Pictures are worth a thousand words--or more!

I know that Missy really counted on me to be all full of humor as I created this blog for her and Christopher, but I'm really running out of funny stuff. I'm just going to let a few pictures speak for themselves--with a tiny bit of help from me. ; )


Around 7:00 a.m. this morning, Christopher discovered that he had sprouted those "hair wings" and it was all that Tasha could do to hold him down to keep him from taking flight. Which is what Missy wanted to do in the first place.












Somewhere in the middle of Indiana, Christopher decided he wanted to make a photo journal of their trip--while he was driving.




Christopher surprised
his mom with a picture
of me--apparently he couldn't find one of Wendy.

Little did he know how just the sight of me would affect his mom. Poor baby, she misses me so much. : `(

You've got to hand it to Christopher, he's been planning for the day that he could proclaim proudly that he is officially a "hokie". Or possibly a "dorkie". ; )

Hmmm...look what I found--fancy frame and all. Wouldn't you know....

So, the last I heard from them, they were lost on some back roads, possibly full of locals--or as Christopher lovingly calls them, "hicks". I'm sure they'll be just fine--they were only about 3 miles away from their hotel.

Wish them luck!!

Maybe tomorrow I can tap into my funny pool. ; )

It's not nice to mess with the ETA

Okay, so while all I've done is go to church and eat today, Missy and Christopher have now traveled through 5 states ( Mo, IL, IN, KY, & VA) on their way to the 6th one, WV. Incredible!

Of course, Christopher's goal was not just to get there, but to shave off as many minutes as he could from the ETA which the Tom Tom calculates constantly. Soon after Missy gave up her spot behind the wheel, Christopher had shaved off 29 min. I'm not good at figures like that, but he must have been going at least 100 MPH. I'm thinking that's about right. Missy probably didn't notice as she was having a God moment. One of many I hope.

Here is the devotional she read today:

It would be nice to be told, when we leave on a long car trip, something like this: "I want you to know that you are going to reach your destination safely and on schedule. Regardless of what happens en route--you may get lost, you may encounter a fierce rainstorm, and you may have a flat tire--don't worry. I am here to promise you that you will arrive.

Is that awesome or what? Now if God would just help her with bladder control (and other types of control) issues. Wait, was that bad?

They will be stopping to eat soon and I'm sure she'll be fine. Only 170 miles to their final destination. Wasn't there a movie with that title?.....never mind.

"I Can't Drive 55"

Okay, either they're driving really fast, or Illinoise is one skinny state. I'll have to look it up later on a map--wasn't good at geography. Anway, they're in Indiana now and it's only 12:53 PM.

It's really kind of fun following them like this--it's almost as if I'm in the car with them, but I'm not. Whew!

So anyway, I finally got that picture I was waiting for.
Here's Missy and Christopher on their road trip. Could they look any sweeter?

Oops! Sorry. How did that get there? I'm telling you, this new technology has it's problems, huh? I'll see what I can do to fix this in the future.

So, I'm reading comments on my status just moments ago and I see that Tasha is not ready for her brother to move so far away. Is that sweet or what? But look at it this way Tasha, you could be enjoying that 14-hour ride with your mom a couple of times a month or more. I think road trips can be a lot of fun. I've never been to Blackburg, VA or any other town in Virginia. Maybe instead of dinner, we could all hook up for a road trip someday! Yes!

Okay, I've got to do something today besides sit here waiting for my cell phone to ring.

Later peeps!

Hokie! They're on their way!

Yes, they're on their way. Unfortunately, they're already lost. Surprise, surprise! Missy and Christopher are officially on the road and headed for Blacksburg, VA--home of the Hokies, which is apparently something Christopher has a hankering to be. What is a "hokie" you ask--besides being an unusual word. Well, this is the explanation I got when I looked it up online:

In 1896, the Virginia General Assembly officially changed the college's name to Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute, a name so long that citizens shortened it in popular usage to VPI. The original college cheer, which made reference to the original name of the institution, was no longer suitable. Thus, a contest was held to select a new spirit yell, and O. M. Stull won the $5 top prize for his cheer, now known as Old Hokie:

Hoki, Hoki, Hoki, Hy.
Techs, Techs, V.P.I.
Sola-Rex, Sola-Rah.
Polytechs - Vir-gin-ia.
Rae, Ri, V.P.I.

Stull later said that he made up the word as an attention-grabber. But alas! The word "hokie" did exist. According to Johann Norstedt"[Hokie was] a word that people used to express feeling, approval, excitement, surprise. Hence my blog title. ; )

This little jaunt began this morning around 7:00 I've been told. As I'm typing this, it is 11:41 a.m. and I just got a text that they've entered Illinois. They have decided (at least one of them has) to accept the direction of Christopher's phone GPS over that of Missy's Tom Tom. Oh, the thrill of being in the "cockpit" with Missy again--NOT!! Oops....I'm supposed to be nice this time. Sorry Missy.

According to Christopher, I guess they could have flown this morning rather than drive. He apparently sprouted "hair wings" this morning and didn't have time to comb them out before Missy urged him (in the nicest, sweetest way I'm sure) into the car. I'm expecting a picture of that anytime now. Actually, I could probably Skype him. He apparently has the ability to multi-task like no other person I've ever known. He currently, in the car mind you, is online on his laptop, listening to a "hokie" baseball game via his phone(I think), texting and I don't even remember all the other capabilites that he has. They lost me at "he's online" on his laptop. How do you do that in a moving car? The things those two can do in a moving car--I wonder if they've thought about doing the "hokie-pokie". Yeah, I know, that WAS lame.

Seriously peeps, keep Missy and Christopher in your prayers as they make their way across the country.

Until I hear from them again.....

News Flash for "Flash Mobbers"

Once again, Kansas City just can't get it right. I don't know all the details about the "flash mobbing" that took place over the weekend at the Country Club Plaza because I try not to watch the "bad" news. But from what I've heard from others, it wasn't a good thing.

Here's the news flash for people/kids of KC: "flash mobbing", "flash freezing" and any other organized large gathering in a public area which, by the way, has been done all over the world, has typically been an event--a source of entertainment for others. What appears to be apparent spontaneous dancing, or instant freezing in mid activity. Not terrorizing the community. You can go to YouTube and entertain yourself for hours watching the videos of young (and old) all over the world participating in "flash" activities for the enjoyment of others.

I'd love to be strolling on the Plaza some evening and be pleasantly surprised by a large group of young people who have dedicated some of their free time to choreograph a dance routine to some awesome music. Wouldn't that be fun? But no--we get thugs, hoodlums, angry young people that just want to make others as miserable as they must be. How sad....

Hey, are there any adults out there that would be willing to get together and "flash dance" on the Plaza one of these beautiful spring weekends? Let me know--I think it would fun. ; )

Butt Dancing

Oh yeah! Love me some "butt dancing". And after two days of not feeling so hot and having a bug wake me from a nice little nap by crawling across my face, it was about time I had some fun!

We, Ashli, Angela and I, started the day by getting pedicures this morning. Then Ashli and I shopped for a while and then met up again with Angela and Patrick for lunch at Jason's Deli--ummmm, good stuff.

Then we headed back here to lay out on the dock and catch some rays. I grabbed my iPod docking station, a big towel and a pillow--I was serious about resting in the sun.

I knew this group was not going to want to hear my gospel music--not that they don't enjoy it, they just hear it all the time. So we start out by listening to 94.9. It was okay--some boring 70s & 80s music. And then I remembered that I had some good dance music on my iPod. Man, I couldn't lay there without moving. I was doing some serious "butt dancing" on the dock. I was about a beat away from jumping up and just letting go. But, after discussing the merits of doing something as simple as butt dancing for exercise, I catch a glimpse of Patrick doing pelvic thrusts to the music. Ummm...not on the dock. Not in broad daylight. Not ever, actually. ; )

It was fun though--I love music. I love to dance. And I love being outside. I'm very happy today. ; )

Wasted Day

Man, I wasted a beautiful day today. I got up with every intention of getting the important stuff done and then enjoying this beautiful weather.

But, things went downhill fast. I couldn't shake this ridiculous cough and I got a terrible headache as a result of it. I "caved" and decided to take the antibiotics that had been prescribed for me by my doctor almost a month ago when I had bronchitis. And, I took a couple of ibuprophen for the headache. Then I decided to take a pillow, my gospel music, a glass of tea and a book out on the deck to relax and let the meds work.

While I was getting comfortable, I noticed wasps flying around looking for just the right spot to start building their nests--which is usually up inside of my patio table umbrella. So I decide to nip their little plan in the bud. I opened up the umbrella--the wasps seem to like to sneak into small little spaces and this would eliminate that.

Now I'm ready to take a little nap and enjoy the warmth of the sun and the smell of fresh air. I put my book over my face and fall asleep. I'm not sure how long I slept, but I know I did. I was awakened by the sounds that the wind was causing. My patio table was on the verge of tipping over because the wind was blowing up under the umbrella. No problem. I'll just crank her down--or so I thought. She wouldn't go down. I could crank it up until it wouldn't go any further but I couldn't crank it down. Now mind you, I didn't feel good to start with and I had just woken up. I didn't feel like fighting with this umbrella--especially with wasps flying around my head. But that's exactly what I had to end up doing. I got down on my hands and knees and tried to unscrew the set screw that was holding the umbrella pole in it's holder and that wasn't going to happen. So I started yanking with all of my might to get the stupid thing out of the middle of the table.

Yea!! I did it. And then the wind caught the fully opened umbrella I was holding in my hands and almost lifted me off of the deck. I dropped the darned thing, knocking over my drink which immediately started spilling onto the deck. Oh yeah, I'm real relaxed now--NOT!

So, long story short (or is it too late for that?) I did not enjoy my time out in the fresh air on my recently cleaned up deck. I came in the house, decided to go to the bank and on the way home get me something to eat. And that's exactly what I did. Then I sat down and ate my Chinese food, fell asleep, woke up and watched Jeopardy, e-mailed friends to cancel out on dinner tonight and now I'm sitting here depressed about wasting an absolutely gorgeous day.

In my defense--I feel guilty about not getting anything done or having any fun today, but I don't feel good. It's depression over not feeling like myself but I know I will feel better soon. It's just the getting there that sucks!