This is the end, beautiful friend...

This is the final day of January which also signifies the final day of my "blogging everyday in January" challenge to myself. I did it :) It was actually much harder than I thought. It was fun 95% of the time but, on nights/days I wasn't feeling it for whatever reason...I really would have rather used that time reading, relaxing, etc. But, I was always happy after I wrote something because I didn't quit. And I knew I'd be a little less proud if I missed a day or two. Yes, a very small accomplishment but, an accomplishment, nonetheless :)

Watching the Bachelor...getting angry. There's a good chance I might shoot off an annoyed post-show rant...we shall see. Thank you for reading...I am still going to post in the blog...my new goal is to *try* to post 3-5 days a week. It will be nice to only blog on days I actually have something to share and not feel like I just have to fill space. Thanks for coming along for the ride :) Knowing this blog was being read made it a lot more fun and definitely encouraging.

SO CLOSE!

Two posts away from posting everyday in Jan :) Yes, I didn't post yesterday....BUT! I posted two times in one day, early in the month...so it all evens out in my book. Don't forget, we play by Heather-rules around these parts ;)

Today is Nick's birthday...Aaron and I took him to http://www.squeezein.com/ for birthday breakfast (sneaky sneaky, so I didn't have to cook)! If you are in or around Reno/Tahoe/Truckee, CA...you must MUST try it. It's a fabulous experience from beginning to end, every time. F'real.

Came home for cake and gifts before Nick had to go to work, too full for cake but, the presents were a hit.

Now I decided to treat myself again for Nick's birthday and order pizza and wings for dinner. Apparently I have taken the day off :)

T-minus 9 days til National Heather Day :)

I'm calling in...

I'm giving myself a skip day on posting today, sorry you wasted your time and read this :p

Have a great weekend :)

Short and sweet..

Please remember that the decisions you make today have the ability to effect you for a lifetime. Even more than that...they will effect those who love you and support you as well.

Don't be stupid.

Time has come...

It's official.

 I am now the kind of person who can't watch the news anymore. First five minutes we have vandals shooting car windows out, random shooting resulting in death...I just can't handle it anymore. I know we need to be informed but, honestly...starting off with a little fluff piece now and again would REALLY be OK with me. REALLY. Real life is tough enough without starting out the evening news w/ all the negative attention-grabbing crap going on out there. Feeling a little stressed and overwhelmed today and honestly, I didn't want to hear about more sadness and devastation.

In OTHER news...

I have a new favorite drink. Mostly just because of how cute it is and it comes with it's own straw!

 Win!

It's not just a drink...it's an accessory :)

What does this say about me?

I'm not feeling very inspired tonight. But, to keep on truckin' with my blogging everyday of Jan, I will pull a topic from "The List" once again.

"What is the contents of your bag?"

OK, this might take a minute...this is a large Lulu Guinness handbag: Betsey Johnson wallet, bottle of Ibuprofen, Barnes & Noble booklet, many pens, 2 bottles of Purell hand sanitizer, Christmas card, keys, peace sign earrings, Swarovski crystal mirror compact, Philosophy "Amazing Grace" hand lotion,  Lipton green tea/citrus packets for water, gloves, Kindle, camera, heartburn meds (hush, I'm old), Aaron's markers, small tablet for Aaron, 2 bouncy balls, Hot Wheels car, 3 lip glosses, 2 Burt's Bees chap sticks, various hairbands, hair ties, hair clips, etc.

Sounds like a big ole mess, but it's separated and organized and mini bags for easy finding :)

Bachelor rant pt 2

OK, I know I've mentioned this before either on Twitter, Facebook or both. How on reality shows...competition or otherwise, all of a sudden, the participant finds themselves face to face with one of their biggest fears. It's always slightly annoying and to me, 100 percent transparent. On the Bachelor...maybe last week(?) I noticed it 2 times..once was with one of the Ashleys when Brad took her to a recording studio and they sang "Kiss From A Rose" by Seal...which made her burst into tears because that song reminds her of her father who passed away...I was instantly annoyed b/c I KNEW she told this to the show preppers and/or Producers. Totally exploited. Then, it gets worse when Seal actually shows up to sing to them..gag.

That was nothing compared to how outraged I was when after we heard how Emily's fiance died in a private plane heading to a racetrack, Brad takes Emily on a SMALL PLANE to their date destination. I was floored. Brad didn't know yet, about her sad story...but, the PRODUCERS did.

And tonight went along smoothly enough...a fear of water was exploited, as was a fear of heights...no big. What really is pissing me off are the clips to next week's show that shows Brad taking his group date ladies, including our sweet Emily who is by far my favorite, to a....wait for it....wait.for.it....FREAKING RACETRACK TO DRIVE CARS!!!! I swear to God, I think she should sue for trauma.

Maybe they just cut the previews that way to "appear" as though they were all racing, she was crying, etc. But, I am 99 percent sure she was in one of those flame-retardant jump suits that race car drivers wear. I want to throttle someone.

OK, vent over. I feel better :)

Oops

I know I didn't post on Sunday....but, this is counting as Sunday's post because I said so :) I was dealing with a sick kiddo all day. Yes, I know he's 10 but, that doesn't mean I give him any less attention or any less of my time than when he was 3 and sick. I also was having a purely craptastic day with my back so doing anything at all seemed to take 3 times as long. And I had to of course rest for a bit in-between. Aging can bite the big one for all I'm concerned.

I finished "The Kite Runner" tonight. Saddest effing book I have EVER read. And trust me...I tend to gravitate towards the sad and tortured souls books. So, I have no shortage of material to compare it to. That being said...I recommend that everyone read it. It was powerful and amazing. The author, Khaled Hosseini made some very difficult subject matters bearable to read, he threaded this story so masterfully...it was complex and covered many decades and many characters but, never once do you feel lost or confused. I learned a lot and maybe one day I'll read it again...I have a feeling there were things I missed the 1st time...subtle details.

I need to give myself a little break to recover then, I'm on to either the final 2 "Dexter" books, or "The Hunger Games."

Thank you for reading...this was post 23 of 31 :)

Happy Birthday to...who?

Well, this post posted weirdly from my phone. And by "weirdly" I mean it just posted as a bunch of dashes lol. I can't remember what I said...I do remember I vented some about how extravagant and ridiculous bday parties for kids are now. I'm guilty of it as well. But, what happened to the good old days of having birthday parties at our HOMES? When did we start having to rent out places instead of just going as a group to one? When did spending $500-$1000 on a bday party become "normal"? This isn't counting the money spent of gifts. The goodie bag we got yesterday had easily %50 worth of stuff in it. It's nice and Aaron was stoked...it's just pointless, in my opinion. Especially since I know this single Mom put herself in a bit of debt paying for this party.

I don't know...maybe I'm old-fashioned, or a hater :p Don't get me wrong, I have gone all out to ridiculous lengths for my kid's birthday...but, not to the point that I couldn't afford it. it seems each party we go to is bigger and more pricey than the one before. I get the distinct impression these parties are for the parents to show off, more than for the child celebrating their birthday...

Happy Day

Today is my Mom's 61st Birthday :) Or as she says, the 29th anniversary of her 32nd  Birthday...however you'd like to look at it :p Loaded her up on books...fabulous sale @ Barnes & Noble, I got her 7 hardcovers at about 60% off. She's a HUGE fan of the Kennedy family...I got her a book detailing the alleged love affair between Jackie and Bobby. Not too sure how she'll feel about that one, lol. Also got her Kindle replaced (unfortunate water accident) and bought her a snazzy cover for it...hoping this makes it a little less slippery. Kindle booklight and an Amazon giftcard and I'd say she's set on reading material for a bit :p Taking her to our fave Chinese joint a little later.

Speaking of reading...while @ Barnes & Noble today, I made my wish list and gave it to Nick (My bday is in Feb)...and I've changed my reading plans, a little. After "Kite Runner" which I'm currently reading, I'm going to start "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by the same author. Well...I think I am. I have to see how this one ends...it could potentially ruin me, and I'll need to escape to some nice, fluffy chick-lit, first.

Off to fetch the boy and began the Birthday festivities :)

Shameless self-promotion

I'm dedicating my 20th blog post of January to....ME!

 A friend of mine asked me to cover American Idol for his awesome website, http://blindedbysound.com/ . I'm not a writer and I am ellipses, hyphen...and comma-happy, so be kind. 

 Adding a link below...would love for you to read and share BlindedBySound.com w/ your friends and family.

They will thank you for it. Seriously.

Here it is :) http://blindedbysound.com/post/latest

Just can't get enough..

Watching American Idol season premiere with Aaron and he just said, "The 'Dream On' guy is really creepy". Couldn't have said it better, myself sweetheart.

This is blog entry 19...it will be short and sweet.

First, I will tackle a topic from, "The List",

 Something you crave for a lot:

 World peace of course, says my inner hippy. But, realistically I'd say the answer is pretty purses, new books, and mint chocolate chip ice cream.

True TV Love

OK, going off the cuff once again for a bit of a review and a vent or rant or however you'd like to qualify it.

I don't usually watch Basic Cable reality shows (Survivor, Bachelor/ette, Big Brother, etc) ...I stick with Bravo and Vh1, thank you very much ;)

That being said, I decided to watch it this year because: A. I have nothing else to watch on Mondays and B. I wanted to see how this pans out w/ Brad Womack's 2nd try. Also...never watched this show from the beginning before and I was curious how it all works...cocktail party, group dates, etc. I only ever watched like the final 2-3 episodes before.

One thing keeps nagging at me...I'm a romantic underneath all my snarky sass-itude. I believe in Soul Mates, Love @ 1st sight...all that stuff. What I'm unsure of is HOW did these girls know they would fall for him. They're fighting for him from the 1st night. What if a couple weeks in they aren't feeling it...do they just stay anyway? I just have a hard time buying that the one you're SUPPOSED to be with and are meant for is a contestant on a dating game show. It's just too weird for me, and almost impossible to get past so far.  The same question goes to him also...I don't understand how he can fall in love with and stay FOREVER with a person he met on a love competition show. What if, like last time, he's not feeling it for ANY of these women? Then what? He's lambasted and treated like a leper again? Probably.

So, I'm thinking he will for sure pick one this go 'round but, I'm worried it won't last b/c he was pressured or she was.

I know this is totally original and shocking...someone is doubting the authenticity of a "reality" show :p I guess my point is...what IS the point? None of it seems sincere.

On another note...I'm glad the Vampire Girl is gone, Emily is my favorite and Michelle is a nutjob. See ya :)

45 minutes to go

Well, for the 1st time since I started this blogging challenge, I actually almost forgot a day. My fabulous procrastination habit is to blame. However, it's only 11:15 West Coast time...so I am still technically in day 17 and still doing just fine on my challenge. So there :)

Today was family day...just lounging and playing w/ and focusing on Aaron. It's important that we have these times where everything can just be 100% about him. So we played games, did some baseball and took him to a sporting goods store called "Scheel's" it has a giant Ferris Wheel inside, a couple spots with simulated games, hunting, and racecar driving. It was all fun and games as they, say until Aaron decided to spend his gift card and use some of his Birthday and Christmas money and BOUGHT HIMSELF AN AUBURN TIGERS HAT! No, I am not kidding! As if that was not soul crushing enough, he selects an "Auburn Tigers National Champions" shirt. I am raising him wrong. it was a small victory though, because he was pretty dead-set on a Florida Gators hat. Which I wouldn't be able to tolerate. I gave into the Dallas Cowboys hat for Christmas...what more do you want from me? :p

Always say, I love you

For my 16th blog in January I'm veering off from "The List" and writing about something I've been thinking about lately.

I have a son, which y'all know. And as fellow parents are already aware of...raising kids...whether it's 1 or 10...is hard. We're molding, shaping and helping these little humans grow up to be fabulous adults. We already know from our own childhoods that we will eff up, somewhere along the way, and no matter how doting we are, how much organic, pesticide-free food we cram down their cute little throats and no matter how restricted their TV/Video games/Computer time is...we have already messed them up somewhere along the line. That's a fact, Jack.

I was thinking of the things my parents did or didn't do...they didn't make me feel empowered to have my own opinion, they did not discipline with a plan, they were not consistent. I don't remember those "Leave it to Beaver" heart-to-heart talks. I actually used to ground MYSELF when I was little...because so often, besides a spanking, there were little to no consequences to bad behavior. I got drunk when I was 17 and came home in the middle of the night. I was grounded for a good chunk of my Senior yr...my brother did that w/ regularity from about 15 on...I can't recall him being grounded. Certainly not for many months. So, it felt like there was favoritism...and as the over-looked poor, poor middle child, I often felt like that. 

I'm sure some or all of that plus many unmentionables made me the spastic, over-bearing, tough-love, over-protective Mom that I am today. However, one thing they did that was very, very right...was never let us leave them or each other w/out saying, "I Love You". We said it as we left for school, for a friends house, on the phone, or even just leaving the room after having a little chat.

And really...in my opinion, that's the most important thing you can give a child. To make sure they feel loved, and are comfortable expressing this to the people in their lives. I have known too many people who don't say it often or at all to even their friends and kids. Most of them grew up with at least one parent who never verbally expressed love...so they carried that with them. I think FEELING loved is definitely important...but, saying those 3 words and hearing them...that's the most important thing you can pass down to your child.

Then and Now...

15th day of blogging everyday in January :)

Today's topic from, "The List" is: A picture of you last year and now, how have you changed since then?

Last August (2009)

This one is December (2010)

Hmm, what differences between now and then..? Well besides my hair is much darker...I covered up most of the red w/ chocolate brown...But, as you can see, the auburn shines through anyway, towards the ends of my hair. Stubborn. My eyebrows are a tad thicker...Or am I supposed to be telling you less visible things that are different? Personal things? Ways that I think? How I perceive things? Yes, a LOT has changed since that port-a-potty picture in August 2009. And maybe I'll divulge a little or a lot about those things.

All in good time :)

Well, this takes the cake...

Day 14 of blogging everyday in January. 

Today's topic:

A picture of something that makes you happy -

(Beyond the obvious...Family, Aaron, Sunshine, Holidays, etc.)

Cupcakes and Lulu Guinness handbags! Cupcakes are not only tasty and portable...they are also adorable. They absolutely cheer me up. And these are the most amazing, whimsical, HIGH quality, handbags, ever. I'm addicted.

I wanna wake you from your dream...

Welcome to my 13th consecutive Blog post. I am suffering with back spasms tonight, so this will be  brief. You're welcome :p

Tonight's topic:

Put your iPod on shuffle: First 10 songs that play:

1. "Backyard" Guster
2. "Do You Love Me?" Guster (So much for shuffling!)
3. "Princess" Lee DeWyze
4. "Inbetween Days" The Cure
5. "Piece Of Me" Skid Row
6. "Lights" Journey
7. "Is This Love" Bob Marley
8. "Please Forgive Me" David Gray
9. "Temptation" New Order
10. "Last Of The Famous International Playboys" Morrissey

And there you have it. See you tomorrow :)

Why do I do what I do?

Twelfth day of consecutive posting...this deserves a self high-five :)

Today's topic:

 How you found out about Blogger and why you made one :

I found out about Blogger from my fabulous friend, Lou Ann (her Blog is "It's Always Something Around Here")...I had been interested for a while but, it seemed like too much work for my poor A.D.D. addled brain. Then I was dealing with a lot of frustration with situations in my family...particularly the way certain people handled my brother who is an in-denial Alcoholic. As anyone who has a friend or loved one with an addiction knows...their sickness affects everyone they come in contact with on a daily basis. I had a good friend I could vent to. But, we drifted apart around Feb/March last year, when it was getting the worst. So, I had this need to vent and purge some of the feelings associated with my brother's sickness and thought a Blog would be ideal for that. Then, I second-guessed myself and decided against it because in my family we tend to keep things to ourselves...present a perfect face and family to the public. I know that's all part of the sickness and cycle. So, here I am :)

He is slowly coming to terms with the fact that he is actually an Alcoholic and cannot do it alone. He is seeking help in the near future. Not holding my breath because we have heard this promise many, many times before. This time seems different but, with an addict, you never know.

Thank you for reading. :)

Chocolate fixes everything...

Started my day with a delicious double chocolate cake doughnut (less fat than glazed haha), and a small coffee w/ FF milk...still a gazillion empty calories there but, I felt healthy as I was eating it :P

That kept me full for about 4 hours...went for a Red Velvet yogurt...but, as I turned on TV I saw they were still talking about how Auburn beat Oregon...I needed something stronger...tossed the yogurt back in the fridge and grabbed a chocolate-dipped granola bar...granola is healthy, right? :)

Then, to conclude my day, Aaron and I had steaks w/ green beans, baked beans, garlic bread and sauteed mushrooms. Followed by...homemade chocolate chip cookies. AND seeing as how Aaron is already in bed reading a book @ barely 6pm...Momma might have some of that yummy chocolate wine just to conclude my Chocolate Day of Happiness :)

Still bitter about last night's game. Still not ready to speak of it. Thanks for reading :)

Better late than, never :)

I know it's "technically" Tuesday the 11th but, since I'm still awake it's still part of MY Monday the 10th :p So this is my Monday January 10th post. I'll do Tuesday's later. Slept most of the day due to back spasms and pain...even after sleeping 10 hours lastnight.

Today's topic: Songs you listen to when you are Happy, Sad, Bored, Hyped, Mad :

Happy - Usually brainless 80's music, or The Cure. Today I was excited for the game (which we will not speak of) so I had on "Bad Bad World" and "Do You Love Me?" by Guster, "The Right Stuff" by New Kids and "Friday I'm In Love" by The Cure

Sad - Depends...Morrisey/The Smiths works well here...as do most Depeche Mode and New Order songs. Last time I was having a sad day I listened to - "Ceremony" by New Order, "40 dogs" by Bob Schneider, "Almost Lover" by A Fine Frenzy, "Charlotte Sometimes" The Cure,
"Fade Into You" Mazzy Star

Bored - Usually I just let Pandora pick for me when I can't think of what music I'm in the mood for

Hyped - See "Happy" above and add anything by Korn and/or Slipknot and I'll add in some Snoop Dogg/Dr Dre

Mad - Loud and aggressive, of course. Korn, Metallica, Slipknot, etc

This concludes my 10th blog entry in a row :)

Hello kids!

I'm not feeling super awesome due to my back, so I'm going to do Sunday's (Day 9) blog post now. But, God willing I will be comfortably napping most of the day tomorrow. I couldn't even indulge in my chocolate wine, like i was hoping to b/c I had to take more pain meds. BOO!

Here's the topic for today's post: Something you’re proud of in the past few days: I guess this goes back to kind of same as yesterday...I'm proud of this blog and my persistence in posting in it. I think Nick saying I would lose interest and *not* fulfill my entire month promise kicked in my competitive side and here we are :)

Also proud of pulling off yet another fun and successful Birthday and Christmas celebration for Aaron...it's rough having to do all the Christmas festivities and then make a birthday seem like a special *separate* day when it's competing w/ Christmas. I know that wasn't *past few days* but, close enough. My blog, my rules :P

I'm sure I'm proud of other things but, my tired little brain is throwing in the towel. See you on Day 10 :)

PS - now that it's Sunday, we have only ONE more day til Nat'l Championship game. Go Ducks!

Happy Saturday!

This will be short...Aaron has a friend here for a sleepover....the longer I'm out of sight, the louder the screams and doors slamming gets. As long as they're having fun, right? :p

Today's topic from my 30 days list: Day 08- Short term goals for this month and why:

Well, doing this blog is obviously a goal. For any new readers - I'm blogging every day in January. For a cpl reasons: to make it a habit, b/c I neglected this blog for 3 months and forgot I even HAD one. And also...to maybe find a niche...to find a definite topic or topics to blog on and have little more flow to it.

Exercising to be more healthy is another one. I feel considerably weaker w/ less natural energy with all the down time from my back pain.

Yard sale for all of Aaron's old toys, clothes and baby stuff. Don't think we need a bassinet, 2 strollers and 3 car seats, anymore :P I have the HARDEST time letting go of his baby things. But, can donate/sell his toys and clothes w/ no problem.

OK, off to start the dough for Stromboli and take these kids to play and run off some steam.

Thanks for reading :)

Superheroes and Inspiration...

Day 7 of 31 :) Not going into the explanation anymore...figure the one's reading know what's up by now...and new readers can read back a few posts and figure it out ;)

Today's topics:

Favorite superhero and why: it's a tie...Spiderman and Mighty Mouse. Siderman b/c he's just a regular guy trying to get rid of the bad guy and avenge his Uncle's death. Also...I'm a sucker for a guy w/ a sad story :)

And, Mighty Mouse b/c LOOK at him! Cutest, chubbiest little guy in spandex and a cape, ever!

And whenever I see a smoke trail in the sky from a jet, I ALWAYS, still to this day sing to myself :

"Here I come to save the day...!"

2nd topic is:

A picture of someone/something that has the biggest impact on you: This also has 2 answers. One is ridiculously obvious, and one might surprise a cpl of you.

My favorite 2 boys in the world. I can easily say they both saved my life, in different ways and at different times. (This pic was taken Christmas night, 2010. My wonderful sister Mandie was there also).

And:

Friend from work gave me this book 2 years ago. It has changed my thinking in many ways. As spazzy as I am, I think learning about and bracing many parts of Buddhism has actually taken the edge off a bit. It was in this book that I learned you CAN be a Buddhist and believe in God. There is a way to blend both. I was happy to learn that :)

2 of my favorite things :)

FAR too amazing not to share! I think this is a good omen...Go Ducks!

Where has the time gone?

Day 6...goodness gracious :) I cannot believe I'm still doing this. I'm pretty sure 6 days is my longest streak for anything. I wish I was joking.

I'm having a lot of fun with my blog..and it's true...the more you blog and get the hang of it, the more you WANT to. And I'm getting clearer ideas of where I want to go with this. Wow :)

Here's today's topics...I'm doing 2 b/c I started a little late so I'm doubling up to catch up.

A habit that you wish you didn’t have: Procrastination. Which is weird b/c I am pretty organized and a great planner..but, even with all that, I still excel when I start late. It's weird and stresses me out, so I wish I'd stop lol.


A picture of somewhere you’ve been to: Grand Canyon. I've been 3 times and it's still the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. And yes, of course..it makes me cry :p

See y'all for day 7 :)

Day 5!

5th day in my "blog everyday in January" challenge. It's becoming second nature now. My hope is that after this month, blogging will be a habit, something I just do and don't need to be reminded. That's the whole reason I'm doing this. I went 3 months w/out blogging before this challenge and honestly completely forgot I even had a blog.

Today's topic, (which I explained a cpl days ago...I found a list of 30 things to do/discuss on your blog for an entire month. I can't do the picture ones until I figure out how to upload pics) -

The meaning behind your Blog name.

Easy enough...my name is Heather and this is a blog about my life :p No seriously...I wasn't sure what I was going to write about...sports, family, cooking, purses, reading, music, etc so the name had to be kind of general and not too specific.

I'm pretty sure after talking to a Twitter friend that I will eventually have a few of these up and running. To cover my different moods and interests.

Thank you for reading guys, this is fun :)

Guess who's back....back again...

This is the 4th day of my "blog everyday in January" challenge. I'm quite impressed I've done this well, so far.

I found a list of things to do in your blog for 30 days, so here's the 1st one I'm doing. Until I learn how to do pics, you'll have to go to fb to see new pics of me :p

 A recent picture of you and 15 interesting facts about yourself:
Not sure how "interesting" these are...but, here goes:

1. I was born in Oregon, raised mostly in the South...FL and GA.
2. I am left handed.
3. I'm a middle child. Older brother, younger sister.
4. I failed 9th grade. Went to Summer School to pass. Found myself in a private Christian School for the next 3 yrs.
5. I believe in love at 1st sight and soul mates.
6. I have one son and have been with his father for 12 years.
7. I am not married.
8. I cry at concerts and most public events.
9. I am addicted to chick-lit.
10. I love basketball.
11. I have named 4 cats after basketball players: EJ (Earvin Johnson), Earvin (we called her Irving), Byron (Scott), and Goat (Earl "the goat" Manigault)
12. Also named one Mojo during my Jim Morrison obsession.
13. I could eat spaghetti every single day.
14. I don't have fingerprints on all my fingers.
15. I would rather buy a movie I've never seen, than rent it.

OK, that's the best I could do with no coffee. I'd love if, in my comments, y'all did one of these, too :)

The list

I'm posting this here so I don't forget where I found this list. Which I will b/c whenever I bookmark something...I lose it. There on here somewhere :p

Day 01- A recent picture of you and 15 interesting facts about yourself
Day 02- The meaning behind your Blog name
Day 03- A picture of you and your friends
Day 04- A habit that you wish you didn’t have
Day 05- A picture of somewhere you’ve been to
Day 06- Favorite super hero and why
Day 07- A picture of someone/something that has the biggest impact on you
Day 08- Short term goals for this month and why
Day 09- Something you’re proud of in the past few days
Day 10- Songs you listen to when you are Happy, Sad, Bored, Hyped, Mad
Day 11- Another picture of you and your friends
Day 12- How you found out about Blogger and why you made one
Day 13- A letter to someone who has hurt you recently
Day 14- A picture of you and your family
Day 15- Put your iPod on shuffle: First 10 songs that play
Day 16- Another picture of yourself
Day 17- Someone you would want to switch lives with for one day and why
Day 18- Plans/dreams/goals you have
Day 19- Nicknames you have; why do you have them
Day 20- Someone you see yourself marrying/being with in the future
Day 21- A picture of something that makes you happy
Day 22- What makes you different from everyone else
Day 23- Something you crave for a lot
Day 24- A letter to your parents
Day 25- What I would find in your bag
Day 26- What you think about your friends
Day 27- Why are you doing this 30 day challenge
Day 28- A picture of you last year and now, how have you changed since then?
Day 29- In this past month, what have you learned
Day 30- Your favorite song.

Keep on truckin'

Here we are, Day 3 of my "Blog everyday in January" challenge with myself. I am now finding myself thinking of things during the day I want to ask, or share here...I might be gaining a little momentum...or cultivating another unhealthy obsession  We shall see how this plays out ;)

2 things I wanted to cover today:

First one is that I introduced my soon-to-be 61 yr old father to Pandora. This may seem like no biggie to you guys...but, for those who know the story of my Dad and all he has been through and overcome in the last year-plus...this is major, and exciting and downright adorable. My dad is a music lover who has put that interest on the back burner for many yrs mainly, *I* think b/c my Mom didn't share the interest and thought it was frivolous. A bit of back story: My dad suffered a pretty major stroke in September 2009 while undergoing surgery for an Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm. That part of the surgery went seamlessly...he unfortunately suffered the stroke during or immediately after surgery due to oxygen deprivation and a "bleed out" from a stitch not being tight enough, or maybe not being there at all. We just don't know. SO, for my dad to be able to log in and listen to Journey, Kenny Loggins,Survivor, Van Halen, Hall & Oates, etc whenever he wants is a huge source of happiness for him, and for those who love him.

Second thing is this: Apparently I didn't invent the "blog everyday for a month" idea. Phooey. I did however, find some topic ideas I am going to try out. Not going to do all of them b/c I do not know how to upload pics on here, yet (pitiful). SO I'll do all the non-photo ones in the meantime. And I will start tomorrow b/c this post is long enough. Thank you for reading :)

Well, I'll be damned..

Look who's writing in this here bloggy thing for the 2nd day in a row :) I deserve a self-high five for that. Done.

OK, where to begin...my head's always all over the place..so I guess it makes a lot of sense that my blog would follow suit. Today I am covering 2 things...Food and sports.

Lastnight I made crock-pot lasagna. My best friend who adores and worships all things Oprah, told me that Jerry Seinfeld's wife was on the Oprah show and is such a cooking genius, she invented something called a crock-pot lasagna. I am a fan of the crock-pot and also of the lasagna but, NOT a fan of anything Seinfeld-related..so I explored. I googled the recipe and it was a basic, run-of-the-mill veggie lasagna. Snooze. SO, my little brain decided to use my tried and true lasagna recipe and throw it in the fricken crock-pot. It was delicious, and now *I* am a genius.

So, today was an abysmal day in College Football. Unless you are a fan of all the teams I hate. I knew the streak couldn't last 2 days in a row. Friday the 31st brought us wins from all the Florida teams I care about...USF, UCF, and FSU. ALL I asked of Jan 1st was a Gator loss. I guess the unfortunate part was that they were playing Penn state. I should have seen this coming. Then, poor Nick...his beloved Wisconsin Badgers lost to TCU by 2 sad, little points. So now we focus and stay positive for 2 final games I care about...Nevada Vs. Boston College on Jan. 9th. Should be an easy WolfPack win...and....The nasty Auburn Tigers vs. The Fabulous and Unflappable Oregon Ducks on Jan. 10th. Send the positive vibes kids...An Oregon win is all I want for my birthday this yr. Well, that's a lie...but, it will make me happy :)

Ahh, New Year...new promises to break :)

Happy New Year! I refuse to make resolutions anymore..b/c my rebellious side just wants to break them for the heck of it. SO...now I make goals :) Goals sound positive and like something to work towards. Also less pressure.

I have all my goals broken down into categories...personal, home, financial, etc. Some as basic as...treat self and 1 friend to lunch/pedicures one weekend a month. Some more complex and personal. The only one that involves y'all is: Write in blog everyday for a month...make new goal after month is over. So there ya go...and here it is. Entry numero 1.

Hoping during my month of entries I'll find a niche to blog about...sports, music, cooking, crazy families, etc..many avenues I could go down. I'd like to streamline a bit. See y'all tomorrow.

:) Heather