Happy Meme, I mean New Year!

Happy New Year (belated) and here's a quick (but yes long) meme that I enjoyed reading over at my friend Babsy's site:

1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before?
   Hmm...interesting. How about I worked in the magazine biz!


2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
   My resolutions last year were very broad and vague. Sadly, I fell off track on several of them. Better luck this year, I hope...
   
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
   No, not that I can recall....well, a few friendly acquaintances from my church.


4. What countries did you visit?
   U.S. only. I'm saving that foreign business for the empty nester years...


5. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
   Control of my blood sugars and diet (I have diabetes).


6. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
   I am really bad about remembering notable dates. I do come back again and again to two losses of recent years to me--my kitty's horrible passing this past year and more importantly my grandmother's who died almost 4 years ago just one month before my daughter was born.


7. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
   Diving into a second part-time job as a magazine editor, which turned out to be a full-time job and trying to keep sanity as I juggled that and contracting gigs and two kids.


8. What was your biggest failure?
   Gaining weight and not staying in control with my diet, watching my diabetes progress (as a result, but also because it is just going to get worse regardless too...)


9. Did you suffer illness or injury?
   No "L-Shaped" toes this year (for my older readers), no injuries I can think of. Just the diabetes...which, sigh, never goes away. Notice a theme of where my mind is today?


10. What was the best thing you bought?
    4 letters--- I-P-O-D!


11. Whose behavior merited celebration?
    Hmmm....celebration? I'd say my son's changing and maturing on the soccer field and with his school work, definitely. And, my daughter's finally potty training!
    
    Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
    I have some really personal ones I could list here, but instead I'll go with the obvious answer: UnFitney, Li-Lo and Paris. (Don't know who those first two are? Go read PerezHilton...)


12. Where did most of your money go?
    House stuff mostly--we got new wood floors in two rooms. And, the hubs bought a new Mustang and sold our old car.


13. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
    Hmm...I'm really excited to go to Disney World in the spring, if we'd ever get the trip booked. I was really, really excited when I got the editor's job (if only I'd have known...)


14. What song will always remind you of 2007?
    Hmmm...they play that darn "Chasing Cars" song all the time. I don't love it (because they play it so much), but I'm drawing a blank.


15. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? 
b) thinner or fatter? 
c) richer or poorer?
    I think I am a>happier, b>fatter and c>richer (for the moment)
    
16. What do you wish you’d done more of?
    My daughter's Xmas stocking which didn't get finished and she's 3 1/2!
    My dining room curtains which are a roll of fabric in my bedroom gathering dust.
    Notice a trend here?


17. What do you wish you’d done less of?
    Worrying about projects that I haven't finished? (grin)
    Less trying to save people who aren't going to change at the expense of my own sanity and free time with my immediate family.
    I wish I'd realized my own limitations and said NO more often in general.


18. How will you be spending Christmas?
    I spent Christmas here with my family and my in-laws. It was nice.


19. Did you fall in love in 2007?
    Yes....with my IPOD. (Sorry, hubs...grin)


20. How many one-night stands? 2.
    (Oh, puh-leez...I'm just kidding. You know it is none!)


21. Favorite shows?
    Desperate Housewives and Lost...probably the same as last year's. I am also in the "I like Rachael Ray's show" camp, which I know may get me flamed in comments for admitting!


22. What was the best book you read?
    I have two really good ones TO read--Water for Elephants is the newest one gathering dust and embarassingly I haven't read A Thousand Splended Suns yet either.


23. Favorite new music?
    I love Sara Bareilles! Apparently she opened for Duran Duran, which Babs saw, so I'm even more than jealous of her now. Babs, if only you knew--she's not just like Fiona. She so much happier--I promise! Pink's last CD is amazing as well.
    
24. What did you want and get?
    For this year? I'd say a cool job that gave me some self-esteem I'd lost back and new friends in my neighborhood to which I can actually relate.
    
    What did you want and not get?
    A smaller waistline, a unexplained vanishing of excess tummy flappage from having two kids, a maid--scratch that--how about a manservant that looks like Matthew McConnehey?


25. What was your favorite film of this year?
    Hmm. Hard. Thinking on this...I have to copy Nicole and say No Country for Old Men comes to mind, even though I missed the last two minutes because of childcare issues. I loved The 40-Year-Old Virgin but that may have been last year come to think of it. Lots of let downs on movies as of late actually.


26. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
    Do we have to give numbers here? Oh, what the heck. I turned 37 and honestly, I don't remember what we did. I usually keep it pretty low-key. Dinner out with the family. I'm not into the birthday "foof."


27. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
    Learning how to eat the correct way to keep control of my ever-increasing blood sugars and lose weight.


28. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?
    OK, when you've been a SAHM for 7-8 yrs, the idea of a personal fashion concept beyond just remembering to get your makeup on every day and get OUT of sweatpants, well that's just laughable.
    
    I do have to say on this though...I've followed What Not to Wear on TLC for several years now and started dressing in the best way for my figure. The funny thing is, I've gained a few pounds back from my weight loss last year, but I get more complements on looking thin or like I've lost weight. It has to be the clothing styles I'm buying now, I think. It works people!


29. What kept you sane?
    I am not entirely certain you could describe me as sane this year at all. (grin)


30. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
    Hmm...I always like some of the same ones. I'm trying to think what newer ones I've noticed and I'm drawing a blank. Thinking...how about that new James Bond dude? He's pretty macho I guess. And, Barack Obama really intrigues me (in a non-fanciful kind of way!)


31. What political issue stirred you the most?
    I've finally completely bought into and gotten worried about global warming. It scares me. However, so does electing someone who want to rip us out of Iraq without a good long-term plan for dealing with the repercussions of that. Problem is, one of the candidates who wants to do that is also one of my favorites. Argh!


32. Who did you miss?
    My Austin pals, my kitty, and some of my closest pals here because we have all gotten so busy with having school-aged kids.


33. Who are you happy you have met?
    My new neighbors, for sure. 2-3 families that have eliminated the snooty factor on our street almost entirely now!


34. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007. Here are several--
    No matter what I do, time is still going to tick by.
    I can choose to ignore my health problems and do whatever the hell I want, and my problems WILL get worse because of the progression of the disease that I have.
    Sometimes finding your dream job at the wrong time in your life, really makes that job turn from a dream into a nightmare very quickly.
    The time you have with your kids is very fleeting and you can't let anything let you lose sight of that or they'll be grown and gone before you know it.
    Choose optimism and be grateful for it all!


35. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

It doesn't sum up my year more than it sums up changes in my attitude over this past few years. Here's the whole song..one of my favorite this year.

Anyway
Martina McBride

You can spend your whole life buildin'
Somethin' from nothin'
One storm can come and blow it all away

Build it anyway

You can chase a dream
That seems so out of reach
And you know it might not ever come your way

Dream it anyway

[chorus]

God is great,
but sometimes life ain't good
When I pray it doesn't always turn out like I think it should

But I do it anyway
I do it anyway

This world's gone crazy and it's hard to believe
That tomorrow will be better than today

Believe it anyway

You can love someone with all your heart
For all the right reasons
And in a moment they can choose to walk away

Love 'em anyway

You can pour your soul out singing
a song you believe in
that tomorrow they'll forget you ever sang

Sing it anyway

Yeah I sing,
I dream,
I love...

ANYWAY!

Tis the Season to Forgive...Yourself

A dear old friend of mine, Babs, posted this that she found from another site and I liked the idea behind it, so I decided to copy. Be sure to let me know in comments if you do a list and I'll link you up at the bottom too!

Inspired by a post on Flawed but Authentic:

Forgiving Myself x 10

I forgive myself for having control issues with food.
I forgive myself for letting my toned new body and 6 long months of personal training go.
I forgive myself for having a temper and letting it control me at times.
I forgive myself for not ever feeling at peace or where I need to be in life.
I forgive myself for not appreciating my loved ones enough (but promise to try harder at this!)
I forgive myself for losing touch with old/faraway friends because of my crazy schedule.
I forgive myself for being social, but always feeling a bit of an outsider/different in social circles.
I forgive myself for not being forgiving of a family member who is hurting another loved one.
I forgive myself for not being skinny, well put-together, having an immaculate home, etc.
I forgive myself for not posting enough on this blog or keeping up with commenting on those blogs I love to read.

What do you forgive yourself for this holiday season? Check out these friends who participated below:

Babs

The No More Meh Meme!

One of my favorite blogging gals out there is Nicole at Sitting Still. We both started blogging about the same time, she's a Southern gal, and she's got a great sense of humor. Anyway, she's put a meme challenge out there and I decided to take her up on it.

The way this meme works is this--you reply in my comments if you'd like to be interviewed for a meme. I will send you a list of 5 questions, picked by moi, and then you answer on your blog. You can invite others or do what I'm doing, open it up to whomever wants to participate.

So, lurkers, come out out of those dark corners and give me a shout out! And regulars, of course I want to hear from you too! This is also a great way to find new blogs and so let's all do the meme!

1) Tell me a secret. What's one thing about you that I wouldn't know from reading your blog? (And I've been reading your blog a long, long time!)
How about this, in high school I was just a few points away from doing well enough on my SATs to get an ROTC scholarship from the Air Force. I considered going to the Air Force Academy (probably couldn't have gotten in and I knew that). When the scholarship didn't work out, my mother talked me into doing sorority rush where I ended up getting in a new sorority on campus.

Now, the interesting thing about that was that our pledge class was filled with girls who were more anti-sorority types than your stereotypical sorority girls. It made things very interesting and very fun. But, once we recruited a few more pledge classes it was never the same group again because we became, gasp, mainstream like all the others.

2) You've recently returned to work after some time as a SAHM. What has surprised you most about that transition?
How invigorated I feel, to be honest. I worried that I wouldn't have time to fit it all in and I'd become irritable to my family. I have had no problems juggling and, truthfully, it has brought my self-esteem back. I never knew how far it had fallen, but now I feel proud of my job skills and abilities and I LOVE this new job! I feel more alive than ever! And, I promise, I'll write more about it soon. (I know I keep teasing that, but I really haven't had time to write much lately.)

3) Do you have a "five year plan"? If so, what do you hope the next several years hold for you and your family?
I don't really have a five year plan. I never expected to have this opportunity to get back into my journalism background doing something so fun. But, I guess when I think about it, I'd love to continue on and maybe work my way up to a larger magazine that has a bigger circulation. That, and I'd really like to take the kids to Disney World. Actually, I think that second one comes higher on the list (grin). Finally, I'd like to lose at least 20 lbs and possibly get off of some of the blasted medications I am on currently.

4) Name five 'luxury' items that you could not live without.
My computer, email, and the internet....oh gee, now I only have two left. How about my iPod and a gym membership.

5) If you were going to be stranded on a desert isle with only basic supplies and an iPod, what five songs would you hope it had on it?
First off, thank GOODNESS I'd have my iPod. I can't imagine my world without music. As far as choosing songs, ugh. I always have a million favorites. I think that I'd want inspirational stuff, you know to motivate me to try and get the hell off of that chunk of sand before I became nut-so and began talking to my volleyball Wilson. (grin)

How about these? Most are from my workout selections:

"It's My Life" Bon Jovi
"Lose Yourself" Eminem
"Home" Daughtry
"Blessed" Martina McBride
"U and Ur Hand" Pink

OK, guys. Your turn! Leave me a comment if you are interested in playing, or even if you're not and you want to tease me about my song selections!

Mind is mush...must meme!

I know some people despise these things, but it is Sunday and my brain is taking a nap. So, here goes nothing!

1. What time did you get up this morning? 6:45 a.m.
2. Diamonds or Pearls? Diamonds. Although I'm not a huge jewelry kind of girl.
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? It's been awhile. I think it was "How to Eat Fried Worms." It was the perfect movie for my 7-year-old son!
4. What is your favorite TV show? Tie between Lost and American Idol. I know, I know...I am SOOOO mainstream.
5. What did you eat for breakfast? Kashi Go Lean blueberry waffles with Sugar Free Syrup
6. What foods do you dislike? cooked broccoli (I can eat it raw for some reason), asparagus, sushi
7. Your favorite potato chip? I'm a Tostitos gal, but I must have salsa as well.
8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? It is old, but I just got Carrie Underwood's awesome CD. What a talent this girl is! I love it!
9. What kind of car do you drive? A lovely-but-embarrassing gas-hogging environmentally "un-PC" Ford Expedition SUV
10. Favorite sandwich? Smoked Turkey (at Quizno's or Schlotzky's)
11. What characteristics do you despise? Cattiness, hypocracy, and being unreasonably judgemental of others.
12. What are your favorite clothes? Jean shorts and a nice comfy t-shirt. Although it is fun to dress up now and then too.
13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Australia
14. What colour is your bathroom? Neutral earth tones and dark greens
15. Favorite brand of clothing? I usually like Eddie Bauer's stuff.
16. Favorite time of day? Evening--I'm a night owl.
17. Where would you want to retire to? The Hill Country or Destin, Fla.
18. Favorite sport to watch? Live--Hockey and basketball, definitely.
19. Coke or Pepsi? Coke. It is my biggest weakness. I can't have them at my house at all.
20. Are you a morning person or night owl? I'm an N.O., all the way.
21. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? I just saved money on my car insurance with Geiko! (just kidding) My kids pictures are about to be featured in a local magazine with an article I wrote!
22. What did you want to be when you were little? A detective or an astronaut.
23. What is your best childhood memory? Family trip to Disney World and Florida
24. Nicknames? Not so many now--many, many growing up by boys in my class who liked to tease me. I will not divulge those here. (grin)
25. Piercings?Just two. I'm a simple girl.
26. Eye Colour? Blue.
27. Favorite day of the week? Hmmm...probably Saturday.
28. Favorite restaurant? Two P's: Pappasitos and Pei Wei
29. Favourite ice cream? Mooolinium Crunch (BlueBell)
30. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Kirklands Home, Target or my favorite Scrapbooking shop. (Probably the latter, if I were being totally selfish!)
31. Bedtime? Too late--midnight on a good night.
32. What are you listening to right now? My son playing "Burnout" on the Playstation. A car racing game where you get more points if you crash? Finally, they've made one at which I might actually be good!
33. How many tattoos do you have? None and I never will. I don't find them that attractive, honestly.
34. Next film you'll see? I really want to see The Good Shepard and The Pursuit of Happyness, but both have been out awhile. I will probably go see The Bridge to Terrabithia with my son, which looks amazing.
35. Tag anyone? Neh...but leave a comment if you participate so I can come read all about you!

In case you're interested...(UPDATED)

I'm digging my claws in on another site today, over at The Soccer Mom Vote. Drop on by if you'd like to read something both politically and religiously-charged--something I usually try to avoid talking about on this blog! Read the entry before mine as well, to hear from my old pal Tamara who is also a participating soccer mom!

Also, for the always fun and entertaining Babaloo who tagged me, a quick Christmas Meme response to my top five favorite holiday songs:

1. Burl Ives - Holly Jolly Christmas
Something about his voice and this song, just makes me instantly happy when I hear it. I just watched Rudolph with my kids today and we drove around singing to my Christmas CD and I sang it both times!

2. Do You Hear What I Hear - Vanessa Williams
I have a great Vanessa Williams (yes, the now actress/formerly dethroned Miss America) holiday CD that has the most gorgeous rendition of this song. I haven't liked many other versions I've heard near as much as hers. It has a gospel choir in the background. Awesome!

3. Santa Claus is Coming to Town
This is my favorite holiday song from my childhood. Also, I use the words of it often in gentle "threats" to my kids to check their behavior in the weeks before Christmas!

4. Grandma Got Ran Over by a Reindeer
Babaloo's 4th pick is mine too! I think this one makes me laugh most of all because years ago my own Grandmother heard this song and loved it so much she gave it to me on cassette one Christmas. I still remember her laughing as she played it for me.

5. Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree - Brenda Lee
This one has special meaning for me related to my Grandmother as well, and I'd intended to blog about this. So many Christmas songs remind me of her because it was her most treasured holiday and time with our family. She loved this song and it had the sort of "boogie beat" to it that she always worked into songs she played on the piano. I can still picture her dancing around in her slippers with me as a kid as we sang along.

I'll tag my "Cat Pack" kimosabes on this one, if they feel like answering. If they are anti-meme, then they can blow it off. So, that means you: Just Babs, Jessie's Girl , Land of Tamara , Blogcharya, and Thee Andrew!

And, check back in soon for a special Christmas card from one of my "litter!"