Webkinz Addict

Hi, my name is Kristi, and I am a Webkinz addict.

Do your children have Webkinz? Ben loves them. He asks for them on his birthday, Christmas, etc. He has SEVERAL. If you don't know anything about them, BEWARE! The Ganz company is so smart. They have designed these stuffed animals that come with a code. You then take the code and log in online, and you get to adopt your stuffed animal. When you do, you get "money' to spend on Webkinz to take care of your pet and build them a room. It is crazy. You can earn more "money" by playing games. This is where I come in. From time to time I can get addicted to an online game. Ben introduced me to these games so that I can help him "earn money". There are many games at the arcade. You get to play them for free, and many are games that help you to learn. One particular game that my friend Angie, fellow closet Webkinz junkie, hooked me onto tests how fast you can type. I love this one.

We have had a very stressful time at school and church these last few weeks. I have turned to the Webkinz games for "therapy", but I think I need some help. I just cannot stop playing. I don't have time for this. I have too much to do to sit and play these silly games, but I just cannot stop. Ben and I have the same personality. We realized this a long time ago. We have to limit the time he plays on electronic games. He could sit and do it for hours. We developed a system where he has to read the amount of minutes that he in turn gets to play on some type of electronic game. We keep track of this on a digital bookmark with a timer. I think I need to develop the same system for myself. Maybe I have to do so many hours of housework to earn that amount of time playing on Webkinz. Wait, Rich and I worked in the garden planting for 3 hours today!!!!! Does that mean I get three hours of Webkinz time? Woo Hoo!!!!

Can anyone help me? Do you know of a support group or a 12 step program that I can sign up for? Could anyone be my sponsor?

For All My PW Friends

On a really lousy day, this was a fun little pick-me-up. Thanks Glenda for sharing it!

Joe Arnold

Ever see Joe Arnold on the Louisville news? He's on WHAS-11. Every time I see him pop on TV I think about the summers I spent a great amount of time with him. We were in a program called, "Youth Sing Praise". It was a musical theater program that was offered by Our Lady of the Snows Shrine in Belleville, IL. You had to send in an audition tape. There were about 50 of us chosen if I remember right. The first year we did "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat" and the second we did an original called, "David, Champion of Israel." Those were two of the most amazing summers I have ever had. During "David", we woke up one morning to find that Dave Brubeck had written a new song for us. We were going to the recording studio that afternoon. We had a busy morning learning this awesome song. This brings me to the reason of my post. The song repeated, over and over, "Blessed be the Lord, my Rock, my Refuge, and my Fortress. My stronghold, my deliverer, the Shield in whom I trust!" Wow, I can still sing that day as if I were rehearsing with my friends. I can sing it over and over again. Do I mean what I sing? Do I really trust Him? I try so hard, but it is never easy. It is so difficult when so many things are being hurled your way by the evildoer. I pray for the ability to trust. I pray that I can stop trying to take on the stresses of life myself. I am not able. I can only survived with Him as my rock, my refuge, my fortress!

Strawberries

Strawberries were really cheap at the Jay C Store this past week. Rich had brought some home, and they were REALLY good! So, I went back and bought 12 more containers. This morning I made freezer jam. Now I need to make some homemade bread or biscuits! I also flash froze some of them. I am looking forward to dropping them into a glass of water as ice cubes. Yummy! Or, having a nice shortcake in the middle of the winter.

I also made some homemade granola from the recipe that "Wendy and Her Lost Boys" posted on her blog. That, with the fresh berries was indeed wonderful! My friend Angie said the granola was also good on top of some vanilla ice cream. I am going to have to try that. The granola was so much cheaper than the expensive cereal that you would buy like it in the store. I am addicted!

Deer????

I purchased a flat of beautiful impatience. They WERE this lovely magenta. I planted several in the front landscaping, and filled to flower boxes with them in the back. In the last three days something has eaten ALL of them! They were so beautiful! Was it deer? I thought maybe it was a bunny until the flower boxes were annihilated. They are so tall. Maybe it was a deer. I don't know, but I am very sad. I hate to replace them just to be eaten again. Those boxes need something in them. It is funny, I have another box right next two the two that were eaten that is full of lovely lettuce. Nothing has eaten the lettuce, another reason why I don't think it is a bunny. It makes me sad! There are so many lush green things right now, why my beautiful flowers?

Absent Husbands

I have friends that never see their husbands. Their husbands work out of town more than they are home. I just don't know how they do it! I have other friends who have husbands that go on trips from time to time. They cannot wait for them to go. They look forward to the time alone. I am NEITHER of those people. I do not enjoy having my husband away AT ALL! Does that mean that I rely on him too much? I don't think so! I just love him so much! We are a team! We work together in our home and in our parenting. I just don't enjoy having him away. So beware. I may be whinny for a few days. Rich is gone until Wednesday evening on our seventh and eighth grade trip to St. Louis. Yuck! He can go away, he just needs to take me with him! Thanks for listening. I will try to be better!

Blog Pressure

I started my blog for fun. I started it because I am never very good at keeping a journal. I knew, however, that if I was able to add pictures I would stick to it more faithfully, and I have. I started it because I thought it would be a good way to keep in touch with friends and family. When I started this blog, I didn't realized that it came with pressures! Last week I directed and my cast performed our spring musical. This was a huge task. I was busy, busy, busy. Many people asked me when I was finally going to post on my bog again. Wow, I didn't know that it was about everyone else, I thought it was about me putting my thoughts down :0) Thanks to all my friends for making me feel so special by looking forward to reading my little posts. I will attempt to be more faithful! I just have a few more weeks and life will be all about beading! Please keep me in your prayers as I begin this new adventure in my life! If you know anyone in need of jewelery, new baby and needs a mom's bracelet, wedding and needs bridesmaids jewelry, or just in need of an inexpensive gift, please send them my way! Thanks!

Trip Report Day 1 Part 2

After we had checked into the hotel and had a snack at the concierge, we headed out for Downtown Disney. We didn't have tickets for the park the first day, but it was a GREAT opportunity to do some shopping. With our newly Disney decorated living room, we were excited to see what we would find to add to the decor!

After some shopping we decided to get some dinner at The Rainforest Cafe. We were warned that there is usually a pretty long wait there. We decided we would put our name on our list and then we would do a bit more shopping while we waited. Magic number one, we found out that the wait was only 15 minutes! We were so very excited! Magic number two, they seated us right by the elephants! Ben was so excited! Elephants are his favorites! Our dinner was great. We just had appetizers. It was plenty. While we were inside eating it was raining. We got inside just in time. We went to one more shop and then headed back to the hotel. We thought we might grab a snack at concierge, but everything had been put away. It was okay. We needed to get to bed on the earlier side, we were headed on our early morning safari bright and early.

Trip Report

This past October my family and I took the most amazing trip! It is rare that the three of us take a vacation alone. Don't get me wrong, we love our family and friends. It was just nice to have a chance to be a family.

We saved up for three years for this trip. Rich and I were celebrating our 10th anniversary, and decided to make it a special celebration. We decided to take the land and sea combination at Disney World. We also had some other surprises up our sleeves!

We flew out quite early in the morning. We flew from Indianapolis. We had a voucher that Rich's parents had given us. It was supposed to be used on a trip to Florida last spring, but I had my gall bladder taken out instead. The day before the trip we decided to call and see if we could get a hotel room next to the airport that we could just leave our car at. So, at the last minute we finished packing and left the night before. Our hotel had a free hot breakfast, free parking for the entire time we were gone, and free shuttle to the airport! It was almost as cheap as paying for parking at the airport. We were excited. The room was nothing to brag about, but all we were doing was sleeping. (We were so excited we didn't even do much of that!)

The next morning we got up and headed for the airport after a very lovely free breakfast. We promised ourselves to stay there again if we were ever in a similar situation.

We went to check our luggage first. This was not fun. We were going to be gone 8 days, several were on a cruise....we had a lot of stuff. One bag weighed over the limit. So, we had to switch things around. Nope, we weren't the only ones there doing it. We met another family that was taking their first Disney vacation. They had also overloaded a bag. We ended up chatting with them about our favorite Disney tips.

The flight went well. Finally we were in Orlando. Oh how I love those palm trees! Not to mention the famous ears you instantly see everywhere! We weren't sure how our next hour was going to go. We were being taken from the airport by Magical Express. Rich went to get us taken care of at the desk. We would be heading to a bus that would take us to the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Ben did not know this was our destination. He thought we were headed for the Polynesian. I just knew the surprise would be given away when we went into the Animal Kingdom line. He had NO CLUE! Then, the bus driver starts telling us all the stops he will be making. The Polynesian is never mentioned. I knew he had to be catching on! Nope, still clueless. Finally we pull up to the bus's last stop....Animal Kingdom Lodge. Ben says to me, "Mom, at least I get to see what it looks like." I laughed and told him that maybe we should just get off of the bus and look around a bit. His jaw drops! Can we really do that? I comment, "Well, since we are staying here tonight we might as well get off of the bus don't you think?"
The look one his face was priceless!

Little did he know that we were staying there in order to be able to go on the Sunrise Safari the next morning. You had to stay at the lodge, concierge, in order to go on this special outing. We checked in at concierge. We were given pins to wear that said it was our Anniversary. We were also given a set of African dolls carved out of wood and dressed in beaded clothing. They told us that it is a traditional anniversary gift in Africa. When arrived in our room to find a BEAUTIFUL view of the savanna. Ben was beside himself! Here are a few pictures of the room and our view.

I shall report on the rest of our first day tomorrow. I must call it a night. I think I will go to bed and dream magical dreams!

He Won!!

Earlier I posted Ben's essay for the Indiana Right to Life essay contest. A few weeks ago we went to the awards program and Ben was awarded first place for his essay! We were so very proud of him. He really did a good job! He was also excited because he was given a check for $50.00!!!!! Congratulations Ben!