Tales from the Trenches: A - Z

I admit that I stole this from the Redneck Diva. It seemed like a fun, easy post.

A - Age: 36

B - Bed size: Queen

C - Chore you hate: Cleaning the bathroom.

D - Dog(s') name: No dog here, but when I was growing up, we had dogs named Snoopy, Lady, Sassy (my vote was for Dirt Ball), Sooner (as in later) and Pepper. I had nothing to do with the name choices. I called Sassy Dirt Ball so often that she did go by it, which irritated my family. She was the same dog that came upstairs to wake me up, very gently snuggled her nose in next to me, then barked in my ear! Don't worry. I got her back. I did it a few times to her.

E - Essential start your day item: Clothing.

F - Favorite color: Periwinkle

G - Gold or Silver or Platinum: White gold, though I've never had platinum.

H - Height: 5' 3/4"

I - Instruments you play(ed): The recorder in elementary school. I could probably bust out a pretty good tune on the triangle, though.

J - Job title: Gallery display/sales. Don't forget maid, laundress, cook, gardener, cabbie, teacher, disciplinarian, wife, mama and all that. (My husband helps a lot, so he could have many of those titles, too.)

K - Kid(s): Two daughters

L - Living arrangements: A 1008 sq ft ranch home on a 40' x 120' city lot that is fenced, basically organically kept and every single critter within a mile radius seeks shelter here. It is like Over the Hedge and our fence is Steve.

M - Mom's name: Linda

N - Nicknames: Mom, Honey, Ame, Amka, Amos, Maime, Meeme, Meemers, Maimie

O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: ACL reconstruction.

P - Pet Peeve: (Just one?) Double parking in tiny parking lots.

Q - Quote from a movie/show: Copperboom! - Gilmore Girls.

R - Right handed or left handed: Right

S - Siblings: One older sister, two younger brothers.

T - Time you wake up: 6:45 AM.

U- Underwear: Certainly. Thank you for asking.

V - Vegetable you dislike: Beets. Uck. They flat out taste like dirt.

W - Why you run late: I try to cram too much into too little time.

X - X-rays you've had: Teeth, lungs, leg/knee, hand.

Y - Yummy food you make: Homemade cornbread stuffing.

Z - Zoo favorite: Giraffes

Smiles in my day:
- One of the senior staff members of our school district called me personally to tell me that they've read my letter, looked at all of the information that I provided and changed the projected enrollment from 450 to 500! That means that they will give us two extra classrooms! HOORAY!
- Apparently we had a customer who was so pleased with our help at Christmas, that she gave my coworker a gift card to the Cheesecake Factory to buy us a cheesecake to share. She bought 75 individual gifts that all needed wrapped. As a staff, we handled all of it for her and she was pleased as punch. The cheesecake? It was yummy!
- Line dried laundry ready for me to pull from the line when I got home. Mmmmmm!
- Crock pot dinner that my husband loved! Finding a common meal for all of us to eat is a difficult thing. He asked me to make it once a week. We'll see what we can do!

Have a great day!

The Bailey's Leaf Christmas Meme

I've decided to do a little Christmas Meme post. Here's a little something I whipped up. Feel free to copy it and play along on your blog.

1. What is your favorite Christmas song?
O, Holy Night.
2. What is your favorite Christmas cookie?
Hershey kiss cookies.
3. What is your preference? Giver or receiver?
Giver.
4. Wrap or bags?
Wrap.
5. Bake or cook?
For Christmas, bake. Both any other time.
6. Cut-outs or drop cookies?
Drop. I'm not a fan of doing cut-outs.
7. Christmas socks or Christmas sweaters?
Christmas socks.
8. White or multi-colored lights?
White.
9. Real or artificial tree?
Artificial. Hubs would have a massive allergy problem with a real tree.
10. Star or angel at the top?
A star that I scored at the grocery on clearance for $1.00. It is a great star!
11. Outdoor decorations-- lights or blow-ups?
Lights, though I will admit to one blow-up penguin. Blow-ups are not my favorite, though they crop up by the dozens around here (sometimes that many per very small front yard.) My sight impaired aunt bought it for my daughter when she was 2 and K- loves it. We have it near the fence and we blow it up once or twice for K-. The rest of the time, it lies flat in the yard.
12. All year shopper or shop during the season?
All year! I start my Christmas shopping for the following year on December 26, the day after we just celebrated!
13. Egg nog or hot chocolate?
Hot chocolate. Egg nog doesn't sound appetizing.
14. Fruitcake-- a great treat or a fantastic doorstop?
Never had fruit cake, though K- had some recently. She liked it. To me, it looks a bit too petrified for my taste.
15. Theme tree or family ornament tree?
Used to be a Victorian theme, but turned into a family ornament tree when we got K-.
16. Rudolph or Frosty?
Rudolph. Frosty is not my favorite.
17. Speaking of, what is your favorite Christmas movie?
A Christmas Story!
18. Favorite seasonal food?
Hmmm. Peppermint stick ice cream.
19. Handcrafted gifts or thoughtfully purchased gifts?
Both.
20. Do you go on a drive to check out the lights?
Yup. We drive around the neighborhood, then go on a drive to see lights with K-. This is how we celebrate her Happy Home Day. (The day that she came to be with us.) This year we are planning on making the trip to Oglebay. We tried to do this for her first Happy Home Day, but she ended up with the yucky stomach flu from court. (Here's your child. They are legally yours. Oh and we infected them with the stomach virus. Have a great life!)

So there you go. You are tagged, if you so choose to be.

Smiles in my day:
- The crank butt lady who yelled at me was really just pressed for time, going out of town this weekend for a few weeks and completely behind on her list of things to be done. Though she didn't say she was sorry for yelling at me, she was very appreciative of our efforts to accommodate her need of immediate attention. Perhaps it is because I took a deep breath right in front of her and very calmly asked, "Ma'am, what can I get out of the case for you?"
- Though the wind gusts have been 60 MPH and I'm sure sustained winds are at least 30 MPH with sudden and very odd blasts of sleet/slush/rain combo dropping from the sky, we were able to be kept safe on our travels home.
- A steady work day makes for a day that goes by at a fairly decent clip.
- The electric blanket that warms my side of the bed before I climb in.
- K-'s 97 sight words. She knows most of them and the ones she is stumped on, she is sounding out. It isn't a perfect process of sounding out, but she's on the way.
- I'm back on-line. More specifically, I'm back on track with my laundry hanging habit and since the heat is on, the clothes dry much faster downstairs than they do during the in-between seasons. A very good thing. In fact, I must go hang the laundry I just washed.

Have a great day!

Tagged: 7 Dream Jobs

Jamie over at Mrs. Sour Britches did a shout out tagging of her readers. Why not? Here's what she had to say.

1. Geologist. When I started thinking about my college career, I really wanted to become a geologist. I love rocks. I love the way that they are formed. I love fossils that are sometimes found with them. Rocks are way cool.
2. Nursery Tech. I love to grow things. I love putting color together and seeing how it all slowly comes together in the garden.
3. Buyer. I've done this for the art galleries that I've worked for. I went to Philadelphia and Baltimore with the Gallery Director of the previous gallery. I was able to buy gorgeous, handcrafted art. I was in heaven. I went on a seasonal buying trip for Christmas items with my current gallery to the Columbus Gift Mart. They would like me to go again, but I really need to hang at home and be mommy. Someday I'll be back on the buying circuit.
4. Storm Chaser Researcher. We're talking the real storm chasing with a purpose. I have a love for the Discovery Channel show Storm Chasers. I would absolutely love to be out doing research with Dr. Wurhman, his crew and to do what I can do to help the cause for increased warning. Hey, I took Climatology in college. I know a little! :)
5. Nature Photographer. I sit for hours outside while K- plays. I completely drain my camera batteries all in the quest to get the perfect picture. I'm not good by any stretch, but I'm working on it.
6. Glass artist. Well, I am a glass artist, but in the leaded glass sense. I would love to go back to glass blowing. I did it for a few years in college (for credit) and fell in love. I loved the heat. I loved being able to take something that I couldn't actually touch, manipulate it with a variety of tools and turn it into something beautiful. I loved going into the cold shop and polishing the pieces. It was a long process, but something that was gorgeous if you got it just right.
7. Writer. I would love to write a book someday. I just need to pull the words out of my swiss cheese brain and re-learn the proper way to use punctuation. I would love to write a book about Bailey. I started one. It's far from finished.

As a bonus, do you know what my mom's dream job is? She wants to be a toll booth worker. She said that she thinks it would be fascinating to meet people from all over!

Take the tag and run with it, if you please!

Day 8: Love is not jealous. Love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire. -- Song of Solomon 8:6 NIV

Determine to become your spouse's biggest fan and to reject any thoughts of jealousy. To help you set your heart on your spouse and focus on their achievements, take yesterday's list of negative attributes and discreetly burn it. Then share with your spouse how glad you are about a success he or she recently enjoyed.

Tagged: Bag Tag

What 'cha carrying? Jamie, a professed bag addict, wondered. I admit, I'm horrible about this female priority. I sell beautiful bags at work that I touch and tell how pretty they are. (Maruca, if you are wondering.) I tell the ladies who shop that if I were a better woman, I would treat myself to one but I never change my bag, with the exception of going to a wedding. I do carry a bag, though.

This is a hand-me-down, saved-from-garage-sale-dom Coach bag. When K- was 18 months old and we were looking at the possibility of her brother coming to live with us, my mother-in-law was out of town in Chicago helping my sister-in-law with her garage sale. She helped herself to some gender neutral baby items that my sister-in-law was getting rid of, but then she found this:
She said that she knew that it would be perfect for me. The price? $2.00. My mother-in-law paid nothing, of course. My sister-in-law was getting rid of all of her Coach bags for $2.00 each. I have no idea why. She tends to update things on a regular basis, doesn't hold onto things that she doesn't use, so I believe that is why this came to live with me.
Here is the gunk that hangs off my bag. I have an ever-so-attractive purple caribiner clip holding my car keys, miscellaneous keys and Chico bag onto my purse. I know where my keys are, always have my shopping bag on hand and drive people crazy as I ting-ting-ting down the aisles. K- and I also have squeaky shoe contests in the store, so between the two, shoppers probably hate us.
You wanna see inside? Well, I didn't clean it out so that you know exactly what I see. I have a two layer system. This is layer one.

This is layer two. Only the basics. Nothing fancy. Klassy, don't you think?

Tagged: Honest Scrap

Jamie passed this one along. Tagged me, actually. Here is her list.

Here are the rules. I'm going to break them, but I'll list them.

A.) First list 10 Honest things about yourself - and make it interesting, even if you have to dig deep!
B.) Pass the award on to 7 bloggers that you feel embody the spirit of Honest Scrap. (I don't know enough people for this one, but y'all get to read about me, 'kay?)

1. Having lost a child gives me a different view on things. Having almost died in that process has added to that different view. Sure, I still get worked up about stuff, but I look at things a little different. Things that I was saving for God only knows what reason, I use them. A box of beautiful Crane stationery isn't going to help me if I'm not here. (That was the gift that I had been saving.) Candles are meant to be burned. Dishes are meant to be used. People are meant to be cherished. These are things that I learned from that. The big lesson learned? Take it in, process it and let it go. I need to remind myself of it, though.

2. I don't look forward to telling K- about all of the pieces of her birth mom's history. I don't look forward to telling her that her first mom has HIV now. I don't look forward to sharing with her that she abused drugs while pregnant with her. She had numerous jail stays while pregnant with her. I don't look forward to telling her that she has other siblings that she most likely will never meet.

3. I hate that no matter how hard I've tried, I cannot cure my husband's digestive illness. We don't know exactly what it is, but we do feel that it is bacterial. He just keeps getting dumped into the IBS pile, but no one does investigation. Sure, he had an endoscopy and a colonoscopy, but when the last doctor told him that "[he] should be happy because he has a great wife, great child and great life and that he has to go out to tell the people in the waiting room bad news." MY HUSBAND FEELS LIKE CRAP AND NO ONE CARES!

4. I admit that when I'm in the presence of pregnant women, I don't want to look. I love babies. I love them to their rolly polly rolls and back. I love the women who carry them. I however still have the twinge to wish that I could have successfully birthed a child. It's not at all that I'm unappreciative of K- or her own personal story at all, I just would have loved to have gone the whole way. I would have loved to give birth to a baby. I would have loved to breast feed a baby. I had a friend tell me about a month ago how sorry she was that I missed nursing my own baby. I am too. I can't even tell you how sorry I am.

5. I understand that I did the college gig, but my chosen profession is not one overflowing in money. My husband's chosen profession is not one overflowing in money, either. We did not choose professions that would make us grand money. Our agreement before we married is that we would always have jobs that we loved. When the jobs were such that we didn't love them, we moved onto others. We are very happy with our lives. We don't choose to be monetarily rich. We don't feel like we are losing out.

6. One of my biggest fears is that someone will try to steal K-. Yes, she knows stranger danger and all that. She is supervised, but I try not to hover.

7. Another of my biggest fears is cancer. I watched my grandmother die of colon cancer. I just recently watched my aunt die of brain cancer. I had another aunt die of lung cancer about a year ago. My grandmother has stage 4 small cell lymphoma. Cancer is a disgusting disease. I've seen it eat away at beautiful, wonderful people in my life.

8. I fear that I'm not doing enough with K-. I want the kid to have a life, but I want her to succeed. I 'm fearful that I'm too hard on K-, but we want her to be respectful, kind, considerate, honest and all that stuff that you try to mold children into.

9. I take things way too personally. I try not to, but just yesterday I was fearful that I would lose my job. When I came into work, the floor manager told me that she "needed to talk to me and was sorry that J- wasn't there. (My coworker.)" Basically, she didn't want to tell me what was going on and by the time that 2 hours passed, my coworker and I morphed it into someone was losing their job and I blew it out of proportion. If someone complains about the way that I've helped them, I worry terribly. If I snap at someone, it kills me. If my husband grumbles at me, I do take it in a very personal, failure kind of way. I often feel like I'm not doing enough as a mommy or a wife.

10. I stress myself out. The last few weeks I have been wrought with anxiety attacks that have been waking me up out of a sound sleep. Just the other night, I finally gave up on sleep, knowing what the end result would be and went to watch TV on the couch. I clinch my teeth so hard when I sleep that I wake up with a migraine sometimes. I clinched my thumb in my fist so hard that I've done something whacked to it and I really need it looked at. It now will lock and do this weird click-hinge thing. Out of nervousness, I'll crack my toes as I sleep all night long and hardly be able to walk in the morning. I'm generally a good sleeper, but lately that's gone to crap.

So in a nutshell, there is my Honest Scrap. Take it or leave it. It's one steaming pile o' poo.