Get to Know Me 2018

The get to know me questions:
 1. Share your profile picture if you have one.

Not my profile, but a fairly recent picture.

 2. Who are you named after?
I was named from a science fiction short story that my father loved.  A few years ago, I actually found the short story. It was called Vandy, Vandy
 3. Do you like your handwriting?
For the most part.  It is legible and pleasing to look at.  It's not fancy, but a nice mix of cursive and print that flows for me.
 4. What is your favorite lunch meat?
Pastrami or corned beef.  So very bad for me, but oh so tasty.
 5. Longest relationship?
With Nick Jones, my hubby of 19 years, we have been together 25 years come the end of February.
 6. Do you still have your tonsils? 
Yes I do.
 7. Would you bungee jump? 
Nope.  Absolutely not.
 8. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? 
Depends on the shoe.  Some need to be untied, others, not so much.
 9. Favorite ice cream?
Mint chocolate chip or strawberry
10. What is the first thing you notice about people?
Whether they are smiling.  It indicates they are friendly, most of the time.
11. Football or baseball? 
Umm, more football I guess.  I don't really understand it, but it is more interesting to watch than baseball.
12. What color pants are you wearing?
Blue jeans.
13. Last thing you ate? 
Last night for dinner: pork chops, rice pilaf and veggies.
14. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? 
A dark forest green.
15. Favorite smell?
Apples.  Says fall and home to me.
16. Who was the last person you spoke to on the phone?
Turbo.  He called after his bus broke down on the way home from his last meet to let us know they were delayed and what time they would probably be home.
17. Hair color?
Natural a dark blond/light brown.  Dyed a dark red.
18. Eye color?
Blue or Green depending on my mood and what I'm wearing.
19. Favorite foods to eat? 
Steak, seafood, Garlicy snacks.
20. Scary movies or happy endings?
Happy endings.
21. Last movie you watched? 
The Italian Job with Mark Wahlberg.
22. Favorite Holiday?
While I do love Christmas, I think my favorite is New Years.  It usually just us, no other family and I enjoy it.  The seafood feast we have is nice too.
23. Beer or Wine?
Depends on the day and the wine or the beer.  Both have their place.
24. Night owl or early bird?
Sadly I have become more an early bird than a night owl. Kids do that to you.  Although, this could be changing as Mom's Taxi runs for Turbo for the next year or so.
25. Favorite day of the week?
Saturday.  A whole day of no work, time with family, time to get things done at home, relax, whatever.  It's lovely.
26. Can you crack an egg one handed? 
Sure, but I make a mess while doing it.
27. Coffee or Tea?
Tea.  I have to put so much creamer and sugar in coffee that it's not really coffee anymore.
28. Favorite go to beverage? 
When out, lemonade.  At home, I love Perrier water flavored sparkling water.
29. Mac or PC?
PC
30. Do you prefer to read or watch TV?
Read, but I do like the TV for background noise.
31. Where are you from? 
I was born in Hollywood Florida, Lived in Missouri, California and finally Buffalo Wyoming. Came to college and met Nick and lived in our college town until this coming spring when we move to a new town. Still in Wyoming though.
32. Where do you live?
Laramie Wyoming, soon to be Casper Wyoming (as of June).
33. Where were you born? 
Hollywood Florida
34. Which of your parents are you closest to?
My father died when I was a baby, so I was always close to my mother.  She passed two and half years ago now.
35. Which of your parents are you more like?
Since I don't really know my father, my mother.  But I look more like my father.
36. What’s one thing you like most about each of your parents?
My mother gave me a love of reading.
37. What’s one thing your parents did that meant a lot to you?
My mother once told me that she thought I was doing a wonderful job of raising my boys. It was nice to know she thought I was doing a good job.
38. Do you have siblings? If so, how many? 
I have one brother, 4 and half years younger than me.
39. Which sibling do you connect with best?
We are not close. I connect better with Nick's cousin's than I do my brother.
40. Do you live near your parents and siblings? 
I lived about 6 blocks from my mother when she was alive.  She watched our boys as they grew and it was wonderful she was able to have that relationship with them. At this point, I am not sure where my brother lives.
41. What is your favorite childhood memory? 
I think at this point is would be the trip I got to take to New York City when I was 12. I flew out to meet my aunt and spent 6 weeks in New York doing all the tourist stuff.  It was fun.
42. What is your favorite way to pass time? Reading, but also fitting puzzles, adult coloring books, cooking and baking.
43. What is your favorite snack? 
Anything crunchy and salty.  Not good for me but tasty.
44. What is your favorite sport? 
Swimming or cross country skiing.
45. What is something you are gifted at? 
I have a good memory for random trivia.
46. What is something you look(ed) for in a partner? A dependable, solid person who love me for all my quirks.  He was pretty cute too.

47. What is something you wish you were gifted at doing? 
I wish I was a bit more craft/sewing oriented.  I know the basics, but it's not really my thing.
48. Are you a fan of any sports team? 
No, not really. Well, I guess if you count college football, I root for my alma mater, the Wyoming Cowboys.
49. Are you a dog person or cat person? 
Cat person, but I like dogs too.
50. At what age did you go on your first date?
I was 16 when I went on my first date.

Link up with Curious as a Cathy to play along!
Linking this up with Random Tuesday too!

Nine and MMMM

Today my baby turns 9.  Bruiser is growing up far too fast.  He is such a fun kid. A bit shy to start new things, but get him comfortable and there is no stopping him.

He loves art, coloring (like the complicated "adult" coloring, and he's really good at it), Minecraft, Skyrim, pretend play as a ninja, Youtube, and being outdoors. I love the way his mind works.  He had a great time playing laser tag with his friends for his birthday.

Now MMMM is about birthdays as the spotlight dancer has a daughter with a birthday today as well.  So here are some growing up, birthday themed songs:

Scotty McCreery with 5 More Minutes:

Jimmy Buffet and Martina McBride with Trip Around the Sun:

Billy Dean with Let Them Be Little:

Have a wonderful week!

Random for Tuesday

Hey, everyone! Happy Tuesday!

Let's get random:

• Turbo tried really hard this last semester, but the two classes he has to write in got the better of him.  Now they are trying to figure out how to get him eligible to compete with swimming again.  Kid has such a hard time focusing and his french teacher had the class do two weeks of in class reading which was very self directed and Turbo does not do self directed well at all.  In english class he had to write a paper.  Again one of the things he doesn't do well without lots of redirection back to task. We shall see what can be done for him.
• Bruiser has his party this weekend.  Cupcakes, 9 year olds and laser tag. Should be a great day for Bruiser.  Sunday we will have a family dinner and birthday party for him.
• This one is for my hubby and the fact that when he works in Casper he has a much more traditional schedule.  Where we are now, we have a rather flexible schedule.

• With the cold weather coming back, we have the coat vs jacket argument more than we should with both boys.

• This week is a Casper week for Nick, but he did get two (maybe three) extra days in town due to a meeting for work.  It always nice to have him here and we miss him when he is gone.

Have a great Tuesday!

Brrrr, Monday and MMMM

So cold here.  But at least we have snow to go with it and it's not like it's not seasonal.  It's supposed to be cold here, not the 50s we had on Friday.
Our weekend was relatively quiet.  I did a popup paint walk in with a friend.

it was fun and something I would totally do again. I might be able to drag Nick down to one for a date night.
Otherwise the weekend was filled with laundry, a thrift store run and general hanging out.  Bruiser got movie school last night and he saw Blazing Saddles. Mildly risque, but with humor that he enjoyed.  Mel Brooks is a favorite in our house.

Now on to MMMM. It's a freebie week so here's what has caught my fancy recently:

Blake Shelton with Doing to Country Songs:

Walker McGuire with 18 Forever:

Scotty McCreery with Wherever You Are:

Have a great week!

15 Things--Writer's Workshop

Prompt #2: A list of 15 things to make this your best year yet.

1. Travel.  With a beach. So Florida is on the list for this summer.  We need to introduce Bruiser to the ocean. And then maybe (OK definitely) a trip to the Mouse.  Turbo went when he was 5 so now it's Bruiser's turn to do Disney.
2. Cook.  I am rediscovering the fun in cooking.  It helps that Bruiser is starting to expand his accepted foods. IT's hard to cook when the littlest in the house hates the food.
3. Paint.  This is a new one for me.  I had a friend give me a few paint by number for my birthday.  Once we have moved I will have a place I can set up and work on them.  I also enjoy going to paint parties.  I may have to figure out someone to go with in the new town, but going may force me to make new friends.
4. Date night.  Make date night with my hubby.  Or at least one on one time.  We have a whole new city to explore this summer.  Kind of looking forward to it.
5. Decorate.  I have an entire house, with acres of wall space and tons more floor space than our current house.  There will be decorating.  After the unpacking.
6. Camp.  We must get out camping this summer.  There are lakes that are fairly close to our new town.  We have kayaks and a camper.  This is a must go situation.
7. Date time.  Time out with the boys.  I really need to spend some time with each of them.  I need to encourage Nick to spend one on one time with them too.  It will be good for them.
8. Kayak.  We have four of them.  the new town has a river with a kayak park in it.  We need to utilize the facilities available.
9. Time with friends. I will spend time with my friends as much as possible before we move.  I know we will be seeing them still, but two and half hours makes for a long commute with necessary planning involved.  Not so much with the spontaneous get together.
10. Be brave.  I need to be brave about making new friends. Not an easy task for my introverted little self, but I will try.
11. Movie school.  We are introducing the boys to some of our favorite moves from when we grew up.  They need the pop culture references and it's a fun evening.
12. Relax. Stress less, let things go. Really right now the things that should cause me stress are so small. the big ones are all taken care of now. If I stress less, relax more, life is easier.
13. Four wheel.  We have two machines, a trailer and with any luck the time to go enjoy them this summer. We just have to do it.
14. Exercise.  I'm not the most diligent at this one, but I need to make myself move. I do have some motivation in the Florida trip we want to take this summer.  Swim suits. Beaches.   Enough said.
15. Be positive.  About the move, life, love and everything.  I won't let negative be my go to reaction.  I'm not bad at this one, but if you have a positive attitude, lots of things are so much easier.

Hogdepogde Again!

 

1. What keeps you blogging?
I have lost some of my diligence with blogging, but it is a great way to feel connected.  I will need this connection when we move in June.  Something fun and there for me.

2. Some people like to travel in the winter months. Do you enjoy the beach in winter? According to Southern Living the best U.S. beach towns to visit this winter are-

St Simons Island (Georgia), Hilton Head (South Carolina), Bald Head Island (North Carolina), Seaside (Florida), Bay St. Louis (Mississippi), Cape San Blas (Florida), South Padre Island (Texas), Folly Beach (South Carolina), Chincoteague (Virginia), Duck Key (Florida), Nags Head (North Carolina), and Fairhope (Alabama)

Have you been to any of the towns listed (in any season)? Which on the list appeals to you most this winter? 

I would love to visit a beach in the winter, it gets mighty cold here and outdoor stuff is not so easy when the snow is lacking.  I have not visited any of the beaches listed, but this coming summer we are thinking of taking the boys to Florida.  Turbo was there when he was 5, but Bruiser has never been.  A beach and a visit to the Mouse are most likely on the agenda.

3. What's a song you're embarrassed to know all the lyrics to? Are you really embarrassed or do just think you should be?
I know most of the lyrics to Mickey by Toni Basil.  a total one hit wonder from my high school years.

4. When you were a kid what's something you thought would be fantastic as an adult, but now that you're an adult you realize it's not all that fantastic?
Being able to do what ever I wanted and no one could tell me what to do.  Yeah, that doesn't actually work out like you think it will when your a kid. Sure no one tells me what to do like my mother did, but I can't do what I want to all the time.  Bills need paying, kids need to eat and be told what to do.

5. Share a quote you hope will inspire you in 2018.

I need to embrace change this year, so this quote works for me.


6. Insert your own random thought here. 
So invite to Bruiser's party went out today.  Ten 9 year olds doing laser tag.  We may be completely wiped by the end of the party, but Bruiser will have an excellent time.

Cold Random

Yep, it's cold here, but then it's been cold all over.  We just dipped below zero here this morning. It wouldn't be such a big deal but I had to be out in it this morning to take Turbo to swim practice at 6 am.  I have my doubts about there being air out that early. This morning was -8 F.  Far to cold to be outside.

On with the random:

• So it's Tuesday.  Turbo has a swim meet tonight.  With any luck he can drop more time. He has been doing pretty good with his breaststroke.  He loathes the butterfly and does OK at both freestyle and backstroke. We just hope he can qualify for state.  We keep rooting for him.

• Bruiser has a birthday coming up.  He turns 9.  I'm not sure where the time has been going but it has been going far to fast.  He gets a Laser tag birthday party with his friends and then a dinner with family after that. He should have a great time.
• Nick and I binge watched Bondi Beach Rescue yesterday.  It was kind of like visiting the beach, only not sandy or wet.
•  I made a great pot of Minestrone soup yesterday. I'm liking this whole cooking thing. It does help that after practice Turbo will eat anything as long as it doesn't move. we have taken to calling him The Stomach. Combine growing teenage boy with hard workouts and yeah he's eating like crazy.
• I went to put my arm around Turbo's shoulders on Sunday and I have to reach up to do it now.  He's taller than me. and only going to get taller. Make me feel just a bit small. I'm still taller than Bruiser, but the way he's growing, not for long.

OK so there you have it, random in our neck of the woods. Have a great week!

Happy New Year!?

So, 2018.  All I can say is I hope this year will be kinder to us than last year. 2017 had a lot of ups and some truly deep downs for us.
2018 will hopefully have more ups than downs, although we will have to move to a new town come June, so not sure how that will go, it could be an up, but also a down.

Anyway, it's a new year and that means a couple promises.  Not resolutions, but promises.

1. Be positive about the move to Casper. This one will be tough for me, but I'm going to be as positive as I can be.
2. Menu Planning.  I have been taking more pleasure is cooking and trying to mix up the menu just a bit.  It helps that all of a sudden Bruiser has decided that he likes more foods.  Not too many, but I'll take what I can get with my picky eater.
3. Routines.  I need to embrace routines, but not get stuck in a rut. It can be tricky to get into a routine and not let it become a rut.
4. Date night.  Nick and I need to make more effort to get out and have time for us.  Rediscover the fine art of conversation.  We have been working on this one.
5. Camping.  Yes, we are moving at the beginning of summer, but we can still get out and camp.  And we have a whole new territory that is easily accessible.  So outdoors here we come.

OK, so there a few promises for 2018.  I hope I can keep them.

On to MMMM: It's freebie week so here's what I have been listening to recently:
 David Lee Murphy and Kenny Chesney with Everything's Gonna Be Alright:

Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line with Meant to be:

Sugarland with Still the Same:

Have a great week!

Happy New Year Hodgepodge

 

1. It's that time of year again...time for Lake Superior University to present a list of words (or phrases) they'd like to see banished (for over-use, mis-use, or genera uselessness) in 2018. You can read more about the decision making process and word meaning here, but this year's top vote getters are-
unpack, dish (as in dish out the latest rumor), pre-owned, onboarding/offboarding, nothingburger, let that sink in, let me ask you this, impactful, Cofefe, drill down, fake news, hot water heater (hot water doesn't need to be heated), and gig economy
Which of these words/phrases would you most like to see banished from everyday speech and why? Is there a word not on the list you'd like to add?
I hadn't really known that "fake news" was a thing.  I mean I know fake news happens, ~National Enquirer~, but that it was a thing that needed to be dropped from the lexicon is news to me. I can kind of see the "hot water heater" being a bit redundant.  Around our house I hear "for some odd reasone" from Bruiser all the time.  I wish he would drop that phrase from his vocabulary.

2. What's something you need to get rid of in the new year?
I need to get active and lose just a bit of excess weight.  I need to get rid of my "Oh that's good enough" attitude. Be a lot more accepting of new things and ideas. There is going to be a lot of new this year.

3. Where do you feel stuck?
I have been getting out of the rut I have been stuck in and doing better at making dinner, being Mom's Taxi, and household chores--laundry, dishes and cleaning and such.

4. January is National Soup Month. When did you last have a bowl of soup? Was it made from scratch or from a can? Your favorite canned soup? Your favorite soup to make from scratch on a cold winter's day?
We had a Italian sausage and lentil soup last week.  It's a copy cat of a Carrabas Italian Grill soup I had years ago.  It was great and fed not only us but Nick folks too.

5. Tell us one thing you're looking forward to in 2018.
I can't say I'm exactly looking forward to it, but we are moving to a new town when school is done for the boys.  June is moving month for us, although the move started in October when we bought the house in our new town. I am going to miss our friends here and having across town access to them. I don't make friends easily and this move is very intimidating for me. The rest of the family is getting more and more excited about the move.

6. Insert your own random thought here.
The holiday break was good for us.  Turbo dropped time during his meet.  Bruiser got to have game time, time to play outside and snuggle inside.  I got some great present for Christmas and got to cook and enjoy having little to no obligations. Nick got to relax and enjoy time with the boys and me. Now we are back at the routine.  Time will fly by and before we know it June will be here and with it our big move. 2018 will be bringing lots of changes, but over all, I hope the changes will be good for us.