Vacay Day 1

After a restless night of tossing and turning and wondering if I had remembered everything, Jason and I awoke at 5 a.m., shoved a few last minute items in our bags, and were leaving Woodward by 6:00 a.m. It was a great drive to Tulsa (mainly because I slept while Jason drove). We were pleasantly surprised to find that Tulsa airport was clean, not crowded, and a relaxed environment. We cleared check-in and security at a leisurely pace and commented several times on how much we enjoyed that particular airport. I had a few gripes about American (where you now get NO free luggage, but have to pay $15 for the first bag and $25 for the second), but all in all, it had been a relaxed and easy trip to that point. We even ran into an old friend in the airport and had a nice chat with her.
The first flight was eventless, though I did note that while pop was still complementary, no free peanuts or pretzels were offered. American was losing points with me by the moment. We landed in Dallas, got a bite to eat, then boarded our next flight.
Once aboard flight 484, we sat at the gate for an absurdly long amount of time before the captain came on the intercom and announced that one of the craft’s lights was broken and would need to be replaced. He explained that it was not a complicated repair, but was an involved one. He estimated that the repair would take twenty minutes. After twenty minutes it was announced that the mechanics were now there to fix the issue. Twenty minutes after that we were notified that while the repair was complete, the appropriate paperwork now had to be filed before we could take-off. The passengers of the flight breathed a collective sigh of relief when we finally pulled out of the gate and onto the runway. Our flight was now about 50 minutes delayed, but since we weren’t making any connecting flight, our cruise didn’t leave until the next afternoon, and we had no children with us to entertain, J and I were just going with the flow. It was smooth “sailing” for an hour or so until they stopped the in-flight movie and the captain made another announcement. “Blah, blah, blahbedy blah, don’t panic, blah, emergency landing in Tampa. Return to your seats and put your seatbelts on.” WHAT??? What did he say? Jason (who was actually listening at the beginning translated for me). Apparently an indicator light was on and according to FAA regulations we were required to make an emergency landing. I had a split second or so of relief…and then we started rapidly descending. We started REALLY rapidly descending. J and I started praying. It was a little bit intense. Once we were below the clouds and closer to the ground I felt a little better, though…until we approached the runway and saw police cars, ambulances, and firetrucks with lights on waiting for us. I looked at Jason, “Those are for us.” I can’t remember if he replied because then we were touching down and all of those emergency vehicles were rushing towards us as we lurched to a halt in the middle of the runway.
The captain came back on and announced that we’d had a fuel leak from the left engine and we’d have to sit on the runway while the emergency crew and repair crew handled the situation, we could not approach the airport while leaking fuel. “Because we don’t want to blow up the whole airport,” Jason and I finished that thought. Great. And I had felt relieved that we were on the ground! Eventually one of the flight crew came back on and told us that we were going to pull into the airport, but that we should stay on the plane unless we decided that we would not continue that flight. I have to admit, that had definitely crossed my mind. In fact, at one point during our oh-so-rapid descent, I looked at J and told him that if they were just going to repair this plane and put us right back on it I’d rather rent a car and drive to Miami. I think about a quarter of the passengers disembarked eventually. We were not among them. After an hour and a half on the ground fixing the issue, re-checking the plane, re-issuing the flight plan, and filing an incident report, we were back in the air. After a smooth 38 minute flight we arrived safely in Miami! Thank you, Lord!

HAHAHbaby

So my webstore is up and running (even though I only have 5 slings in it, to date)! I put a link on my blog. The logo was designed by Ad on our home computer. I am so impressed with the job she did! She is an amazing artist, but I had no idea it would transfer so well to creating computer graphic art. Hannah, Addy, and Haven have also helped me modelling slings for the website (one size does NOT fit all). Sometimes my own Sweet Haven doesn't want to cooperate very well, though! Who wants to buy a sling advertised by a crying baby in it?

I have explored etsy some, too, and it is an amazing place! It is solely for handcrafted items. I have found some fabulous sellers there with just fantastic items. There are so many creative people out there! I've saved some on my webstore, so you can check out my favorites, too! One of them sells the craziest little knit hats...they look like they belong on the Whos down in Whoville!

webstore

Okay, it's up and running, though there's not much in it yet! Seems like it takes as long to take the pics, load them, and list the sling as it does to sew the thing! Address is:
http://www.HAHAHbaby.etsy.com Check it out!

Invisi-blog

I have a problem...it starts with an "L" and ends with an "AZINESS." Obviously, that's why I'm not blogging very regularly. But there are legitimate reasons, too....first, Tony fixed my computer issues (YAY!) so now I can keep writing my books. I am really trying to finish two of them this year, though I have no idea how to go about trying to get them published or if they will even be publishable.
Second, I've been extremely busy. Sick and absent teachers combined with a ridiculous shortage of substitutes has me pulling double and triple duty at times. Since I'm already mom/principal and some days cafeteria cook, many days I find myself juggling mom/principal/substitute teacher/cook. By the time I get home, I am too tired to blog, email, write, or even eat! It's also just a busy time at school...pretty much from now until mid-May. We have the spelling bee, the science fair, the art fair, the spring review, achievement testing, student convention, etc. Not to mention the fact that with the new semester I will be coming in 2-3 afternoons a week to teach drama. I would love to be able to hire somebody else to do some of these things, but the sad fact is that even if the school could afford to hire someone I have no idea who on earth that person would be!
Thirdly, I'm turtling. This is what Jason calls it when I get stressed and overwhelmed and begin to avoid people. My bed starts to have an almost irresistible appeal and I don't want to go anywhere or do anything. It has a lot to do with the weather, too, because my threshold for stress significantly decreases in the winter months.
In short, I'm still here, just slackin'!