funny video

I was laughing so hard by the end of this that I was crying.




This is just funny.

Things that I always wanted in a job

- Flexible hours
- High pay
- High level of activity
- Easy to work with coworkers
- Be my own boss


- Flexible hours - I get to nap in the middle of the day sometimes!
- High pay - well, no I don't get paid - but I do get other rewards and benefits.
- High level of activity - It doesn't show around my waist but I am pretty active with him, and now he's starting to run!
- Easy to work with coworkers - He's almost two so it's becoming a little harder, but I'm not worried about the terrible two's.
- Be my own boss - done and done!

I'd say that 4 out of 5 isn't too bad.

We're leaving in about four days. I'm so excited about it! While we're gone keep an eye out for a blog entry to let y'all know that we're doing well and having a great time.

Toilet paper, bruises and half an apartment full of water

Malachi was playing in the toilet (with out consent of course) yesterday afternoon when I was doing dishes. When I finished a neighbor (Donovan, 15ish) came over to show me the Christmas cards and wrapping paper that he was selling for school. I heard Malachi whining in the back of the apartment, so I went to check what was going on. When I got to the bedroom my feet went out from under me and I fell on my left elbow and hip. I now have internal bruises and am waiting for them to show up on my skin.

The water was in the back bedroom, bathroom, and closet. I didn't get as upset as I probably could have because I immediately went into "fix it" mode. I asked Donovan to come help me for a sec. I stripped Malachi of his clothes and I gave him to Donovan to watch while I cleaned it up. After they left I stripped of my wet clothes and got into some dry ones. I started throwing my towels on the floor and assessing the damage. There was water, everywhere I was so scared about what was getting ruined.

Shortly after I started that another neighbor came over to ask a favor. I apologized for not being able to do it (going to be in China that day :)) and she offered to help, she called her daughter and had her bring more towels down. While our towels were soaking up water we started moving everything out of the bedroom and closet to our deck. I started picking up the towels and eventually my tub was full of towels and pillows that were either under or next to the bed on the floor.

She then went to get a mop and started moping up the water that the towels didn't pick up. The floor under the bed was so gross because I haven't cleaned under there in a year - so embarrassing.

She had to go prepare dinner for her family so then I was alone. I was completely overwhelmed, but I did ok. I brought Malachi to another home - one with a friend of his so they could play. She fed him dinner and let him play with Isaac for over three hours, it was such a big help. I spent that whole time washing and drying laundry. There was so much to be done! When John got home from school we got Malachi and put him straight to bed.

I eventually did five loads of laundry last night, one this morning and I have one more that needs to be done, but I'm out of quarters and that's after borrowing a bunch from Chris and Holly - thanks guys! I mopped the floor last night with my neighbors mop (side note: I've been using a Swiffer Wet Jet since Christmas and I think I wanna get a mop. I've never liked the stringy mops, but it did such a great job and it looks so much better then the wet jet, anyway...)

So basically I worked for five and a half hours straight last night relaxed a bit went to bed, got up early and started over again. I got up, showered, cleaned the bathroom (Wednesday chore) and did more laundry, put away the stuff that was in the closet and under the bed and then pigged out on cookies and watched Friends (of course I was also taking care of Malachi, feeding him and whatnot and I took John's car to the shop).

My body aches because I went to the gym yesterday morning with a girlfriend and did weights, then did all the work in the apartment later. After sitting down to watch a couple of episodes of friends getting up was pretty hard to do.

This really is filling up my time and helping for it to go by quickly - which I was afraid about.

China update: John talked to David Rigsby this morning. He and his wife are the ones in Qinhuangdao that we're going to stay with. I'm getting really excited to meet them. They're actually going to be in Beijing on the day we were going to their apartment so we're meeting them in Beijing and having lunch and then later that day we're going to their place. We might have a bit of shopping left to do for the trip but I don't think anything major.

I'm going to do Pilates, I hope it helps my soreness.

One week!

Only one week until China! Malachi got a hair cut today and looks great! I got my eyebrows done and they're stinging :) I haven't done that in way too long, but they look great. I spent less than I thought I would have too and they look better than I expected, so I guess I got great value :)

I've finalized Malachi's packing list and I guess I can start working on packing his things that he wont need this week. I've not finalized our list yet, but will do that today and start packing things that we wont be needing.

This is so exciting I can't believe that a week from this moment I'll be traveling to China...CHINA!

I think something awesome just happened. I think Malachi just asked me what I was doing. Of course it was in half real language and half Malachi language, known only to me and John. But still it was great.

He's doing so well developmentally. He's putting together his own sentences. The other day he grabbed my purse then came to me and said "I got purse!" This morning he said "I sit," after sitting on the stairs outside. He's such a smart little boy.

It really is amazing to watch him grow and develop. It gives me a new appreciation for what God has done/is doing to create people. They're so complex and intelligent, I don't understand how people can think we developed from Gorillas.

I guess I should put laundry away and feed my son lunch. I'm sure I'll write once more before I leave.

Have a great week everyone!

Went to the zoo today

We had a lot of fun and I wanted to share some of that fun with you.

For John

Enjoy

...the new pics of the family. For some reason, we haven't taken any of the three of us. We should do that. For a look at all the pics that have been uploaded recently go to my myspace. www.myspace.com/monicola

New Pics

Contiunuing the Countdown

Two weeks people! I can't believe we only have two weeks to go until our trip to China. Two weeks from today at this time we'll probably be pre-boarding the plane (we'll not us, because we wont have a reason for that, but other people will be). AHHHH I'm so excited.

The Roy family had a great weekend. We kind of just hung out on Saturday until after Malachi went to bed, then the grown ups hung out with their friends that they aren't going to see much anymore because the wife works 3rd shift and the husband is going to start working 3rd shift starting tomorrow. So we hung out with them until about 3:30am. John and I went to sleep about 4:00am and Malachi was up at 7:15 - yay!

Yesterday after church we went to our other friends house and hung out there for a few hours. Good times. They have a friend there that was pretty mean to me (in a joking way while we were playing Munchkin) for some reason I couldn't take it yesterday and I was getting really mad at him and really crabby. So later after I had calmed down we were playing Apples to Apples and I pulled out a green card that was crabby and I warned everyone that no one could write Sara on a card. That got a pretty good laugh.

John and I were asleep a little after 10:00pm last night which was really nice. I only remember waking up once throughout the night and that was at 6:45am when I decided to go back to sleep because I thought John was gone. Then at 7:00am John promptly woke me up because he knew I wanted to start getting up at 7:00am. John told me that the reason he goes to sleep so quickly at night is because he gets up at the same time every morning. So I thought I'd try it. 7:00 is a good time, Malachi's still asleep so I can get stuff done and it's not too early where I'm mad that I'm up.

So this morning I've already done my online stuff and the laundry should be about done. Malachi's awake and happily playing in his crib. I guess I'll have to get him soon :)

I hope everyone had a great weekend.

Superbad is Superbad

This movie had it's moments when it was really funny. But a lot of the time I was so disgusted at the dialogue that I couldn't look at the screen. The fact that the kids that were supposed to be in High School would talk like that amazed me. Of course who knows how old they really are, but I could just imagine my kid acting that part and I was devastated. If I was in high school I know that I would like this movie, I loved American Pie, but now I watch that movie and wonder if I'm maturing or if I just don't want to watch that anymore. Either way...I didn't walk out of there feeling good about watching it and I definitely wont be renting it.

Malachi cleaning

Here's a great video of Malachi cleaning after he saw me do the floors. He's watching Nemo at the same time and gets a little distracted toward the end.

I'm sorry

I didn't know that there was a setting that disallowed non blogger users to post. I've undone that setting and now anyone can post. If you don't have a blogger account, just post as anonymous and put your name in the message so I know who sent it ;)

Fun psychology quiz

First the questions are listed then my answers to the questions, then the psychology behind it. Answer the questions before you read the psychology.


1. You are not alone. You are walking in the woods. Who is WALKING WITH YOU?

2. You are walking in the woods. You see an animal. What kind of animal?

3. What interaction takes place between you and the animal?

4. You walk deeper in the woods. You enter a clearing, and before you is your dream house, what does it look like?

5. Is your dream house surrounded by a fence?

6. You enter the house. You walk into the dining room and see the dining room table. What do you see on AND around it?

7. You exit the house and a cup is on the ground, what kind is it?

8. What do you do with the cup?

9. You walk to the edge of the property where you find yourself standing at the end of a body of water what kind of water is it?

10. How will you cross the water?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. You are not alone. You are walking in the woods. Who is WALKING WITH YOU? God

2. You are walking in the woods. You see an animal. What kind of animal? mountain lion

3. What interaction takes place between you and the animal? we stare each other down, i eventually clap my hands loud and scare it away

4. You walk deeper in the woods. You enter a clearing, and before you is your dream house, what does it look like? big colonial style house

5. Is your dream house surrounded by a fence? nope

6. You enter the house. You walk into the dining room and see the dining room table. What do you see on AND around it? thanksgiving dinner - john, malachi, my family, his family, josh and bethany, chris and holly

7. You exit the house and a cup is on the ground, what kind is it? Green plastic Starbucks cup

8. What do you do with the cup? walk by it

9. You walk to the edge of the property where you find yourself standing at the end of a body of water what kind of water is it? lake

10. How will you cross the water? fishing or speed boat


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The ANSWERS

1. The person who you are walking in the woods with is the most important to you.


2. The size of the animal is representative of your perception of the size of your problems in your life.


3. The severity of the interaction you have with the animal is representative of how you deal with your problems.


4. The size of your dream home is representative of the size of your ambition to solve your problems.


5. A lack of a fence is indicative of an open personality. People are welcome at all times. The presence of a fence indicates a closed personality. You'd prefer people not drop by unannounced.


6. If your answer did NOT include food, flowers, or people, then you are generally unhappy.


7. The durability of the material with the cup is made of is representative of the perceived durability of your relationships.


8. What you did with the cup is representative of your attitude.


9. The size of the body of water is representative of the size of your sexual desire.


10. The way you cross the water is representative to how easy or hard you expect your life to be.

Cities to visit

My brother-in-law just went with his wife and a friend to Vegas. Sarah, his wife, posted on her Xanga about their trip. My comment to her was that I'd like to go to Vegas, that it's on my list of cities to visit. Then I thought I'd like to make a list of US cities to visit. It's kind of the opposite of my husbands list of places to not go.

Without further adieu...my list:

Las Vegas, NV
New York, NY
Las Angeles, CA
San Diego, CA
San Francisco, CA
Miami, FL
Hilton Head, SC
Boston, MA
Anchorage, AL
Honolulu, HI
New Orleans, LA
Salt Lake City, UT
Seattle, WA
Portland, OR
Chicago, IL
St. Louis, MO
Corpus Christi, TX
El Paso, TX
Austin, TX
Washington, D.C.
Fairfax, VA
Atlantic City, NJ
Philadelphia, PA
Augusta, ME
Providence, RI
Hartford, CT

I don't know if this is an exhaustive list, but my son is really wanting to read a book and be in my lap. I do think however that it does have most if not all of the US cities I'd like to visit. This is just a random list, I don't want to go in this order.

China Countdown

Three weeks from today I'm leaving. I'll have been traveling for over 12 hours by this point (including going to the airport and layovers and whatnot). In fact, I might be in Japan by this point.

Anywho...we're getting so, so excited. I got my walking shoes, yay! I haven't bought new walking shoes in two years and since I had Malachi they've been a little tight.

I might need a new bathing suit - maybe not, we'll see.

I guess that's about it.

4 weeks

map by John

Four weeks from today John and I leave for China. We'll get there four weeks from tomorrow :) I'm so stinking excited about us going. I'm excited to see friends (I only personally know one person, but have heard about a couple other people for 8 or 9 years). I'm excited to see a new and exotic place and I'm excited to have my husband to myself for two weeks.

Since we got married we've traveled quite a bit: our honeymoon (Sandal's, Bahama's) New Jersey, Mexico, Germany, Italy, Prague, Switzerland (the last four countries in one two week trip), Texas (on vacation for a week before we moved down here), Florida, Arkansas, Minnesota (at least four times since we moved and I've been up twice that he hasn't). So I guess I can't say we haven't been traveling, but this feels different. We've never gone to such an exotic place and we haven't been away from the baby for such a long time.

We were away for two nights in Arkansas for our anniversary last year and that's the longest it's been. On the way home I was so anxious to see Malachi. Now how am I going to feel on the way home. Not to mention the ride is changing from five hours to a whole day of travel.

Now some pictures:This is the bed and breakfast we're staying at in Beijing. Click here to see the room we'll be in (b/c).


This is the New World Astor Hotel in Tianjin. This is where we'll stay when we're there. It's an old English hotel and we're staying in the older part. I'm guessing that it's the shorter part, but John's reading and I don't want to interrupt him again. Click here to see a description of it. I couldn't find a website for the hotel.


This is David and Karen. They live in Qinhuangdao. We're going to meet them in Beijing and travel with them to their home. We'll get to experience a little bit of what they do there. Click here for their blog. John met Karen on his first OEX trip in 1998. She was on it again in 1999.

This is the Youth Hostel that we'll stay at in Qingdao. It looks awesome click here to check it out. It was just renovated this year and I'm so excited.

I hope that wets your appetite a bit for a future blog about our trip. We have the capacity to take about 2000 pics with our cards. I hope that we don't take that many, but either way we should have some good ones for y'all.

Collapsed Bridge

In case you haven't seen yet a bridge collapsed in Minneapolis. It was a major bridge that runs just a little North-East of downtown Minneapolis. I did some research yesterday and found that none of my family were harmed in the collapse. I'm so thankful that no one was near it.

Other than being very thankful for my family, I'm not very attached to the tragedy. I don't feel real touched by it and I don't really care. I don't know if that makes me a bad person, but I feel really detached from it.

My son is watching Nemo and I'm doing laundry so I probably should get off the computer. Don't know if that'll happen though :)

New Blog

This is my new blog. I'm really just doing it so I can stop posting as anonymous on other people's blogs.