Derek meets the Little Einsteins

Derek meets the Little Einsteins
Originally uploaded by bryce.randle

Derek loves the Little Einsteins.

While we were at Walt Disney World's Hollywood Studios on February 6, Derek got to meet them. Derek can't go on the larger rides so while Mike, Heidi, and Nancy were on Rockin' Roller Coaster, Derek and I headed over to see who we could meet.



I was by myself, of course, and I had a lot in the stroller to take with me so it wouldn't get stolen. Derek saw the characters and got really excited. I let him out of the stroller and tried to hurry as fast as I could to grab the cameras, the irreplaceable, and etc.

Derek was too fast for me though. When I looked up, he had already cut the line and gone to give June and Quincy high-fives. I felt bad when I had to come get him out of the front. I felt bad for the parents he had cut, there were about 8 kids with their parents in the line in front of him. I felt bad for Derek because he was living a fantasy. Everyone was nice about it though. They told me Derek was cute with them. So that made it better.

As we got into the line, Quincy and June left and Leo and Annie came in. Derek gave them high-fives as they walked by and then waited in line. In this picture you can see he gave them a hug all on his own. He didn't do that with anyone else, not even Mickey or Buzz & Woody.



He had a great time with them. And we just love Derek.

My Free PlayStation 3

Yes. It worked. I am now enjoying a free Playstation 3.

The whole thing worked out. I got eight people to sign up for an offer each (most of them free offers like a credit report or a low cost trail of GameFly or Netflix) and after the system processed the order, I got my PS3 in about four days. I signed up around December 9th and started a Blockbuster free trial.

I got a few relatives and friends to sign up for some offers, mostly Blockbuster. This is where we hit a problem though and I started to get discouraged. Blockbuster offers never processed and I gave up. I had eight people sign up and about half of them signed up for Blockbuster. I never heard anything back and I figured I would just stop.

I changed my mind when I did a free credit report instead. That offer processed immediately. Then Jared Moench did a trial of GameFly and I got excited about it again. I got the rest of my friends (and Aunt Whitney!) to sign up for credit reports and GameFly because I knew those worked.

I had my PlayStation 3 by January 30. It is awesome. That's a $400 machine for free!

Now I am working on a Wii and I am 20% there. I completed my offer and now I need five more people to sign up. I would recommend Netflix, GameFly, or a credit report with "Credit Check Total."
Thanks for helping me out everyone!

Yes, this is my son

Derek gets to take a look at his dad work from home.

Can you tell?

Here is on KidPix at my mom's computer.

An awesome blog post

My friend/college roommate/high school BF/essay editor, Dani, wrote an awesome blog post. I've read it aloud to a lot of people these past few days and decided I needed to post it here so others can enjoy it too.  

Read this awesome blog post. 

Thanks, Dani, for the entertainment. My dad agrees, the best line is about the current threat level.

My Free PlayStation 3

I have started to conduct an experiment.

I always see those ads on the net as I search google for new links to yesterland.com (or wherever, but I had to point out yesterland.com somehow) that say that you can get a free laptop and then all it ends up being is a trick to get you into a Netflix subscription.

Well, my buddy Eric Anderson from BYU, now living the glamourous life of a filmmaker in L.A. (he actually just finished his internship at Village Roadshow), told me the other day how he is one person away from getting a free PlayStation 3. Now, you have to understand that I really, really want a PS3. Not only for the gaming experience, but for the Blu-Ray playing capability. Eric tells me that he has used these guys (the PS3 offer-ers) before to get a free iPod and his friend got a Wii and XBOX360 with it. It actually works he tells me.

So I had him explain to me how it is working for him. He needs 8 people to sign up to complete various offers, some of which include Blockbuster Online, Netflix, FreeCreditReport.com, and a few others.

"Well, how many do you need, Eric?" I said to him.

"Just one."

I signed up for Blockbuster and thus started my quest for 8 people to sign up for a free PlayStation 3. Nancy and I want to watch Season 4 of LOST before Season 5 starts on Jan.21.09 so we thought it was a good idea. I do Netflix, but haven't had the enthusiasm to reactivate my account lately. It was a good deal too. 3 movies at a time, 5 in store trade ins for $10 for the first month. You only need to sign up for one month to make your deal eligible for the PS3 offer so I was sold.

Well, I have about nine signed up so far with seven that have told me they have completed an offer. So theoretically it is working.

I wonder if it is the Christmas season or something, but they haven't updated my profile yet. Eric says all his other people's offers processed faster than mine.

Below you can see my progress. I will keep you all informed if it works or not. In the meantime, if you need a "free-credit-report" or some movies for a month, please sign up. The Free Credit report doesn't cost anything if you cancel within 9 days of getting the report.

this has been on my mind since October

I've been meaning to do this post since October. I know. The suspense. I was planning on Halloween, then switched to Thanksgiving. Now that harvest season is over and we have other plants in our house, let's blog about my pumpkins.

As my roommates know (and still frequently tease), I love pumpkins. At the first fall sighting, I stop and buy two; one pumpkin is for the table decor and one for outside. They are horribly overpriced in September ($.30/lb), but the fall squash only comes around once a year and I must enjoy it as long as possible. I particularly enjoy the plump, short and round versions, but above all, the stem must have some kind of personality. 

Now, when I was in college, my roommates found it a little strange that I was so obsessed (as you may be right now). They decided to name my pumpkin(s) and tease me about them (did I already mention that?) Polly was the first (she was murdered early and turned to pumpkin pie) and I believe Paul was the second. 

Then I got married. Bryce was kind enough to allow me to indulge further into my pumpkin obsession and I bought all sorts of small pumpkins and squash for my fall decor. I turned one year's favorite pumpkin into a floral arrangement at school (take note: pumpkins rot VERY quickly when filled with floral-food-water.)

Okay. Now on to the next strange background story:

I have terrible luck. Ask my sisters, brother and Dani: it's terrible. Once in the seventh grade I won a month's supply of Twix bars from Channel One. That's about as far as the luck-meter flies for me.  

Bryce, on the other hand, has great luck. He's working on winning a Sony Bravia and Playstation 3 package right now, but no bites yet.

Among his luckiest accomplishments is his ability to find twin eggs. I don't know how or why, but he has found THREE twin eggs since we've been married. T-H-R-E-E. Trust me here, HE DOESN'T DO THE BULK OF THE EGG CRACKING. I DO. And every time it has happened, I get REALLY upset. So upset that I'm not even going to post the details. And don't ask me how many I've found because then I get more upset. 

Now, the merging of these two strange stories:

I went to Smith's to buy milk one October afternoon. I was so excited to see the pumpkins even though our house was filled with all sorts of varieties. Then I saw one of those cool, round, stem-owning pumpkins and I just had to take a look. As I picked it up, it was ATTACHED TO ANOTHER PUMPKIN. It was a TWIN pumpkin. Lets just say that was one of my luckiest moments. 

Another lucky moment: when the guy in line said, "Wow, I wish I had found that first."

Another lucky moment: when my husband said, "Wow, what a lucky day."

And so here I post a picture of my prized pumpkin. His name was Michael Scott, in honor of Season 2's Halloween episode.  I just took the picture the other day, so it is sad that the stem ended up splitting.  

But that is about as twin egg as I'm ever gonna get. So thanks, Mike, for greeting our fall festivities and giving me a little more luck in life.

(a real) Christmas (tree) is here again

Our Christmas Tree made it home! We went to the very lovely Home Depot and picked out our tree on Saturday.  Here are some pictures.  I think the guy (who was very nice) thought I was crazy for taking pictures during the process, but when I'm buying a $30 plant that only lasts one month, I need to capture every moment of it.

On the way home (a slow process), Derek discovered that one of the strings was tied tight enough to make a note. It was hilarious. 

And this is a shot from our balcony. I love how the tree is almost as big as the car. Now I need to post a picture of it decorated. Only one guess on the color scheme!