Continuing the Countdown to #1...

Here I am.  Finally getting back to my 100 list.  I know it's been a while but talking about me gets exhausting!  Anyway, here goes.  Let's hope I finish it this time!

34.  I hate the heat.  Seriously, I cannot stand being hot and sweaty no matter what activity made me that way.  Sweat is not attractive in the least.  Especially not on me.  I prefer a nice light breeze and 70 degree weather with the sun behind a cloud. 

33.  I sunburn extremely easily.  I am whiter than white for 9 months out of the year and then when summer comes around I go from white skin to a red burn and then I peel and I'm white again.  Never has my body had a nice even tan...just white or red.  And because I can't stand to put on sunscreen, that is what I live through every summer.

32.  My favorite time of year is in the fall when the leaves are turning colors and the sky is full of fluffy clouds and the world seems to be quieting down.  There is a calmness about the fall that wraps my soul in a blanket of warmth and homey-ness after a summer filled with noise and commotion. 

31.  My favorite place in the world is a place called Spearfish Canyon in the fall.  I love to see the orange and yellow hues amongst the evergreens while driving through the canyon.  I rarely get time to make the drive anymore because life seems so busy.

30.  My exact favorite spot to stop on that drive is at the Bridal Veil Falls turnoff.  There is no beauty greater than that of a waterfall.  I have had many good times at, around, and on top of that specific waterfall that I will always cherish. 

29.  My favorite holiday is Valentine's Day.  I am obsessed with hearts and love and happily ever after and I adore all the little homemade valentines that people used to give out (I still do on occasion). 

28.  My least favorite holiday is my birthday because it never lives up to my expectations.  In my heart, I expect people to care that it is my special day and inevitably I am let down by presents purchased without any thought or no surprises.  I just want a day that reflects who I am.

27.  I was proposed to by my husband on Valentine's Day (he surely got it right although he probably did it just to remember the date!).  We waited until after my birthday to have the actual ceremony because we both wanted to be 21 so that we could legally have alcohol at the wedding. 

26.  Typically, a person whose parents are divorced is cynical about marriage and reluctant to get married.  I believe I was the opposite.  Seeing my mother go through several divorces made me want to get married to prove to myself that happily ever after existed if you picked the right person to share it with.  However, it also put the idea in my mind that marriage is not a forever thing.  It can be if the love is there for always but it doesn't have to be.  Marriage is an honor...not a sentence. 

25.  I kind of have a princess complex.  Not that I am a princess but I believe in the princess way of life.  The Happily Ever After, Knight in Shining Armor rescue me kind of love.  And as long as he lets me slay my own dragons once in a while, we can be pretty happy.

24.  I love Medieval things...castles, dragons, princess, knights...they all speak to my heart.  I was even once a part of a group of re-creators of all things medieval.  I watched guys in armor beat the crap out of each other with swords and shields and bowed to the Queen and King as I salivated over the chivalry that was present in everyone.  It was great.

23.  I love chivalry and wish that is wasn't pretty much dead.  The old habits of opening doors and standing when a lady left the table have the ability to melt my heart in moments.  I can be swept off my feet with small acts of kindness and chivalry...until reality takes hold and I come crashing down to earth once again.

22.  I really am all about the little things.  It's not just hype with me.  I would prefer a short note here and there to a grand gesture of affection, a small thoughtful token to an expensive piece of jewelry.  It's not that I don't like the big stuff.  It's just that I remember the small details that were special at the time and forget the occasion on which it happened. 

21.  My favorite soda is Coca-Cola and always will be no matter how many e-mails I receive saying that it can take the corrosion off of my car battery. 

20.  I like the burning sensation of drinking a Coke so much that I do a unintentional head tilt to the left every time I drink it.  I didn't notice until Dear Hubby pointed it out.  I have also written a story about the feeling of drinking a Coke after having no pop for several days in a row.  It was pretty good.

19.  I moved from the big city life of Denver, Colorado to a small farm the summer before I was in the 8th grade.  It was a difficult experience that I wouldn't trade for anything because I learned a lot and became a more well-rounded person. 

18.  The only part I liked about farm life was caring for the animals.  The hard work part was never my forte.  Every once in a while I miss having the peace and quiet of that farm and the animals to share my time with.

17.  Anytime I start to miss it, I think of the two dogs I have at home that never get enough attention and wonder what the hell I was thinking wanting to go back to 100 bottle-fed bum lambs.

16.  My mom, lil sis and I used to rent movies and watch them at the end of the day when the work was all done.  We would huddle around an orange ottoman and eat smoked oysters on Ritz crackers and popcorn and it was the best bonding time we ever had.

15.  On Friday nights when we lived in Colorado, we would go to an all-you-can-eat crab leg buffet for dinner.  We used to stuff ourselves full of crab legs for what I thought was an unbelievably low price and enjoy dinner as a family. 

14.  I still to this day eat smoked oysters and crab legs and only like them because of the memories they produce when I smell them.  They take me back to a happy time in a childhood where most of my memories are less than stellar. 

13.  I have always looked up to my big brother.  Even though his life has not always been the kind that legends are made of, I always wanted to be just like him.  He moved away to live with his dad when I was young and I hated it.  I used to sing "You Are My Sunshine" and wish I could have my sunshine back in the same house as me.

12.  I don't remember a time when all four of my siblings and I lived in the same house together.  I have been told that we did but I don't remember it.  In fact, for most of my life, my siblings have lived across the state if not farther away from me.  That makes it hard for me to keep up a close relationship.

11.  I love the rare holiday when all of my siblings and I can be together.  It has only happened a few times since childhood but I had the opportunity to not only be with my whole family one Christmas but host the party in my own home.  I felt immense pride (and stress) because I was officially an adult.

10.  I don't tolerate childish or immature people very well, especially if that person has a child themselves.  I believe that a person should grow up and act like an adult the second they become a parent and always put the child's needs before their own.  I hate it to my core when people buy things for themselves before buying their kids needed food or clothing. 

9.  I also don't like "man humor".  The stupid shit that is only funny to guys.  The stuff that most comedians base their whole acts upon.  Laughing at a guy getting kicked in the nads is not my idea of humor.  Laughing at farting and burping is not my idea of humor.  I do not like stupid humor that most guys would laugh at.

8.  I don't laugh very easily.  Comedians don't usually tickle my funny bone.  I have only come across a few that do.  I prefer my tv shows to be more drama filled than comedy and even if they are comedy, you won't find me laughing at it very often.

7.  I enjoy the TV shows about high school or college kids (like 90210, the O.C., and Dawson's Creek) as much as I like shows about people around my own age (One Tree Hill, Army Wives).  I like the drama because it mostly reflects true life possibilities and I like knowing that I am not the only one in the world that has lived through certain circumstances. 

6.  I like reality tv.  I know it's stupid but I enjoy watching the game shows like "Don't Forget the Lyrics" and "American Idol" as well as the adventure shows like "Survivor" and "Great Race".  I always root for the underdog!

5.  I watch too much television...especially now that I have a DVR.  I tape all the shows I think I may want to watch as well as the movies on Lifetime and the Disney channel that I haven't already seen and I sit down to watch them after the kids go to bed.  I have a tendency to get sucked in and stay up way too late.

4.  For non-tv related entertainment, I enjoy playing games on the computer (though I get bored fast) and board games with family and friends.  I could play board games with a group of people almost every day and not get sick of it.

3.  My favorite board game is Monopoly...no one ever plays it with me.

2.  I am super excited that I am at the bottom of this list finally.

1.  If I really tried, I could come up with several hundred more facts about myself...but for now I am done.  :)

Weekend of Interestabilities...

Yeah, I know. That is soooo not a word but I couldn't come up with anything else to describe the weekend that I had, so that's the word you get. Deal with it.

What was so interesting about my weekend? Well from needles to hookahs, watching television to defying the laws of gravity, my weekend was full of the fanciful, the weird and the extreme. But it's my life...and I love every minute of it.

I started out my Friday evening by getting a tattoo. What? Didn't you? No. Well, too bad for you because although it hurt like hell and I was freaked out by a friends comment that I was going to die of blood loss while getting it, it turned out awesome. Wanna see?

Sweet, huh? Yeah, I know.

After that, Dear Hubby and I had a date night. Kinda. We went to see the band that Lady K is in (Marav) perform at the grand opening of a Hookah Lounge. Great music, hookahs near and far, and belly dancers...now that is a Friday night, for sure.

Belly Dancer coins, Hookah Genies,
and Tips for the Band. Oh my!

By the time we got home from the hookah lounge it was really late and I wasn't able to sleep on my back because of the tattoo, so it wasn't a very comfortable night. My body seemed to rebel at the thought of permanent ink upon it and tried to shut down completely. Which meant that I spent all of Saturday laying on the couch watching television and trying to relax my body.

Sunday brought about some interesting fun. It started with me making breakfast for my family. My comfort food. The breakfast that my mommy used to make me all the time. It involves very little in terms of effort to make but a lot of family interaction.

Pop-Overs. 7 ingredients, drop them into hot oil (feel the calories piling on just thinking about it?), dip them in syrup and/or powdered sugar and enjoy your breakfast. There is one rule though. You see those fluffy, brown weird little things on the plate? You have to decide what the heck it is...before you can eat it. Does it look like a dog with three legs? An airplane from a cartoon show? A alien from outer space? You have to show and tell people. That's the rule.

After the family fun that was breakfast, we rearranged the living room while the kids played some sort of shoot em up game around the furniture. And much to my surprise I found this...

I guess he was in trouble for hitting Teensy! Poor Teddy!

Having had enough of the house, we headed on out the door to defy some laws of gravity and challenge our minds.

See this? This is Dear Hubby and I standing on the walls of a small cabin, leaning really far forward...and NOT FALLING ON OUR FACES! The weirdest part...if we leaned back, we were slammed into that corner like the gravity was coming from there and not the floor!!! It was trippy! And a lot of fun. Plus, I did my good deed of the day. Our discounted pass was for four adults so we paid for the two college girls in line behind us who had just come from Bandimere Speedway in Denver. Saved them a whopping $18.00...and they even said thank you. Hope they had fun like we did and that they got home safe and sound. :)

And that was about all the fun I could handle for one weekend. Well after we hit Menards and WalMart for some household things we needed and then dealt with tired, hungry fighting children all the way back to the house. We got home and grilled up some shish-ke-bobs that were pretty amazing and ended the night with some tramp jumping (not me, I was afraid my back would get hit and that would hurt a bit) and we tucked the kids in to bed.

What a long and interesting weekend. *sigh* Too bad it has to be followed by a Monday. Yuck!

Gift Giving 101

I have found over the years that gift giving is an art form.

I'm not talking about the pretty boxes and bags, the ribbons and bows and fancy paper that one bedecks the gift in because frankly I purchase mountains upon mountains of that type of stuff and then never actually use it. I am the mother of all procrastinators and having the time to wrap a gift into a thoughtful and beautiful package five minutes before the occasion on which I need to give said gift is impossible. I envy those who take the time to carefully and thoughtfully wrap a gift in amazing packaging so that every moment of recieving the gift is special and wonderful for the recipient. Those who include a thoughtful, well written card on the top of every box (especially if those cards are hand-made)...I envy them, too for I am not a multi-layer gift giver. If you are to recieve a gift from me it will be in the form of a gift OR a card (many times the cards are hand-made,though maybe not recently, by me). Very rarely will one recieve both from me.

Gift giving is about the person recieving the gift. Yes, giving someone a well thought out gift makes a person feel a special sense of pride and accomplishment when the recipient's face lights up in a "just what I always wanted" kind of way but ultimately one should refrain from giving a gift if one is doing it for purely selfish reasons. Because there is nothing worse than carefully opening a beautifully wrapped package layer by layer just to find something that really does not interest you in the slightest bit. Why, I ask, would you spend all that time, energy and money to wrap something that is so obviously wrong for a person?

Case in point, I once recieved an electric sander as a Christmas gift. I love the gift giver dearly, but seriously, I would have preferred no gift at all with an "I'm sorry I couldn't find anything to suit you" than a gift that would make me cring everytime I heard it's grating, disgusting sound (I have a well-known fear and an aversion to anything sandpaper like--nail files and electric sanders included). That, my dears, is where the gift card comes in.

I will admit, though, that I have a hard time buying the perfect gifts for my Dear Hubby and my children. Not because I don't know them, but because I have a tendency to provide them with anything their hearts desire when it's not holiday time and I am left with no ideas when those pesky holidays roll around. I do give it my best shot and I think that I have scored a few times but usually I resort to what's on their lists. Which still means that they get what they want but I don't get to see the absolute joy on their faces (I am selfish that way).

A gift card is the best gift ever. Why? Because I can really get what I want and not what someone thinks I might want. Yes, it can be considered the lazy way out for some people and yes, that is what I will normally buy if I do not know enough about you to choose something more fitting (which isn't often), but for me a gift card is a hug in a box. The gift giver's way of saying I know you and I know that you would just prefer the "day away from the kids to go shopping for whatever you really want" kind of gift. A gift card in my world is always used to purchase something that I wouldn't normally buy and therefore would probably never get otherwise. It is a gift, after all and shouldn't be treated as extra money to buy groceries.

But I digress. The real topic at hand is the Art Form that is gift giving. I have been told that I have a knack for it. Why? Because I listen to the little things that people mention they want or they like or they need. Because I pay attention to who a person is deep down inside and make sure the gift reflects who the person is at heart. Want some examples? Here you go...I purchased a set of soup spoons for a friend that had a habit of stealing them from the restaurants she visited on occasion because she could never find a place (or the money) to purchase them for herself. She loved it. I also found a way to give a friend her hearts desire...a Dodge Ram Pick-Up Truck...by having a picture of it screen printed onto a t-shirt for her to wear. Consequently, I also knew that particular friend was in need of non-ratty t-shirts to wear. Then there is a friend's daughter that I have had conversations with about reading. I know the type of book she likes and was able to pass along one of my favorites from when I was that age. She loved it. And lastly, I filled a box with small, individually wrapped presents each with their own tag and saying to send to a friend far away. Each thing was very inexpensive but purchased for a reason that would be known to her immediately upon unwrapping. She was alone in a new place on a holiday and my gift not only consumed her time alone but gave her good memories and good thoughts of "her home". It became an experience for her and not just a gift.

My point? Pay attention people.

The Rules of Gift Giving (as set down by me...a self-titled Gift Giving Goddess!)
1) Pay attention to the person you are giving a gift to. Watch and listen for hints and clues that can lead you to the perfect gift.
2) Give something that the person needs, wants or may not purchase for themselves.
3) NEVER give a gift of something that you know the person is not interested in. Do Not shove your interests on someone else.
4) Always wrap the gift in a beautiful package to make the gift more of an experience. (Yeah, yeah, do what I say and not what I do)
5) If you attach a card, or your gift is a card itself, always write something thoughtful and meaningful inside.
6) If you are giving a gift card as a gift, always wrap it in tissue paper and place ina small box or else insert it into a thoughful card with a hand-written message.
7) Re-gifting is okay...but only those gifts from people who did not follow the rules as set forth by me and only if you re-wrap it and add a thoughtful card.
8) Money spent does not matter. An inexpensive gift can be just as wonderful as a very expensive one if it is thought out and given for the right reasons.
9) Aim for the sky. Get the "This is what I never knew I always wanted" response from everyone you give a gift to.
10) Give gifts to make others happy...not to make yourself feel more fulfilled. In the end it will be more rewarding for you anyway.

Post Script: This post was brought upon by the fact that my mother's birthday is next week (Don't worry, Mom, I haven't forgotten!) and I have been paying attention to the little things so that I can pick out the perfect gift for her...Guess what...I GOT IT!!!

New pets in our home...

I returned home on Saturday from an Arts in the Park kind of thing in a nearby town. My children had apparently been rather naughty all morning for Dear Hubby (ha, ha!) but they acquired themselves some friends. I, being the anti-creepy-crawly type of person that I am, made them keep their small caged insectizoids out on the patio. (yeah, I know...I am a horrible mother.) Well, their new "pets", and I use that word very loosely, consist of a spider (not the daddy-long-leg variety either, a REAL spider), two tiny grasshoppy babies, a large grashopper daddy-type and a lazy fly.

The spider seems to have been caught first...where is still a mystery to me, as per this conversation I had with my husband to inquire about such matters.
Me: How were the kids?
Dear Hubby: Horrific little monsters Annoying as heck Fine.
Me: Where did they get the spider?
Dear Hubby (crinkling his forehead): I'm not sure.
Me: It was OUTside...right?
Dear Hubby: Um, yeah, sure. They found it outside of your lovely home. (He sucks at lying but I choose to believe him anyway because the alternative of thinking there are spiders in my house is just not. an. option.)

The fly, on the other hand, came from the bathroom. I saw him in there that morning when I was getting ready to go and I swear he was as big as my head. That thing could gobble us all down if he were a man-eating fly! Usually, you can't just grab a fly with your hands so either Bubba had lightning fast hands or else this fat fly was really lazy. Probably the second.

Anyway, these new creatures all live in a small six inch long by four-inch wide by four-inch tall cage together. Sound fun? Probably not for them. And definitely not for the lazy fly who became the dinner feast of the spider (at least that's what I am guessing happened as there was a small black seed looking thing dangling in the cage from a spider's web and the fly itself was nowhere to be found. I also figure that the spider decided not to mess with the two baby grasshoppers because the daddy grasshopper could squash him with one leg tied behind his back. And at this point, I must apologize to all the dear creatures that my dear little ones are terrorizing...okay, I would apologize if they didn't creep me out quite so much.

The kids took their newfound friends to daycare with them today to introduce them around (yeah, I am sure the provider loved that!). I don't remember them telling me any names of their insects...except the spider. Teensy named it Bubba Reuben. When I inquired as to why she would name a spider after her brother she responded with...

"just in case Bubba dies and then we would have another one Bubba".

Good logic, little girl. Good logic. I was too scared to ask what else she named her "pets". I do not want to know if there is an insect out there named after me. I'll just stay in the dark on that one.

Personality Quizzes for Morons List...

Ever taken one of those personality tests that seem to be thought up by the most bored human being in the world just trying to kill time and actually expected them to tell you something about yourself.  I have.  Often actually.  I get a kick out of  how absolutely unlike me most of them are and revel in the small similarities to myself in some of them.  Here are some fun personality quizzes for your enjoyment.

• I eat an Oreo cookie by twisting it apart, eating the center and then eating the cookie.  According to the OREO COOKIE personality test, this method means:  You have a highly curious nature. You take pleasure in breaking things apart to find out how they work, though not always able to put them back together, so you destroy all the evidence of your activities. You deny your involvement when things go wrong. You are a compulsive liar and exhibit deviant, if not criminal, behavior.  Yes, folks.  I am apparently one step away from an orange jumpsuit lifestyle.
• By answering question about my favorite article of clothing and my favorite color, I found out that I am Count Chocula:  Hannibal Lecter turned into a Muppet, but with only one tooth...or so says the "Which breakfast Cereal Character are you?" quiz.  So not only am I fit to be put in jail, I should be wearing a face mask to make sure I am not eating the other inmates.  Hmm...very interesting.
• On the flip side though, I took the "What Fruit are you?" quiz and it told me that I was a Strawberry:  Caring and Romantic, loyal to my friends who can trust me and I am well loved.  I am really not sure how a strawberry says caring and loyal but okay that sound a little like me.  Maybe we are on the right track. 
• If I were a ghost I would be a Crises Apparition.  Why?  Because Crisis apparitions are smart spirits that tend to appear before a critical moment. As a messenger, they like to impart important information. Just like these apparitions, something tells us that when you've heard some news, you can't help but spread the word. Some may consider this gossip, but we like to think it's knowledge production.  Okay so, yeah, that may be me...a little. 
• And the most lame of them all...Because I found it to be absolutely absurd, I took this test.  Guess what...my dog Lasey is 33% gay.  She may be given to the odd bit of leg humping, but she is a bone lover with a sense of adventure. 

Yeah, after finding out that my dog is probably not gay and I belong in jail because I am the cartoon version of Hannibal Lecter I decided I had enough stupidness for one day.  Feel free to shrink your brain cells and take the same quizzes.  Maybe they will fit you better than they did me.  :)

What are you cooking???

We sat, the four of us, cuddled on the couch doing some channel surfing. The remote landed on Iron Chef America as it had several times before and getting disgusted with the fact that nothing was on, I threw the remote to the table and sat half-contentedly watching the cooking show with my family. Don't get me wrong. I love Iron Chef...but this was a rerun that I had seen at least twice!

So we sat there. Teensy cuddled up in the crook of dear hubby's legs, my head next to hubby's and Bubba curled up with his head resting on my leg. We sat and watched Battle Rabbit and made commentary about the pieces of the rabbit that were being used in the dishes. That is until Bubba stopped us all in our tracks.

The chef was busy preparing dishes with every part of the rabbit in front of him. Whe he got to the kidneys, he used a sharp knife to cut off the membrane end. Bubba exclaimed in all seriousness...

"Look, Mom, rabbit nuts!"

Yep. My seven year-old little man really thought that the Iron Chef was going to serve up the rabbits nether regions right next to the small rack-of-rabbit ribs on the plate. Yeah. That's cuz my little man seldom gets anything remotely gourmet to eat at home...well except for the Zatarain's Jambalaya that comes in a box. It's pretty gourmet sounding anyway. :)

Comic...counting money

Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson

Yeah, but I'd never admit that to a kid who already thinks they know everything, either!

My son knows everything! Abso-freakin-lutely everything! I am not quite sure when the alien teenager took over my sweet and innocent little boy but I am pretty sure that at the age of 7, he should still have question about some things!!!

Case in point...Bubba would like to buy a Wii. He is completely and utterly obsessed with video games and since this is the newest and most fabulous craze, he would like to own one. I have repeatedly explained to him that the Wii costs about SEVEN MILLION FRICKING DOLLARS way too much for us to just go out and buy right now. Bubba insists that he has enough money in his wallet to buy one for himself. We have had this fight over and over again and no amount of convincing on my part will curb his way of thinking that he has enough money and I am just a horrific parent that won't let him spend his own money on the thing his little heart desires the most stupid. Last night, I asked him if he had any green money in his wallet (because being the tender age of seven, he understands the concepts of coin but has no understanding of the numbers on the green stuff). His reply was, of course, no. Only coins. It has now dawned on me that he believes that if you ad 5 and 25 and 1 and 25 and 5 and 10...etc. you will eventually get up to 400 and that means that he has enough to buy the Wii. He won't listen to stupid old Mom about the fact that he need 400 DOLLARS and not 400 CENTS to purchase his game system. In his mind they are the same thing. I guess the next thing to do is to take him up to the counter with his 40o cents. Then when they refuse to sell him his item because he doesn't have enough money, he will understand that maybe Mom isn't stupid after all...

...all adults are. *sigh*

List Making Tuesday

Today is once again Tuesday (even though, as a friend pointed out this morning, it sure as hell could be a Monday!).  And since it is Tuesday, it is once again time for me to write a list.  I am not feeling all that creative yet today, so I have been racking my brain (and searching the net) for a topic on which I can write a list.  It is quite amazing what type of results you get when you do a Yahoo search for "lists of things". 

Anyway, on with my list...

Movies That I Have Seen...all with one thing in common...

• 101 Dalmatians (1996)
• Air Bud (1997)
• Babes in Toyland (1961)
• Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)
• Bridge to Terabithia (2007)
• Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (2004)
• Cool Runnings (1993)
• Eight Below (2006)
• Freaky Friday (2003)
• George of the Jungle (1997)
• Heavyweights (1995)
• Herbie:  Fully Loaded (2005)
• High School Musical (2006)
• Hocus Pocus (1993)
• Holes (2003)
• Homeward Bound:  The Incredible Journey (1993)
• Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989)
• Ice Princess (2005)
• Inspector Gadget (1999)
• Iron Will (1994)
• Mary Poppins (1964)
• National Treasure (2004)
• National Treasure:  The Book of Secrets (2007)
• Old Yeller (1957)
• Pete's Dragon (1977)
• Pirates of the Caribbean:  At World's End (2007)
• Pirates of the Caribbean:  Dead Man's Chest (2006)
• Pirates of the Caribbean:  The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
• Sky High (2005)
• Snow Dogs (2002)
• The Chronicles of Narnia:  The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
• The Country Bears (2002)
• The Haunted Mansion (2003)
• The Lizzie McGuire Movie (2003)
• The Mighty Ducks (1992)
• The Pacifier (2005)
• The Parent Trap (1961)
• The Parent Trap (1998)
• The Princess Diaries (2001)
• The Princess Diaries:  Royal Engagement (2004)
• The Rookie (2002)
• The Santa Claus (1994)
• The Santa Claus 2 (2002)
• The Santa Claus 3:  The Escape Clause (2006)
• Tuck Everlasting (2002)

Any idea what all of those movies have in common?  Drop me a comment and give me your guess.  I will clue you all in next Tuesday if no one has figured it out.  :)

Morning Conversation with Teensy...

Teensy in a sing-song voice: Peanuts come from peanuts. Peanuts come from peanuts.

Me: Peanuts come from where?

Teensy in a sing-song voice: Peanuts come from peanuts.

Me: Where do weirdos come from?

Teensy in a sing-song voice: Weirdos come from you.


I guess she knows her stuff, huh? :)

The automotive history of...ME!

What does one write about when they can't think of a topic? I guess we'll find out with this post. :)

On the way home from our trip last weekend, Lady K, Crazy Kat and I got into a discussion about what a car says about a person. The make, model, year and color of a car all signify something if the driver actually spent the time to coose the right car for themselves. I have owned only a few vehicles in my lifetime but I am not sure that they say much about who I am as a person.

My first car was given to me as a graduation present. It was an old blue Plymouth Horizon with wacky seat covers. I named her Daisy May. That car said nothing about me other than "my mom didn't have the money to buy me a real car thought I should work to purchase my own vehicle". I got me where I wanted to go.

My second car was the only vehicle that I have ever picked out all by myself. It was a Red Pontiac Sunbird two-door coupe and was fiery to say the least. Cheap at $2800.00, too. I drove it off of the lot (after having my mechanic boyfriend check under the hood to be sure it was okay) and about a week later I had to borrow money to put in new a head gasket. It took me back and forth to college on many a day, but had to be traded off for something with 4 doors when baby #1 came along. I sold it and haven't set eyes on it since.

The 4-door car that we traded up to was a 1996 Pontiac Bonneville. We got it for dirt cheap from dear hubby's parents because they were ready to trade up to a newer model. That car continued my love of the Pontiac line of vehicles. The Bonne did us proud even with the hail damage, salvaged title, and granny paint color. I traded up, so dear hubby now uses it for his daily driving vehicle.

Recently we traded up to a 1997 Pontiac Montana van with all the fixin's. Again we purchased it off of dear hubby's dad because he no longer needed something so large. It fits me perfectly. DVD player to keep the kids from speaking entertained, 6 disc CD changer for when I get bored while driving and want to sing along to many different songs, and two side doors so the kids don't fight over who gets to open the door. It's pure heaven.

I kinda, sorta, maybe also have a 1967 Chevy Truck, too. My dear hubby bought it for me when we were dating and was going to paint it to match his classic Chevelle...that never happened and he put a gear stick in it that I couldn't possibly begin to maneuver on my own, so driving it is out of the question.

So what do my vehicles say about me? That I have no love affair with cars at all. Cars, trucks, vans, etc. are a means to get me from one place to another. They are not a prized possession. If you can't use a vehicle as an every day driving rig, then it's useless. People who fix up cars just to store them in barns and other out buildings, never to see the light of day, drive me up the wall and have too much money in their pockets. How about you give some of that money to a charity (like this one) that could use it and stop squandering those precious dollars away?

And before you guys out there get your tightie-whities in a bunch...this is only my opinion. Deal with it...and continue to drive your hot looking cars. Just don't let them sit in the garage collecting dust.

Out.

These Pop Rocks Taste Funny...

Actual scene from the childhood of my kids. 

After a misunderstanding as to who was going to pick them up from daycare, Grandpa finally does the pleasure as Grandma and their daddy weren't going to make it home from work on time.  The two kids spend some time watching television and waiting for Grandma to arrive home while Grandpa does his work around the house thing.  Grandma's Blazer finally pulls into the drive.

~Following conversation ensues~

Teensy and Bubba (excitedly running to greet Grandma):  Grandma!  You're home! 

Grandma hugs grandchildren and says hello.

Kids:  Grandma, your Pop Rocks taste like real rocks.

Grandma:  What Pop Rocks?

Kids:  The ones in the house.  They were so gross, that we had to spit them in the trash can. 

Grandma (now thoroughly confused because she has no said Pop Rocks in her house):  Um, okay.

After a short while, Daddy shows up to pick up the kids.  After they leave Grandma notices a cookie sheet on the kitchen counter. 

The light bulb lights up and she smiles as she realizes why "the Pop Rocks tasted funny". 

She had cleaned out the fish tank the night before and washed the bright blue rocks that lay in the bottom.  They were now on the cookie sheet on the kitchen counter drying. 

Special List Making Tuesday!

I told you two things last week. One, I was going on a trip and two, I would have a special list for you this week. Well...I will tackle the special list for you on this List Making Tuesday.

What do you get when you cross five amazing women, one hotel room, and an otherwise boring mid-western city?

A Spicy Trip chock full of Little Things!!!

Here are some of the small highlights of our Girls Time-Out Trip to Wyoming (yeah, I know, who in the hell decides to take a trip to Wyoming on purpose! We did...and it was great!!!)

1. Wear something out of the ordinary and with confidence.

So, um, yeah. This is the footwear that Lady K and I wore during the ride of our four hour trip. When we got to our hotel, it had rained hard and there were puddles all over the parking lot...I promptly walked right on through them in my pink slippies! I think I left a trail on the hotels gaudy blue and green carpet (that I completely adored) all the way to our second floor room!!!

The five of us also decided that we should model and document some prom dresses at the local Mall. That plan wasn't really as thought out as we had wanted as it contained two huge snags...a) they didn't have dresses to fit women who are not a fucking size zero average, and b) the store wasn't keen on us taking pictures (we did bribeconvince the clerk to take just this one picture). The end result...us standing side by side with dresses (still on hangars) draped over our necks...not quite the effect we were going for. :)

2. Compliment a stranger with sincerity.

As a man passed by me in the Mall, I noticed his bright paisley tie and I immediately (and without thinking of the consequences) tapped him on the arm and exclaimed with much excitement, "I really love your tie!". He scowled and ran in the other direction, clearly thinking that I was beyond a lunatic. Doesn't anyone speak to strangers anymore? What the heck was that all about?

3. Stay up late and watch the sunset...then get up early to watch the very next sunrise.

Okay, so we really didn't do this. Considering that the sun sets at around 9 pm in that area, we didn't need to stay up late. We did see the sunset...from out the window of the moving Jeep as we headed to the bars 45 minutes from our hotel. It really wasn't all that pretty, but hey we saw it anyway, right?

As for the sunrise...um yeah, when you stay up until 3:30 am partying, the sunrise is the last thing you are wanting to see! It was bad enough having to get up before they stopped serving the Deluxe Continental Breakfast!!!

4. Tell the fish joke to every service person who waits on us.

Now if you haven't already heard the fish joke, you are missing out on the best part of a humor filled life. However, I can't tell it to you because it would just get lost in translation. It is something you must experience first hand from the master, Lady K. And we did this. We told this joke over and over and over again. We made me cry from laughing so hard...okay, so the tears may have been ones of utter pain, but we enjoyed ourselves!

5. Take a picture of yourself in a strange place.

I will not tell you which one of us this is because I wouldn't want to get killed for putting her ass on the world wide web. Let's just say that looking under the door of a women's dressing room is definitely a strange place to get one's picture taken and leave it at that. :) The shopping at the mall was a highlight of the trip...because we got Lady K and Crazy Kat into things that they never would have thought to buy for themselves!

6. Ask a teenager what is fun to do in their town and then do it.

Yeah, so Lady K and Xena did this and the response they got was..."well, um, yeah, nothing. The only thing to do around here doesn't begin for another 2 weeks!" Wanna know what's even sadder than that? The security guard at the mall said the exact same thing! We didn't know that we were headed to such a horribly boring place. However, it gave us more chances to make our own fun!!!

7. Get the autograph and picture of a complete stranger.

Josie needed to get herself a Blackberry (or Crack Berry, as she calls it) on our trip, so we visited the local Verizon store in the mall where we met the talented Lou. He was wonderfully nice and accommodating enough to let me take his picture and get his autograph (although he did stand us up later at the club he recommended).

8. Start a pillow fight.

What girl's sleep-over would be complete without a pillow fight? None. So, what did we do? We took the million and two pillows (no lie, there were so many pillows on the beds that we barely had enough room to sleep on them!) and proceeded to thwack each other over the head with them. We bounced on the beds with pillows in hand and giggled and, and... Now get your heads out of the gutter. This is not an X-rated blog!!!

9. Have a child pose us and take our picture.

We actually found four lovely and willing young ladies to do just such a thing. Armed with our digital cameras and their amazing eye for the perfect shot, we got some memorable pictures.

Ooh. Well maybe if you disregard the extremely surprised look on the face of Lady K, the half closed eyes of Crazy Kat and the random people in the background, this picture would've been perfect!

10. Find something amazing and treasure it always.

This was the best one on the list and it was easy to find. If you ask the other girls, they may have found something different. But me, I found the amazingness that is Friendship from four of the most amazing and beautiful women that this world has to offer. I wouldn't trade any of them for all the diamonds in the world.

Here we are. Out on a night on the town in Colorado (because Wyoming was just way too boring for real fun).

Amazing Women and the best girlfriends a person could ever hope to have.

Josie, Lady K, Me, Crazy Kat and Xena (front). Love ya, girls!

I'm going on a trip!!!

In about a half an hour, I am going to get in my car, run a few errands and head on my way to Cheyenne to see my friend, a woman stationed in Germany with the Air Force. It has been a year since I have laid eyes on this beautiful person and I am absolutely ecstatic about it. I can't wait to enjoy her company and the company of the other three girls that I will be there with. The five of us are going to have a blast!!!

And I will have a special List Making Tuesday entry for you next week. You are going to love it!!!

Enjoy the Fourth of July everyone!!! And enjoy those spicy little things!!!

List Making Tuesday, Once Again!!!

Time for some more introspection on my second ever List Making Tuesday. So without further adieu (that is totally not a word that I really know how to spell!)...here is the rest of the list!

49. I love to write but can only do so when thoroughly inspired. Most of my writing never sees the light of day, so to speak, as I type it to release the characters and storyline from my being and then delete it before anyone gets the chance to read it out of fear that someone won't understand the thoughts and perspectives that I have written down.

48. I am terrified to let people read my writing...but I want everyone I know to read (and love) everything that I have ever written because my writing tells so much about me as a person and I feel like they would know me better if they just read it. Most of my writing is romance stories.

47. I am a huge Disney fan. I love everything Disney...the movies, the collectibles, the guy himself (I think he was a mega-genius). When we went to DisneyWorld at the beginning of this year, I was more excited than my kids about the entire experience and I am the one that is dying to go back so that I can just experience more of the magic. I enjoy all of the fairy tale magic that Disney has to offer.

46. I have a problem committing fully to anything. I have collected a bounty of different objects over the years (stamps, teddy bears, butterflies) but nothing ever stuck longer than a little while. I start projects (cross-stitch masterpiece for my mom's bathroom, mural in my daughter's room, quilt for my husband for our anniversary) and I never get around to finishing them. I just have an issue with staying on until the end of something.

45. I hate it when I check my e-mail or my mailbox and there is nothing there for me. I feel unloved and unwanted and like I am not important to anyone. I would love it if my dear hubby were one of those guys that had to work on the computer at work and would send me e-mails during the day. I love to get little notices that I am being thought about...it's romantic and makes me feel like I am special and worthy.

44. My work ethic is lacking sorely. I do what needs to be done but I am the first to admit that I cut corners and shirk my duties as often as possible. If left to my own devices, I get nothing done because I am not a self-starting go-getter. I am a woman who needs to be told what to do, when to do it and how it should be done.

43. I hate to work outside. Gardening, mowing, weeding, watering..hell just sitting outside drives me nuts. I much prefer the indoors to the outdoors. I have, however, had my share of time in the great outdoors. I used to irrigate alfalfa fields, take care of a one acre garden, build and fix fences, and clean out barns and out buildings. That's probably why I hate it so much.

42. I adore Pontiac vehicles. I used to just like whatever my current boyfriend liked when it came to vehicles but when I went out to buy my very first car (the first one that I paid for by myself) was a Pontiac Sunbird and the beginning of my obsession. I had my whole life mapped out in what type of Pontiac I would own. That track was veered off from when we bought a Bonneville from my in-laws but I still own the Pontiacs!

41. My dream vehicle is a brand new Pontiac Solstice. That is the sexiest car on the planet and I can't wait until I get the chance to own one!!! I also have a fantasy involving the hood of just such a car.

40. I totalled the very first vehicle I drove after I got my driver's license! The vehicle was a VW Van (the kind with the sink behind the passenger seat). I was going through a very rutty road and panicked, hit the gas instead of the break and ended up at the end of the gravel road (that teed off into a paved road) in a deep pothole. The impact caused the frame of the van to bend rendering it useless any longer. Had my sister and I not been wearing our seatbelts, we would have literally ate pavement and probably not lived to tell the tale.

39. I have also taken the side mirror off a farm truck trying to back it through a gate, ran the front end of a classic Chevelle Malibu into a wooden fence, fell out of a moving pick-up while going around a corner and been pulled over for going too slow in the left hand lane while driving a "hoopty-mobile". I don't have the best of luck with vehicles. Marrying a mechanic has always been in the cards for me. :)

38. I have a scar on my knee from the road rash that I got when I fell out of the pick-up. The pick-up was a brown chevy, I think and the street was a busy one in Northglenn, Colorado. I could take you straight to it even today although I was pretty young when it happened. The scar is whitish and never tans. I am self conscious of it most of the time.

37. I also have a scar on my knee (not sure if it is the same knee or the other one, I would have to look) that "smiles". I fell off of the swingset in my backyard when I was little and caught my knee on one of the bolts that held the swingset together. The scar is in the shape of a smiley face and is white as can be. I am self conscious of it, too. I don't ever wear shorts.

36. The only other scar that I have is on the index finger of my right hand. It goes from my fingernail 3/4 of the way down to my knuckle and it causes my nail to grow weird. There is a smaller line on the underside of my finger as well. It happened when I was bit by a German Shepard dog at a friend's house when I was young. I was trying to pet it's nose through a fence. German Shepard's are still my favorite breed of dog.

35. I wrote a short story once for a school geneaology project that was in the point-of-view of my uncle's old dog. The assignment was to tell the story of an ancestor using someone else's point of view. I got an A+ on the paper. I was so proud that I sat in front of my entire extended family at a family reunion and read it aloud in a weird accent. I was nervous but really proud of myself. It's on video somewhere. It was probably the best piece of fiction that I have ever written.

I was going to finish off the list today but I have things that need to be done for my trip tomorrow. So this will have to do for now. Watch for some more next Tuesday!!! Enjoy your little things today!