Fun

My Fortune Cookie told me: The yellow apostrophes are pointing in the right direction. Get a cookie from Miss Fortune

This is my husbands. His is better than mine I think!

My Fortune Cookie told me: The sandcastle and the parsnip are sleepwalking towards your submarine. Get a cookie from Miss Fortune

Also be sure to check out Alison Kent's Blog. (http://www.alisonkent.com/blog/) Her fortune was way better. Although I like parsnips!

Happy New Year. Be safe and Have Fun!

Friday

I normally try and do my top 10 of something - but today I am doing my top five love sounds. I check out Nalini Singh's wedsite (http://www.nalinisingh.com/index.html) and blog almost everyday and she had this in her entry today - so I thought I would add it to mine. I am sure I have more - but song titles never really stick with me. I love music and just always have it running thru my head or on the radio.

Top 5 Favorite Love Songs.

1. Piano in the Dark - Brenda Russell This is my all time favorite song. I get goosebumps just thinking about it.

2. Up Where We Belong (from one of my all time fav movies - Officer and a Gentleman. I have watched this movie in French, German and countless times in English.) Joe Cocker & Jennifer Warnes

3. You're Still the One or Forever & Always - Shania Twain

4. You're in My Heart - Rod Stewart

5. Wicked Game - Chris Isaak

I am not sure that 5 counts - but it is wickedly sexy video and his voice is a amazing!

Have a good evening!

THRUSDAY 13

I have decided to join the Thursday 13 List.

Things I learned in 2006

1. I really like staying home with my little ones. Play is fun and running a house and two little people's daily lives is a full-time job, plus some.
2. That I really missed reading books. For Lent I shut off the TV and started reading and sewing again. Funny thing was - when Lent was over - the TV has basically stayed off.
3. You can learn as much from your kids as you have to teach them.
4. Being organized and staying that way is a daily battle in discipline. Sadly I am not always on top of it like I want to be. Life is smoother when you have everything neatly in its place.
5. I really like working out and need to make more time for it.
6. I cannot eat dairy (this I knew) but I have added wheat and corn to the list recently. This has made cooking challenging, but I am embracing this change.
7. That really bad situations can and do really bring out the best in some people and the worst in others.
8. Children value honesty in a way that somehow adults lose touch with or forget.
9. Being on the edge does not always mean being out of control.
10. Pens are not lost, merely relocated until further notice. (This applies to a whole host of other basic household items, lovies, library books, shoes, and car keys too!)
    
11. I really could give McIver a run for his money with all the stuff I have in my purse/diaper bag.
12. I need down time. Really I do! Furthermore, taking it is not something to feel guilty about.
    
13. Just because you do not talk on the phone or email as often as you did pre kids, does not mean the friendships are not valuable or that you cannot still be there for each other when it really does count.
    

Dealing with the Past

So, last week I teased and said I missed Wednesdays post and I would tell you on Monday. Well, the reason I missed it was we are busy (my husband and I) cleaning out my mother in laws house. She passed away recently and my husband is a an only child and so I am his only helper on this very slow and difficult process. There is just so much stuff to look thru. Some of it obviously means something to us, some of it while important to her - we just cannot keep and some of it just makes you want to say, "HMMMMM????" It is really a long process. So not only are you (particularly my husband) sad and realling from the sudden lose - but you have the very pratical and ardous process of having to catalog, sort thru stuff, finiding things you never dreamed off, get it taken to charity, giving it to friends, selling it. What a task.
Well all of this has me thinking about advice I would give to clients when I was working in the financial services industry. YOU CANNOT TAKE IT (in this context money) WITH YOU. Really, money is not required, as I know of, in heaven and/or hell. So make arrangements for its disposition while alive. So, if that is true why not handle your stuff that way. Now before everyone jumps on me about not being able to plan your exact moment of death - I KNOW THAT! But what I am saying, directing this to currently healthy but aging parents. Start the process now. If you really want your daughter to have your antique broach. Give it to her as a holiday/birhtday, Just Becasue gift. This would be helpful to your kids/loved ones now. While my mother in law had done this, so much stuff was left and she had not really shared with the significant info about some items and there we are really just guessing. We asked. She declined to share. So I guess my point is - parents be proactive. Cull your boxes of recipies that you do not use, but have collected over the last 25 years now...... Computerize the family reciepies, so that they do not tossed out with the boxes of junk. Think about what items are so important to you that you really want them to remain in the family and then if practical - gift them now. You ask the tough questions now - do I need three tool boxes full of washers. Could I get rid of this stuff now or do I absolutely need them. If you do not, your kids, grandkids, nieces and nephrews will be doing it and really - do you want to be remember for your pile of junk.

Just for fun

My friend sent this to me and I thougt I would post it just for fun.


1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Neither. I do not like real egg nog, even though my husnband makes it every year. A big production for something so vile. I am allergic to dairy, so I tend t skip the non-alcholic kind. I do love the SILK SOY NOG.



2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under

the tree? As a child they were unwrapped and in a grouping near the try. For our kids, we wrap them and put them by the fire place - not near the tree.



3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? white



4. Do you hang mistletoe? No, if I could buy some real stuff I would.



5. When do you put your decorations up? As late as possible. With an 18 month old, I get tired of saying NO



6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Do not have one. I change the menu every year.



7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child:


8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? Not sure.. I think I believed longer than the average. I still want to believe it is true :)


9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Christmas morning. Although my husband wants to make it Christmas eve.



10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? Husband does lights, I do the rest



11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Does snow really have any redeeming qualities. MMM, I can think of none.



12. Can you ice skate? Yes, but not well.



13. Do you remember your favorite gift? I love all my gifts.



14. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? None really. Cookies are fine.



15. What is your favorite holiday tradition? We celebrate St. Nicholas on 12/6

16. What tops your tree? A lovely brass star hand made in India. I love it.



17. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving? Giving.


18. What is your favorite Christmas Song? Stille Nacht (Silent Night)



19. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum! YUCK



20. Favorite Christmas movie? Not a big movie fan.

Top Ten for Friday - Favorite Things

Ok, well I skipped Wed. post - but I have good reasons, which I will outline on Monday's post. But today is a top ten list and I am going to be a bit like Martha and share my favorite things - maybe good things and maybe not.

1. Long chats on the phone with really good friends.
2. Cooking or baking or both
3. Long chats in person with good friends, lovers, husbands, ect.
4. A really good dinner party. Not just the food, the conversation has to be groovy too.
5. Having your hair washed with the perfect tempature of water. MMMM.
6. Working puzzles with my daughter. She is super at puzzles.
7. Listening to really good music. Either a concert, on the radio, or where ever. I am not sure what makes it good, but when it is... it is.
8. Working out - especially YOGA. I did not always feel this way, but I have to say now working out is something I look forward to.
9.The beach. I love the beach. I do not like swimming in the ocean per se, but I really like the beach.
10. Making Love. Really connecting. Connecting is important.

I could go on, but this is a quick list of things that popped to mind. I totally picked the topice just as I set down. Next time maybe I will put more thought/research in it.

Have a good weekend and try not to get to wrapped up in the hectic nature of the season. Stop and smell the evergreens. It is calming.

My first post

Ok, I am really new at this - and this is my first blog entry - so I think I will take this time to say, "HI!" and lay out some ground rules. First of all, I welcome all comments - but please be kind and resecpt everyone right to their own opinion. Since it is my blog - naturally I am sharing my opinion already. I welcome discussion, that is how we can all learn something from each other. I think I will establish a bit of schedule - so that I can group my thoughts through out the week and be cohesive. So here it goes:

Monday - My thoughts on something that has occurred in the previous week

Wednesday - My thoughts on something political or a current event

Friday - my top ten of something. This should be fun

So here it goes:

Too much stuff

I have to preface this entry with the fact that I am a reformed pack rat. Honestly, this tendancy is possibly genetic. My mom is a big pack rat as was my maternal grandmother. Stuff, Stuff, Stuff. I am finding this reformation both liberating and difficult. I find that it is freeing to get rid of clutter and stuff, but somehow more stuff shows up. My goal for 2006 was to cut down on clutter. On a scale of 1 to 10, I have to say that I managed a 4. One of my biggest successes was to stop the flow of junk mail. No joke, the beginning of this year, I was getting 4 to 5 solictaions from charities a day on average and close to 3 to 5 catalogs a day in the mail. It took me about 10- 15 minutes a day to sort thru the junk, tear off our name and address, check for hidden names and addresses, shread the names and addresses and then recycle the mail/catalogues. WHAT A WASTE OF TIME. So I began an email & letter writing campaign to get companies to stop sending me so much junk and while that took up a bit of time, in a matter of months - the flow of junk mail ceased. Cool! I also worte and had our name taken off a few common direct marketing lists. This really does work, if you want to invest the time and energy. I made form letters and used labels - which I stuck on the stuff and mailed it back with the postage paid envelopes provided.
Sadly however, my mom is also on a cleaning binge from time to time - so more junk shows up here. But slowly I am winning my battle to have less clutter. Same goal for 2007 and I hope to up my 4 to a 6!
I have to say that I am hoping to stop the clutter bug with our kids. We try to keep toys and games at a reasonable level. Santa brings a few items, not a sack full. I am working with the grandparents to reign them in as well. Honestly, kids need time and attention - not just stuff. I think my two have too many toys as it is and I cull them on a regular basis. Like next week, I plan to get rid of the more baby toys our little one has and look thru the others for stuff not played with. I routinely donate what is not favored. No reason to keep it and store a toy that does not interest my two - when there are kids out there who might get some enjoyment of it.
I have to say that I struggle at gift giving occassions. I do not want to contribute to someone else junk explosion and I try hard to not over do it as well. This hard though! Not to appear cheap, but also to be thoughtful and engaged. I find that not everyone feels like me. Collecting stuff is an American past time of sorts and in our very material culture, I am finding that my ideas are counter to the norm.
I am also tring to make sure that they develop a sense of place - a storage or personal filing system. My 4 year old is a cleaner and will not go to bed until her room is cleaned up. She has a great sense of order. Good! Very Good. I do not have that and therefore it is a struggle for me. A struggle I am winning, but still not a natural in grained sense of order. MMMMM, must go back to the pack rat genes.