halloween and jips

here i am again - it looks like i CAN do this! :) This is extremely lame, but I think my facebook status is keeping me accountable to keep this updated, haha.

I am in Pella tonight, I'm pretty sure Orange City stole their idea for how to make a fake Dutch town, haha. Three more sleeps until I'm home. I enjoy meeting with students, I really do - but I have a husband and a cozy home waiting for me (not to mention a pile of office work) and I am antsy :)

I'm pretty sure that Halloween this year was the absolute lamest halloween i have ever experienced!! We had NO trick or treaters! I turned the front porch light on, made a little sign telling the kiddos to knock loud because our doorbell is broken, and was all ready for the kids to swing by. Our bowl only had like 3 or 4 pieces of candy gone by the end of the night - just because Ross and I got hungry!! haha so lame. But Ross and I played Tiger Woods on the Wii like all night so that was still fun :) I sort of dominate golf video games, but for some reason I just can't do it in real life - I just don't have the muscle!

I got these 100 calorie packs of chips ahoy and sun chips from the hotel I'm at because I'm a priority club member (because I'm here all the flipping time! haha) and I decided 100 calorie packs are the biggest jip ever. Of COURSE they are 100 calories!! They are like, communion wafers with little painted chocolate dots and TIIIINY sun chips!! like the little ones you get in "munchies"!!! haha. and that is my revelation of the day. Don't spend money on 100 calorie snack packs. Spend your money on the real thing. Life is too short!!

While I'm talking about jips, time to tell my story from the airport in Seattle flying back to Sioux Falls about a week and a half ago: If you have been to the Sioux Falls airport, you know they are pretty laid back with stuff. Well, my bags were: 2 checked bags, my laptop bag, a big purse/bag thing, and a short skinny bag with my display for college fairs. The lady at the check-in desk let me carry on the display for free as a 3rd carry-on, and was really nice about it. Seattle was an entirely different story:

The guy basically said "well we should make YOU pay for the mistake that Sioux Falls made" - in such a matter-of-fact way. He said it's "not my problem" and that I need to fork over $150 to pay for a third carry on - literally a 2' by 4" bag that hides behind all of the other carry-ons in the storage bins. I was close to tears - I had difficulty finding where to return my car because it was off the airport site, so I was stressed and just wanted to be home. I hate flying to top all of it off! So I put my credit card up on the counter to pay the stinkin fee, and then he goes, "well I mean you could probably figure something out with those 3." I was thinking okay - that's awesome but is the jerky attitude really necessary then?? That was not fun. Next time I am definitely going to keep my carry-ons to 2 bags.

So that's my story, but here is why flying is a jip: You pay like $20 a day to park your car at the airport. At least, that is at MSP and SEA. Or, you could frantically find a cheaper parking lot to charge $10 a day - so right there you're looking at at LEAST $30-$50 for parking, if you find a great deal. Then, you pay at LEAST $25 for a checked bag, depending on the airline. I want to stay loyal to Delta because I have their credit card and I have a lot of miles built up with them. Plus they fly into Sioux Falls. I usually check 2, so that is $40. Then, you have to be there early and you can't bring food or drink through the security checkpoint - oh, not to mention that you can't bring your regular size shampoo or anything so you have to buy the smaller sizes, just to make it through security. So, you buy lunch or if you're like me, a coffee and a muffin for breakfast = $5-$8. Then, you land and have to pay for a rental car - $200/week plus $25/day because I'm only 22. Apparantly being 22 means they can't really trust me with a rental car and paying them $25 a day will prove to them that I am.

But what if you didn't park at the airport and you need someone to pick you up? They just have to pay $4 an hour because they'd rather give you a hug the minute they see you and help you with your bags than swing through a drive-thru to pick you up so that the people behind you can move on with their lives.

But - flying is so much faster! I vote that we invent a car that goes 500 mph and a special road for it to go on - like one big bridge. That would just solve everything wouldn't it :)

Well, enough ranting. I have supper tonight with a couple of homeschool families which I hope goes well. I'm always kinda nervous for those kinds of things, but I think it will be good.

Tomorrow night I will be in Coralville, and Ross has informed me that there is a nice mall there - so posting tomorrow may become optional ;)

who knows?

The De Wit household is quite busy this time of year! I have been traveling about every other week, Ross has been busy with schoolwork and his workstudy job as a sound tech at Dordt, not to mention his involvement with music and his education classes.

We moved to Sioux Center about 2 months ago, and we love being in town. The four minute commute is wonderful. Our gas bill is low, but I guess we make up for that in rent :S but it is so worth it! Our apartment in Orange City was honestly putting a huge damper on our mood, at least I know I was just not happy there. Sioux Center is better, and we are able to hang out with our friends who still go to Dordt, which is nice.

I am done with traveling after this week, and we are really happy about that. At first it wasn't so bad, but after a while, we just want to be home with each other. I miss being able to be home with Ross in the evenings after work, so thankfully I'll be home for a few months straight after this week. It's hard, but it's just a part of my job that we have had to adjust to - not get used to, because we aren't :)

Well, I am pretty tired, and need to make a few phonecalls so I will cut it off here - who knows if i'll post again ;)