Getting to know you.

1. If you’re on my friends list, I want to know 35 things about you. I don’t care if we never talk, or if we already know everything about each other. Short and sweet is fine.

2. Comment here with your answers and repost the questionnaire on your own journal if you wish. 

01) Are you currently in a serious relationship?  Why, yesh- yesh I sure am.

02) What was your dream growing up?  To be Wonder Woman.

03) What talent do you wish you had?  Playing an instrument, the piano would be nice.

04) If you walked into a Convenient (think 7-11, Quickie Mart, Whatever) and bought yourself a drink, what would it be?  Coffee.

05) Favorite vegetable?  Eggplant (sautéed of course)

06) What was the last book you read?  Life of Pi

07) What zodiac sign are you?  Aquarius, but I really don’t pay it any attention.

08) Any Tattoos and/or Piercings? Explain where.  Yes, on the back of my neck, it says “Scott ~ God made you just for me”.  Because, he did.

09) Worst Habit?  Cursing.

10) If you saw me walking down the street would you offer me a ride?  I don’t know.

11) What is your favorite sport?  I don’t really like sports much.

12) Do you have a Pessimistic or Optimistic attitude?  I don’t know anymore, I’m in transition.  I’m heading toward pessimistic but fighting to stay optimistic.

13) What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me?  Fart.

14) Worst thing to ever happen to you?  I cannot say.

15) Tell me one weird fact about you.    I write with my left hand.  BUT, if you put me in front of a chalk board with a piece of chalk in each hand.  I can place my chalk on the board side by side, and write BACKWARD with my left hand, and FORWARD (regular) with my right hand – simultaneously.

16) Do you have any pets?  Yes, two sweet Dachshunds. 

17) What if I showed up at your house unexpectedly?  You probably would have woken me up, my house would be a mess.

18)  What kind of impression do you think you leave with others?  I’m warm and friendly.

19) Do you think clowns are cute or scary?  They are definitely not cute, but I think they are funny.

20) If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be?  I wouldn’t have glasses.  I’d have 20/20 vision.

21) Would you be my crime partner or my conscience?  Your conscience.

22) What color eyes do you have?  Blue.

23) Ever been arrested?  Um, nope.

24) Bottle or can soda?  Bottle.

25) If you won $10,000 today, what would you do with it?  Pay off debt.  Give some to loved ones and friends.

26) What’s your favorite place to hang out at?  My home.

27) Do you believe in ghosts?  Not really.

28) Favorite thing to do in your spare time?  Sleep.

29) Do you swear a lot?  A ton.

30) Biggest pet peeve?  Small minded people.

31) In one word, how would you describe yourself?  unpredictable.

32) Do you believe/appreciate romance?  I do.

33) Favorite and least favorite food?  Favorite = anything Mexican.  Least favorite, liver.   Ick.

34) Do you believe in God?  Wholeheartedly.
 
35) Are you making any New Year’s resolutions for 2013?  Absolutely.  I will let things go.  I will be a non-reactor.  Remind myself that things are only as import as I want them to be.  Love more, swear less, FORGIVE and learn to let it be.

I’ve been a BAD Auntie

Times ARE busy and as I wrote in my previous post that it feels like time is in fast forward.  I work the night shift and live on the opposite end of the clock so to speak.  To make matters worse, I am a miserable procrastinator.  But, when it comes to my 3 little nephews and missing their Birthdays repeatedly, that is just unacceptable and pathetic.   We live in different states and unfortunately my sister and I do not talk often, but I love them all so much and there is no excuse.  I feel horrible.  But instead of feeling horrible and doing absolutely nothing about it, tonight I got a great start on what will be a “Happy Belated Birthday Care Package” to all three of them.

My three little Amigos.

Julian just celebrated his 10th and I missed it, but truth be told- I’ve missed them all so I decided to make a card for each of them.  The smallest card is only 4″ X 2.5″.  LOL!

Inside is a personalized note for each along with a tiny bit of cash.  Then I will bundle up some little goodie bags and get them out no later than this coming weekend.  No excuses!

Love Notes

I’m excited at the prospect of them being happy, of telling them what they mean to me so they know how special they are in my heart.  Life is short and it’s never to late to reach out and tell someone how much you love them.

There is so much I don’t know…

For the first time in my life, I feel very small. Small, inconsequential – tiny. Physically small as if I were peering down from a ginormous skyscraper to the ground below where the cars are barely visible and the people look like ants. That kind of small. I am living in history, history in the making. I can see and feel aware, my senses are heightened. I feel the enormity of situations around me – they aren’t weighing me down, they just make my own personal situations seem insignificant by comparison which is the truth of the matter to begin with. Things seem to be fast-forwarding too and if you told me 10 years ago that this would happen, I wouldn’t have believed you. This world is so big. I’m just one. One little person in a world full of history and knowledge, of secrets and mysteries, of truth’s and lies.

The Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, The Holocaust, World War II, and what could possibly be World War III – The great depression, famine, suffering, and that is just a scratch on the surface of life that I do not know and that I want to know. I have a thirst for knowledge, of truth, of justice – I want peace, I want to help others. I know that I’ve never seen any sort of real pain in my lifetime. I want to turn the other cheek, I want to let things roll off me because in the grand scheme of life, all of the daily drudge and drama are not important.

This is a truth. A truth that I wish I had the foresight to know when I was younger. All of my life lessons seem to become uncovered slowly, unraveled by myself like a great foreign mystery or puzzle that is nearly out of my comprehension. I feel like what comes easily to others takes me much longer. It’s been a long road to get here, and to get to many places in my mind- but once I arrive, I get it.

My God in Heaven, please hear me now my heavenly Father. I am so sorry for all of my fretting, my insecurity, my doubt, and my anxiety. I’m sorry for being petty and mean. I’m sorry for taking for granted the beautiful life you have given to me. This beautiful life that has never known real pain, not a day in her life compared to what others have gone through.

Thank you for all of the blessings that you have bestowed upon myself and my family. Thank you for always looking out for me. Thank you for being patient with me while I slowly process bits of the bigger picture. I wish to get there faster. I’m taking a deep breath Father, I’m learning to let go and to love when hate is being pushed toward me. I’m learning …

Sprint Cellular – THE WORST PROVIDER

We use Sprint cellular service and I just have to write about how disappointed I am with it.  I live in Illinois and cannot remember the last time I was able to have a full conversation on my cell phone without the call dropping a few times.  Their service is so poor that my husband and I will have to call each other back several times just to finish a brief conversation.  Sometimes, after being abruptly disconnected, I receive the message, “Call Failed”.  I’ll have to try to call him back a few times and finally, out of frustration I will just text him, “All is well, will talk to you when you get home” and I will just text him goodbye.

This has all been within the last half-year, maybe even longer.  Our monthly bill averages about $240- for the 4 of us with unlimited data, we have their “premium service”.  This service has been rotten.  Why don’t I just drop them you ask?  Because we are tied under a contract.  Why not call and complain?  My husband does, about once a week- in a heated call because it’s frustrating NOT to be able to talk to one another and NOT to be able to reach our teenagers – except by texting them.  The texts go through more-so than calls.  My kids NEVER answer their cell phones.  I cannot reach anyone and the whole idea is to be able to reach out and call.  I know they are telling the truth because my husband and others have also tried to call me, have even left voice mail but I show no missed calls.  It’s plain ridiculous.

They even sent us some modem-looking thing to put in our basement in the meantime while they are working on getting their act together.  Guess what?  It worked for one day.  That was the end of it.

Recently, my father-in-law, who lives in another state had suffered a heart attack and we didn’t learn about it until THE DAY AFTER it happened because his mother was unable to reach my husband or myself on our cell phones.  She called our home number and left a voice mail message.  We don’t answer our home number and rarely even check voice mail on it.  There was a time we thought about getting rid of our land-line all together like many of our family and friends have.  Imagine our shock and horror to find he was hospitalized after the fact.  Not only that, it was embarrassing!  In this day and age, not being able to reach someone?  Really?  I felt HORRIBLE.  I still do.  Thank goodness he is going to be ok and is still recovering, it is a long process.

Evidently, Sprint is going through some HUGE upgrade and pretty soon, we will have the best cellular coverage in the whole entire world!  Until then, I’ll keep paying over $200- beans per month with awful service.  They’ve given us a credit a few times when my husband calls in a snit- A $20- or $30- credit off of one month- but really, what money could they give us to make up for the fact that we didn’t know my father-in-law was hospitalized?  What can they give us to make up for the fact that our calls are working maybe 20% of the time???  What they should be doing is not charging us a dime, and letting us out of our contract.  The minute our contract is up, we are out.  They should be ashamed.  If I have to stay with them because I signed a contract AND If I break that contract, I have to pay a hefty fee for each phone line (4 total).  What is their responsibility in all of this?  They should be bound also, to provide us with reliable cellular service.  God forbid something happens again and my kids or other family members are not able to get through to us!

I recently was out running errands and called my son on his Sprint cell phone.  He didn’t answer so I called our home.  I got him and he said, “Why did you even bother calling my cell first?  You know it never works!”  How sad that we are back to using our home phone.  Count your blessings if you do NOT have Sprint cellular service.  It BLOWS!

My niece called to complain as she is having the same issues, they told her they were working on it.  She asked when she could expect her and her husbands cell phone to work?  They stated they didn’t have an answer for her.  Sprint did not seem to care that she is leaving as soon as her contract is up.  Think about it, they are collecting money from so many users and not providing any service.  Isn’t that stealing?  I think so.

Last words: DO. NOT. USE. SPRINT. CELLULAR – THEY SUCK!

Woo-Woo Sitting

I’m dog sitting Woo-Woo sitting for the next 10 days while my niece Terri and her husband Nick are in Ireland with their family.  What is a Woo-Woo?  Woo #1 is Shea and Woo #2 is Nugen and they are Weimaraners, as affectionately called “Woo-Woo’s” by their loving and doting parents.  Loving and doting so much, that there is a 2 page type-written instruction manual for me when I arrived at their home for my first night on the job.

Not only is there a manual from mom and dad, the Woo’s had left me a “Welcome to our home” present.  I’m not sure which Woo because when I asked the Woo’s, they said it was from “both” of them.  Then they became a little shy.  Maybe they over-spent?

Isn’t it beautiful?

I’ve only dog sat for them once before – I’d say these two are very thoughtful and welcoming.  It was like having my own personal Woo-Woo-Welcome-Wagon!  Ok, enough about the gift, would you like to see the Woo’s?  Without further adieu, I present Nugen and Shea:

Nugen & Shea

Nugen is an older boy.  He is also a rescue and he’s sweet.  He loves to retrieve Frisbee’s in the back yard, so when I threw it over the neighbor’s fence I felt badly.  I went to go climb over the fence and thought, “This will probably not end well” and decided against it.  I’m not 20 anymore and did I ever mention that I am clumsy?  Yeah, so- scratch that.  I searched the yard for another Frisbee and couldn’t find one.  I went inside AND HAD A LOOK AROUND, in their toy bin and came up with something that resembled a Frisbee:

Shea

I asked Shea to carry it out for me but Nugen wanted nothing to do with this ragged excuse for a Frisbee.  Turns out he’s a bit of a Frisbee snob.  Who knew?  Luckily he found a large rubber bouncy ball on the deck, he told me I could use that.  I did, I threw it to him 10 times across their long yard just like the instructions said ~ because he is older and if he had the choice he would play fetch all day until his heart gave out on him.  I’ve never seen anything like it.

Shea is completely another story.  She is pushy, needy, and verbal about it.  I’ve Woo-Woo sat only once before and she scared me pretty bad that time.  You have to remember, I have two small Dachshunds.  I’m not use to big dogs, with big deep heart-stopping barks (WOOF!  WOOF!) that come to my eye level when I’m sitting down, with BIG teeth.  I was sleeping over and she blocked me from getting in the bed.  I didn’t know her that well back then and I was afraid she might bite me.  This time, I am more confident and ready for her antics.

My first night I was only there 5 minutes perusing over the Woo-Woo Bible and she came over, stood up on me and poked her big paw right at my collar-bone and told me, “I run this shit”.  I was NOT having it.  Her own mother warned me of this (it’s in the manual!) and I stood up and told her that I was in charge and I was the boss of her!  Funniest thing ever, she sat down and cried.  Literally howled in exasperation and disgust.

I have to say, I really have been enjoying my time with the Woo’s.  My husband pointed something out to me when I was complaining about how pushy Shea is, he said, “She’s just like Bella!” *My little Doxie Bella is constantly poking and prodding for affection, actually demanding it when you stop petting her by incessantly pawing until you rub her some more* – I guess I never thought about it that way before.  She is just like Bella, just on a bigger scale.  I had perceived her size as threatening, but really- she’s just needy, sweet,  and wants attention and there isn’t a mean bone in her body.  Now I know.  And now she is not the boss of me anymore

This time things are going well.  They are eating all of their food so they are not nervous with me (probably because I’m not scared of Shea and Nugen, I’ve gained their trust and visa versa and they can sense the comfort level is good).  They are sleeping well, and when I go to leave the come and stand in-front of me with big saucer eyes and ask, “Where are you going?  Please don’t go!” and when I come back, they are so happy.  Makes my heart feel all warm and fuzzy to take good care of them.

More Woo-Woo goodness to come.  Minus the lavish present of course – LOL!

For the ♥ love ♥ of Trees

As a child I remember loving trees.  Especially the kind with a short or funky sideways trunk where I could get up into it and climb around.

I loved the bark, I loved the branches, I loved the leaves changing various colors that brightened up our older, tree-lined neighborhood.  I especially loved raking up the leaves and playing in them.  I use to rake them all into a pile, only to toss the rake off to the side carelessly and jump in, sending my collection scattering and loving every minute of it.  They smelled good; clean and crisp and they sounded good; they were crunchy and “crunkley” and I could hide in them.  My dad even had one of those leaf collectors and I remember standing beside him helping him push it along and watching so happily as the leaves were propelled backward toward me into the collection bin.  All the more to add to our pile of leaves!

It was THE coolest tool, the leaf collector.  It was like a leaf “vacuum” – no power of course but a big long brush in the front swept all the leaves into the collection bag attached.  Then dad would let us dump them all into a huge pile.  At night the neighbor kids would come over and we would play “Ghost in the Graveyard” in that massive pile of leaves.

I have always had a great love of trees.  During the day, they were bright, colorful, alive, and welcoming.  I could hear the cicadas buzzing loudly from high up in the trees but would never see a single one of them (thank goodness).  At night, I can recall walking home from a friend’s house under the moonlight and being terrified of the trees.  Feeling small underneath their long leafy dark limbs.  Feeling like someone was peering down at me from high above.    That fear probably came from watching the Wizard of Oz, which is one of my all time favorite movies but the scene where the tree’s start talking and throwing apples is unnerving to a kid.  Although, at nighttime, once safely tucked in my bed I use to watch out the opened window before falling asleep and trying to make shapes out of the tree’s swaying back and forth.  It was as hypnotizing as watching clouds during the day.

Even to this day, I ADMIRE trees – I love them.  Not your everyday, nonchalant love “meh.  trees.” kind of love- mind you, but the kind where I am driving down the road and I think, “Oh look!  That tree – is so beautiful, would it be weird for me to pull over and hug it?”  that kind of love, LOL.

When visiting down south I noticed they have a kind of tree with no bark.  I had never seen that before so you can imagine that I just couldn’t get over it.  Just smooth wood?  Bizarre.  It was a small flowering tree.  On the Air Force Base, where my son, his wife, and daughter live are the most amazing trees I have ever seen.  I will start off by saying that they are enormous, the trunks so wide with big root systems out on the grass which look like the arms of a ginormous octopus, so big you’d trip on them if you weren’t careful.  Big winding, knotted roots and they literally line the oldest neighborhood on the base.  Stemming from that mass is the tallest trunk and the canopy is so green and wide that it meets above the center of road.  To take a walk down the side-walk is magnificent, well, to me at least.

As I was talking to my beautiful daughter-in-law the other day we started to talk about children’s books.  Having my first grandchild has me getting ready to start a book collection for her.  Here is our little sweetie wearing her owl hat.

I began to talk about my favorite children’s book, “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein.  It’s a story about a friendship between a boy and a tree.  My daughter-in-law hadn’t read that particular Shel Silverstein book.  Shocked by this revelation, I explained to her that the tree gave everything of herself for a boy’s happiness.  When I was younger,  I remember reading it and feeling so happy at the beginning of the book, especially with the illustrations because they are simply joyful.  As the book goes on, it made me sad because it seemed as if the boy became greedy and took advantage of The Giving Tree, and never gave back to her.  It occurred to me while discussing this book ~ that the tree in that book represented my mother or the love of a mother.  It represented motherhood and Mother Nature too.  THIS MUST BE WHERE MY LOVE FOR TREES ORIGINATED FROM.  If not, it sure put me on the “tree-love” fast track.

To me, The Giving Tree was my sweet mother; always happy to see me, always hugging me, always loving me, always giving to me whatever I needed or all that she could for my happiness.  MY mother, who sacrificed so much to raise 12 kids, and did it happily.  Just as long as her kids were happy, healthy, and well cared for.  She always put us first.  Here she is:

Perhaps that is why I see more than just an ordinary tree when I look at them.  I see a living, breathing, giver.  They are so beautiful.  They are older, wise, have stood the test of time, fought to keep their place, they never take from us, they protect us from the elements, give us shade, oxygen, breeze, give homes to birds and other small animals, they give food, foundation, and moisture.  Trees provide beauty in landscape, shady groves, home for wildlife, they absorb harmful chemicals, they filter and trap pollutants, allow our minds to wander and inspiration for our senses!  So, for the love of trees ~ I think I have finally figured out why I love trees so much and it is all stems from a much-loved children’s book written by Shel Silverstein called “THE GIVING TREE”.  God rest his beautiful soul.  If you have not yet read this book, here is an actual video I found on-line and it’s narrated by Shel himself:

The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein

I have never seen this video before today.  I believe things happen for a reason, there is a reason why this book struck me with such awe and wonderment as a child and throughout my life – the message from this book was imprinted on my soul.  This book is the reason I look to trees with such love and adoration.  Thank you Mr. Shel Silverstein.  Thank you Jesus in Heaven for my beautiful mother and thank you to Mr. Silverstein – I am eternally grateful to see the beauty of motherly trees.

I GO BY THREE’S

I Go by Three’s

I got this meme from a sweet friend over at Anything Goes. This is my first meme on my new blog and just as Sheng, I am not going to tag anyone, rather tell you to do it if you feel like it

1. Three names you go by:
Annebella, Annie, or Mom

2. Three facts about yourself:
I am a night owl. I love birds. I love to draw.

3. Three things that happened today:
I stopped at a little boy’s lemonade stand with my daughter – he had friends holding and shaking a sign on a busy road to draw business into his subdivision – I couldn’t resist. We paid him $8- and all the coins we could find in the car. He was thrilled. I cannot resist kids having lemonade stands. I just melts my heart remembering back to those times, they were the best:

I went to Walgreens with my daughter to get nail polish so she could paint Toy Story aliens on her fingernails, she did a GREAT job.

Lexi and I went shopping and bought the remainder of her school supplies to start her Junior Year in high school.

4. Three favorite songs right now:
River of Dreams by Billy Joel, So Much to Say by Dave Matthews Band, & Not While I’m Around by Jamie Cullum

5. Three breakfast foods you enjoy:
Cheesy Omelet with Bacon, French Toast, and a bacon, egg, and cheese McGriddle with hash brown from McDonalds. YUM!

6. Three things on your current to-do list:
Write a letter to my son David in the Air Force. Get my son Zachary all of his school supplies. Pick up extra work hours to save up PTO so I can go visit my daughter and granddaughter in Louisiana.

7. Three colors you like:
Purple is my favorite. Orange reminds me of my father who passed in 2004. Yellow is a happy color.

8. Three words you think others would use to describe you:
Funny. Silly. Artistic.

9. Three objects you can’t be without:
My makeup bag. A Billy Joel CD. My sketchpad.

10. Three ways to win your heart:
Let me blow a flubitz in your neck. Be kind. Be considerate.

11. Three favorite movies:
Uncle Buck. The Sandlot. Somethings Gotta Give (Diane Keaton & Jack Nicholson)

12. Three appetizers you enjoy:
Spinach and Artichoke Dip. 7-layer Taco Dip. Chips and Salsa

13. Three places you’ve lived:
Lombard, Illinois USA. Overland Park, Kansas USA. Western Suburbs of Illinois, USA

14. Three important people in your life:
God. My husband, Scott. My kids.

15. Three things you want to say to three different people:
To my son David, “I’m proud of you and I miss you – I think about you all of the time and I wish you were home”. To people who cannot speak up for themselves for whatever reason, “Just say it on the spot, even if it makes you uncomfortable”, because it’s better that you be a little uncomfortable rather than hold everything in and BLOW on some unsuspecting person one day and ruin a perfectly good friendship. To my sister Paula, “I loved talking to you the other day, I love and miss you so much!”