Excellent E's

It's not my best list ever, but I did manage to find ten E words that I'm thankful for...

1. Earrings. I like 'em.

2. Eggplant. The color, not the vegetable.

3. Early. I am always early.

4. (The) Emperor's New Groove. A super fun movie.

5. Easter. The celebration of the Resurrection, the traditional meal, the strawberry shortcake, The Ten Commandments and occasionally my son's birthday. I love Easter.

6. Eggo Waffles. I don't like normal waffles, but every now and then I get a hankerin' for an Eggo.

7. Effervescence. I know a terrible joke that starts with the word effervescence, so whenever I hear the word, I giggle.

8. Efficiency. It pleases me.

9. Elliptical. My cardio machine of choice.

10. Eskimo Pies. Yum.


Check out Crayl's site to see what other people are thankful for today!

1988

How is it that these Fridays keep coming so fast? It seems like these days I'm only blogging my list on Tuesday and my Flashback! Oh well, hopefully after the first of the year things will settle down a bit and I'll get back to writing regularly. Anyhow, for your entertainment, a few pictures from 1988...


Ah, here we are. I was in 7th grade, finally a part of ...drum roll please...youth group! I was the youngest in my circle of friends, so my 6th grade year seemed to take forever, waiting until I could join them! In this picture, we're on our way to Winter Camp. Don't I look dressed for it? Earrings, layered look complete with shoulder pads...



What am I doing here, you ask? It was my thirteenth birthday; my grandparents took me out to dinner (where an older guy tried to send a drink over to me...that didn't go over so well with my grandma!) and while we were eating, my folks set up a surprise party for me at Grandma and Granddad's house. Apparently Mom or Dad pulled out a camera and caught me spinning around once I realized that we were coming back to a house full of people.



Seventh grade, seventh period, Study Hall, skinny! Man I wish I still looked like that!!!



My best friend and I, playing the offertory for church. I'm the one playing the piano. We did Thy Word (Amy Grant). Honestly, we sounded pretty good...



Here we are, at our friend's older sister's wedding. We were the punch bowl people, or cake people or something like that. Oddly enough our friend and her sister are AC's cousins, so now I'm related to them. Funny how things turn out sometimes.



First day of 8th grade. This was kind of a big day for me. From Kindergarten through 7th grade, I'd gone to a private school; this was my first day of, gasp, public school. It only lasted one semester.



Remember that talent show in 1987 where Debbie and I were the do-op girls? Same church, same talent show, only this year it's Dana and I doing a Laurel and Hardy number. It was quite fun. I don't know why I didn't take the time to slick my hair back like she did though, it would have looked so much better!



This is the only Thanksgiving that I've ever spent away from my family... I'm not sure why we did this on Thanksgiving weekend, but for some reason, I went with Dana and her folks on a quick trip to San Francisco. We had Thanksgiving dinner at a Sizzler. This picture has always made me smile. I really, really like it. A few years back, AC and I were in San Fran with the kiddos, and we have a picture of me and the boys sitting on the wall about where the guy in the blue jacket is standing.



See? Horrible pic of me, but I had to show the proof! :-) (Summer of 2005)



I had to post this one for two reasons. One, well, Dana and I for some reason were very happy to find a Rice-A-Roni trolley car. And two, well, see for yourself....




In August of 1995 AC and I had been married for seven months and we were on vacation. We found out in Oregon that I was pregnant with John. On our way back, we stopped in San Francisco, and I really wanted to find the trolley car that Dana and I had posed by. It wasn't the same one, but still, it was a Rice-A-Roni car!


Wow. That was like a double bonus; pictures from 1988, 1995 and 2005. Sweet! I'd like to think that next Friday I'll post, but really, it'll be the day after Christmas and we're getting up at 3am to drive to Monterey. It might not happen. But stick with me! I'll be back, I promise!

Delightful D Words

My offering for the day...things that I am thankful for that begin with the letter D.

1. Dad. My dad is the best. I'm quite thankful for him!

2. Dessert. Need I say more?

3. Direct Deposit. I hate going to the bank...

4. Daffodils. I love to see daffodils in my kitchen; they make me happy.

5. Disneyland. Truly the Happiest (or Merriest) Place on Earth. Really. I love it that much.

6. Def Leppard. One of the best bands ever. Hysteria (the album, not the song) rocks. I blew out a speaker in my car listening to Pour Some Sugar on Me. It's easily one of my top five all time favorite songs; it has to be loud.

7. Diamonds. Specifically my engagement ring. I don't know anyone else with on like it. My man did real good.

8. Dishwasher. Until about three years ago, I was the dishwasher. Now, I can't imagine life without one!

9. Dogma. One of my favorite movies. If you pay attention, it actually does make some good points about organized religion.

10. Dude. I love the word. It can mean so many different things, depending on how you say it. AC calls me Dude when I'm frustrating him; it makes me giggle. The Bud Light campaign was great!

Head over to my friend Crayl's site to see what other people are thankful for today!

1987

After a two week hiatus (due to Thanksgiving and Disneyland), we now return to our regularly scheduled Flashback...

This isn't all that interesting of a picture, as pictures go. It does, however, represent the time in my life when I started singing on a regular basis. Yes, if you are doing the math, I'm only twelve years old here. But around this time, started singing with Debbie (with me here) and Nicole. We'd sing special music in church, things like that. By the time I was fifteen I was subbing on the worship team. By sixteen, I was a regular member of the worship team.

On this nifty occasion however, we were not leading old hymns of the faith or moving worship anthems. This night, at our annual church talent show, we were the do-op girls as the worship team let a fabulous rendition of Surfin' USA. "Inside, outside, USA...inside, outside, USA..."

This would be my sixth grade graduation. My best friends in the whole world, all older than me, came out for the occasion. Don't they look thrilled to be there? The ceremony itself was sweet...our whole class sang The Greatest Love of All. Yep. Whitney Houston, baby.

This is the first apple pie that I ever made by myself, from scratch. Don't know why we took a picture, but we did.

Now this was a real hoot. My mom, who taught the 4th - 6th grade girls Sunday School class, was going to do a craft with them that required thousands of matches that had been struck and then blown out right away. They needed to be full length, but with the black tips. So, we had my best buddies and our youth pastor over, we sat in the back yard, and struck and blew out matches all night. It really was a lot of fun!

I loved these girls...

Finally, I will give you a quick peek into my room. Note the excellent pastel bedding, with the purple flashlight to match. My electric guitar is propped up in the corner; oh yeah, I was so cool. And the product...check out the number of product bottles on the dresser. Those with a trained eye can also behold the bracelets that I'm wearing. They're made out of chain that I bought at Handyman. I picked out several feet of the one that I wanted, and my dad made bracelets for me.

That's all I have for tonight folks. See you in 1988 when I, gasp, become a teenager!!!

Ten on Tuesday, Christmas Edition

Since today's Ten on Tuesday letter is C, I thought I'd list ten Christmas things that I'm thankful for. Fun, huh? So here they are...

1. Christmas Ornaments. Our tree would be naked without them. Each one has it's own story...I love taking them out of the box each year and thinking about so many wonderful memories.

2. Christmas Lights. Few things make my insides as happy as driving around after dark looking at all of the beautiful lights. We put ours up on Thanksgiving, they usually come down shortly after New Year's Day. I love lights.

3. Christmas Carols. Many of you know, I'm a Christmas music junkie. Singing Christmas carols (with someone, so as to have the proper harmony) is one of my favorite things to do.

4. Christmas Sweaters. I know this is going to sound goofy, but I do love Christmas sweaters. I don't actually wear them, but I love to be out shopping and see someone in one. They can be quite cute.

5. Christmas Cards. I enjoy purchasing them, writing them, mailing them (on December 1st) and receiving them. One of my besties sent me a card in the mail every day for the whole month of December a few years back. It was truly the best present she could have given me. Come on, people, get your cards out!

6. Christmas Presents. I love giving Christmas presents. I love to get things for people, and bring them joy. Kind of odd coming from me, I know, but I really do love giving gifts.

7. Christmas Cookies. Seriously, Christmas cookies rock. I should probably also mention Christmas Candy with this one. I have several cookie and candy recipes that only come out at Christmastime. Yum!

8. Christmas Trees. I love our tree. One of my favorite things to do is sit on the couch with my hubby with only the lights from the tree on. It can turn an ordinary evening into a magical evening.

9. Christmas Parties. The Christmas Party encompasses so many things: the lights, the cookies, the trees, the carols and even the sweaters. SO much fun. I have one to go to this Saturday and I can't wait!!!

10. Christmas Luminaries. Each year, our whole neighborhood buys luminary kits from the Boy Scouts on Christmas Eve. We each get 25 of them, and we put them along the street and sidewalks in front of our houses and light them at dusk. They're long burning ones; they go until past midnight. It's one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. After dark, with everyone's Christmas lights on and thousands of luminaries lining the streets, it's a perfect holiday scene. If you have nothing else to do, I highly recommend heading this way to check them out. It's my favorite thing about living here; and what I'll miss the most if I ever leave.


Head on over to Beyond Black and White to see what everyone else is thankful for this week!

The Letter B

Wow. In my relaxation after the end of NaBloPoMo, I almost forgot that I have to post a B list today! Geez, I'm slacking! :-)

Here they are, in no particular order...

1. Bananas. I could eat them every day.

2. Bras. They have a job, they do it well.

3. Borders. One of my favorite places to hang out.

4. Boys. Specifically mine. God knew that I needed to be a boy mom, and not a girl mom.

5. Butter. Face it, everything is better with butter.

6. Board Games. I love games...I wish my hubby did too.

7. Beer. I finally found a beer that I like. Unfortunately, it is only sold in Dusseldorf. It'll probably be years before I get to have another one.

8. Blockbuster. I'm not into Netflix, or even Blockbuster online. I just go to the store, wander the aisles, and rent my movies. I'm old school.

9. Boondock Saints. A fabulous movie. Everyone should own a copy.

10. "Bork, bork, bork." As said by the Swedish Chef. One of the quickest ways to bring a smile to my face.


To see what other B words everyone is thankful for, check out Beyond Black and White.