Blog Challenge #17 - FEARfull Friday

alright... grab a drink and sit down for an ooooh so spooky tale! OK, just kidding - heheheh

today's challenge is to tell about a time in our life that we have been scared...

I've been wanting to document this event... so this is great for me :)

It's not a "jump out and frighten you" kind of scary.. just a "oh no! what am I going to do fearful" event... alright, let's begin:

Background history: (setting the stage - LOL)

Year: Feb. 10, 1999

Previous Events: John had just recently been commissioned as an officer in the US Army (May of '98). His first assignment after completing the Officers Basic Course - Seoul, South Korea. It was to be a Hardship tour (where the family couldn't go with him). We applied for a command sponsorship (where the boys - August and Seth - and I could go too). It was denied. He leaves for Korea on January 4. The boys and I go to my parents to stay. The plan was that when John got there, he would find a place for us to live (off post - in a Korean neighborhood) and the boys and I just go over (on our own dime) and live. So he gets there and finds us a little villa (shown here in the photo.. we lived upstairs). The boys and I just are waiting for our Passports and Visa's... they finally arrive and we get a flight over to Korea for the 3 of us. We depart on February 10. Now the story begins...

First of all... the whole ordeal of getting to Korea took exactly 24 hours. I was traveling alone for 19 of those hours (my parents drove me to the airport - which was like 5 hours away -- it was a MUCH cheaper flight to leave from Denver than anywhere else)... August had just barely turned 2 and Seth was 8 months old. August came down with a huge fever and diarrhea for the whole flight! NOt fun.. but it DID make him sleep and not be a wild, uncontrollable 2 year old on a 17 hour flight - so that was actually a blessing! Also, we were flying on a Korean airline and so all the stewartess's were Korean and thought little Seth (who was bright blonde) was so adoralbe so they really helped out and would prance him up and down the isle...

Ok.. let's get onto this FEARFUL event that happened...

Fast forward to the plane landing... Imagine me trying to get off the plane with 2 little boys. August carseat. Seth in his carseat. a stroller. a diaper bag. and a carry on! I must have been a sight! I just keep telling myself - I just have to make it off the plane and I will be met by John and all will be well! I somehow manage to get off the plane and... no John. I start to panic. I'm not sure what to do... I just start following the crowd - for they seem to know where they're going. I make it through customs. no familiar faces. no american faces. I keep following the crowd. We are now at the baggage claim. no John. I am soooo worried! I think to myself how I am lost in this city with 22 million people and am stranded. It was a horrible feeling! Both boys were screaming by this point. I had lost it. I drop everything and start crying (funny now when I think about how this must have looked - a foreigner and her little boys sitting at the baggage claim sobbing!). I felt so overwhelmed (I hadn't slept.. the time change... traveling for that long with 2 small children) ... so out of my comfort zone -- I felt so ALONE! I didn't even know what to do! So, I started to pray. Literally. I plead to my Heavenly Father "HELP ME! I can't find John. I don't know what to do! HELP!" as soon as I closed my prayer, a Korean airport personnel was walking past me. The thought came to me - STOP HIM! so, I said "excuse me.. do you speak any english?"... he said "ahhh. yes. english" (this was good enough for me!) I explained how I was supposed to have met my husband but couldn't find him anywhere. He then told me that no one is allowed INSIDE of the airport and that he was probably outside waiting for me. He then gathered up all of my luggage... helped me through the 2nd set of custom gates and outside to where I see John waiting for us! My fear was gone! I was filled with comfort (and exceeding gratitude for that wonderful Korean citizen who helped me!). On the way to our "new" home for the next year..John explained that he had no idea that he wasn't going to be allowed inside of the airport and was so worried for me. In the end, it all turned out well.. but I will never forget that scared feeling I had that overcame me and how the Lord shows his tender mercies when we plead to Him!

Blog Challenge #17

It's the here and now! Write a list of things you have to/want to/ need to (pick one - or all) get done today!
1. Fold Laundry (and put it away)
2. Vacuuming would be nice
3. Court at 1pm (yes.. you know what kind of person I am, right??? actually it's for a traffic viloation - that I TOTALLY disagree with.. so we shall see how it turns out!)
4. Chiropractor appts. for Seth and I
5. Young Womens tonight at the church (youth group I'm over)
6. LOST!!!!! hooray!! last weeks episode was AWESOME! can't wait for some more answers!!!
7. Keep tabs on my store :)... IT has exceeded my expectations of how the grand opening would be! In fact, I was the #2 scrap blog yesterday with 1600+ hits! Mama Likey!
8. Spend time with Johnny! He got stuck in Chicago last night - but should be home here in a few hours! I'm hoping he makes it in time to go to court with me.. I'm a bit nervous.. never been!
9. of course all the cooking and homework and playing with boys needs to fit in too :)

yep.. this is my day. today. Wednesday, April 18.

It's official

So I'm in a dilema... I have so much I WANT to do and don't know what to do first. Boys are all tucked safely into bed. John has called from Kentucky and he made it safe and I've got about 2 hours till I *have* to put myself to bed...
I want to SCRAP
I want to BLOG
I want to DESIGN
I want to VEG AND WATCH TV
I need to CLEAN THE HOUSE (notice.. not want to on that one - LOL)
I need to MAKE THE BOYS' LUNCH FOR TOMORROW

hmmm.. guess that's about it. Since I'm already here, I'll go ahead and finish up a quick post and then I'll feel like I'm doing something fun with my "me time".

So.. it's official. I joined the ranks of STORE OWNER today. Launched my digital scrapping store this morning. If any of you are interested, here's the link SVdesigns. There are literally THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of digital designers out there - the market truly is oversaturated... but I have such a passion for it and my hard drive was getting full with all the kits and stuff I've made so figured I might as well try and sell them. I've been asked a couple of times to come sell but think I'm going to just go with my own store for now - I have a lot of traffic to my blog - in the 2 months I've been posting, my scrapblog has had over 56,000 hits - so I know people will actually see my work. (who knows.. maybe my next post will reveal that I've signed on with a store - LOL). Anyway, also with so many thousands of designers trying to break into the industry - EVERYONE gives away free stuff as samples of their work, etc... so I know a lot of my followers at my scrapblog are there for the free stuff I create - which is totally fine. I'm just super excited people are even using it! I know people like my stuff. most of my items have been downloaded 1000+ times! Anyway, what I'm getting at is that I didn't want to set myself up for a dissapointment so I said that I would be THRILLED and feel successful if I got 10 orders today. I'm happy to report that I have almost DOUBLED that number and it's only been about 12 hours! Anyway, so I'm pretty excited. The best part of the day was when I received payment from Christi (a fellow scrapper over at Scrapgal) and she literally bought up over half of my store! That was just the best compliment! So... we shall see how the rest of the week goes. I'm having a $.99 grand opening sale this week. All the $$ I make is getting put into our cruise fund -- HOORAY for vacations! Well, guess I've gone on long enough -- better move on to my next WANT of the evening!

Blog challenge #16

you are all going to have a growth in brain size after today's challenge of listing random facts!

* Apples, not caffiene, are more effective of waking people up in the morning
* There are 119 grooves on the edge of a quarter
* On the average, there are eight peas in a pod.
* There are 18 different animal shapes in the Animal Crackers cookie zoo
* More than a third of all adults hit their alarm clock's "snooze" button each morning — an average of three times before they get up. Those most guilty of snatching some extra sleep are those in the 25-34 age bracket, at 57 percent
* Most American-made car horns beep in the tone of "F."
* In 1976, the first eight Jelly Belly® flavors were launched: Orange, Green Apple, Root Beer, Very Cherry, Lemon, Cream Soda, Grape, and Licorice.

Blog challenge #15

Todays challenge is a Truth or Dare... We can answer the question "have you ever regifted" OR we can take the DAre and tell about our most memorable gift.
Since we all know regifting is just something people do - hee hee... I'll tell about my most memorable gift.
Let me give the setting... I'm 17. Christmas is comming. I have my own bathroom at home and I REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted this bathroom set. It was peach. You know, the bath mat, toilet cover, shower curtain, soap dish... you get the picture. I wanted it all! That was all I wanted that year for Christmas. Did I get it? No.

Ok.. actually I did but just wanted to trick you -- surprise! LOL
Yep.. got the whole she-bang and I couldn't have been happier! Then as an added surprise I got a phone line in my room! I couldn't believe it! This was before portable phones were really big and I *needed* to talk to my boyfriend (my sweet Johnny) into the wee hours of the night without my parents knowing - hehhehe. So I got 2 memorable gifts that year for Christmas and I'll always look back on them with fondness! My parents did good that year! Thanks mom and dad!

Easter and upadates!

YIKES! there's so much to post about.. but am VERY short on time! so I'm just going to post some pictures and give a quick recap...

the top pic is an awesome "real grass" basket that the bunny left on our back porch on Friday -- guess he was getting a *jump* on things - LOL.... the boys and I colored eggs on Saturday evening and here are our creative results! Betcha can't guess what the 3rd pic is - heheh.. oh, I guess you could! That's right... it's the boys' easter baskets. The bunny knew we are saving $$ for our family cruise fund, so each boy got mostly $$ inside their eggs to put towards the cause!

Ben decided to be Superman for a couple of days last week... here he is all ready to go to the gym with me and show the other kids all of his *super powers*!

and this picture is just too cute NOT to share! We had just gotten back from the Easter Egg hunt and Pancake feed at the church on Saturday morning and Seth just kept snuggling up with Nathan and giving him hugs and kisses! This is so sweet! Melts my *mommy heart*.

and finallly just a fun one of Benjamin getting artistic with the chalk that the easter bunny left. Now, because I have all boys this next part shouldn't be a surprise to anyone -- after they were done drawing nice pictures for me on the back patio... they decided to turn on the hose and got turned all the chalk pics into PAINT! and then proceeded to paint themselves with it! They dyed their hair... their bodies and their clothes! Luckily it all came out with just a bit of water...

alright.. that's all I've got time for now... I'll be back later for more updates :)

blog challenge #14

yes.. you read that right.. there is no #13... (yet)... but getting a jump on things. Lisa is helping me out with the blog challenges and we'll be switching every other week... so today she has us doing something quite unique! We are to google what we need. For instance, I typed in "shandy needs" into google and here are the results (we are to post links to at least 10 of the results)...

#1 Shandy needs a plumber in the UK... apparently I haven't gotten a cheque from some guy for plans I did and I'm waiting on the check to be able to pay the plumber... hmmm... interesting...

#2 Shandy needs a ride to bible study ... so in this little read, back in July of 2005 I needed a ride to a teen bible study - hehehhe... ok.. this is fun... onto the next one (yep.. I'm typing this as I find them.. so we'll be surprised together!)

#3 Shandy needs help swimming ok.. this one is about if I need help swimming to call this guy (who specializes in breeding dogs that help humans).. or at least I *think* that's what it was about... oh well... on to the next...

#4 Shandy's friend needs help in picking out a fishing rod so I super nice in this one and am posting a thread about the best fishing rod to get my friend... I'm seeing a trend here... in everyone so far, Shandy is a boy! LOL... I guess I'm not surprised.. Shandy means "rambunctious little boy"... hmmmm...

#5 I'm a refreshing drink someone needs and this guy will show you step by step how to make a Shandy - a refreshing, non-alchoholic drink!

Ok.. I'm not finding anymore *fun* links of what I need... there are about 2 pages of the author Tristam Shandy and a couple of blogs by people named Shandy... so I'll end with this one...

I NEED A SPONSOR!! how can anyone resist me???

blog Challenge #12

I told all the gals who participate in these challenges that it will be hard to beat #11 (we all had a total blast with that one!). Today challenge is all about our names. The story behind it, what it means, do we like it, etc, etc...

My full name is Shandalyce Fae.
Most people have a hard time pronouncing my name (especially telemarketers - LOL). Just so you know - it's prounounced Shan-da-leece. I get called Shand-alis alot. But I have always gone by Shandy.
My parents couldn't decide on what to call me. My dad wanted "Shandy" and my mom wanted "Alyce"... so, they did what any normal young american did in the 70's and combined the two :) Unique and original. I have never met another Shandalyce. In fact I've never met another Shandy (I've seen them on TV and whatnot.. but never met one in person...) I think it's pretty cool and I never get confused with other people - so that's a plus, right?
My middle name, Fae, was given to me after my grandma (my dad's mom).

BIG LOSER

some days all the hard work of losing weight just totally PAYS off... literally! As in $$. I entered a 30 day weight loss challenge at my gym and there was a pot of $100 to be won. We decided to split it between the top 3 losers (in respects to total % body weight loss). First place would get 60%, 2nd place gets 30% and 3rd place would take the remaining 10%. I was really aiming to get first place but sadly that didn't happen. I did end up taking 3rd though and so am quite pleased! I also had them do my measurements and figure out my body % and I'm SO THRILLED with the results. Ok.. so from when I was initially measure in January 2005 to my measurements today I have lost a total of 38.5 inches!! That's over 3 feet of me that is gone! Almost 2 feet of that is gone from my whole mid section (which is my *trouble* spot) with between 7-9" gone off my abs, waist and hips each. I was just so EXCITED. I've also lost a total of 15% body fat! I am actually in the "normal" range for a woman my age! How cool is that? and a total of 54 pounds. I feel soooooo awesome! I feel so empowered! I feel so like ME! This is who I am. So when John got home I had him take a "visual" picture of me holding a tape measurer around my waist at where it used to be (don't think the picture turned out all that great and you can't really see how far I'm holding out the tape.. but oh well.. you get the idea!).

Also... I've accepted a postion at Elemental Scraps.com to be on their Element Team (for designing) and they needed a headshot and bio for their home page... so, John and I set up a little "studio" in the backyard and went at it! We had so much fun. A blast really! Here are 2 of my favorites. I'm going to be doing a scrapbook page with all the outtakes - which should prove to be fun! So stayed tuned for that. I went with the one on the left to be featured at the site...

woohoo for fun, new photos of me (that actually turned out cute! - hee hee)

and can I just say...

I LOVE MY HAIR!

eeeeeeww!

yep... here's my little filthy boy! This was Nathan's first attempt at a biter biscuit! As you can see, he totally enjoyed it! there were a few times it got so slimy it fell out of his little fingers - LOL... needless to say, bath time wasn't too far off!

I must add: even though he is sooooooo filthy, isn't he the cutest thing ever!?!!

Truth Revealed...

So here's the results for Blog Challenge #11

1) True. John was stationed in Korea (1999-2000) and while there we all went swimming in the Yellow Sea. It was absolutely DISGUSTING! you couldn't even see your hand like 2 inches below the water... only went in to say that I had! LOL (ya know.. so then I'd have things to write about on my blog 7 years later - hee hehe)

2) False. I am sooooooooooo scared of heights that I don't think anyone could even PAY me to skydive!

3) True. Yep, When I was about 7 or so, I was sitting in the front seat... my dad turned a corner and out I went! no permanent damage done. LOL

So the
Dina, Rachael, Michelle, Lynn, Celeste and Patrice all got it right! Wow... that's pretty good :)
Thanks for playing :)

Today it happened... I LOVE my new hair cut! It only took a week - hee hee... I was banking on it taking 2... so this is a little unexpected treat for me! I think it's sassy and cute and spunky and totally fits me! Plus all the great compliments I've been getting from friends makes me feel like I'm on top of the world! I must say... it's pretty swass!

So, here's a picture of Nathan, Benjamin and I getting ready to have a little lunch date with daddy today (sorry for the dark shadows and such.. guess we should have thought to open the curtains to let in some natural light!). In the past 2 months John has only had 4 days off (poor guy!). He and his staff took today off - so when Ben got home from preschool we thought it'd be fun to go out for lunch. Ben was campaigning for Golden Corral. Tomorrow's my weigh in day for Weight Watchers so I was a bit hesitant... but that's where we ended up going. I'm happy to report that I ate very healthy (despite it being a buffet full of yummy food that was calling to me! LOL). I'll be happy come tomorrow at the weigh in, right? I'd better be!

I got an email from another digital scrapbook site inviting me to be a part of their Elements Team where I'd be designing free products for their members for participating in challenges and whatnot... I'd be reimbursed by gift certificates to their store for up to $50/month. I'm really thinking about doing this. As most of you know.. the store I was going to be selling my designs at fell through (the owner decided it wasn't going to be that productive in the financial part of things)... so I had decided to just go back to selling and giving out freebies from my ScrapBlog... I actually like the idea of being on an elements team, tho... seems to really fit where I'm at right now with my designs... I wrote back asking for more info.. so we'll see. I was pretty excited that it was actually a pretty well known and established site with some well known designers :)

As usual.. it's pretty late so better get to bed so I can be a well rested and happy mom in the morning!

Blog Challenge #11

I thought for this challenge we'd try something a little more "interactive"... so today we are going to tell 3 statements about ourselves. 2 will be TRUE and 1 will be FALSE. In the comment section, everyone votes on which one they think isn't a true statement about me. I'll reveal the real falsehood on the next Blog challenge day :) So.. ready to play? Here we go:

1) I've been swimming in the Yellow Sea
2) I've been skydiving three times
3) I've fallen out of a car driving down the road