Lots going on right now. Need to make a list. Beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed and need to compartmentalize.

Garden: We'll be going to a few nurseries in the area to find plants, hopefully some of them (or all of them?) organic. I got out the Texas gardening books today and need to dig up the websites so we can figure out what we're going to do. I know B is mainly focusing on the vegetable garden, but I really want to fix the front flower bed as well.
Guests: My parents might be here starting this Saturday for a week. They won't know until about mid-week when my mother's coworker is supposed to return to work after surgery.
.
Minnow Minnow Pea: I need to work on cutting out material to have saved up for sewing sessions. I also need to work on a design for a website, finding a graphic for the logo, deciding on a font for the logo, and laying out the pages I want to have. I'm trying to decide if I want to forward the blog there and lock this one down to friends only. If I do that, I'm trying to decide if I should bother putting the recipes over there as well. I will definitely have the crafts blog over there and then just dump ChaCha. I really need to get the tags/labels ordered, too.
Crafts: On a related note, I need to complete the boat blanket for Maddy (one cable panel left, and then whip stitching it together and knitting the border). I also have plenty of bibs to finish. They're just needing snaps. Gifts need to be given!
House: Lots of cleaning I want to get done. Our bedroom still has piles of artwork from when we moved... two years ago. I also want to make a final decision on the color in the bedroom and the dining room. We'll probably paint the dining room next since it's so easy, and I'm pretty sure we're sticking with the brown chip we picked out last year. I thought we had finally decided on red for the bedroom, but now I'm torn. I love the blue in the guest room so much I think I might want that in the room back there. I'm so frustrated now.
Job Hunt: I am still rather beat down about this whole job hunt. I have my fingers crossed on one position, but it isn't even open yet. I also received an email from a recruiter in Georgia for a remote position and I keep forgetting to call him back. I get a few minutes when Sophie is sleeping and my brain just shuts down and I forget about all the other things I need to do until she gets up again. I hate that.
Craigslist: I was able to get a few things sold from the last big listing I did, but not much. I took more pictures of items today and will be posting those soon. This stuff needs to be gone!
Weight Loss: I have been overweight my entire life. I am tired of being overweight. Unfortunately, I like food. My portion control isn't bad, nor are the foods I eat, normally. However, my metabolism is in the toilet and I really need to work on giving it a good jump start. I need to focus on drinking more water, getting better sleep at night, and cutting out the things I eat/drink on a regular basis that are detrimental to my overall health. I also need to figure out an exercise plan that I can manage with Sophie around.
LJ: This is low priority, but still something I want to work on. I changed the layout and it's okay, but I think I'd like to find a different one. I really like the three column layout, so I don't want to give that up. That limits the layouts that work for me, of course. I also really want to work on my user icons and setting up various mood themes. Of course, I'm fairly behind on comments right now, so I'd like to get those cleared up as well.
Future posts: I have a few ideas running around in my head regarding future posts. Some of these are posts I have said I'd be writing for over a year now, some of these are newer. I am horrible about writing these down or actually getting around to writing them. Meh. Some of these ideas include posts on children's books, working from home, various movie and music reviews, various tips and tricks in the kitchen (such as how I store my bacon, exciting I know), as well as the picture and video posts I keep promising.


I think that's about it for now...

Nothing of any importance to see here. Considering redoing the profile page so saving the current one since there's a ton of info there.

( ...move along... )

I'm not sure how good the review will be because I'm sure I've forgotten most of what happened. I spent close to two full months of 2007 with Sophie in Michigan (part in January and then again in June/July) and didn't really blog much during that time.

• paid off the SL2


• Sophie hit 1 year


• Texas had record rainfalls this year


• had radiant barrier and insulation sprayed in the attic


• bought a water softener


• bought the laptop


• started doing Dream Dinners


• interviewed for a job I didn't get but came to terms with the idea of actually going back to work


• tried my hand at blogging for money but decided it simply wasn't worth it


• met lots of new LJ friends


• started blogging for ChaCha

All in all, it may not seem like much, but 2007 was a good year. I have a feeling Sophie had a lot to do with that. She's been so cute lately, too. She sings about butterfly t-shirts and lemon cookies (lemon toodoo) all the time. 2008 will be all about finding a job, debt reduction, hopeful weight loss, finding a good school for Sophie, and trying to keep my sanity.

As far as resolutions go... I'm going to be lame and stick with resolutions that are familiar (both to me and everyone else in the world). I plan to work on being more organized (already got a good start on it), more healthy (hoping to include weight loss in that), swear less, be more financially stable, try to be more green, knit more, learn to sew, work on other crafts more, be a better housekeeper, and spend more time alone with B.

On that note, I think I must go to bed.

I haven't been at the computer much lately. I've been pretty busy getting ready for the holidays and having my parents come to town. There is a list a mile long of things that still need to be done, but I just had to catch up a bit. I know I'm awful about commenting lately, but I am reading, I promise.

The Christmas tree is lit, the cranberries and popcorn are strung and on the tree, and all the ornaments are up as well. We just don't have a tree topper.

Stockings are hung and all the decorations I own pretty much are put out. I need something with a little height for the mantle, unless I decide to go ahead and get a wreath. I've been waffling between a wreath and a swag, though. I think I'm going to make a candy cane wreath for the front door. I just need to get a wreath form. I have all the mini candy canes.

I need to make ornaments for the three girls (Sophie and my two nieces) and I think this year will be cinnamon applesauce ornaments. They're easy enough. Next year I'll probably do a few felt ornaments. We'll see. Perhaps if I'm actually able to pick up my needles again, I'll knit little ornaments for them.

I also need to make the blankets for the girls. Once the ornaments and blankets are done, the gifts for my nieces are all done. I still have a little shopping left to do for Sophie. I'll probably do some of that while my parents are here.

The dining room needs to be cleared out (again) since it's covered in boxes from Christmas decorations. At least I have the Halloween/Thanksgiving decorations put away.

The guest room is complete except for the curtains. I bought some at Bed Bath & Beyond yesterday, but they're not what I want. They're not long enough, but they're also not as plain as I want. I just want a simple white flowing gauze type material. B wants sheers, but that is SO not what I want for that room. I got a gate for the door to the guest room so we can keep it open without having to worry about little critters running around.

The office needs to be organized. My desk has a mess of crap piled on it. I'm not sure how it all got there, but now I have to deal with it. That room and Sophie's room are on the hot list. I need to get those taken care of before the end of the week.

I also need to make a trip to Central Market. There are a few things I want to purchase for Sunday's dinner and I have a coupon for three free knives (nice knives, too!). Of course, this means I need to go through my menu, which I now have to locate and finalize. Yeah, not so organized this year and it's driving me nuts!

To top it all off, both B and Sophie are sick right now, and I'm having to fight off what they have. It's been lots of fun this week, that's for sure.

And because I have so much time to kill, I give you my little Christmas tree (ganked from a_groovy_gypsy):


Get Your Own! | More Flash Toys

Our innerwebs was down this weekend due to the big Switch-A-Room (TM). We have made much progress, but we are still far from being finished. The new office is close to being done, although we still have lots to unpack and set up. It looks so cool now that it's in the bigger room. The new guest room has been painted in Lost Atlantis (not one of the original choices I posted) and I absolutely love it. I have to find my camera to take a picture, but we're not done yet, so I might just wait. We will be applying a Candlelight top coat (Ralph Lauren) tonight and hopefully moving furniture in tomorrow night. We might paint trim tomorrow night, though. I seriously can't wait to have this room done. Not only do I think it will look incredibly awesome, but I'm sick and tired of having furniture and boxes scattered through my dining room and hallway.

Saturday night, before all of the painting, I spent over four hours steam-cleaning the carpet in the new guest room. The area under the desks in that room was positively disgusting and there were plenty of Chui spots on the floor. The floor looks so much better now, but I am so sore. That was seriously hard work!

I still have to buy curtains for the guest room, and we probably will have to add a few accents. I only have a poster for the wall and two beaded bowls.

It's been tons of fun watching Sophie will all this extra stuff all over the place. She's walking up and down the hallway right now with two different purses on her shoulders, stopping to peek into the "blue" room (this is what she calls the new guest room) every time she reaches the end of the hallway. Thankfully, she's at an age where two boxes held up with blue painter's tape will still keep her out.

Pictures of the new rooms will be posted upon completion.

Apparently Google hates me so much now I don't even have a page rank. Talk about confidence boosters... that's more like a confidence buster. What the heck?

The interview today was... okay. Things seemed to be going along fine and then at the abrupt end of the conversation (this was with the president of the company), I was thanked for coming in, bid a good day, and walked out. No mention of "we'll call you" or "we'll be making a decision" or anything like that. The interview ended just shy of the hour so I'm curious to know if he had another meeting to attend. I was five minutes late but the recruiter was to have called to let them know (Sophie slept a lot later than I imagined she would). The president also had an old copy of my resume (the recruiter was supposed to have sent them the new copy). I'm not sure if either of these things damaged my chance or not... we'll see.

I checked out a daycare center right after the interview and must admit I'm extremely impressed. Of course, it's only the first center, but it's got top spot right now on our list. Primrose Schools seem to have a pretty good reputation and a very nice curriculum. Right now they have a waiting list for the toddler room, but there are two openings. She's going through the list, so it's possible Sophie might stand a chance. Of course, I still have lots of searching to do.

I bought the turducken today - stuffed with wild rice with pecans - at Central Market. I picked up an organic turkey as well, which will be used for Thanksgiving. Since I hadn't eaten lunch and it was around dinner time while I was there, I wound up putting a few extras in my cart, but nothing I don't think I wouldn't have bought eventually. I even made the first purchase of disposable diapers in a long time, but they're Seventh Generation and don't have all the sickening smells the other disposables have (just one of the many reasons I can't stand disposables). I just hope they fit, since I'm guessing at her size.

Sophie didn't want to go to bed tonight, and when I finally put her down about an hour or so after her bedtime, I wound up falling asleep with her. I woke up about two hours later when B came to bed, but fell asleep before I could get out of bed to change into my pajamas. After sleeping another two hours, I finally got up and donned the snowflake jammies Sophie loves and decided to check email. That's when I learned about my page rank. How depressing.

I feel like I've done nothing but run around today. We started our day by dropping Sophie off at B's mom's so we could head to Dream Dinners. Come to find out, the two Dinner Stations close to us closed, and one lady at the session today said she decided Super Suppers was no good for her and that DD worked better. B and I worked together on one meal but split up for the rest. While we were waiting on the last station we needed, B offered to help a mother who brought her little boy with her (she was wearing him) and wound up making one dish for her. We placed our order for next month and it includes prime rib! I'm pretty excited about that.

After that, we stopped by B's house to pick up the Kritter, ran back home to throw the food in the freezer, and then headed out to HEB for B's drum class and me to do a bit of shopping. Sophie and I met up with some friends and we shopped around Hancock Fabrics. I finally picked up cushion and material for the footstool (25 cents spent on this thing at a garage sale when I still lived in Minnesota... over 10 years ago!), as well as fleece for the girls' blankets for Christmas.

We went and picked B up after his class was over, ran through the drive through at Whataburger (mmmm, what a burger!). When we got home, we at our meal (so healthy) and then got started on the big switcheroo. Sophie actually played with her toys in the hallway for a while (so cute, filling her pumpkin basket up with her stacking cups and Noah's Ark Little People) while I cleared out the closet in the guest room.

I eventually had to stop to feed Sophie again and put her to bed, and then B and I ate dinner, but we've been going solid pretty much ever since then (until now, when we stopped for a snack). We're in the middle of cleaning out the closet in the office right now, and there is a lot of crap in there. We've found things in there I thought were lost forever though (old pictures, my camera case, etc).

I love when we're productive like this. We've really gotten a lot accomplished, although so much more needs to be done. I don't think we'll be painting this weekend, but hopefully sometime this week or perhaps next weekend. I think we might be moving the desks tomorrow, but I don't know what we're going to do with the bedroom furniture. As it is, B's parents will be here for dinner tomorrow and we'll have to eat in the kitchen (meaning, I'll have to add the leaf to the table and clear off all my magazines that get piled up).

And now... back to work.

I have about a thousand things I've started to say here, but I wind up erasing everything I've typed so far. Most of what I had typed was either not post worthy or was just stupid hormonal rants, and I just don't want to read that later.

I have a headache and heartburn. Sophie has been pretty good for the most part today, but when she's not good she's just absolutely awful. Chui has been about the same.

Cass came and picked up the soup and bread. It dawned on me that I included butter for the bread but no salad dressing for the salad. I also should have made cookies or muffins or something. I really could have done a better job with that.

There are more Mom Pack posts to come. I have one about children's safety products to post (I absolutely love these, seriously), as well as a Mary Kay post and a scrapping post. There's one on child modeling as well as one on family games. I believe there are a few more than that, but I'm not entirely certain. I'll have to go back and double check. I can't wait to share the rest of these products with you, seriously!

Okay, laundry is calling....

This weekend seemed so packed, but it really wasn't. Friday, I busted into superfreak cleaning mode and basically didn't stop until Saturday afternoon when the house was looking much better. There are still things that need to be done, especially so we can get to work on the office/guest room switcharoo. I also want to clean out the pantry and linen closet very soon. I think weather in Texas is very good for my cleaning bug. It is almost like we get spring twice, and it encourages me to do my spring cleaning twice.

We had friends over for dinner Saturday night (Cynthia and James), in which I cheated and made the stuffed Italian shells from Dream Dinners, as well as one of the apple crisps from DD. In all honesty, everything turned out pretty well. We had cheese and crackers (Lamb Chopper and Double Gloucester), some seriously humongous red table grapes, and milk chocolate and coffee truffles (Van Lys) sitting out for munching before dinner. Cynthia brought some Cugino's garlic spread and bread from Central Market that was absolutely out of this world. Everyone loved the spread (and I realized it's still in our fridge, woohoo!). I made some mushrooms and asparagus to go along with dinner and meant to have a salad, but it's just as well that I forgot about it. There was too much food! As it was, we waited for probably about an hour before breaking out dessert (the apple crisp, which was still warm, with some vanilla bean ice cream). I also had banana muffins sitting out that night that I know were eaten at some point, but I have no idea when that was.

I think everyone had a good time that night. I know I did. Sophie was giving out hugs and kisses left and right. She was being quite the character. Crazy kid. I think she was just showing off for new people. ;)

On Sunday, B mowed the yard and I cleaned up the kitchen. Other than that, we didn't do too much of anything except hit the local drugstore for some pumpkin carving tools and walk to get the mail. I like when Sundays are nice and relaxed like that, especially when the house is clean.

Of course, now I need to do laundry, go to the grocery store, and catch up on my blogging, review writing, email, and LJ f-list, along with all the other cleaning and organizing I want to get done. Right now, however, there is a child waking up in my bed who is talking very quietly to herself and most likely will require my attention quite soon. She's saying "Hi, hi, hi, hi," so I think that time is now.

Today has been one of those days. It started off great at home, but somehow went terribly awry when I took Sophie on a little shopping expedition.

We headed to Party City first to see if they might have antennae on a headband that she could wear. Unfortunately, everyone and their brother went to Party City today for something. It was a total zoo! I guess there was no school today because there were kids everywhere. They didn't have what we were looking for (well, they did, but only with wings, and I wasn't buying another set of wings) so we left there and went back to the car for the magazines to take to Half Price Books.

While I was getting the magazines from the trunk, the car started chirping (not the alarm, just the "hey, I'm about to set off the alarm" chirp). Sophie started crying about the time the alarm kicked in. I was carrying the box and trying to fish for my keys at the same time. Between being distracted by Sophie and the car and my little juggle act, I wound up taking a serious digger on the sidewalk. I'm a little sore still, but no major injuries (thankfully). I got up and brushed myself off and took Sophie and the magazines into HPB. Sophie and I checked out the children's books while they went through the magazines. She fell apart about the time they called my name. I carried her screaming through the store to find out they could only give me a dollar for the box of magazines. I stood in line at the checkout waiting for my measly little dollar and Sophie is screaming the entire time. I finally decided to pass off the ticket to the lady in front of me and head to the next store with the Kritter. As soon as we got outside, she stopped crying.

We stopped at the PetSmart just so Sophie could see the fish and birds (and cats, frogs, crabs, and lizards, too). She had a great time in that store but I had to constantly redirect her or she would erupt into screams. Thankfully, redirecting kept us moving, and we left that store fairly quickly.

We shopped at World Market and then Pier 1. There was a little fussing at World Market, but she was pretty content most of the time there. Pier 1 was a completely different story, however. She screamed off and on through that store, and we weren't even there very long. I think her biggest meltdown was at Office Depot, though. She simply sat down and wouldn't do anything but cry. I could tell she was tired and hungry. It was our last stop and I absolutely needed to get tape (can't find all the ten thousand rolls of packing tape I have here at all) so I can mail clothes to my sisters for the babies.

We finally made it back home and she helped me around the house a bit. I gave her a snack and she was very pleasant the entire time. Actually, now that I think about it, I don't think we had a meltdown at home at all tonight. She played outside for a bit (which always makes her happy) with Daddy. She also passed out plenty of hugs and kisses (I always love when she does this). She pulled a few letters off of the refrigerator and showed them to Daddy, telling him (correctly, no less) what they were. We were even able to eat dinner with her being fairly well behaved.

I put Sophie to bed and started cleaning. B chose this time to take a few digs at me that didn't exactly put me in the most pleasant of moods. He did help me clean a bit, though. He's gone to bed now, and I really should be cleaning still. I just wanted to get this all down before I continued.

Seriously, what a day.

Apparently companies are hiring monkeys to deliver various items from door to door now. Actually, now that I think about it, it's likely they're not even hiring monkeys since monkeys are more intelligent than this. I'm not sure what they're hiring to do the job.

Today, we received a Verizon phone book. I'm not sure why since we don't have Verizon. This is the third phone book from as many companies within the past few months. We don't use phone books. I don't understand why now, when we don't use physical phone books, we're all of a sudden getting what seems like thousands of them, and years ago, before computers and internet access were standard in every home, we had to fight to get just one phone book sent to the house.

I'm not so upset by the receipt of the phone book (although it's an unnecessary waste of resources). I'm upset with the delivery of the phone book. Whoever (or whatever) delivered the phone book threw it at the front porch (most likely standard practice). However, in doing so, the phone book hit the front door and literally shook the house. I checked the door on the way in from getting the mail this afternoon and noticed there is now a large chip of paint missing. Nice. If they're sending out phone books to entice people to switch to their service, perhaps they might want to hire competent people to make that first impression.

Urgh. Sorry for the rant.

I lost a friend today.

I have known Friend for a long time, but have only been talking to Friend for a short time. I felt a connection with Friend that surprised me, and I went with it because it was nice to feel connected to someone outside of my family, to have a friend with whom I could share ideas and seek advice, someone who was separated from my situation.

Come to find out, Friend has had a crush on me since high school. Friend tried to pick up the phone to call me years ago, but never did. Friend asked others about me years ago, but never really talked to me. I didn't dislike Friend in high school, I just didn't know Friend very well in high school. We had a few classes together, but that was it.

Here's the thing, though. No one had a crush on me in high school. No one ever thought to come up to me and ask me out. Sure, I had friends, but not any who would ever consider asking me out. I had such a complex about this while I was still in school. I had a very poor self image that was partly due to this. I was caught a little off guard when Friend announced this crush recently.

Of course, the crush wasn't announced right away. Friend and I exchanged several messages elsewhere. I think Friend was surprised I remembered the hair and body type of Friend. I even remembered a haircut that Friend had at one point (it was a big change). During our exchanges, I learned a little bit about where Friend is now in life. That's about the time Friend hit me with the high school crush story. I didn't think anything of it, although my self esteem did get a little boost from that statement.

After that, many of our exchanges were of a personal nature, sometimes making me very uncomfortable. I didn't mind sharing some of this information with Friend, but I couldn't share the more intimate details of my life. Not only did I not know Friend well enough, I didn't want to do anything to jeopardize my relationship with B. I love my husband very much and don't care to imagine life without him, or even a strained relationship with him, just because of some email exchanges with Friend. Perhaps I'm stuck in the Dark Ages with how I feel about a lot of these things, but that's the way I am. That's just how I roll. However, Friend was disappointed I was unwilling to share the more intimate details of my life. Friend was realistic, though, and knew nothing could come of pursuing a relationship beyond friendship with me.

Unfortunately, Friend was also realistic in how to handle the situation. Friend cut all ties to me. Friend sent an email stating there would be no more contact, and friend removed me as a friend in the location where we first reconnected.

On one hand, I'm relieved I no longer have to fend off Friend's advances, but on the other I am sad to lose a friend. I thought for sure Friend and I could have a good relationship, a lasting friendship that allowed us to share many things. I just wasn't able to share the things Friend wanted to share.

Sometimes, no matter what age, life and the choices we have to make just plain stink.

After putting Sophie to bed last night, I emptied and loaded the dishwasher (frustrated I hadn't had time to do it earlier) and cleaned up Hurricane Sophie (again, frustrated I hadn't had time to do it earlier). I then grabbed my water and sat down on the sofa to chill, check email, and try to catch up on my friends list.

Heh. Yeah.

I wound up falling asleep. B said he could hear me snoring in the office (pretty amazing because of all the computer fans in there and it's not right around the corner from the living room). I only slept for about ten minutes, maybe, but it made a huge difference in my attitude.

I futzed around for a little bit longer after that until Sophie woke up. I thought I would just get her to go back to sleep and come back out, but when I got into the bedroom, I realized that was a silly idea. I knew I was tired and it would be better for me to just go to bed. I feel bad that I didn't even say goodnight to B, but I was too tired at the time to bother.

Of course, Hurricane Sophie is hitting again today. At least the dishes are done. ;)

• We received the new Signing Time DVDs and I have to admit I'm not as impressed with these as with the others. I love the program still, but Rachel has a smile plastered to her face the whole time. I like the older episodes where she seems more "real" better.


• Sophie is already signing words from the new videos. She's out of control.


• .


• I love when I ask Sophie a question and she says "no" and means it. It always comes out as a question. "No?" This is a little different than when she's running around the house and just randomly saying "no."


• We finally cracked into the Blockbuster gift card Anna gave us for Christmas last year. We rented The Fountain, Idiocracy, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Half-assed reviews to follow.


• Every meal we've had from Dream Dinners this week has been excellent except for the first meal of the week. The Madras Chicken was really my fault it didn't turn out (doubled part of the recipe by accident at the store). The Coconut Shrimp, Parmesan Crusted Tilapia, and Tuscan Turkey Medallions were all wonderful, however. Sophie loved all three as well. She even signed shrimp when she was eating it. Crazy kid.


• B and I had a celebratory dinner last weekend for something that hasn't been disclosed as of yet. No, I'm not pregnant. ;)


• Tomorrow morning I will be making blueberry muffins for breakfast. I have never made blueberry muffins since I'm not terribly fond of them. However, I know they're good for us, so I am going to try to start incorporating them into our meals a little more often. I know Sophie will love them.


• Sophie likes to sit on her potty chair. She doesn't like to do anything else other than sit, though. It's all good, though. She asks to sit on it when she needs her diaper changed, so at least she's making a connection, I suppose. I am not trying to train her right now, but I am not going to stop her if she wants to sit on the potty. ;)


• She has had a bit of a cold the past couple days but seems to be much better today. She still sounds a little stuffed up, but she is sleeping much better tonight than the past two nights.


• I need to start Christmas shopping. I know I want to find something similar to the Dressy Bessy doll (if not the actual doll itself), possibly some wooden blocks, and I have no idea what else. Suggestions are always appreciated, of course. :)


• Speaking of Christmas, I can't wait to start decorating this year! I know I still have a couple months, but I'm so excited!

I thought I had more, but I've really got nothing.

So, now that I have that silly song stuck in my head, I really do have something to say.

Tonight, I found Bid4Prizes.com, and I must admit, I'm pretty intrigued. I'm not entirely certain I understand it fully, but from what I can tell, people bid on prizes, and the lowest unique bid wins the prize. The winners don't actually pay for the prize, but it becomes a free gift at that point. Of course, the winner would have to pay any taxes, but other than that, it's free! They pay shipping on prizes won.

There are cash prizes and sweepstakes there from what I could tell, but what fascinated me the most was each daily prize is different. Not only are these prizes different, but they are pretty darn cool, too! They have a Wii and an X-Box up, along with a couple other pretty high end electronics devices.

It looks like bidding is allowed via website posting and cell phone texting. They make it that much easier to win!

I normally don't bother with things like this, but I might have to give Bid4Prizes.com a whirl. It doesn't appear as though I have to pay to play, which is all I really care about. :)

I would love to travel to Australia. I have many friends scattered throughout the country and would love to be able to visit them and see where they live. Of course, while there, I would want to do a little touring.

I was browsing tonight for Sydney Hotels and found Cheaper Than Hotels to be a great resource. While poking around, I found Hotels in Darling Harbour. Of course, I had to search for Melbourne Hotels after that.

I dream of these trips every now and again, and Australia is one that tends to stay at the top of the list. I would love to see first hand all the wildlife in its natural habitat and not in a zoo. I would love to experience the Great Barrier Reef. I just want to be able to explore and soak it all in. I'm also betting the seafood is probably pretty good there.

Ahh... and now back to reality. Sophie is awake and talking in bed. I need to go join her. Maybe someday...

1. List seven habits/quirks/facts about yourself.
2. Tag seven people to do the same.
3. Do not tag the person who tagged you or say that you tag whoever wants to do.


I am not going to tag anyone because most of the people on my friends list have done this already, but I will still fill out the habits/quirks/facts. :)

I was tagged by a_groovy_gypsy

1. I did not have a boyfriend and was never kissed until after I turned 21.


2. When applying antiperspirant, each armpit gets the same number of strokes (usually four). Deodorant is the same, but usually gets 10 strokes. No, I don't apply both; I only use one or the other.


3. I only drink hot tea in the winter and iced tea in the summer (exception to this: when sick in the summer I prefer hot tea, or at a restaurant in winter I will sometimes order iced tea - depends on weather). I can drink hot coffee or iced coffee during any part of the year.


4. My favorite holiday is Christmas. I don't love it for getting presents, though. I love it for giving presents, making special foods, all the fun decorations, and getting into the spirit of things. I also love to relive my childhood through all the Christmas specials. B tolerates it (barely) because he knows how much I love it all.


5. I always have to brush my teeth after I shower, even if I brushed them before the shower.


6. I do not like pears, most beans, and even some ground meat all due to texture.


7. I like almost all kinds of music, and can tolerate just about anything for at least a little bit. I will never say I don't like something without trying it first.

I love to travel. I hate to fly. Go figure. I have all these wonderful dreams of traveling overseas again. I have been to Germany and would love to go back. B and I have talked about going to England among other places. I'm not sure we'll ever go because flights are so long. Also, I only speak English. I might know a little German and a little sign language, but not enough of either to get me very far anywhere.

Still, I like to dream. Every so often I get a little bug about traveling around the world. I do a little research, learn a bit about what's to see and do. Tonight, I'm traveling to France. Of course, I'm looking up hotels and the hotels in Paris are listed in Euros, which I suppose makes things easier over there (Euros were not used when I went to Germany). Some of the pictures of these hotels are absolutely amazing!

I think I might want to choose a hotel in France away from the city. I want to be able to see the countryside and soak it all up. I would love to visit places such as the Louvre as well, but I think the countryside is really what's calling me right now. I've been dreaming of doing this in so many different countries. I would just rather avoid the big cities altogether.

This site for hotels in France is pretty handy from what I can tell. They have information and pictures for most of the hotels listed (if not all). They also have deal searches, links for group rates, and links for auto rental.

Hmm... maybe someday. :)

1. Leave me a casual comment of no particular significance, like a lyric to your current favorite song, or your favorite kind of sandwich, maybe your favorite game. Any remark, meaningless or not.
2. I will respond by asking you five personal questions so I can get to know you better.
3. Update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
4. Include this explanation and offer to ask someone else in your own post.
5. When others respond with a desultory comment, you will ask them five questions.

I received mine from aellwynde

1- What time did Sophie wake you up this morning? ;)

Sophie was actually very considerate this morning and slept until 8:50. Not only that, but she patiently waited to have breakfast until I was almost done making the French toast and eggs for B.

2- DID you get any good sleep?

I slept pretty hard, so even with her still nursing, I have to say yes to this one. It wasn't for very long, but it was long enough. Then again, I wound up falling asleep while trying to watch a Signing Time! video with Sophie later in the afternoon.

3- Are you where you wanted to be in life?

Well, that all depends. As far as what I'm doing with my life, for the most part I have to say yes. At one point I had no desire to have children, but I always had this strange desire to be a homemaker or a house wife. I'm certainly no June Cleaver or Martha Stewart, but I enjoy what I do and am very glad I'm doing it. I think Sophie makes staying home that much more enjoyable (even if it is more challenging). ;) Now I just have to get better at what I do.

As for where I am located physically on a map, no. I never dreamed I'd be living in Texas and I never would have wished it in a million years. As a matter of fact, the only place I've every really wished to live was Chicago. If I had my druthers, I would be back in Michigan in a heartbeat. The only reason I remain here is B. It's much easier for him to find work here than up there.

4- Do you have any memories, happy or sad, associated with food related scents?

I've been thinking about this one all night now. I can't come up with anything in particular, but I'm sure the answer is yes. It's one of those things that hits me like memories associated with certain songs. Food scents and music seem to give me the strongest flashbacks. My memory isn't very sharp, but when it's set off by one of these then the memory is usually very vivid, even if it is unimportant.

I do have many memories of food when I was a child, but the majority of these come without scents (thankfully). I remember hating beef stew because my mother always put lima beans in it. I remember hating chili because of the stewed tomatoes and kidney beans. I remember getting an extra spoonful of something whenever we complained about it. I remember not being able to leave the table until my plate was cleared because there are starving children in China. I remember hating steak because it was always chewy. I remember hating brussel sprouts and sauerkraut and cooked spinach. I had issues with texture (beans, pears, various other foods) and smell factor (broccoli, cauliflower, cooked spinach, etc.).

I knew if I rambled enough I would remember one. The scent of circus peanuts (the candy) reminds me of one of my great aunts. I'm not sure if she always had circus peanuts or if it was just for one visit, but I every time I breathe in that scent it reminds me of my Aunt Madeline.

5- How old were you when you had your first real live kiss, and was it all you hoped it would be? :)

Okay, big time disclosure here: I was not kissed until I was 21, by my first boyfriend (I think this might have been the second or third date, I don't remember). It took place on the second story landing in the stairwell of our dorm before he headed up to the fourth floor where his room was, and was actually rather disappointing to be honest. To his credit, the next kiss was better.

• Little Miss Thang is teething. She has four molars all trying to pop into existence at once. I suppose it's best this way, but this can make for a seriously cranky baby.


• I *really* need to purchase a new cordless mouse. My feet keep getting caught on the cord of my old mouse.


• .


• I need a vacation from life. Would someone please stop the merry-go-round and let me take a breather?


• I still need to get the pictures transferred from my camera to my computer from my trip up north.


• We made a little trip to IKEA the other day and have found the new furniture for the office. I'll probably sell our current desks on craigslist or something.


• Once B gets the drawers installed in the bathroom cabinets I'll be able to do some serious organizing in there and then we'll be ready to paint. I've picked a serious red, but I'm not sure if we should do the entire bedroom/bathroom or if we should do one room and not the other, or if we should just do an accent wall. Thankfully, it's only paint and isn't permanent.


• After the master suite comes the new office. That means tearing down the old guest bedroom and moving it into the dining room. I do not look forward to the work involved in this project. We'll have to make another trip to IKEA since we didn't purchase the office furniture yet.


• When the new office is finished, we'll tear down the old office and move everything (only what is necessary and in a very organized manner!!!) to the new office, sell off what we don't intend to keep, and then paint the new guest bedroom and reassemble everything.


• The dining room is last on our list, but I'm pretty excited to do that room since we found some interesting window treatments and lighting at IKEA as well.


• We have shelving that needs to be hung in the living room and a message center that needs to be hung in the kitchen.


• Sophie's signing is out of control. I have no idea how many words she signs. I can't keep up with her.


• She jabbers all the time (which I love to hear). It sounds like she has some pretty serious stories to tell.


• Big words seem to be her favorites when she's talking. Butterfly and watermelon are words she loves to say. I need to take video.


• She's walking everywhere now. She still crawls from time to time or wants to be carried every now and then, but she really loves to walk. She walks in circles just to be walking sometimes.


• I love when she sits on the floor (on her big cloth diapered gBooty) and spins around in circles. The kid cracks me up.


• I need a haircut.


• I will be making cherry freezer jam. I hope it's not a total train wreck.


• I believe I've done this before, but it's been a while. It is not:


• CPU unit


• ATM machine


• NIC card


• ICU unit


• LAN/WAN network


• PCA anywhere

Oy.