Transportation Thursday #1

Ok blog readers...I'm starting a new tradition and calling it "Transportation Thursday" so I can make sure I have a set time to write about my stories on the JO, which is the Johnson County bus. If you are interested in reading about why and when I started riding the bus, you can check that out here....but if you really don't care and just like funny bus stories....keep reading.

Here's my problem...I'm a planner. Yes, I said it. I like to have a plan usually always and when you decide to try something new like public transportation its relatively impossible to have a plan because I have no idea what to expect. So maybe it's just I don't like the unknown? Either way, my initial struggle with riding the bus was finding the perfect route. That's easy, you say? Just get online, look at the schedule, find the closest one to your house and there you have it. I beg to differ. Not so easy. But I'm happy to say almost exactly a month of riding the bus....I have FINALLY found my perfect route. And I'm very very happy with it. But that's not the funny part. The funny part was all I had to go through to find this perfect route.

First bus route attempt:

Route 664 - Metcalf to Downtown

Pick up at 75th and Metcalf across the street from Burger King, drop off on the wrong side of the road in rush hour traffic and most likely illegally parking my car in CVS parking lot all day

FAIL

Second bus route attempt:

Route E - Nall to Downtown transfer to Route A - Antioch to Downtown

Pick up at 79th and Nall really freaking early, I walk to the bus, nice because I don't have to ever get in my car, awful because I am frequently a few minutes late...which means I have to sprint down my street with a bag, purse and wedges or heels. That was not fun. Especially that one morning that I rushed out, closed the garage door and started walking fast. Then I realized I forgot my work badge. I cannot even get into the door that goes into my office floor without that. I turn back around and start jogging back to my house. I open the garage door and frantically yell "JIMMY, CAN YOU DRIVE ME TO THE BUS STOP." I stand there waiting for some sort of response which feels like an eternity, say screw it and just run out of the house and sprint down the street....about 11 houses away. It was humid. I was sweating. Jimmy mentioned that night he did thought he heard something or someone but wasn't sure (um hello, your wife in desperate need of a ride). Drop off at 79th and Nall, which is not so bad. However, because of the pick up situation(s)

FAIL

Third bus route attempt:

Route 664- Metcalf to Downtown, try #2

Pick up a little bit past 75th and Metcalf. In my head, it was perfect. I would park my car at 24 hour fitness, get to work at 7:35AM because this was the fast route and then dropped off just a little before 5:30PM right outside of 24 hour fitness, grab my work out clothes and go to the gym. However, in reality, it worked like this: Pick up a little past 75th and Metcalf in which I have to dart across 4 lanes of traffic. The road is under construction and they are ripping up all the sidewalks and curbs and it rained the night before. I make it across the street but my wedges are muddy. I make it just in time as I see the bus at the stop light. Oh and the bus sees me. But then he stops, about 40 feet away from me and sits there. Apparently waiting. I was so confused, irritated and a little embarrassed. As I trekked my way through the mud, he moved the bus up a little bit but not much. Drop off was ideally right outside of 24 hour fitness, however, with the construction and the turn lane they put in, that made it a little difficult. Plus....I'm bell shy....meaning, I get very nervous to pull on the cord to light up the "request a stop" button. So I pulled it too early and I ended up having to walk too far to 24 hour fitness...in the rain...with a really girly umbrella...and wedges on...then the sidewalk was ripped out...so my shoes got more muddy. When I finally got to my car, I realized, this was NOT going to be an everyday solution.

FAIL

Fourth bus route attempt:

Route E (again) - Nall to Downtown, transfer to Route A - Antioch to Downtown

This pick up was OK, as long as I didn't have to run. And I liked that bus driver. But it was the drop off that killed me...I was in a meeting and the time was getting closer and closer to 5:00 (the bus comes at 5:08, so I HAVE to leave the building by exactly 5:00). I started panicking because while there were more bus routes back to JoCo, the transfer from Antioch bus to Nall was only at 5:45, so I had to get on that bus or else I was stuck. Too much anxiety for me.

FAIL

Fifth bus route attempt:

Route A - Antioch to Downtown and back

This time, I would drive to the transfer station at 6000 Lamar and just get on the Antioch bus directly. While the Nall bus was still there, I could leave my house 7 minutes later and get on the bus to downtown, so I was sold. Also, I could eat breakfast on the way. Also, if I missed the bus (which I did last Thursday......) I still had a car to drive to work. Then I would get on the bus back, it would drop me off at the transfer station and I would get in my car and be free to run errands, etc immediately. I liked this one a lot better because there are TONS of different route times and if I am working late, it's not a problem!

NOT A FAIL, BUT NOT PERFECT

Sixth bus route attempt:

Route A - Antioch to Downtown and then back on Route D - Downtown to Quivira

I would start out with 6th time is a charm, however I don't like even numbers, so I'm not saying that. I took this Route home today and love it. I'm sold. This is my favorite route by far. Lots of flexibility (I took the early bus home today and it was great). I get dropped off at 7:45AM and picked up at 5:18PM. Love it. But since I only did the latter today, we'll see how I feel after a few rides.

SOLD, BUT STILL LOOKING??

Ok, moral of the story.....it takes a very long time, lots of bus rides, and lots of researching JO routes to figure out what route is best for you :) But overall, I would like to proclaim that I really love riding the bus. Provides me with a relaxing start to my day reading my wonderful Kindle, which was a present from old Jimbo and my parents for my birthday, and some GREAT stories. Which will all be shared when Transportation Thursday returns next week :) Until then, happy bus riding....

P.S. October starts tomorrow, which means I already had to purchase my new October bus pass. Don't worry, I already did :)

What a feeling

And.....it's over. That's about the feeling that I can describe I felt when I walked out of the testing center on Saturday afternoon after taking the GMAT. Did I study lots and lots.....not really....however, for someone that has been out of college for 3.5 years now, studying was quite the task and I sure felt like I studied a lot. A few nights of the library and missing out on a few fun activities really got the best of me. The best news, though? I "passed" aka got a good enough score to get into UMKC, which is where I'll hopefully be starting my MBA in January.

SO......YEAH. Such a great feeling to be done with that. I'm not sure how Jimmy and the family will adjust to me going back to school at night, but we will make it work :)

So after crash studying on Friday night at Panera...and then taking the test all Saturday morning, the rest of the Saturday was spent having lots of fun. Which included:

- Attending the Plaza Art Fair

- Running into Leslie, Garten, and Allie (fun!!)

- Drinking beer

- Meeting up with Jimmy's friends

- Watching K-State pull through a win

- Walking around in the rain at the art fair sans umbrella and then freezing

- Going to Johnny's in PV to watching the KU game

-SLEEP-

-Watching the Chiefs game with friends (and great food!)

- Play date for Milly and Willy with Marley and Mister....so hilarious. They loved each other!

Checking out the neighborhood squirrels on the other side of 75th St.

Oh hello Marley :)

- Dinner at the Carter's

- Catch up on all the shows I DVRed

**Recap: Loved Gossip Girl, 90210- I am pretty sure everyone has dated everyone on that show, Modern Family- hysterical, as always** Other premieres are still TBD

Overall, a great weekend. I'm so excited to take my GMAT prep book back to the library and even more excited to be able to read my Kindle on the bus instead of stupid reviewing crap! So ready or not, I'm applying to get my MBA folks :)

Not PC: Indian Giver

Ok, so I know this title is not PC (aka Politically Correct), however, we could not think of anything more fitting for this, so if that offends you...many apologies, I do not mean it in that way.

Tuesday night, I get home late from attending a KU Info night recruiting event in Lawrence for work around 9:50PM. Thursday is trash day and since Jimmy usually has the trash on the curb by the time I get home on Wednesday night...I realized this was my chance to clean out the fridge of all those left-overs that aren't so good anymore. So off I go. Opening up tupperware, assessing the condition, determining if either of us will ever eat the food, then re-thinking about it, and most of the time tossing it in the garbage disposal or trash. After that fun event, I rinsed out all the tupperware and put them in the sink because the dishwasher was already full and running. Then I sat down to study for about 30 minutes before bed at the dining room table. When I got up and walked back into the kitchen, I see Toby Carter up on his two hind legs, one front leg in the air and the other supporting himself against the counter and then his head tipped just perfectly reaching into the sink to get a tupperware container with his teeth.

I pull my usual yell, "NOOOOOO Toby, bad dog". I take the container and put it back in the sink and scold him again with lots of pointing at his face and a firm face and mean eyes (not sure where I ever got that "scolding technique" but I'm not quite sure if it's even effective). He glares back and then runs upstairs. I turn around to lock up the house for the night and all of a sudden----DOG FIGHT. The noises are ever-so familiar. Milly whining and scared and Toby growling and Willy barking.

**Just think, one day this will be kids yelling- cannot wait :)**

I drop everything, yell, and run upstairs immediately to find all 3 of the dogs in the hallway fighting over a small tupperware container. Milly has it in her mouth and has the vicious eyes at Toby and Toby is trying to get it away from her while Willy just stares and barks. I grab the container and look at all three of them, point, give my look, say no, and take it back downstairs. This whole time Jimmy is in the shower and by the time he gets out, we are all in bed for the night. I tell him that Toby has something to tell him because Toby was bad. Jimmy sarcastically comments, "Oh really? I had no idea something happened. There was no screaming or anything, it was perfectly quiet" all with a stupid look on his face.

I tell him that Toby got in a fight with the wiener dogs over a tupperware container. He asks how they got it. I say from Toby. But then I caught Toby trying to get one for himself and I took it away. So then he went back to Milly and Willy to take the other one back. Jimmy's response? "So Toby really was just taking back what was initially his. He was nice to give it to them in the first place. He's just an Indian giver."

Laying in bed 20 minutes later I tell him that will be my blog post title of this story. Never a dull moment in the Carter house I guess.

Timmy Carter

**This is probably just one of those stories that was "had to be there" funny, but I thought I would share even so**

So we are sitting at church on Sunday morning and Jimmy passes me the attendance notebook that you sign, pass down the aisle to the fellow attendees, and then they pass back so you can see where they are from and if maybe you know them/they are your next door neighbor and you had no idea. As Jimmy is passing it to me to sign us in, he leans over and says:

"Make sure you finish off the "J" when writing my name"

I look at him weird and ask, what does he mean? Does he think I cannot write properly? He leans over and says:

"We got something in the mail last week from the church that was address to Brittany and Timmy Carter. So obviously, you have problems finishing off your "J's"

For some reason, imagining that written on a piece of our mail made me start laughing. And not just a smile, I'm over it, laugh. A laugh that made me laugh so hard I cried. I probably silent laughed (remember, we are in church people) for a good 2-3 minutes. My mom kept nudging me to stop, but that just kept me going. What was wrong with me? I have no idea- but needless to say, I thought it was funny.

Now I cannot stop calling Jimmy, Timmy. You can do it too if you want :)

ORGANIZED.CHAOS

The two words that describe my life lately = ORGANIZED and CHAOS. While I consistently try to maintain some sense of order in my/our life through my planner that is filled out with every single day and night activity committed to or planned, through my weekly dinner menus, through my ever-growing to-do lists, through riding the bus as an attempt to gain more time in a day (even to analyzing and trying out different bus routes that might allow me minutes more...), through laying out our weekends hour for hour....BUT....

...none of those things are enough to not let "life" get in the way. Unexpected and wonderful phone calls with good friends, evening dinners with friends and family, the unexpected work or pi phi "emergency" that takes more time than I ever planned, to having a sick dog or a dog with a cyst that bursts and needs to go to the vet ASAP are all some of the few things that happen along the way.

Of course, I should have expected this, right? New pi phi job means learning new things, getting responsibilities which equals less time. When I actually think I'm going to get to bed early, I see Willy laying on the kitchen floor licking the bottom of his pay incessantly and realize that his cyst has popped. That because I got no sleep the week before, when my alarm goes off on a Saturday morning to make sure I'm awake for a 9:15AM eye doctor's appt, I sleep through it....then that thing I signed up for and paid a boatload of money for in order to meet the Oct 1 deadline to apply to grad school, oh yeah, the GMAT.....that date keeps approaching faster and faster and the lack of time I have spent studying anything keeps looming over my head more and more.

Then I have those things that I yearn to do so bad. Those things that when I lay in bed at night I just would have done or found a little bit of time to do. Long or short conversations with good friends, quality time with my husband, those TVs shows on my DVR that will probably never get watched, a long work out that would have made me feel so good, long walks with Jimmy and the dogs on a nice fall night, late night trips to TCBY :), time with family, and so much more!!!

So how do you make it all happen? How do you organize a chaotic life and not lose your mind? Haha, no clue at all! And I have learned that my way of handling stress is not-so-good at times, as I seem to dwell on things I'm unhappy with for a while and then explode. Like our dirty, dirty house that has been driving me nuts all week...instead of nicely asking Jimmy to pick things up and help out- I get snotty and yell. Not so productive.

But here we go. This week is just about over and a new week is upon me. A new week that will bring me new challenges, new joys, and new things to drive my organization into complete chaos....but the best thing I can do? Look at my calendar and laugh because while I know most of the things will happen in there- it's the little and unexpected things that will pop up in between the plans that make life so glorious :)

STL here I come

Tomorrow, bright and early, I'm off to the other side of the Mississippi (aka STL) for a 4 day long conference with Pi Beta Phi. One new addition to my life, among other things, is a new role with Pi Phi, which I'm very very excited about!

The last two years, I have served as the Financial/Housing Advisor for the Kansas Beta chapter, which is in wonderful Manhattan, KS and where I was a student! It was quite the experience, especially since I started this role just a year out of college- but I learned a lot, loved working with the girls, and for the most part really did enjoy giving some of my time back to an organization that gave me so much for 4 years!

This past summer, there were some changes within the Region 5 officers and I was asked if I was interested in taking on a new role, as the Regional Financal/Housing Advisor. I work with a team of women, who each support different chapter officers, to support the 15 Pi Phi chapters in all of Region 5. I was a little nervous, but with my work as an FA those past 2 years, I thought I was up to the challenge- especially with a wedding and most of the big house projects out the way! I accepted this new role in August and have been trying to catch up ever since...and find my replacement as the Financal/Housing Advisor at Kansas Beta. Good news---I found a wonderful alumni who we are starting to train- so excited about that, since she'll be working with me!! AND while I do have to take two days of PTO from work, I'm really pumped about this conference so I can learn more about my role and better equip myself to answer some of these questions that are pouring into my inbox all week!

So, I'm off to learn how to "Coach a Winning Team" until Sunday! Wahoo! Which means Jimmy is sans-Brittany for the next 4 days. Surprisingly, he has been a little upset about asking me:

- What will I eat?
- Who will I talk to at night?

- What will I eat?

- Who will make the bed?

- Who will take the dogs out?

- Who will do my laundry?

and finally....

- What will I eat?

It's funny how after 5 months of being married he's already so dependent :) Haha. Well, I answered him with this:

- What will I eat?- you are 26, go to the store

- Who will I talk to at night?- the dogs are probably better listeners than I am
- What will I eat?- seriously? go buy some frozen food
- Who will make the bed?- probably no one, unless you train Milly, Willy or Toby
- Who will take the dogs out?- if I come back to pee stains on the carpet, I will not blame them
- Who will do my laundry?- you can do that hunny :) after you put away your clean clothes from last week that are still folded in your hamper....
and finally....
- What will I eat?- I mean if you are really that upset about it, call your mom! She fed you for 25 years, I've only been at this 5 months!!!

The little dogs will go to my parents on Saturday because only Toby is allowed at the bachelor party that Jimmy will be hosting for his little brother Bobby this weekend! At least he knows he will have a FUN weekend. It's a Carter boy "slumber party" at our house Saturday and I'm happy not be part of that fun :) I am sad I have to miss his fiance, Hillary's bachlorette party, but don't worry....I sent a fun gift!

Well, soon it's off to the arch!

Loving Labor Day

Well, this weekend, while low key....that extra day in the weekend made for an all around great time. It went a little like this:

Friday night: we headed down to Flying Saucer in P&L with Bobby and Hillary and then over to Carter Glass to listen to the Pat Green concert that was going on just down the street at Grinders. We started hanging out on the street and found a stray dog. Super cute...with no owner in sight....or collar. So sad. We all loved it and decided Jimmy's parents were going to take it home- Jimmy, of course, volunteered us to take it home, but that was a big veto from me because 4 dogs just won't fly. Then we heard a woman in the distance calling the dogs name and had to give it back. Unfortunately, the dog wasn't too excited to see the owner...so I hope the owner was nice.

Then it was off to the roof to listen to the concert. However, Pat didn't actually start playing until like 10:15PM...which on a Friday night is LATE for me. So I started saying it was time to go to bed, and luckily, so did Bobby, so we all decided to head out after only hearing a few songs. Sorry Pat, maybe next time.

Saturday: We started out the day with a trip to the gym. I went to step class- and holy cow. Usually I'm not sore, but apparently I haven't worked out in a while because more than anything...my ARMS hurt. Huh? Who knows, because I feel like your legs should hurt, but I guess I got really into the arm movements.

Then it was off to Lawrence to meet Katie and Max on Mass St, as our favorite place-- Jefferson's! We enjoyed some wonderful fried pickles, wings, and Boulevard wheat beer. YUM, as always. Then we were walking to the Wheel and ran into Bobby and friends at the Bull, which was fun but HOT since we were standing outside. However, we did get to catch up with Jay Kramer...which was wonderful because we haven't seen him forever since he's been so busy with law school!! But then, it was up to the Wheel where Jimmy got a wang burger (lots of food apparently) and more beer. I drank a 5 hr energy drink and lots of DC- diet coke.

After we watched a great K-State win over UCLA (wahoo- go cats!), we played/dominated some photo hunt and then Jimmy and I set up shop in a booth at the Wheel and watched the first half of the KU game. Well, it didn't go that well (as you probably know), but it did prove for some great people watching. Observations...

1) I'm not trendy AT all. I had no idea that long shorts with skinny belts and tucked in shirts was cool now. I own none of those things.

2) I really miss college in Manhattan.....just watching people walk into the bar and knowing 1/2 the people in the bar (obviously, not us), it made me miss that feeling of walking into bars in Aggieville!!! Those were the good old days......

Welp, after that it was halftime and we headed home. Then Jimmy realized when we got home, the game wasn't on TV, so he had to listen to it on the radio. And, if you follow college football at all...you know exactly how the outcome of the KU game ended. Which meant my husband hopped into bed at 9:30PM and refused to speak. I was a little confused because he is always wanting to go out and there was actually a birthday party for a work friend we were going to stop by, but apparently this loss was devastating to his life. Men. He wouldn't speak, even when his phone rang like 13 times and I kept asking who is calling him?? Haha, when I picked it up to see the Caller ID said "Tim Carter", I realized why he didn't want to pick up. That's his oldest brother--a huge K-State fan. Haha.

Sunday: Up and at' em. We started off the day with a family walk to Panera for breakfast. I think we determined it is 3 mi round trip, which would be the longest walk to date for Mr. Willy and Ms. Milly. But we set out. And made it successful--- but eating the breakfast was the worst part, as all the dogs wanted their share---but it was a fun family adventure :)

Then I headed off to Starbucks to STUDY. Holy cow, I know. But I'm taking the GMAT in 3 weeks...and needed to get it started. Especially since I'll be gone the majority of this week at a conference. But it was actually quite successful and I felt good about it! I had already taken the practice test and I know where I needed to concentrate---so here's to studying. It's been a long time, but will be worth it.

Jimmy decided to smoke some ribs for a nice dinner with Vanessa, Chris and Hazel Calcara. So excited they were able to make time to stop by and hang out!! And Hazel got to meet and play with Milly and Willy :) They are now BFFs. Love it! But it was good food and great company, as always--- with a night trip to TCBY where Hazel found her biggest fan....and older woman who said she is "a great ambassador for her breed" haha. And snuck her some TCBY. Then Dan stopped by to watch a movie with Jimmy for some man time...and he fell asleep within 5 min.

Monday! (extra day): rWahoo! Just really happy to get to sleep in. Dan, Jimmy and I headed to Hy-Vee for breakfast to kick off Labor day! So fun :) And then I studied, Jimmy cleaned, Jimmy mowed, I shopped (got nothing), dropped by my parents house, then we headed to Jimmy's parents house for fun times with the Carter family. Those kids wear me out, but SO fun. Always love to spend time with family and glad that was exactly how our labor day was spent.

OH YEAH--- and then we watched the Bachelor Pad. Jimmy's obsession. BTW- so confused about Dancing with the Stars mixed with Bachelor Pad.

Ok, that's all. Hope everyone else had a great long weekend!!!!!

Adventures on the JO: Part 1

So 2 weeks ago, I got this crazy idea: I'm going to ride the bus to work. In taking on a new volunteer role for Pi Phi that adds some more responsibility (and emails!) to my daily life, I am searching for ways to get more "free" time to catch up on all my extra curricular activities that I have committed to!! When I saw an ad for the "JO", which is the Johnson County bus system, saying that they now have free Wi-Fi on their buses...I thought- that's perfect! That time I usually spend driving to work, using gas and mileage on my car, stressing about traffic---I will just sit on the bus, take my laptop and email away. And as everyone knows, it's all about efficiency these days, right? :)

I was a little nervous- ok, a LOT nervous- as I had no idea what to expect and could browse the JO website as many times as I wanted to and make sure I was getting on the right bus at the right place to get me to work. The first time I did it....not going to lie, was terrifying!! I wanted to try the Metcalf-Downtown, route 664 bus. But really had no idea A) where the pick up took place B) how I notified the driving bus to pick me up C) where to park, as I can't walk to 75th & Metcalf and really there were many more unknowns. But on a Friday morning, I got in my car and drove to the CVS at 75th and Metcalf. Drove around a few times, spotted the JO pick up sign- but there was no bench or anything. Just a sign. Ok, I can do that. But the sign was on the South side of the street..and I want to go North, so I guessed that the bus would really pick me up on the North side.

So I finally settle in the CVS parking lot and call Jimmy. I tell him that I cannot do this, I'm too nervous, I have no idea what to do/where to stand/how to breathe at this point. He laughs and tells me to calm down. In the end, I'm sitting in my car and if I don't want to get on the bus, I can just drive to work. Yes, he's right. I'm an idiot. But I make myself get out of the car and walk to the side of the street, after Jimmy reassures me that my car won't get towed 16 times. And I stand there. Waiting for the bus. The pick up time comes and goes, and about 3 minutes later, I'm still standing on the side of this busy street---wondering what people think I'm doing. I mean if I drove by me, I'd be confused.

Then FINALLY the bus arrives. I get on, put my $$ in the slot and sit down. I'm ok. I'm on the bus. I text Jimmy with a "victory" text. The bus makes it's way downtown; my stop is last, so I'm the last person on the bus. They drop me off at Crown Center, as planned at 7:59AM and I walk to my office building and sit down at my desk and sigh a sigh of relief/victory in conquering the fear of the unknown/excitement- I liked the bus.

My day proceeds to go on. And then around 4:30, I start getting nervous about the process of getting home. Since I'm unsure how all that happens (even after studying the route's 16 million times), I decide to leave at 4:45 for the 5:05 pick up, which will give me plenty of time to get down there and time myself how long it takes for future bus trips. I head down the elevator to walk across the square---and then NO, this cannot be happening. The area that I planned to walk through, that I walked through to get to work, that I walk through once a week to get to Crown Center/Panera for lunch....it's BLOCKED OFF!!!!! There is a Friday night concert that you have to pay to get in and I cannot walk through. I panic. How will I get there? Will I be late? Do I run? I'm going to miss the bus!!!!!!!! I start to half jog through McGee square and realize I can go down the stairs to the left and end up in front of the Crown Center Parking garage and just walk on Grand a bit to the stop. A bit of a detour, but my only choice. I do that, and still have plenty of time. First disaster averted.

Then comes my logical reasoning. **Let me preface this, that I confused my downtown KC Federal buildings. The pick up after Crown Center on the bus schedule is the IRS building, which would cause the bus to go north on Grand, I confused that with the Federal Reserve building, which would cause the bus to go south on Grand** I start thinking of the final pick up and reason with myself, even though there is not a "JO stops here" sign on the south side, I go over there and sit down with the other MAX (KCMO bus) riders. I quickly notice how I clearly do not fit in, however I do reason with myself that it's ok and I'll get on the bus no matter what. A nice older woman sits down next to me and I think about asking if she is taking the Jo, but then wonder if that's some kind of reserve discrimination if I assume that she is taking the Jo and not the MAX because of what she looks like. So I don't. I just sit there.....

And then what do you know? I look across the street. Yep, there it is. The bus that I am supposed to be on. On the north side. I guessed/reasoned completely wrong. So I bolt up, not sure what to do, but know that I have to get on that bus because I'm not going to wait until 5:30 for the next one....so I stand up, stick my hand out in front of the MAX that is stationary and a few cars (no time for the cross walk) and make it to the other side of the street without getting hit (WHEW). But then the bus doors are closed, but thank goodness there is plenty of traffic because it's not moving yet. So I go to the door, knock, smile and wait for it to open. I make sure I am in fact on the correct bus, insert my money and sit down. Relieved. Excited. Exhausted. But I open my book, and the rest of the trip is relaxing. Second disaster averted.

Oh no, not over yet :) Because I have to get off the bus, well of course that throws another loop hole at me. I parked on the north side of Metcalf and I get dropped off on the south side of Metcalf. Now, if it wasn't rush hour...at 75th and Metcalf...I could probably just walk across the street. Not going to happen because that street is packed at that time. So I get dropped off about 2 blocks from the intersection/cross walk and have to walk back it, wait for the signal and then cross the street. Of course, I call Jimmy and make him talk to me so I don't feel like a loser crossing the street. But then I spot my car, nope not towed, get in, immediately call my mom and relay this entire story to her and she laughs. Mission complete.

But then I am determined to never cross 75th and Metcalf at rush hour, so I need a new plan. After scouring the bus routes....I had a new plan where I don't even have to get in my car. Well, that will be for another blog post, but trust me...each bus ride = new stories.

Jimmy and Brittany Babysit

So, while Red and Sue (Jimmy's parents) were watching Maren and Norah one Saturday....Lindsay and Mike were running late back to KC and Sue had a meeting at school....so in come Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Brittany to the rescue! And we were SO happy to get to spend some time with 2 of our beautiful nieces and talk about FUN. We had big plans, even though we didn't get to watch them for that long!

The big plan: build a FORT. This was Jimmy's idea, but he got right to work as soon as we arrived, after a quick game of hide and go seek, of course. Where we figured out that Norah's favorite hiding spot is underneath the kitchen table. So Lindsay, if she is doing that at home, that is where she learned it....from her uncle Jimmy :)

Here is the tent, after it's completion. Jimmy claimed to be the expert...but I added lots of tips to him. I was an architecture major at one point in my college career, so I'm much more of an expert than him!

Cute little Norah bug, very excited about the fort!

Jimmy, Maren and Norah just chilling. The long blanket that acts as the "entrance" was a MUST by Maren's request!

So cute :)

They just look devastated that Norah is not in the tent anymore..

So they shut her out. But, don't worry she is very persistent and got in!

Then she threw on her princess garb.....so cute!

This was right after Maren asked, "Does Uncle Jimmy wear just his underwear to bed?". I said, "yes, why?". She says, "Well, when we spend the night in the fort tonight, make sure he puts on shorts." HAHAHA

Then she was really upset that she had to leave only an hour and a half or so in the tent, I know how she felt. Never fear though, there are many more tents to come........

Overall, we LOVE babysitting. So fun :) Glad we got to use some of our experience we have gained from volunteering at Sunday School at church!!!