Helpful Household Hint from Me #1

Good Morning! I have decided to release my inner Martha Stewart and bombard my readers with throngs of amazingly useful household hints. Yeah, I'm totally kidding. I have very few helpful household hints. I know the household basics. For anything more complicated, like getting Colter's Pediped sandals to de-stink, I have to call my mommy or my mother-in-law. In fact, it was Mom who actually informed me of the little known fact I'm going to share with you. Okay, it's probably not a little known fact. Probably everyone in the world already knows this, but I didn't. It makes me feel not as dumb to call it a little known fact.

Are you ready? The household hint number one is--clean your dryer's lint trap! I don't mean just remove the lint, which is what I have always done in the past. The screen needs to be actually scrubbed twice a year. I recently mentioned that our dryer wasn't drying like it should be, and my mom told me that fabric softeners build up on the screen, and even though the screen looks clean, it's actually not. If it's clean, water should run through it. I went home and put my lint screen under running water, and lo and behold, water just pooled on the surface of a seemingly clean lint screen! Ahhh! I immediately scrubbed off the screen and water ran through just like it should. I just hope it's not too late! I hopefully haven't killed my dryer by burning up the motor--or whatever would happen. I don't want to have to go dryer shopping like she did.

So there you have it. The first and probably last entry the "Helpful Household Hints from Me" series. Go clean your lint trap!

FFF-Black and White

It's Favorite Foto Friday! Amazingly, I actually have time to post this morning. I might even have time to read a few blogs--I've been feeling so disconnected! This week has been crazy busy. There's suddenly been lots of changes at our house, as I try to get used to working part time. I don't know how you working moms out there do it! Things are starting to settle down now, but if I had more than one kid or were trying to work full-time...sheesh. I think this week would have put me in the loony bin. :)

Today's theme is black and white! I love black and white photos. I hope you enjoy some of my favorites.

Cute Baby Feet!

Doesn't he look like he thinks I'm a nut? I wonder if it was the flowerpot...
The END! In more ways than one...:)

We Have a Winner!

Congratulations Ronda! Colter's sticky syrup covered fingers chose your name during pancakes (the food--not our cat) this morning. The Shack and some snacks are headed your way! Well, actually they're not. I need you to email your contact information first! Contact me at Ljenelle at gmail dot com.

Wouldn't you know it? One of the few days in my life I really need the Internet, it's not working at my house! I need to print out rosters for the classes I'm teaching this afternoon, do training for the virtual classes I'm going to teach, and post cute pictures of Colter picking Ronda's name out of a Tupperware bowl! As I'm using my neighbor's Internet connection (I'm glad they don't have a firewall), I'll have to skip the pictures today. You'll just have to take my word for it. Ronda's the winner! Thanks to everyone for playing.

A Pig Memory

Don't forget to check out my previous post and leave a comment! You could win CHOCOLATE (and a book).

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The only good pig is part of a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich. Really.

I feel some clarification is needed for items 14-16 from my list of 100 things about me:
14. I once was bitten by a hungry pig.
15. I HATE pigs.
16. I like B.L.T.s
All you P.E.T.A. fans out there, I’m sorry. I really am, but it’s true. Pigs are only good for eating. I can see getting upset if someone fashions a fur coat out of an adorable little otter, but trust me, pigs are not worth picketing N.R.A. meetings for.

For one thing, pigs are stinkin’ MEAN! Not to mention stinky! My parents owned pigs during my younger years, so I have lots of pig related memories. I remember how we had to keep all the momma pigs locked up in separate pens when they had babies—and this is horribly disgusting—because some sows would eat other sow’s piglets. Really! I remember when I was about eleven taking a stick and beating a big, ugly sow, my eyes filled with tears because I had just found the remains of three half-eaten piglets that had somehow gotten into the wrong pen. I’m sorry to share such a terrible memory, but I feel the world must know the truth about these evil creatures. I remember a big, ugly sow destroying a little watermelon patch I had so carefully planted in a little garden by my front porch. I remember a fat, jerk of a pig named earless (she was missing part of one ear for some reason—probably another pig bit it off) traumatizing me and chasing me into the barn. But most of all, I remember The Day of the Pig Bite.

The Day of the Pig Bite started off good enough. I had camped out the night before with my friends in Girl Scouts and got to spend the day hiking, making crafts, singing songs, or whatever it is that Girl Scouts do. My mom picked me up after my fun-filled morning, and we sang along to Debbie Gibson’s “Electric Youth” all the way home. When we got to the farm, we took care of most of the chores without incident. I climbed over the fence of the last pigs waiting for dinner with a bucket full of ground corn to present to the hungry herd of swine. If I would have been very observant, I would have noticed that the pigs were acting more frantic than usual. They always rushed towards the corn with crazed, starved looks in their squinty eyes, but today their stampede was accompanied by high-pitched squealing. Maybe the oncoming storm made them crazy. The fifteen or so huge, ravenous sows were practically crushing each other as they mobbed around me and their supper. I ignored them—pigs always seemed to be over-reacting—and casually strolled to the long, flat rock we dumped their corn on. As I leisurely prepared to begin dumping their grain, one of the smelly beasts got tired of waiting. I slowly tipped the bucket; a sow quickly reached over and closed her jaws on my thigh. I shrieked in agony and fright and began sprinting across the pigpen leaving a trail of ground corn behind me. The pigs got what they wanted, and I got a permanent set of teeth marks on my leg. I never really liked the pigs much before that, but when Mom poured rubbing alcohol on my leg, I decided I couldn’t stand them!

I’m not sure when my parents got into the pig business, but I do know when the bottom dropped out of the pork market during my later elementary years and they sold the stinkin’ things, I rejoiced! Thankfully, the only pigs I’ve had any contact with since are the ones that come prepackaged. I get to bite them.

My 100th Post Give-Away and 100 Things About Me

Wow, I made it to 100! When I started this blog, I didn't know if I would write more than a couple of posts. Obviously, I found a new hobby! It's funny to think that six months ago, I had no idea this blogging world existed. I'm glad I found it. :) I've had a lot of fun even though there's still a ton of stuff I would like to learn.

To celebrate, I'm having my first give-away! One lucky reader will win a book and a snack. To enter leave me a comment on this post sometime between now and Monday at 11:59 p.m. Pacific time. If you post a link to this contest on your blog and let me know, you'll have two entries! Somone will receive a copy of a book I recently read, The Shack by William P. Young. Everyone that doesn't win needs to go out, buy a copy, and read it! Anyone who has already read it needs to enter anyway, so she can give it to someone who hasn't read it! In The Shack, a man comes face-to-face with God. This book really presents a lot to think about and could transform your relationship with the Lord!

The winner will also win a bag of glorious chocolatey deliciousness a.k.a. Poppycock! I was introduced to Poppycock through a post on Jennifer's blog, so it's a fitting 100th post give-away item. Without blogging, I may never have known about this tasty snack. The horror!

Good luck everyone! Make sure you leave a comment for a chance to win! I'll announce the winner on Tuesday, so check back!

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I also have a list of 100 things about me for my 100th post. In no particular order and in typical Jenelle randomess, here they are!

1. I adore my family.
2. I have green eyes.
3. I have an extremely precious son whom I am so enamored with.
4. My husband is one of my best friends.
5. My mother is another.
6. I am right handed and right brained.
7. I like blue M&Ms best.
8. My first car was a gold, 1978 Dodge Aspen. How cool is that?
9. Sometimes I cuss in my head when I’m driving.
10. I sometimes got reprimanded in school for reading.
11. When I’m teaching, it doesn’t really bother me if kids are reading and ignoring me.
12. I spent the last year growing my hair out because I wasn’t sure what my natural color was anymore. Now that I know it’s a very uninteresting brown, I suspect I will be getting highlights soon.
13. I confess…I’m Big Foot. Not really. But I do wear a size 10.
14. I once was bit by a hungry pig.
15. I HATE pigs.
16. I like B.L.T.s
17. I love the mountains.
18. I think I might love the ocean even more, but I haven’t been there enough times to be sure.
19. I am blind as a bat. The person who invented contact lenses is my hero.
20. I sometimes think I would like to move out west…maybe Wyoming…maybe Montana…but I probably never will.
21. I don’t remember not believing in God,
22. but sometimes I ignore God. Isn’t that weird?
23. I like to be outdoors,
24. but I loathe ticks and mosquitoes.
25. Hamburger from Wal Mart sometimes makes me gag. I like the farm fresh stuff.
26. When I was little, a pitch fork went through my leg.
27. I don’t do well on less than eight hours of sleep.
28. I cried during The Lion King.
29. My fingernails are long, strong, and fast growing. Too bad I don’t keep them painted.
30. I’m a procrastinator.
31. I’m taking on two new part-time jobs soon—teaching a few classes at a local college and teaching some online classes.
32. A little part of me still believes in Santa Claus.
33. Christmas is my favorite holiday.
34. I’m a Scorpio.
35. I went home practically every weekend during college.
36. I need to shave my legs.
37. I could eat chocolate at every meal.
38. I like to garden.
39. I’m not very good at keeping up with laundry.
40. I grind my teeth when I sleep.
41. I’m the oldest of five kids.
42. Supposedly, I’m pretty bossy. Whatever.
43. I have only flown once, and it terrified me.
44. I love flowers.
45. I won a bunch of medals throwing the shot put in junior high. Then everyone else grew and I stayed the same size, so I wasn’t any good at it anymore.
46. I used to work as a waitress.
47. I stole a piece of two cent candy when I was little and had nightmares about policemen coming to get me.
48. I grew up on a farm.
49. I loved being pregnant.
50. I love being a mommy more.
51. The direction our country seems to be headed scares me.
52. I hate it when people are rude.
53. I have a love/hate relationship with my cell phone.
54. Sometimes I want a dog,
55. but most of the time I don’t.
56. I like to watch movies curled up on the couch with my husband.
57. I also like to beat him at miniature golf.
58. I sold underwear on Ebay.
59. I love Ebay.
60. I am becoming a blog addict,
61. but I haven’t taken the time to figure out exactly what I’m doing.
62. I like camping...RV camping.
63. I think it would be cool to go on a really, really long bike trip--like across the state or something.
64. I like to listen to audio books when I’m cleaning.
65. I daydream a lot.
66. I don’t like coffee,
67. but I love the smell.
68. When my brother was four, and I was eight, I had him stand on my shoulders for our circus game, and I accidentally let him fall. He had to get stitches and has a scar in the shape of an X on his forehead. Oops.
69. I love to take pictures.
70. I like to cook.
71. I don’t like to do dishes.
72. In fact, I would love to have a housekeeper. Who wouldn’t though, huh?
73. I changed my major four times.
74. I finally decided on English. Don’t judge my grammar though. Some of these blog posts get written very quickly during nap time.
75. I want to kidnap my thirteen-year-old little brother, because I miss him.
76. I like to go to historical tourist places.
77. I have copies of my photographs in five places. Paranoid?
78. I have young parents. My mom was only eighteen when she had me.
79. Sometimes I ignore my husband when he talks about fantasy baseball. I’m sorry, honey.
80. I had my ten-year high school reunion this summer. Ugh!
81. Sometimes I stay up way too late. Like now.
82. I used to have a beta fish named Barbarossa.
83. I had a roommate in college that had a séance in her room, and we think she burnt a bird as some sort of offering. It was super weird.
84. I need to lose about fifteen pounds or go buy a whole new wardrobe.
85. I like video games.
86. I really want a Wii Fit.
87. Spring is my favorite season.
88. I didn’t like math in school, and I ended up married to a math teacher.
89. I think it would be cool to meet an alien. Well, a friendly alien anyway.
90. I’ve been married for five and a half years.
91. I have two warts on my thumb. Ick.
92. I love Cadbury Crème Eggs.
93. I have seven holes in my ears. It used to be eight, but I decided the fourth row was just too much so I let them grow in. One of the holes has never sealed up though.
94. I need to learn a foreign language, so I can finish my M.A.
95. In a high school writing contest, my two entries tied for first place in the tanka poem division.

96. John and I tried to have a baby for almost three years before I finally got pregnant. We did fertility treatments for about nine months, and then as soon as we couldn’t afford it anymore and had to quit, Colter showed up!
97. I like to go on walks.
98. I am disgusted by my husband's fungus-infected little toenail.
99. I wish my girlfriends and I got together more.
100. I’ve written 100 blog posts. Hooray for me!

FFF-Friends with Stuffing (Make Sure to Look at the End)

Hooray for friends with stuffing! Colter's best friend with stuffing his definitely Lambie (I'm not sure the picture at the end of this post demonstrates that though), but he has lots of other stuffed comrades! Colter has reaped the benefits of the fact that his mother was a deranged Beanie Buddy collector back in the day. I purchased entirely too many stuffed animals when there was a Ty Beanie Baby craze but justified my purchases by planning to decorate a nursery someday. The poor guys lived in storage containers until Colter finally came along! Now some of them (not the girly ones) are finally free living on a few shelves in Colter's jungle room. Almost daily, they are swept off the shelves by Hurricane Colter. They also have gotten to play a new game lately. My boy loves it when I throw a ton of stuffed animals in the crib with him, so he can throw them out one by one.

Here he is with his buddies!

Uh oh...I think his Cabbage Patch Kid, Austin Colton, may be headed for a nose dive!Oh, no!Poor Austin. Sigh. The trials of being owned by a one-year-old.Colter really does love his friends with stuffing, even though

he brutally tosses them from high places.See he even gives them kisses; although, I'm not sure this kiss was too pleasant for Mr. Panda. I'm pretty sure it included some nose-chewing. :)

Makes sure you go to Kiss the Frog 4 Me to see more FFF pictures!

This is my 99th post! To celebrate my 100th post, I think I'll give something away tomorrow. Come by for your chance to win!

Bring on the Steak!

Yeah, um...okay...so my son has three molars, and I didn't even know! Tonight when we were brushing our teeth, Colter let me catch a rare glimpse into his mouth. Several times over the past few months my husband and I thought Colter might me teething, but anytime I tried to check out his gums, I got bit. :) He has had eight teeth for the longest time, and he knows how to use them!

I have no clue when these three new teeth popped up. It could have been anytime over the past few months. What am I supposed to put in the baby book in the tooth section? Date unknown? Make up a date? Or be honest and say, "Mommy and Daddy are so unobservant that they didn't bother to notice that you grew some teeth." Bad Mommy and Daddy.

If anyone is counting (Grandma and Grandad), Colter has 11 teeth now. Chomp, chomp!

Thematic Photography--Colorful!

How many people can pull off a dress as colorful as this? Not many. I'm just sure if I saw this bright yellow dress on a store hanger, I would totally make fun of it, but on my little sister it was beautiful! Pretty much everything looks good on Courtney though. She's such a brat. :)Carmi's Thematic Photography theme for this week is "colorful." I immediately thought of this dress. I took these pictures of Courtney in 2005, but um, yeah, I have no clue who her date was. I thought about Photoshopping her actual boyfriend's head into the picture, but that seemed like too much effort. Whoever the guy is, his face got blurred out in case he doesn't want to be on the Internet. Courtney is just out of luck.

I also have some colorful zinnia pictures I took this morning. These zinnia's are from our very own garden! They add a lot of color to our backyard.

Wordless Wednesday

Guess What We're Doing Today...

Need Some Fun?

Apparently, it's really fun to fill laundry baskets with flip flops and sit on them. You should try it. Colter highly recommends it!

See all those flip flops? I have every color Old Navy has ever made. Like most women, I love shoes but can't afford to have a gazillion pairs, so I make up for it with cheapo Old Navy flip flops $2.50 a pair. They're oh so very stylish (yeah, right), and Colter is obsessed with playing with them. Yes, I let my son play with dirty shoes. We tried to make him stop, but that was a battle that he won.

He has a very competitive streak and likes to beat his mommy and daddy in battles of wills. Maybe he'll be in the Olympics. Thank God he's a boy though, and I won't have to worry about him playing volleyball in his underwear like some Olympic athletes. Or run cross country practically naked like the skeleton-like women marathon runners! Or wear, like, 50 hair clips that don't even match like some gymnasts I've seen recently. What is up with that? I guess it's not my place to judge what the Olympians are wearing. After all, they're on the other side of the world competing their hearts out, and I'm at home sitting on the couch letting my son play with dirty shoes. :)

Some Whining, Rambling and F.F.F.

If you're not interested in a whiny woman, skip first paragraph.

I feel the need to whine. WHAT is wrong with the people at Microsoft? Do they want to make me crazy? I just upgraded to Microsoft Word 2007 and ACK! It is so different! I knew how to do most things on my Word 2003 and consider myself pretty proficient. With this new program, it took me forever to do basic things, like open a document, edit the header, and save a document! I'm sure I'll get used to it and like it just fine, but at the moment, I'm quite frustrated. I don't wanna learn a whole new program! I really think Microsoft could find a better way to get our money besides making changes to their programs, so we have to buy the upgrades. What was wrong with the old Word anyway? And what was wrong with XP? Why do we have to have Vista now? Ugh. It's all so bothersome. Okay, I'm done.

Happy Favorite Foto Friday! Today's theme is "Back to School." Colter's one. He's not going to school yet. He may not ever go to school. I may hold him hostage and home school if I can talk my husband into it. As my hubby is a teacher, he went back to school this week, but I didn't make him pose for a photo. Wouldn't be funny if I took a picture of him on the first day of school every year like people do of their kids? I could walk him to the school bus truck and sigh, "Oh, he's growing up so fast," as I go back in the house. He'd love it. Actually I'm going back to school this year too, but there are no pictures to document it either. I'm going to teach a few classes at the local college on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Since I have to *gulp* leave my precious bundle of joy with a sitter for six hours a week, will I still be considered a stay-at-home mom? What shall my title be? Mostly-stay-at-home-Mom? Crazy-woman-with-tons-of-papers-to-grade-and-a-one-year-old-to-entertain? Hmmm...

Okay, I really am going to get to the point. I promise. Since there are no school pictures of Colter my theme is "Park Play Time!" A few weeks ago, we took advantage of a rare cool day to visit the park. Colter had lots of fun feeding the geese/ducks/swans with Daddy and playing on the swings!

Look at those dirty knees!

Happy Wordless and Word-Filled Wednesday!

Wordless Wednesday-Mommy's Little Helper

Word-Filled Wednesday

Visit The 160 Acre Woods for more Word-Filled Wednesday!

P.S. My 100th post is coming up soon! My first give-away may be involved...

The Great Vegetable Boycott

I know Mom always said to eat my vegetables, but are they really all that important? Is it possible that the three-five servings (well, two for Colter-sized people) of vegetables a day recommend by the Food Pyramid Dudes is a hoax? Could it be a conspiracy to get us to eat our veggies formed by vegetable farmers whom knew no one would ever eat eggplant unless there was a good reason? I hope so, because Colter has suddenly developed a strong aversion to anything remotely resembling a vegetable. He hasn’t eaten a single serving since Friday’s sweet potatoes. The boy is really confusing me. For awhile, he would only eat baby food vegetables, even though he was old enough to be eating vegetables with some texture. Then all of a sudden he refused to eat those, but I could still get him to eat mashed potatoes and sometimes smashed green beans. A few weeks ago, he started to branch out. I gave him some cooked zucchini, and by some miracle he ate it! He ate it for three different meals, and then he decided it was more fun to throw zucchini on the floor than eat it. He ate lima beans last week, but then when I gave them to him last night, he acted like I’d put moldy muffins or something equally disgusting in his mouth. He won’t even eat mashed potatoes anymore. He immediately spits potatoes out of his mouth and cries until I remove all traces of them from his hands. He’s such a baby. One would think he was only one or something. Oh wait…

I’m not sure how I’m supposed to get him to eat his vegetables. He won’t eat corn. He won’t eat potatoes. He won’t eat green beans. He won’t eat peas, lettuce, spinach, eggplant, carrots, or even those good vegetables that some people say are fruits like tomatoes, zucchini and avocadoes. I guess all I can do is keep trying. If anyone has any other suggestions, let me know. In the mean time, I’ll just assume Colter can get by on fruit instead. :)

Thematic Photography-Patterns

Now that Carmi's week of patterns is almost over, I'm finally getting around to playing. I've just been so busy lately, I haven't had much time for blogging. Colter and I went on a pattern hunt this morning in the backyard for Thematic Photography. Can you guess what my patterns are?

1. This one's my favorite. 2. Do you see the boy?3. Two patterns in one!
4. Cool squiggly thingies!
5. Now I'm in the garage.
6. You'll never guess...

Bye-Bye Daddy, Hello Poopy!

I'm not going to have anyone around to help change the daytime poopy diapers anymore. :( My husband the math teacher had to go back to work today. He had to attend teacher's meetings to prepare for the upcoming school year which begins on Thursday. That's only August 14! It seems like school starts earlier and earlier every year. I can't believe our summer is already over! Even though it will be nice to get a little more routine in our lives, Colter and I aren't ready for our playmate/helper to leave us! We are so fortunate that we get the extra time together in the summer though. Most people don't get that, and it's really a blessing.

Last August when school started Colter was only two months old, so obviously, he didn't really care that his Daddy whom had been around every day of his life was suddenly missing. It will be interesting to see how he reacts to John's mysterious disappearance this school year. Today, he didn't seem to really notice or care until we heard the front door open, and Colter bolted out of the bedroom to go see his daddy! It was cute.

A lot of people say the best thing about being a teacher is June, July, and August. As a teacher's wife and a former teacher myself, I would have to agree.

Favorite Foto Friday-Pool Fun

My son, whom previously hated bath time, has become a water bug. Ever since we spent some time at a water park a few weeks ago, Colter has loved playing in the water. That's great, except for when it's time to get him out of the bathtub! Not very long ago, he cried when I put him in it, now he cries when I take him out! It's good that he doesn't mind bath time now, considering how messy mealtimes are. All these baths aren't so great on my knees though. :) Check out more FFF pictures at Kiss the Frog 4 Me.


By the way, my 100th post is coming up soon! I think I might have my first give away to celebrate...

Wordless Wednsday

Yoga A.K.A. Human Pretzel Exercises

Is yoga supposed to make one feel like she has been run over by a truck? And not just any truck either a big, honking Mack truck? I ask because when I got up this morning (well not just got up...I after several tries, slowly lifted my aching body from the mattress), I felt like my body had been twisted into weird positions and beaten during the night.

I, along with Denise Austin and some other ladies in the background of the exercise video that are never acknowledged, did yoga yesterday. Not the kind of yoga that according to Wikipedia, "is an Indian spiritual path aimed at achieving the union with the Supreme Consciousness." I don't believe in a "Supreme Consciousness." I also don't believe that yoga can transform one's spirit so much that one can obtain immortality. That seems silly. I did the kind of yoga that is merely a form of exercise, so don't worry. I'm not becoming Hindu--I still love Jesus.

My sister, Courtney, the slightly deranged aerobics queen, teaches a yoga class at the fitness center where she works. Lately, I've been noticing that Courtney randomly puts her body in all sorts of weird positions for no clear reason. I don't know why she'll just be standing in the middle of a room and suddenly wrap herself into a pretzel-like pose. She's just odd--anybody that has met her knows what I mean (I still love you, my sweet, odd little sister). I don't know why she does it, but I don't like the fact that my little sister can do weird things while standing on her toes that I can't do. I guess it's my competitive nature. Trying to be more flexible than Courtney was probably my motivation for buying a Denise Austin yoga DVD the other day. Or my motivation could have been the guy I saw on TV while flipping through channels the other night. He was a yoga guru who escaped from prison my folding himself up and putting himself into a box that was shipped out of the prison! Hopefully, I won't ever have to escape from prison, but he made yoga look pretty cool.

Whatever my motivation was, I found that yoga was actually fun! It's very rare that I say a form of exercise is fun, but it was! It was entertaining to try to balance in unusual positions with names like "Downward Dog" and "Fishtale." The stretching and deep breaths was surprisingly relaxing as well. Colter did some yoga moves with me and kept laughing at me, so that was amusing as well. When I was finished with the 45 minute workout, I was pleased with my $10 DVD purchase.

Even though I'm sore this morning, I am definitely going to try some more yoga. The fact that I'm sore this morning makes me feel like I actually got somewhere in the epic battle I'm having with my Jello thighs and baby belly. Either that or I twisted something wrong, and I'll soon have to be in a body brace.

The Day of the Meme

I was tagged with the Brilliant Award on Saturday and my friend, Rachel, tagged me for a different blog game, like, a week ago, and I'm just now getting around to playing. Sorry I'm slow, Rachel! So I hereby declare today Meme Catch-up Day. Happy Meme Catch-up Day!

Brilliant Award 2008

Whoo hoo! Another award! Thanks so much, Amanda, for bestowing this lovely brilliant award upon me. Below are questions I have to answer and post onto my blog. Then I have to choose 7 fellow Brilliant Bloggers and pass this award along!

A. Attached or single? Attached

B. Best friend? Do I have to pick just one? My husband is my best friend. Rachel has been my best friend since 6th grade. Gina has been a best friend since we shared a room in college. My mom and my sister are some of my best friends. I refuse to choose.

C. Cake or pie? Hmm....both? I guess pie. If it's pecan, but only if my mom made it.

D. Day of choice? Saturday

E. Essential item? A Bra

F. Favorite color? Man...I love almost all colors! I guess blue. I mean pink. No, I mean blue.

G. Gummy bears or worms? I'm not especially fond if either one. How about some chocolate?

H. Hometown? Home is where the heart is.
I. Indulgence? Sonic Mocha Java Chillers=Bliss

J. January or July? July

K. Kids? One sweet little guy!

L. Life isn’t complete without? Family & Friends
M. Marriage date? December 21, 2002

N. Number of brothers & sisters? 2 sister 2 brothers

O. Oranges or apples? Oranges--but only if it's a super yummy sweet orange.

P. Phobias? Hotel carpets

Q. Quotes? ??
R. Reasons to smile? Life!

S. Season of choice? Spring

T. Tag seven peeps! (see below)

U. Unknown fact about me? I did yoga for the first time 2 hours ago, and I actually thought it was really fun! Hard, but fun!
V. Vegetable? Potatoes

W. Worst habits? Procrastinating?
X X-ray or ultrasound? That's kind of a weird question. I guess an ultrasound because it's probably looking at a baby while an x-ray would be looking at something broken. That wouldn't be good.
Y. Your favorite food? At this moment, my favorite food is homegrown tomatoes from my very own garden! Tonight at 10:00 it will be some sort of dessert that probably will involve chocolate. Z. Zodiac sign? Scorpio

7 Brilliant Bloggers I am passing this along to:

Amy

Amy

Amy

AmyDeanne

I'm out of Amys now. :)

Gina

Rachel

Tracy

Now for meme number two--The Four Things Tag. Here we go!

Four jobs I’ve had
1)Waitress-which I actually really enjoyed
2) Tutor-of math strangely enough
3) Support Clerk-which was a fancy way of saying copy girl
4) English teacher

Four movies I can watch over and over
1)Forrest Gump
2)The Shawshank Redemption
3)Mulan
4)Braveheart

Four TV shows I love: I wouldn't say I actually love any TV shows. I really think I could do without TV and just watch it when I'm wasting time. Since I've started blogging, TV has kinda gotten the boot. I only have so much time after all.
1) Lost-This is a love/hate relationship. It's leaning more toward hate, but I keep watching because I want to know what in the blue blazes is going on on that stinking freaky island!
2)Little House on the Prairie-I used to love this show, but since I've now seen every episode except the one where Laura has her daughter (why don't they ever show that one?), I'm kinda sick of it.
3)Seinfeld
4)Friends

Places I’ve vacationed:
1)Yellowstone-so cool!
2)Waterton National Park in Canada-The first time I was there we saw three bears in three minutes-AWESOME!
3)Panama City, FL
4) Colorado

Four of my favorite foods:
1) Pizza
2) Mashed Potatoes
3) Chocolate
4) Coconut Shrimp

Four sites I visit daily: (Does almost daily count?)
1) Granton's blog
2) Hotmail
3) Gmail
4) Lately Ebay to check and see if anyone's buying the underwear I'm selling. Yes, I said underwear. I bought some Victoria's Secret underwear really cheap on clearance, and people are actually buying it on Ebay! LOL

Four places I would rather be right now:
1) In my house, but clean
2) Back in June before summer was almost over
3) in the mountains where it's not over 100 degrees!
4) at a water park

Tag Four People:
I've tagged enough people lately. If you're reading and you want to play, TAG, you're it!

And the Award Goes To...

Me! Thanks Jenn, author of I Hate Whine, for giving me this blog award. I'm not sure what it's all about because the website where the trophy originated is all in Spanish, but hey, it's a trophey, so it must be good. :)

The rules for this award are:
1) You must pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award, based upon creativity, design, interesting material, and that also contribute to the blogger community.
2) Each award must have the name of the author with a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.
3) Award-winners must show the award and put the name and link to the blog that awarded it.
4) Award-winners and the one who has given the prize must show the link to the Arte y Pico blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.
5) These rules must be included in your post.
So, I am passing this award to:

Rachel

Gina

Melanie

Heidi

and because I like Heidis...

Heidi

Favorite Foto Friday-Crazy Hair

Sarah has proclaimed the Favorite Foto Friday theme for today to be Crazy Hair! I should have a lot more crazy hair pictures than I do. Colter has taken to rubbing as much of his dinner as he possibly can into his hair, his ear, his eyes, his nose, etc.--basically anywhere but his mouth. :) How long does this phase last? I should have tons of pictures of crazy food hair, but usually I'm to concerned with getting him into the bathtub, which needs to be cleaned now everyday by the way and probably needs some Drano to get rid of the sweet potatoes, noodles, rice, etc. hanging out in the pipes. I'll have to get some food hair pictures soon.

For now I have this crazy hair photo. Colter's hair dried like this in the bathtub. That's right--in the bathtub! He played for so long in the tub, that he turned into a prune and his hair dried. He refused to get out no matter how cold the water was! We had just spent some time at a water park the day before and I think he was reliving his fun experiences there. :)

I've posted this crazy hair picture before, but I love it so much I'm posting it again.
Here's a windy day in March. What a face!
And some bath time crazy hair

Have a great weekend!