My Buddy Hannah over in New Zealand tagged me with a meme. She loves lists as much as I do. Mmmmm…lists. We’ve been so busy socializing over the past few days that I can’t seem to get my head around a cohesive blog post. The next few days are pretty jam-packed too. In the meantime? Yet another meme to add to my About Me page. Let’s see if there’s anything left to dig up that you guys don’t already know about me.
What were you doing ten years ago?
I was twenty-two (Wasn’t I 22 last year? Apparently not. Sigh.) I was living in Vancouver and lamenting the fact that many of my friends were already married, or were engaged…or dating. I was none of the above, and thought I would die a lonely spinster. Instead, I married Superman and have three cute and crazy kids. I wouldn’t have believed you then, but I’m pretty happy about the way my life turned out. Thanks be to God.
What were you doing one year ago?
Let’s look in the blog archives, shall we? I did a post about Summer. We all know how much I love summer; that hasn’t changed. The Puffy reference was due to the fact that I was over five months pregnant with Miss Emily. The puffiness, veins (varicose and spider), and other discomforts made it my most unpleasant pregnancy. Despite all of that, I think it would be safe to say it was worth it, no?
Five snacks you enjoy:
- Diet Coke. That counts as a snack, right?
- Nacho cheese Ariba chips. I try not to keep them in the house, or I just. can’t. stop.
- Popcorn. I am a fan of salt.
- Nachos. Though we actually add beef to them and make them a meal, usually on Fridays. Any guesses what’s on the menu tonight?
- Chocolate, it most of its forms. I can’t do Black Forest cake though. Blech.
Five songs that you know all of the lyrics to:
Only five? How about five thousand? Let’s do a quick round-up, then.
- Most of the songs on this list that Meg did last week (as well as pretty much any eighties or nineties song). That post had me singing (rapping?) It Takes Two for many days on end. I’m not Internationally known, but I’m known throughout the microphone…
- The Little Einsteins theme song. We’re going on a trip, in our favourite rocket ship…
- The Wonder Pets Theme song. What’s gonna work? TEAMwork!
- Dora, Dora, Dora the ExplorRAH!
- Noticing a theme here?
Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:
- Pay off my mortgage. I’d offer to pay off the mortgages for the rest of our family, but have you SEEN house prices lately?
- Put money away for retirement.
- Put money away for the kids’ education.
- Aren’t I WILD?
- Start an annual Christmas trip to Mexico. That’s better.
Five bad habits:
- I drink a lot of Diet Coke. Though it’s a better habit than say, smoking or doing drugs. At least in my humble opinion.
- I chew the inside of my lip.
- I drive a little faster than I should. Honey has been known to comment
oftenoccasionally about it. - I flail my arms wildly about when I talk. It’s dangerous to those around me. And to my laptop.
- I talk too fast. My brain works even faster, so my mouth gets impatient. I actually use “Blah, blah, blah” when telling a story. Graham has been heard to ask me, “Mommy? Why do you say “blah, blah, blah” ALL THE TIME?”
Five favourite toys:
- My camera.
- My new laptop.
- My new cell phone. Motorola Razr. It take pictures! And videos! And? It’s PINK!
- My stamping stuff.
- My DVR. How did I live without it? How did my kids live without it? I have no idea.
Five things you would never wear again:
- Maternity clothes. We are done!
- Acid washed anything.
- Tights. I’m holding out on this one. One of my students last weekend was wearing an outfit that looks like one I would have worn in high school. I just can’t do it, Captain.
- Overalls. I may live in the sticks, but it just isn’t going to happen.
- Blue mascara and big bangs. I did my time. No more glasses either; it’s been two years since I had lasik surgery.
Five things you like doing:
Apart from being a Mom which goes without saying. I’d better enjoy it; it’s a 24/7 activity.
- Drinking Diet Coke. Have you noticed another theme here?
- Blogging. That was a no-brainer. Keep clicking! You guys are awesome.
- Reading. But who has the time? Not me.
- Stamping. As in making cards, not licking stamps. Thought I should clarify.
- Hanging with my Honey. Though he should be at the top of this list, as he’s pretty dang fine.
OK. I’m done, but I won’t tag anyone. I’m about memed out. I’m hoping at least part of the above was worth the effort it took to read it.
Wishing you all a great long weekend. We plan on putting this to use:
We have lived in this house for six years and had yet to own a patio set. We bought it yesterday with some of that hard-earned money I made in the last two months. You likey?
Our weekend will be filled with good food, great friends and lots of laughs. I hope yours is the same.
First of all, I want to give a big THANK YOU to all of you clickety-click-clickers! We’re past the four thousand mark for the number of views. I know. But someone else has, like, fourteen thousand views. But each view is a ballot, so it increases my odds. I want to win this so badly. Then I can give Leah the hug she deserves for her sweet post plugging me (and for just being her) and so that I can be SAJ’s stealthy spy, since she can’t make it. I guess I’ll just have to take a trip to California so I can finally meet her. And I can’t forget to mention Tina over at reddirtroad who is always helping me out…and plugging me too.
Back to life in the Real World around here.
You all know I’ve been busy working (for pay) for the last seven weeks. Many of you were probably thinking, “She has three kids under the age of five. She’s always busy. What’s she belly-achin’ about?”
I won’t bore you with the hours I was working every day (eight to ten) or the number of days per week I was working (seven). Let me illustrate it for you a different way. Every once in a while I would look up from my laptop with glazed eyes and stop to focus on the calendar. I would then be hit with the realization that I had not stepped foot off of our property in about a week. That would be SEVEN DAYS, people. Seven days with no human contact apart from my family here. That’s why I tried to keep up the best I could with blogging; it was the only interaction I would have with the outside world.
On those days where I would finally get out of here to go on a play date/”get” to grocery shop/go to Graham’s Playschool graduation, it would put me behind in my workload and I’d then be up until ten or eleven that night trying to catch up.
It was awful.
But? It paid well, and now I’m done. Done, done, DONE.
The last few days have been busy, but a different busy. Busy playing with my kids. Busy arranging play dates so that my kids could see their friends…and so that I could see MY friends. It’s been good.
Real good.
Here’s picture proof (I have time to take pictures!):
We have even more play dates/birthday parties/barbeques planned in the coming days.
The Real World? It’s pretty fantastic.
In light of the last two posts, I am having a good laugh at myself. Mid-day on Saturday I went and did a post about how much I was missing my family and how I couldn’t wait to get back to them. Hours later? I’m asking you to help me win a contest that’s going to fly me to Chicago. So you’re probably thinking, “She must be crazy!”
Yes. Yes, I am. And maybe just a little hormonal.
I spent the first part of my weekend away swinging between two ends of my emotional spectrum. I’d spend a little while wallowing in the worries of, “What if something happens to me? Or to them? And we never see each other again? *sob* and before I knew it I would be thinking thoughts along the lines of, “Shopping for a little girl is so. much. FUN! Wheeeeeeee!!!”
I had talked to Matthew and the kids while on my lunch break on Saturday and was back at the weepy end of the spectrum. I did what I normally do; thanked God for my great family and then poured my feelings onto this site. After hitting the Publish button, I thought I should go to the bathroom to compose myself and, um, go to the bathroom.
Aha! Physical evidence of my inner raging hormones. My crazy emotions? Made perfect sense now. Lucky for me I’m a bit of an over-planner slash over packer (my suit case was packed FULL before I left home). One of the “what-if” scenarios that ran through my head while packing resulted in me putting a couple of products in my purse that came in quite handy at that particular moment in time. Phew! Disaster averted.
On Friday night I had the extreme pleasure of finally meeting Kristin and her sweet little boy Nolan. You may remember Kristin from the days when she had her personal blog called Tall N’ Lucky. She stopped writing on her personal site thanks to some creepy Internets (Boo! Hiss!), but she still writes for ParentDish. She told me about the Scrapblog contest and told me to enter. After having such a great experience meeting her, I would be besides myself with glee to meet other great Internet friends who are also going. Could you imagine?
My Dad and his lady friend Gail took me for a nice supper (and visit!) at the Hotel Vancouver on Saturday night. Once I was back in my room I checked out the deets on the Scrapblog contest. I did up my page and then asked you to click on it. Then sweet SAJ told me she was going to do a post to help me out and went and whipped up that graphic in, like, ten minutes. She’s magical like that.
It’s not a contest where she with the most views wins, but each and every view gives me an entry into the contest. Each click increases my odds, and it doesn’t cost a thing. Keep clicking, you fantastic clickety-clickers!
(Edited to add a big thanks to Leah for promoting the clicking. Amanda too (who I’ll be bringing if I win). Here’s hoping this works!) Â
I got home last night before the kids were in bed, and that was all I had aimed for. The drive took over four hours. That, combined with three nights of poor sleep (hotel room, no Honey to cuddle with) made for a sleepy Mommy today. I’ve also been running full-tilt for seven weeks straight. Now that work has come to a dead stop, my body decided to do the same. Honey was great and sent me for a nap when he took his lunch break, so I was a little more coherent this afternoon.
Please excuse the upcoming onslaught of photos. I was not only away from my family this weekend; I had left my SLR behind (one less thing to be stolen in the big city). Now that I am reunited with both my kids and my camera…I went a little nuts. I’d put in a “more” tag, but then my Mom wouldn’t know what to do and wouldn’t get to see her grandbabies.
The start of the day was cloudy, but that didn’t stop the boys from going outside to test out the bubble guns I bought them on my trip. The guns sure suck battery power, but at least I’m not light-headed from blowing into the bubble wand a million times in a row.
Kids and bubbles. Hours of entertainment.
Here’s where I caught the dudes through the window while they were having a snack break.
I tried some of Miss Emily’s many new clothes on her. In case you can’t read the shirt, it says “Way sweeter than chocolate”
That pretty much sums her up.
So. I’m finally done working (for pay) and can “just” be a Mom. Day One has been pretty swell…I could get used to this. Anyone have a million bucks they want to give me?
No? OK. How about a click, then?
And comments are (of course) always welcome.
From what I can tell, every click gives me an entry!
Hi!
I’m not asking you to leave a comment (Shocking, I know).
If you are reading this, please click this link:
Pretty please.
I’M BEGGING YOU!
But? If you’re feeling generous?
What do you think?
You guys are awesome.
Love,
Angella
Edited to add:
This is why I want you to click. Again, SAJ rocks for promoting me! I highly doubt I would actually win, but I’d like to give it a shot. Who knows? Maybe I will win! All you have to do is click on it, and that counts as an entry. So click away! Click, click, click!
You guys rock too.
Besides the winning thing…this may also turn into a new hobby. Because I have so much free time 
