P2P

DisneyFamily.com Travel Kit Giveaway WINNER

Thank you to all that entered!  The winner of the DisneyFamily.com Travel Kit Giveaway is

Dawn on Jun 29, 2009

Our favorite vacation spot is Gatlinburg TN in the Smokey Mountains.

Congratulations, Dawn!

Change is a-Comin’

The thing about a blog is it’s therapy for me.  But then when I need it most, I can’t use it.  And I hate when people don’t and/or can’t share their heart on their blog when they’re hurting most.  Being there for one another in our times of need is when the blogging community means the most.  I guess it’s its own worst enemy.  Because sometimes blogging and real life clash and you just can’t blog what you want.  But let me say change is coming for us.

I can say our youth pastor resigned this week.  I can say I’m hurt.  And I can say my manager announced four people on my team at work including me may not have a job as of December 31.  And really that’s probably all you need to know to figure out my heart hurts and I’m stressed and I could probably write another book about all of it.

Please pray.

Bachelorette Episode 7

I’m not sure I could have come up with more boring hometown dates.  I think they made Ed and Jake come back just so they could have a decent episode.  Ok, not really, but wow.  I was almost hoping for a dove burial.  The best we got was a lasag-nah taste test.

Maybe my problem was I watched the show a little backwards.  I started watching right when Jake came in, watched to the end and then started with the dates from the beginning.

So let’s try to start this at the beginning.

Reid – I really, really like Reid still.  Jill seemed to fit in great with them and I think Reid is really falling for her.  Him doing the PDA thing in front of his family was really cute.  Hometown date with Reid was a big score for me.

Michael – Poor Michael.  He was great with his family.  His twin Steve talking about them and their plans for their wives was sweet even though a little creepy.  It was really sweet with this sister coming all the way from Australia.  It was clear he was close with his family.  But I felt like all his family could offer her was how funny Michael was.

Kiptyn – For the first time this season, I’m really, really concerned about Kiptyn.  I’m not a big fan of those “games” families play.  And then the mother even hinted that she was overbearing and THEN stood at the door watching them in the hot tub.  You have no idea how many red flags went up.  And I’m still very concerned that he’s the one with the “mechanical problem” next week.

Jesse – Jillian didn’t seem to fit in Jesse’s family if you ask me. His brother seemed shocked that he would have kids so quickly.  His brother just scared me a bit.  Jillian still seemed to have doubts about Jesse.  I just didn’t get a good feeling coming out of that one.

Wes – The band?  Really?  Could he BE more obvious?  And Jillian was falling for it HARD.  And his family?  Seemed just as over the moon about Wes.  I don’t know.  Maybe it’s all editing and Wes is the nice guy.  But Jake?  He’s the straight and narrow and I trust him.  So if he says he has a girlfriend, Wes has a girlfriend.  Maybe he likes Jillian and he’s broken up with Laurel in his head.  I don’t know!  I just know I don’t trust the guy.

Overall, I think Reid and his family win the hometown dates.

Now let’s talk about Ed!  I was SO HAPPY (but not shocked) to see Ed show up!  I was never a huge Ed fan but when he showed up I was all ED!  THANK GOODNESS!  And all the sudden, I wanted Ed to stay and win, even.  Maybe I should admit I found out he works for Microsoft this week and he won me over a bit but seriously, I thought Jillian might jump him on the couch.  She definitely still likes the guy and I’m really glad he came back and she picked him.

So Jesse and Michael left tonight.  No disappointments or surprises.  Except of course that she kept Wes around.  But I don’t think Jesse or Michael had a shot of being in the finale anyway so no biggie.

As for next week we know something big happens.  And it seems to be someone she sees as a front-runner.  So I have it narrowed down to Kiptyn, Wes.  Maybe Ed.  I think it would hilarious if it were Wes.  After tonight, I think I would be most disappointed if it were Ed.  I don’t know, we haven’t even met his family but I have a good feeling about him.  And I know I’ve been harping on Kiptyn or “Kip” as his family called him but something just didn’t feel right with his family.

So I’m on the Reid and Ed train for now.  And I wish Jillian would get OFF the Wes train once and for all!

Lazy Saturday

I think today fully qualifies as a Lazy Saturday.  I kinda sorta slept in while I listened to the girls play.  When I got up, I got breakfast for all of us, changed out some clothes in the laundry, packed a cooler of drinks and snacks and then headed to the pool!

I don’t think we’d ever been out that early.  The girls were confused when we still had shade on the pool from the neighbors on the East side of our house.

We all went in and out of the pool.  I read The Host on and off and the girls kept busy playing and swimming.  They were mostly content on their own.

Scott had gone to help someone he works with do something somewhere (if you can’t tell, I didn’t pay much attention) but on the way back, it was lunchtime and he grabbed us some take-out.  I think about 2:30 I had finally out done Lexi and she changed her own clothes and went inside.  Emma hung in until about 3 and then I think I was in about 3:30 or so.

It was grand!  I of course have a sunburn to show for the day.  I did manage to keep sunblock on my shoulders and face where it normally is the worst.

This evening we ate leftover casserole at Mom’s and then helped them pick lots of great stuff from their garden….tomatoes, corn, green peppers and zucchini.  Watermelon and cantaloupe are growing too.  We don’t live in farming country.  The most I see being grown for business is peaches and strawberries.  Many folks have small gardens but generally I’m not really familiar with gardening.  But Mom and Dad’s garden has truly amazed me.  It’s like oh my, you can actually eat the stuff that’s growing on that plant!  Before tonight I don’t think I’d ever seen a green pepper on a plant.  Mom is probably like Amy, we had gardens all the time!  And I guess we did but I don’t know, it just still amazes me.  Maybe because I have the farthest thing from a green thumb you can have!

Right now the kids are screaming at me to come watch the start of Disney’s latest movie Princess Protection Program. A movie is the perfect thing to top off a lazy Saturday!

VBS 2009

We’ve been attending our church’s VBS every evening this week.  We did Go Studio if you’re at all familiar with the curriculum available out there.  If you remember last year, Emma had a really hard time.  I’m happy to report both girls have loved VBS this year.  They were excited to find out they’d have a Bible story, food, crafts, games and music, oh my!  It also helped Emma knowing her best friend from Sunday School was going to be there.

I was moved from 3rd/4th grade to 1st/2nd.  I was willing but hesitant at first.  I’ve always thought that 3/4 were so well-behaved, compliant and independent.  I have to say though my 20 1st and 2nd graders have been little angels.  They’ve eaten up the Bible Stories, shocking the teachers in that class and the missions class at how much they remember and comprehend.  And I found they are just as independent as the older group.

So, in all, it’s been a great week.  My girls are enjoying themselves and I’m having a good week as well.

I do have to say since Emma is in the “big kids” lessons, I’m paying MUCH more attention to the lessons and trying to find out what she’s learning.  It’s never been so important to me that the gospel is shared clearly and other moral lessons are given.  VBS might seem like a chore to some workers, but now as a mother of a school-age child, I can tell you that it’s one of the most important weeks of the year!

And for less important things, our opening and closing song this week has been “Ice Cream and Cake”.  It apparently was a hit with teenagers during the youth missions trip this year as well.  So if you want to know what song and dance is sweeping through the youth of America, here ya go. Imagine 100 kids (and adults!) doing this all at once in a gym. It’s actually pretty fun…and addictive.

Love them well

News of Mark Sanford has barely left my mind since yesterday.  My first reaction was shock.  I didn’t see it coming.  And then I was just sad.  I knew the hate would come for him as a conservative man who has fought for marriage and has now in all likelihood ruined one with his own infidelity.  It seems so hypocritical.  But I can tell you with every fiber of my being you can believe in marriage, your marriage even, and yet still find yourself where he is.  I was hesitant to read their published emails but was drawn to see the details of what kind of relationship they had.  And then his story got personal.  So much of what he is feeling is all too familiar.  A few lines stand out to me.

How in the world this lightening strike snuck up on us I am still not quite sure. As I have said to you before I certainly had a special feeling about you from the first time we met, but these feelings were contained and I genuinely enjoyed our special friendship and the comparing of all too many personal notes (and yes this is true even if you did occasionally tantalize me with sexual details over the years!) — but it was all safe. Where we are is not.

In all my life I have lived by a code of honor and at a variety of levels know I have crossed lines I would have never imagined.

The rarest of all commodities in this world is love. It is that thing that we all yearn for at some level — to be simply loved unconditionally for nothing more than who we are — not what we can get, give or become.

As I mentioned in our last visit, while I did not need love fifteen years ago — as the battle scars of life and aging and politics have worn on this has become a real need of mine.

He has it right.  We all need and want love.  And it’s not just a pat on the back at the end of the day, a card, a kiss.  It’s that feeling that the other person treats you like a King or Queen.  That no matter what you did or what you said they’d stand by you.  It’s knowing that they are just WAITING for an excuse to tell you something good about yourself.  It’s that quality of a relationship that left untended dies.  And really?  It’s not so much fun having to work to get back.

And when that part dies, years down the road you find your emotional bank at an all-time low.  You’re looking, searching for that love, that feeling that we all crave.  And then someone comes along out of nowhere and makes a small deposit and you take it and cherish it.  And then it happens again and again if allowed, each time crawling closer to some imaginary line you had drawn in the sand.  A line that suddenly without realizing it you cross and make a new one.  And that happens over and over and over.  Some lines are crossed as fast as lightning and then others it takes time.

And suddenly your deposits are just secrets ready to ruin every single part of your life.  And when they come out, you find yourself crying for five days in Argentina.  And you’re not JUST crying because you’re ashamed or sorry that you’re hurting so many people.  You’re crying because you know the deposits will be gone.  That a person you trust and love so much will never be there like they have been.  And you cry because you feel sorry for yourself.

And as saddened as I am for Jenny and their sons, I’m saddened for Mark.  Because I know he’s hurting.  No matter how or why he got there, no matter how much he wants to put the genie back in the bottle, no matter how much he loves his wife, he’s come to depend on the other person.  And now?  He has a choice to make and a hard road ahead of him.  None of it is pretty.  None of it is fun.  And the worse part is he’s doing it for the public.

If you think you’re marriage is above this happening, think again.  Go figure out how to love your spouse and love them well.  Tell them how they can love you.   For some, that’s easy.  But for others, it’s a struggle.  And I’m sorry for that.  I truly am.  But I think I can speak for Mark and say it’s better than the alternative.

Link Round-Up

Here are a few things that I’ve been liking lately:

Aaron Ivey, formerly of SPUR58 (which I saw at youth camp a few years back) has a new album out as of yesterday.  It’s amazing.  Go buy it now.  It went to #1 on the Christian chart today in iTunes.

Michael Johns (whose site is run by a great friend), a former American Idol contestant also has a new album out this week.  He really should have been born in the 70s.  I don’t puffy heart every song but there are a few really great songs on there.  There were enough songs that I puffy-hearted to buy the whole album.

ListenToYouTube.com is a great site to turn any YouTube video to an MP3.  Before you think I’m pirating songs, I’m NOT.  I paid good money for the albums above on iTunes.

Picnik.com allows you to edit pictures online.

Jing lets you take a screen capture and upload it online.  Very simple if you’ve ever tried to do it the old Alt-Print Screen way.  If that doesn’t make sense to you, just skip this one.

MinistrySoFabulous.com Another Amy over there.  I always look forward to her posts even though we are not in the same place in life at all except that we minister to students.

AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com My newest daily laugh.

CardboardLove.com Pretty sure I’ve blogged about it before.  I know I’ve twittered about it before but it just makes me happy.  I pretend Scott would do this every day.

This one comes with an R rating for language but MonsterApathy.com is really funny to me.

That should keep you busy.  Enjoy

DisneyFamily.com Travel Kit Giveaway

Emma and Lexi have already learned the art of “Are we there yet?” on a trip.  And it usually starts about five miles away from the house.   I’m really excited to be a part of MomGenerations.com and DisneyFamily.com to give away an “On the Road With Family.com” kit to one lucky reader! The kit promises to keep children comfortably entertained during car or plane trips this summer and will put an end to the dreaded “Are we there yet?” question.  Hallelujah!

The travel kit includes a plush kid size travel pillow, a copy of Dr. Seuss’s There’s a Map in My Lap, a travel game kit, notepad and pen and adorable tote bag (a $30 value).

Also, make sure to visit DisneyFamily.com Travel to help with all your vacation planning needs as the site provides a unique resource for parents providing a combination of expert reviews, parent recommendations, and age-appropriate points of interest for family-friendly destinations on any budget.

One of the many great features on the site is a list of “Cities on a Shoestring” where parents can find inexpensive or free activities to do in cities around the country. The site also includes tips for hassle free air travel, videos of popular family destinations, and safety travel tips.

To win, please share your favorite family vacation destination spot in a comment; a winner will be chosen at random.

For an bonus entry tweet the following text:

Win a Disney Travel Kit for kids from @amyjbennett at http://www.sabennett.com/wp/?p=4515

The contest will run until Wednesday July 1st.  Good luck!

Day of Errors

I wake up this morning to find my Internet down.  Fine, I’ll wait it out a bit.  Sometimes this happens.  I take a shower thinking I might not have time later since I have to take Emma to the dentist later.  By 10, I have  given up and whisk the girls out of the house with me and over to my Mom’s to work.

My laptop can’t find the wireless router there.  Dad makes a few adjustments and hands me the wire.  It’s faster anyway.

One good thing…Mom and Dad were working from home and ended up spending time with the kids so I was left to work uninterrupted.

We leave about 12:30 after Mom has literally stuffed some type of new casserole down all 3 of us.  It really was good.  The girls have gotten wet and I need to get them changed so we can get to the dentist by 1:30.  I’m hoping Scott is awake from working last night and can take the girls so I can stay and work.  Emma really wants me to take her but I’m thinking I’ll stay.

Scott is awake and ready after wondering why the house had been so quiet.  The Internet is down still.  I’m starting to feel frustrated.  I decide to chuck it and go with Scott and the girls to the dentist.  We leave a few minutes early so we can get gas.  I didn’t want to stop on my way home.  We stop to get gas.  The machine won’t take my card.  I text Scott who is in the store getting drinks to prepay $20.  I wait at least 8.5 minutes and text him again to say we’re going to be late.  4.5 minutes later he comes back out and says they had to swipe the card at least 10 times.  He tells me to check our account to make sure we only got charged once.    I pump the gas and off we go.  We’re 5 minutes late to the appointment but I got a root beer and it’s not so bad.

Emma gets her teeth cleaned and there are no cavities.  More good news for the crazy day.

Back at home, I walk through the living room, close my eyes and chant “Internet, please work.”  It’s doesn’t.  I dial a few conference call numbers hoping I can remember the number since I’m 20 minutes late already and don’t want to drive anywhere so I can log in to look up the number.  I fail.

I try to call the cable company to get an ETA.  I accidentally hang up the phone as I often do.  I gather all my computer stuff and head out the door to my Mom’s office this time, telling the girls I love them and I’ll be back.  Scott tells me to be back as soon as I can as he has to leave early.  My call is until 4 and he needs to leave for work at 4:15.  I can do that.

I get to Mom’s shop and it takes several times to log in.  I log in.  I call the number and start to listen.  I decide to move my computer to another desk, take my phone with me and hang up on the call with the palm of my hand.

I call back in and here I sit on the call and wondering how the rest of the day is going to go.

I’m thinking it will end at Starbucks again.

The Bachelorette: Episode 6

*Spoilers*

So the foot-fetish-er leaves.  I would agree with him that it wasn’t the foot fetish.  I think it was apparent in his goodbye footage.  He was too concentrated on Wes and not enough of Jillian.  Jillian likes when the guys are openly obsessive over her and besides her feet, I don’t think Tanner fell in that category.

As for Jake, I think it spilled in his footage as well. He did everything he could do.  And Jake did.  He was perfectly perfect.  And obviously that’s not what Jillian wants.  She ate it up when Reid couldn’t quit talking about his fondue neurosis.  She obviously wants a real guy…and who doesn’t?

As for the ones left.

Kiptyn – I’m telling you people unless Kiptyn has one screwed up family, he’s going to win this thing.

Jesse – He’s a close second.  She really likes Jesse and seems really comfortable with him.

Reid – I really like Reid.  For the record, I think he made a mistake of not wearing the glasses. I would have told him to keep the glasses on.  But I think he’s super funny and real.  But he really is neurotic and not sure how that will pan out long-term with Jillian.

Michael – Michael is a wreck waiting to happen.  I don’t see him winning this at all.  But I see that Jillian has a great time with him and he obviously is falling all over her which she is loving.  If she picks him, it’d be like DeAnna picking Jesse.

Wes – Jerk.  Gah, I can’t believe Tanner didn’t tell Jillian it was him before he left.  He had nothing to lose at that point except a good fight on the Men Tell All episode.

Just watched the previews:

So glad Jake is going back…Mr. Perfect is doing the right thing.

I’m really really scared is Kiptyn who loses it in the fantasy suite

I think Ed comes back and proposes

The Time Traveler’s Wife

I know I’m a little late on this one.  I mean, the movie is coming out in August.

When I remember this novel, I’ll remember that it read like a commentary (a great one).  I’ll remember the dual first-person point of view.  I’ll remember the short sentences.  The wit.  The humor.  The beauty.  I’ll remember Clare’s innocent-yet-not-love for Henry.  I’ll remember Henry’s frustration and yet determination to deal with the life he was given.  Their lust for each other. I’ll remember the mystery.  The game of it all.  The science of it all.  The innocence and wonder of Alba.  Just the smartness of the idea and plot.  The way it made you think about love and time.

I’ll remember it was a good book until the end.  I really, really feel like we were jipped out of that last scene.  So many times we only saw glimpses of Henry’s life and yet kept reading to find out we were given them later.  For example, Clare’s 18th birthday.  Such a big part of the story and yet we didn’t get it until almost the end.  And Henry told us about that last scene they would have together and I was so sure we’d get to see and was so disappointed when we didn’t.  It’s like watching The Notebook and never seeing them die together.

I’ll go and see the movie just because I think Rachel McAdams will be a perfect Clare and Eric Bana should do Henry justice but really?  Unless they fix that last scene, I don’t know if I’ll have a good feeling walking away.

The Proposal

I remember months ago being in the theater and seeing previews for The Proposal  (Let me just throw in here we saw the preview for New Moon!). Always a Sandra Bullock fan (well, almost always), I knew it was going to be a must-see.  Throw in some Ryan Reynolds and well, it’s no surprise I jumped at Jill’s invitation to go Saturday night on opening weekend.

I was expecting cute.  And a little funny.  Maybe You’ve Got Mail kind of funny.  Something to make you smile once in a while.  But ya’ll.  This movie was SO FUNNY.  I know it looked like I’d been crying for the past two hours when I walked out of the theater.  And I guess I had because I laughed so hard so many times I was crying.  And clapping.  It was that kind of funny.

Sandra tends to play characters that are a little clumsy.  She’s good at the physical comedy.  In the movie she was supposed to be playing uber successful, snotty, domineering Book Editor in Chief (?).  In one scene, she has to get up from a kneeling position with 4″ heels and Sandra made it funny.  And maybe not quite how that character would have done it but it was still funny.  So, yeah, I’m not sure if she hangs on to the character 100% the whole time but then again, her character does make a bit of transformation and her clumsy and off-the-wall antics are the only thing that make you like her outside of her general attitude.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Ryan Reynolds in anything except for Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  But let me tell you, the guy is FUNNY.  He delivered his sarcastic lines to perfection.  Loved the line with the dog in the bathroom and also “Hence, the boat.”  With the romance? Eh, not sure he’s a Richard Gere but he sure is pretty to look at and did I mention funny?

Betty White completed this movie and made it fabulous.  Everyone know the caliber of actress she is.  In this movie, she played a quirky but heartfelt 90 year old grandmother of Ryan’s character.  And man, was she great.  And funny of course.

This movie is a definite must-see.  It’s going down as one of my favorite romantic comedies ever.   And for those that haven’t seen the preview, here ya go. And the best part? That’s not all the funny parts.

Even better? Here are some outtakes!

Father’s Day Weekend Recap

This weekend ended up being quite busy.

Early Friday evening we had a quiet night here.  We had dinner and made a run to Wal-Mart.  We took the kids to IL’s about 7 for them to spend the night.  I headed to our church for the youth girls’ sleepover.  I didn’t plan to stay all night but stayed until 12:30.  We did a picture scavenger hunt around town and it turned out to be a blast.  A few highlights included the kids teaching a stranger how to do the Ice Cream Dance, singing the National Anthem in front of a store, creating a pyramid in front of Starbucks, chasing down a teenage boy and claiming he was Zac Efron and getting his autograph and cramming 7 girls into a phone booth in a very busy location. I was never so happy to be old and the one taking the picture.

We came back to play a few games and then all tried to learn Miley Cyrus’ Hoedown Throwdown which was a HUGE FAIL.  Even the girls that have danced for years didn’t seem to catch on quickly.  I tried not to feel so old with girls that were born about the same time I started high school.    The girls all played hide and seek in the dark around the church and then I was off when they started a movie.

Saturday morning I woke up and cleaned in preparation for middle/high school friends Michelle and Carmen to come eat lunch and visit. We went to a local restaurant and really had a great time catching up.  It’s always so strange to me how you can go YEARS without seeing your best friends and pick up right where you left off.

Jake and Jill showed up right as Carmen and Michelle were leaving.  They spent the evening with us in the pool.  We had some pizza delivered and of course great conversation.  Jill and I ended the evening by going to watch The Proposal.  More on that in another post.

Sunday afternoon we spent Sunday dinner at Buca di Beppo’s with my dad and family.  Great food as always.  Yesterday we spent the afternoon in the pool before spending a nice evening at Scott’s sister’s.

To top the weekend off, I finished reading The Time Traveler’s Wife.  Also saving that for another post.

Overall, a really busy but really good weekend.

Non-novel: Thoughts

I feel silly writing about a book that to me is not even a book.  I’ve sent it to a few people with a few disclaimers:

• I know it’s bad writing.  Being able to get 55K words on paper and writing are two different things.  My goal was to get the story on paper and  hopefully reach 50K words.  I did both of those.  Quality writing was never really part of the deal although at times I did try.  Other times I simply got words on paper.
• I didn’t re-read the beginning of the book as I was writing so there are a lot of continuity errors.  A few people have different names later in the book.  Their past changes.  It’s all a little sketchy at times.
• I don’t want to give what happens away, but sometimes I don’t agree with what the characters say and/or do.  I know that sounds weird as I wrote it but at times the characters did what they wanted to do and I couldn’t do much about it.  Man, I know I sound crazy but it’s true.

I thought I would feel very accomplished at the end.  But the past 18 hours or so I’ve really just felt not-enough.  There aren’t enough words to actually publish it, the writing stinks, no one will like it.   And really, I just feel like this is a beginning.  It’s sort of like a piece of clay could be formed into a cube and yet, to turn it into a house would require the actual work.  Right now, I just have a clay cube, something that a lot of people could do.  Few could and will actually work to turn it into a masterpiece.  But as a friend said, no matter what, you wrote a novel.  Good or bad, there are characters and a story and now it’s on paper.

Just a few facts:

• I started this end of October/beginning of November.  It’s all Melissa’s fault.  It took 7-8 months to complete.
• Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series gave me hope that I could do it.  Something about writing in first-person did the trick.
• First draft is 55K words, 99 pages printed in single-space.
• I still have no idea what I’d name it.
• It’s a romance.  I’m clueless on specific genres after that.  I say it’s a romance but it’s more about the journey a girl takes fighting through her past to love someone in her present.
• I listened to Clair de Lune a lot in the beginning while writing.  Other than that, I wrote in silence because I could think better.
• I saw a guy at Disney that made me smile because he reminded me so much of my lead male character.  I was tempted to stop and take a picture of him.
• I still don’t know what the lead character looks like.  I never described her.
• Scott helped me a lot at the beginning of the book.  I remember one night we talked for hours about it.  After that, we’ve barely talked about it.  He says he may or may not read it.  He hates to read.
• I’ve sent it to 4 or 5 people to read.  I hope they are honest but not brutal in their reviews.
• I did my best brainstorming  just before I fell asleep.  I can’t count the number of times I rolled over and typed something in my notes on my iPhone.  Actually, I probably could since I still have them all.

And I thought I’d share some pictures…evidence of my writing.

Notes everywhere

Timelines and more timelines

Drawings

Edited pages. Melissa did edit a few chapters for me.  (ty, lis!)

So that’s it.  Kind of my brain dump of my non-novel.

Non-novel: it is finished

Or at least the first draft. I hope I make it to the second.

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