Ten on Tuesday

 These are my questions so I hope you like them :)...  oh and manged to show my age with the Breakfast Club question...


1. What was/is your favorite live action (meaning not animated) kids movie?
Hands down THE GOONIES!!!! I own it on DVD and was so excited to introduce my son to it a few years ago.

2. What is a bad habit you have? Are you working on breaking it?
I can cuss like a sailor and do a lot,  probably too much.  I had to curb it when I was teaching and I kind of broke the habit then but it came back with a vengeance when my son was born and I was home.  I try not to do it in front of my kids and really really try not to in front of other peoples kids.  But I have been known to let it fly in the car and when I get hurt or pissed off.

3. Describe your father in 3 words.
Intelligent, distant, stoic

4. Which character in the Breakfast Club were you most like in the ’80s?
I was painfully shy as a child (in the 80's) so Ally Sheedy's character Allison who is shy and strange and an outcast.  I was never an outcast but I identify with being shy and people thinking I'm strange.

5. Name 5 songs you know ALL the lyrics to.
I mean I could sing these songs acapella (no music) from start to finish on command, I know them that well!!
Solace of You by Living Colour
Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen
Any Madonna song from the 80's
Shoebox by Barenaked Ladies
And my favorite Karaoke song I Will Survive but I love the Cake version the best

6. Do you make pancakes from scratch or a box mix?
Scratch always from scratch.  Honestly it's not that hard to make pancakes from scratch and they are SO much better that I don't really understand why people use mixes.

7. What was your worst job ever? Why?
My first job aside from babysitting was as a cashier in an A&P Grocery store in high school.  It was an old kinda dirty store and it was in a so-so section of town.  We had a lot of people come in using food stamps and WIC (women with children free food program) and we had NO scanners.  Everything was hand priced and I had to hand enter prices and produce codes.  I was actually really fast and quite good but dealing with food stamps and WIC was difficult because you had to ring things separately and it was just a big pain.  Plus the attitudes of the people coming in after work to pick up stuff was terrible!  They were always pissed we never had enough cashiers and they would take it out on me.

8. What was your favorite class in high school?
Chorus and ceramics.  I lived for those classes!  They made my day.  I also had a really good history teacher I liked to take but I couldn't take him every year like I could chorus or ceramics.

9. Favorite summer guilty pleasure?
The beach.  I have lived here for 16 years but never really cared about living so close to the beach but the last couple of years I have really enjoyed going and want to go with my kids.

10. Please share your best money saving tip!
Store brand food vs. name brands.  They are more often than not exactly the same and if they are they usually just as good.  In fact my husband worked in a Food Lion during high school as a stock boy and he said that when he would go to unpack say Comet Rice box he would open it and it would actually be Food Lion brand rice.  So it was all coming from the SAME factory but just put into different packaging.

It's a Good Thing!

I happen to have a love hate relationship with Martha Stewart.  I LOVE her Every Day Foods magazine and her Living magazine.  Her craft supplies are great too and she has some really great ideas (I know she has a whole flippin company behind her doing most of it).  But somethings make me want to poke my eyes out.  Like for instance I saw her do almost 15 mins. on her show once about how to organize your linen closet!!  It made me feel like a complete failure that I a.) didn't have a walk in linen closet and 2.) even if I did I didn't want to make homemade chalkboard labels for the baskets and boxes.   But I have gone on a tangent when I was really just using her quote to start a post about some of my favorite things ever!

I love to read this is no surprise to anyone who had read this blog more than once.  I should get my books from the library to be really honest I HATE doing that.  I hate making the extra trip with kids in tow and I can't ever get things back on time (I am the same way DVD rentals).  I buy a lot of books but that gets expensive and sometimes I just don't want to wait for the paperback to come out.  So a few years ago I stumbled upon Paperback Swap.  I LOVE this site/club.  If you decide to join all you do is list 10 books you don't mind giving (swapping) away.  Once you post 10 you get 3 (at least that's what it was when I joined) credits to order any book (as long as someone has it listed) you want.  Once you order a book that person mails it to you and it's yours basically for free!!  After you have read it (at your own leisure) you can keep it if you loved it or post back up on Paperback Swap for someone else.  If someone orders a book from you all you have to do is print off a shipping label (you can even buy postage right from them) and throw the book in the mail.  Then you get another credit to use.  Now there are some books that are popular and are on wait lists.  I have several books I am on wait lists for and I don't care.  I have been known to get impatient and end up buying them but as things get tighter around here I get more patient (like the only Sookie Stackhouse book I don't have A Touch of Dead which is all short stories that I have been waiting on forever...) but that's how it works and it does work!  I get the books I want with out buying them and it's also good because we are recycling!!  So if you would like to check it out click on the button below (I do get credits for referrals ... thanks!)
href="http://www.paperbackswap.com/index.php?n=3&r_by=estrellada76" title="Trade Books for Free - PaperBack Swap."><img alt="Trade Books for Free - PaperBack Swap." src="http://www.paperbackswap.com/images/icons/weblog_icon_XS1.gif" width="86" height="27">

I also love Paperback Swap's sister site Swap a DVD.  This is a great way to get rid of movies we never watch anymore and can't get squat for if we sold them.  Plus I have found it's an excellent way to get kids DVDs free.  Kids go through phases with movies so this site is nice because we can use a credit to get a DVD and then once they are done with it we put it back up.  It works just the same as Paperback Swap.  So if you would like to try it out click on the button below!
href="http://www.swapadvd.com/index.php?n=4&r_by=estrellada" alt="Swap, Trade or Exchange DVDs for Free!"><img src="http://www.swapadvd.com/images/icons/weblog_icon_XS2.gif" width="118" height="27" title="Swap, Trade or Exchange DVDs for Free!">

I have just recently started using Swagbucks but I am obsessed with it and it works!!  It's really just a search engine that gives you Swagbucks for doing Internet searches.   Now don't roll your eyes at me because it uses a google search and I haven't really any issues.  I have only been using it since late April/early May and I have already won enough Swagbucks to get $15 worth of Amazon.com gift certificates.  It's basically like getting money for doing something I was already doing before but not getting paid for!!  So if you are interested check out the button below.
href="http://swagbucks.com/refer/katiemommy"><img alt="Search & Win" title="Search & Win" border="0" src="http://prodegebanners.sitegrip.com/images/swagbucks-173x63Alt2.jpg">

Help!

I have to start out by saying I love my husband a lot, I really do!  He is kind, funny, smart, loving, generous and lots of other wonderful things but he is driving me a bit batty lately.  I mentioned awhile back that I have taken on a part time job.  I am working about 20 hours a week outside the house above and beyond my normal stay at home mom stuff.  Last night I came home to a house that was a wreck, except for the half of the kitchen my husband cleaned.  To his credit he did this all with out me asking him to, which was awesome.  More often than not I feel like I have to ask/tell him what things I need/want him to help me get done around here.  Like this morning I asked him if he would help me finish getting the downstairs cleaned up before he left for work at noon.  As I was working on finishing the kitchen and laundry and floors he would kind of walk around and pick up little things/organize them then stand and watch me clean.  I would then ask him to do something else (take the table cloth of the table please it needs to be washed).  Again he would do what I asked and then come stand and watch me work/talk to me.  Point blank it pissed me off.  Could he not look around and find things to be done himself!?!?  Yes! He's a smart man and perfectly capable of doing that.  So being the kind to let my voice be heard I told him what I felt about it.  He got mad and pissy about it but I really didn't care that much.  I just wanted help.  I have always felt that when I was at home not working I would do most of the house work and that's pretty fair I think.  But I still thought (and he agreed) that he would help out some.  In fact when I am home with the kids I feel like playing with them and doing stuff with them is the priority not cleaning (although in times of need cleaning comes before them).  But now that I am working too I thought he might step up and try to help out more.  He has stepped up with the kids and doing more cooking but the cleaning part not so much.  Anyway I already have 2 kids I have to tell to clean up I really, really don't want to have to tell my husband what to clean up too .....  it's just too much.  And that's my rant for the day.  James I love you but dude help me out and take some initiative!  Let see if he reads my blog....

Ten on Tuesday

1. If you could trade lives with another blogger for a day, who would it be and why?
Hmmmm ... I'm not sure. But I would have to say right now I would want to trade with a blogger who is making money blogging.  So that I could see how they do it and what it takes to make money doing it.  I am trying to figure out my new career and I am looking into anything and everything.  Especially home based things so that I can continue to be home with my kids.

2. Do you prefer receiving handmade or store bought gifts? Be honest!
I honestly like both.  My mom has made me several handmade things including aprons and quilts.  And I have loved all of them. I also love when my kids make me things, in fact I like it better when they make me things instead of buying store bought stuff.

3. Would you rather camp or stay in a hotel?
 Hotel but I have camped and do like to camp.  But right now with my kids at the ages they are and the miserable heat here the thought of camping makes me cringe but I would love to do it with them later in life.

4. What’s your favorite comfort food?
Macaroni and cheese.  Homemade is best but in a pinch I still love Kraft Mac & Cheese from the box.

5. You’re having a really bad day at work. How do you unwind when you come home?
Well since right now my work is at home with the kids I try to unwind by shutting myself in my craft room (once daddy is home of course) and working on stuff for my Etsy shop or just puttering around in there alone being creative.
When I was working outside the home I liked to come home and veg in front of the TV and not think.

6. What’s your favorite chore? (Or, the chore you hate the least)
I honestly don't mind doing laundry or vacuuming.  There is something satisfying about vacuuming and seeing dirt or really dog hair in my house disappear.

7. What got you interested in blogging?
I started out blogging on MySpace years ago.  It was really just a way to vent and for family and friends to keep up with what was going on in our lives.  But then Facebook came along and I pretty much abandoned MySpace (I still have a page but maybe log on to it once a month at most).  But I missed blogging (there really isn't a good blog tool on Facebook).  So I came across Blogger and the rest is history.

8. Are you currently reading a book? What is it?
Well I literally just started The Help by Kathryn Stockett yesterday.  So far it's good but I am only 50 some odd pages in.  But before that I read The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer.  It's the latest in the Twilight Series which I love.  It was a good, easy, fun summer read.

9. Do you have a favorite artist?
Yes, I fell in love with Henri Matisse in 6th grade when my elementary school took a trip to Washington D.C.  We went to the national gallery and there were a few of his paintings which I liked just fine but I stumbled upon a copy of one of his cut outs in the gift shop and bought it on site.

 The original print I bought in 6th grade still on my wall

I LOVED it!!  It was bold and colorful and so unique.  I had never seen art like that before.  It inspired me to do research on him and I have several of his cut out prints hanging in my house. 

 3 of 4 Matisse prints I have hanging in my house.  This is the family room & my kids wanted to pose for the picture!

I have grown to love his paintings as well and one day I will make it back to France to see the church he designed with lots of beautiful stained glass in his cut out style.

10. Have you ever met someone famous?
Yes, several.  But that's because there is a movie studio here in Wilmington and One Tree Hill is currently filmed here and before that Dawson's Creek.  I met and waited on Katie Holmes (she was shy) when I worked in the Barnes & Noble Cafe during college.  I also saw many celebrities there including Burt Reynolds, Alfre Woodard, Joshua Jackson, Jerry O'Connell,  and Donald Sutherland.  I have also seen Chad Michael Murry around town (not very nice either).  I also met TC (Roger E. Mosley) from Magnum, P.I. at a track and field event I went to with my mom when I was a kid.  Oh and he was very nice!

Ten on Tuesday

1. What would the title of your autobiography be?
Avocado Addict .... It's a weird kinda silly title.  It fits me pretty well I would say!

2. What’s the funniest thing you’ve ever heard a child say or seen him/her do?
Right after my daughter learned to walk she was pestering her brother by bringing him all her toys.  He was trying to watch Sponge Bob so he started throwing the toys she brought to him back across the room.  It eventually turned into a a very funny game of fetch.  She kept bringing the dolls and such right back to my son and he just kept throwing them.  We all started laughing and she took forever to quit "fetching".

3. What is your favorite kids game to play?
Rock, paper, scissors

4. If you got invited to a potluck BBQ tomorrow, what would you bring?
Depends on my mood and weather I wanted sweet or savory.  My go to potluck sweet is my grandmother's chocolate cement cake with fudge nut frosting.  My go to potluck savory is Texas caviar (corn, peppers, onion dip thing you eat with tortilla chips and it's to die for!).

5. If your ears are pierced, how old were you when you got your ears pierced?
I was 4 for the first set.  According to my mom I begged her because another little girl who was a family friend got hers done, so I wanted mine pierced too.  Then when the second piercings became popular (I was around 12 I think) and I asked my mom she said no so my friend Lizzie from across the street and I decided we would just do our own!  So we spent an afternoon in her parents bathroom with ice and a sewing needle piercing our second holes.  We had no idea what we were doing so the holes were in the wrong spots (right above the normal hold in the earlobe not off the side where it's supposed to be).  But it really didn't hurt and it was easy.  I went on to do several more myself as a teenager.  I used to have 4 in one ear and 3 in the other.  I have now let most of them grow back.

6. If you were celebrating your 30th anniversary, where would you want to go?
Well I just celebrated my 11th last Friday (the 11th) and I got a tattoo, we went to dinner, then came home and watched a movie (and thanks to my mom and step dad we were actually alone without kids).  Exciting right.  Well it was nice and just what I wanted to do.  Maybe for our 30th we could get away and go on vacation alone.  That would be nice.

7. What one blogger would you love to meet and why? And what would you want to plan to do with them?
I would like the meet the lady who writes the Cake Wrecks blog.  She is so funny!  I love her sense of humor and especially how she can get it to come across in the written word.  I would of course want to eat cake with her!

8. On a scale from 1-10, how good at you at home decor? (Pictures welcome.)
7 I think.  But my taste is not very main stream I don't think.  I love color and bright color at that.  I also love lots of different styles but I tend to be more modern in taste.

9. Do you have good fingernails?
I actually have really good fingernails thank you for asking!!!!  I can grow really long nails that don't chip or split.  They tend to break but only because I am so hard on them (dishes, cleaning, baths, hand washing, crafting etc.).

10. Pickles: Dill or sweet? Baby, spears, or chips? Plain or on a burger?
All of the above!!  I love pickles of any kind.  I will eat them plain and I love them on my burgers.

99 Memorable Experiences

So I know my posting has been few and far between lately and I am sorry about that.  It seems even adding just a small part time job has thrown me way off.  But I saw this list of 99 memorable things on the Craving Cupcakes Blog and really liked it.  Plus it is really easy to fill out and it made me think about all the things I haven't had a chance to do on it.  It 's a little sad that I was actually in Venice but didn't take a gondola ride and for the life of me I have NO idea why I didn't do it (all I can think is that it was when I was in high school and no one I was with wanted to go ... lame).  But it makes me think all the same about what I haven't had a chance to do yet.

1. started your own blog 2. slept under the stars
3. played in a band
4. visited Hawaii
5. watched a meteor shower
6. given more to charity than you could afford to 7. been to Disney
8. climbed a mountain
9. held a praying mantis
10. sung a solo
11. bungee jumped
12. visited Paris
13. watched a thunder and lightning storm
14. taught yourself an art from scratch
15. adopted a child
16. had food poisoning
17. walked to the top of the statue of liberty
18. grown your own vegetables
19. seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. slept on an overnight train
21. had a pillow fight 22. hitch hiked
23. taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. built a snow fort
25. held a lamb
26. gone skinny dipping
27. run a marathon
28. ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. seen a total eclipse
30. watched a sunrise or sunset 31. hit a home run
32. been on a cruise
33. seen Niagara falls in person
34. visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. seen an Amish community
36. taught yourself a new language
37. had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. seen the leaning tower of Pisa in person
39. gone rock climbing
40. seen Michelangelo’s David in person
41. sung karaoke
42. seen old faithful erupt
43. bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. visited Africa
45. walked on a beach by moonlight
46. been transported in an ambulance
47. had your portrait painted
48. gone deep sea fishing
49. seen the Sistine chapel in person
50. been to the top of the Eiffel tower in Paris
51. gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. kissed in the rain
53. played in the mud
54. gone to a drive-in theatre
55. been in a movie
56. visited the great wall of china
57. started a business
58. taken a martial arts class
59. visited Russia
60. served at a soup kitchen
61. sold girl scout cookies
62. gone whale watching
63. gotten flowers for no reason
64. donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. been sky diving
66. visited a concentration camp
67. bounced a check
68. flown in a helicopter
69. saved a favorite childhood toy
70. visited the Lincoln memorial
71. eaten caviar
72. pieced a quilt
73. stood in times square
74. toured the everglades
75. been fired from a job
76. seen the changing of the guard in London
77. broken a bone
78. been a passenger on a motorcycle
79. seen the grand canyon in person
80. published a book
81. visited the Vatican
82. bought a brand new car
83. walked in Jerusalem
84. had your picture in the newspaper
85. kissed a stranger at midnight on new year’s eve
86. visited the white house
87. killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. had chickenpox
89. saved someone’s life
90. sat on a jury
91. met someone famous
92. joined a book club
93. gotten a tattoo
94. had a baby
95. seen the Alamo in person
96. swam in the great salt lake
97. been involved in a law suit
98. owned a cell phone
99. been stung by a bee

Ten on Tuesday

1. What does your car say about you? If you don’t have a car, what kind of car would be your daily driver?

I have kids.  It's a Chrysler Town & Country mini van.  I really don't like it and wouldn't drive it unless we had kids.  But it's got lots of room and drives nice so it's all good for now.

2. To this point, what has been your purpose on this planet?
I think it was/is to have my kids.  I think raising good people is what I was meant to do.

3. If you could trade places with any person for any amount of time, who would it be?
My husband.  It would be nice to see what he does all and I would like him to see what I do all day.  I think it would help us better understand each other.

4. What is your favorite kind of cake? If you don’t like cake, what is it about it that you don’t like?
I love a fluffy, moist yellow butter cake with chocolate frosting!!! 

5. Would you have wanted to live in your parents’, grandparents’ or great-grandparents’ generation or only your own?
I think my own just because I am too much of a feminist and a techie to want to give up my freedom and my computer.

6. Do you have any home remedies for illnesses, cleaning or otherwise?
I swear by Celestial Seasonings Fruit Tea Sampler when I feel a cold coming on.  I drink 3 or 4 cups a day I swear it nips it in the bud or shortens the cold.
For cleaning I use a 50/50 solution of hydrogen peroxide and water to clean counters or glass.  It works well and kills germs plus it's cheap and green too.

7. What is your ideal weather situation?
70-73 degree sunny day with low humidity.  Which is spring and fall here.

8. What is your best attribute (physical or personal)?
I happen to like my blue eyes and I have pretty good hair (straight, long and not too thick or thin).

9. Do you text or surf while driving?
I sometimes text while at stoplights but I don't have a smart phone so no surfing for me.  But even if I did have one I wouldn't do it because my husband does it and it makes me so friggin nervous.

10. How long have you known your best friend?
Well I am going to be obnoxious and tell you I have 3.  There is my best friend Jennie who I have known since the 5th grade (so 24 years or so).  She knows me better than just about anyone.  But since we don't live in the same town anymore she is not as connected to my everyday life as my other best friend.  My other best friend is Ivy.  She and I met  almost 6 years ago through the MOMS Club.  Our sons were babies and archenemies (when they were babies) so we had a bond trying to keep out sons from beating each other up.  But we found we lots in common too and she is always there for me.  And last but not least my last best friend is my husband James.  Our 11th anniversary is coming up on Friday but we have been together 13 years!!!  The best part is we can still have great conversations just like we did when we meet 13 years ago.

How do full time working moms do it??????

Here is the catch up.  I have been a stay at home mom for almost 7 years now.  Before staying home I was a special education teacher.  I liked teaching but not sure that is what I want to go back and do (for several reasons) that.  I have been trying to start up my Etsy shop which is going OK but not nearly enough to call it a full time job (pay wise).   So I have been on the lookout for something else.  Well I managed to find a part time gig a few weeks ago.  I am a companion or also known as a home companion.  I have a client and I help him get around to different places he needs to go, do volunteer work, and just be a well a companion.  It's been enjoyable and I like it.  But it's only 20 hours a week but for now that is OK.  Despite it only being 20 hours a week I am finding it hard to get my normal stuff done!!!!  My blog is suffering, my Etsy shop is suffering, laundry is suffering, and house work is suffering!!! I guess it doesn't help that in middle of all this we are winding down school (lots of parties and fun things I have to remember to send things in for), we have family visiting for holidays (being at the beach is fun also very busy), and saying good bye to a friend (with 2 going away functions and our last GNO together).  And as usual I had about 15 minutes to bang this out while eating lunch, during my daughter's nap.  But now I have to go get my son off the bus and start my very busy afternoon of playing, homework, laundry, dinner and what ever else needs attention in my house.....