We're nearing the end of our time together...

At least it was one of the longest months...
I am so sad that my blogging month is almost over. I've decided to continue blogging on my own, I really enjoy it. If you would like to keep in touch, check out my blog (it's not there yet) at www.myspace.com/andreanerrenbell. Well, it's too soon to say good-bye yet, so onto bigger and better things.

Wal-mart is taking over the world and I don't like it!!
I went to Wal-mart today to get my oil changed. For those of you who actually love and cherish your cars, feel free to gasp. My little Taurus is simply a way to get from point A to point B for me, so Wal-mart will do. Anyway, the "pleasant" lady at the Lube Center told me to give them about 30-35 minutes. So my active babe and I took to the toy department to waste some time. Then we checked out art supplies, dish towels, and other miscellany. About 45 minutes later, I checked with the Lube Center. Still no car. After an hour, still no car. After 1 hour and 15 minutes, I asked the Lube man if I could pay for my other purchases while I waited. He rang them up wrong (charged me for something twice) and told me I would have to go to the front of the store to fix it. GRRRRRR!!!! Anyway, after over 1 1/2 hours, my car was finally done with the great news my transmission was leaking. I've decided to take it somewhere else...go figure!

Then I went back...to work!
Today was another late night at work. After the doors closed, Mom, Dad and I moved all sorts of things around to accomodate the floor finisher who is coming tomorrow night to polish the new floors. Let me just tell you, when this remodel is done, I don't know what we will do with our spare time. Go home and relax, I hope!

I love commercials!
Ever since I was a small child, I've loved commercials more than the actual show they are surrounded by. Mom tells a cute story of my tearing through the house to watch the commercials then going back to my room to play when the show would come on. Anyway, there is one out right now that I love. It's the Nextel commercial set in an office where two guys are dancing terribly to "Oh, baby, baby" (not actually the name of the song, but I can't remember what it is). I love this commercial. My husband often tells me that I am the ultimate "marketing audience" as I am often receptive to most any commercial. Just my trusting nature, I guess.

My Space
One more addiction for the file, I am now on my space. Search for Andrea Nerren Bell. Feel free to link to me as a friend, I currently only have one, and it's Tom the guy who started it. I don't even know Tom, I feel a little dishonest:)

Note to Leanne
I didn't know you couldn't pour grease down to sink either. Thank God for Daddies:)

Have a great night everyone!!

Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!

I dread Parent/Teacher Conferences

Kids do the darndest things!
Well, yesterday I opened up sweet Olivia's backpack to find one of her artistic masterpieces. Every week they have a new letter that they study. Last week the letter was "b". The teacher will fold a piece of manilla paper (without kindergarten, what would happen to all of the manilla paper?) into 6 squares and have the children draw a "b" picture in each square. Well, Olivia did a great job, she had a lady labeled "beautiful", a bear, a ball, a bird, a butterfly, and...a bra. That's right, my child drew a bright orange brassiere.

Well, what do you say to that!
The thing is, my child is obsessed with maturing. She wants to wear a bra, shave her legs, just generally be a teenager. When I was 5, I knew nothing of these things. And believe me, she is not one of those children who is encouraged to act older. In fact, my husband just recently berated me for dressing her like a baby (smocking is cool, I don't care what they say). I guess it's just the influence of society in general. I'm thinking about locking her in a tower (except we don't have a tower). Well, the picture is hilarious and parent/teacher night is next week, so I'm sure I'll hear about this one.

Have a great day!!
Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!

Opps, I did it again!

Sorry!
I forgot to blog last night, I'm so sorry my faithful readers. I just fell asleep. I laid on my bed for a few minutes of reading, with the plan to get back up, do my blog, and change a load of laundry. At 6 a.m. this morning, I realized that plan feel through.

So, I'll blog twice today
Therefore, I am rewarding (yeah, right) everyone with an a.m. and p.m. blog. This one will be short, I am busy right now, I just wanted to share a few cute pictures from my archive. Enjoy!!


Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!

Day off blues

I'm tired and ready to go back to work
Today was my day off. This day should officially be known as "work as much as you can from 8 a.m.-11 p.m." day. I don't know why I do it, I just become a woman possessed. However, there are a lot of things clean around here, so I guess it paid off. Also, I matched a lot of the single socks in my mismatch basket. We used to joke that our dryer "ate" socks. Well, imagine my surprise when we pulled off the back last week and realized that it did!!

Movies-ministry or mayhem?
There's an interesting article on ninetyandnine this week about using movies in ministry. The official title is American Icons: Movies & Ministry in the 21st Century. It brings up many interesting points about incorporating something that has been considered taboo for so long (movies) as a ministry. With the production of such moving movies (sorry about the play on words) as The Passion of Christ, it's hard to avoid the ministerial value they could have.

Chillbumps and Goosepimples
At Easter and at Fire Conference our choir did an incredible song about the crucifiction and resurrection of Christ (sorry, can't remember the name). We dimmed the lights and play silent excerpts from The Passion during the song. Even though I had been in many practices with this song, it still gave my goosebumps in a way the song along would not have. Just to see an illustration of an event that tends to get downplayed by some was incredibly moving. In other words, I'm all for the movies.

Within Reason, of course
The main problem with movies, is that few of them are rarely completely clean. For instance, I am in in the process of organizing a marriage retreat at church and I am looking for a good, clean romantic movie to show as a late night bonus session. Basically, just something sweet and fun. Every movie I can think of has a little bit of language or adult situations or something. I mean it has to be completely G rated. It's so sad that the only movies I can think of to fit the criteria are old Disney movies and Napoleon Dynamite and even he says some slang words that might offend the overly sensative (and it's not very romantic). Anyway, if you have any suggestions, let me know.

You guys have a great night and a good tomorrow!

Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!

Baby, it's cold outside

Nothing stops like a Trane!
Saturday night my heat stopped working. Just stopped, no warning, no little beeping message warning me to get a space heater or go visit my parents. How rude! Well, obviously, there was no one to work on it Sunday, so we spent a few chilly hours huddled around an electric heater.

Best customer service all year
I called a heating guy this morning. I picked him solely based on address, he was right down the street from my house. I asked him to stop by and see if he could find the problem. I then asked him to call me and let me know how much moola we were talking. I had horrible visions of 4 zeros. Anyway, he called while I was with a client, so I had to call him back. When I called him back he told me he had found the problem, went ahead and fixed it, it only cost $190 and I could pay him whenever I had the money (apparently my earlier remark about moola had given him the impression I didn't have any, either that or he peeked in the window of Olivia's room and realized we spent all of our money on her). Anyway, what a great guy (don't worry, I'm mailing him a check tomorrow).

That's about it
Otherwise, my weekend was very uneventful. I am exhausted, we let Olivia sleep with us, since it was cold. She kicked and thrashed and mumbled all night. I got VERY LITTLE sleep. It reminded me of when she was younger. With the exception of a very few nights, she slept two hours or less at a time for the first 3 1/2 years of her life. No joke. She might only wake up for a few minutes or sometimes for a few hours. Regardless, I got very little quality sleep. I don't remember much about those years. It wasn't so bad until I went back to work. Sometimes at lunch time I would just lay my head down on my desk.

Speaking of sleeping problems
Olivia is still not a willing sleeper. Bedtime is often a struggle and she will not nap at school. She hates to sleep. Given the chance, she will stay up until midnight and will cheerfully wake up at 7:30 a.m. Now, she will be a demon by 3 p.m., but this would be her choice if I let her choose. Thankfully, I have better sense than that and she has to go to bed at 8:30. Often, I am tempted to go to bed too, but then the laundry would never get done. Ah, my glamourous life!

Have a great night buoys and gulls, I'll holla tomorrow!
Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!