MY SON'S BIKE WAS STOLEN!!

Just wanted to post this blog entry as an alert to those who may happen to stop by our blog. Chandler's bike was stolen today apparently from right out of our garage in broad daylight, between 5pm-7pm! We had saved up the money to buy him this special bike a couple of months ago and I am sickened that someone would actually take it from right out of our garage while Scott and the kids were home. I was running errands during the time it went missing. I had actually placed the bike on our front lawn to move it out of the driveway before leaving to run errands. At some point after that, Chandler and his friend put the bike back into the garage while they were playing with some other friends. Between the time he put it back in the garage and the time I came home, the bike was apparently stolen. It is a 20" Blue Mongoose 'Crush' model bike. We questioned the boys Chandler had been playing with earlier in the day and even spoke to their parents, who also looked in their garages to see if the bike somehow ended up there, but no luck so far. At least they know to be on the lookout for his bike. I am having difficulty believing that some random person just happened to come around and decide to walk right up to our garage and steal the bike in broad daylight while the kids were in and out throughout the day playing with their friends. However, in this day and age, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. If you happen to run across this bike or learn of someone acquiring a bike like this soon, please let us know. I am just sick over the principle of the whole thing, most of all! The fact that someone would stoop so low as to take a child's bike right out of their garage during the day on a Sunday afternoon just makes me sick!!

Midnight Mammograms!

OK, now I think I have truly heard of just about everything! I had to visit my female doctor the other day and since I am 36 this year, I was the lucky recipient of a prescription for my first baseline mammogram...yippee!! Ha! Well, since I have known that one of these years soon I would have to have one for the first time, I wasn't at all surprised that my doctor went ahead and recommended it's time for me to start. Let's hope all goes well though!

Anyway, just when I thought I had heard of just about everything, I noticed some fancy ads on the walls at my doctor's office that said "Midnight Mammograms" in a fun cartoon-style. I looked a little bit closer, thinking maybe it was an ad for a play or something. It looked like one of those spoof-type broadway, musical-style plays. But, no, this was actually a program that has been set up at one of the nearby Radiology clinics and the ad says that you can sign up a group of 6 or more women for a "fun-filled and enjoyable evening of mammograms, food, and more"! What? Since when were mammograms considered fun? Well, anyway, the idea is that you get a group of your friends together and literally schedule a mammogram party late at night at their facility. You can bring food, dress for fun, have some entertainment and basically enjoy an evening of comaraderie with your female friends while you all get your annual mammograms. Hmmm...I wonder if this gimmick will work? The ad says that they are doing whatever it takes to get women to take part in their annual mammograms and if it takes making a party out of it, then do it! So, is there anyone out there 35 and older that wants to join me for a Midnight Mammogram? Haha!

Summertime Fun Activities...

I thought it was time to at least write something on my blog since it's been a while. I figured I would write a list of some fun and fairly inexpensive or FREE activities to do with your kids this summer while you are trying to keep them busy...


1) Did you know that Boardwalk Bowling has a special summer promotion going on every summer where your kids can bowl one game for free each day between the hours of 9am-5pm, Monday-Friday? We've been doing this the past couple of years and it is still one of their favorite summer time activities! Usually, at the end of the school year, their school sends home fliers that you bring to the bowling alley to enroll in the program. But, if you go there early in the summer, you can also ask for some at the bowling check-in desk. They sometimes carry extras. You have to bring the fliers with you each time you want to bowl because someone has to initial it on the date your child has bowled. Anyway, it's a great way to beat the summer heat and of course, if you have any money to spend, you can make an afternoon of it by eating at their cafe and/or playing in their arcade. They've just updated their games in the arcade and have gone to a swipe card system (like Firken & Kegler's) where you simply add money to your card to play the games.

2) Downey Park on the corner of Dean Rd. and SR50 has their fun water splash park which costs $1 per person to enter, including adults. They run it for two sessions each day...10am-2pm and 3pm-7pm. They shut down the water park between 2pm-3pm every day, but you can also play on the playground nearby or visit the lake, too.

3) Regal Cinemas always has free kids movies during the summer on certain days of the week early in the morning...usually around 10:00am. This summer, I believe I heard someone say the free movies are on Tuesdays. Check your listings for the location, times, dates and movie titles playing!

Ten Thousand Villages...

Just wanted to post something about one of my new favorite places...it's a little store called, "Ten Thousand Villages".

I first visited one while on Spring Break recently in Black Mountain, North Carolina. The location there is technically in Montreat, a very tiny town complete with its own college, too. There is also a location for "Ten Thousand Villages" here in Winter Park, Florida, located on Park Avenue. I visited that one, as well, recently after returning from Spring Break!

What I love about the store is the unique and one-of-a-kind gifts and hand-made treasures you find from literally all over the world. The concept behind the store is that they hire people from countries and villages all over to create their hand-made specialty items and price them at a very affordable price for the consumer. It gives the workers a fair wage for their hard work and creates some kind of income for those who may live in less fortunate areas of the world. The employees of the local stores are actually volunteers and do not get paid, as far as I know. It's simply a pleasure I suppose, knowing that you are helping out others who are less fortunate for their own livelihoods. Their items are just lovely and I feel almost as if I am visiting a marketplace while on vacation in some exotic destination or something when I look through all the unique finds. Many of the smaller items are reasonably priced so that you can own some very unique treasures without paying through the roof. I am including some pictures of some of my favorite items that I have purchased there so far and the prices I paid. When you have the time, check out their website and take a look at a broader sample of what they offer. I like the idea that I am helping others around the world who need income by purchasing their diligently crafted treasures!

www.tenthousandvillages.com

This little bracelet set is just darling for a gift for a little girl. It is only about $8 and contains brightly sparkling little bangle bracelets inside of a precious organza drawstring pouch. It was made in India.
This stretch bracelet is one of my personal favorites. I bought one for about $9 and it fits perfectly...not too tight or too loose on my wrist. It was made in India.
This lovely wooden bowl is technically listed as a salad bowl. But, it is quite small and would make a lovely centerpiece filled with your favorite decorative stones, potpourri or anything festive really. It is beautifully lacquered and only cost me $7! It was made in Nicaragua.
This little coin purse is my favorite! I don't know why, maybe it's because I love the color pink and brown, which this has on it. It is primarily made with sequins and small beadwork. It was only $8 and was made in India. It has a silk backside and really fits well in any size purse you have. It's good for keeping receipts or money, lipstick, etc.
This crocheted purse is my FAVORITE! It was made in Peru and cost $58. I treated myself to this as a present with some recent bonus $ I received at work. It has a drawstring closure and is lined on the inside. It also has brown suede along the outer edge, as well as a suede shoulder strap. What a unique little purse. I love the buckle strap, which allows me to adjust the length of the purse while on my shoulder.
This lovely fabric picture frame was made in Vietnam and cost $20. I love the brown color! They also have several other versions that are similar in style. In fact, one version has three cranberry-colored fabric frames lined up one above the other and connected by ribbon between each frame to give it that triptic, stylish look.
This chip and dip bowl priced at $54 and was made in Vietnam. I have not bought this yet, but I thought I would show it here just as a sample of some of the creative and beautiful pieces you can find to add to your home decor and for hosting future gatherings.
This date palm basket/tray was made in Bangladesh and I got it on clearance sale for only $12. I thought it made a lovely carrying tray for virtually anything, such as my card-making craft supplies. But, you could also use it decoratively on a table with candles displayed inside or a pretty handkerchief. It's very soft and flexible, which I personally love.
This last basket makes a wonderful decorative basket which could be used for any purpose. It has navy blue colored palm leaves mixed in with the natural look and has pretty ceramic handles. This one is currently on sale on their website for $8 and was made in Vietnam, too.

Spring Break in North Carolina...

Sierra posing on a large boulder in Chimney Rock (Lake Lure, NC)...
Chandler posing too...
Amanda posing...
Amanda and I on the little creek at Chimney Rock...
Grandpa Randy, myself and the three kids at Chimney Rock...


Sierra showing off her Amethyst geode from Broad River Gems in Lake Lure, NC...

Romans 12:18...Peace

I finally have something positive and worthwhile to blog about! It just came to me tonight! Let me fill you in a little bit about something that's been troubling me for the past few weeks. We have an Australian Shepherd named, Sydney, which we adopted last September from a family. He is just over one year old now. Sydney is a very loving dog and has been a fun, yet challenging at times, addition to our Williams Zoo Crew! One problem we have noticed with Sydney, however, is that he has developed a fear of most other dogs. It all started one day when we took him to a local dog park when he was 6 months old. He was friendly to all the other dogs in the dog park at first. But, within the first 20 minutes or so, a group of larger dogs started asserting their dominance over Sydney and were circling him and forced him under a picnic table out of his fear. Since then, he now barks aggressively and quite loudly whenever he sees any other dog, large or small. It's a defensive and protective mechanism he has developed. I can't say that I blame him. The old saying, "his bark is worse than his bite" holds true for Sydney...he actually doesn't even bite. But, the way he barks loudly and forcefully whenever he feels threatened sure would make someone who doesn't know him feel wary.

We have a next-door neighbor who recently brought a Yorkshire Terrier into their own home. They are very small dogs, but they sure do make up for it in their aggressive barking, as well! Anytime Sydney and the neighbor's dog happen to be out in their own backyards at the same time, inevitably one of them starts barking and gets the other one going, too! It drives Sydney crazy and he literally will push against our wood fence to try and get through into the neighbor's yard. Since our fence is 8 years old, it's very weather-worn and now some of the boards start breaking off loose when he rams the fence in one of his crazed episodes. He will poke his head through the opening if a board is knocked loose. This, of course, scares the neighbor if she happens to be out in her backyard when it happens. She's afraid he's gonna break through the whole fence and come attacking someday. I don't blame her for feeling a little scared, perhaps. But, we have told her that Sydney is not vicious and is not an attack-dog, by any means. He simply feels that he can ward off any potential bullies by barking loudly. She's met him before and she knows that he is not an attack-type of dog. We have 3 kids and would never own a dog like that anyway. He's actually a big baby. Scott is also sure to promptly nail back any loose boards whenever it has happened (it's only been about 3 times). Well, a few weeks ago, we got home late at night from LIFE group and after picking up the kids from my mother's house from babysitting and Scott let Sydney out back to go potty before bedtime. Unbeknownst to us, the neighbor must have let her little dog out in her backyard around the same time. Sure enough, Sydney starting going nuts when their dog started yipping. He pushed through one of the loose boards on the fence and it scared the neighbor as she was back there trying to get her dog to come back in the house. I heard her scream while I was coming out of the bathroom in our house. I didn't even know Scott had let Sydney out back at the time. I then heard our neighbor yell something like, "This is getting ridiculous! If you don't do something about that dog, I'm gonna call animal control!" Scott brought Sydney in right away and decided not to yell anything back over the fence since it was already after 11:00pm on a weeknight. He figured he'd let her "cool off" and try to smooth things over in the morning when he would go over and fix the loose board on the fence. Well, not 5 minutes later, the neighbor came over and rang our doorbell. I let him answer the door because it was late at night, I was already getting ready for bed and was not in the mood for any kind of confrontation so late at night. Things did not go well when Scott answered the door. Heated words were thrown around and in a matter of minutes, things went from sour to even worse! We had always tried to be friendly with our neighbor and had never gotten into an argument with her before. Apparently, she didn't like the fact that Scott was not letting her yell at him on our front doorstep late at night. She stomped off and ended up calling the police! Never before has a neighbor called the cops on us for any reason whatsoever! I was so steamed about the whole thing! Why would she overreact like that and call the police over a simple matter that could have simply been handled like two mature adults with some compromise and mutually respecting discussion? It was so unnecessary for her to call the police. After all, we hadn't even done anything wrong anyway. The police even acted like it was ridiculous that she called them out at 11:30pm at night for something as little as this...a dog that broke through part of our own fence and scared her. After they questioned both parties for their sides of the story, it was clear that no crime had been committed and that there was no really good reason for them to have been involved. It was also apparent to them that she had provoked the entire situation by yelling over the fence and then coming to our doorstep yelling late at night, escalating things way beyond what was necessary. They simply told Scott that next time she comes onto our doorstep late at night like that and starts yelling at him, we have the right to ask her to leave our property. That was it!

After that night, I was so steamed about the fact that she felt it was necessary to involve the police over almost nothing. I was also mad that she apparently had no qualms about turning our neighborly relationship sour so quickly, even to the point that our kids and her kids would no longer be able to play with each other as they have before, simply because of some silly argument that would now exist between us as neighbors. Truly, it seemed to me that she had gone way overboard and was not expressing any humility over the situation at all. Now, I must add that 99% of the time in matters where I find myself involved in some sort of conflict, I am usually the first to try and keep the peace. I can't stand conflict. It makes me really uncomfortable and through the years, I have noticed that I am much less inclined to hold grudges over things as I used to do when I was younger. Life is simply too short and you really spend so much energy trying to hold onto negative feelings towards others, that it is quite draining. I can name several instances in recent years where I have taken the high road and always been the one to initiate peace whenever a disagreement or conflict of some kind has reared its ugly head. But, for some reason, this particular incident just irked me to the point where I felt for the first time in a LONG time that I just didn't want to be the pursuer of peace anymore. This matter simply crossed the line to me. I had reached my limit of bending over backwards for someone else simply to keep the peace, even when I felt I had done nothing wrong. Since that night a few weeks ago, we had pretty much decided that we would not be speaking to our neighbor unless she happened to approach us first. We were hurt and angry over the situation and just felt that we didn't want to have to take the first step in order to reconcile our friendship. Yes, I know that pretty much goes against much of what Christ teaches us to do when it comes to others. We asked our LIFE group to pray about it last week, as it was something that still didn't sit well in our hearts.

Well, this morning several cars in our neighborhood, including both of ours, were broken into in the middle of the night while parked in our driveway. Luckily, for us, nothing was actually stolen (we don't keep things valuable & worth stealing in our vehicles) and no windows were broken. It was simply our faults for not locking our doors when we parked our vehicles last night. As God would have it, our neighbor came knocking on our door this evening to discuss the rash of car break-ins that took place overnight on our street. We hadn't spoken to her since the dog incident. Scott took the first step in seizing the opportunity to bring up the previous situation and apologized for anything he had done to make the situation worse. He also apologized that the dog scared her by breaking the loose board (which he has since fixed). Fortunately, it seemed that God has been working on her heart, as well, to humble her attitude towards the situation and she apologized, as well, for her part in overreacting over the whole scenario that evening. They briefly talked things through and I am actually sitting here tonight a bit amazed at how God has allowed a negative incident such as our cars getting broken into, to act as a catalyst for making peace with our neighbor. I am also thankful that, of course, we actually didn't have anything stolen from our cars or any broken windows and such. But, I am more thankful that indeed, God seemed to hear our prayers over the situation and for once, someone else initiated the first steps in pursuing peace. I'm sure the car break-in situation was the perfect excuse for our neighbor to come over and begin taking steps to make amends with us. I just wanted to share this story with my readers because I think it is an everyday example of how God can work good from a bad situation and at the same time, peace can be restored between people. There may still be some hope left yet in this crazy, fallen world!

Romans 12:18..."If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone."

1Peter 3:11..."He must run from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it."

Notice the word 'pursue' in reference to peace in 1Peter 3:11...the act of pursuing something means the act of almost chasing it down. It involves action and is not really a passive thing. So, to pursue peace means that we need to actively be looking for ways to seek it when the time and place calls for it...even when we don't want to...lol!!!

Author's side note: When Scott went over to repair the broken board after the last incident, he did make sure to put in very thick screws/nails across every single board on that side of the fence (tops and bottoms included). He also put in several 2x4's across the bottom to make the fence virtually indestructible. So now we have "Fort Knox" on that side of the fence, which should eliminate any chance of Sydney knocking loose any more boards. We're also trying to be more vigilent about when we let him outside now and if the neighbor's dog is out as well, we monitor Sydney to make sure he doesn't get all worked up and go crazy. We figure this will also help maintain peace and some sort of order. :o)

Pagers, cell phones, texting, etc...more signs of the times?

Just a little blurb about my thoughts on how times sure have changed rapidly in recent years. I was watching TV the other night and noticed how many commercials were all about cell phone plans, texting plans, and pretty much all things technologically advanced. I thought, gosh, just 10-15 years ago, who cared so much about how many rollover minutes you have or is your phone the latest, fanciest gadget new on the market? I mean, seriously, why is the ability to twitter, blog, text, and communicate in a thousand different ways and forums so much of a top priority these days? I understand how convenient having a cell phone can be while you're out and about...I use one occasionally myself. But, as for texting, I have no desire at all to do that. I can just write an email or make a quick phone call if I want someone to know something or if I have a question. Do you ever notice how when you are out in public, many people seem to have their heads down paying close attention to their PDA's or their fingers busy playing or typing on their little phones and gadgets or are busy talking to what at first appears to be themselves with some silly headpiece out in the middle of public while you are walking by? Then you realize that they are actually conversing with someone else via a tiny cell phone earpiece and you are privy to half of the entire conversation. So weird to me! It's too much, quite frankly, in my opinion. I mean, I know we are creatures who were designed to be in close community with one another and with God, of course. But all this technology in nearly every function of our daily lives makes my head swim!

Here's an example of what prompted me to write this post...I went to Panera yesterday morning to grab a quick delicious breakfast sandwich, since I rarely go to Panera anymore. The one I go to has recently been remodeled and looks all nice and elegant. After ordering my breakfast sandwich "To Go", they hand me one of those large square pagers that you see when you are waiting at a restaurant for dinner where they call you when your table is ready. Then, the cashier asked me for my first name. She said that now I wouldn't have to wait in line at the pick-up area for my sandwich...that I could just sit down at a table and wait till my buzzer lights up. So, I did this. And about 5 minutes later, my hot, delicious breakfast sandwich was ready! They even called my name over the loudspeaker just to announce it was done. The buzzer went off loudly and lights were flashing urgently. I went up to the pick-up counter and got my breakfast and noticed that the receipt I had even had my name boldly printed on the top, which is obviously how they knew my name. I dropped the buzzing, light-flashing pager into the handy basket they have waiting for these at the pick-up counter. As I was walking out the door with my little carryout bag in hand, I just chuckled to myself at the idea of a silly little breakfast sandwich order requiring all this high-tech stuff and such a process just to get it made and delivered to me. It wasn't even crowded in the building at the time. There were no lines waiting for food orders. I just kept thinking, this is too much and really not that necessary! Is this another sign of the times?

Is this not the cutest thing you've seen in a while?

Just get a look at these adorable photos! Are they not some of the cutest things you've seen? A high school friend of mine sent me these via email! They were taken in Australia. Apparently there has been a recent heat wave there and this little Koala Bear was seeking some rest from the heat and went onto someone's back porch. They put out some water for him and just look what he did! So cute!!! They were taken just a few days ago. Thanks, Kevin, for sending these!

Happy 10th Birthday, Sierra!

Sierra ready to start the day on her monorail ride into the Magic Kingdom for her birthday! She got to sit in the cockpit with the engineer for the ride!

Sierra and mommy at one of our first Mommy & Me playgroups with friends...June 1999 (she was 6 months old). UPC members might also recognize the late Jan Ayson sitting next to me and her son, Travis, is the little one in green with his back towards the camera. At the time I knew her, Scott & I weren't members of UPC, so I had no idea we would one day share the same church home...small world!



Mommy & Sierra on Thanksgiving 2008! I can't believe it was a decade ago that I had her! Today we are celebrating her birthday at Disney World because anyone can go to any Disney theme park in 2009 for FREE on your birthday! No kidding!