Because I've Been Rendered Braindead

Between just normal pregnancy, and pregnancy insomnia, and two kids who refuse to sleep, my only hope of posting anything on my blog anytime soon, is to resort to a 'Tag' email post :-)

1. What is your occupation right now? I tried to think of something clever and all, but again, braindead. So, Mom.

2. What color are your socks right now? I never wear socks unless I'm forced to, by shoes that are designed for physical fitness. And frankly, I don't really wear those that often. (Add to that you can do prenatal yoga barefoot, and it's like there's almost no need for socks!)

3. What are you listening to right now? Um, "Joyful Pregnancy Affirmations" from my Hypnobabies CDs. I'm lame like that.

4. What was the last thing that you ate? Spinach, yogurt & blueberry shake. With flax seed. It's better than it sounds.

5. Can you drive a stick shift? I can. I hate to. Especially Greg's truck. It's evil.

6. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Probably my Mom. I was calling to ask if the girls could come over last night and play so Greg and I could run errands and go and get ice cream. Annie kept shrieking in the background, "Yeah, I want to go to your parents house! Let's go to your parents house! Let's go to your parents!" Ellie was jumping up and down, yelling, "Ampa! Amma! Ampa!!" The nice thing about these ages is you can drop them off to play with grandparents and they're just excited to play, and don't scream like you're abandoning them forever.

7. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Lisa, my old neighbor.

8. How old are you today? Thirty.

9. What is your favorite sport to watch on TV? On TV, probably football. Basketball or hockey, in person. I've found no reasonable excuse to watch a baseball game unless my little brother is playing it.

10. What is your favorite drink? I like strawberry lemonade, on the rare occasion I drink anything besides water.

11. What color is your hair? It's actually very cute right now -- my friend Emily added light highlights to my normally monotone brown hair.

12. Favorite food? M&Ms, but only during this pregnancy. M&Ms of any kind. The best is to take several varieties and mix them together in a large container, maybe throw in some cashews, and snack away for weeks. Actual food that's good for me -- Greg's homemade pizza, chicken fajitas with a TON of onions & peppers. Comfort food -- Hawaiian Haystacks.

13. What is the last movie you watched? "Knowing." With Nicolas Cage. Meh.

14. Favorite day of the year? Christmas.

15. How do you vent anger? When pregnant, probably cry. Usually I just vent talking on the phone with my Mom, Greg, or one of my sisters.

16. What was your favorite toy as a child? I don't remember.

17. What is your favorite season? Fall, maybe.
18. Cherries or Blueberries ? Cherries just to snack on, blueberries made into everything -- smoothies, desserts, baked goods.

19. Do you want your friends to e-mail you back? Sure, why not. I prefer that to sending out emails and never hearing back from anyone, obviously. Then I'd just feel like a loser.

20. Living arrangements? A perfect little house, with a great yard in an amazing neighborhood.

21. When was the last time you cried? Um, I'm pregnant -- definitely in the last day or so.

22. What is on the floor of your closet? Shoes, wrapping paper and tissue paper supplies, piles of tanktops/shade shirts.

23. Who is the friend you have had the longest not related to you? Chrystal, that I stay in contact with via the wonder of the internet. Probably Jessi, since our sophomore year of High School, that I see in person fairly regularly.

24. What did you do last night? Went to Marble Slab Company for ice cream with Greg. I kinda felt gypped afterwards -- $6 for like one scoop of ice cream?!

25. What are you most afraid of? One of my children being hurt.
26. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburger? I don't eat hamburgers. I'm a chicken kinda gal.

27. Favorite dog breed? Mutts, they're the cutest. A hypoallergenic one if such a thing actually existed.

28. Favorite day of the week? Probably Saturday.
29. How many countries have you lived in? Just this one.

30. Diamonds or pearls? Pearls in a necklace, diamond in a ring, but cuter, more colorful and chunkier is how I normally prefer my jewelery.

31. What is your favorite flower? Lilies, maybe. I don't know.

32. Favorite craving? Almond M&Ms

33. How many times a week do you eat chocolate? Daily, duh. I'm worried the amniotic fluid in my womb is the flavor and consistency of cocoa.

34. Biggest pet peeve? Right now, one year olds that dump their yogurt on the floor THREE times in one meal. (It's happened twice this week.)

35. Least favorite celebrity? I don't know.

36. Favorite? Still don't know.

37. Biggest goal for the year? Have this baby, handle the transition to three children smoothly and gracefully, drop some
38. Biggest goal for the day? I've cleaned the kitchen, frontroom, basement, bedroom, two bathrooms, and the girl's room. I plan on just having fun and relaxing the rest of the day!

Edited to add: I have now been out of M&Ms at home for over a week. I really, really want to go to the store and buy some, but since whole bags disappear in days, I'm trying to avoid buying them for as long as possible. I'll probably last another few days.

ABCs of Me

A - Age: just over three weeks away from the big 3-0!

B - Bed size: Queen -- I take the top right side, my portion of the middle, and the bottom left hand corner. I think sleeping diagonally is the best. Greg just makes room for my legs.

C - Chore you hate: The ones that are never ending. You know, dishes, laundry, weeding . . . surprisingly, I don't mind vacuuming, and we do that like 4-5 times a day around here (Ellie's in the seek-and-eat phase of babyhood. If it's on the floor, she will eat it.)

D – Dessert: Strawberry shortcake. Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls are a close second. This is all I craved the whole time I was pregnant. (But only Cinnabon. And they're not around here anymore. Anyone flying into Salt Lake airport wanna pick me some up? I'll pay you back).

E - Essential start your day item: Water. I guzzle it in the morning like I've spent the night in the Sahara.

F - Favorite color: Um, brown to wear. Pretty shades of blue and green.

G- Gold or Silver: Um, white gold. It wasn't an actual option, but vastly preferred.

H - Height: 5'6", I think.

I - Instruments you play(ed): Ha! My musical talent rounds up to be a big fat zero! I took like 8 years total of piano, and right now I couldn't play Happy Birthday in any kind of recognizable form. I also took a year of clarinet. I wish I could play the harmonica. That'd be so cool.

J - Job title: Mom

K - Kid(s): Annie (three years old in 12 days) and Ellie (one year old in 13 days).

L - Living arrangements: Cute, little two story house with a big ol' backyard (which sucks to weed).

M- Mom's Name: Karine

N - Nicknames: Hil would be the most common I guess. Annie when I was really little and Hilary Annie when I was growing up. (Thus the name we picked for our first born. We really didn't pick it just to steal the name of second counsins once removed.) Greg calls me the following: Weiniehead, Punkus, Crazy Lady. He really does love me, I promise.

O - Overnight hospital stay: When I was born, or giving birth. For surgery like ten years. That's all I can remember.

P - Pet Peeve: Bad drivers. Not very original, I know, they just bug me.

Q - Quote from a movie: Can't think of any right now. Dang, that would've been one to humorously shine on, but alas, I can come up with nothing.

R - Right or left handed: Right, with not the teeniest, tiniest hint of ambidextrousity.

S - Siblings: The best. A bunch of sisters and a brother. Each one is my very favorite, just ask 'em!

T - Time you wake up: when Ellie and/or Annie does.

U- Underarm deodorant?: Yes, every day.

W - Ways you run late: Constantly underestimating the time it takes to get two kids into a vehicle with all their various crap, a freshly packed diaper bag, and then kids strapped into carseats. You think by now I'd have learned to allow more time for it.

X - X-rays you've had: My teeth over and over and over again throughout pregnancy, when they have the habit of randomly breaking. And my index fingers when I was little, but I don't remember that.

Y - Yummy food you make: I'm told I'm an excellent cook (by Greg, whose best interest it would be in to keep me cooking), but I don't think he's ever told me a favorite. I like my spaghetti. And I tend to be the one who makes desserts for things. I have a couple recipes that are awesome! My peanut butter oatmeal cookies rock. (I now use half whole wheat flour in this recipe, and 1 Tbsp. wheat germ and 1 Tbsp. flax seed). Annie thinks I make the best toast with peanut butter in the world.

Z - Zoo animal: Probably the orangutans. Well, just the baby one (who's like 4 now, actually) at Hogle Zoo. It actually does stuff. I love the zoo best during the winter though, 'cause the animals just seem to be so much more motivated to move (to keep warm and survive, I guess.)

Do the iPod Shuffle

The Rules:
1. Put your iPod (or iTunes) on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. You MUST write that song name down no matter how silly it sounds.

I'd like to preface this by saying I don't have an iPod. Don't mock me. I do have iTunes though, with the whole family's music. So, lots of kids songs, primary music, and Weird Al.
I had Greg sitting right here by me as I was doing this, so he can vouch this is legit, I didn't cheat or anything . . . some of them just turned out that funny.

1. If someone says “are you ok?” you say? Hokey Pokey
(That's like Ned Flanders level of cheesy, and yet it works.)

2. How would you describe yourself? Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D, Air, BWV 1068, Bach
(What, you don't describe yourself in those exact words!?)

3. What do you like in a guy/girl? Tow Sawyer (Rush)
(Apparently I'm very particular . . . I only have one type of man. The Tom Sawyer type. (I've listened to a LOT of Rush since I've met Greg. It's been a new, um, experience for me. I seriously still think the main singer is a girl, except that I've now seen him in concert twice, and he looks manly-ish-enough.))

4. How do you feel today? I Only Have Eyes for You (The Flamingoes)
(Um, OK. I really don't have anything to add.)

5. What is your life’s purpose? Wakko's America
(I'm thinking of going into politics.)

6. What is your motto? Clean My Teeth (Hi-5)
(It's not the worst motto. Hygeine is important. And I think 75% of my music on here now is kids stuff.)

7. What do your friends think of you? Everything You Are
(Um, again, nothing to say.)

8. What do your parents think of you? White & Nerdy (Weird Al)
(I laughed for like three minutes on this one . . . this is when I dragged Greg over to enjoy in my blogging hilarity. This cracked me up. Although, it was admittedly embarassing to admit to having so much Weird Al on my computer that even in a randomized search of like 3,500 songs, Weird Al was bound to come up.)

9. What do you think about very often? Paperback Writer (The Beatles)
(Maybe I wanna be a writer?)

10. What is 2+2? 6 Little Ducks
(This is the next one that made me laugh out loud. Greg was also amused. Math was never my favorite subject.)

11. What do you think of your best friend? The Priesthood is Restored
(This made me giggle a little. I told Greg he really was my best friend, so it kinda worked.)

12. What is your life story? Three Blind Mice
(If I thought harder, I could come up with something clever on this one, but I have nothing.)

13. What do you want to be when you grow up? Lose Yourself (Eminem)
(I apparently don't have high hopes . . . unless it means I want to lose myself to some higher purpose? Or I want to be the next big white rapper?)

14. What do you think when you see the person you like? Don't Bring Me Down
(OK.)

15. What will you dance to at your wedding? He Died That We Might Live Again
(Um, that seems odd. Primary songs in general at a wedding would be weird . . . especially Easter/Resurrection ones.)

16. What will they play at your funeral? Hollow of Thy Hand
(That's a little more appropriate. Although, this is the 'punk' version from 'Singles Ward' or 'RM' or something.)

17. What is your hobby/interest? I Heard it Through the Grapevine
(Does this mean my biggest hobby is gossiping or facebook or internet stalking or something?)

18. What is your biggest fear? Barrell of a Gun (Depeche Mode)
(This one didn't make me laugh so much as make me go, "Um, yeah, that works." Did I ever tell y'all about the time I had a gun held up to my head in junior high? I should do that sometime. It's a great lesson in why middle schoolers should never smoke pot.) (NOT ME! Someone else was smoking pot, I just ended up on the other side of the gun. That's another post.)

19. What is your biggest secret? Rain is Falling All Around
(Shhhh, don't tell!)

20. What do you want right now? The Spirit of God
(Sure, that would be cool!)

21. What do you think of your friends? Step by Step
(What, y'all don't have "New Kids on the Block" on your iTunes?! I don't know how that applies to what I think of my friends though . . . )


I'm now kind of ashamed of my iTunes showings . . . I'm cooler than this, I promise! :-)

Oh, and I guess this is like a 'tag' type of thing . . . so, you're it!

In Annie's Words

I was reading my friend Jackie's blog and she had a list of questions her little girl had answered about her . . . so, I stole the idea and did it with Annie today. Annie answered, "I don't know" to over half the questions, but I kept anything she answered (no matter how randomly -- seriously, a hedgehog!?) for your reading pleasure.

How old is your mom?
Four years old. Because you are bigger, you are four years old.

How tall is your mom?
This big! Tall, tall, tall, tall, tall . . . this tall. Tall as me.

What is your mom's favorite thing to do?
Hug Annie and play with Annie and I don't know.

What does your mom do when you're not around?
Clean up. You clean up Mommy.

If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
I don't know. What she do?

What is your mom really good at?
Playing toys with me

What is your mom not so good at?
Not playing with me!

What does your mom do for her job?
Email!! (In my defense, I do freelance graphic design from home.)

What is your mom's favorite food?
Hot dogs. And noodles and sauce. And lettuce. (Um, I would like to clarify, I HATE hot dogs. Haven't eaten one for more than a decade before this child was born. I am a fan of spaghetti though. And I did eat a really good chicken and fruit salad at Chick-Fil-A last night . . . so tasty and lettuce-y.)

What do you and your mom do together?
Mop and go to the bathroom. And clean all the spaghetti sauce off.

How are you and your mom the same?
I have this face, and you have that face. It's like a hedgehog.

How are you and your mom different?
I don't know that one, do another one.

How do you know your mom loves you?
Because you sing Barney's favorite song.


Then I started asking some other questions, just for fun:

What can you tell me about your Daddy?
That he is good and grumpy and my Dad is actually a big guy, and Ellie really likes him. I talk about how Ellie loves Daddy. I don't know. He works and he buys the money, gets the money from a lady at work. He is nice.
(I should point out Greg is like the least grumpy person I know . . . but considering the source is notoriously unreliable . . . hedgehog!? Hot dogs?!)

What is Ellie like?
Ellie cries to Mommy because she is tired.


Questions I couldn't get an answer to:

What is something mom always says to you?

What makes mom happy?

What makes mom sad?

What does your mom do to make you laugh?

What was your mom like as a child?

What makes you proud of your mom?

If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?

Tagged

Busca tagged me on her blog, and since I'm at a complete loss on how to do any kind of 'New Years' post, this seemed like a great idea:

i am: blogging, when I should be showering, because the two year old is playing with her kitchen, and the baby is napping, and it's 10AM.
i know: I'm gonna regret this later when I'm still unwashed this afternoon.
i want: my basement to be magically unpacked. By elves. Or helpful woodland creatures. Or by hired help, I don't really care, as long as the next time I go down there it's organized and there's no sign of cardboard boxes.
i have: lost the preferred parent distinction during the night from Annie. The last several nights, if she wakes up (um, when she wakes up is more accurate), we hear, "Daddy! Daddy! I need you!" Or, when she comes into our room, she walks around the bed, to the other side of the room, to her Daddy where she whimpers, "Daddy, I want you to pick me up."
i hate: sexual predators disguising themselves as 'business people.' That seems random, but I tried calling Toys R Us the other day to change an order, and when I dialed 888 instead of 800 (or vice versa) I was shocked to have some velvet-voiced tramp coo and moan all manner of suggestive dialogue. (OK, I'm an idiot, but my initial thought was, "This seems like a REALLY inappropriate 'on hold' commercial for hamburgers for a toy store hotline . . . did Carls Jr. hire Paris Hilton again? . . . oh, that's not about hamburgers! OH! [CLICK!]" If you're gonna peddle porn, fine, that's your prerogative . . . but if you're trying to 'catch' people who were trying to reach Disney websites, toy stores or doing random google searches, than it ain't business, it's predatory. And often aimed at children. And that's just wrong.
i miss: the holidays already. I feel like with the move I missed just 'basking' in the holiday goodness that is December.
i feel: pleased, but uncomfortable. Annie was done playing with her kitchen, so she came upstairs, dragging a blanket, pillow and baby bear, and curled up on my lap in front of the computer. It's a very crowded office chair now, but I love the cuddling.
i hear: Annie saying, "Actually Mom, I'd rather watch Dumbo," as she's staring at the Dumbo DVD sticking out of the side of my Mac. (She now uses the words "actually" and "definitely" whenever humanely possible.)
i smell: the stench of a poopy diaper escaping the plastic bag it was wrapped tightly in. I live a glamorous life. I'll be right back . . . I need to run out this trash!
i crave: one night of uninterrupted sleep.
i search: for the game Partini for as cheap as I bought it before Christmas for my sister . . . so far, no luck.
i love: when Greg has time off work. I love how we get to spend the whole day together smack dab in the middle of the week. Even if nothing gets done around the house. I wish he had today off.
i always: regret when I raise my voice to my toddler. I wish I had more patience some days and I wish she would sleep more and not be so grumpy.
i believe: family is the key to happiness.
i sing: all the time with Annie. Not well, and not around anyone else (well, Greg and Ellie), but all the time. All day long. I think this is why my daughter will end up earning her living as a troubadour, since she already spends her entire day, dancing around the house while narrating her life through song.
i write: to express myself, to record our history for my daughters, to amuse/entertain/enlighten/question/debate/engage people. To keep sane.
i lose: baby weight. Oh no, wait, that would only work if it was i wish i'd lose. Only two more months until I can't consider it baby weight anymore, and it's just extra weight I'm personally responsible for losing without getting to blame pregnancy. (Wait, is it 'nine months on-nine months off', or do I get a whole year? Either way, I need to start working harder on this.)
i win: Settlers of Catan each and every time I play it. Which is why I've retired from the game, undefeated.
i never: stick to my guns in the middle of the night when the kids want to cuddle/nurse to fall back asleep . . . at 3AM I'm in survival mode, whatever gets me back to sleep the quickest goes.
i listen: best when I shut up. And right now I'm listening to the sounds of paper rustling from the bathroom . . . I'll be right back, Annie's just unrolled pretty much an entire thing of paper towels all over the bathroom . . .
i am scared: of screwing up my kids.

Quirky Me

Fig, an excellent blogger who can be read here, recently posted a tag about quirks. It took me over 24 hours to be able to come up with a list of six quirks, but I finally did, so here y'all go. (This was hard for me! Not that I don't have quirks, just that I'm not all that aware of them, I guess!)

Six (of what I'm sure are dozens) of my quirks.

1. The first one I came up with was Greg's answer to, "Do I have any quirks?" He reminded me, almost immediately, how I always keep my toes pointed. (He may have used the word 'freakish' in his description.) Like, my relaxed state of my feet are pointed straight down. "Like ridiculously crazy pointed, from your knees to your toes making a straight line kinda pointed," were his words. (It doesn't matter if I'm sitting, laying down, legs crossed, legs in front of me, whatever, my toes are pointed.) Not sure why mine are that way, but I'm baffled by other people's feet with their ninety-degree (or nearly) angles. When our Lamaze coach would tell us to relax our whole bodies, she got after me for my feet being 'flexed', but to bring my toes back up to a 'normal' position takes concentration and effort on my part. My foot almost looks like Barbie's (except that my toes are pointed down too, not suddenly sticking out straight ahead), like they're always in six inch heels. The odd thing about that, since having kids, I've mainly gone to all flats. Weird.

2. I absolutely have to be in the 'correct' lane while driving in traffic. If I'm gonna turn right sometime in the next several miles, I like to be in the right lane (assuming lanes of traffic are all flowing well, I won't stay in a 'bad' lane or not pass people, I just have to get into the right lane as soon as possible.) And, if I'm in the car, and let's say Greg is being stubborn and won't move into the lane we should be in, even though there's an opening and it's bad traffic and who knows when it'll be that easy to move over again, and we're going to be turning in say, a mile anyway, I start to get fidgety and nervous. And sometimes can't help it and just bark, "Just change lanes please!!" It's really quite amazing Greg agrees to drive anywhere with me. If I were him, I'd make me drive, just to avoid being annoyed . . . and 'cause I'm the superior driver who uses actual forethought.

3. I was reminded of this one by Fig's spooky Halloween posts, except that mine doesn't involve any kind of actual haunting, just my own 'chicken-ness'. I moved into the bedroom downstairs at our house when I was eight years old. I was the oldest kid, so I was the first and only one down there for awhile. I was mildly afraid of the basement. I could hang out in my room no problem, even in the family/playroom that made up the majority of the basement. What freaked me out were the stairs and the unfinished laundry room right by the stairs. My sisters and I made up a story about a family of ghosts who were trapped under the stairs, and could only be released from their cramped prison when someone stepped on the bottom step of the stairs on their way upstairs. You then had to get to the top stair and through the upstairs door before they 'got' you, then they were stuck again under the stairs until the next person started up the stairs. I always booked it up those stairs. On some level, I think this has stuck with me, 'cause despite my belief that my parent's home isn't haunted in the least, everytime I hit that bottom step, I pick it up a little and get up the stairs tout de suite, you know, just in case.
And, it kinda stresses me out a little that it takes so long to get Annie to walk up those stairs, it takes a lot of self control for me not to just pick her up and power walk up the stairs with her.

4. I have to read while soaking in the bathtub. If I'm not currently reading a book or a magazine, I will search the house over for anything, Greg's "Popular Mechanics", a newsletter sent by our insurance company or the mortgage lender we used two years ago, anything to read. Being a Mom of two little ones, I don't usually get to take long baths, so I only read a page or two a lot of times, but if I don't read at least something, I feel like I was cheated and take no joy from those few minutes that were supposed to be relaxing. Of course, I come from a family who brings a duffle bag of books to Lake Powell on vacation, so this shouldn't be a huge surprise. In my family, reading is important. Reading while in water is a must.

5. I create math problems in my head with digital readouts. Let's say I look at the VCR to see what time it is . . . I immediately start to think "2:24 . . . 2 times 2 is four, four divided by two is two, two plus two is four, four minus two is two, two to the second power is four, negative two times negative two is . . . " and so it goes until I can't think of any more. And it REALLY bugs me if I can't come up with one, and my self esteem in the immediacy comes directly from how many equations I can come up with and how creative they were . (This was obviously an easy example). I do this all the time. I think it's all the story problems us kids did on the drive to California for vacations. (And no, I'm not a math person.)

6. I giggle uncontrollably anytime Greg, while reading aloud to me from the scriptures at night, says the word, "unawares." What? It sounds kinda like 'underwears.' I often will refer to underwear as 'unawares', and I can't wait 'til Annie's wearing panties so I have more of an excuse. (It doesn't happen that often, it's only in the scriptures a few times, but I swear we've happened upon it more often than we possibly should have . . . maybe Greg does it on purpose just to see his wife giggle like a twelve year old.) 'Cause I'm just that mature.
Also, in a related scriptural vein, if Greg compliments something I'm wearing, I usually say it's 'cause I'm "workin' the fine twined linens." And then crack up. 'Cause I'm that mature and cool.

Woo hoo! I did it, it took me half the night tossing and turning trying to think of my quirks, but I did it! All six. Plus I realized, I will try to get away with being barefoot as often as possible, like compulsively (I used to get in trouble at work for leaving my shoes in my cubicle all day and getting caught being barefoot throughout the building), and I don't like to eat only one kind of M&M (when I break down and buy them, I will buy the Peanut, Almond, Peanut Butter and Plain, and mix them in a big container and snack on that for weeks. And I like to microwave them to make them all warm and gooey. Greg likes his frozen. Freak.)

Now that I feel like a certified weirdo, I'm stealing another idea from Fig, if you'd like to play, list six of your own quirks on your blog, and/or leave one here in my comments! Consider yourself tagged, even if it is just to leave a quirky comment!

Tagged

My sister-in-law Liz tagged me. Here's a bunch of random info about me.

4 RANDOM THINGS I LIKE ABOUT MY HUSBAND:
1. Nicest guy I've ever met. Seriously. No exaggeration.
2. Loves me and the kids above everything else. Me, especially. :-)
3. Super smart and talented. Like anything he tries, he's ridiculously good at. Do you know that on top of being an engineer, the guy has made me gorgeous ceramic vases, dishes, plates and serving pieces (wheel thrown pottery), and jewelry boxes, cups and hand crafted pens on his wood lathe.
4. I have never met someone I laugh so much with. We put the girls down to bed and sometimes don't get to sleep for hours and hours after we'd planned 'cause we just end up talking and laughing well into the night. It adds to my sleep deprivation, but I wouldn't change it for the world.

4 JOBS I'VE HAD:
1. Mom. That's the best one.
2. Graphic Designer at a few different places.
3. ShopKo Customer Service. Star & Talina followed in my red smock wearing footsteps, as did my cousin Marissa. It's our lame family tradition. (Even found out Greg had worked there when he was younger!)
4. Worked one winter at Deer Valley Ski Resort. Had an interesting conversation with David Hyde Pierce about the book "Grapes of Wrath."

4 MOVIES I'VE WATCHED MORE THAN ONCE:
1. Arsenic & Old Lace One of the many movies that bring me back to my childhood. Making caramel corn and all going into Mom & Dad's room and piling on the bed or the floor and watching old movies. Good times.
2. Court Jester Um, yeah, I think we're definitely going for the nostalgia thing, yet another childhood favorite. "The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle, the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true." And young Angela Lansbury. Really young.
3. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers Childhood memories, yet again. I own all of these movies by the way, they give me warm fuzzies every time I watch them. (Greg had seen none of the above three movies before we met . . . he'd seen them all by the time we got married. These, and Labyrinth. How does one make it that far in life without having seen all of these fine films?! (And believe it or not Jessi, Bowie is a man.))
4. This is much harder than it should be. I'm just not a movie person. I enjoy movies, I own movies, I go to movies, but I've never had 'favorites' really, or even ones I watch too often. I'll go with Liz here though and say Disney movies. Any of them. And I can't get my kid to watch any of them either (except Dumbo! Yay! One hour and six minutes of distraction. I'm a good Mom.)

4 TV SHOWS I WATCH:
1. Not on anymore, but I love Sports Night. I own the DVDs.
2. Also not on anymore, but Pretender was awesome. Also own on DVDs. Had a bit of a crush on Jarod.
3. Daily Show with Jon Stewart. This should surprise nobody who reads my blog.
4. Don't tell Greg, but I'm really starting to like Good Eats. For those of you who haven't watched it, it's what would happen if Bill Nye the Science Guy had a cooking show. The host, Alton Brown, doesn't just tell you to add a tsp. of baking soda . . . he tells you why to add it, when to add it, how it works, why it works, what it works with, and all the science behind it.

4 PEOPLE WHO EMAIL ME REGULARLY:
1. Facebook. Me & Facebook are tight. I'd say 30% of my daily emails are from Facebook.
2. Talina. Who is obviously the sister who loves me the most. I'll remember that at Christmas.
3. Dad. Who sends a lot of forwards, and updates on which library books are due like right now.
4. Clients. Most of my recent emails seem to be from people I'm doing graphics jobs for. I'm reasonably priced and super quick . . . keep me in mind for all your graphics needs!

4 OF MY FAVORITE FOODS:
1. Double vanilla ice cream with fresh raspberries. Oh, sooooo good! Greg and I are recently obsessed with this, and if raspberries are in season, and on sale ('cause I'm cheap), then we tend to eat this almost every other night or so as soon as the girls are asleep.
2. Hawaiian haystacks.
3. Tater tot Casserole. Don't mock it 'til you try it. Haven't found anyone who hasn't liked it, only people who wouldn't give it a chance!
4. Chicken fajitas, with peppers and onions. In a fresh tortilla. Yum!

4 PLACES I WOULD LIKE TO VISIT:
1. Europe. Um, all of it, then I don't have to waste all four spots on European countries. Anywhere of cool historical or cultural significance & amazing architecture.
2. Washington D.C. I could spend all day at museums, and fortunately married someone just as geeky. I've been there before, but Greg hasn't yet, so I'm dying to go there together.
3. SeaWorld. My whole goal in life right now is to take my two year old to SeaWorld. So she'll discover the amazingness of aquatic mammals and want to be a marine biologist all throughout her childhood. Just like me and all of my sisters. (My family would choose SeaWorld way over Disneyland for family vacations as kids.)
4. China. Or Russia. Or India. I wanna go see everything we ever discussed in my 11th grade 'World Cultures' class.

4 THINGS I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO IN THE COMING YEAR:
1. Ellie learning to crawl, walk, talk, etc. Of course, this is also what I fear in the coming year. It's already going too fast.
2. Hopefully a trip to SeaWorld. In April. Or September.
3. Possibly buying the house of our dreams and moving. Also, one of my great fears again.
4. Annie turning three and being able to take dance classes, tumbling & go to preschool. She is so going to love it!

If you have any desire to do this little survey yourself, consider yourself tagged!