25 Random Things

How appropriate for my 200th post! (confetti)

I spent all of this energy doing this little thingy for my facebook I figured I'd put it on here, too. It's random. Enjoy....

Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

(To do this, go to "notes" under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.)

1. Though I do it quite a bit out of obvious necessity, I really don't like cooking. I really have to stick to the recipes, unless it's something I make a lot, the success is not guaranteed, It's devoured in like five minutes.... AAHHH!

2. I absolutely love my husband. He's one of the smartest, perceptive, most resilient, loving people I know.

3. I was a major nail biter until I got braces when I was 13. Then I couldn't seem to make it work anymore. Hmmm...

4. I absolutely cannot fall asleep if my feet are cold (which is most of the time). They're caled Bed Buddies. You can get them at Walgreen's.

5. When I eat a muffin, scone, etc, I don't take bites out of it -- I break it off into little pieces with my fingers and eat it.

6. I would audition for American idol, but I'm too old. Boo.

7. My favorite swear word is "crap"

8. I have an unreasonable fear of locking my keys in my car though I've only done it like twice in my whole life. This fear is so overwhelming that if I am leaving my keys in the ignition even if I KNOW the doors are unlocked, I will roll down the window. Even if it's raining.

9. My favorite singer is Eva Cassidy. God rest her soul....

10. If I had my way, I would stay up until like 2am every night and sleep until 10 or 11am.

11. I love my boys very much. They're so awesome. Though I would never trade any of them, I would have really loved to have had a girl. Not in the plans I guess.

12. I'm a voracious reader. I have a list of favorite authors a mile long.

13. I have five holes in my ears. First one on my eighth birthday, the second a week before HS graduation and the cartilage in my left ear when I was about 26. I wouldn't mind one more, but we'll see. Also wouldn't mind a simple tattoo. We'll see about that, too.

14. I am an extremely frugal person - almost to the point that I have to tell myself to relax and just enjoy life a bit.

15. I make my own ringtones.

16. I grew five inches in three months - the summer between 6th and 7th grades. I ended 6th grade at a normal 5'2" and started 7th at a freakish 5'7". Made junior high REAL fun!

17. I'm a little OCD about returning videos. I will check the case like a million times to make sure I have the right DVD in the case. I know. Weird.

18. If given a blank map of the United States, I could identify all of the states and name the capitals.

19. Until my early 20's, I had never set foot in a salon. My hair had always been cut and permed (yes, permed) in my kitchen by my mother.

20. I have never had my wisdom teeth removed because I was born without any (as was my sister).

21. I can't rap. At all. It's amusing, actually.

22. The house in which I grew up did not have am oven. Only a stove top and a microwave.

23. I am very crafty - scrapbooking, crochet, I used to sew (and miss it)...

24. To amuse ourselves as young teenagers, my sister and I made movies (soap operas, commercials, talk shows, murder mysteries, etc.) with any unsuspecting friends who happened to be spending the night. They are...... awesome.

25. I wore glasses from the time I was ten, contacts from the time I was 13. About two years ago I got Lasik and it has been one of the best things I've ever done. I only wish I had done it sooner!

Stuff

It's Saturday (I think - kinda have lost track). I'm sitting in a hotel lobby in Cincinnati (which I'm proud to finally be able to spell correctly) at a Sweet Adelines event - Region 4's Winter Warm-up. When I tell people that I sing in a Sweet Adelines quartet, it's hard to even start to explain what it means if you've never been around the organization. It's women's barbershop - 4-part a capella (without instrumantal accompaniment) harmony. I sing with my sister, my mom and my mom's best friend, Pat. We really have a lot of fun and the technique of the singing is quiet challenging. We compete once a year (hopefully twice this year if we can win the region in the spring and go on to International in the fall) and practice whenever we can all get in the same vicinity - Jen and I usually travel to Ohio from Nashville and Baltimore, respectively.

So it's fun. We're getting lots of practice time in and even a couple of opportunities to perform.

Time up to this weekend has been a blur. We took our youth group on a retreat the weekend prior to this one. It was pretty amazing - one of the best retreats we've ever had the privilege to do with a group I would say. God did so much in their lives and we got a chance to bond and have fun, too. For the retreat, we brought in a group of five young people from FL, plus our friend and former band-mate of my husband, Alton Hood. They all stayed at our house and we really enjoyed it.

Other than that, I've just been working - a lot. I'm up to about 31 hours of lessons every week, plus music classes at TCS on Wednesday mornings. I so love it, but I'm not going to lie - it's tiring. I think the hardest part is feeling like I'm keeping up with the house and the boys at the same time. Of course, it would probably help if I were a tad more organized, but c'est la vie.

That's all for now. Nothing earth-shattering and for that I am thankful.

I got a hippopotamus for Christmas

You know, I figure if I continue to NOT blog, eventually people will stop checking -- and that just makes me sad. It's my own fault. Well, kind of. People, you would NOT believe how busy I was around Thanksgiving and Christmas. I was busy with such good stuff, though, I can hardly complain. My work load has increased immensely -- a blessing, but a crazy one. To give you some perspective, I resumed this past week with a weekly load of 48 students. I neevr imagined when I branched out to do lessons full-time that it would become what it is.

Anyway, I did all that up until the day before Christmas Eve, in addition to being involved with and/or planning three separate programs - within a week.

And youth group on Tuesday nights.

Oh, and crocheting two teachers scarves.

Oh, oh oh! And that one thing... what is it called.... oh yeah. Christmas shopping.

Christmas arrived and brought with it Mom and Dad from Ohio and Jen and Chris from Nashville -- all spending time on the road to see little old us! We had a wonderful dinner, presents and..fun! It was really a great few days.

So - new years - small party as usual. Then, somewhere in there, I turned into a total slug. And remained so until regular life resumed on Monday, January 5th.

So... here we are.

I've been thinking a lot again about blogging and how much I've missed it. All of these little random things that happen in my life cross my mind as blogs.

A good reason to be back here. To make time for it. I have to and I want to.

Plus Louise has been threatening me and Mike is bummed out! Ah, it's good to be loved.

So here we go, folks. Happy 2009. I'm ready for the best year yet. I hope you are, too.

What the... ?!

So I sit down to chill after a long, wonderful week of day camp (more on that later), thrilled to soak in the first episode of a brand new season of Shear Genius.

One, small question...

What in the WORLD happened to Jaclyn Smith's face?

Seriously.

It's the middle of June...

... and I still have flannel snowman sheets on our bed.

Don't hate. They're comfy.

Shopping: a memoir

If you know me at all you know that I'm a person who doesn't like to spend more money than necessary. One could say that I'm cheap (thought that term is not my favorite because the words "and easy" could follow, giving the entirely wrong connotation) though I prefer the term "frugal". In any event, this information will make the following account more interesting and, I daresay, entertaining.

For Christmas this past year, I received a gift card from one of my piano/voice students and her mother. Now, I like gift cards. They make me feel... I don't know... powerful. I actually tend to hold on to them for longer periods of time than most would -- six months to a year on average. Weird, huh. There's just something about knowing I have this nice, designated money to spend that I enjoy.

OK. Back to my story. So I've had this gift card for awhile and, in a rare event, I found myself at the mall (buying a birthday present for my sister) and realized that this particular store (at which I had never shopped before - that's an important detail) was at said mall. I thought I'd stop in and make good on the gift card that had found itself a comfortable residence in my wallet for the past six months.

I was struck first by how expensive everything was. But, fortunately, it was a buy one, get one half off dealio so I became determined to stretch my $25 to buy not one, but TWO items. Oh, yes. I was walking out of there with two new garments or... well, I don't know what.

I ended up with two plain v-neck t-shirty type tops, one navy and one khaki -- nice solid staples to my wardrobe (I tend toward solid and practical -- something I should probably look into changing). I managed, without too terribly much thought, to spend exactly $.35 less than my gift card. Ha!

Anyway, when I got home, certain details from the purchase started to stand out to me. First of all, my shirts were in not a shopping bag, but more of a gift bag. And, get this, they were wrapped up in tissue paper and taped shut with a sticker bearing the name of the store. A sticker! In my world, stickers are for completed piano pieces by eight-year-olds, not clothing purchases. Oh, and there's one more part. I noticed a little envelope in the bag (also proudly bearing the store's name) that I hadn't previously noticed. What could it be? A present? Another gift card? No. It was my receipt! In a little envelope like a present. I had never seen anything like that in my life...

Now, allow me to compare that to my usual shopping experience. I'm a fan of Goodwill -- there's a fabulous one mere miles from our house. And on the last Saturday of the month, something magical happens. That's right, my friends. The last Saturday of the month is SUPER Saturday. The pool of already tantalizing pre-used clothing is an additional 50% off.

I'll give you a moment.

At Goodwill, I have to be in the mood for digging (which I usually am) and flip through various clothes sorted by color, not size -- all for bargain umbrella prices. If I'm looking at tops, I don't need price tags. I know they're all $3. When I check out, my treasures go into a plastic bag with the words "Thank You" in triplicate down the side of my bag. No tissue, no sticker, no envelope.

Interesting.

Which method do I prefer? I'd be lying if I didn't admit that the adrenaline from the hunt and the "post-bargain high" are pretty much my shopping life-blood. Whether it's genetic (I happen to be the spawn of an amazing bargain shopper) or a learned skill, Goodwill is a little more my speed. BUT, it is nice to be pampered once in awhile -- to feel like your selection time and purchase choice were celebrated is a fun change.

Of course, I can't fully appreciate that right now. I'm still little high off of finding Play Doh, two packs for $3 today...

I'd forgotten how much I like summer

The last few days have really been wonderful -- not because of any great event but more because of the lack of one. I'd forgotten how nice it is to have nothing on the schedule. Since the boys got off of school Wednesday, I've been letting them stay up late, sleep in, watch movies, run around like crazy people, etc. I woke up this morning to a quiet house and no place to be and it was... bliss! I know it's not going to last forever. In fact, I plan Monday on getting the boys on their summer schedule, bed times, chores and those wonderful workbooks I always make them do over the summer. But for now, Jacob is watching TV, Josh and Micah are still sleeping, Matt is running errands and I'm sitting here blogging, listening to a neighborhood lawnmower and smelling the brewing coffee in the kitchen and getting ready to make banana pancakes. See? Bliss.

Last night, we ate outside (as we do very often in the summer). After dinner, the boys ran around and chased lightening bugs and rode the wagon down the hill. Matt and I just sat there and talked. I said, "Wouldn't it be great if we could just freeze this night and save it? It's perfect."

His response, "Not really. The dog is drooling on my foot."

Can't blame me for trying!

I hope you're enjoying a few lazy days of summer yourself!

Made you look...

I realized today, upon catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror at Great Clips, that I looked pale. Anemic actually.

That may be due to the fact that my diet consisted largely of coffee and diet Coke today.

Possible.

I need to work on my nutritional intake.

Now, THIS is stuff you need to know...

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Katy!

1. Katy was banned from Finland because of not wearing pants.
2. If you toss Katy 10000 times, she will not land heads 5000 times, but more like 4950, because her head weighs more and thus ends up on the bottom!
3. About 100 people choke to death on Katy each year!
4. There is no lead in a lead pencil - it is simply a stick of graphite mixed with Katy and water.
5. Katy is the male seed of a flower blossom which has been gathered and treated by bees!
6. While performing her duties as queen, Cleopatra sometimes dressed up as Katy.
7. Katy can grow up to three feet in a 24 hour period.
8. There are six towns named Katy in the United States!
9. The first toy product ever advertised on television was Mr Katy Head!
10. Owls cannot move their eyes, because their eyeballs are shaped like Katy.

I am interested in - do tell me aboutherhimitthem