoon of our anniversary, the rain stopped and the sun came out. My inlaws told Rob and I to leave camp and go enjoy the afternoon doing something fun. Since we were only 30 minutes from Berlin, OH we drove over there to a local cheese company and walked through some tourist type of shops. We found lunch at a place called Chalet in the Valley which is a Swiss/German place. It is known down in the area and Rob thought it would be nice to take me to a place that he liked when he was a kid. The food was ok...but I was really hoping for something else. Oh well. The rain did stop that afternoon and the sun came out to play for the rest of the day. We drove back to the camp-site and hung out with my inlaws until it was dinner time. For dinner we drove over to Pizza Hut and picked up a couple pizzas, stopped at a grocery store to pick up more bottled water and also picked up some lighter fluid in hopes that the lighter fluid would get the camp fire going since a lot of the wood we had was wet from the rain. The next day of camping it was warm, sunny and just awesome. I had to actually change into shorts because of how warm it was. I loved it! The next morning we woke up to twelve Canadian geese honking and fighting at 6am!! I was not pleased. I had one more hour to sleep before the alarm went off. Needless to say since we were all up we started to pack up camp and get back to Rob's parent's house. Over the weekend while still at his parent's house we met up with our dear friends who were also in Ohio visiting family. We had not seen them in about two summers and so it was great to catch up with them!


Now to the good stuff. Monday (May 24), Rob and I left our three dog-children in Ohio to start our travel to Florida. We stopped off in Nashville, TN for a couple of days. I was hoping that the water damage buildings would be open but we found out that still not the case. I chose a hotel outside of the city since the Opryland Hotel is still closed. For dinner...we went downtown though and ate at The Old Spaghetti Factory and then walked around downtown. I was hoping that the Wild Horse Saloon would be open, but nope...it was still closed do to water damage. The next day though we spent exploring the rest of TN and went to the Jack Daniels distillery. What a cool and free thing to do! If you ever get a chance...you all should visit the little town of Lynchburg, TN! After doing the tour we drove another thirty minutes to the TN/AL border, and ended up eating dinner at Sonic over in Alabama. I had never been to Alabama...and so now I only have a couple other states to color in. 


Wednesday we got up super early and left the little town of Nashville to head down to St. Petersburg, FL. What a fun day, despite the twelve hour drive south. I finally got to see the city of Atlanta (before this...I had only been to the Atlanta International Airport)!!! Rob drove through Atlanta for me, so I didn't have to deal with the crazy drivers. You all think that Californians or New Englanders all drive fast...well you have not seen people drive in Atlanta!! All you can do is keep up with traffic and you will stay alive. If everyone around you is driving 85 mph...well you better do the same or you will run off the road. The highlight of that afternoon was driving through Macon, GA. If any of you are big country fans...then you will know about Macon, GA. 


Thursday was Rob's interview down in St. Petersburg. We will see if he got the job very soon. I seriously could live in the St. Petersburg area. It is so pretty!!! I spent the afternoon exploring the bay front shopping area of the city which was near the hotel. I didn't want to take the car out of valet and then have to fight for parking around the city. I walked down to the famous Pier that was well recommended by many different travel sites. I saw pelicans up close, ate lunch, and enjoyed a trolley tour of the city! I then went back to the hotel where I first attempted to type out this blog. Later on once Rob got back to the hotel, we enjoyed an evening of baseball at Tropicana Field where the Tampa Bay Rays play. The Chicago White Sox were in town and the Rays ended up winning that night. 


Yesterday we got up and drove down to Naples which was about two hours south. Such a beautiful city!! Rob didn't care for it as I think it was too upscale for him. I for one would go back there in an heart beat. The sand over at the beach feels as if you are walking in brown sugar!!! We didn't have a beach front hotel, but after dinner we drove over to yet another popular pier to watch the sunset. I played in the warm 85 degree F. Gulf of Mexico water for a bit. The sunset was pretty but not as pretty as some sunsets I have seen in Arizona. I have a feeling that if I came back in the winter time...the sunset would be better. The winter time is when you see the amazing sunsets in Arizona and so I am predicting that it would be the same there, too. I did enjoy it though. 


Today we drove up to the east side of Orlando. My good friend, Liz, who I went to high school with lives up here and so I was able to spend the day with her. She and I went shopping and then picked Rob up for dinner. Shopping was a good to me today, though!!! I found three pairs of cropped denim pants, and three tops. Lane Bryant was having a deal where selected capris and pants were buy one get one FREE!!! For all of you big girls out there....this is the time to go shopping at LB!!! Dinner was amazing though...as it was at Sonny's BBQ. When my parents were in Florida a couple years ago they stopped at this place and now this is their favorite bbq place. When Rob and I were driving down to Naples yesterday we actually stopped at Sonny's for lunch. Yes...it is that good that we went to one up here in Orlando for dinner. If you like pulled pork...this is THE place to get it. Sooooo yummy!!! 


So that is where I have been lately. Like I said, I have been busy. Tomorrow we will drive to Savannah, GA and stay the night there. Then Monday we will drive back to Ohio and head back to Connecticut on Friday. I am starting to miss my house, bed, and space!! I am loving this road trip and can not wait to share the pictures that we have taken over this two or three week period. The camera cord was left at home so that is why there are no pictures posted here!!! I promise I will get some posted as soon as I can when I get back to the Connecticut house.

Who is ready to be off the Power Grid?

Tent: CHECK, Sleeping Bags: CHECK, Small Camping Grill: CHECK, Dog Bones: CHECK, Warm & Cool clothes: CHECK! This is just a small portion of what is crammed in the trunk of my car!! We still have a few little items to put in the car tomorrow before we go. 

So where we going?? Well, tomorrow we are headed out to Ohio for a week or so. We are driving ten hours to Rob's parents house. The four of us and the five dogs are going camping this week starting on Tuesday. This should be fun, I hope. I have not been camping in a very long time and I have not yet had a major negative memory from camping. We will be camping at a camp-site (sorry, I am not one who camps out in the middle of the woods). The camp site is about an hour west from his parents house. 

I say that I am going off the grid, since I will probably not have cell service while camping and I will not be online until we get back from camping. In today's society...if you don't have these two items that you are considered off the grid. Rob though is taking his laptop with us to the camp site since he is in the middle of a job search. I though will be good and not use the computer to check my mail or even facebook. I have told Rob that he is only allowed to check his email twice a day and he is not allowed to be on facebook. 

Once we come back from camping which will be Friday...we will go back to my inlaw's house and get everything all washed up. A couple days later, Rob and I are taking a road trip down to Florida! I am excited about this as we are going down there so that Rob can have an on-campus job interview. Yay!!! **Everyone cross your fingers for this to go well!!!** Anyways...since this will be my first trip to Florida we are going to spend most of Memorial Day weekend down there. I booked hotel rooms today and everything is all set. 

When Rob is done with his day of interview, then we will drive down to Naples, Florida and spend the night there. I have heard there is lots of shopping there and it is just very pretty. I am hoping to spend some time on different beaches while I am in Florida as well. Then the next day we will drive up to Orlando and hopefully spend the day with my high school friend, Liz. She lives just outside of Orlando and we have not seen each other for about three years. The last time I saw her was on my wedding day in Oregon. After sleeping in Orlando we will then leave Florida all together and drive the two hours up to Savannah, Georgia! Yay!!! We will spend the day and then sleep there, then drive back to Ohio on Memorial Day. Then depending on everything, we will drive back to Connecticut that week. 

I am pretty excited though. So after tomorrow evening, you will not be able to reach me by cell phone. Where Rob's parents live there is no cell service. I will try and check my mail on Monday which will be the last day before heading out camping!! 

Card Drive for Noah!!

A dear birthmom friend, Coley...has a son who is autistic and has cerebral palsy. Late this month Noah will go in for surgery to help straighten his back. Coley has organized a Card Drive for Noah. The recovery is going to be long and so the cards will help Noah keep his spirits up.

I understand that a lot of you do not know who Noah is or even my friend Coley, but you don't have to. I have done card drives like this before and it is amazing how a simple card can lift a persons spirit. For awhile I was a member of Chemo Angels where I was assigned a chemo patient and I would send them cards and little gifts once a week. Now did I know this person? Nope...not at all. But I loved it. I loved knowing that I was making someone smile each day!!!

Below is the flyer for more information about Noah. Click on Coley's blog for more information.

Movie Theatre Pet Peeves

Ok...so this will probably be a long list, but things have been bugging me lately. If I don't tell you then if you are doing them to me or other people then you people will never learn. Hahaha. This past weekend I just happened to pick up on quite a few of them and I just wanted to cringe each time something happened.

• Handing me your crinkled up money when I tell you the total amount of the transaction, assuming that I will count it for you, and give you back what you need. I really just want to count the money and keep the extra as a tip if you are too incompetent to unravel your money and give me the correct amount. 
  
• Standing in a concession line for 5 minutes and still have no idea what you want when you get up to my register. I really just want to tell you to go back to the end of the line and then maybe by the second time you get up to my line you will know what you want to order. 
  
• Yelling at me that I told you that someone was in line before you, and telling me that you have stood in three different lines for ten minutes. What I want to tell you is that if you would be patient and stand in one line then you will eventually get served. But to continue to jump from line to line is  not my problem. 
  
• Annoyed at me that you are running late for your movie because you tripped over your dog, forgot your wallet, or what ever excuse you have to give me. Next time...try leaving the house earlier and/or have a back up movie planned just in cause the movie you want to see is sold out! 
  
• If you are ordering tickets or concession items, get off the phone!!!!!! I find it very rude that you assume that you can not hang up your phone conversation or put the phone down for just a couple of minutes to get your items. 
• When you are handing your movie ticket to me at a ticket drop location...don't continue to walk and assume I will chase after you to give you back the other half of your ticket. Just be patient, stand and wait until I have torn your ticket and gave it back to you. Also, if you have a large party with you, please have one person have all the tickets. This will speed up the process as well!   
  
• Pick up your own trash as you exit the theatre. This will help the usher crew get a theatre cleaned a lot faster, especially if you are in a sold out show!! 
  
• If you are under the age of 25, don't be offended if I ask for your drivers license if you are buying a rated-R movie ticket. If you are under 17, don't try and have your parent buy your ticket for you! We know that you are going to try and sneak into the rated-R movie after your first failed attempt and then get a PG movie that is "near" the desired movie. Stay in the movie auditorium that you have a ticket for. This makes everyone's jobs a lot easier! 

I kept the list short, I probably could have gone on for awhile...but these are the main ones that myself and other co-workers gripe about. I could probably make a list of what my co-workers and even myself need to stop doing...but that is for another post all together. ;) 

Happy Birthmother's Day

Happy Birthmother's day!! This post is for all of the birthmothers out there today in the world. Birthmother's Day is always celebrated the day before Mother's Day.

I am a member of Birthmom Buds which is an online organization that supports Birthmom's all over the country! I actually volunteer my time each month by writing different articles, collecting birthdays, and even prayer requests for the monthly newsletter.

This month's newsletter was centered around Birthmother's day. I wanted to share with you a poem that was written by another fellow birthmother. The poem was read at the annual birthmom day celebration. I will get to this celebration one year!! But I find this poem very fitting for a day like today. Once again Happy Birthmother's day, ladies!

These Women
by Leigh Harding
(read at Birthmother's Day 2010)

A sigh in the night
A tear down the cheek
The computer goes on
 Because she can't sleep.

The words come out
 As the tears flow
There is only one place
 She knows she can go.

 Where the words don't sound strange,
The language isn't foreign
And there is someone there
 Who has been where she is going.

 Because of their present
They may not know what to say
But the words that are written are
 Honest and true.

 These Women,
These Friends,
These Sisters.

 No matter what we call ourselves
We are tied to the one word
 that will always bind us together:
Birthmother.

Movies in May....What's coming??

    

Well since tomorrow in the movie business will kick off the "summer movies" I thought I would give you all a little sneak peak on what is in store for the month of May. Some of you will probably know about a lot of them especially if there is a movie that you are excited about. I never really caught onto the whole movie maddness until I started working at the movie theatre. Now I may be excited for movies...but I dread the premier days of each big big movie!! The studios always start the summer off with a big anticipated movie on the first Friday of May. Last year the big movie was X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The year before that was the first Iron Man.

May 7th will be the kick off for the movies.  Here is what is in store:
Iron Man 2 which is what most people will be milling into the box office for. Some of you may even be going to the midnight premier tonight with your friends. Some theatres are showing the first Iron Man earlier in the evening at a discounted rate and then see the new movie of Iron Man 2 at midnight. Check with your local theatre to see if you can get in on the great deal! In addition to Iron Man 2, a movies called Babies is coming out as well. This movie is a documentary about looking at four different babies from around the world for one year. Sounds interesting, especially if you are into admiring different cultures, life, and development of humans.

May 14th will bring the new Robin Hood movie. I have seen most of the Robin Hood type of movies and will probably go and see this one, too. By far though, my favorite RH movie is probably RH: Prince of Thieves. So next week I will have to see if this new RH movie is any good. Well maybe not next week...but you know what I mean!! Another movie that is coming out on the 14th is Letters to Juliet. A light hearted movie about an American girl who goes to Italy and finds an unanswered letter. Basically we all know how these movies go...but if you are like me...you will go see this just to get the warm fuzzy feeling. Great date movie...and hey...this comes out just 5 days before my anniversary. hmmmm!!?? Another date night type of movie that comes out on the 14th is Just Wright. Ok...stop for a moment...can anyone tell me who Common is?? I went and looked up what other shows he has played in and I am still stuck. This moving with Common and Queen Latifa does look kind of cute. I have not seen many commercials for this moving only because I tend to skip through commercials when I watch television shows if they have been taped on my dvr.

May 21st will be a weekend for most families. Well that is if a family loves the Shrek movies. The fourth installment of the Shrek movies will be released. This time, the movie will be in 3D. This new Shrek movie is titled Shrek Forever After. This installment just does not look good to me. I think that DreamWorks is trying too hard with these movies and should have stopped after the second one. One of the reviews that I read said that this new Shrek movie was not at the same level as the first two movies, but better than the third one. So who knows. I will probably skip this one, myself. Another movie that will be released this same week is a movie called MacGruber. I have not seen or heard what this movie is really about. I guess I need to get caught up on my movie previews for this week in particular!

May 28th is the last Friday of May. The weekend of Memorial Day, so what will families have a choice to see if they have seen everything that is listed above? There are two movies for people to choose from. The first one is Disney's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. This movie looks good and I will go and see this one. I will let the hype die down with this and see what other people think about this movie. On the 27th of May, Sex in the City 2 will be released as well. For those of you who are avid fans of the first one are probably already counting down the days until this second movie is released. Yes I am a female...but no, I will not be seeing this movie. I never got into the television show and or even the first movie that was released a couple years ago. I guess I will probably never know or understand the hype with these movies, just like I don't understand the hype for the Twilight saga movies either.

So there you have it. You have now seen what is in store for the month of May. In a couple weeks, I hope to show you all what June and July all have in store as well. Hope you enjoy!! Please let me know what you all think about these movies!! I will be curious to hear!

It's official!!!

Rob and I are going camping for our anniversary. Not what you all thought this message would be about, huh? Some of you thought, "Gasp! She's pregnant!" or "Gasp!! Rob got a job!" No on both of those! But camping it is!

We had loosely talked about going camping for our anniversary, but nothing had been set in stone. We could not decide on where to go until yesterday. We were driving back from Southbury and were talking. I asked the dogs if they would want to go next week to Ohio to see Grandpa and Grandma Schumaker since they got back from Arizona just a couple weeks ago. *My in-laws are "snow birds" and spend the winters out at our house in Tucson with my sister-in-law. They came home in late April this year.* After I said "Go to Ohio..." Rob asked me if I would want to go camping with his parents for next week and I said sure! So he called up his parents to see what their take was on it. His dad said that he would not mind, but Rob would have to convince his mom to go. Rob's mom gets on the line and Rob asked about camping and at first she didn't know, but a little bit of talking and she was on board. She asked about the dates and we said next week, but then the more I thought about it, the more I thought that a couple weeks away would be better. This would give Rob and I some time to pick up the little stuff that we are still looking for, like crank/battery powered LED lanterns, dog ropes and stuff like that.

By the time we got off the phone with his mom, the dates were decided to go camping over the week of our third wedding anniversary, which is in two weeks. Not what most people would probably do, but hey...who said anniversaries have to be about candle-lit dinners at some quiet little corner frilly restaurant? Ok...now that I just wrote....I may be eating my words for years to come...but every couple really has their own way in celebrating. So this year I will spend it with my inlaws out at some camp site in Ohio that is an hour from their house. We will be camping during the week so that it is not so busy. The guy said he was going to charge us the Spring rates!! Sweet!! Anything to save just a little bit of money. In addition to that...our camp sites are right next to each other and right along the river!! Pretty cool huh??

So with Camp Sites reserved, now I need to work on a menu. I figure since I am a picky eater...I would help my mother-in-law with the food for the couple of days that we will be camping. I know she will appreciate this. Then we can make a list of food that we will need. His mom told me that there are a couple little grocery stores near by and so we will drive to the camp sites, get set up and then she and I will go over and pick up the food for the couple of days.

I am very excited. I have not been camping in years and I am sure we will all walk away with stories to tell for years to come.

Christianity & Homosexuality...do they go together?

I guess I have your attention now, as you know that most of the time I stay quiet about hard issues like this. Today I was catching up on some of my subscribed blogs, I came across Addison Road's Jenny's blog back from April 27th. She does something every Tuesday where she talks about tough topics. This past week or two she talked about this actual topic of Homosexuality with in Christianity. 

**I understand by posting a blog like this...I am starting a fire among some of my friends...but I wanted to talk about this.** 

Christian music artist, Jennifer Knapp, last month came out saying that she is a lesbian and has been with her partner for the past several years. She came out and spoke with several different news outlets, including Christianity Today. Here is the article that is posted from Christianity Today. Knapp states that she wanted to stop living a lie and finally just come out and tell people who she is as a person and an artist. So does this make her a bad person?? For some of you, the response will be "Yes! She is professing that she is a Christian but yet she is living in sin because she is a homosexual." Others will respond with, "No...she is not a bad person. I commend her for coming out and living the life of who she really is. She can teach the word while living with her true self." And others will sit and say, "Hmm....I don't know. I have to sit and think about this one!"

A pastor, Bob Botsford has posted his own blog about this. He met Jennifer several years ago with her manager when she was thinking about leaving the Christian Music Business because of the lifestyle that she is choosing to live. He kept quiet about what he thought about all of this until Jennifer came out to the public about her private life. You can read Bob's reaction here. I believe that everyone has their right to their own opinion as I have the right to my own. 


With all of this coming about Larry King had both Bob and Jennifer on his show a couple weeks ago as well. I just finished watching all four parts of the show that I found over on YouTube. I found it very interesting as well. Since I have all four tabs open I will provide the links for you, so that you can just click and watch. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4. I comment Larry for not taking sides (as he has in the past on certain issues) and letting each side take part on what they feel should be said. I think that Larry addresses some good points that makes both sides think. 


So where do I stand on this?? Now...I will admit that I don't have all the scriptures memorized and that I have not been to church since last summer...but I do have my own thoughts on this. I believe that even gay and lesbians can have a relationship with Christ. For where is it my job to judge someone for their own sexual orientation?? Jesus says he doesn't need to be defended...that we need to love one another and not throw the stones. I agree with Jenny from Addison Road on all of this. Jenny states in her blog, '"When did Jesus ever stop and tell the disciples, "Look. There are a lot of sins out there. But homosexuality is at the top of that list. So attack it. Attack those people. Take up arms for me. Start the battle. Wage a war for my sake."' I believe that we need to accept everyone for who they are. I know of straight women who have heard the awful stories from other women in sexual abuse groups, and they can understand why some women would change their sexual orientation. Should we condemn them because of what a man did to them?? I think not! 


For those of you who listen to Addison Road...are you going to stop listening to their music because Jenny took a stand on what she believes? How about you who listen to Jennifer Knapp?? And I am sure that I will get people who will stand up and tell me that I was wrong for posting this...but if we are suppose to love all...then lets do just that! 

May Day & Happy Birthday Denise Johnson!

As a young girl, I would always look forward to the first of May. Back then it was because I had just over a month until my birthday. I knew that Spring has pretty much really came and I could look forward to warm weather and the ending of school. I remember my mom telling us kids stories about what she and her friends would do on May Day. They would collect flowers, leave them on someone's door step, ring the bell and run away. I just recently went and looked this up and this was one of the old traditions that was done here in the states on the first of May. The tradition states though that if the person who received the flowers on the step could catch who left them, then the leaver would receive a kiss. Other countries have May Day traditions, too. England (and eventually the United States) prop up Maypoles and wrap the pole with long ribbons or flowers. 

In modern days though, it seems that May Day is for protesting of all sorts. I do not really care for May Day now. I get tired of hearing about all the protests in each large city and or state. I mean, people protest all the time, but it seems like the only time all of these protests really count are on May 1st. I understand that other countries in the past...May 1st was used for this. But can't we go back to the flowers and Maypoles??

I will say that my dear friend, Denise Johnson, was born on today  and is celebrating her 29 plus 4 years birthday, so I can't hate this day too much!! I hope to see her sometime next month and we can celebrate both of our birthdays the perfect way with lots of laughs, good food, and baskets from Longaberger! 

(Denise & I back in August of 2008 at her Indiana house)