Back to business!

Finally! I'm back online...for good hopefully. I had the Geek Squad come today. They were supposed to be here at 2:45. They called me at 2:45 to say they were running a little late and that they would be there at 3:45!!!! Are you kidding me?!?! This has been a week long process and up until last week, I was pretty pleased with the ole Geek Squad. Well, they didn't get here until 4:15! I was livid!

He was a nice man, but boy did he like to talk. He fished around in my computer and basically told me that it was my cable. Wonderful Comcast...extreme sarcasm. Then on top of that, my desktop is basically infested with viruses. He downloaded some stuff and hopefully it's fixing it.

I was supposed to watch Evan at 5. Luckily, my roommate was home and could stay with the "geek" while I headed off to Mandi's. I go to my car and the "geek's" car is in the way. I thought I could go over the bushes and out my creepy neighbor's driveway. No such luck. So I ran back in to move my roommate's car and thought I could back out on her side. I backed my roommate's car out and pulled it into my other neighbor's driveway. I 'bout ripped my mirror backing out and realized that wasn't gonna work either. So I ran back inside and asked the "geek" to move his car.

It all worked out in the end.

Ever have one of those days?

Contest

Thought Provoking Question

This question was posed to me the other day and I wanted to hear your answers:

If you were a toy, what would you be and why?

(Sorry, I've been out of the loop lately. Stupid internet problems. I only get internet for a little bit each day. Geek squad is coming Tuesday. Hallelujah!)

You wanted to know!

My friend Amanda tagged me to answer the following questions. So, here goes...

1. What’s your favorite piece of furniture in your house & why?
I'm not particularly attached to any of my furniture (it's mostly cheap,
do-it-yourself type stuff), but I do like my couch. It's big, soft, and comfy.
2. Why does X stand for a kiss?
X marks the spot! (Of course in my case, "the spot" hasn't seen any activity in
years!
3. What’s your guilty pleasure website? You know, the one you might be embarrassed to tell us you visit every day!
Match.com
4. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
a teacher...go figure
5. What did you do for your 16th birthday?
It was so awesome! My parents threw me a surprise party at my friend Bethany's
house...er...I mean mansion! It was a blast!!

Family

My sil Tera sent some new pics of the kids. I don't get to see them that much, so I LOVED seeing these pictures!!

The Past

Today I went to a family reunion. It was my dad's side of the family which, other than my aunt and 2 cousins, I haven't seen in decades. I am around my mom's side of the family much more and see them pretty regularly, so when we have family reunions, it's only been a few months since I've seen them.

But today, was very different because it kind of took me back. Like I said, I hadn't seen some of these people since I was a kid and some of them, I had never met! But the ones I knew, it was kind of like a trip down memory lane:

I saw Claudia and Nat and remember me, Mandi, and my 2 cousins swinging on their wooden swing in the back yard and breaking it!

I saw Jane and remember how me and Hannah ended up locking her daughter Lorraine in a van.

I saw John & Mary Lou (I think that's their names!) and remember how we used to play Nintendo with their grandsons, Gabe, Leon, & Jesse, when they came to visit from California.

Of course, everyone is all grown up and married with kids now which were running around everywhere. But one thing that was neat was when each family introduced themselves and how they were part of the Brown family. Then they started talking about old stories. It was so neat.

I never got to meet my dad's dad, Boyd, but it was so neat to see his only living sibling and one of his cousins. What was he like? It's so weird for me to think about that because all my life, I've only had 1 grandfather and he has been a huge part of my life, so when I think of "grandfather", he's all I know. But how would've Boyd changed my perception of the word grandfather? What would've I had called him?

There was so much history represented there today. One day, people I haven't even met yet will be sitting around talking about me after I'm gone (Lord willing)! What will they be saying?

What will your relatives say about you?

"Start the car!"

Have you seen the Ikea commercial where the lady comes out and tells her husband to "start the car" because she got such a good deal that she thought they made a mistake?? Well, Amber and I had the same experience today.

Everyone knows that teachers spend a lot of their own money on their classroom, so when we find a good deal, we usually take it. But this deal, is beyond my realm of comprehension. Even if you're not a teacher, you will appreciate it. Staple's was having a sale today...and boy, do I mean S-A-L-E!

We got everything you see below for not $200, not $100, not $50, not $25 (do you SEE how low I'm getting?!?!) not $10, not even $5.



We got all this for:

$1.86!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Everything was 1 cent!

OK...now that you've picked yourself up off the floor, here's the breakdown:

30 pencil sharpeners
90 pencil boxes
45 packs of pencils (8 in a pack)
49 folders

We had to estimate the original prices b/c they weren't on the receipts, so here's what we estimated:

30 pencil sharpeners at .99 (this one we know was accurate) = $30
90 pencil boxes at ~.99 = $90
45 pencils at $1.49 (this was accurate, too) = $67.05
49 folders at ~ 0.10 = $4.90

Estimated total = $191.95
Plus 7% sales tax of $13.43

Grand Total of $205.38

$205.38 - $1.86 = a GRAND SAVINGS OF $203.52!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



The funny thing was that they only allowed you to 15 items in one purchase, so we would get our maximum of 15 items, drop them off in the car and turn right around and go back in!! That's why there's so many receipts. The guy in the checkout got to know us real well.

I know it's not the most polite things to brag about money, but this is unheard of!

Next week they're having their 5 cent sale!! Can't wait!

A Day in the Life of Camp Rocks

Last week was one of the craziest, hardest, funnest, hectic, and worthwhile weeks of my summer. Camp Rocks is a week long summer camp now in it's 6th year. For more information, see Cindy's blog:Camp Rocks

I've been going to camp since I was in elementary school and have loved it! There are so many facets of camp that, when put all together, make for one unforgettable week. One of the fun things about camp is that all the staff goes by bird names. It's from the passage in the bible where Elijah was fed by ravens. My name is Daisy...as in Duck.

Cindy directs the camp and I am sort of her like her right hand WOman during the week. I'm also the Activities Coordinator. That means I schedule all the kids in their classes. I wanted to document the week in pictures because trying to explain it to someone is nearly impossible. Unfortunately, I didn't get all the pictures I wanted because I was running around like a crazy person, so here's what I did end up with:


Each morning started at 7:30 with staff devotions and then a quick meeting to go over the day's schedule. Then it was off to a yummy breakfast made by our world famous chefs Darrell and his sister.


Then it's off to Morning Watch. This is a time where all the campers have their own, individual quiet time. The whole camp spreads out on the games field. It's really a sweet time.


After Morning Watch, it's flag raising. I've got some fond, and crazy, memories of doing flag raising myself. It's a solemn time of honoring and praying for our country, but when you get tickled, there's NOTHING you can do to compose yourself. Trust me I know. Our kids here did a really great job.

Then it was off to Cabin Capers. This is a time where the kids get to clean up their cabin to get it ready for inspections. Since I wasn't a counselor, I didn't have a cabin, so I had a few minutes of free time.

Then the cabins were off to Bible Exploration. This is a time where the cabins have a time of exploring God's Word together as a small group. I; however, used this time to prepare for my first class: Nature Projects.



This was some of the things we did in Nature projects. We planted seeds, learned about how to read the weather, went on bird, trees, and insects walks.


After 1st period, we "lined up". We did this as a way to take a quick head count and to make any announcements throughout the day. Kids lined up by cabins, then headed into a delicious lunch!

After lunch, it was the counselor's favorite time of the day: kickback! This is like a rest hour. Of course, I was running around getting ready for my next class: CILT. CILT stands for Campers In Leadership Training. It's a 5 year long intensive training course that prepares campers to become leaders. I went through it and loved it!


Here's my kids working on some of their lessons and assignments.


After 2nd period, it was the camper's favorite time: Free Time! Just as the name implies, kids had free time to go swimming, play games or whatever they want. Cindy and I worked in the Tuck Shop. This is the camp store where campers could buy snacks and trinkets.


Then it was time for 3rd period. I "taught" a class called Potpourri. This class was actually the result of some quick thinking! We were short staffed and needed another 3rd period class, so Cindy, me, and Amanda (Cindy's daughter) all tag teamed to teach this class. We did crafts, decorated the camp and played games. It turned out to be a pretty cool class. Here we are playing cards.





After 3rd period, it was time for Cabin Time. This is a time where each cabin does something fun together. Cindy and I used this time to get ready for the evening activity. Each night was something different. This night was the 4th of July. We had a county fair and staff parade. It was SO much fun!!




After each evening activity, there was a message and time of worship. This night was lit sparklers on the beach and Brandy (Chickenhawk) brought the message.

Then it was off to bed...for the campers, that is! Cindy and I usually had to stay up and prepare stuff for the next day.


Here are some favorite camp activities:








Remember my cool new water shoes?! Well, Darrell (Rooster) got me some Jibitz...very appropriate for me at camp!


And so, another year of camp in the record books. It was a great week, but I'm glad to be home :)