The A to Z of Me

I saw this on Allie’s blog and had to play along.

A. Age: 35

B. Bed size: Queen. Bob and I started out in a Full Size bed and did just fine since we snuggle all night but it is nice to have a little more room.

C. Chore that you hate: Most of them…I enjoy doing laundry and the rest I only do because I have to.

D. Dogs: Sadie…our almost 2-year-old golden retriever/yellow lab mix…she is the best

E. Essential start to your day: Diet Coke

F. Favorite color: Pink…but I rarely wear pink…I tend to choose black clothing…but not in a goth sort of way

G. Gold or silver: I wear both but more silver than gold

H. Height: 5’3″

I. Instrument you play: I played clarinet for about a year in 5th grade…it didn’t stick

J. Job title: Executive Assistant (to the President of the company)

K. Kids: Jackson Edward…my 11 year old son…I also have a 24-year-old step son (Brian) and a 20-year-old step daughter (Heidi)…and no, we’re not having anymore

L. Live: Poolesville, MD…love this little town

M. Mother’s name: Justine…but I call her Mom or Mommy (yes, still)

N. Nicknames: Never really had one…Jackson calls me Mom (sometimes Mommy but that’s becoming more rare)…Bob and I share various pet names…but not really nicknames

O. Overnight hospital stays: My own birth…Partial Thyriodectomy when I was 20…Jackson’s birth…and I stayed with Jackson when he was admitted at 16 days for Beta Strep (I wasn’t actually the patient but I did stay overnight int he hospital for a week)

P. Pet Peeves: I have to agree with Allie on people talking on cell phones in a public restroom…ugh…I hate that! 

Q.  Quote from a movie: I don’t often quote movies…more often it’s TV shows…Seriously? Seriously! from Grey’s…I can equate a Sex and the City episode to pretty much any real life scenario…so I’m constantly saying “OMG, there was a Sex and the City episode just like this!”

R. Right or Left Handed: right-handed but I am left eye dominant so I shoot left-handed

S. Siblings: I have 2 older brothers. My dad remarried and I gained a younger step sister and 2 younger step brothers (twins)…my dad adopted them so they became my half siblings and they added one of their own which was another half sister…BUT…I didn’t really grow up with my half siblings so I still consider myself the youngest and only girl growing up.

T. Time you wake up: Between 5:30 and 6:00 am on weekdays. On weekends, if I don’t have to set my alarm for anything, then I sleep until whenever but I’m usually up by 8am.

U. Underwear: boy shorts

V. Vegetable you hate: Asparagus

W. What makes you run late: Not being able to decide what to wear. Telling my son to get a move on 1000 times. Playing spider solitaire or words with friends on my phone.

X. X-rays you’ve had: hands and wrists (broken pinky, various sprains, DeQuervain’s), ankles (broken ankle, sprains…I’m a perpetual ankle twister but that doesn’t keep me out of heels), knees (patellar tracking disorder), lungs (pneumonia), tail bone (cracked twice falling down the stairs and falling in Target trying on roller blades), elbow (thought it was broken after hitting the wall snowtubing), nose (3-year-old head slammed back into my face)…my mom thinks I’m clumsy

Y. Yummy Food that you make: Chicken Pot Pie, Chicken and Dumplings, Cupcakes, Cookies, Breads…I’m a baker…and Jackson says my baked goods are better than anyone else’s

Z. Zoo animal: Polar Bear and Komodo Dragon…I like looking at all of the animals at the zoo…but I rarely go to the zoo.

Mishaps with my Mom

My mom and I have a great time together! We spend hours shopping, laughing, and talking and always yearn for just one more day together.

But we also often find ourselves in mishaps when we’re together. During my last visit with my mom, we reminisced about some of these mishaps and she said I should blog about them…don’t know why I never thought of that before!

So, I’ve dedicated a page to “Mishaps with my Mom” and will be posting funny stories about the special mother/daughter bonding we often find ourselves in.

Coming soon…eyebrow threading, eyelash tinting, elephant charging, dog attacking, and Italy (yeah, we mishapped all over a couple of countries)

We have learned from these mishaps…

1. The only beauty regimen we are allowed to do together is a pedicure…so far those have been safe

2. Although our travels often involve mishaps, we will never stop travelling together because it’s always fun and we bring back some amazing stories

3. My husband and my step dad are two very special men that “get” the relationship my mom and I have

More to come…stay tuned…and make sure you pee before reading any of these posts because Pinkchick cannot be held responsible for ruined upholstery

Cleaning Out the Insides

Boy…with a title like that, I bet y’all are worried this is my recount of a colonoscopy prep experience…but nah, that was a couple of years ago and I’ll spare you the fun details

This is actually a food thing I have that I just kind of decided to randomly write about.

So, we got Toaster Strudel (rasberry) the other day. We haven’t had them in years…so it’s a nice treat…and we had a coupon…yay!

I was enjoying one for breakfast…ok two…but I did eat them slowly and one bite at a time…not all one on top of the other style…although the icing would make a nice adhesive and that might be something to keep in mind on those running late kind of mornings…anyway…Jackson walked in and asked what I was doing as I scraped the majority of the fruit filling out of the flaky pastry shells. I explained rather sheepishly that I think there’s too much fruit filling so I scrape some of it out. I gave him a bite and he asked to have them for breakfast the next day.

So it’s the next day and Jackson is enjoying his toaster strudels…fully intact…well cut in half to allow for cooling…those things are like lava encased in pastry…but I didn’t gut his like I did mine. After breakfast, Jackson strolled into the kitchen and said he agreed that there was too much fruit filling and he would prefer his gutted from now on. I smiled and decided that either I wasn’t a weird food freak or that if I was, at least I was in good company with my kid

Then I started thinking about this whole fruit filling thing…did I have this hang up in other areas? Yes, in fact I do. I have been known to eat just the outside crust of a pop-tart because I think there’s too much filling in those too. I also scrape the insides out of egg rolls and just eat the outside shell. I ate a donut this morning and ate the outside and left the apple cinnamon goop center in the trash…I guess that’s what inspired this blog post.

So yeah…I’m a little weird when it comes to filling…or perhaps I’m a pastry purist and just enjoy the foundation more than the fluff.

30 days of blogging…FAIL

Well, the 30 days of blogging didn’t motivate me like I had hoped. Mostly because I hate taking pictures of myself. Ah well, perhaps I will revisit with a modified 30 days of blogging sans pictures.

We are a bit snowed in here in the suburbs of DC. Not as much snow as last year (not yet at least) but it sure seemed to knock everyone for a loop. Another storm is headed our way mid-week next week but no details on severity yet. I have been wishing for snow since the first week of December. As they say, be careful what you wish for…but I’m not sorry I wished for it, got it, and can probably expect a lot more before winter bids adieu.

I’m enjoying married life more and more everyday. I still get giddy when Bob refers to me as his wife and when I refer to him as my husband

30 Days of Blogging

This is just what I’ve been needing…blog homework! I hope that these 30 ideas will give me the inspiration I need to get back into blogging. The intention is not necessarily 30 days of consecutive blogging but perhaps I will even be motivated to blog about completely random stuff in between these 30 ideas. This will hopefully give me some focus and structure to rediscover my love for blogging.

Day 1 – A recent picture of you and 15 interesting facts about yourself.

Day 2 - The meaning behind your blog name.

Day 3 - A picture of you and your friends.

Day 4 – A habit that you wish you didn’t have.

Day 5 – A picture of somewhere you’ve been.

Day 6 - Your favorite Superhero and why.

Day 7 – A picture of someone/something that has the biggest impact on you.

Day 8 – Short term goals for this month and why.

Day 9 – Something you’re proud of in the past few days.

Day 10 – Songs you listen to when you are happy, sad, bored, hyper, mad.

Day 11 – Another picture of you and your friends.

Day 12 – How you found out about blogs and why you made one.

Day 13 – A letter to someone who has hurt you recently.

Day 14 – A picture of you and your family.

Day 15 – Put your iPod on shuffle; first 10 songs that play.

Day 16 – Another picture of yourself.

Day 17 – Someone you would want to switch lives with for one day and why.

Day 18 – Plans/Dreams/Goals you have.

Day 19 – Nicknames you have; why do you have them?

Day 20 – Someone you see yourself marrying/being with in the future.

Day 21 – A picture of something that makes you happy.

Day 22 – What makes you different from everyone else?

Day 23 – Something you crave a lot.

Day 24 – A letter to your parents.

Day 25 – What I would find in your purse.

Day 26 – What you think about your friends.

Day 27 – Why are you doing this 30 day challenge?

Day 28 – A picture of you in the last year and now, how have you changed since then?

Day 29 – In this past month what have you learned?

Day 30 – Who are you?

Arrrrr…Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day!

You’ve been waiting all year for it…today is Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Read an interesting and fun article here. Basically this holiday was started by two guys that liked to rib each other. But not with the same old standby jabs, oh no, they used pirate lingo in their banter!

And really, we don’t talk like pirates enough these days. So celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day today! Arrrrr, Matey!

Here be some of me favorite pirate phrases:

I’m a love pirate and I’m here for yer booty!

Is that a belayin’ pin in yer britches, or are ye just happy to see me?

And a short list of me favorite pirates:

Captain Feathersword

Cap’n Crunch

Captain Jack Sparrow

Me pirate name be Black Charity Flint (get yer own here)

Keep in mind, it’s TALK like a pirate day not DRESS like a pirate day

For more fun on this here Talk Like a Pirate Day, get yer booty over to talklikeapirate.com

2010…so far…an update

January 2010…Happy New Year…recovering from the holidays and a lot of visitors…wedding planning begins…Jackson is SGA Representative for his class…Philadelphia and Battleship New Jersey trip with Cub Scouts…incredibly early morning drive from NJ to MD because Jackson got sick on the ship – not seasick, some kind of stomach bug from hell…I got it a few days later and thought I was going to die…the month ended with all of us well, me ten pounds thinner (thanks to the stomach virus), and some snow on the ground

February 2010…preparing for more snow…snow projections say “paralyzing” over our region…bought a treadmill…SnOMG…snowmageddon…over 2 feet of snow and a lot of cabin fever…Cub Scout bake sale was well-timed though…while stuck in the house I baked 4 cakes, 6 loaves of bread, and 26 cupcakes…as long as Selby’s had eggs, I was going to keep baking!…Happy Valentine’s Day!!…bought our wedding rings

March 2010…shopping for a wedding dress with my mom…ended up buying the first one I tried on after an entire day of shopping and telling myself there was no way I could fall in love with the first one…Pinewood Derby and Jackson placed third!…got wedding shoes…fabulous pink Kate Spade strappy heels…wedding plans changed…originally planned for May 22nd in Virginia but changed to April 13th in Maryland with a trip to Disney World with our kids!…Bob ran in the Shamrock Marathon along with his brother Bill and his nephew Greg while my soon-to-be sister-in-law Susan and I cheered them on and got sunburnt…Jackson was George W. Bush in a wax museum project at school

April 2010…Jackson spent a week with his dad in Virginia…Bob spent some time in Virginia while his dad was in the hospital (doing well now)…I became Mrs. Swanson …we went to Disney World for 6 magical days…Heidi was able to join us for 3 of them and Brian for only 2 but it was great for all of us to be together!!…recovering from the trip and beginning our Happily Ever After

May 2010…Bob ran in the Frederick Half Marathon…Happy Mother’s Day!…Work Picnic…our debut as Mr. and Mrs. Swanson…slow month but a happy first month of wedded bliss

June 2010…AC went out but it was under a kick ass warranty …yard sale…Jackson spent another week with his dad and saying good-bye isn’t any easier than it was when we started doing this 7 years ago…Topsy Turvy…bell peppers a success…tomatoes were late bloomers…Happy Father’s Day!…I turned 34…my parents visited for a week…Jackson started karate…Jackson attended Cub Scout day camp

July 2010…Induction Day for Bob’s daughter Heidi at the Naval Academy…an emotional day for all…Happy 4th of July…Bob’s brother and his family came for a visit…we had an earthquake, really? an earthquake!!…we were awake and we did feel it and I did drop the F bomb as in WTF was that…I got a potter’s wheel…it’s been a dream of mine for a long time…Cub Scout rocket launch…100 days of marriage…Bob sent me flowers and everyone at worked gagged …severe thunderstorm…biggest understatement since they said we got “some” snow…nearly 7o mph winds and a lot of limbs from our neighbors’ trees in our yard…but we didn’t have any damage and never lost power…some folks had severe damage and were without power for a week

August 2010…Bob and Jackson built me a custom wedging table to go with my potter’s wheel…Plebe Parents Weekend at the Naval Academy…Jackson spent another week with his dad in Virginia…Longaberger Event at Boyd’s with my mom…Jackson started 5th grade and is a Safety Patrol!!

September 2010…9-02-10!…Labor Day with some great friends…back to playing Bunko and a much needed GNO (hope it continues)…Cub Scouts

Well, that covers most of it! This is a very good reason to keep up with blogging…this was exhausting!