3-14-2010 Week in Review….and a Memory Lane – “Newsworthy”….

FIRST…..To my BIL, Mark……

What did I do this week?…..nothing…..literally.

Not that I was LAZY….just after all my hard work, not much of merit really seemed accomplished….Um, the highlights would be….

I did all the laundry in the house (but haven’t folded it all),

Sylvie was sick with a fever and kept me up all night,

Ryan and I FINALLY caught up with Season 6 of Lost after starting over from the beginning several months ago (….now what are we going to watch?),

and I FINISHED (okay, there’s one page left….but ALMOST) writing/designing the book I’ve been working on for YEARS!! I will get it in the mail next week and can not even tell you how truly excited I am!….Maybe I’ll even let you read it! :)

Saturday, Ryan and Dade went to the Seminary Super Saturday.  I then pulled out my list of all the jobs no one’s been wanting to do….clean the shed out, scrub the kitchen floor by hand, scrub and disinfect all the garbage cans, clean walls, floorboards, appliances, etc, etc. and forced my children to do them….Muahahahahha!  I now plan to go whoop them on some Guitar Hero….Yeah, they may be good on the guitar, but I actually know the songs!! LOL

Sunday saw Ryan at home with Ella as she’s been running a fever and complaining of a headache.  I somehow made it through church with VERY limited sleep….very.  Anyway, I came home to fresh bread and home made cookies and breadsticks with the yummiest crumbled topping EVER.  Ryan is awesome.

So, since this week was SO boring, I’ll bless you with a bonus Memory Lane and I’ll call it….”Newsworthy”….

So, let’s see, I’ve been on TV….I don’t know how many times….let me see if I can name them, I’m sure to miss some:  (Okay, I can’t think of them all….I’m sure it will come to me later….)

1. PM Magazine – 3rd grade – Interviewed for Mother’s Day but my interview never made it on the air, just me drawing a picture for my mom.
2. BYU Cougars basketball game – 3rd or 4th grade – I participated in the half time show as a jump roper….I messed up and the Cougar gave me a hug to make me feel better….
3. CNN – 10th grade – I was pulled out of dance class and interviewed in my gross wrinkly PE clothes because I had family members involved in Desert Storm.  I assumed it was the local news but when I got home I got a call from Germany that an old classmate had seen me!! UGH!
4. Fox Channel – 1999 - Dade and I were extras in a local Fox News commercial.
5. Fox Channel – 1999 – Again, and extra in a Fox News commercial.
6. Local News – Summer of 2000 – Lower half of my body filmed loading donations into a truck at a downtown shelter.  I was 8 months pregnant, wearing shorts, and hadn’t shaved my legs…I hadn’t expected to run into a news crew…. 
7. Local News – Summer 2001 – Again, at the local shelter….when will I ever learn….
8. Local News – Summer 2005 – (Actually have this one on video – Thanks, Lana!) News did a small spot on East Wake Education’s traveling education bus and they chose our stop as the one for the news bit.  They filmed Corben learning on the bus and interviewed me a couple of times.  The hardest part?  They had to film me walking from my house to the bus and climbing on….have you ever forgotten how to walk naturally?  Do I really swing my arms when I walk or not…and where do I usually look?  I looked like such a dork…..
9. Local News – Feb 2003 – Now this one is a long (but funny) story…..and it all starts HERE.  Early February 2003, Homeland Security suggested that for citizens to truly be prepared for a biological or chemical attack we should all have duct tape, plastic sheeting, and water.  I know, I know, you weren’t the first doomsday fanatic to climb out of your bunker to go stock up….however, there were a FEW cautious folks who decided that it was better to be on the safe side and if anything, they could use it when they painted the living room in the Spring.  So, how did I get involved?  Well, at the time I was living at home with my mom and raising Dade & Corben on my own.  It was one of those mornings and Dade was late for school.  I hadn’t taken a shower yet that morning, as my plan was to drop Dade at the door and get back home quick.  I’m not even sure I was out of my PJs….actually, I know I wasn’t.  I seem to remember throwing on a coat and deeming my pj pants not too floofy for public viewing.  I then grabbed a half awake Corben, also in his PJs, handed both kids a poptart and rushed out the door.  As I was dropping off Dade my cell phone rang…..MOM: Christy, since you’re out, can you run over to Home Depot and pick me up some duct tape and plastic sheeting?  ME: Seriously, Mom?  They’re going to think I’m some sort of fanatic!  MOM: It’s early, I’m sure no one will even be there.  Pick me up like 10 roles of duct tape and maybe 5 tarps….So, I get to Home Depot and survey the area.  Sure enough, it’s pretty empty, I may be able to pull this off.  So, I hop out of the car, load my now-covered-in-Poptart 2yr old into a cart, throw my greasy hair up into a bun, and head inside.  This should be quick and easy…..so I head to the tape aisle.  Now, where is that duct tape? It wasn’t there!  I looked all over and couldn’t find a single roll….No big deal, it’s probably on the end of an aisle somewhere, I’ll find it on the way to the paint section.  Well, I didn’t see it on the way and when I got to the paint section, there was no plastic sheeting!….Okay, they can’t possibly be all sold out….can they?  I was going to have to ask someone! I didn’t want to.  I knew the look I was going to get and telling them it was for my mom wasn’t going to sway them from thinking I was a nut.  ANYWAY, I found an older gentleman and simply asked for duct tape…I’m slick like that.  He saw right through me and informed me that the duct tape and plastic sheeting had been placed together on the crazed-doomsday-fanatic aisle at the other end of the store….Thanks.  Guess they wanted to ensure they could get those nuts in and out quick!  So, embarrassed, I head that way……….Now, imagine for a moment…..You’re in your pj’s, your hair is greasy, and your kid is a mess……who’s the last person you want to run into at this point??  An old boyfriend?  That girl who thought she was better than you in High School? Child protective services??…..How about…..A NEWS CREW!!!  I stopped dead in my tracks.  There, at the end of the aisle with the supplies I’d been sent to gather, stood a news crew.  Yep!  Nicely dressed news anchor and 3 guys holding cameras and cables….it was a showdown.  They looked at me and smiled (It was that “YEEESSSS….the greasy bunker rats are finally emerging from their underground shelters and we’re going to catch one on camera!!” look.  I’d know it anywhere.).  I stayed in place just staring at them.  The anchor guy told me it was alright…..HA!  I shook my head and just stood there.  The camera man slowly lowered his camera and I took a step forward but still waited.  They all lowered their equipment and stepped aside.  Hoping to get this over with I zoomed down the aisle walking PAST the duct tape and looking at some sort of bolts until the camera crew finally moved away from the end of the aisle.  I then rushed over and started dumping tape and plastic into my cart.  SUDDENLY, I noticed I was not alone…..down the aisle came a lone man (in a suit), pushing a cart….with a news camera inside.  Seriously? I’d totally expected them to be peaking through from the opposite row when I picked up a roll of duct tape but putting the camera in a cart and Pretending to not be filming??  He kept moving the cart around to get a good angle.  I’m QUICK though.  Like a flash I was looking at bolts again and I even threw a box of something boring over my stash in the cart.  I gave the guy a look….you know, the I’m-Not-Going-To-Let-You-Make-Me-Look-Like-More-Of-A-Freak-Than-I-Am look?  Anyway, he left.  So, I slowly emerge from the aisle….carefully peaking around each corner to ensure a newsman wasn’t going to jump out and put me on the 12 0’clock news.  As I exit the row, a beautiful woman in business attire passes me headed for the duct tape….No News crew….I watch her load her arm basket with at least as much as me….No News Crew….We both head to the registers.  In line, I warn her….Look out, there’s a news crew stalking us.  Really? She hadn’t seen one.  Of course.  Another line opens up and they take her as I wait at the register with the guy who’s got the bizarre thing that has no tag and no one in the store can figure out where he got it from or how much it costs and they have 4 floor employees looking and thanks for my patience.  I look over and see that crazy doomsday fanatic business lady is getting her stuff bagged up and heading out the door….No News Crew….THEN….someone taps me on the shoulder.  I don’t turn around.  He then says, “Excuse me, Crazy Bunker Lady…..”  Okay, that’s not EXACTLY what he said, but that’s what he meant.  ANYWAY, he asks if he can FILM me checking out.  AAAAHHHH, I had almost escaped!!  And where were they when the NORMAL person was buying supplies?  I try to get out of it.  I explain the having not meant to be seen in public thing this morning and the not wanting my credit card pin on camera and that my kid was covered in pop tart….he PROMISED he’d just film the stuff…..Sure Anchor guy…sure.  I know what Depth of Field is….you’ll just blur the greasy woman and her bunker rat a little in the background…..Anyway, reluctantly (to say the least) I agree.  At this point the store is considerably busier and EVERYONE has stopped and is staring at the Fanatical woman and her terror prevention purchases being filmed for the world to see…..UGH.  I then grab my bags and my greasy kid and rush out to the parking lot to escape.  Only then do I notice the very large NEWS TRUCK parked just 2 spaces away from me….how’d I miss THAT?!  (Did I mention it was early??)  I call my mother to inform her of the wonderful events of the morning.  She’s laughing when I hear one of  her friends in the background, “Is that Christy??  Is she still at Home Depot?  Could you ask her to pick me up a few rolls of duct tape and plastic sheeting??”  NOOOOOO!!!!! ---  (The final product was broadcast to the world later that day on both the noon news and the evening news.  Sure enough, it included a fuzzy ME in the background and several very clear shots of my hands….AND, no surprise, ONE shot of me loading things into my basket taken by a sneaky camera man with his camera in a CART!)

Well, there you have it folks.  I’m pretty sure there’s more but after that long story, I can’t think for another moment.  Hope that makes up for the Weak Week!!