Christmas Memories

This is us on Christmas Day. I have taken a picture of our family in front of my parents' Christmas tree every year since Eric and I were married. It is fun to compare the pictures from each year and watch our family grow. I know this isn't the best picture of our family- my eyes are half closed and Suzie is looking away. But I promised my kids-including my biggest kid, i.e. my husband- that if they would take one picture in front of Grandma's tree then I wouldn't bug them about pictures the rest of the evening. So this is that one picture and consider myself lucky. Here are the top ten memories of the Christmas Eve and Day- in no particular order- that I don't want to forget.
10. Eating all kinds of yummy food- from breakfast at Village Inn to celebrate Matt's birthday on Christmas Eve to wontons and shrimp on Christmas Eve to Christmas Morning quiches.
9. Eric betting Curtis $5 to eat said shrimp and watching him heave in disgust.
8. Natalie and J.J. getting engaged- "The duck flies between 4 and 5pm."
7. Singing Christmas carols at Uncle David's and quietly waiting for Santa to deliver presents. When Santa did finally come my nephew Taylor observed that, "Santa walks like an old grandma." Hmmm- where was Grandma Shauna during Santa's visit?!?
6. Finn waking up at 5 am on Christmas morning but lying in bed and staring at the ceiling until 7 am because he didn't think he should get out of bed until then. Mind you he did this on his own accord. We didn't tell him he needed to do this!
5. Suzie biting into the Christmas stocking oranges and eating right down to the center without batting an eye. As Eric said, "Now we know how little baby monkeys eat oranges."
4. Eric getting a Diamond record on Karaoke revolution with "Dust in the Wind."
3. Staying in our pjs until 3:30pm.
2. Katie dancing in front of the T.V. for 2 hours with her new "Bella Dancerella" DVD, dance mat and wand. Santa definitely got that one right.
1. Watching "Hairspray" with Annie. This was her first time seeing it and she was enthralled. Another high-five for Santa if I do say so myself!

Ski Bunnies

This week my sister Natalie invited me to go skiing with her. It was incredibly uncharacteristic of me to go given it is the week before Christmas and the fact that I haven't been skiing for 11 years. I took skiing lessons when I was in college and actually got quite good, especially since I was raised in the South where they shut down the city if it snowed a quarter of an inch. But the last time I went downhill skiing was on my honeymoon in Grand Targhee. Eric and I rented skis and started down the mountain. In true Eric form, he zoomed off ahead of me. As I started down I noticed that it seemed an awful lot harder than when I had skiied in college. Even going down the hills I had to work hard to get my skis to move. When I finally reached the bottom of the hill I was red-faced and out of breath. Eric wondered what in the world had taken me so long and why I was so out of shape. After telling him how hard it was for me he concluded that there wasn't any wax on my skiis. So we took them back to the rental shop and after seeing my crimson face they immediately exchanged them. But I digress- that was 11 years ago and even with nicely waxed skis I was very nervous to try skiing again. I kept hoping it was like riding a bike- once you learned it would come back to you no matter how long it has been since the last time. My sister Natalie is better at about everything than me and skiing is no different. When I first got on the mountain I felt like a baby deer learning to walk- all wobbly and unsure of myself. I stuck with the green runs although I really wanted to try "Bassackwards" just for the name alone. I mean how cool is it to say, "Yeah, I skiied Bassackwards today." But that was a bit outside my comfort zone and skill level for the day. I did master "Big Emma" though. It is amazing how familiarity breeds confidence. The first time I went down I fell about 10 times. The second time I only fell once. The third time I felt like a freakin' rockstar and the fourth time -"Hey, is there Olympic skiing for women over 30!" Needless to say it was just the diversion from my life that I needed. So thank you to Nanny for a fun time and for being patient with me and thank you to my mom for watching my "Oh, yeahs."

Charlie Brown Gingerbread House

I'm sure you've heard of the Charlie Brown Christmas tree, well my kids created the Charlie Brown gingerbread house at our neighborhood Christmas Party this weekend. While other kids were carefully placing candies in evenly spaced rows of red and green, my kids were throwing mints at the sides of the house to see if they would stick. While other kids were creating sidewalks with licorice rope, my kids were whipping their licorice ropes around their heads and then dangling them from the roof of the gingerbread house- which I can only assume was their "interpretation" of icicles. To say the least it is modge-podge of candy and icing, but they had a good time and that is what counts. I'm not the kind of mom who tries to micro-manage their fun. I know you are dying to know what the finished product looks like. Here it is

And here are the little artists making their masterpiece. After looking at this picture I have come to 3 conclusions-1) I am an expert at picking just the right moment to take a picture. 2) They don't look like they are having that much fun and 3) I don't micro-manage Annie's clothing choices. Doesn't mint green and orange say "Merry Christmas."

Also I have to include a funny conversation I had with Annie today.

Annie:"How do you spell was?"

Mom: "W-a-s"

Annie: "It's not w-u-s."

Mom: "No, its w-a-s."

Annie: "Oooohhh! Well that explains a lot."

Glad I could help!

Christmas Tag

I'm a sucker for these things. . .

1.Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper, but after recently unpacking all my wrapping paraphenalia- I never need to buy another gift bag.

2. Real or artificial tree? Artificial. Going out and getting a real one sounds a lot like having children- it sounds great but it honestly is a lot of work.

3. When do you put up the Christmas tree? Well my children wanted to put it up right after all of our Thanksgiving guests left the house, but their Ebenezer Scrooge mother made them wait until the next day.

4. When do you take the tree down? Usually during the first week of January

5. Do you like eggnog?- Does it have syrup in it? Then YES!

6. Favorite gift received as a child?- Hands down my red moped. Actually I had to share it with my sister, but it was extremely uncharacteristic for my parents to have gotten this for us.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, 3- all given to me or made by my mother.

8. Hardest person to buy for? My dad, its not that he has everything- its just that he wants for nothing!

9. Easiest person to buy for? My kids- its not that they have everything- they just want for everything!

10. Mail or email Christmas- Mail- come on now- email cards for Christmas are lame- no offense Quinton- (Only my family will get that comment!)

11.Favorite Christmas Movie- as has already been quoted above- "Elf", but "A Christmas Story" is a very close contender.

12. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I start thinking about it in September, but I don't do any hardcore shopping until after Thanksgiving.

13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?- Uh.. yeah! Although you are not privy to the details like who and what!

14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas time? Thing, thing! How about things- plural, my man- plural! I like it all- especially those little small appetizers like stuffed mushrooms or shrimp cocktail that you can eat without feeling like you are eating a lot.

15. Clear or colored lights on the tree?- I'm a purist- clear!

16. Favorite Christmas Song?- Handel's "Messiah"- I conduct a mean symphony- just ask my sister.

17. Travel or stay at home? Everyone we love the most lives within 15 miles- so we like to travel- just kidding- stay at home of course!

18. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Yes

19. Angel or star on the top of the tree?- Actually star hanging right above it.

20.Open presents Christmas Eve or morning? We open one on Christmas Eve and the rest Christmas morning

21.Most annoying thing about this time of year? Listening to Neil Diamond and Barbara Streisand sing Christmas songs. They're both Jewish and its not about faith- its just about the all-mighty dollar!

22. What I love most about Christmas? It is hard to put that all into one sentence. I love it all, but mostly the spirit of giving and love and family- the spirit charity- the spirit of Christ.

23. Does Santa wrap or leave gifts unwrapped for the kids? All wrapped of course. How can Santa work herself into her Christmas morning headahce haze if all the gifts aren't wrapped?!?

24.What do you find in your stocking each year? An orange, those tubes of candy like m&m's, socks, batteries and usually a small toy

25. What is your tradition on Christmas eve? We usually have dinner with Eric's family with all kinds of yummy food. Then we go to my Aunt and Uncles house and sing Christmas Carols. Then we turn off the lights except for a few candles and quietly wait for Santa to come. He comes in and leaves presents for all the kids. But if you make a noise Santa gets scared and quickly leaves. But he's not heartless and usually comes back to finish the job. Then when he is done it is a free-for-all. There are a lot of great-grandkids now so there is a lot of unwrapping all at once. It is a magical night- my favorite of the year!

Testimony of Vicks Vapor Rub

I'm not sure if anyone else will appreciate this story as much as me and my family, but I just has to get it written down so I won't forget it. I have had several friends tell me about the idea of rubbing Vick's Vapor rub on your kids' feet at night then covering them with socks to help calm a child's cough. Last week Finn came up late at night coughing so hard he was almost to the brink of throwing up. I had a package of chewable cough suppresants- but those supposedly don't work well for kids. He wanted one anyway so as I was giving him one I spied the Vicks and remembered the suggestion. I thought it wouldn't hurt him and who knows- it may work. At the very least he will have soft, fresh-smelling feet in the morning. We did it and he didn't wake up the rest of the night. Now I don't know if it was just the placebo effect or not, either way Finn is a believer. Eric saw him putting it on his feet one night and asked him what he was doing. Finn told him and Eric rolled his eyes and gave me that look-like "You are crazy woman." I get this look a lot. But its okay -its part of our "dance."
Anyway- moving along with the story. On Thursday night Eric and I were at a work dinner and the kids had a babysitter. During the dinner- while the new members of the Appraisal Institute Board were being announced- Eric gets a call on his phone. Its Finn.
Finn: "Uh Dad, Suzie keeps waking herself up because she has a cough. I keep trying to put Vick's Vapor Rub on her feet but she won't let me. What should I do?"
Eric-giving me the "look":"Finn, just put her pajamas back on and put her in bed."
Finn: "But she keeps crying and won't hold still."
Eric: "Its okay. Just put her in bed. She'll fall asleep."
Finn: "Okay."
Eric gets off the phone and says to me, "You're creating a monster." Well at least he is a homeopathic monster!

Odd, but Handsome Man Out

This is our 2007 picture with Santa. I am including this picture with this post because 1) It is cute and 2) It demonstrates my story. Today Finn, my oldest and only boy, asked what color I thought Suzie's hair would be when it finally grows in. I said it could be either red or brown. Finn said, "I hope it is brown." I asked why and he responded, "Because everyone always goes on and on about Annie and Katie's hair being so cute and brown is good too." And he's right. People do always comment on my girl's hair, but I never thought it affected him. I mean he's Eric's son- he's not suppose to care about what people think of him! Finn is an incredibe brother of 3 high-maintenance sisters. This is either preparing him for a high- maintenance wife or he will seek out a calm, low maintenance one. He is such a good boy. Here is another conversation just from today that proves my point. Finn was looking through the ads we get in the mail and found two presents he wanted to get Eric and I for Christmas. He has some allowance money saved, but he realized he needed $3 more to buy them both. So he asked me if he could do any chores around the house for money. I was making dinner so I asked him to take care of Suzie. Now he would have gladly done this anyway without any monetary incentive, but today I indulged him with 50 cents for it. Annie of course always wants to get in on the action and tried to take over watching Suzie so she could earn money too. Finn said she would have to do something else, but she probably better save her money to buy Christmas presents for mom and dad. Then he adds, "And you better look for some coupons too so you can get something nice."
Ok now- let's really look at what he's doing-
a)He's watching the baby for me to earn money to buy a present for ME!
b)He's encouraging Annie to do the same.
c)He's trying to get her save money in the process.
I would call this the trifecta of perfection. Now, I normally would try and take credit for this behavior and for the first two years of his life I tried. Before I had my other children, I thought people who had problems with their kids just didn't teach them the right things- honestly- that's how naive I was! But then I had Annie and like the frog at the end of the story of the Wide-Mouthed Frog I was left saying, "Oh, I see!" (And if you don't know the story of the Wide-Mouthed Frog then you either aren't related to or don't know my mother and you are in for a treat the next time you see me!) But really Finn just came out of the womb that way. And in about 15 to 20 years he's going to make some girl very lucky. But that's just his mother speaking and I'm not biased!:)

Why the title "You're Pretty Too."

My sister-in-law suggested I write about why I have named my blog "You're Pretty Too." Several, if not most of you reading this know the story already, but since I am enjoying blogging much more than I intended to- I decided to write the story down- you know for posterity! About this time of year nine years ago my in-laws were having a family portrait taken. It was the children's gift to the parents- in fact I organized it- because that is the type of person I am :). (I'm not really conceited- just very sarcastic!) We were in the studio and the photographer was placing everybody. He started with my soon too be sister-in-law who has won beauty pageants- seriously- I'm not just being sarcastic here. He went on and on about how gorgeous she was. Then he placed my two other sisters-in-law and again pour it on thick about how beautiful they were. Then he got to me. Now I was 5 months pregnant at the time with my first child and in that "Is she getting fat or is she pregnant?" stage. So not feeling incredibly confident about myself anyway, he looks at me and says, "Well, you're pretty too." Thanks for the courtesy comment. Later that night I said to Eric, "I didn't realize I was the ugly duckling of the family." He of course had no idea what I was talking about. It did hurt my feelings that night, but now I think it is the greatest story and comment because it really does encompass my personality. I have joked about it with my family and friends so much, I can't imagine not being "Pretty too." Surprisingly my in-laws do not know this story. They were there, but I'm sure have no recollection of it at all. I'm afraid if I told them the story they would just try to comfort me and say, "Oh, he didn't mean it like that." But I know he did and I don't want it meaning anything else. I am pretty too and I like it that way! Here is the picture of my in-laws that was taken that infamous day! My beauty pageant sister-in-law is on the back right and Eric's two sisters are in front. I'm the average pretty one on the back left. I was telling this story to another friend who knows my older sister also. Her comment was, "Not only do you have good-looking sisters-in-law, but your older sister is a real beauty too. She has that gorgeous blonde hair and she always looks so nice and..." She stopped short because she realized she was going on about my sister like the photographer had and seriously said, "You're pretty too." I know- I get it!

"Turkey for me and turkey for you. Let's eat turkey in my big brown shoe."

I think I will try to title all my blogs with a little ditty. So thank you to Adam Sandler for today's title. So we had Thanksgiving at our house and despite all my complaining and worrying it turned out just fine. My in-laws brought a 23 lb turkey, but they didn't think it would be enough so they asked us to make one too. Guess what we had in our fridge Thanksgiving night- that's right a completely untouched, cooked 15 lb turkey! So we have been enjoying turkey leftovers every night since. Finn asked if we were going to have turkey until January and I said, "Yes and you better be grateful because there are some people who don't have any..." (You know the rest- Parent Lecture #14). Anyway here are some of the turkey dishes we have been consuming or will be trying this week:

Turkey sandwiches- with stuffing, cranberry sauce and a touch of mayo-mmm- so perky!

Turkey Shepherd's Pie with sweet potatoes on top-very tasty

Turkey Enchiladas

Creamy Turkey and Rice soup

and the piece de resistance- Baked turkey and broccoli pasta.

Now I think this one is the highlight because Eric and I made this recipe up ourselves. Here it is:
1 lb penne or ziti pasta- cooked
4 cups shredded turkey
2 cups steamed broccoli
1 1/2 cups Parmesan cheese
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1/2 medium onion chopped
small can of mushrooms or you could use fresh - but we didn't have any.
2 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs butter
4 Tbs flour
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup cream
1 Tbs White wine vinegar
1 crushed clove of garlic
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Salt & pepper
Preheat oven to 400. Heat oil and butter together over medium high heat. Add onions, mushrooms and garlic. Saute until onions are soft- about 4-5 minutes. Add flour to make a roux- cook for a minute or two. (If you use fresh mushrooms you may have to add more oil to make the roux, because those babies just soak up the oil!) Add chicken broth and cream. Let thicken, then add vinegar, parmesan cheese, nutmeg and S& P to taste. Let cook for a few minutes. Combine pasta, turkey, broccoli, and roux. Pour into a 9 x 13 sprayed with cooking spray. Then top with Swiss cheese. Cook for about 15-20 minutes until the cheese is browned on top.
Sooo, sooo good- if we do say so ourselves. If you do try this recipe- let me know what you think. Also do you have any good turkey leftover dishes? I'm pretty sure I will need some more. We are only about 2/3 the way through our turkey. "Turkey for the girls and turkey for the boys. My favorite kind of pants are corduroys..."

5 people for Thanksgiving dinner

I'm having Thanksgiving at my house for my in-laws. To reward myself for doing such a nice thing I bought myself a little Thanksgiving present- this cornucopia of flowers. I found it at Costco and love it. Anyway having Thanksgiving at my house reminds me of my Grandma Sara. She has ruined Thanksgiving for me because no one else can do it like her- although my mom comes pretty close. She would have the table set for days before so we could anticipate all the yummy things we would eat. That got me thinking of a question someone asked me once- "If you could have dinner with any 5 people, dead or alive, who would it be and why?" When I was asked this question it took me a long to answer it. There really isn't any celebrity or famous person I would like to really meet. I think I would be disappointed, honestly. But I finally came up with an answer. Here it is:

1)- My Grandma Sara- She died right after Katie was born and I miss her more than I thought I would. She is the kind of person who made every grandchild feel like they were the favorite or everyone was her best friend. She is one of my favorite people.

2)- My Grandma Carol- I was named after her, but when she was an adult she changed her name to Caroline. (Apparently she thought "Carrie" was just an average pretty name!) She was a spunky lady. We called her the "Queen Bee." No one else could tell my dad what to do except her. I think if we were the same age we would have been great friends.

3)- My Grandpa Finn- He died when I was just 4 and I all remember about him is his funeral- sad, huh! But I have heard he was an incredible man who loved his family and wife more than anything. He had a great sense of humor and was a hard worker. Even though I don't remember him, I know I have felt his presence with me during difficult times in my life.

4)- My Grandpa "Pink"- He got the name "Pink" because he had red hair. If you have ever wondered where my girls get their red hair- it is from him. He died when I was 2, so I don't remember anything about him. I would want to have him for dinner just to get to know him. I don't know a lot about him. I do know he was laid-back- probably to off-set my Grandma Carol and that he was a spender. I think he and Eric would have gotten along beautifully!

5)- Mor-my great grandma. She died when I was 14, but I remember her very well. She called me "Car-e" instead of Kari because that was the Norwegian was to pronounce Kari. My favorite story about her is one time my father was visiting her during the winter. She was a very active, healthy woman and my father asked her what she did during the winter to stay active. Now she was in her 80's at the time and this was her response, "I shovel the walks of the little old ladies on the street."

So there it is: the list of who I would have for Thanksgiving dinner- (besides my living relatives- of course!) I have chosen these people because I think it would teach me more about myself than anything else. I believe we are the product of our ancestors more than we realize. I am so thankful for my heritage. It has made me who I am. So if you are reading this- tag- who would you have for Thanksgiving dinner- dead or alive?

Love is a many splendored thing.

I'm sure I will write many posts about my Annie. She is quite a character, in fact I think she would make a good character in a book. And if I ever get brave enough I will write that book. Anyway after that previous post I thought I would include a picture of her and another cute conversation we had last night.

This picture is from Halloween when Annie was "Little Orphan Annie." Here is the conversation:

Annie: Mom, I can be in love when I am an adult.

Mom: Okay.

Annie: Mom. I can be in love when I am a teenager too.

Mom: Sure.

Annie: But my teacher says I can't be in love in first grade, but it's just so hard not to!

I may be in a tiny bit of trouble with this one!

Oreo moon cycle

This is a project Finn brought home from school this week. It is the phases of the moon made out of oreo halves. A very clever way to teach this concept, I thought especially because I use to teach this when I taught school. But if you look closely at the first quarter on the right side you will see that the first quarter moon has been licked off. And that is where my story lies....

Finn proudly walked in the door waving his phases of the moon with Annie behind him pleadly for an oreo cookie. He kept telling her no because he had worked hard on it and didn't want it ruined. I agreed with him and told Annie to leave him alone. Annie is not easily distracted from an object of her pursuit. (I'm trying to see this as a positive attribute and call it perserverance instead of stubbornness!) Anyway after a few minutes of being told to give it a rest, she let it drop. She and Finn went into the family room to watch their daily dose of "Arthur"and I went about to one of the hundreds of things I could be doing at any given moment. After a little while I went into the kitchen and passed by them watching TV. At that moment Annie looked up at me with her "deer in the headlights" look. If you are a parent you know this look. If you are under the age of 12 you have a hard time not letting your face give you away when you have done something wrong. Two thoughts went through my mind then- 1) "Annie , you are going to have to come up with a better poker face than that ." and 2)- "What could she be doing wrong- she's just watching TV." Apparently my desire to get the laundry changed was greater than my desire to find out what she was getting into because I just kept on to the laundry room. While changing the laundry I heard a high-pitched, drawn out "ANNNIE!" coming from the family room and thought, "Yep, there it is!" I came back to the family room to find Finn again waving his oreo moon phases poster at me but not so much proudly, rather -angrily. I saw the missing "First quarter" and knew who the culprit was immediately. I asked Annie why she would eat the icing when she had been told not to. She said she "accidentally" did it. Yeah sure- and I just "accidentally" finished off the last of the pumpkin cheesecake!

I don't like that spooky!

This is Katie when she went to the pumpkin patch with her preschool. Her teachers take a picture of each of the kids in front of the pumpkins. Usually each kid smiles and proudly shows the pumpkin they have chosen to purchase. But not my child. She was afraid of something in the distance-(She said there was a monster there and according to the words written on the board in the picture- she was right!) and they couldn't get her to smile. I think her teacher felt bad, but I think it is a great picture. We have plenty of pictures of her smiling, but this is our first one of her looking scared. What great mother I am that I delight in my kids fears!:) Often during the Hallowen season when she saw something that scared her she would say, "I don't like that spooky."

Thank you to everyone who has commented on my blog. You have made me feel very popular! A quote from Lucy in Peanuts is very appropriate here: "I don't care if I have friends, as long as I'm popular." Really I do care about my friends. They mean a lot to me. I love you all. This post has to be short because I have spent so much time looking for a new outfit for my blog. But if my blog could talk it would say, "I feel pretty! Oh, so pretty. I feel pretty and witty and..." (I love musicals!)

Tagged

Man- I'm having a good blog day- I was tagged and here are my answers:
5 things I was doing 10 years ago:
*Teaching 2nd grade *Still enjoying being a newlywed *Certainly not enjoying all my free time before children *Getting mad at Eric for buying snowmobiles- hey, we still have that argument! *Watching ER
5 things on my to-do list today:
*Call my pediatrician's billing office *Put up my Thanksgiving decorations *Continue to organize our storage room *Fold 3 loads of laundry *Vacuum upstairs
5 snacks I enjoy:
*Pumpkin pie *Swedish Fish *Caramel apples *Cottage cheese and pears *anything topped with fresh whipped cream not that cool whip crap
5 songs I know the lyrics to:
*Five, Fat Turkeys-(I'm playing the piano for the 1st grade and right now they are learning Thanksgiving songs), *Ice, Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice (LB and I learned this one in high school together.) *Baby Got Back (I grew up in the South and rap was very big.) *Elvira by the Oakridge boys- props to my dad for that one *For Good from Wicked
5 things I would do if I were a millionaire:
*go to Italy with my husband *Pay off my mortgage *Save more aggressively for college, missions, etc. *Be a philanthropist *make my husband a lifetime contributing member of the Cougar club
5 bad habits:
*Swearing *Talking myself out of going to the gym *not consistently reading the scriptures *leaving projects half finished *not making my bed first thing in the morning like me mother taught me
5 things I'd never wear again:
*Banana clips *pants with pleats- except for Halloween *a bikini- I never really have but certainly won't start now! *blue eyeliner * Big, round peach glasses-see previous post
5 favorite toys:
*Shutterfly *Wicked CD *my new sewing/craft room *my bike and bike trailer *Suzie Q
People tagged: my family

Stuck in 7th Grade

Alright, so I have been more than a little hesitant to start a blog, but my friend Julie convinced (aka- forced) me to start one. Apparently the best way to get me to do things is have Julie talk me into them -

Julie:"Hey, Kari- be in this cooking club, play soccer, read this book, do a blog!"

Kari: "Okay!"

Really, I do love Julie. She gets me to get out of my comfort zone. Now I have given a myriad of reasons as to why I haven't blogged- "I'm too busy, It's like a Christmas card letter everyday, I will get addicted to it." Anyone of those reasons is valid enough - but I think I have figured out one more nagging reason behind my hesitancy...It makes me feel like I am in 7th grade again. You know that feeling of "Where is my locker?", "Will anyone sit with me at lunch?", "I'm not as popular as Stephanie Streeter."(Doesn't that just sound like a popular girl's name? Stephanie Streeter is actually a very nice girl, but she was blonde, a cheerleader and a hottie- everything I wasn't in 7th grade.) But with my blog it is-"Will anyone read my blog?", "Will I have a long list of friends I like to blog with?", "People won't comment on my blog." I know this sounds very silly, but it is how I feel when I am doing something new that is uncomfortable. I consider myself a fairly confident person in most scenarios, but give me something new and I feel like I'm 13 again. 13 must have been a very transitional year for me- and I suppose for a lot of people- because I revert right back to those feelings even though I am a 30 something college graduate who is raising 4 children- pretty well in my opinion. Anyway I have decided to embrace my inner 13 year old and show her who is boss by just doing it whether anyone cares about my blog or not. So I haven't decided whether this blog will be a place to release my creative writer or brag about my children or vent or count my blessings- maybe a combination of them all. But in honor of my first official posting I am including a picture of myself in 7th grade.


Now you tell my -why would this girl feel insecure about anything?!? :) A few editorial comments about this picture- yes, those pants are hiked up to my bra-line- although I don't know if I had a bra on at the time, I wore that style of glasses for years- I just got rid of a pair just like them seriously about 2 years ago! And this picture was taken at a Girls' camp in the 80's when a rainbow didn't have the same significance it has today! My challenge to anyone who may read this is to put as goofy a picture as you can find of yourself at age 13 on your blogs. Release your inner 7th grader!

Dammit- I have a blog!