1, 2 & Thus...all about Us

My friend Cindi had this on her blog and I thought it was cute, so i decided to steal it.


A Little About Us

The basic facts:
Who is your significant other? Dale
How long have you been together? Just over 3 years.
Dating/Engaged/Married? Married for 2.5
How old is your S.O.? 45..46 in late November
What’s his/her middle name? Dale

Which one?
Who eats more? about the same but he takes bigger bites.
Who says "I love you" first? 50/50
Who weighs more? I do
Who sings better? He doesnt do it much, but when he does, he has the better voice.
Who’s older? Him.
Who’s smarter? He has the higher logical and mathematical aptitude but I'm better educated an more well read.
Whose temper is worse? His
Who does the laundry? He washes, I fold & put away
Who does the dishes? He does...I cook
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? If you're standing at the foot, looking at the head, i sleep on the right.
Whose feet are bigger? His
Whose hair is longer? Mine
Who’s better with the computer? HIM
Who mows the lawn? He does
Who pays the bills? i do...when he tells me to. And how much to send them etc.
Who cooks dinner? I do
Who drives when you are together? He does 90% of the time. But i dont mind doing it.
Who pays when you go out to dinner? I give the credit card/debit card to the waiter and sign for it. It comes out of our joint account of which he is the primary contributor.
Who's the most stubborn? He says me, I say, i don't know
Who is the first one to admit when they’re wrong? I am
Whose parents do you see more? Probably mine
Who named your dog? We don't have any pets currently, but if we did, i'm sure i'd name it.
Who kisses who first? 50/50
Who asked who out? He asked me out
Who's more sensitive? I say he is...he'd probably say I am.
Who's taller? He is
Who has more friends? Me
Who has more siblings? Him
Who wears the pants in the relationship? He does because he doesn't look good in a skirt.

Over all, I'd say he's the quieter more introverted, neater more organized one. I'm the outgoing, louder, more creative one.

13 top Halloween candies

In honor of Halloween, this week i'll discuss how i came to be this size. It wasnt by accident. It was due in part to these TOP 13 CANDIES

13. Marathon Bars...Do you remember them? they were about a foot long and braided i always thought like a ladder of some sort. They were chewy and yummy.

12. Hershey's Miniatures. Keep the dark chocolate, never wanted any of that...but bring on the Mr. Goodbars and the Krackles especially.

11. Milk Duds. Usually a staple at the movies along the following number 10, these gooey hard candies also come in miniature size. Love em cause they last a long time.

10. Raisinettes. One would think that with raisins in them they'd be at least a little bit good for you. No, they're just good.

9. Sugar Babies/Daddies, Mamas...they're all good. Oh I know how bad they are for my teeth but they were the best tasting of the "cheap" candies to me. Along with number 8.

8. Tootsie Rolls. I especially prefer the long narrow ones. But will take any of the ones in their multitude of sizes.

7. M&Ms. Again in just about any flavor, but in the old days my favorite were the peanut ones...these days bring on the peanut butter ones. And they lie, they DO melt in your hands!

6. Zero Bars. No chocolate in this item so i'm surprised it makes the list, but they harken me back to the old days at the public swimming pool and this was the one item i always bought.

5. Heath Bars/Skor. In the old days it was the Heath bar but with my more sophisticated palate the Skor bar has come to be a favorite. I also enjoy using them in Toffee Coffee Cake recipe that's to die for.

4. Kit Kats. Really, the serving size is too small in my book. One bite and it's half gone. who can really just bite off one stick of it at a time? And the miniature versions? Oh really now. Who are we kidding?

3. Snickers. A favorite all year..especially Easter with the egg shaped ones. My husband says that Milky Ways are nothing but snickers w/o the peanuts..but if that's the case, bring on the peanuts!!

2. Almond Joy's. Never been a Mounds gal, but i can eat TONS of the almond joys. Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you dont.

1. REESES. Anytime, anywhere.

13 Thursday

13 Things on My Mind This Week

13. I'm Tired. I had to get up this morning and will again tomorrow and Monday at 4:45am. That's rough on me. My job is kinda like a split shift. Somedays, I work early and some I work evenings...The days I work mornings, I work harder. I do more manual lifting and toting etc. So I admit it, I'm Tarred!

12. Pumpkins. We need to go buy some and I'm trying to figure out the best thing to do. I can go to Bert's Farm up in Dawsonville, but it's going to be soooo crowded. Or I can just pick a roadside place and still have a pretty good selection. Or I can just go to Walmart. Decisions, Decisions.

11. Rain. We need it so bad. And while it supposedly rained today it really was hardly more than a sprinkle. My plants look sickly. They've cancelled what was going to be a really cool exhibit thing at Stone Mountain Park called Snow Mountain cause of it. Lakes are down, watering restrictions everywhere. Where's Burt Lancaster when you need him? (Cool points to you if you get the reference)

10. Weight Watchers. I'm doing better, but it's constantly on my mind. I've lost some this week, but not sure how much because I had to work Monday night (weigh in night) So, I'm thinking I may just hold out and go next week instead of trying to work in a weigh in.

9. My Headlight. I had a wreck back during the summer and we got the insurance money on it. But we still haven't had my headlight fixed. Now the light has gone out and we can't drive my car at night. This is driving me bonkers because I have to take Dale's suburban everywhere. His car is the best one to drive when I'm with the kids, but I don't prefer it for doing all the driving I have to do this week.

8. The grass needs mowing. It's a catch 22. Dale says it's the "man's job" but he hasn't had time to do it. It's too hard to try and mow when you've got three imps underfoot wanting to play, argue, etc.

7. Dinner. Wednesday is usually our going out to dinner night, but I had to work last night so we're going out tonight. Should we go to Golden Corral? Applebees? Sonny's? So many decisions.

6. Mom's finances. Trying to get everything in order on that. Since she's had the cancer, the bills have been mounting in amazing quantities and multitudes. So many forms and agencies to contact. Been trying to help her out but my schedule has kept me from doing all that i could. She did get some hopeful news from one place today, so maybe things are looking up.

5. Fight with my Brother. I've been irritated with him because he's only been to see my mom once in the past month and half that she's been so ill. So I confronted him about it yesterday...and let's just say it wasn't pretty. I'm not losing sleep over it, but it drained me yesterday and is still on my mind today.

4. My Finances. We're trying to save up the money to move...probably in June when the kids get out of school. So, we're putting every penny we can scrounge into savings and I'm constantly trying to figure out other ways to bring in money. We're doing ok, but it's always On my mind to quote Willie Nelson.

3. Gotta get my meds re-filled. Somewhere on this messy desk of mine are 3 prescriptions I need to have filled. 2 for my type 2 diabetes and one for this eczema thing i have going on my knee. I need to bite the bullet and sort this desk out and find them as I'm officially out of the old meds.

2. John's birthday. It's not til the end of November, but he gets the birthday party this year. With three imps that all have birthdays within 6 weeks of each other, we made the decision to only have one birthday party a year. They go in order as to who gets one. It's John's year an he'll be 6. I've decided to have it at this cool gymnastics/Jumpy place in Carl called A to Z (or something like that) I need to pay the deposit and get him a cake ordered. Also need to order E'beth a cake too. She wants one of those Barbie cakes like they have at Publix...but I asked about it the other day and it costs $45!!! I think that's too much to pay for the cake. Contemplating making one myself but i'm not very good in the icing department.

1. How little I've seen the kids this week. I've only seen them for 30 minutes Mon-Wed in the morning and maybe 5-10 min in the evenings when I get home. Then this morning i didnt get to see them at all...(but have spent all afternoon w/them...although I did fall asleep on the couch with them watching Wendy & Casper)
This kind of schedule will last thru about Wednesday of next week. We're trying to "make hay while the sun shines" with this part time job of mine. I feel like it's going to dry up in how much I'm working so I want to get all i can while i can. But I've missed them a lot.

So now you probably know more about what's on my mind than you ever wanted to.

Grant me patience...NOW

So we were talking at Sunday School about how we can be more High Performance Believers in our homes, community and work. Since i spend the majority of my time in the home, that's where I felt i should focus the most. And I got to thinking, if my children look at me (and Lord knows we know the kids DO watch us!) Do they see what Christian behavior should look like? Do they see a good example to follow? And I have to think that the majority of the time they don't. They see a shrieking woman trying to get three children off to school. Fussing at Joshua because he can't seem to realize he needs to put on deodorant EVERY day. Yelling at Elizabeth not to wipe the dray erase board with her knee pads. Hollering at John that we DON'T hit/grab by the arms our sister when she plays with our toy that we're not playing with in the first place.

I've got to learn a better demeanor. I've got to learn how to get my point across to the children in a more pleasant yet still authoritative manner. I want to make a loving non-violent home. I don't want the yelling. I used to dread when my mom used to yell at us as kids. Made me sick at my stomach. Now I find myself doing it all the time (which from a different view, completely diminishes it's impact)

I'm a naturally loud person, i come by it honestly! (Just listen to my Dad sometime!) But there's a difference between being loud and yelling. It's just something I need help on.

Thursday 13

With the weather turning colder (somewhat), my thoughts turn to the top 13 things I like about October.

13. Tons of festivals!! It seems like every weekend there's some sort of arts and crafts or apple or sunflower or SOMETHING worthy of a festival being named after it in the state of Georgia. Although my favorite festival (The Yellow Daisy Festival) is actually in September, there are tons of others I enjoy during October.

12. The showing of IT'S THE GREAT PUMPKIN CHARLIE BROWN. With the advent of dvds and videos of all the old favorites we grew up with, it's not so much of an annual event the way it was when we were kids...but I still like to watch it on tv...usually sponsored by Kraft Foods or Peppermint Patties (get it? grins)

11. The fall foliage. (Did i spell that right?) Anyway...here in the Atlanta area, it starts peaking around the last week in October. Take a look at my imps and our nieces in the below picture and you'll get an idea of how beautiful it gets. We have a HUGE leaf tree outside our front window that provides a wonderful view on crisp days.


10. Our first fire of the year. It's always sometime in October and I know that when we move to Florida that's going to be the one thing I miss the most. The sound of the crackling logs, the aroma of the scene, all of it just gives me a big case of the warm fuzzies.

9. Columbus Day. Obscure I know, but my husband actually gets the day off from work! Whoo hoo. How many holidays do we get that the kids are in school, but Dale's off from work? That's a double goodie. We're going to have a grand time on Monday!

8. Catalog Heaven. There's a huge push by all the companies to send out their catalogs in October so that you will consider them come Christmas. I love going thru catalogs and dream shopping. Right now, I have Lillian Vernon, E-Toys, etc all vying for my dollars.

7. Cooling Temperatures. After a long hot summer, it's so relaxing to have the temps dip below 80 in the days and below the 60s at night. The kids (and adults too) actually start going outside again to play. We all got in the front yard the other day and played giant frisbee together for half an hour. The kids frolicked in the front yard with my brother's pooch and we all just had a ball. We dont have have that kind of outdoor fun in the summer.

6. Birthdays. 2 notable ones in our family. My brother Steven's is the 23rd and son Josh's is the 6th. Steven will be THIRTY FIVE this year...and Joshi will be 9. Happy B'day to you both.

5. Football season is in full swing. I'm an oddity I know...a girl who loves football. But I love it when Sunday rolls around and my thoughts turn to the Falcons/Cowboys/Saints etc. I love the competition, the excitement and intrigue. I follow the Dawgs & Yellow Jackets some but I prefer Pro-Ball. Go Falcons.

4. Octoberfest in Helen. I know I should have put this in the festival section, but it's so big, it deserves it's own number. I love all the celebration, the brats, the music, the hype, etc. I love the drive up into the mountains. Etc.

3. Pommagrantes come in season. Another obscure thing, but when I was a kid, i loved these things. I begged my mom to buy them whenever she could...but they were only at the grocery store in October. I loved cutting them open and getting that purple juice all over myself! And I love the sour sweet taste as a fat seed pops in my mouth.

2. Christmas shopping starts. For me anyway. I may occassionally pick up something before now, but I start in earnest in October squirrling away things to give as gifts. My closet starts bulging at the seams as I try to get all of the shopping done before Thanksgiving. (It never happens, but I always try.)

1. Halloween. I'm sure noone is surprised by this revealing number 1. But god I love this holiday!! The costumes, the chocolate, the late nights, the parties, the chocolate, the jack o lanterns, the scarecrows, the haunted houses, EVERYTHING!! And here's my favorite picture of our family from Halloween.