He's BAAAAAACCCKKK!!

So POTUS got back today from Texas and one would think the pace would pick up somewhat. There are important things going on in the world. But no. No one cares about us. And I'm okay with that!! I've caught up on my expense reports and e-mails and today I spent the day playing Scrabble on Facebook with a co-worker. The ten hours of nothingness flew by!

People are asking me if I'm upset that I'm not at the conventions. And the short answer is absolutely not. I had the honor of going to the GOP Convention in 2000 and I had an awesome experience. And I would have gone had they ask me to but those things are a ton of work!! :) Also, I was just happy to be home!! I had been gone a long time and I just missed the comfort of my bed. I had a great trip to Crawford and my small tour of Texas at the end of the week was awesome but I was thrilled to be back at home!

On Thursday of last week, I drove down to Houston to see the Snows. They are just the best!! They moved there a year ago from Alexandria and I love it when I get to see them! We hung out and chatted which was great because they are such a great family. But the highlight might have been my exciting Friday night out. MJ and Emily and I went to Chuck E. Cheese's to play our now-annual skee ball tournament. The Snows take their skee ball very seriously. Last year we went to the arcade at the mall. This year we stepped it up a notch and went to Chuck E. Cheese. I haven't been there since my days in high school of being a day camp counselor at Camp Bright Star back in the 'Noke. (Yes, I'm a nerd because I still remember the secret handshake!) We were definitely out of place there because we didn't actually want to eat there or see Chuck E. Cheese's little show. We were there for serious skee ball. I admit that I didn't win but I had a personal best so I felt like we were all winners. Congrats Emily on your well-earned victory!!

On Saturday, I left Houston and made my way back to Ft. Worth. On my way, I stopped at the George Bush Presidential Library. As I've admitted before, I am a total nerd. Most of the stuff in the museum I actually already knew through the books I've read, working at the WH, etc. I did pick up bits and pieces of new info but the museum itself was really cool. I saw a bunch of artifacts from his life and the events I remember growing up. I definitely recommend going if you're ever in the neighborhood. There were parts I skipped over because I already was very familiar with them (wow, I sound like a total snob!! Forgive me!!) but it was a very nice visit!! I even got my picture taken in the Oval Office lounging in the chair. Although I've been in the real Oval Office, I've never gotten to hang out in the chair. That's kind of a no-no in protocol for my job. So I took full advantage at the fake Oval Office. I also took time to take mental notes for my future library if I get one. I know there's a reason I'm keeping all the stuff I've kept!! :)

After that I made my way to Ft. Worth to see the Fougerousses!! On the way, I got to meet a fine police officer of a very small small town on Rt 6. He apparently thought I was driving too fast in his speed trap that the town set up. I must have blinked and missed the one "Speed Limit 45" sign and the town while I was at it. It dropped from 70 to 45 for about a mile in the middle of nowhere. So now I will be stimulating the economy of this extremely small town (it's smaller than Crawford and can't find it on a map!) with more than $200. I tried to figure out if I could expense it but that's not legit. I'm not nearly as mad when I think of the fact that they have no other form of economy there. Maybe someone in McLennan County needs that money more than I do. I'd like to think I'm helping with paying for children's books or something else beneficial.

I had a great short visit with Christine and Jamie and had so much fun just hanging out!! Christine and I have been friends now for about 20 years!! Wow! That makes me feel old!! We should have celebrated our anniversary of being friends but I didn't figure out the two decades thing until just now!! Oh to top off the visit, Ginger and Rich and baby Jack came over and Jamie made the pancakes. Make, make the pancakes. Those words are courtesy of a great YouTube video on Ginger put on her website. Those four people crack me up!!

Wake up call at 3a

It's one of those days. When you call the hotel staff and ask for a wake up call for 3a and they insist that you mean 6a or 7a. I had to convince the staff that even though it was 11p, I wanted to wake up four hours later. Today we flew to Orlando for POTUS's remarks at the VFW convention. I just love these conventions! I've been for the last three years and I always enjoy feeling young! Anyway, yesterday as we were planning our trip we had to make the decision to go to Orlando or to New Orleans (which is where POTUS is going after this.) I won't bore you with the whole thought process but we decided to let the pilots decide where we should go, since they were the ones actually flying the plane. Oh, the plane was a small regional jet. Like the kind you fly from Charlotte to Roanoke. I thought we should come to Orlando but the thought of bringing a small plane into the middle of a tropical storm was not appealing. But the pilots thought they could do it. So we're here. And the landing was absolutely smooth. We can't guarantee we'll actually get to leave here but all my fears were calmed with the excellent flight. Plus it was a charter which just makes me happier in general.

Speaking of tropical storms. I know TS Fay is in Florida but last night in Waco I saw the wickedest storm. They say the sky is bigger in Texas and I believe them. I have never seen such big powerful clouds. I thought about stopping the car and taking a picture but I was trying to drive as fast as possible so I wouldn't get stuck in the middle of the massive storm. I really didn't want to get struck by lightning, otherwise I would have stopped because it was absolutely incredible looking!

Before I left Crawford, I was able to stimulate the local economy. I am really hoping that was my last trip there because I was really trying to buy stuff I didn't already have and there just weren't that many options. Plus, after January 20th, the Western White House will be so passe! But don't worry, I still have many gag gifts to stash away for future needs.

So we hang out in Orlando all day today and then fly back to Waco tonight. I'm officially done with my Crawford duty but I'll be in Texas a few more days visiting with friends before flying home. I have to savor my time in TX because it might be the last time for a long time!!!

Exciting Crawford!!!

Somehow my time in Crawford is already coming to a close. We go to Orlando or New Orleans tomorrow (depending on what POTUS decides to do due to TS Fay) and then I'm done on Thursday. Since we left a day late and we've been busy the whole time I've been here, time is just flying by. So today is my last final day in Crawford. Maybe ever.

So what exciting is happening in Crawford you may ask? It's raining. Yep. That's about as exciting as it gets here. It's actually been pouring for two days now with almost 4 inches of rain yesterday alone. It wasn't enough rain to cancel the homemade ice cream social given by the Crawford Chamber of Commerce. I did my part. Two comments on that. We have enough ice cream on a daily basis to feed the entire state of Texas. And who knew that there was enough commerce to have a Chamber of Commerce.

Yesterday when it started raining, we literally went outside to watch the rain from the porch of the school. Then we went back a few hours later and it was still pouring. Our liveshot location got a bit flooded. The pictures below were after only an hour of rain.



It got worse. The road to the live shot location was even flooded and they had to pull a van out of the muddy water. But being the super duper producer that I am, I decided that we shouldn't do live shots standing in water and mud handling electronic equipment in a thunderstorm. That's why I get paid the big bucks. So we moved inside the gym and that's where we are today. We're hoping to not actually have to do a live shots because trying to get all my colleagues to be quiet long enough to do a liveshot is not an easy task.

Just to entertain you, I was watching one of my favorite (and best if I do say so myself) pieces that I've done this year and it happens to be about Crawford. I did this back in May and maybe I posted the link before but here it is again.

Dog Days of August

It's August and that means one thing. Crawford. I'm doing my Crawford duty for a week and trying not to think too much about the fact that this is my last summer in Texas. Thankfully, God has been smiling down on me because yesterday was the first day under 90 degrees in almost three months. I was mentally prepared for 120 degrees so I'm happy with whatever we get! But my hair is not doing very well in the humidity, as seen in the picture on the left. I really shouldn't post pictures this bad of me but who knows when the next time will be for another journey out to the ranch.

Oh btw, I almost didn't survive commercial travel on Friday. We didn't have a charter this time (the first time in my tenure as producer) so we had to fly commercial. We were on the 6a flight. That means leaving the house around 4:30a. That's early. We should have gotten to Dallas at 9a ET which would have put us in Crawford around noon. Instead, we circled Dallas for a while and then the pilot announces "We don't have any more fuel. We have to go to Austin." It's a little disconcerting to be 30,000 miles up in the air and hear that we don't have fuel. So we spent some quality time on the tarmac in Austin getting fueled up, all without food!! We finally got to Crawford around 4p and since I missed lunch, I rewarded myself with some Katie's Custard.

Yesterday, we were travel pool and POTUS and Sec of State Rice made a statement on Georgia at his ranch. So we loaded up the vans and went out there. We don't actually see his house. He drives up to the office building and then comes out to talk. I'm sure you'll remember that I was on vacation for two weeks and I think I'm caught up on all the world's events. I caught on early on that we were talking about Georgia the country, not Georgia the state. I think if it had been Georgia the state, someone would have recognized Russian tanks entering Atlanta. Anyway, I digress. I feel 75% confident that I understand the situation and all that has been said but it's a little intimidating to be in a small group of reporters, standing in front of POTUS and Rice and making eye contact and I'm sure they could tell that I didn't quite get what they were saying. They were using all kinds of acronyms that I didn't understand so I just had to do a lot of smiling and nodding. We've actually been pretty busy for the past two days so I have only had time for ice cream once or twice a day. And I have yet to make it to buy Western White House souvenirs. Don't worry though, I am here for four or five more days.

Toodles to London!

I'm back in the good old USA and home from the motherland! I had such an awesome trip! I'm sorry that I didn't post more often but I didn't have time or constant internet access. I did survive though because I had my crackberry, although you would be proud of me that I didn't check it every ten minutes!

But I had a great time! I was there for 12 days and still didn't get a chance to see everything! It rained most every day but that didn't stop us! We went to the Tower of London, which is a bit of a misnomer since it's a village and not just a tower! I had to keep reminding myself that we were not at Busch Gardens but the REAL thing! We saw the Crown Jewels and the tower of torture where prisoners carved things into the wall over FIVE hundred years ago. I thought about trying to carve "Becky was here" but I'm pretty sure the security would have caught me before I got through the 'B'.

We also went to All Souls Church on Sunday and then had tea at Kensington Gardens. I don't drink tea or coffee but I did pay 7 pounds for a small croissant. That basically meant every time I took a bite, it cost me 2 dollars. But I guess I was paying for the experience! It was beautiful! We also toured Kensington Palace which is where Princess Diana lived. Most of the tour focused on Queen Victoria and people who lived hundreds of years ago but I did get my Diana fix in the two rooms of her dresses.

On Monday, Ashley and I went to see Westminster Abbey. We had run inside for a brief moment the previous week but I wanted to do the tour. It was absolutely beautiful! We were there for more than two hours taking in all the beauty and history! I also learned a lot but I have to tell you, there is SOOO much English history to keep track of! I love history but my mind starts to go to mush when thinking of one thousand years of history with different people who all have one of about six names. My favorite line of all the royal tours was "Queen (insert any queen) met her husband at the family reunion"! I heard it more than once!

Tuesday we saw the Clarence House which is the London home of Prince Wales and the Duchess of Cormwall (Charles and Camilla) as well as Princes William and Harry. They weren't there and in fact when we asked about them, the very British tour guide Anita rolled her eyes at us. She said with a pure British accent "All these young girls want to do is see the pictures of the Princes." Finally some old lady came to our defense and said "I do too!" She called Prince William "dishy" and invited us to come see her because she lived nine miles from some royal estate where the young princes played in a treehouse. Maybe one day I'll take her up on that offer!

Sorry this post is so long but I did want to share a little bit about my trip. The real reason we were there was to minister to Mslims visiting from the Arabian Peninsula. Over twelve days, we handed out almost 3000 copies of the Bible in Arabic and one man prayed to receive Christ. It was awesome! I was out of my comfort zone but in a purely good way. My team was wonderful and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know people from all across the world, but especially Ashley and Kristen from Tech who are such great people. I'm not sure what it says about me that I got along great with girls who are a decade younger than me... I'm sure I'm immature at times but these girls are phenomenal!

Now I'm trying to get back to the real world. I left London a day before the rest of the team because I was supposed to go to Texas with POTUS this morning. But without checking with me first, he decided to postpone his trip to deal with the crisis in Georgia (the country not the state). So I'll have the extra bonus of sleeping in my bed more than one night before I head back out on the road for a while!!

Look kids! It's Big Ben!

Greetings from the other side of the pond! I've been here several days and I have to say, I really love London! My motherland is so jolly!! Amazingly enough, I have survived without Facebook and I've done a pretty good job of not being addicted to my blackberry! But I broke down this morning and after having to take care of a couple of things from work, decided to pay an extra pound and post a quick blog item!

Let's see... where to begin! We've been sightseeing in the mornings and then had training and ministry in the evenings. The weather has been all over the map here and we're guaranteed a rain shower at some point every day even if it's completely sunny. I love my small little umbrella!! And I've become an absolute pro at the London bus system! Yesterday people were asking me for directions and then I'd say "I'm not from around here" with the deepest Southern accent I could fake! We've been on the bus so much that I don't even feel the need to go upstairs on the double decker bus! I'm practically a local!

Ok, I have one complaint. I have gotten absolutely no special treatment because of my last name. Believe me, I've tried. We went to see Westminster Abbey and then saw the Parliament building and Big Ben. It was just as impressive as it was in National Lampoon's European Vacation. I tried to get into the Abbey without paying based on my last name but that didn't work. They just looked at me strangely, go figure. Then the next day, we went to see Buckingham Palace. In August, you can take a tour of it because the queen isn't there. Everyone who worked there had the most English names I had ever seen. I thought they should give me a discount based on my name but it was also a no-go. This time, though, I did make them laugh which is something I don't think they do enough. Anyway, the Palace was beautiful and the tour was great. I did some measuring for curtains just in case I ever live there. It was pouring down rain which made the walk through the gardens not as glamorous as I pictured but it was really fun!! I told them to tell the Queen hello for me again. As you'll recall I met her last May! In fact, in one of the exhibits at the palace, they were showing a DVD of her visit to DC and while I couldn't see myself in the video, I saw exactly the scene where I was when she waved to me. And I saw a bunch of my WH friends there too! Tooooo funny!

Yesterday, we spent time at the British museum and the British library. Again, no special treatment although those places were free so I didn't really need any. I did see where in Shakespeare's writing he spelled Britain correctly (well in my world)! I always knew he was a genius! We also saw the napkins and scrap pieces of papers where the Beatles wrote out their lyrics! I also saw the oldest New Testament that exists from 300 AD! At the British museum, we saw a bunch of stuff from the Old Testament that helps to prove that the Bible is true. It was an extremely interesting day!

Then last night, I met up with a friend from college that I hadn't seen in ten years! It was absolutely wonderful!! And I navigated my way around on the bus all by myself!

More importantly, our ministry is going extremely well too! We are basically handing out New Testaments to Arabic men and women walking down the street in specific areas of the city. I know two phrases in Arabic and if anyone really tries to talk to me in Arabic, I pass them to one of the native Arabic speakers that is with us. I've been amazed at how many people have actually taken the free gift we've been handing out! I'm definitely out of my comfort zone but it has been in an amazing way!!

I know you're disappointed in me but I left my USB cord in my room so I'll have to add pictures later! Sorry Sarah!! :)

Week in Review, Well Sort Of

Sorry you haven't heard from me this week. I wish I could have said it was because I was sooooo busy with lots of exciting world events. Actually it's because I only saw POTUS one time this week and I had left my camera at home. Oh, and I only worked for three days this week. I was off all last week and I'm off all next week so I thought it would look bad if I didn't work at all for a month!

Anyway, Monday was all about the projected budget deficit numbers being released. I thought about blogging about that but then how boring is that? Plus, I am not an economist by any stretch of the imagination and let's be honest, I can't really grasp what $490 billion in deficit really means. All I know is that's a lot of money. And Tuesday, I don't really remember. Actually thanks to the handy dandy http://www.whitehouse.gov/ I am reminded that POTUS signed some bills and then went to Ohio. I obviously didn't go to Ohio. I think I would have remembered that!

Wednesday was the only day I saw POTUS. It was in the Rose Garden after a cabinet meeting. I sometimes forget when I go out there that very few people have actually been there before. It was hot, there were lots of bugs, etc. etc. etc. that I literally forgot to stop and smell the roses. It really is a beautiful garden and reminds me a lot of the garden I have at home. Ok, I don't have a garden and I can barely keep my tree alive. But I imagine if I ever lived in a big white house with the National Park Service as my gardeners, I too could have a garden that looked like that! Anyway, it was really hot so the WH staffers said that POTUS was going to come out early and make it short and sweet. I like that. Especially when I was trying to pay attention but at the same time trying to avoid swallowing a gnat every second. His cabinet secretaries looked thrilled too. I think I could tell from a few of them, especially VPOTUS (I guess that's what we would called him!), that he was counting days until he's back in Wyoming!

And then I had Thursday and Friday off. I'm sure that important world events have taken place and major policies have been announced but I really haven't paid close attention. I am getting ready to leave for London on a mission trip for almost two weeks followed by a wonderful trip to Crawford for ten days. I promise to bring my camera along with me and post from time to time!