Well, I finally finished the 31 day challenge and honestly, it’s not make me any more of a reliable blogger.
I blog for a couple of reasons, mostly to share my life with those I care about. Secondly, I blog to share funny things that I’ve seen or experienced. Lastly, I blog to have a place to unload my personal soapbox rants when and how I see fit. Hopefully I can keep going with it.
I finally stopped laughing hard enough that I could answer this.
Um…my makeup “bag” contains:
This is another vague one! I’ve been incredibly blessed to have done a significant amount of travelling in my life. I’ll highlight domestic and International.
Domestic:
California (San Francisco, Disneyland, Monterey, Carmel, Big Sur)
Reno
Grand Canyon
Petrified Forrest,
Winslow, Arizona (Mentioned in ‘Take it Easy’-Eagles)
Colorado (Denver, Rockies, Estes Park)
Mount Rushmore/Black Hills
Oklahoma City (memorial)
Texas (Houston, Dallas, Forth Worth)
Missouri (St Louis)
Mall of America
Chicago
Milwaukee
Nashville, TN
Memphis, TN (Graceland)
Chattanooga, TN (Rock City, etc)
Louisville, Ky
Tampa, Fl (Gulf of Mexico, Busch Gardens)
Orlando, Fl (Disney World, Cocoa Beach)
Pretty much all of Indiana
Various places in Michigan
Ohio (Columbus, Cincinnati, Sandusky, Kelly’s Island)
Georgia (Atlanta, Marietta, Kennesaw)
Gettysburg, Pa
Hershey, Pa
Outer Banks, NC
Virginia Beach, Va
Washington DC
Salem, Ma
Concord/Lexington Ma
Boston, Ma
Buffalo, NY
International:
Germany (Krefeld, Cologne, Bonn, Speyer)
Canada (Niagara Falls)
There’s a lot of things I’m looking forward to. You know, while this blog challenge is helpful in some ways, it’s so darn vague in other ways that I get overwhelmed trying to decide what to write about. Do they mean today? Do they mean this week? How about this month? This year? The next 5 years? The next 20? By the time I die?
Let’s do it all!
Today: Going to bed. I’m tired.
This week: Pay day.
This month: Taking Luke to his first parade (Harlan days)
This year: Taking Luke Trick-or-Treating for the first “real” time.
The next five years: Taking Matt and Luke to Disney World at some point
The next 20: Seeing what kind of person Luke turns into
By the time I die: Flying cars
Well on second thought, that wasn’t so hard.
Wow, this is a hard one. I have a lot of favorite recipes of all types. However, I think I’ll come up with a simple one.
Searching, searching, searching…..
Ah, homemade donuts.
You are welcome.
1) The Bloggess http://thebloggess.com/
2) Message with a Bottle http://messagewithabottle.tumblr.com/
3) STFU Parents http://www.stfuparentsblog.com/
4) The Pioneer Woman http://thepioneerwoman.com/
5) Damn You Auto Correct http://www.damnyouautocorrect.com/
I’d love to be a publicity photographer at Disney World. I know, It’s kind of random, but it’s true.
Honestly, it’s a tie.
I know, what a cheater answer, but it’s true.
1) Luke starting to talk, to say please/thank you (unprompted) and really start displaying his sense of humor.
2) Buying our house.
Yum, food.
Probably the hardest time in my life was when the specialist told us we would never have a child on our own. There are lots of medical options, but the problem is that insurance (at least here in Indiana) vary rarely pays anything for the treatments. It was literally a time of grieving the (potential) loss of the child we would never have. At literally thousands of dollars it would take us years and years to save up the money for something that might not even work. Years of waiting for a take-home baby (as I had experienced a miscarriage during the process) makes Luke even that more special to me. We’d like for him to have a sibling, but knowing how he literally beat the odds, we’re enjoying every moment knowing he might very well be our only child.
Easy! Kids books. Luke has so many books he will probably never even read them all. However, I take them into work all of the time and so we get lots of use out of them. I pick them up for pennies at garage sales and resales. Very rarely do I pay anything close to full price for a kids book.
It’s simple, Growing Up is Optional is my personal philosophy. The actual website address, however, was a lot harder and as a result, a lot more boring.
Honestly, my proudest moment to date is when Luke said “Thank You” to someone unprompted. You can teach (almost) anyone to walk, to talk, to write their name, etc…but teaching someone to be grateful? Wow.
My work day is very different than my weekend, but since I spend most of my time at work, allow me to share that with you. All times are approximate.
6:00am – Wake up
7:00am – Leave the house
7:45am – Drop Luke off
8:00 am – Start work
9:30 am – Snack
11:00 am – Lunch
3:00pm – Snack
5:00pm – Pick up Luke
6:30pm – Get Home
7:30pm – Dinner
9:30pm – Put Luke to bed
10:30pm – Go to bed and start over again tomorrow.
This is simple!
If I won the lottery I’d pay off the rest of our student loans.
Then I’d pay off the house.
Then I’d buy a new(to us) car (for each of us).
Then I’d put a chunk away in Luke’s college fund.
Then I’d set aside an emergency fund.
Then, if anything was left over, we’d go on a family vacation somewhere.
….. I haven’t thought about this at all.
This is a hard one, I have a lot of memories and putting them in some semblance of chronological order proves to be difficult. So, for the sake of fairness, I shall give you three memories.
1) I remember riding in the car with my dad, driving at night (somewhere) and watching out the moon. Family legend says that I was talking to the Man in the Moon (whom I believed to be Jesus).
2) I remember almost burning down my house because I threw polyester blankets over a table lamp because I didn’t want to go to bed so I was trying to read in the “dark”.
3) I remember sitting in Baskin Robbins with Bugga eating TONS of ice cream during a thunder storm because she didn’t want to go out in it. We would finish a scoop and go back for a new flavor. Yum!
Honestly right now, there’s not a lot. Mostly condiments. This is partly due to the fact that we haven’t been home so we haven’t been shopping much. It’s also due to the fact that we just cleaned out what was left over because of our long weekend we took. The key items of notice: a wedge of Brie, some milk, some tortillas, Apple juice, orange juice and a bit of hairy buffalo I’m keeping chilled for a special occasion. It’s only 7 years old. 
