Appetizer
When you travel, which mode of transportation do you prefer?

I am a control freak, so I prefer driving. I can’t sleep in any moving vehicle anyway (again – control freak – as though I could stop a plane from crashing or a train from derailing or who knows what, simply by BEING AWAKE, but whatever. I’m a little quirky).

Soup
Have you ever met a blogging friend in person?

Only those I knew in person before they started blogging!

Salad
When was the last time you were really, really tired?

After the most recent youth retreat. I was really, really, really tired. I think I was in bed that night by 8:45.

Main Course
If you could have dinner with any one fictional character from a book or movie, who would it be?

Rob Gordon (John Cusack’s character in High Fidelity…of course, I’d also dine with Jonathan Trager, Vince Larkin or Lloyd Dobler…)

Dessert
Fill in the blank: One day, I hope to see _______________.

my Grammy in heaven.

This pet food recall is freaking me out. I am not sure what the best thing to do is at this point. I thought I was safe with Purina products but now they’ve recalled their Alpo wet dog food. Their website said their recall does not include any dry food or cat food but I am still concerned. Pounce treats are also being recalled, which thankfully I switched from a while back, but what’s to say the treats I give them every day after Ramona’s shot won’t be next? I almost feel like I should find a way to make their food from scratch. I had looked into this before but it’s difficult to get them the appropriate vitamins and minerals that way. I guess I will have to look into it further. Any suggestions from the pet lovers out there?

It has been a good weekend. I was still under the weather Friday night for scrapbooking but I went anyway. I made sure I came home at a somewhat reasonable time and went directly to bed and woke up feeling much better on Saturday. I’m still a bit raspy and stuffed up but much better!

Scrapbooking was great – I got 27 pages completed in my travel album, which includes my first Workcamp. I was so excited to get that completed. We are scrapbooking again this Friday evening, so hopefully I’ll get started on Workcamp from last year. I’d really like to get caught up before I go to San Diego on my next trip.

Now I am doing dishes and laundry and trying to get caught up here at home while watching my boy Junior lead the race. Yahoo!! It would be great to see him win today!

I am sick. I came home early from work yesterday and stayed home today. I slept off and on until about 1:30 and then got up and ate some soup and laid around. I started feeling better around dinner time and now my nose is running like it will never stop. I’ve gone through a box and a half of tissues since yesterday!! I hate being sick…I know, who doesn’t? I just feel like whining.

I am supposed to be scrapbooking this weekend and nothing is going to stop that – though no one might want to sit near me!! I’ll bring my tissues. And lysol.

I found this meme over at A Wandering Heart’s Musings.

Things I’ve done are in boldtype.

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs (they didn’t stay that way)
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children/currently raising child
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
134. Read The Iliad – and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating- rainbow trout
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident.
150. Saved someone’s life

I survived my presentation today. I actually wasn’t as nervous as I had thought I would be. I know a big part of that was that I knew that many of my friends were praying for me this morning, praying for me to feel calm and confident, for my presentation to be clear. And it was!

I ended up driving to the city instead of taking the train so I could focus on something other than the nervousness. Then when I got to the conference, I was busy getting ready and then suddenly I was being introduced.

When I talked to my mom last night, I was telling her that people had advised me to picture the audience in their underwear. I’ve heard this before and I hate it – I can’t do that, first of all, and second of all, it might make things worse. I thought it was a better technique to look for a friendly face or two in the audience and speak to them. I was able to do that and it really helped me to relax and feel confident in my talk. I was actually somewhat surprised when I was finished and the other speaker was up. After her talk, we had the participants break into groups and discuss some case studies we had developed and then we each took turns engaging them with some questions. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and a couple people even came up at the end to thank us.

I think the best part of the day was when I got back to work. I know that sounds weird but wait for the rest…the way our new offices are set up, we can see right out to the parking lot. We have a back door that we use and as I came around, all three of my colleagues were waiting for me! I didn’t even have the key in the door before they were opening it, asking how I did, how things went, etc. They said they were going to text message me an encouraging message but didn’t want my phone ringing during my presentation. It was just so sweet that they cared that much – it really made my day!

It’s my second week! Yay!

Monday – Chili- Mac Skillet
Tuesday – Morrocan chicken -another great Dream Dinner
Wednesday – Tortellini
Thursday – Morrocan chicken
Friday & Saturday – no cooking for me this week!

Check out other Menu Plans at Org Junkie’s great blog!

Better late than never!

So, the update on my new habits:

Vitamins – not so good this week. I need to eat them with breakfast in order for them not to keep me awake at night, apparently, but my breakfast habits are sporadic at best…so I think I only had them once this week.

Water – I am actually doing much better with this one. It’s not always water I am drinking (sometimes hot chocolate, chai tea, caffeine free soda) but I am definitely taking in my fluids. And I am definitely drinking more water by having the bottles here in the house.

Menu planning – I started Menu Plan Monday last week and did fairly well. I ended up switching one of my meals but stuck with it for the most part.

So this week…hmm. I need to focus more on my home and things like wash and dishes. These are the first things I toss by the wayside when I am busy and I know it can’t go on this way. To help, this week my habit will be to implement
FlyLady’s Weekly Home Blessing Hour. I’ve tried FlyLady before and think it is great way to jumpstart and get back into the habit of cleaning, etc. And so it is time to get back on track! I’m setting Monday as my Weekly Blessing day.

For more Smart Habits Saturday ideas, visit the Lazy Organizer!

Another busy weekend is winding down. Friday I ended up working late and then Michelle called to say let’s go to Lobsterfest…and well, who can turn THAT down. I got a ridiculously expensive meal with lots of lobster and was quite in heaven. Then I got up the crack of dawn yesterday to drive up to our state’s capitol for my denomination’s general conference. It was a long ride but we had some good conversations (I just typed “God conversations”, which they really were as well) and the conference was good. We saw our old pastor and it was really great to spend even a little bit of time with him. With all that is going on, I really do miss him.

Then off to Fuddrucker’s for a wonderful burger (but odd service – what’s up with the self-serve thing? Weird.) and then on home. I had to do the church bulletins, other copying and prepare to teach Sunday school today. I was so totally exhausted that I was actually in bed by 8:45, which is completely unheard of!!

Today I taught Sunday school, then ran home for a wee bit, then out again to see one of my youth in the local high school’s production of “Peter Pan”. I love Peter Pan. It was quite well done – and a great shout out to my favorite Indian, Kristin! Good job, girlfriend!

Now I am finally in for the evening, making dinner and procrastinating. Blogging is a very good thing to do when you want to procrastinate. What I really should be doing is laundry and preparing for a presentation I am giving tomorrow. I was first told there would be 30 people in my session; we are now up to 120 and I’ve never done this before. The slides are ready, my speaker notes are finished, and I am just nervous. I need to run through it a couple times tonight but I am determined not to go crazy over this. I am just praying for calm and clarity in what I am presenting.