Ten Best Moments Of The Year

I came across Ten on Tuesday and decided to give it a whirl. I'm supposed to list the 10 Best Moments Of The Year


1. Definitely when Niki came back home to stay.

2. For sure the time Niki came back home to stay--the next time.

3. Oh! I know! The time Niki made the decision to return home....(I could go on, but then I'd only have one good moment left.).

4. When I decided to let go of most of all the things people have done to me in the past and let it be the past. Forgive even when they didn't ask for it. That was a very freeing moment--and has opened a few doors since.

5. Adopting our cat, Scat!

6. Getting accepted to sell in my first digiscrap shop.

7. When John's brother, Jim, arranged to have our air conditioner installed after ours died in the height of the heat wave.

8. Cody bringing home his semester grades (Not bragging but somewhere above 4.0. Okay, I'm bragging, how cool is that?!)

9. When Niki brought her cap and gown to me, kissed my cheek and said 'thank you'. Wait! That second part might have been a daydream. But definitely when she brought her cap and gown to me...very big deal!

10. Every moment with John is the best, because he is the best.

There! That wasn't so hard. If you want to join, click the pic above. Let me know if you have one up, I'll come over. I'm trying to work my way to all my friends this week at least twice. I get started then the phone rings, or something pops into my mind and I forget what I was doing. Niki is certain I'm turning into an old lady. I am certain SHE is turning me into an old lady. But I'm very glad she's home. Could you tell?

Six Quirky Things About Me

Shana tagged me the other day--so here it is. Six quirky things about me. You'd think that wouldn't be difficult, but I'm deep in denial, so I've been mulling it over.

1. If you've read my blog longer than a week, you know Tab soda flows through my veins and without it, I'll probably check out.

2. I pop my eyelids. I've done this since childhood. It resulted in a very terrifying moment in time late one night as I lay in the dark in my orange canopied bed happily popping my eyes as I drifted to sleep. My sister, Jamee, (oh she could get mean with the best of us when driven to it) suddenly dive bombed me from out of the darkness, hollering "Stop it Stacey! Stop popping your eyes!!! Stop it!!!!". Sheesh! If only she'd tried it.

3. I can't sleep well without three pillows. Two on my head and one at my back.

4. I STILL hate getting out of bed at night...sometimes I can almost feel the arms that are laying in wait reaching out and grabbing my ankles, pulling me under....that goes for vans with no windows parked beside me, thanks for whoever forwarded THAT to me!

5. I can't go outside without my sunglasses, and I panic when I can't find them. This dates back a few years, Niki and Cody were small. I was driving to the grocery store when suddenly my eyes started watering so badly I had to pull over, I couldn't see. My eyes are, for some reason, very sensitive to the sun and they water up and itch like crazy!

6. Number Five leads me to think I could be a vampire and not even know it.

If you're reading this and wanna share, I'm tagging YOU! Thanks, Shana, it was fun.

Etiquette Is NOT A Bad Word!

Tamy, at 3 Sides of Crazy, has this great meme going, The Revival of Common Courtesy. It really really intrigued me--in a world where too often we think of how we feel, what we want, when we please, this is just the ticket!

Anyway, on her blog, she asks what we do to make our guests feel more at home. She really covered some of the bigger bases, so it's kind of difficult to be original. I'm not really a great hostess, really, it doesn't come naturally. But I'd have to say the ONE thing I do make priority when I have guests is I absolutely put them as priority...if you're at my home, you've got my full attention. It's lame, but it's what I do best--I can definitely hold a conversation with anyone, including your doorknob. Really! I can!

Head over to Tammy's if you want to link up.

One Word, Just One Word..It's Hard To Do!

I got this off of Gayle's blog, then read Kathleen's version and FINALLY got around to doing it. It sounds easy, just use one word, what comes to mind. But I think I'm a two to three word kind of gal, this was harder than I thought! If you haven't done it already, try it!

I'm off to St. Joseph tomorrow, gonna lunch with my BFFs Kelly and Nova, the two loves of my life, I am! Oh, hey Kelly! Nova is joining us for lunch, btw. I told her you got the check, she said for sure! Dunkin Donuts, here I come.

1. Where is your cell phone? Desk
2. Your significant other? Store
3. Your hair? Wet
4. Your mother? Skip
5. Your father? Heaven
6. Your favorite thing? Computer
7. Your dream last night?Forget
8. Your favorite drink? Tab
9. Your dream/goal? Missional
10. The room you’re in? Bedroom
11. Your church? Best
12. Your fear? Failure
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Missional
14. Where were you last night? Pool
15. What you’re not? Mean
16. Muffins? Top
17. One of your wish list items? Vacation
18. Where you grew up? Savannah
19. The last thing you did? Brew
20. What are you wearing? PJ's
21. Your TV? Fox
22. Your pets? Loves
23. Your computer? Vavavaoom
24. Your life? Juxtaposition
25. Your mood?Peaceful
26. Missing someone? Desperately
27. Your car? Explorer
28. Something you’re not wearing? Heels
29. Favorite store? Digi
30. Your summer? Flying
31. Like(love) someone? Yes
32. Your favorite color? Blue
33. Last time you laughed? Tonight
34. Last time you cried? Tuesday
35. Who will repost this? Nada

You Won't Soon Forget This One......

I've been given the honor of sharing a fascinating book with you--and I jumped at the chance to be part of this blog tour. If you're an avid reader like myself and you heart fiction that doesn't forget God's hand in our lives, then you've probably heard of Tricia Goyer already. Maybe you've read some of her books, Life Interrupted, My Life Unscripted, From Ashes to Dust, and so many more. She's got a clear grasp on hunting down historical details, adding characters that are intertwined and drenched with energy and hope, then placing those characters into a plot that's going to keep you turning pages all night long!

A Whisper of Freedom is the third book in her Spanish Civil War Series. Here, you'll catch up with Sophie's heart and her hair raising adventure right from the beginning. It's hard to imagine how heart-wrenching it it was to be caught up in the Spanish Civil War, but Tricia's attention to detail combined with her story telling talent gives us a glimpse. Not only that, here she writes far more than a book, but captures a story of faith not to be forgotten.

If you're feeling as drawn into the series as I am, you can win the entire three book series in the Chronicles of the Spanish Civil War Series. And in entering, you get a fun meme to post on your own blog. This meme gives you an opening to share missions and/or charities you have a heart for. Oh...and to sweeten the pot just a little, they're throwing in gourmet chocolate coins too. You know.... reading chocolate. I read better with chocolate in one hand and a book in the other!

Copy the meme questions below and answer the questions, then head over to Tricia's place and let her know your meme is up. That's it! It's almost as easy as getting lost in an amazing Christian novel while popping gourmet chocolate coins into your mouth. Click HERE to grab the questions off Tricia's blog and let her know you're playing.

1. List three things you would do with a chest full of gold (assuming you got to keep it!)

1. Update the nursing home my friend John resides in and hire employees worthy of working with the beautiful aging residents.
2. Bring Gervasio to the US to study medicine.
3. Pay our debts and the debts of all our friends and family (assuming it's a big chest).

2. List three charities/missions/organizations you support (and why).

1. Cornerstone Church....they are my family.
2. MiracleWord.net because the concept is so simple yet so incredible...read Scripture and come to know the miracle within those pages.
3. Compassion International...we sponsor two beautiful children, Catherine and Gervasio.

3. List three ways you have volunteered your time/services

1. I used to be a candy striper (loved loved loved the jumpers, lol)
2. Visiting elderly at the nursing home.
   
3. Church--wherever I'm told to go.
   

4. List three things you keep "hidden" when company comes over.

1. My kids! (Okay I'm kidding, but sometimes I wish I could)
2. My sewing room--it's downright dangerous if you don't know what you're doing!
3. That's about it, honestly, my friends know I'm not pulled together all the time. And when I finally decided to let them see the real me, suddenly I was free to welcome my friends anytime!
   

5. List the last three things you've lost.

1. My bank card.
2. My gold nugget necklace.
3. Is my mind too cliche?

6. List the last three things you've found.

1. My bank card (car).
2. My gold nugget necklace (where it belongs, pshh last place I look!)
3. $5.00 in my jacket--love that!
   

*There's MORE! Tricia has set aside five signed copies of A Whisper of Freedom for you, my friends, to win. If you want to win your own signed copy (and I know you do), just sign up for her newsletter HERE!

Weird-O Tag Time

Part two of Shana's post today--the 7 things tag!

Shana laid out rules, and it said I have to link to her, the tagger (so now you have to link to me, the tag-ee turned tagger...you have to, it's the rule, don't make me say 'ahhhmmmmmmmm, I'm telling!'). Then I have to list seven weird things about myself. And tag seven others. She says I have to let them know they've been tagged, too. Geesh, this could be an ongoing even throughout the day for me!

Okay, the seven weird things about me--this is hard because if I thought I was doing something weird, I wouldn't do it, would I? It's kind of subjective, so let me know if it's not weird enough, I can try harder.

1. My late father's name was James. My late sister's, Jamee. It wasn't until I was out of high school that I ever realized she was named after him--it didn't click! (Personally, I think it's weird nobody mentioned it at home though, idk)


2. If I've had a particularly rough day and I'm feeling very sorry for myself, I grab Winnie The Pooh from the cabinet and sleep with him. It's a comfort from the safe childhood days. (I have a very good reason for posing with a scarf around my head holding Winnie, don't I Kelly! Right Kell? Kelly?)

3. I have ongoing lower back pain that began while sledding with my friends at night down a hill off the side of the road in our town. My boyfriend Charles and I sledded right down the hill, right THROUGH the bonfire and went airborne and landed with a thud on my tailbone.


4. I've never had my nails done, I rarely even file and paint them. Most of my friends do, I just don't know why I don't pull it together. Partly because I type too much to have long nails, partly because I'm lazy, and partly because they'll only be stuck down a toilet within the day anyway.


5. I cut my own hair, and go in about once a year for an 'adjustment'. And I have two nieces who are in the business, I just don't go. If I see an issue, I grab my handy dandy barber scissors and chop chop chop! Angie, if you're reading this, it might be time soon to take care of that mullet-looking thingy again. I'll call.


6. I heart Tab, but you already knew that. But I do! And I have ordered more and have 27 cans here at home with me.


7. If I'm cooking something that calls for Worcester sauce, I always down a tablespoon or two for myself too. Is this wrong?

I have seven people to tag and I'll go ahead and name names, but I'll have to link later on, I need to get to the classroom. I'm tagging:

Misty Dawn

Cat

Jami

Mom Lady (Wendy)

Misplaced Midwesterner (Kim)

Coming To A Nursery...(Dawn)

And Island Life (Kailani)

Make the weird things very very weird, I need to feel better about myself.

**Niki is home today. We are far from out of the woods, and I think we need your continued prayer even moreso now. Because I believe this is a defining time for the rest of her 'teenaged' years and her relationship with us. Praying for my wisdom and my patience might be good.

Aloha Friday

Kilani at An Island Life (my favorite Hawaiian flight attendant/mom/wife who keeps her cell phone in the playroom oven) is hosting a new meme, I thought it would be a light, easy Friday end-to-your-week thing. I ask a question, if you're inclined, you answer. If you wanna play, head over to An Island Life and get on board!

If we could hang out for a day, you and I, what would we do and why? (And Honey, you can email me yours, okay?)

Cat, this is what we'd be doing--that was a good day!

Name Game Day!

This looked like such a hoot, I totally lifted it off Coffee Mom's (aka Buffalo Venture) site. I'm like that, you know. GiGi, if you try this (oh you will) I'd love to know how long the name song stays with you!

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) Sally Mae Explorer

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Vanilla Snickerdoodle

3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) Sley

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Blue Dog

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) Annette St. Joseph The picture? That'd be my soap opera pose! What? As if you don't have one too?

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) Crost

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink)The Green Tab

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) Orville (Red) Don

9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy) Cinnabar Dove

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) Cecile Lisle

11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter) Slusher Savannah

12. SPY NAME/BOND GIRL: (your favorite season/holiday, flower) Fall Lilac

13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”) Strawberry Pantsie

14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree) Smoothie Pear

15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”) The Sewing Thunder Tour

When I've Got Money....Pigs Fly

Dear Janice, my Twist & Skewer girlfriend in blog-life--tagged me for a meme the other day. The question is this: What would you do if you had a million dollars?

Then you copy and paste the info below, linking your site up with your answer. And as you can see by my answer on the bottom, I'm not going to give it a lot of thought. Because it's me, and winning a million dollars just won't be happening to me! It just doesn't! Although, I will admit I had a long winning streak of blog-contests, no doubt about it! So....I'll just sit back and watch those silly little pigs fly when I do win that cool mil.
Proposition: If you Have $1,000,000.00…………………………Requirements: continue above sentencesTag Mode: 5 bloggersLink: Add your anchor and post link below.What They Do With Their $1 Million1. SYH will spend for Family2. Miche will give to the needy3. Montessorimum will keepsake4. Lovely Mummy will spend & save5. MummyInVain will fully utilise6. Babyfiona will buy house and open business7. MonkeyWong will go for a long vacation8. Emila Yusof will realise her dream9. Mariuca will open a Perfume Gallery10.Janice Ng will upgrade house and go for long vacation11.Hin will blog to donate for charity12.Bobo will invest in property and let her parents go on a holiday.13. Adrian will spend it all!14. Brad will spend all of his money on foolish gadgets15.Danielle will buy a cottage in the woods and never look back16. Brown Baron will hold a $17,500 blog contest.17. Bobby will be on a World vacation forever.18. Arsenal Marketing will Tithe 10%, use 10K for advertising, Invest the rest19. Barrett will do ALOT of Traveling20. Mommibee will Give, Pay Loan and Education Fund21. Sean will go for family22. Seiche would Fix you but good23. HollyGL will invest, invest, invest in herself and others24. Nick will waste away his small fortune25. SpeedCat will Buy 2 golf holes!26. Florencetoh will settle her education & ensure her family’s future is looked after.27. Minibites will build a house, etc28. Ingrid would do the sensible thing financially… 29. Bengbeng will relocate to Penang30. Jean Chia will open a ‘pet’s clothing cum cafe’ store 33. JaniceNW give it to charity.34. Stacey will sit and watch the pigs fly overhead! 35. Kelly will stretch that mil into a billion dollars!

And now...........................for all of ya'll who have heard me not once, but twice tell you I'm all over the CD you won in my blog contest--yeah. Not done. Yet. But....I have printed off the labels and will burn the CDs tonight. Which can only mean one thing--they will mail off tomorrow evening! I truly am sorry, I didn't mean to not do it--this homeschool is taking a wee bit longer than I figured in. However, I truly enjoy doing this with Alex and I'm sure when we get our pace rolling we'll have more free time. For now, here's a picture of where he did his History reading (Pocahantas):

Isn't that cool? And if you look carefully to his right, on the loveseat, you can see just a little piece of his favorite classmate nowadays. It's Louie. You'd think a 50 pound dog on 3" leg who must be somewhere around 13 or 14 years old couldn't get up on the loveseat. But he can. He climbs up slowwwwwly. Like a sloth. He thinks that way we won't notice.

If I had a million dollars, I'd pay off my house, my car, the next four years of Jake's college, put $20,00 away for each of my neices for college and go to England this next June to celebrate my 40th birthday. After all that was said and done, if I had a couple of hundred thousand left, which I likely would, I'd quit teaching and write and do art all day long. I'd probably volunteer, too, at the local YWCA for young pregnant moms, and women in abusive marriages and at the local literacy places helping people to learn to read and write. Hey, I can live on a couple hundred thousand for a long time! I'm a teacher, after all. 32 grand does me okay each year with all the payments I have to make, so without the monthly debt, wow...I'd be in heaven. (Here ya go, my friend, Kelly, I did it for ya on my post--that's how much I love you!)

Marrige Meme Time

^^That's for Jenny, she's blogging for Gus' Gang today! Maybe go sponser her, even $5 would do amazing things pooled all together!

I get to talk about the best part of me today, tagged by my favorite Hawaiian mommy, flight attendant, wife over at And Island Life (I know, Sharon, I'm on that tag this weekend, promise.)

Eight things about my marriage, ready or not:

1. I met my husband John where I worked as a secretary--I was 20, taking a year off college to earn money. Going to Las Vegas and be a police officer alongside my uncle. Yeah, then I met him...and that was the end of that! He was 29, going to college part time and working with CAD.

2. John is exactly nine years and two months older than me. I like to mention that to my friends lest they think I'm as old as he is (sorry hon). But he looked so much younger. See what I mean?:

3. We dated nine months before we were married....we were married nine months before our daughter Nicole was born ;-)
4. Okay, answering what you were thinking--no we didn't have a formal wedding. We were married when my parents were still 'feuding' after the divorce. Because my parents weren't speaking to each other, we threw up our hands. Told everyone to be at the courthouse on our wedding day. John and I never looked back! Eh, okay, I do wish I'd worn 'the dress' and one day maybe Kelly will take me to the bridal shop and pretend to be needing one, idk. Will ya, Kel? Let me lose that 15 I put on this year first!

5. My husband went to Devry on weekends and evenings, starting at around age 42...then received his Bachelor's in Telecommunications Management and went on to Keller in the evenings to recieve his MBA. Still coached softball, still kept his day job! Still kept me! This is him two years ago--said he might think about his PhD. Didn't go over well. 6. John had/has a thing for Valerie Bertinelli.....okay, I can see the brunette/brown eyed thing. Pretty much identical twins, right! Right?!! Me? Jon Bon Jovi all day long. Okay, no similarities, but the name sounds the same!

7. I think we work very hard. I'm a stay home mom (soon to be home school mom to one) and as y'all know, I do data entry part time (all the time). My husand was promoted to business manager where he works, and teaches four nights a week at a local college. One day, hopefully soon, he can cut those days down by at least half. Okay, not Jon Bon Jovi, but better! (had to say that, Jon) 8. If you come round the house and hear "Tatey! Tatey Girl! Tate!" or "Don! Donald! Dondo! Hondo!" --no worries. That'd just be me and my Johnny Bonny talking to each other. Ooooh! I should do a fun giveaway and you have to post with your pet name!

Being married to Dondo=Good stuff.

So now it is my turn. I decided to shake it up a little, do it a little different, see what happens. Maybe nothing, maybe something, idk. So, without anymore pomp, here are my tags (already commented them, they know!):

Mrs. Hillary Clinton

Mr. Barack Obama

Mr. Rudy Giuliani

Ms. Nancy Pelosi--oops comments are closed! Hmm!

Mr. John Edwards -- okay this one took forever and a DAY to get posted!

Tag I'm It!

Cat tagged me for this, it looks quite fun!

What were you doing 10 years ago?

We were living in Kansas City, still in our first home. Niki was seven, Cody five and Alex was less than two months old. Niki and Cody were in full baseball/softball mode (I miss those times) and life was pretty darned good.

I had my entire family still, didn't imagine then the devastation that was just five years ahead of me and wouldn't have believed it if you'd told me.

What were you doing 1 year ago?

Lived here in this home now, was doing data entry from home. We'd been at our church home for about seven years and don't remember what it's like not to be part of our amazing church family. Life, albeit still pretty good, is catching up with us--stress is knocking the wind out of us from time to time.

Five snacks you enjoy:

1. Whipped yogurt with Keebler Snax Sticks
2. Banana Smoothies
3. Popcorn and Hot Tamales
4. Fig Newtons and Tab
5. Dove chocolate miniatures

Five Songs You Know All The Lyrics To:

1. Goodbye Yellowbrick Road (Elton John)
2. Songbird (Fleetwood Mac)
3. Don't You Want Me? (The Human League)
4. Empty Garden-Hey Hey Johnny (Elton John)
5. Paradise (By The Dashboard Lights) (Meatloaf)

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:

1. Bring that nursing home I visit into the 21st century and triple the pay for all the GOOD staff memebers.
2. Pay off all bills and update our home.
3. Set up a great retirement plan (I quit my typing job in this scenario, too)
4. Vacation at least three times a year.
5. Give to my church all they needed to do the great things they do.

Five bad habits:

1. Crossing my legs (bad for circulation).
2. Drink far too much coffee.
3. Drink far too much soda.
4. Updating my blog on the fly.
5. Keep thinking everyone "gets" me, so I think I'm funny and to some, beleive it or not, I'm not funny!

Five Things You Would Never Wear Again:

1. I'm with Cat on that, no two piece bathing suit.
2. Madonna gloves with the fingers cut off (why did I do that?).
3. Miniskirts.
4. Turquoise blue eyeshadow.
5. My hair blonde (it turned red, really).
6. Short curly hair (again, why did I try that?).

Five favorite toys:

1. My computer when I'm not using it for work.
2. My sewing machine.
3. My serger.
4. That's it, I don't have any other toys...I guess I take myself too seriously!
5. No, really, I don't own many things that I'd consider fun or "mine".

I'm going to pick some tags this afternoon--I think I'm going to try something different and tag five people I hardly know at all, see what happens. Besides, if I knew people well I wouldn't want to read their answers as much as a stranger. That's right, see if they still come visit me anymore! Me, I think they will...

I am tagging the following because I've found their blogs (thus them) very interesting! So it'd be nice to know a little more...

Bubba's Sis

No Diet Coke For Mommy

Donna-Just Me

Funky Art Queen

BrewerFamily8

Note to my five:

Now y'all do know that if you don't do the meme with one eye shut, your hand in a pail of ice water and two pairs of stockings on your lap then something very bad may or may not happen............................