Wednesday, June 24, 2009

The Newbie Kit

The other day I visited Sidney's local Chamber of Commerce. I went in to see if they had any brochures about Cheyenne, WY, or anything else that might spark my interest. When the lady who was working there asked if I was new in town, I told her I was. She then said, "Let me get a newcomers packet for you". I just said OK and didn't really think anything about it. I wandered around some and when she handed the packet to me she explained what some of the items were and pointed out that there were some coupons in there to help me get acquainted with some of the local businesses. I waited until I got home before I "dove in" to check everything out. Let me tell ya...newcomers packets are awesome! There were so many cool coupons in there! Everything else just faded into the background as I poured over all the savings! Here are my top favorite coupons:

* 1/4 lb of free fudge at the local pharmacy (Of course I already used it, and of course we already ate it. I'm forcing myself not to walk back into that store.)

*$4 off admission at the movie theatre! (We watched Land of the Lost, which was pretty dumb, but the popcorn was amazing! Please note, this is why dieting is not easy for me...I'm so easily tempted by things like popcorn and fudge).

*10% off at the book store. I can already hear the cracking of the binding as I open my 7th Harry Potter book. (I'm almost finished with the sixth book! Wow, that means the 6th Harry Potter movie will be the the first one I watch in which I've actually read the book first!)

*$4 off a pedicure at the community college's school of cosmetology. Aren't school pedicures cheap enough as it is??? Which reminds me, I should really be booking that appointment instead of blogging.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

It only took 15 months

Although I tell everyone that I meet that I "travel" with my husband, he tends to get stuck at whichever location he goes to work at. For example, when he first began this job his first location was in Sweetwater, TX. They said he would be there for a couple of months. That turned into one year. Then, when we moved to Lamar, CO they said we would only be there for three weeks. Fifteen months later, we were still in Lamar. So I didn't necessarily believe it when hubby told me that we would be moving this week. But, miracles do happen, and on Sunday we moved! Our new location is Sidney, NE. Today is my hubby's first day of work so he'll get a better feel of how long we will be here. He was told we'd be here anywhere from two weeks to two months. Which I guess translates into almost a year according to our prior track record!

So far, here is what I like better about Sidney than Lamar:
*There is a Taco Bell!
*There are two coffee shops!
*There is a two screen movie theatre (hey, it beats a one screen movie theatre!)
*There is a Hallmark! (Because I do care enough to send the very best.)
*There is a book store!
*The town doesn't smell like cow crap!
*A major city (Cheyenne, WY) is only an hour and a half away!
*There are more restaurants in general!
*So far I haven't noticed an area of town that I affectionately refer to as "the ghetto". All the houses are nice, even the small ones!
*There is grass everywhere! (I know that I was in Lamar way too long when I think seeing grass is unusual)

Things I don't like about Sidney:
*Our RV park. (no wifi, no cable, and we can't get our darn satellite signal to come in)
*More stickers than the last RV park. Yes, it is possible.
And, in case they don't offer yoga or water aerobics here, then we can add that to the list as well!

With that said, I'm off to go explore and test out the walking trail!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Relay for Life

I walked in my first Relay for Life event this past Saturday night. Well, technically it was the first charity walk event I have ever been in! And let me tell ya, it was so much fun! I was asked to be on my friend Bri's family's team way back on Easter. I wasn't really sure if we would still be in Lamar by the time it rolled around, but luckily we were!

For those of you who are not familiar with Relay for Life, it is a charity walk for the American Cancer Society. This year marks the 25th Anniversary for Relay for Life. Bri's family has walked in Relay for Life for the past several years. Her dad, Tim, was diagnosed with prostate cancer I believe back in 2001. He had surgery that same year and is now a cancer survivor. They have walked in Relay for Life ever since. I was so honored that they asked me to be a part of their family team!

The event began at 6:30 Saturday night and lasted until 7:00 Sunday morning. The idea is that at least one person from each team needs to be walking at all times. I got there a little before 6:00 and discovered that Bri was walking around selling tickets for a fifty/fifty drawing. However much money they raised, half of the money went to the winning raffle ticket, the other half our team donated to the American Cancer Society. What was really neat to see was that a lot of the other "campsites" that we approached were also doing their own type of fundraiser. Of course not having been to an event like this, I had no cash on me.

Around 6:30 they made the announcement for everyone to literally cram into the stadium bleachers so a group picture could be taken. Then they had an opening ceremony. Once that was over, they had all of the cancer survivors go down to the track and make the first lap. After that, everyone else was asked to go down to the track as well so everyone could make their first lap as a large group. This is a picture of everyone walking:


After that Bri and I volunteered to walk for our team, while the rest of the team went back to camp to prepare our dinner. Here's a picture of us on our first lap!

Needless to say, by the time we were relieved we were famished! Once we ate, we relaxed for awhile before relieving other team members. We did this off and on, walking then taking a break. Throughout the night there were all kinds of activities planned such as a dance performance, water balloon volleyball, a scavenger hunt, etc. We didn't participate in any of those activities but they were fun to watch when we had the chance.

Once midnight rolled around, Bri's mom made a list of thirty minute intervals that different people in our team would walk so people would have time to relax and take a quick nap if they wanted too. I volunteered to take the first time slot because unfortunately I was not going to be staying all night because Greg had planned a bike ride for us the next day. (Falling asleep on the back seat of the Harley does not sound appealing to me!) I left around 1:00 and had walked I think a little over 5 miles!

I found out that $72,508.11 was raised from the Lamar Relay for Life. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how much money was raised by our team. I do know that Bri's mom alone raised over $2,000.00! Thank you so much to everyone who sponsored me: my parents, Uncle John and Aunt Liz, Grandma C., Corey and Christina, Steve, and Ron! I had so much fun and it felt great to support such a great cause!