I've Been Tagged

Rule #1: people who have been tagged must write their answers on their blogs and replace any question that they dislike with a new question formulated by themselves.

Rule #2: tag 4 people to do this quiz and they cannot refuse. these people must state who they were tagged by and cannot tag the person whom they were tagged by. continue this game by sending it to other people.

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Tamara tagged me to do this and I can't resist sharing mundane, intimate details of my fascinating life!

1. if you have pets, do you see them as merely animals, or are they members of your family? 

We don't have any pets right now--we have grandchildren and small grandchildren at that.  I love little dogs and I'm afraid one wouldn't survive around the grandbabies.  Darrell likes big dogs.  He'd love a Lab or Golden Retriever, while I'd prefer a Yorkie.   Inside dogs would be allowed on the furniture, etc, but I'm not so sure about big dogs.

2. if you can have a dream to come true, what would it be?  

For my children and grandchildren to live nearby.  For them to be able to visit often and grow up together.  To be a closer family.

3. what is the one thing most hated by you?

Not sure where you're going with this question.  I hate cherries, being cold, worrying about money, my house being a wreck, bad drivers, cigarettes, getting old.  Depends on the day and my mood as to what I'm hating the most.

4. what would you do with a billion dollars? 

Retire and travel.  Buy a bigger house with land so the grandkids could play and explore.  Help my kids with school loans and buying a house.  Build a homeless shelter in Darrell's dad's name.  And have lots of plastic surgery!

5. what helps to pull you out of a bad mood?

Chocolate.  Cookies.  Hot chocolate and buttered toast.  Buying something.  And finally talking with Darrell.  Once I open up to him, things are always better.  I should do it sooner, but I have to make sure I'm not upset enough to say anything I might regret.

6. which is more blessed, loving someone or being loved by someone? 
Being cherished--which is better than being loved.

7. what is your bedtime routine? 

Load and start dishwasher.  Pick up living room.  Use baby oil to remove mascara, wash face with Oil of Olay Regenerist Detoxifying Pore Scrub, then baking soda exfoliation.  Moisturize with L'Oreal or Roc or Lancome--whatever I have at the moment.  Brush teeth.  Use Vaseline on lips and lotion on hands.  Brush hair.  Sit in hot tub.  Cool off by watching TV--news or Golden Girls or MASH.  Get lucky. ;-)

8. if you are currently in a relationship, how did you meet your partner? 

It's a long story.  Can I just refer you to this post?

9. if you could watch a creative person in the act of the creative process, who would it be? 

I can't think of an individual, but I love to watch glass being blown.  It's amazing!

10. what kinds of books do you read? 

It would be easier to tell you what kinds I don't read.  I don't like science fiction or fantasy type books.  I'm one of the three people in the world who is not impressed by Harry Potter or Twilight.  I love mysteries best of all I think.  Though biographies run a close second.

11. how would you see yourself in ten years time?
Retired with the house paid off.   Surrounded by lots of grandchildren.  Traveling with my husband.  And looking fabulous because of a facelift and tummy tuck!

12. what’s your fear? 

Losing a member of my family.  Even having faith in eternal life, it's a terrible thing to go through.

13. would you give up all junk food for the rest of your life for the opportunity to visit outer space? 

I have absolutely no interest or desire to visit outer space, so this is an easy NO!

14. would you rather be single and rich or married, but poor? 

Another easy one.  The latter.  Poor isn't so bad when you're with someone you love.

15. what’s the first thing you do when you wake up? 

Turn on the TV.  We keep our bedroom pretty dark and I need the light.

16. if you could change one thing about your spouse/partner what would it be?
I'd make him about 3 inches taller.  If I couldn't do that, I'd make his profession one he'd love--like coaching college football or flying helicopters.

17. if you could pick a new name for yourself, what would it be?

I don't know that I would--I love my name!

18. would you forgive and forget no matter how horrible a thing that special someone has done? 

 Forgiveness is easy--it's the forgetting that's hard.  I have forgiven a very close male family member for things he did when I was a child.  Now if I could only forgive myself for a stupid thing I did at age 17, I'd be set.

19. if you could only eat one thing for the next 6 months, what would it be?

O'Charley's Pecan Chicken Tender Salad with honey mustard dressing.  Love, love, love this salad.  Greens, pecans, mandarin oranges, dried cranberries, chicken, etc.  Yummy!

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Okay, I tag:

Lauren  (you knew I would!)

Christie

Connie

Georgie

Don't let me down, gals!  You know you want to do this!

Meet Me On Monday

Welcome to the last MMOM of 2010!  Wow, this year has absolutely flown by!  Is that a sign of my getting older?  

Don't answer that!

1.  What are your New Year's Eve plans?

Staying home!  Yep, we're boring people.

 2.  How tall are you?

5'3"--I actually like my height.  Not too short, not too tall.  Two of my three daughters are taller than me and my 9 1/2 year old granddaughter already comes up to my shoulder!

 3.  What is your favorite pudding flavor?

If we're talking plain pudding, it has to be chocolate. 

But banana pudding is my favorite dessert!

 
4.  What room of the house do you blog the most in?

Usually in the kitchen on the desktop.  Because of this, I spend way more time in the kitchen than I ever have.

 5.  What is your best physical feature?

My husband would say my legs, but his eyes are going.  

 unfortunately, these are NOT my legs!

If I had to choose, I'd say my mouth.  Though with age, my lips are thinning.  Thank goodness for those plumping lip glosses!

 these also are NOT my lips!  drat!

Merry Christmas to all and to all here's the Hodgepodge

1. Share your Christmas Eve traditions.  My husband's extended family comes to our house for dinner and Dirty Santa.  We eat and eat and eat!  Then open gifts.  We never really established any of our own traditions as we lived in another state and always traveled back to Tennessee for Christmas.  Though I put up a tree and decorations, we were never in our own home for the holidays  Now that we're the grandparents, I want to start reading the Christmas story in Luke each Christmas Eve.

2. What was the best book you read in 2010? (we're not going to include The Bible here)  I can't even begin to tell you the number of books I've read this year!  I don't even remember most of them, so I couldn't begin to pick one.

3. Do you have pets and if so do you allow them on the furniture?  Don't have pets right now.  The grandchildren would drive one crazy!  But if I had a pet, it would be a Yorkie and I'm sure I'd let her on the furniture. 

4. What event from 2010 are you most thankful for?  My anniversary trip to Italy.  I really never dreamed I'd get to go back there!

5. What did you do in 2010 that you'd never done before.  Applied for and got accepted to college!  I start in January!  Ack!

6. Brussel sprouts...friend or foe?  Never tasted one.  If I don't like the way something looks or smells, it ain't going in my mouth!

7. Who would you nominate for man/woman of the year? This one takes some thought.  It definitely would not be a celebrity.  I pity people who look to Hollywood for their role models.  I guess I could be predictable and say my husband or my mother.  Several friends come to mind for one reason or another, as does President Monson, the leader of our church.  My daughter Lauren is someone I think is awesome.  She's a wife, a mom to 3 kids under age 5, is very active in her church.  She scrapbooks, crochets, sews, cooks, blogs, does stained glass, knows sign language, and is one of the smartest people I know.  She'd probably be my pick.

8. Insert your own random thought here.  Through all the hustle and bustle of this time of year, stop and savor the magic that is all around.  Listen, ponder, and drink in the spirit.  May each of you have a wonderful Christmas and a joyous new year!

A Little Funny

Pun intended

You know you've been spending too much money lately when you wake up during the night, look at the clock, and think "oh, it's only a buck fifty four".  


And you know you've been on the computer too much when your next thought is that you have to blog about it.


Well, it was funny at a buck fifty four in the morning!

Meet Me On Monday

Welcome to the 27th edition of "Meet Me On Monday!" 1.  What will your Christmas dinner consist of?Turkey, ham, home canned green beans and corn, homemade rolls, desserts aplenty, and lots more!

 
2.  Do you watch commercials or flip through the channels?I like to watch them--how else will I know about upcoming shows I need to watch, or sales I need to attend, etc?  But if hubby is in the room, we flip.  And flip.  And flip.

 
3.  How long will you leave your Christmas decorations up?I have been known to start the take down process on Christmas Day.  This year, the grandkids will be here till January 2, so I won't do it till they're gone. 

 
4.  What movie makes you cry every time you watch it?Ghost, All Mine to Give, Gone With the Wind, Cheaper by the Dozen (the original), a lot of others but these are the only ones I can think of right now 

5.  Do you have a Facebook?  Absolutely!  And I spend entirely too much time on it.  Sometimes I sit and wonder what all I did before Facebook.  Oh, yeah, cleaning, cooking, laundry--unimportant things like that. 

  

Saturday Shout Outs

Holiday Eating Tips

When Packing Tape Can't Keep It Unbroken 

Good Enough Decorating 

Just Breathe 

Meet Me On Monday

Welcome to the 26th edition of "Meet Me On Monday!" Barely squeaking this one in under the wire!!

1.  How do you order your steak?I'm not a big fan of steak, but if I have to eat it, I want it very well done.  First one on and last one off.  Which can lead to a tough piece of meat. Maybe that's why I don't like steak.  But I don't like pink meat even more! 

 
2.  Are you superstitious about anything?Don't think so, though I don't often talk about good stuff or tell people when I'm happy.  Don't want to tempt fate. 

 
3.  Who is your best friend (not including your spouse)?my daughter Lauren 

 
4.  When is the last time your wore a dress (for the guys...a suit)?church Sunday before last 

 
5.  Do you have any trips scheduled?We're planning a 10 day trip out west next spring--Wyoming, North and South Dakota, Idaho, Utah.  Yosemite, the Bad Lands, Independence Rock.  Oh, yeah, and our son and daughter in law, too! 

 

 

Sabbath Soothing

Saturday Shout Outs

Defining You

Party Invites

From Trash to Treasure

What Will We Do With Our Words? 

Do You Want to Be Right or Reconciled? 

Thankful Thursday

I haven't done this for a good long while, so really wanted to today.  Some of you may gag on the sappiness of today's post.  I won't even apologize for that.  Because right now my heart is full and I have to let some of that out or I'll just burst into a million pieces.

I am very thankful for my dear husband.  We've spent the majority of the past two days together and it has been so much fun.  Haven't really done anything special, but it's still been great.  We've laughed, cried, talked, shopped, decorated, cooked, watched TV, taken trash to the dump, helped a friend, and loved.  In every sense of the word.  I pity those who think they don't want to get married because they don't believe they could "sleep with" the same person for the rest of their lives.  They miss out on so much!  **warning to my children--don't read the next paragraph**

Darrell and I have been married for almost 35 years.  Making love is better now than ever.  And it just keeps getting better.  When you know someone so well and have a history with that person, it makes sex that much more special.  I'm thankful for the trust we have for each other.  I'm thankful we've stuck together through everything.   It was worth it! 

To my young friends can I just say--it may be hard to keep the romance going when time is sparse, kids are growing, money is tight, and tiredness is the name of the game.  Take every opportunity to hold hands, sit beside each other, steal a kiss, run fingers through hair, wink across a room, or express appreciation.  It only takes a minute and can make all the difference is a stressful day.   Talk to each other.  Talk about your frustrations, your hopes and dreams, funny things that happen.  One day the kids will be gone and you'll be sitting across the table from who?  A lover and companion?  Or a stranger?   Like most things, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. 

I am so very grateful for a loyal, loving, dedicated husband.  And I am thankful he continues to put up with me after all these years!

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. Have you ever been on a real sleigh ride? How about the warm weather version - a carriage ride?
Never on a sleigh ride, but we did a carriage ride through Savannah on our 30th wedding anniversary.  

2. What's your policy on 'chain mail'...you know, the emails you receive that are often some sort of poem/blessing/good wish that ask you to send it on to 10 or 12 friends? Do you delete without opening, read and trash, read and trash and then worry you won't be blessed/lucky/protected? Do you delete the sender from your contacts or just go ahead and send the love onward?
Delete without opening.  Don't believe blessings or luck come that way.

3. Who is your favorite character in any of the Christmas movies and why?  

I love Cindy Lou Who.  She's just so cute and innocent.

4. Share a favorite quote. 

"It's never too late to become what you might have been." 

--George Eliot

5. What's your favorite holiday scent?   

Cedar, fir, pine--tree scents.  Walmart even sells these things you can hang on your tree to replicate that "real tree" smell.

6. Does the Christmas season stress you out? In what way?
Oh, yeah!  All the shopping, decorating, etc.  Despite having a dozen or more boxes of decorations, my house never seems to achieve the "Christmasy" feel and look I'm going for.  I say every year I'm going to start earlier--ask me how that works out for me.  Ummm, not so much.

7. What's the best thing about your life right now? 

My marriage.  It's better and stronger now than ever.

the happy couple leaving after the wedding and reception--April 1976

8. Insert your own random thought here.  

Sleep is a wonderful thing.  You never know how much you miss it till it's elusive.  Saturday night I had a hard time staying asleep.  Muddled through Sunday without a nap so I would be sure to sleep that night.  Good plan, unfortunately it didn't work out.  I woke up at 1:30am and didn't get back to sleep till after 4:30.  Even my tried and true tricks didn't help me.  Yesterday was a crazy day--cleaning, decorating, etc.  Last night I took half an over the counter sleeping pill and had a great night's sleep.  Unfortunately, the effects haven't quite worn off yet and I am fuzzy brained--more so than usual.  Do you have problems falling or staying asleep?  If so, what do you do about it?

Getting A Little Christmas On

Almost finished decorating.  Whew!  And I am worn out.  But I wanted to take a minute and share with you a few pictures from around the house.  Nothing spectacular, just some favorites.  Hope you'll enjoy and share some of yours, too.

As I had never had a real Christmas tree growing up,  I was really excited to get one the first year Darrell and I were married.  May have gone a little overboard, because we got one that almost reached the ceiling!  

Then we realized we had no ornaments or money to buy enough to cover the tree.  Our solution was to put the tree in a corner and only decorate where we had to.  This little star is one of the ornaments we purchased in Italy.  It has hung on every Christmas tree we've had.

This isn't really an ornament, but belonged to our daughter Shana.  I think it may have been an air freshener for her car--it hung from her rearview mirror.  Now it hangs in a place of honor on our tree.

Darrell is a big Tennessee fan--this is one of several UT ornaments we have.

One of many wooden German ornaments we bought while in Italy.

Daughter Holly and I made these at a church event when she was 12 or so.  That makes this angel about 19!  I love that most of our ornaments have a history.

These two jolly fellows guard the stairway and keep watch over the living room.  Got these at Hancock Fabrics several years ago.  Only paid about $20 for the pair.

And this little door hanger pretty much sums up my attitude for Christmas!  ;-)