The Pinewood Derby

Courage requested that I blog about his pinewood derby tonight. How can I say no to that? Although, if you have read my last post you will know I have no camera. So, I am very unmotivated to blog because of that too now. And, I am bummed that I have no pictures of Courage's race tonight.
When I finally get another camera, I will post pictures of his cool car.
It is a shiny yellow car with flames and skulls on the side. It also has yellow wheels.
All week he and David have been working on the car and getting very excited about the race tonight. But, I think Justice might have been the most excited about tonight. He has been asking to go to the race all week. That boy is obsessed with cars.
To get ready and even more excited about the derby tonight, David decided to take the boys to the Toledo car show this morning. They had a great time checking out the sports cars and trucks.
But then the time came for the races.
We got to the church where the races were held. David and Courage checked in while the other kids and I checked out the other cars and picked out our seats. It turned out that Courage's car was .1 ounce heavier than the accepted 5 oz. So, they had to drill a big hole in the underbelly of the car. They finally got the exact 5 oz weight that they wanted and then sat down with the rest of us waiting for the races.
I was impressed by the track and the technology that made viewing the races capable. We said the pledge of allegiance and sang the national anthem, and then the races began.
Race after race everyone chanted COURAGE! COURAGE! He was so excited. Only one car ever beat him and that was twice.
So, when all the times were averaged Courage's car came in 2nd for 4 or 5 wards. An explosion of cheers rung through and he was beside himself with pride and excitement. It was a fun night.
He got a certificate stating his 2nd place and a king size chocolate bar. Then we ate tons of junk food refreshments. After it all, we spent the whole ride home listening to the play by play of every race, which were about 10 races in all.
Now because Courage was in the top 3 winners tonight and 1st place for our ward, he is invited to the district race. He is already talking about winning nationals. Funny kid.

My Camera AKA I Hate Cannon

So, when we went to Sea World at Christmas time a stupid dolphin splashed my camera. Well, the camera went kaputt. That totally sucked for the rest of our vacation because I had to buy the disposable cameras that suck. But, in the long run I figured "OK. No Sweat. I bought the extended warrantee."
I sent the camera into Cannon Services to be fixed. They should fix it right??? I had the warrantee. I paid $11 for shipping and postal insurance to get the camera to Cannon Services.
Did they fix my camera? NOPE.
This is what they said.... To be fixed we owe them $140. (Keep in mind I already paid $240 to buy the crap thing. I had it 3 months.)
They said the warrantee does not cover:

"Incidental or consequential damages. pre-existing conditions. damage from accident, abuse, misuse, introduction of foreign objects into the product, unauthorized product modifications or alterations, failure to follow the manufacturer's instructions, accessories and supplies including but not limited to batteries, antennas, cartridges, styluses, records, audio/video disks, tapes, computer software disks, print elements, external power supplies, vacuum cleaner bags (wierd), and belts, bulbs, spark plugs, filters, trimmer lines, or exterior pipes and plumbing, acts of god, preventative maintenance, other than 2 annual head cleanings provided under this plan, inherent product defect, comertially used products or multi-user organizations, public rental, or communal use in multi family household, damage which is not reported within 30 days after expiration of this plan, loss or damage to stored data, repairs to installed software, compuer viruses, cracked or physically damaged screens or computer hardware which is added after original purchase, burned in phospher in cathode ray tubes or any other type of dispay, any damage to recording media including any software programs, data, or configuration setup information resident on any mass storage devices such as hard drives, cd-rom drives, dvd drives, floppy diskettes, tape drives, or tape backup systems as a result of the malfunctioning or damage of an operating or non-operating part, or as a result of any repairs or placement under this plan, products with removed or altered serial numbers, loss or corruption of data and/or the restoration of software and operating systems, loss and/or theft of the product, loss of use, loss of business, loss of profits, down time and charges for time and effort, any failures, or parts and/or labor cost incurred as a result of manufacturer's recall, damage covered under any insurance policy, or any other warrantee or service plan."

So, when I called the stupid Cannon company I asked "What on earth did I get when I purchsed the warrantee? Clearly you guys cover yourselves so you don't have to be held accountable for anything!"
Then they sent my camera back to me the same day FedEx. So, they didn't even give me the option to OK the service charge to fix my camera. If i want it fixed, I have to pay another $11 to send it back to them.
Long story short: I HATE CANNON! They are not honest in their dealings. I will NEVER buy Cannon ever again. I will also read any warrantee BEFORE I purchase the piece of lying crap paper. But, most likely I will never purchase a warrantee again.

Repentance

Oh.... The guilt. The shame. The disgrace.....
Today I was camp out on the couch -  as usual - when a news report came on about blogging. The woman the story was about spoke of her "responsibility" to her readers. That she is letting them down if she were to not write on her blog.
That is when it hit me. I am a slacker. And, it was almost as if Divine intervention was speaking to me. I think I may have actually seen a great light above me calling me to justice... Calling me to repent of my non-writing sins. Or... It could have been the black out from dry-heaving.... Regardless, pregnancy is no excuse. I am a sinner, not fulfilling my commitment to write.
Actually...., I have written. I have a lot of drafts. I just haven't finished the stories for one reason or another. the reasons to be included, but not limited to are nausea, too tired, and my brain is out of commision making the stories noncoherent.
But, just to prove it to you here are the drafts....

Amsbury Family Vacation 2009: the parks
Wow. It has been a while I need to finish this story.
We had a great time at the parks. When we arrived in Florida after driving all night to save another day from being lost on our vacation, our friends that went to Florida with us came over to get Faith and Courage. They took them to Disney World while David and I napped. Hope also went over to play with her friend.......To be continued.

Girls Day Out
Saturday was fun. It's all about the boobs.

It's a Strong Pregnancy So Far...
One of the best predicters of a strong pregancy is how sick you get. So, when I am not sick I tend to get very worried.

Yesterday was one of those days. Worry. Worry. Worry.
I felt nothing. Well, I was tired.... Just not nausious.
So, I found myself petitioning to my Father in Heaven (unintentionally in rhyme...) "Please make me feel sick.... Let this baby stick..."
I know all you ladies who get pregnant just by washing you underwear with your husbands and have really strong pregnancies think I am crazy to want to be sick.... And all I have to say to you is   ! You just wouldn't get it.

McNugget on the Run
(that is as far as i got.)

OK. So That is it. From now on I, Tera Amsbury, promise to do better when writing my blog. I will be more dedicated despite my mental handicap which has taken over my life and knocked out about 5 million brain cells from my knoggin. Amen.

Blogging Break

I have been so tired and unmotivated to blog. Pretty much every day I just sit on the couch looking around at all the things I need to be doing. But, alas... I better get to it.

Be Grateful

In light of the Haitian earthquake, I have been brought to awareness of the many blessings that I have. I can sit myselfish self down on my couch and complain about how sick or tired I feel while at the same time there are Haitians sitting amidst the rubble of torn streets and buildings. I can complain about my dirty un-vacuumed home while Haitians reside in the nearby parks afraid to enter their homes or don't even have one anymore. I can complain about how my children are demanding and get on my nerves with temper tantrums while there are Haitian parents who recently had their children taken away by such a deadly force and children crying in the streets or under debrit hidden by fallen buildings looking and hoping for their parents.
We are a spoiled people here in the United States. We can sit and complain about our little lives, our corrupt government, and economic strife; or we can realize that there are those so much worse off than we are. WE have food, shelter, families, and saftey. We live in the greatest country in the world, which despite its flaws protects not only us but others throughout the world.
Be greatful. Share what you have. There are millions who really need our help right now. Their needs are great. Dontate now.

http://www.unicefusa.org/

This is for you cuz....

Seriously! Does this look like 11 weeks and a few days to you?!? All I am saying is this doesn't look right to me.

Gotta love Pregnancy

I LOVE being pregnant. But, I will have to admit sometimes it can be a bit much. I realized this as I spent 45 minutes throwing all my clothes out of my closet and rummaging through my maternity clothes in the pile next to my bed. I knew there was no hiding my baby bump at church today. So, the goal was to find something that actually made me look like I had a baby bump and not just like I had seriously "let myself go over the holidays." This was a major challenge today because everything I tried on, I felt, made me look like a giant blob. Maybe the process of picking out clothes wouldn't have been so bad if I didn't have to keep lying down on the bed because I was out of breath and about to throw-up.

That is probably the worst thing about pregnancy... feeling like a giant out-of-shape whale. I mean seriously! I have a HUGE stomach. I am just about 12 weeks pregnant But, I look like I am 5 months gestation. It is just a huge mass that is taking over and I can do nothing about it, but encourage it by eating everything in site because I cannot satisfy this insatiable hunger of mine. It is like my giant growing blob is just screaming "FEED ME! FEED ME!"
The tiredness, while it can be very annoying at times is actually kind of nice because I can always get away with a little nap... Ahhhhh, peace and quiet me time.
The nausea sucks big time. I have it all day every day. But, that just means that the baby is going strong. So... I'll take it.
I am out of breath a lot. But, that ensures me to not do too much work. It is like a free ticket for laziness.

I also LOVE the pregnancy boobs. This time of my life I actually have perky lifted boobs instead of my saggy hose boob skin flaps that resemble those of the women in National Geographic. I'll definitely keep that part of pregnancy.
Frequent peeing I could do without. I had a small bladder to begin with. So now I spend a ridiculous amount of time in the bathroom. I should just start reading a novel in there. I could have it done in a couple of days.

I also love the new hormones. David loves them too. I feel like a teenager that just hit puberty with a brand new boyfriend. Every time I see David I jump with enthusiasm and giddiness. I am soooo in love.
Yup, pregnancy for the most part is awesome. And at the end I will have an adorable tiny baby. It is just the Blob image that I would rather do without.

Justice the Crazy

I fear for the life of my child. The poor thing is crazy and I kinda feel like I should write a column or start a TV series like Bear Grylls did; except it would be a series about "How to survive childhood as a boy: from A Mother's perspective." Or better yet, "How to survive motherhood with an insane and wild child."
Yesterday Justice was at his best again. I had just finished making breakfast. I felt so proud of myself because I made the kids a healthy breakfast of eggs and toast with orange juice. All the while I tamed my nausea and included my kids in making the food. I also taught them a valuable lesson about staying away from the stove when cooking because it gets so hot it would burn them very badly. Over and over I had to tell Hope and Justice to get back away from the stove because it will burn them. I thought they got it...
Well, breakfast was made. The kids loved it, especially since they were the very first eggs laid by our chickens.
Then after the kids finished up eating, I had to sit down because I was nauseas and tired. At about that time Justice came up to me whining for a snack. I said, "No, you just ate breakfast. You can wait a while." Upon hearing that, he left. 2 minutes later I heard screaming. I immediately jumped to my feet knowing full well what had happened. Justice pulled a chair up to the stove and climbed on it in order to get to the snack cupboard. He was standing on the stove, both feet on the recently used burner.
I grabbed him down and sat him on the floor. Then, I rushed to get some ice packs from the freezer.
He of course screamed and cried for a LOOOOOOONG time. His feet were red with a few blisters. I was upset also. I had just gotten through giving him an important lesson on stove safety!
Then to make things worse - FOR ME - he kept crying for Faith. I said, "I am here, Baby...." He kept saying over and over, "NO! I want Faith! I love Faith! She is better!"
Well, I wallowed in self pity for the rest of the day feeling inferior to my 11 year old. AND, I was the one catering to Justice's every need and demand as he sat all day on the couch with his feet on ice; changing ice packs ALL DAY LONG, fixing his pillows, scratching his back, carrying him to the bathroom, and Yes.... getting him snacks and drinks.

Sometimes I wonder if motherhood is worth it....

The Amsbury Family 2009 Vacation: the new car

Dad was able to get a mechanic friend of his from church to come over on Sunday to check out old suburban. The verdict was that the car was totaled. It needed a completely new engine.
Well, I told David that there was absolutely no way on this green earth that I was going to put one more red cent into fixing the darn thing. And, luckily he agreed with me this time. So, no fighting began.
David was completely upset though. He just kept saying he wanted to go home..... Just rent a van and go home... I just couldn't see spending a few hundred dollars on a car rental and driving home to Toledo to look for a car, though. Our vacation would have been totally over that way.
I felt at peace with what happened anyway. I knew we were being watched over. We are ALL the time. We see little miracles happen for us here, there, and everywhere... I mean, for heaven's sake, of all places we could have broken down on the road to Florida and it happened to be 5 minutes from my dad's house. Way to coincidental! Plus, it was nice to have some extra family time to strengthen bonds.
And, I wanted to stay on our vacation or salvage what we could of it anyway. My dad felt the same thing. So we ganged up on David to get him to agree to go look for a new car on Monday. He didn't like it and it got a bit tense at times. I understand though. It is difficult for some people to accept change and spend several thousand dollars on a whim. David is one of those people. I, however, love buying new things and have no problem spending thousands of dollars. But, I did tell him that if we didn't find anything for our family that we felt good about then we could just go home in a rental.
It was Monday morning and we were off to buy a new car, or at least try. We ate some breakfast, kissed the kids and headed out the door into the freezing wind.
David and I said a prayer in the car for the Lord's guidance to be with us on our task. Then we drove to a GM dealership. We have 4 kids and one on the way, so we needed a car that fit everyone and had luggage room. That eliminated everything but passenger vans and suburbans.
The challenge was that there were very few car dealers in town and even fewer vehicles the size we needed.
The GM dealer did have 1 suburban on the lot. We sat in it, tested it out and fell in love with it. It was a 2010 model with 2 DVD screens, heated seats, and a video screen that turns on when backing up. And, that is all to start... There were so many awesome things in that car. The problem was that it was $61,000+. The car salesman tried to find us a cheaper car, but it was 150 miles away. And, even that one was too expensive. They didn't seem to care that I said, “I know you can make this work, so come back with better numbers and we'll buy the car today." They came back with worse numbers so we walked out.
We had one other dealer to see in the town and then we were going to rent our car to head back to Toledo. I'm telling ya... it is a tiny podunk town.
So, we walked on the lot and were greeted by an good ol' boy with a heavy accent. We told him we needed a suburban and we needed to buy it today. He said, "Well... all I have that size is a Cadillac Escalade." Then he walked out to it and we followed him. David hit me on the shoulder and had a huge grin on his face when the guy, whose name is Smitty, wasn't looking. I just smiled back and thought, "How weird that God wants us to have a new Cadillac Escalade!"
It turned out it was the right price, so David and I took it for a test drive. While driving he began hounding me with questions. That drove me nuts. He wanted me to tell him what to do, but I didn't know what he wanted me to say because he kept going back and forth about this being a good car and not being good. I may have had a mini meltdown.... But, I will not confirm that.
When we got back, we told Smitty to work out the numbers and that we would buy the car if the numbers were agreeable. When we were giving him our deets, he learned that David was a medical resident and that we were on our vacation. He felt badly for us, so he took off a few grand from the price. We appreciated that.
So, then Smitty disappeared into the vortex wherever car sales guys go to check credit and work out financing. It was a very LONG time. It was so long that I had to go to the bathroom about 10 times (Gotta love pregnancy...) before he came back and told us we just about got the financing just fine. But, we might have to stay in town longer than we wanted to. We told him we didn't want to do that and that we might as well go home to look for a car in a town with many more options available to us.
Upon hearing that, he sent us to the finance guy's office. The finance guy said we got approved sort of.... He was pretty sure that the bank he sent the loan app. to would accept the loan, especially since David would be a full-fledged doctor in a year or so. But, the girl who approves the loans was out of the office. Fortunately, the town is really small and he and girl went to high school together. They stayed in touch and he called her at home. But, unfortunately she wasn't home and was not answering her cell phone.
The finance guy asked us to stay until the next day's morning. We said that wasn't going to work for us. There would be no point in staying because our vacation would be too short to salvage for us. We said we would just go rent a car and go home if we couldn't have the car right then. Oh yeah... and we demanded 0% down so we could still have money for our vacation.
The guy felt bad and said he didn’t want to tell anyone they couldn't go on vacation, so he quickly talked to the general manager.
He came back and said, "Take the car."
I said, "Well, we don't want to put you guys out. What if we don't get approved tomorrow morning when your friend gets into work?"
He said, "Don't worry about that. That would be on us, then. And you would get a free car rental for your vacation. If the financing doesn't go through just return the Escalade after your trip. Enjoy it."
David and I just looked at each other and said, "Umm.... O.K."
And that is that. We walked away with a Cadillac Escalade under blue book value that worked awesome and have so many cool features it made our heads spin.
We left for Florida Monday night about 5pm. We drove straight through, so we could have 4 full days left for our vacation. The ride was sweet. Heated seats warmed the front and back seats. We listened to XM radio the whole way. And the snow we drove through was no big deal because we had all wheel drive. And, it has a built in touch screen navagation system. I LOVE MY NEW CAR! I had fun reading the owner’s manual about all the other features too! I just might have an Escalade from here on out....

Driving out of my dad's little town.

David unloading the Escalade at the condo we stayed at.

Yeah... We're flashy money bags now.... Hahaha... yeah right. We dread going to church Sunday. We expect a lot of looks. OY! If Only everyone knew it was only car we could afford.

That even sounds crazy to say and hear!

OH! By the way... Our old suburban is now at the local junk yard in my Dad's town.

They gave us a $500 check for it.

The Amsbury Family 2009 Vacation: the trailer saga

We ended up staying at my dad's house Saturday night, Sunday night, and then again during the return home Saturday night.

The kids camped out at my dad's double wide with him and his wife, Sarah. They had a great time. Hope and Justice strung out on the couch. The two big kids set up "blanket-beds" on the floor. All were in the living room area. It was a fun sleep over, especially since Mom and Dad were sleeping next door in a separate single-wide trailer. It was a little tight, but we fit. And most importantly we slept.

But then, how quickly the sleeping came to a quick hault.... Eyes wide open from a dead sleep, David and I heard extremely loud sirens.  And, not just any sirens..... TORNADO SIRENS!

HOLY FREAKIN' CRAP!!! Our car died the day before and today we are going to be swept away in a singl-wide by a tornado! I know how these things go. I watch the news.. sometimes. Single-wides and tornados don't mix. I just had visions of us in the trailer swiring round and around through the sky.
David and I quickly got dressed and headed over to the double-wide where our kids were. After all 2 single wides connected have to be safer than one! Right? I hoped.....
When we got inside, my dad told us the siren was just calling the volunteer fire department guys.  Thank goodness no tornados today!
But, on the overnight stay coming home, we got to my dad's about 12:30am. We put the kids to bed in the same set-up as before. Then David and I walked over to our guest trailer. After 20 minutes of lying in bed in the dark, I heard someone walking around. I couldn't tell if it was inside the trailer or outside. I just new I was in for a long night...

I hit David and told him I heard a noise. He woke from his snoring sleep to listen then fell back asleep shortly thereafter. 10 minutes later I hit him and told him I was freaked out. I made him get up and look around. All the while I was thinking it was a ghost; That it was watching me and walking the hall of the trailer....
Totally serious... And it isn't that far fetched either since the trailer is right next door to the town cemetary.
I heard the walking and scratching all night long. And, long night it was. Both David and I could have fit on half of a single bed because I was squishing up so close to him.
In the morning we told my Dad and Sarah about the noises we heard. Upon hearing that, Sarah said, "Ya know... I think that trailer is haunted. I have always had that feeling when I lived there."
HELLO!!!
I can sense things. It is like a 6th sense I have. Sarah has it too, apparently. And, here she was confirming my suspisions. I will not be sleeping in that trailer again until the spirits have been exorcised.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

New Year’s is a time to look deep within yourself and make changes for the better within your life. If you actually think those changes will happen at the stroke of midnight Jan 1st, you are insane. But if you don’t try to make a resolve to change, you are just lazy or a quitter before you even start. Maybe you are both.

Regardless, here are my resolves….

1. Be more patient with my kids and stop yelling WHAT! WHAT! WHAT! WHAT! WHAT! at my kids when they yell MOMMY! MOMMY! MOMMY! MOMMY! MOMMY!
2. I will Cut my hair and wear fewer dresses so my neighbor will stop thinking that I am some crazy religious zealot from a religion whose women are oppressed.
3. I will look deeper within myself to make personal improvements instead of telling David to go find a new wife when he gives me critisism.
4. I will start being more honest with people. When they are annoying I will tell them, instead of listening politely to their bull crap. After all, how else will they improve their annoying qualities? I am helping!
5. I will take more showers…. Starting tomorrow.
6. I will keep my resolutions this year, unless I don’t. Then I resolve to forgive myself for my imperfections. But, in that case I will remain perfect.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The Amsbury family 2009 Vacation: the departure saga

Ring… Ring…Ring…
I hit David in the gut, “Answer the phone!” I yelled.

Holy Crap! It was our friend Crystal calling and waking us up because she was expecting our dog over half an hour earlier. Thankfully she and her family were going to watch our dog Charlie for us while we were going to be in Florida. (And, thanks to Carrie and her family for watching our cats!)

David set the alarm to wake us at 7pm instead of AM. Oh well… so we’re gonna be a little late on our vacation start. We had waited all year looking forward to some family time away from the daily grind.... We were all full of excitement....What else could go wrong? We had everything ready to go and in the car..... The car just got back from the mechanic with the “OK” to go on a long trip..... After all, we just spent about $3000 on 2 sets of new brakes, rotors, ignition, water pump, fuel pump, radiator, and more…. the car SHOULD work! And who cares that we had to roll down our driver side window to open our car door from the outside. It ran and that is all we cared about…. So we were set! All bases checked!

Florida here we come!

We headed out to West Virginia first. We were about an hour behind schedule, so we expected to see my dad about lunch time. (He lives near Charleston, WV.) The 5 hour drive was not bad. The car ran smoothly. And traffic and weather was in our favor. The kids were literally attached to their DSes and Leapsters. All is well.

This is Justice stuffing his face with hard boiled eggs.

When we got to Dad’s, he had pizza waiting for us. YUM! I am in a major pizza faze right now with my pregnancy cravings. The question now was, How much can I eat? Next he had gifts waiting for us.  My boys got "new to them" snow hats. David got a jacket to match my dad's. The girls got stuffed animals. And I got skinned animals. That is right fur. It is a mixture of 2 colors of fox, mink, and baby sheep. 
We visited for a while, but wanted to get on the road for our vacation. So off we went…..

Hillarious! I was rolling with laughter looking at these nerds. But... I still love them.

But, about 10 minutes from my dad’s house while driving the highway out of town our car just stopped working – completely. David coasted to the shoulder of the highway. And, we sat. Amazingly, we were still in my dad’s town so we could call him to come get us.

He arrived in about 20 to 30 minutes because he was busy at the Tea shop he owned with his wife Sarah. He took the kids and me. But David stayed with the car to wait for the tow truck. David finally got to my Dad’s home about an hour later. (This is my view from the inside of the dead car.)

Now… what to do? It was Saturday night after Christmas. Our car was dead. We were stuck in podunk WV, where the accents are so thick that our untrained ears needed translators to translate the words we could not understand.
We couldn't go home. We couldn't go to Florida. We had no idea if the car could even be salvaged.
No mechanic was at work. We just needed to wait until Monday for the mechanic shop to open to know for sure what was going on…. But, we had a pretty good idea that either the engine seized (meaning we needed a brand new engine costing $3000 to $4000), or we needed new sensors -whatever those are.

The kids patiently waited for Mom and Dad to fix everything....
Our vacation very likely might not going to happen at this point. Regardless, we were definitely pushed back 3 days. The words just escaped us.