challenge day 19: i miss...

this could easily be a REALLY long post, so i'm doing it the quick way.

i miss.. my nanny. college. staying up late and skipping class. late nights at the vfw with john. seeing my lovely pledge sisters every single blessed day.  dorm life.. what?  being challenged in my biblical studies classes.  israel.  living with my parents (sometimes).  the south (kind of). having neighbors that didn't smoke.  life before cell phones and texting.  sneaking phone calls in high school.   life before facebook. TGIF (also known as GOOD television!). nathan austin denny, rest his soul, and his beautiful wife heather.  haiti.  AOL 'zines (did anyone get into that scene?). being a stay at home wife (i know i only work 15 hours a week... but still lol).  life without bills.  mama's home cooking.  pledge week.  my pals from arkansas.  EEE - tri chi rivalry (even though, i guess it never really dies).  tiger tunes.  the men of KAPPA CHI and their sweet serenades. hallmark construction, llc (occasionally).  going to giants baseball games.  abundant life christian fellowship.  my wedding day.  did i mention college? my long hair (not usually).  jenn, jenna, and jenna (bffs in middle school).  our house on tarpon street.  living SO close to the bay. high school.  fitting into high school sized clothes.  life before i knew what calories were.

what can i say?  i have just loved a lot about my life, in every season!

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i won a blog award! and some other gloating.

first, i may as well get the ugliness out of the way.  i'm sorry to all my texas friends (about tonight at least).  under any other circumstance i would totally root for the rangers.  but i am a SF fan til the day i die.  

GO GIANTS!!
can i make this font any bigger?

and now that's out of the way...

i won a blog award!  wow.  actually, it's the same one twice!  from the lovely ladies hanna @ daily venting and exclamations and ty @ rants. raves. ridiculous.  first of all, who knew anyone would find me interesting?  second, who knew two people would?    so here it is...

To accept the Versatile Blogger Award the rules are:

1. Thank and link back to who gave you the award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass it along to 7 blogs you've recently discovered and enjoy
4. Leave your recipients a note, telling them about the award.

seven things about myself... should be fun.

01: some people think i am a people person. i am not. i like being alone, or with just a few people. the [obvious] exceptions to my anti-group attitude are the women of EEE (especially my pledge class!), the men and former men of KAPPA CHI, and old people. these are all exceptionally interesting in groups. :) 

02: i wanted to be a figure skater for the first 10 years of my life.. then i figured out i couldn't skate backwards...

03: i tried out for cheerleading when i was a junior in high school. i'm not sure why. i'm not athletic and i can't dance. but for some reason my friend cynthia and i thought it was a fabulous idea. we worked out and "practiced" for the entire week of clinic. then i really watched the local channel, like maybe i made the team . hahaha... that's great.

04: i'm taking german on rosetta stone.. and i plan on taking two or three more languages.  it's addicting.  you should try it. 

05: here's another fun story.  while in high school, i snuck out of my house one night with a friend who was spending the night. we put my car in neutral and PUSHED it out of our circular driveway and down the street so my parents wouldn't hear it start... we still got caught. this story still makes me laugh.. 

06: my parents are seriously the funniest people i know. does this count as being about me? my mom makes me laugh more than anyone i have ever met except my friends shauna, but that's unfair because shauna is ridiculous :)

07: though i have never been arrested, i was once "detained" lol. 

okay.  now that's out of the way.   

it's YOUR turn!!

elise
@ confessions of a brown eyed twenty-something

la tache
@ smiling is good for your teeth

kathleen/mallory
@ leggings are not pants

kate
@ the bradshaw buzz

kit
@ a step into my life

lindsey
@ a heart abandoned

brittney
@ livin' our love song

challenge day 18: regrets.

forget regret / or life is yours to miss.

albert einstein said that "the only source of knowledge is experience."  i do not regret the decisions i have made, even those that have ended terribly; these are what have formed me.

i could perhaps say i wish i had protected myself from heartbreak, but without weakness there is no strength.  i could wish i had been more responsible but the consequences of irresponsibility have taught me more than obedience ever could.  i suppose i wish i hadn't said or done things to some people, but i would never have learned humility or how to reconcile, or what real friendship looks like.

one thing i wish i had done differently is i wish i had been a better daughter when i was younger.  i wasn't bad but i wasn't easy either.  i wish i'd spent more time appreciating my parents.  but i feel like our relationships' ups and downs have made us closer now, and i wouldn't trade today for anything. also, i guess i wish i had been wiser about money, but i had to learn somehow!

i can honestly say i do not regret anything i have done.  they have all brought me to where i am right now!  we cannot waste today wishing we hadn't done something yesterday.  i think this feels like a cop-out, but i mean it.  i even asked john if he regrets anything in his life while we were driving back here from our small group.  even he couldn't give me any ideas.

i can't imagine a life any better than mine today (for me) and that includes the memories, the mistakes, and the mixups that came before.  

gah, i'm so cheesy!

challenge day 17: future.

today's post is supposed to be something i'm looking forward to.

the MAIN thing i am looking forward to is home.  being home with my Jesus.  i hope that you don't take that lightly, because it's true.  all the stuff i'm looking forward to on earth have pros, but they also have cons.  even the sweet things like bringing home a new life.  going home to my ABBA is the only joy that comes without strings.  i cannot WAIT to leave this world behind, with all its hurt, disappointment, and sickness.  but for now, he has me here, so i will enjoy it! :)

I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me.

Phil 1:20-26

so while i'm here, i gotta say, the main thing i'm looking forward to right now is bringing a new life into this world.  it's exciting to think about, but it's also scary.  will i do well?  will he or she be healthy?  i know i can't keep them from pain or failure, but will they return to the Lord in the end?  whew!  that's tough to think about.  but i believe strongly that there is nothing like being a parent.  i mean, i have no frame of reference for that haha... but i've heard that it's true.

i just hope she's not like me as a teenager.

no..  never that.

i also can't wait for the holidays. we are sharing Thanksgiving with our friends on base (which will be amazing) and going home for Christmas! john and i have been stationed here in California for almost a year, and we miss our families! we also get to celebrate one (blissful) year of marriage. it will be awesome to see all our buddies, too. i love Christmas time, but this year will be extra special.

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challenge day 16: dream home

we are pretty simple, so i had to remind myself to dream of EVERYTHING i would like in a house.  i actually searched trulia and some other real estate sites to think of all sorts of stuff i'd want.  i found this home at the toll brothers website, while looking at texas developments.  they even let you customize floor plans.. i love that.

check out this floor plan:

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

of course, the optional media room for sergeant j!

a few of the things i love most about this floor plan and hope to have in my future house:
- separate staircases (one spills you right into the breakfast nook!)
- a big kitchen with an island, connected to a casual seating area.  entertaining!
- a secluded master retreat
- high ceilings
- a pretty foyer& curb appeal!

it's less than 4000 square feet, smaller than my parents house, but still has some features that my parents don't.  (they have BIG rooms!)  i think that's not obnoxiously big, right?  i want a nice house with nice features, but i don't want to be too extravagant with things i would never really use.  except the media room, but that's because i live with a man.  

what i WOULD like that isn't a part of this floor plan:
- a "retreat" off the master bedroom that can be used as a nursery at first
- a guest suite with a den and master bath...for the 'rents of course.
- no formal living room.. seems useless these days... i'd rather have a study. but it should keep the  formal dining room, which is imperative for a lover of entertaining :)
- i would add a half bath near the laundry room... just so there's more than one shared one downstairs.

some other things i want:
- tiered ceilings
- a pretty, finished backyard with a summer kitchen for parties
- trees... and while i'm at it, a gardener, because i have a black thumb :(
- a laundry room/mud room.  SUCH a good idea!
- dark hardwood floors.


and while i'm on the subject, here are some examples of my style!

traditional home exteriors:

nursery (maybe with a LITTLE more color, but i like neutrals!):

dining room:

except with a light green color!  purty!

love these chairs!

bedrooms

 okay i'll stop.  what would YOUR dream home include??

squirrel!

john got home early from work today.  as soon as i heard the garage, i got up to open the door to the garage to greet him there.  my phone rang as soon as i got off the couch.. it was john.

"don't come outside.  a squirrel ran into the garage."

i stood next to the door to the garage, listening.  i contemplated opening it, but obediently went back into the living room to wait.  john came in a minute later holding a plastic green rake with a crazed look in his eyes and a smile on his face.

"he's cornered!

he went out the front door saying something about not wanting to risk it with the door to the garage.  a minute or two later, he calls.

"do you want a pet squirrel?"

"no, john."

"do you want squirrel for dinner?"

"no!"

"i've got him in the corner but he's hiding behind the recycle bin...i need a BB gun!!"

what?  i have to see this.  mind you, i have been home (lazy) all day.  i'm not even wearing a bra.  (sorry, too much, i know.  but it adds to the story haha..) but, no matter.  i cross my arms tightly and trudge, barefoot, outside and around to the garage.  and this is what i see:

bwahahaa!

the poor squirrel peed behind our recycle bin while he was cowering in the corner.  john kept scaring him by moving things and, as we all know, there is nothing more dangerous than a cornered animal!  i guess that's why, when the little guy moved from the right corner to behind the bin, john about jumped off the chair!

well, i want you to know we moved the bin out of the way and the squirrel made a daring escape from our garage and across the street to the grassy knoll and tree opposite our house.

he is safe.

john later pondered on his ability to conquer mice in our friend's kitchen while flinching with every move of a cornered squirrel.

my brave husband catching mice for our BFFs :-)

he said of such nervousness, "with squirrels, i usually have a gun."

challenge, day 15: scripture

yes.  today will be difficult.  so many scriptures have been huge encouragements in my life.  i LOVE the word of God.  i don't like taking the words too far out of context, so my favorite verses are often surrounded by a favorite scripture. i know this will be long, but it's not as long as it could be, since i could probably write the whole bible here as a favorite scripture.  so here we go.

isaiah 40:28-31

Do you not know?  Have you not heard?  The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.  He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.  He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.  Even youths grow tired and weary, and the young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.

psalm 73, here's my favorite verse from that chapter:

26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

lamentations 3:17-24

I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.  So I say, "My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped for from the Lord."  I remember my affliction and wandering, the bitterness and the gall, I will remember them and my soul is downcast within me.  Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  I say to myself, "The Lord is my portions; therefore I will wait for him."

psalm 34:4-10

I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.  Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.  This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles.  The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.  Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. 

hebrews 12:1-3

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

habakkuk 3:17-19

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, thought there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.

matthew 9:12-13

"It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.'  For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

possibly my all-time favorite scripture:

romans 8:28-39

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.  For those God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.  And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.  What then shall we say in response to this?  If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all -- how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?  Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?  It is God who justifies.  Who is he that condemns?[a nobody!]  Christ Jesus, who died -- more than that, who was raised to life -- is at the right had of  God and is also interceding for us.  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  [after all,] it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

diary entries

These excerpts from the diaries of pets likely in the same situation: provided for, sheltered, and cared for.  Yet, somehow, so different...


Excerpts from a dog's diary.

  8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!
  9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite thing!
  9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00 pm - Milk bones! My favorite thing!
  1:00 pm - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
  3:00 pm - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
  5:00 pm - Dinner! My favorite thing!
  7:00 pm - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
  8:00 pm - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:00 pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!

Excerpts from a cat's diary. 

Day 983 of My Captivity
    My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength.

    The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape...

read more at good eats

What consumes your thoughts?

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Cor. 10:5

football, and oh how i love technology.

i probably won't be able to blog tomorrow, so i'm getting it all out tonight.

today was a great day.  first of all, technology (as the title suggests) is amazing.  today was homecoming at john and my alma mater, ouachita baptist university.  we have such fond memories of that place and are super bummed we couldn't be a part of this weekend.  not only the football game, but also the homecoming activities and (of course) tiger tunes!

the great thing is that the internet has shrunk this world so much that we didn't miss much.  we were able to listen to the our tigers beat the #10 team in the nation (woot woot!) AND watch our beloved tiger tunes!  congratulations to the men of Eta Alpha Omega on their first place victory, and of course to my boys of Kappa Chi for coming in second place.  it was such a blessing to be able to cheer on my lovEEEly sistEEErs from far away! 

we also got to watch the arkansas game online.  we miss some games because they are only shown regionally, but ESPN 3 closes that gap for us, too!  ugh.  fabulous.  we are REALLY serious about our football.

get your hands out of my shot!

so.  arkansas wins.  obu wins.  the giants win.  kappa almost wins.  how could that be anything less than good?

and finally.  i have an idea.

this idea was sparked by a tailgate flop today.  i tried to make these little spinach and feta bites and failed miserably.  being a kind of perfectionist, i find that a lot of things that i do are not up to par.  so i decided that, following with the philosophy that laughing at yourself is good medicine, it would be a good idea to share our flops ...on fridays!  i have one lined up for this week, but i would love to hear yours too!  send me pictures, descriptions, and musings about something you did recently that just didn't quite go right.  in response  ....i'll come up with something.  we'll see how that goes.  send your flops to me at aleasa@aleasa.net!  be sure to include the link to your blog!

the friday flop.  you saw it first at the happy life blog :)

challenge, day 14: photo

this is the first picture of john and me after we had our first "i like you" conversation :)

he'd just come back from boot camp and it was one of my first letter days as an EEE.  it was just a good time in college and in life.  *sigh*

challenge, day 13: goals

this is easy.  i have 3 main goals in life.

1. become the woman God wants me to be.
2. be the best wife to john and mother to our (future) children that i can be.
3. love people.

all other things are secondary and shorter term.  like...
- finish grudem's systematic theology
- never have a car payment
- never use credit, for that matter.
- read through the bible intentionally. (i've read all the books here and there.. just no plan!)
- wash all the laundry one saturday morning and not forget to take the last load out of the dryer!
- pay off all our debt in the next 24 months.  (even student loans!)
- restart (and actually complete) the topical memory system.
- stop watching the twilight movies, haha... seriously.
- drink more water.
- run a mile. (don't judge)

i can't wait to read everyone else's goals.  i love this challenge and the people i have virtually met in the past week or so!  thanks katie, for this great idea!

challenge, day 12: i believe

The publisher said of somebody, "That man will get on; he believes in himself." And I remember that as I lifted my head to listen, my eye caught an omnibus on which was written "Hanwell." I said to him, "Shall I tell you where the men are who believe most in themselves? For I can tell you. I know of men who believe in themselves more colossally than Napoleon or Caesar. I know where flames the fixed star of certainty and success. I can guide you to the thrones of the Super-men. The men who really believe in themselves are all in lunatic asylums." He said mildly that there were a good many men after all who believed in themselves and who were not in lunatic asylums. "Yes, there are," I retorted, "and you of all men ought to know them. That drunken poet from whom you would not take a dreary tragedy, he believed in himself. That elderly minister with an epic from whom you were hiding in a back room, he believed in himself. If you consulted your business experience instead of your ugly individualistic philosophy, you would know that believing in himself is one of the commonest signs of a rotter. Actors who can't act believe in themselves; and debtors who won't pay. It would be much truer to say that a man will certainly fail, because he believes in himself. Complete self-confidence is not merely a sin; complete self-confidence is a weakness. Believing utterly in one's self is a hysterical and superstitious belief...

--Chesterton, Orthodoxy

i thought of chesterton as soon as i read today's theme.  if you have not previously read Chesterton, you should.  you can read the rest of that chapter, "the maniac", at page by page books.  anyway, he talks of people who believe in themselves as insane and, concurrently, great reasoners (albeit great reasoners in a tiny circle).  they are sharpened to "one painful point", that is, their madness.  unfortunately, their world is so small!  they "have at once the sense of it covering everything and the sense of it leaving everything out".  i do not believe in myself because i simply don't know enough.

The ordinary man has always been sane because the ordinary man has always been a mystic. He has permitted the twilight. He has always had one foot in earth and the other in fairyland. He has always left himself free to doubt his gods; but (unlike the agnostic of to-day) free also to believe in them. He has always cared more for truth than for consistency. If he saw two truths that seemed to contradict each other, he would take the two truths and the contradiction along with them. His spiritual sight is stereoscopic, like his physical sight: he sees two different pictures at once and yet sees all the better for that. Thus he has always believed that there was such a thing as fate, but such a thing as free will also. Thus he believed that children were indeed the kingdom of heaven, but nevertheless ought to be obedient to the kingdom of earth. He admired youth because it was young and age because it was not. It is exactly this balance of apparent contradictions that has been the whole buoyancy of the healthy man. The whole secret of mysticism is this: that man can understand everything by the help of what he does not understand. The morbid logician seeks to make everything lucid, and succeeds in making everything mysterious. The mystic allows one thing to be mysterious, and everything else becomes lucid.

--Chesterton, Orthodoxy

that is the pontificated way of saying i believe in God.

i believe he loves me and i am forgiven and that everything around me declares his existence.  i believe that the bible is the infallible word of God and that his son Jesus was one hundred percent God and one hundred percent man.  i believe i am sinful and broken but that my ransom has been paid and i can live eternally with him.  i believe that the fact that he did all this is reason enough for me to pay attention to what he wants done on this earth through me, and reason enough to do it.


and, since this may or may not have been intended as a theological soap box...

i believe in discipline.

i believe that it is possible to love the sinner and hate the sin.

i believe in cleaning up behind yourself, and leaving things better than you found them.

i believe in laughing at yourself.

i believe in hard work and not buying on credit.  ever.

i believe in the power of prayer.

i believe that bacon is an excellent part of anyone's diet.

i believe that love is a choice and that it doesn't always come naturally.

i believe God made EVERY person with traits that are useful for his kingdom... even when they're irritating me.

i believe in rest!

i believe that positive thinking changes everything.

i believe that one should remain loyal to their sports teams in good and bad times.

i believe in submission to the man of the house.

i believe in life before death.

and i believe that blogging is therapeutic.  
especially today.

brussel sprouts.

tonight, i made brussel sprouts, roasted in the oven and tossed with a makeshift lemon vinaigrette, as a side dish with dinner.  this was our conversation.  it just makes me smile. 

he speared a sprout and held it in the air.

john: what is this?

me: what do they taste like?

he takes a bite and chews it thoughtfully.

john: i don't really know.

me: (dramatic pause) it's a brussel sprout.

john: i don't like brussel sprouts.

me: when was the last time you had brussel sprouts? 

john: i haven't. i just don't like them.

he eats and goes into the kitchen for seconds, returning with with a pretty generous pile of sprouts.

me: i thought you didn't like brussel sprouts?

john: i don't.

me: (gasp) oh that's right.  okay.

all kinds of things.

so, as some of you know, john is army.  i'm an army wife.  it's amazing.  i love the military life (so far).  we have higher stakes, but we have a great life also.  we live on a marine base, it's our first duty station.  last night i went to my pal's house for dinner and small group, and her hubby put on a video of some marines in boot camp.

normally, hearing john talk with other husbands endlessly about the differences in marine/army infrastructure is really kind of boring.  but last night, we had a REALLY great time!  they shared drill sergeant/instructor impressions and reminisced on why they were the worst kids in their class.  carin and i just cracked up at them.

we have been really blessed here at mccp.  we have met some awesome friends, but already experienced some of the blessed military life.  since we've been here in january, two couples from church and one of our neighbors (soon to be BOTH) have moved out of state.  on the bright side, we've got people to visit everywhere we go. 

on another note, i am at the end of my rope, as some of you may have figured out.  john ended up not leaving for his course, and while i love my husband to death, i needed a break from the crazy first two weeks of october!  so... i took next week off work.  i plan on sending lunch with john and doing nothing next week.  NOTHING.  except maybe a little decluttering, in the spirit of susie homemaker.  it makes me feel a lot better when i have clean spaces.  that's how i unwind... is that weird? 

so.. let's talk about chores.  what are you favorites and least favorites?  my favorites are kitchen chores--even dishes.  it's because i love cooking and anything to make my kitchen storybook, i'm all behind it.  my least favorite is bathrooms.. mainly just tubs.  there is just no logical way to do it well.. anyone have tips for making it not hurt my back?   other than making john do it, which is what i usually do?  

who would like to join me as i adventure into decluttering my house, one space at a time?  would anyone like to take 20 minutes to an hour in small steps to a mid-season restart?  even if not, you can expect updates on the following... maybe....


tuesday: kitchen - cabinets, drawers and pantry
wednesday: bedroom - dresser and night stands
thursday: storage - garage and closets

that is, of course, if i feel like it. :-)

challenge, day 11: T.V.

i'm a little early.  sue me.

i just recently did a post about shows i don't like to miss, so i'm going to do my favorite TV shows of all time. in order.  and don't judge me because my top three countdown has five shows on it.  it's my blog, i do what i want.

#3. amen / the jeffersons

 

there is a common denominator here: sherman hemsley.  he cracks me up.  my parents recorded the reruns of amen on TVOne for, like, 5 months and we'd all sit down as a family and watch them.  good times. if you have never seen a sherman hemsley sitcom, you need to watch one.  he is a ridiculous, obnoxious little man and i love him.


#2. fresh prince of bel-air 

image from urban moms

i've seen every episode of this show and can quote most of them.  i almost put family matters right here next to it, but six shows on a top three count down is just pushing it.  so just pretend family matters is on this list, too.  this is just from back when TV was good.  downright good!  where have the good old days of prime time tv gone??  i almost can't watch shows now!  anyway, moving on...

#1. i love lucy / the lucy-desi comedy hour

i can't pick one of the two, so i choose both.  this is just my favorite era and my favorite couple of all time.  i think, watching lucy late night during my middle school years, is when i began to aspire to being a housewife.  her shenanigans were just so sweet.  if i had to choose one show to watch for all time, i think i could survive with lucille ball and desi arnaz.  it all started with summer block party on TV Land... anyone remember that??  i will own these on DVD and soon.  granted, i've seen all the episodes already, but that's beside the point.  and i also own a book with a synopsis of each episode of the i love lucy show and the lucy-desi comedy hours.  that is also beside the point.

the point is that i can watch them endlessly from now until the cows come home.

oh lucy.

how i love you.

challenge, day 10: fears

as i read some other people's fears, i have been REALLY surprised to find that there are a lot of people afraid of not being able to have children.  which i'm afraid of, by the way.  ty at rants. raves. ridiculous. is afraid that it's a punishment for her past... as am i.  and i expect the bad news every year, too!  i find that very humorous. 

but i'm also afraid of spiders.  very, very afraid.  i am not really afraid of too many things, but those things give me the heebie jeebies! i think it was made permanent when i went to haiti and my friend picked up a tarantula that snuck into her bag.  rude little things, spiders. 

AND i'm afraid of clusters of holes.  or maybe just the word clusters.  i'm not sure "afraid" is the right term, but miki at beautiful century informed me that there is a term for this - "trypophobia".  some of my facebook friends ignored my advice and googled it... i would not if i were you.  i would post an example picture if it didn't make me sick to my stomach.  UGH!  new subject!!

challenge, day 9: friends

i have the BEST friends.

and i can't help but go overboard.

(a few very important folks are missing but that's because the only thing i've taken pictures of in months is food!)

oh texans.  creepin' into my life all over the country.

trust me... my friends are buried in there...

Yes.  Those are all BUDDIES!

Yes, they are all in one backseat.