iPhones on SALE at WalMart!!!

Well, we've all seen the advertisements about falling prices and everything. It looks like Walmart is holding true. According to the news, they'll be offering the 3GS at more than half it's current price with a two-year plan. Looks like a pretty good deal, unless you're wanting to hold out for the brand new phone expected to be announced in a few weeks.

But for those thrifty shoppers who have drooled over owning a nice iPhone, here's the chance! Oh, and you can't even get the phone cheaper through Apple or AT&T! This is apparently a Walmart exclusive! It seems that their expecting Apple to do the same thing after the WWDC, but they're beating them to the punch!

Also it seams that Apple has currently stopped selling the regular 3G! Hmmmm.....

So if anyone is interested, now seems to be a good time to grab one! Or just wait until the highly anticipated, new version becomes available!

Oh... and as an iPhone owner myself, I highly recommend them! :)

~Matt

Week Rundown! (05/16/10 - 05/22/10)

Sunday:

Mysia was still sick, so when I woke up, I got ready, then Malachi ready, and we loaded into the church van and headed for church. Malachi did pretty good for me on the van route. That afternoon, when we got back to the church with the van, our Associate Pastor gave us a ride home. That evening, I stayed home with both kids while Lydia went to church. Mysia wasn't feeling the best, but she did fairly well.


Monday:

Since Mysia was still sick, Malachi and I got up, got ready, and headed out. We left Lydia and Mysia at home. I dropped Malachi off at daycare, and headed into work. Lydia called the doctor's office and ended up getting an appointment at 3:15, so I went home for lunch so Lydia could drop me off back at work and have the car for the appointment.

At the doctor's, they tried to test for Strep Throat, but Mysia gagged. They didn't attempt it again. But since all the symptoms pointed to Strep, they gave Lydia a prescription for it.

Lydia and Mysia went to Walmart and got the prescription filled. While they were there, they also did the grocery shopping. When their shopping was completed, they picked me up from work, and then Malachi from daycare.

Back at home, I cooked steak on the grill while Lydia prepared salad. It was a good supper. The meat turned out great, and the salad was delicious! Malachi ate very well, but Mysia still wasn't up to eating at all. She was doing better though. No fever, and she was pretty active.

We're guessing that Malachi had the same thing the week before. Lydia and I just hope that we don't get it!


Tuesday:

After work, we came home and ate supper. I left and met with the guys at church for quartet practice. Abigail is going to be gone when we sing here in a couple weeks, so we asked our songleader, John, to fill in. It throws us off a little, and he's got a lot to learn, but I think we'll manage! We have a few new songs we're trying, and it looks like it's gonna be fun!

Wednesday:

The kids went to daycare, Lydia had some running around to do, and I went to work!

After work, we went to church. I was scheduled to sing tonight, so I chose "Going Home".... one of my favorites. http://www.box.net/shared/i5bt6zm511 Oh, it was nice to enjoy the worship service and hear Pastor's sermon.


Thursday:

Today was pretty typical. We had a great supper and Lydia left to go give plasma. While she was gone, I had the kids work on their bedrooms, which had been neglected over the last week! Toys, toys, and toys! After that, it was showers and off to bed! By the time Lydia got home, Malachi was asleep and Mysia was getting ready for bed. We actually got to bed at a decent time to!


Friday:

Nothing specific happened during the day, but after work, we went home and ate supper real quick. Went to the graduation of Lydia's cousin Kindra. We got to see friends and family, and visited with several of them.


Saturday:

Today was the busiest day of the week!

We woke up, and I made blueberry pancakes for breakfast. We then got ready and headed out to Silver Dollar City. We were making great time, but about 10 miles away from the theme park, we came to be part of a line of cars. From then on, we crawled our way to the parking lot. It took over an hour. I think we could have walked to the park in that amount of time!

In the parking lot, we ran into another line, waiting for a tram/shuttle to bus everyone to the entrance. We then noticed that they were not showing up very fast, and that it would take at least 3 to come and go before we could ever get on. So we walked... ugh! But, we actually beat any tram from our lot! Go figure! Once inside the park, we headed to the kid's rides. There were lines again, but not that long! And M&M had a good time. We also walked around a bit, grabbed some popcorn, and then got in line for the new ride. That one got us wet! It felt soooo good! The weather was hot and HUMID! We then headed to go home, seeing that our time was short.

Once back in the car, we headed to McDonald's. We had coupons for free burgers for the kids, and extras for a meal for Lydia and I. We ate in the car, and the kids took naps. Once in Springfield, we thought things would go smoothly. We were wrong. We hit construction, and was sitting int traffic once again... this time for 30 minutes!!!!

We dropped the kids off with my mom, and headed off to our Sunday School activity. We got there a little late, they had already started eating, said hi to everyone, and grabbed ourselves some food! Our teacher makes wonderful smoked ribs and brisket! IT WAS SO GOOD!

I finished my plate, and got a call from my mom. A migraine had hit her. So I left Lydia, grabbed the kids real quick, and got back. They got to play with the other kids there while we talked and visited. The weather cooled down a bit, so it was nice.

We got home after 9ish, and Lydia gave Malachi and I haircuts before bed! What a day!

~Matt

READ THIS NEWS!!!!

Well, we have special news!

After church services, we headed over to the old auditorium to pray for the upcoming Vacation Bible School in July. They've asked several to do this as the date approaches.

Everyone breaks off into small groups. Malachi and I prayed together while Lydia, Mysia and Abigail prayed. Mysia was last to pray, and before she did, she asked Lydia how to ask Jesus into her heart. Lydia explained to her that it's just like when praying normally, but to just go ahead and ask Him. Well, Mysia started praying just like regular, thanking God for the day, and praying for family. At the end, she asked Jesus into her heart and to forgive her from her sins.

Talk about exciting. We then went and talked to her Sunday School Teacher, Miss Debbie (who is also our associate pastor's wife), and come to find out, they had talked Salvation in Sunday School this morning.

Lydia and I had already been talking to Mysia earlier as well. She has been inquisitive, and we've answered everything that she's asked, but we weren't going to push her. Since she's five, we wanted to be sure she understood and came to the recognition on her own!

Ain't this great news....?!?!?! :P :P :P

~Matt

M&M Doodle

This is a fun doodle that Mysia had me do! She started it, I finished!

~Matt (iPhone)

Tagging the Kids

We went to Silver Dollar City yesterday, and we had the kids wearing a
card that had their name and our contact info on it. We wanted to be
sure if they got lost, we could easy be reached! We even went so far
as writing our cell phone numbers on their arms (under the sleaves).
Oh, and we took a picture of them right before we left so we had
documentation of what they were wearing!

You just never know what might happen these days!!!

~Matt

Mysia: I'm cute

Friday night we attended the graduation of Lydia's cousin. I decided to take pictures of the kids during the reception. After taking pictures of Mysia, she turned to her second-cousin and said, "When I smile, I'm cute.... Because I'm missing a tooth.

~Matt

Facebook Rants (Tuesday, 05/18/2010)

Facebook is a fun social networking site that I enjoy being a part of. I have tons of friends and family on there, and I've been able to connect with old friends I've may have never heard from again. I've also made new friends and acquaintances as well, mostly in the Southern Gospel world.

Facebook has proven to be a great tool to keep up with these contacts, and also an easy way to let them know what's going on your life as well. I enjoy being able to find out what others are doing, and comment too! It's also made it easier to share photos of the kids as well. However, like with everything else, there are pros and cons with sharing things on a social networking site!

As those of you who follow me on fb know, most of my statuses are puns and lighthearted fun. I rarely get too personal, unless I'm talking about food! lol! Yum!

But, for the most part, I try and keep my posts positive.  Of course, that's how I usually am anyway, so it's not too hard. I try to brighten at least someone's day... even if it may annoy everyone else! hahaha!

I don't think I've ever used my facebook status for a rant. I know I've been tempted to. Especially those days that don't go very well, and I just want to vent. I guess there is a good possibility that I might someday rant on my status, but only if I think there is a probable cause. I just hope I do it in a wise way, and not hurt myself or someone else.

Now, In case you're wondering what brings this up....

In the news, I read about a woman in North Carolina who used her facebook to complain about a tip she got at her work. She was a waitress, got paid a horrible tip for her service, made a post that also mentioned her work by name, and got fired.

Ouch..... Not the best idea.

I understand the woman's frustration, but I also understand the company's stance as well. I think one has to be careful, especially when mentioning current employers. Now if you have a former employer that treated you poorly, you know you're never going to work for them again, and you want to warn others about them... that's different. Like if the woman was verbally harassed or something... to me, that's a good probable cause.

Placing rants on a facebook status is not the best route to go, in my opinion. It seems though, that several do it anyway.

I think if you're going to rant, think it over, word it properly, and see if you can help and not hurt! It just may come back to haunt you!

~Matt 

Week Rundown! (05/09/10 - 05/15/10)

Sunday:

Mother's Day! 

As I left and did the church vans, the kids slept... So Lydia opened her cards when they woke up. After services, we went to Paulette's. We watched movies and ate homemade sweet and sour chicken with rice! Yum!

The kids took naps, and poor Malachi had a fever. He was hot! Since I had the van, I dropped Lydia and Malachi off at home. What A horrible way for Lydia to spend the last part of Mother's day... with a sick kid!

During the evening service at church, I got the opportunity to lead the singing! It was neat! It was the first time for me to do so in the new auditorium!



Monday:

I stayed home sick, with a sick boy too! Lydia still wasn't feeling too good either, but she had finals to take. Mysia went to daycare, and Lydia headed to college. That left Malachi and I home to rest. The poor guy didn't feel too good, so we found a good spot on the couch and watched cartoons for most of the morning. We had toast & eggs for a late breakfast, and he ate pretty good. After naps, which I took a little bit of one too, we had popsicles and watched a movie. I got some cleanup done in the kitchen that I had abandoned over the weekend.

Malachi seemed to be doing better by the evening. I felt well rested too. Although, he did have a fever when the girls came back home. Supper was good. Lydia headed back to college to take anther final, and I took care of both kids.


Tuesday:

It was back to work for me. Poor Malachi had to stay home with Lydia though. Since he was sick on Monday, he had to be 24 hours without fever before he could go back to daycare. Lydia stayed home with him, and I dropped Mysia off at daycare.

Malachi was definitely doing better... Lydia reported that he was everywhere and into everything. A sure sign that he was over his sickness!

When I got off work, I picked up Mysia, dropped her off at home, and headed off to Sam's Club. Our car had been wobbling pretty badly while driving, and we were told that the tire was going bad. I ended up waiting almost two hours for them to look at it and get it fixed. I was relieved that they did it for free, since I had warranty on the tires. However, as I left and got on the highway to head toward quartet practice, the wobbling was worse! It was too late to go back as well, because they closed as I left!

I headed over to my parents' house for quartet practice. We ran over new arrangements and talked about upcoming singing event in mid-June.


Wednesday:

We got up early and  dropped the kids off at daycare, then it was off to Sam's Club before work. That tire needed fixed! Well, come to find out, it was bad and needed replaced! So they prorated it, and we spent over $60 for a new one. Yuck..! However, I am happy to report that our car runs smoothly!

Lydia dropped me off at work and she headed to OTC.

Tonight was the last night of Master Clubs at church until we start again next fall. It was also awards night. So we presented the kids with their achievements in front of the congregation. Afterwards, we headed outside for game-time before getting snacks!


Thursday:

We woke up to thunder and lightning. We even lost power for a few minutes. Right before we headed out the door, tornado sirens started blaring. Figuring daycare wouldn't want us dropping the kids off during a tornado warning, and the fact that driving in one ain't the smartest idea here in the Ozarks.... we waited it out. Nothing happened in our part of town, so after the warning had expired, we headed out.

Once we got home for the evening, Lydia left for OTC's graduation event. Several of her classmates where graduating, ad she wanted to go. I stayed home with the kids. I thought I'd play it smart.. I made supper and set them down with their food in front of the tv! We where watching "over The Hedge". when my parents stopped by for a visit.

They were wired (my kids.. not my parents), and were all over the pace. Boy was I ready for them to go to sleep.


Friday:

It rained! ...Again... Boy, when it ends, it's gonna take me days to mow my lawn!

The day went by pretty smoothly. Lydia worked at OTC now that her finals are finally final.... er... over with!

After work, we headed over to my parents' house. We ate supper, had ice cream, and visited for quite a while. The kids were actually ready to leave before us!

When we got home, we crashed.


Saturday:

We had the day all planned out! But.. we failed. It all started by us getting up later than planned.

We had planned to go to Silver Dollar City. But things got behind and well, didn't work out. Anyway, here's what happened....

When we finally got out the door, it was after 10am. We stopped by Walmart to get lunch fixings and batteries, then we stopped by the bank. That made us even later. As we finally got on the highway, heading to Branson, we got hit with major rain! It was coming down hard, almost couldn't see to drive! So we decided to give it up and turned around. We went to the mall instead!

I know that may not sound like much fun, but we found some clothes for Mysia and let the kids play at the play-place for several hours! They enjoyed it. Lydia just sat back and relaxed while they wore themselves out.

At 2:30, we went to a birthday party! The kids played more while we ate pizza and visited. Afterwards, we picked up the van and went to my folks' house once again to pick up some things they had gotten the kids. We ended up staying there for a few hours before heading home. Mysia complained of a sore throat, and had a fever! Oh no!

It was a long day, and we all got to bed before 10!!!


~Matt

Watching Movies... in the Theater or at Home? (Friday, 05/14/10)

Today I might step on some toes. I'm not meaning to be mean, rude, or cause problems... I just have some questions and thoughts that just may require some people to think. If you want to comment, go ahead!

I've been thinking about movies. More specifically, Hollywood movies.

We enjoy them. From "Iron Man" to "Toy Story", or "The Ten Commandments" to "The Passion". They're intriguing, captivating, and entertaining.

Now here's my thought (stick with me). In this day of age, why do many balk at going to the movie theater?

Many agree and claim that, as Christians, we don't want to support "sinful" Hollywood, therefore we should not go to theaters. But yet, in truth, we do want to support them. We want them to produce good, clean, family films. We want to be entertained with films! The question is, if we don't go see the family films they do make, how is that going encourage them to make more? They're going to make what brings them money.

Another reason Christians don't go to theaters is the excuse of damaging their "testimony". Now, here's a thought, wouldn't it actually help your testimony by coming out of a theater that is showing a good movie? Think about this, you have a more open testimony going to theaters than you do when you go to a movie rental store! At a rental store or kiosk, no one knows what you've rented.

I have heard that when you go to a theater, you're supporting more than that movie. I agree that there might be some truth to that. However, under that same reasoning, does that keep one from going to Walmart? They sell alcohol you know, plus all those movies that you're saying you won't go to the theater to see. Hey... and what about gas stations? Tell me, which convenience store does not sell magazines, lottery tickets, beer, and cigarettes... yet you purchase gas there?

You see why this all confuses me? Why say one thing, and not follow through all around? If you seriously don't want Hollywood to make movies, stop watching them! (that means turning off your tv too)

Hollywood listens to one thing... their wallets. If you enjoy movies, support the ones that are good, wholesome, and what you want Hollywood to produce! If not, please don't complain that they just make trash. They will only make what brings them money.

One more question, who do some balk at going to the theaters to see a movie, but will rent or buy it when it comes available on DVD?

By the way, when "Courageous" comes out, I will be at the theater to see it.

~Matt

Week Rundown! (05/02/10 - 05/08/10)

Sunday:

It was a nice day. Van route was good, and church services were great. We had the toddler class during the evening service... boys, boys boys!


Monday:

For me, it was a busy day at work. Lydia had a quiz, and she was glad it was over! M&M got to enjoy the sunshine at daycare. When we arrived at home, Lydia started supper... eggs and bacon!

We ate and watched some old Popeye cartoons. Lydia went to give plasma, and I got the kids ready for bed.

Lydia worked on a paper, and I did some projects on the computer before we finally went to bed.


Tuesday:

After picking me up from work, we headed over to a jewelry store to get our rings re-sized. Mine was getting super-tight, and was bugging me. While waiting around, the kids went nuts in the store! Thankfully they had a tote of toys for them to play with! Whew!

We decided to go to McDonald's and let the kids play and eat. It was good to let them burn off the extra energy! On the way home, we stopped by the library and picked up a movie Lydia had on hold... "Sister Act". We watched it after the kids went to bed!


Wednesday:

Lydia had school, kids were in daycare, and I at work. Mysia went to her Daisy Scouts, and really enjoyed it like always. Lydia picked me up and we headed off to church. Today was the last main day for our children's class, since the awards are scheduled for next week. That meant that we had to really get the kids going on their books, so that they can be awarded the badges they've been working for! It was a bit hectic of an evening... but we made it through! There are several kids that really pulled through this year! I'm so proud of them!


Thursday:

Lydia wasn't feeling well for most of the day, so when we arrived at home she went to bed. I made the grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, Mysia's favorite, for supper. The kids ate really well. We then read a few books and watched some old cartoons (Popeye, BettyBoop, etc.)

After getting them down for the night, I raided the garage looking for the installation discs for the laptops. I had it my mind that it might be a good idea to redo my laptop in the near future, but I could find thosecds that came with it! Finally I found them! With my search over, I too retired to bed.


Friday:

I decided it was time to redo my laptop. For some reason, I didn't have the space on there that I needed. So when I arrived home, I started backing up my important files onto my external hard drive. Lydia started supper, and I quickly went outside and mowed the front lawn. When that was completed, I came in and we ate supper. Then it was back outside to finish mowing the back lawn.

We then headed out to Walmart. We needed to pick up some mother's day gifts. We also had to pick up some food for the weekend as well. By the time we got home, the kids were wore out.

Oh.... I ended up restoring my laptop to it's factory settings, which only took 30 minutes. However, it took several hours to download and install the many Vista updates! After installing some essential programs, we went to bed.


Saturday:

We woke up... put cartoons on for the kids. Lydia and Mysia got ready to go to the ladies' brunch at church in celebration for Mother's Day. That would leave Malachi and myself at home... so I invited my friend Doug over, and his wife Mary went went Lydia and Mysia.

We watched movies, talked, played around on the computers and phones, and ate a bit of lunch. Malachi seemed to enjoy hanging out with us guys, and he and wrestled around for a bit as well.

By the time the girls got back, I had put Malachi down for his nap... he was tired! We also decided to put Mysia down too. The original plan was to go to Silver Dollar City after the brunch, but we figured naps were more important at the time. What we didn't plan on was them napping so long! By the time they got up it was too late to go to! By the time we would have made it there, it'd be close to closing time! So, we went for a walk instead. Well, Lydia and I walked, the kids rode their bikes. Malachi only made it so far before he decided he'd rather ride in the wagon, so he and I turned around, got the wagon, and caught up to Mysia and Lydia.

After we got back home, we left to go the church van real quick. We then had hamburgers on the grill, and ate in the backyard, giving M&M some time to play and get all the energy out of their system. Yeah right! They were still wound up!

All in all, it was nice to enjoy the sun and weather, and kind of relax a bit.

~Matt

Awesome Math Teacher!!! (Friday, 05/07/10)

Ok... this is the first time I've made a blog post about a youtube video! But I found this as really neat, and I just had to share.

This is a video about a presentation a math teacher did for his class. It's done really well. So enjoy!

---

On a side note, I'm restoring my laptop to it's factory settings tonight, so hopefully everything will run well once I get my programs installed. I'm also hoping that I do everything correctly and don't loose any important files!!! Yikes! What a horrible thought!

Have a great weekend!!!

~Matt

iPhone App Review: Doodle Blitz (Thursday, 05/06/10)

I like free stuff. And free apps for my iPhone is something I really like!

Well, there are four sites I visit daily that offer a free game. If I like what I see, I'll go ahead and download it. I've already compiled quite a bit of games this way.

Today on http://freeappcalendar.com they offered a game that is quite interesting. It's called Doodle Blitz. An airplane game. Now, I love airplane games! So I downloaded it. But now I'm wondering if I should have though....

In this game, you're an airplane fighter, bombing a city. But get this.. it's based on the World War II London Blitz, and your plane is red. So technically, you're the German Red Baron, bombing the city of London!

I'll be honest... the game is fun. It's like Space Invaders, but backwards. You start out at the top of screen and have to bomb the buildings, tallest to smallest, before you crash into them and game over.

Another thing that's disturbing, while playing during lunch, the one of the cityscapes looked odd. Smaller buildings surrounded by two tall skyscrapers that reminded me of the twin towers!!! Yikes!

Perhaps I ought to stick with games like this!

~Matt

Tech Post: iPhone Asking For Password (Wednesday, 05/05/10)

I was having trouble with my iPhone yesterday. It kept asking me for my iTunes password when opening apps. And it was getting annoying. Over and over again, the dialog box would appear and I'd have to enter the password in. When at home, I'd have to enter in the password for my wifi connection as well!

I had this problem once before and figured it out right away, but I had forgotten until this morning. Come to find out, one of my apps that I had tried to install had paused during the installation process. It was just sitting there with the progress bar on the icon... waiting. I clicked on it, and it started moving! Problem solved!

~Matt

Week Rundown! (04/25/10 - 05/01/10)

Sunday:

I woke up early and picked up several of the guys for our church's monthly Men's Prayer Breakfast. It was neat having my Grandpa there. In fact, since ours and my parent's Sunday school classes were joined that morning, we got to have my grandparents in there too!

For lunch, we all headed to Cici's Pizza! Mysia and Malachi were finished pretty early, so Abigail took them next door to the dollar store and they got a toy of their choosing.

The kids were tired, so we headed off to my folks' house. Lydia and the kids napped. I stayed up and visited. My grandparents had to leave shortly afterwards.

After church that evening, we had Vacation Bible School (VBS) preparation. A quick meeting that went over what is planned for this year! Sounds exciting!

Before going home, we stopped by McDonald's to get the kids a happy meal with the money they had gotten from Grandma Taylor. Then it was eating, and going to bed!


Monday:

Well, it was back to the same routine. Home after work, sandwiches for supper, laundry washed...

Ugh! However, since I missed going shopping over the weekend, I got the privilege of doing it tonight! Lydia worked on homework!


Tuesday:

Quartet practice was the plan for the night for me! Lydia got the privilege of getting the kids ready for bed! When I got home, she was working on homework once again! She's getting excited that finals are coming up in a couple of weeks, and that she'll be finished with the classes she's in.


Wednesday:

Children's church was different tonight... we ended up in the main auditorium with all the others! At first, I was a little doubtful on how it would go, but the kids behaved pretty good, seeing that we had five rows of kids all sitting next to each other! Our church had Lee Warren and his wife minister to us in music. They are the parents of Ronnie Warren.


Thursday:

We came home after work and ate a quick supper, then it was off to Evergreen Church to watch the homeschooler Song and Drama. Abigail was playing some major parts. It was a good production and Mysia liked it a lot. Malachi got bored through half of it. He was more interested in the men turning on the lights. He did clap excitedly at the finish though. His response... "yay! it's finished!"


Friday:

I worked a little more overtime. Lydia went ahead and started the pizza she picked up. Well, she got the kids' cheese pizza made, and then stuck ours in the oven. Malachi came around and turned the nobs so that the heat was all the way up. Needless to say, ours was burnt, so after picking me up from work, we got us another pizza!

We put the kids to bed, and watched some tv while doing other things (like homework).


Saturday:

Lydia had conference at college that lasted most of the day. I stayed home with the kids as they watched tv and played. I let them eat pizza for lunch in front of the tv.

When nap-time came, I decided that we could all nap in my bed. Well, that didn't work. I napped, or tried to, while the played. One would poke, hit, or pull on the other. Ugh! I finally gave up and sent them to their own beds. They didn't like it, but they were soon asleep. I crawled back in bed, and that's when Lydia came home! No nap for me.

After the kids woke up, we went and got the church van. Lydia and I then went on a date that evening. We went downtown, ate at a restaurant, and then went to a musical/play held by OTC's drama team. It was nice to have a date night!

~Matt