Are you a little bored with your life?

I hate to admit this...but on the other hand, I think it's good to confess that sometimes I go through phases in my life where I feel bored. Is it actually possible to be so caught up in the mundane activities of life, the curve balls life throws at you, and all the ups and downs of daily living, that one can actually still feel BORED with their life? I mean, as a mother of three young children and a part-time working mom, you'd think I would not have time to actually be BORED with my own life. I feel selfish in even admitting it to myself, let alone God! I mean, after all, we live in perhaps, one of the most blessed and fortunate countries on this Earth. With all the modern-day conveniences that technology has brought our way, how could I ever even think of being bored with my life?

Well, that's where I found myself a few days ago...flat out, completely BORED! It's like I am still waiting for something exciting to happen! In fact, I feel like I have been waiting for while for something to come along and truly engage me in a positive way. So, the other night I actually did a Google search on the web by typing in the words, "Christians who are bored with life". I was surprised to actually see many links under this type of subject search! One really interesting website that I stumbled upon in my quest for adventure was the website, www.lifeswitch.org

As I clicked throughout this pretty cool, interactive website, I found that this is actually an organization you can sign up through and after filling out some information, they will match you up with a host family or person/s in some other country in the world based on your preferences for climate, region, and general landscape. To be honest, I actually thought it was just one of those web quizzes where you simply fill out a brief questionnaire and they will tell you what country and profession around the world you would most likely enjoy. I actually did fill out a simple survey and this website told me that I would be best suited for the country Bolivia. I know the name, but know nothing about this region of the world or exactly where it's located on the map. The interesting thing is that this web site appears to be for real! In other words, someone who for example, works as a stock broker in New York may actually take their questionnaire and find out that he/she is best suited to become a coffee bean farmer in Argentina! And it appears as though this organization will actually make your dream happen! I think it is some sort of Christian faith-based organization started in the U.K. In reading some of the testimonies, I was amazed to see that some people have actually had life-changing experiences through this concept! Now, considering that I was born and raised and am still living in Orlando, it is safe to assume that at some point in my life, I would like to live elsewhere, if for no other reason than for the sake of a change of scenery. But, to actually contemplate the idea of picking up and leaving my present life behind and starting fresh somewhere completely new is something that does scare me a bit. I guess if I ever really get THAT bored, I could truly give the idea more consideration. But, since I am married and have a family, obviously such a life change would not be so easy. It may not even be the best thing for me at this time.

But, I did think this website was worth mentioning and I thought I would pass the website on to anyone else who happens to be bored with life, too! Heck, even if you only visit the website and dream about a new way of life, give the website a visit! In the very least, it will give you something to think about for fun! Oh, and if you do happen to fill out their brief survey while visiting the site, let me know by posting to my blog here which country they say best suits your preferences? I'd love to see what others have for their results! Don't worry, to do this preliminary questionnaire, you don't have to fill out any names or addresses or anything personal about yourself.

www.lifeswitch.org

More Orange County Traffic Division stuff...

Well, in the spirit of ranting about those annoying situations which sometimes arise concerning the Orange County Traffic Division...aka the Clerk of the Court, I decided to make today's entry a recap of my events for the day. Pam Johnson gave me the bright idea to write about my own circumstance simply by writing about her own personal experience recently. For those of you who don't know a little about my recent "run-ins" with the law, I was in a minor rear-end accident back in May. I was the rear-ender, so the accident was my fault. I was on my way to my son's preschool graduation, in fact, I was only a block down the road from his preschool where the ceremony was being held when traffic became bottle-necked and came to a sudden halt in the lane I was traveling in. I disregarded the number one rule of driving for a brief moment...I took my eyes off the road for a split second to look down into my purse for my watch, when before I knew it, I was looking at the rear end of the vehicle in front of me and "kaboom"! I rear-ended the little black SUV. No one was hurt, but I will never forgive myself for missing my son's preschool graduation. I was more upset about that than anything else. Since the accident was my fault, of course, I received a ticket. They only give you 30 days to pay the ticket, no matter whatever your present circumstances. So, of course, this $100+ ticket couldn't have come at a more difficult time for us financially. It was the end of the school year with summer camps to pay in advance for, not to mention all the year-end festivities and other expenses such as year-end gifts for teachers of each of my three children. Simply put, I knew I wouldn't have the money in 30 days. No problem, I thought! I will just pay the fee when it is convenient for my budget. After all, I was already out $250 for the deductible to cover the repairs to my vehicle. So, I paid the ticket about 2-3 weeks after the 30 days due date. The ticket voucher never indicated anywhere on the form what to do in case you can't pay the ticket within 30 days. Surely, I am not the only person who has ever encountered this predicament? As my long, hot, drought-like summer came to a close (and I am not talking about weather, here...I am referring to a severe lack of funds), I was unpleasantly surprised to open my mailbox one day in August to find a letter from Orange County warning me that my driver's license was about to be suspended! For what...I thought? After all, I DID pay that prior ticket. After a phone call to the Clerk of the Court, I was informed that it was due to an $18 late fee that had been tacked onto my ticket since it was paid after the 30 days due date. Of course, I was never informed that I had incurred this $18 late fee, much less that it was about to cause me a suspended license! I went down in person to the Clerk of Court on my next day off and paid the $18 fee, only to be told then that I would now need to stand in yet, another line right next to the one I had just gone through. This new line was for the DMV office and I needed to show proof that this payment had been received in order for them to NOT suspend my license. OK, so I did this. Problem solved!

Fast forward to today...I had elected on my original ticket to take the Driver Improvement/Traffic School course in order to prevent points being assessed on my license from that ticket. The deadline for taking this course and providing proof of completion of an approved course is Tuesday, Oct. 17th. Procrastination is my new middle name and so, I had put this off for many weeks. I finally signed up online last week to take an online version of this Traffic School course. I finally finished the last chapter last night and completed all quizzes and finally, passed the Final Exam, as well. I requested that the certificate of completion be e-mailed to me, so that I could print it out directly and take it down in person to the Clerk of the Court before Oct. 17th. I got home from work today and found out that the certificate had NOT been e-mailed to me as I had expected. So, I called the company and a helpful representative e-mailed me directly the certificate once again as we spoke over the phone. She was even nice enough to wait on the phone line with me to verify that I did receive it. I printed it out and raced down to the local Clerk of Court office in Winter Park at about 4:15pm, knowing that the office closes at 5pm. I still had one more day to get the certificate in the hands of the Clerk of the Court's office, but, I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight if I didn't know for certain that I could successfully cross this errand off my list of duties for the day. Fortunately, as I walked into the building this afternoon, a friendly security office/police officer asked me what I needed. I simply told him that I was here to see the Clerk of Court and showed him my certificate. He asked me if the certificate was late and I promptly responded, "No...it is not due until tomorrow". He smiled and while looking at my three kids in tow, pleasantly told me that I didn't need to wait an hour in line and all I needed to do was to put my certificate in one of the labeled envelopes located on the outside of the entry door and to place it in the blue overnight drop-off box located right outside in the parking lot. It seemed too good to be true! He assured me that it was all I needed to do! So, I wrote a brief note on the form and carefully folded it and put it in one of the envelopes and dropped it into the drop box, just as he told me to do! It was nice to know that I can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that someone should process my certificate by tomorrow and hopefully, I can FINALLY put that annoying fender-bender and all the strings that came attached to that mishap behind me once and for all! Let's hope I don't get another unexpected letter in the mail soon informing me that my license is about to be suspended for them not having ever received my proof of completion of the driving course!

Scott's Syndrome: The Panic Clean

As a father of 3 young children there is one constant struggle that I fear will never end... cleanliness. Cleanliness of them, their rooms, and sadly the house. Now I know there is always an expected level of clutter and mess associated with having a kid, but when it is exponentially multiplied by 300 it can get a tad unbearable at times. Finally culminating in the sad realization that you are outnumbered and the battle is all but lost. Just bury yourself in the last bastion of sanity.. the small closet containing the toilet, put your head in your hands and pray for serenity and a maid.

Then you snap back to reality by the phone ringing. It's Mom... oh Heavenly Father it's MOM. More specifically Mom-in-law. She wants to visit... in an hour! Your serenity will have to wait for another day.. for this day... you must PANIC CLEAN! T-minus 50 minutes and counting.

Now normally a panic clean is no big deal until you measure yourself against "Nana Clean". A level of clean rivaled only by the cleanliness of the level 5 containment room in the Centers for Disease Control... you know... where they keep the deadliest viruses in the world. Now that is close to "Nana Clean".

Well we got it all done and the next day I found this comic in the paper. God seems to have a really ironic sense of humor. I think He and I will get along fine.

Click to enlarge the comic to read it.

~ Scott

Our Birthday Bowling Princess!

I just HAD to share some of these precious photos from our baby girl's 4th birthday party, this past Saturday! We held the party at Boardwalk Bowl...our kids LOVE to bowl now! It was SO much fun! Just a few friends and lots of relatives made for the perfect party with pizza, sodas, and of course, YUM-YUM birthday cake! Let's hear it for Princess Amanda...Hip, Hip, Hooray!!!

A Fungus Amongus

Welcome to our new blog site template! I was getting tired of the Pepto Bismol pink look from the previous design, so I changed things up a bit. It was supposed to be a rose color and normally, I like rose, but somehow, it just didn't seem soothing to the eyes. So, I thought the green layout is more my style for now.

Today's entry is a bit strange. But, since so many others freely express their health issues from time to time, here goes...It's a Fungus Amongus, that is...a fungus among us. More accurately, it's a fungus among me. I had a revelation today while sitting at my desk at work. I was thinking about how for some reason, I just wasn't all that hungry today like I normally am. I had just gone down to the Nature's Table cafeteria to get some lunch and the only thing I seemed to want was a salad for lunch. That might not sound so odd, except for the fact that I rarely eat just a salad for a meal. Come to think of it, Saturday night, all I wanted for dinner was a salad. I didn't want any heavy, greasy, meat-filled dinner like I usually do. Yesterday, I craved green bean casserole, like the kind you make for Thanksgiving dinner! So, for Sunday dinner, I made green bean casserole with roast beef. What's with all the green vegetable cravings all of a sudden? I am not normally a big vegetable eater. In fact, quite the opposite! I prefer my sweets, carbs, and fats most of the time. I am a junk food junkie...it's no secret. Back to my original topic about a fungus. I was pondering the sudden interest in light meals and preference for vegetables and then it hit me! I have been taking an antifungal prescription medication for the past three days called Diflucan. It is to help cure a chronic yeast problem that I have been battling for over a year now. Actually, come to think of it, I have always had off-and-on yeast battles. I have also had frequent problems with Athlete's Foot that flares up from time to time. Athlete's Foot is also caused by a fungus..it's a variation of the Candida fungus. But, since I have been taking the Diflucan, it has miraculously cured all of those annoying symptoms associated with various yeast problems.

In the past, I have researched extensively about this little bugger on the internet. I have found out that Candida Albicans, the organism typically responsible for yeast infections, thrives on sugar in the body to survive. We all have a certain amount of yeast occurring naturally in the body, particularly women. However, when the ratio of normal levels gets out of whack due to things such as being on antibiotics for any reason, candida is likely to overgrow. Thus, a yeast infection develops. Yeast symptoms are not just associated with female problems. Yeast can cause serious upset in the digestive tract of anyone. Well, ever since I can remember, I have always had cravings for sweets. I am a "sweet-tooth" eater. It's a vicious cycle. You crave the sweets and consume the sugary foods, which in turn help keep the yeast alive and well in your body. This perpetuates the annoying yeast symptoms, such as the itching, burning, scaly skin associated with Athlete's Foot, etc. Diflucan is one of the only treatments that effectively and promptly treats my yeast problems (this sounds like a commercial, I know). The only problem is that since the typical course of treatment prescribed by most doctors is only one or two days, the symptoms almost always come back for me in due time.

Well, this time I have decided to take Diflucan for several days in a row, thereby extending the length of time overall that I am taking it. That must explain why I am noticing a sudden change in my eating habits. I mean, I truly am not craving the sugars quite as much as I normally do. My only hope is that somehow I can eradicate this little fungus from my system permanently. I know it will always be present in my body, but I am hoping to get it well under control and somehow keep it in check this time!

Redemption for Kevin Costner!!

OK, I admit, I was starting to think that maybe those misconceptions about Kevin Costner films were really true...I mean, I loved the movie, "Bull Durham", and I distinctly remember getting swept away in my young adult years with the film, "Dances With Wolves"! But somewhere along the line, Kevin Costner started getting a bad reputation for his many films over the years. I don't know exactly when it started...maybe it was with that movie, "The Postman", or could it have been the movie, "Message in a Bottle"? Although Kevin is very famous, you always kind of cringed whenever someone would say it's another Kevin Costner movie. Between the lines, everyone knew that meant you might as well bring a pillow and blanket to the movie theater, because you'll probably fall asleep in this one!

Well, folks, I am here to tell you that in my mind, Kevin Costner has officially redeemed himself as an actor who can carry a movie quite well! Scott and I were fortunate enough to get a free pass to see the special preview of the new movie, "The Guardian" last Thursday night. It was the day before the film was officially released and open to the public in theatres. The movie stars Ashton Kutcher, Kevin Costner, and John Heard. Scott and I truly enjoyed this awesome movie! It was filled with plenty of laughs, but also lots of drama and a bit of suspense at times! I won't reveal anything about the storyline, except to say that it is about a long-time Coast Guard Rescuer and an up-and-coming newbie to this profession. This movie gets my "Two Thumbs Up" vote! If you haven't made plans to see it yet, be sure to do so! It is not a movie that you should just wait to come out on DVD rental or something.

Our baby's 4th Birthday!

It's our youngest daughter, Amanda's, 4th birthday on October 2nd, 2006! We celebrated a day early and she is dressed in her prettiest little princess outfit that we gave her as part of her birthday present! She's so beautiful!!!