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Over a year ago, I started this post about 101 things I love. I stopped at #69 and in proper A.D.D. fashion, I got sidetracked and completely forgot about it. SO, here for you today...
69 Things that make me happy!
Chocolate: I LERV chocolate! It's my favorite tooth rotter on the planet!
Coffee: I just don't live without coffee! Add chocolate to it and I am in heaven!
My kids! They are the greatest! Let's not forget Brandon too! May his little soul RIP!
. Kittens. Yep, I actually love those cute little balls of claws and teeth.
Presents! Yes, all the boxes and bags in this picture are presents... and the kid... that was my Valentines Day present!
SNOW! I know a lot of people say that it's a four letter word... Well it is. But I still love it and I don't get my mouth washed out with soap when I say it... except at Nikky's house.
Getting fit and healthy! Those orange highlighter marks are my weight loss in inches on various parts of my body. I haven't done the highlighting measure in a while, I should do that again!
National Geographic Magazine. I love them so much. My friend gave me a bunch to sell. But I have a problem doing that. No one can pry them from my white knuckled fingers.
Stuffed Animal Fights! Oh come on, how can you not love beating the crap out of your parents with flowers?
Sunglasses. The darker the better. I think I need a twelve step program for this. Really I do!
Damn. It's my favorite cuss word.
Traveling. If I had an endless supply of money, I would have a really cool RV and you'd never see me or my kids again. Well, I'd blog a ton, but you wouldn't see much of me. I tend to get a wild hair and I'M OFF!!!
Taking pictures of everyone I drive to the emergency room or a doctors appointment. It's a sick obsession, I know. It's a lot of fun for me, but paybacks are a bitch!
Doodling with henna! It's like a tattoo that goes away after a few weeks.
My co-workers... I really miss them!
My nieces and nephews... and the random photos that come to my phone of them. OMG! He looks like his DAD! Poor kid. Just kidding Karl!
Taking random pictures of my face in various settings making various faces. I have no idea why I do this, but 4,000 some odd pictures of my face later and I still enjoy it.
Trees. I just want to run up and hug one! Without trees, the land just seems naked.
Car scent dangly thingies. They make my car not stink.
Fireplaces. They just say HOME and make the place seem cozy.
Playing with random camera features on my phone. I have no idea what I was doing here.
MOOSE ANTLERS! Way cooler than bunny ears.
The cold! Way better than the heat!
My kids artwork. They are really talented. This is too good for the fridge.
Icicles. Oh sure, it falls under "snow" and "cold" but icicles are awesome all by themselves!
Sledding! Okay, so I won't be doing that anytime soon, but it's tons of fun!
Warming up after sledding. This usually consists of hot cocoa/ carob drinks, toe warmers, blankets and lots of snuggling!
Stumbling across cute kids and cats together. It's better than running into a room of a screaming kid and finding the cat attacking them LOL.
Birthday PARTIES! (Hey Beck!)
Nikky's allergy-friendly apple pie. I eat it before I remember to take a picture :) It's just THAT good! This can of filling pales in comparison to Nikky's apple pie!
Museums. Depending on what they are about, they can be pretty awesome!
Going to baseball games with the kids. That was a ton of fun!
Teaching my kids to be helpful. Miles won these tickets for helping after a boat bash. I was quite proud of him :)
Watching my kids learn something cool!
Finding random messages etched into sidewalks. I don't know why, I just love it!
Window shopping. All the fun of shopping without spending a dime (sometimes!). It's like making a real life wish list.
Public fountains, especially the really cool ones that have spinning marble balls on them.
The beach. I really love the Atlantic beaches but any beach is still cool with me.
Night time at the marina. It's so quiet and peaceful, no sunshine, cool breeze.
New tires for my car. I really love the studded snow tires for winter. Green Diamond tires were actually the best tries EVER!
Montezumas Revenge on the Commodore 64! My all time favorite video game!
Rock and roll! PARTY ON!
Little Golden Books. While not all the stories are golden, I love the books! They are so classic and the stories are cute. These are my two favorite books!
Interesting things I find at antique stores. I love browsing the antique stores and finding unusual and unique items.
Atari. I still have an old Atari system for playing games. It's doesn't get much better than that!
Finding a new food I can eat. How exciting is that! With 47 food allergies, any new food is cause for celebration.
Avocado Green. My favorite color!
Old books. I have something about them that make me love them. Maybe it's the smell. Maybe it's the old look or the thought that many people may have handled this book centuries before I was born... I just love them!
Working with Alzheimer's and Dementia patients.
Wearing colorful, crazy, fuzzy pajama pants. They are so comfortable! It's like a pampering session all day!
Seeing happy couples together. Reminds me of the times I felt loved.
Being organized. It's a challenge for sure, especially with a back injury. But organization makes me VERY happy and makes my house seem like home.
My TENS unit. There is nothing quite like hooking myself up to the TENS unit and zapping my pain away for a little bit. Or at least taking the edge off the pain.
Pet Rats. All our rat babies passed away and I really miss them.
Flip Flops! It's like being barefoot but not quite.
Store bags, handmade bags... just BAGS! I love them! Cloth, paper, plastic... there are so many uses for them.
Rainbows! They always cheer me up and I get to spend a moment imagining that I find a leprechaun with a pot of gold.
Coffee art is the coolest thing!
Camping at the Fish Creek Wash in winter time. It's so remote, quiet, dark (at night) and oddly enjoyable. The layers of rock with marine fossils are awesome!
Reading Blog comments! I enjoy coming on here and finding comments :) It makes my day! I have a few regular commenters (HI LILY AND SARA!) and some that email me their thoughts (HI DONNA AND NIKKY!) I love them all! Even texting is awesome for comments (HI NIKKY!)
Green Diamond Tires. These are the best tires out there! They actually have flecks of green diamonds in them. The traction is awesome!
Those "you had to be there" moments with friends. When you are sharing a hilarious story with someone and you are laughing so hard you nearly pass out while everyone is staring blankly at you with a raised brow... oh yea! That is what i am talking about!
Sailing on the bay! I do love this. I just don't like the violent puking that goes with it.
Benadryl. My lifeline for a life of allergic reactions and stupid doctors.
Fishing with the kids... Well, maybe not this time but it's still a fun story to share! And yes, that is a shark!
Playing pool. Haven't done this in a while and I usually lose... but I still love playing it!
Night time. I love the night time. No sunshine. Not a lot of people. Beautiful pictures.
Penn and Teller. So this is the crappiest picture of me EVER but I was thrilled to get to watch them in person. They have humor AND the best illusionist tricks EVER! In fact they inspired my 11th grade science project of the glowing pickle apparatus! I got and A. :)
Rest Areas. When traveling, these are the best places to stop and sometimes become our overnight sleep spot. The truckers are usually really cool!
Here is a question I received this week on
creating and running a blog:
Hola! I was curious to know if
setting up a weblog such your own is hard to do for unskilled people? I have
been hoping to set up my own blog for a while now but have been turned
off mainly because I've always believed it demanded tons of work. What do you
think?-Anonymous
I don't
think it's that hard to set up and run a blog. Here is a Wiki How on How
to Create a Blogger Blog.If you like YouTube, here is a five-minute
video on how to create your Blogger Blog.
As for the amount of work a blog takes, it depends on how much time you have to
dedicate to blogging. I found that Problogger has great articles on blogging,
blogging income and everything else to do with blogging.
If you are new to Blogging, I highly suggest his book "Problogger's Guide to Your First Week of
Blogging"Click here to view more details. This book
will help you (from Problogger's site)
·Learn foundational
brainstorming techniques. ·Create a content
plan—and content, of course! ·Build a social media
presence. ·Create practical
quality assurance tools. ·Set up a publishing
process. ·Master the components
of a blog post. ·Develop your blog’s
ongoing strategy.
I personally love blogging! If I don't have time, I don't blog.
Some months are harder than others are and I have to focus my time elsewhere. However,
eventually, I would love to be a full time blogger with my blog making enough
income to make ends meet. Until then, it's a hobby I completely enjoy in my
free time!
Don't give up too quickly. Every hobby needs time to learn and
explore. Blogging isn't any different. It can be pretty fun! I have been
blogging since March 2003 and enjoy it quite a lot!
Being a Mom is an adventure... Or so they say. I think it's more like an elixir for premature aging and insanity. I love my kids... and would die for them, but there are days that their antics remind me why I am also on anti-anxiety meds and going to therapy. Then, there are times that people say things so stupid about being a mom that I just want to punch them in the face so I can have a little vacation behind bars. One lady stuck her finger in my face and told me, "Just remember, you are a MOM! Don't forget that!" Right, I forgot that I am a Mom somewhere between drinking a pot of coffee and sorting through Mount Clothesmore.
Does this lady even have any kids? HOW does anybody forget that they are a mom? I mean, besides Alzheimer's, amnesia, or Traumatic Brain Injury, I can't see just randomly forgetting that I have children... and that is where this Top 6 List came from... Some nosey woman's idiotic comment. As if having two kids that follow me around yelling "MOM!" isn't enough to remind me that I am a Mom on a daily basis, here is my Top 6 List of Things That Remind Me I am a Mom. #6: "Oh yea, I am a Mom" reminder: Having to call 911 for a stove fire It's not that I never set my kitchen on fire before, I have. But things you learn about kitchen fires aren't always at the front of your mind when teaching your children fire safety. Nowhere in the in the little lesson book on fire safety did it ever mention anything about grease fires. Sure, they had "Stop, Drop, and Roll" but the one thing they failed to teach was "NEVER THROW WATER ON A GREASE FIRE!!!" Just in case you don't know what happens, here is a YouTube video to traumatize you. My children were making fries the other day and managed to set the stove on fire. For all of you who keep saying "PARENTAL SUPERVISION!"
My boys are 17 (almost 18) and 14-1/2. They know how to cook.
I was right there with them and stepped out of the room for like, a minute!
I don't need to be present to watch my kids set the kitchen on fire BY ACCIDENT.
Do you want me to spoon feed them, wipe their butts, and hold their hands still???
Maybe I should just wrap them in bubble wrap and put a helmet on them?
I ran out into the kitchen (from 2 steps into the other room). I thought, "Okay, no biggie. Grab the big pan lid and smother it!" By the time I grabbed the pan lid and turned around, my youngest son was mid toss into throwing water onto the grease fire.
It was one of those moments where it goes slow motion... you reach out your hand in a "stop" motion, open your mouth and say "No!" but it feels like a minute long and trails out the O, as you watch every droplet of water exit the cup and arch beautifully toward the flames. Yea, that was me. I'm pretty sure my heart stopped right about then. And just like in the video, the flames shot off the top of the stove like my stove had turned into a rocket... and that is when I called 911.
I didn't realize how many emergency vehicles, police and sheriff vehicles we had in this small town... that or we were right at shift change or something. Just as my oldest son managed to beat out the last flame, I turned to exit the house and all I could see were flashing lights, police cars, sheriff's, fire trucks, random personal vehicles with flashing lights, all my neighbors, my sister, random passer-by's... I nearly died of embarrassment.
Miles had a small burn on his hand, Mendek was shaken, my friend's dog was sent to my sister's house, my cats ran and hid upstairs (yea, if the house ever catches fire, the cat's are going to die) and I did quite well until it was all over. Then I shook uncontrollably for hours. Mendek got a lesson about grease fires. The cops probably think I am insane since I went back into the smoke filled house for an anti-anxiety pill before I passed out... but all in all, we only lost the stove. Thank goodness!
Oh yea, good thing I remembered I had kids that day!
#5: "Oh yea, I am a Mom" reminder: Having to call the landlord In the four and a half years I have lived here, I have had to call the landlord a couple times to report something my kids broke or set on fire... (See #6). Those awkward moments usually start with "So I told the Fire Chief that I would call you..." with a reply of "Please don't burn down the apartments." And over the years here is a small sampling of things I have had to call the landlord for because, oh yea, I have kids!
"Hey, R*, so, uhm, yea, Miles dropped the window and it shattered."
--- "He did what?" ---
"Dropped the window... on the floor... it came off the tracks or something"
--- *crickets chirping*
"Hi, R*, this is Dotchi again... so the bedroom floor collapsed when the kids jumped on the bed."
*crickets chirping* "The FLOOR collapsed???"
"Yes, ma'am"
*crickets chirping*
"Hi, R*, this is Dotchi. I think we broke the breaker for half the house. We don't have any power in almost half the house."
"How did you manage to do that?"
"I think we had too much stuff running on one circuit."
"Define 'too much stuff' for me."
"Uhm, the dryer was running, I have three air conditioners running, the crock pot, the tea maker and when I started the coffee pot all the power went out and I tried to flip the breaker back but nothing is happening."
"Uh-huh." *crickets chirping*
"Hi, R*, This is Dotchi... so I told the Fire Chief that I would call you and let you know that the kids set the stove on fire..."
"Dotchi..."
"...but it was a total accident..."
"Dotchi..."
"Mendek didn't know about throwing water on a grease fire and..."
"Dotchi..."
"And it went up in flames! And I called 911 and..."
"Dotchi..."
"...everyone is okay but the stove is toast and..."
"DOTCHI!"
"Yes?"
"Don't do that."
"Okay" *awkward nervous laughter*
And somehow, that day I forgot I had children, right? Yes. and moments later the flames, sirens and hot men running into my house brought me back to reality...
#4: "Oh yea, I am a Mom" reminder: Smoke Bombs in the bathroom I used to work outside the home, y'know, I had a "real job" working in a nursing home. My cousin would come over to my house and hang out with the kids while I worked. Having kids with health issues, occasionally I would get a call asking about medications or what their normal peak-flow should be. One night I got a call my cousin and he said Mendek was having trouble breathing even after his Albuterol treatment. I told my nurse I would be right back... I live like two minutes away... and she said okay. I head home to find him wheezing still and as I set up his breathing treatment, I asked why it smelled so bad in the house. Here's how to conversation went:
Me: What is that smell?
Cousin: Oh that's the smoke bomb.
The smoke bomb?!
Yea! We were seeing if you set off a smoke bomb underwater if the cloud of smoke would stay in the water so we filled the sink, lit one and dropped it in.
You let them SET OFF a SMOKE BOMB!? ... IN MY HOUSE!? Here son, start breathing into this. In my BATHROOM SINK!?
Well, yea. I told them it would be a bad idea. But, they wanted to try it anyway.
And you LET THEM?
Well, yea, I can't tell them no, they're twice my size.
You are supposed to be the responsible adult here...
HEY! You said you needed an adult to stay with them! You didn't say anything about being responsible!
Touche. He needs to breath all this until it's gone. Afterwards check his peak-flow. If it's still low, bring him to my work and we'll watch him there.
Okay. Hahaha! Have fun at work!
AND NO MORE FIRE STUFF IN THE HOUSE!
Kids and Cousin:"Yes, Ma'am."
[Insert call to landlord] "This is R*.""Hi, R*, this is Dotchi."*dial tone* "Hello?" #3: "Oh yea, I am a Mom" reminder: Poise Pads One thing that people fail to tell you about having children is that you will pee on yourself even after you have the baby. Poise Pads (Affiliate Ad), or some off-brand version (Affiliate Ad) of them, will soon become a bathroom staple until you get your dribbling under control. Oh sure, you can have this issue for other reasons, like back injuries, but I am blaming my kids this week since I had to replace the stove and peed on myself from the stress of the whole town's Emergency crew showing up on my front porch. #2: "Oh yea, I am a Mom" reminder: The police keep bringing them back Oh those awkward moments when the cops show up and ask "Are you Miles' mom?" Followed by a lecture on curfew laws and a million questions about how you met his friend, JW, and how long we've known him and why he is hanging out with my son. Those are the moments I relive in therapy, especially since we learned the JW is on the Montana Sex Offender List and shouldn't be hanging out with minors. If ever I needed a nervous breakdown, I nearly had one that night.
Oh, those awkward moments when you have to sit down with your teenage son and ask questions like "Did he ever... y'know..." and you're interrupted by "NO! The cops already asked me about that." On an up note, the officer was hot (so was his partner) and he was pretty nice too. He was also easy to talk to and wasn't intimidating... other than the badge, uniform, and the fact that they had my son in the back of the patrol car. #1: "Oh yea, I am a Mom" reminder: Co-Parenting Phone Calls Being separated has it's benefits (we don't have to live together or see each other and we can pretend we aren't married) but also has it's downsides (like, we still have kids together and joint custody and I have to call him whenever something goes wrong with the kids.) There are many times I have had to make joint-custody calls (see 6, 5, 4, and 2) to inform him of something the kids did and every time, I just wait for the sighs and the facepalm moment. The upside is that he is their dad and knows how they are. The downside is... well, I have to call him and inform him when they do something stupid or if they have a doctors appointment. My least favorite calls are when the EMT, Fire Department or Police Departments are involved. Oh sure, I get eye candy-time looking at hot bald men in uniform... but then I have to call the kid's dad and tell him what things his kids have done to give me grey hair and wrinkles.
Most of the memes in this post were made at Mememaker.net.
These last few weeks I have had a lot of fun making homemade beads with art paper and Sharpies. I really love Sharpies! I covered them with Diamond Glaze to make them look shiny.
Now I am curious, what is everyone's favorite hobby? It doesn't have to be artsy. It can be anything. I am creating a post for next Friday with my reader's favorite hobbies... so share your favorite sport, craft, hobby or anything else you love to do! Links are always welcome :)
If you don't want to post on the comments section, you email me at blogwriter@dotchilatham.com
