2009's last Random Dozen!!!

Linda, at 2nd Cup of Coffee, hosts a Random Dozen every Wednesday and this is the last one for 2009! If you'd like to join in, just hop on over to her blog and do it!!!



1. Do you find it gross to share drinks with family? Friends?
With Ed, my husband or Daniel, my son, no. Anyone else? Yes.

2. What have you learned this year? (You didn’t see a question of that weight coming, did you? At least not for #2.)
I've learned how absolutely wonderful it is being a grandma! I could never understand what these grandparents were going on and on about, loving these little munchkins so much. NOW I know! There are no words to describe it. You have to experience it...at least I have had to..... to really know and understand what it is to have grandchildren.
Here's the thing: My sisters could be on their last leg but let one of the grandchildren want to come over or spend the night and they just about NEVER say no. I couldn't understand where they got this sudden infusion of energy or whatever it is. But now? Jaylon can be gone for an hour.....I'm serious......and Daniel and Erin can call and say, "Hey, would you all mind watching Jaylon while we go in town for a little while?" And, even though I may be tired or he's given me a run for my money that day, I'm just as excited to see him when they bring him over as I was that morning. *shaking my head* I don't understand it but I love it!!! :-)

3. When do you dismantle the Christmas decorations?
The inside decorations come down shortly after Christmas Day. This year, they are down already. The outside decorations stay up until New Year's Day when we burn the lights all day long, as do our neighbors who have decorations still up. It has become a sort of tradition up and down our little country road and I love it!!

4. Something you wish to accomplish before the end of 2009 is:
Reading my Bible through! And I am going to do it!!! Yayyyyy!!!

5. How do you feel about winter (after Christmas)?
Well, it can be a pretty difficult time after awhile, especially if the weather is gloomy and miserable BUT one thing that has helped me to kind of come to terms with winter weather is something my boss at the library told me a few years ago. I had asked him if he found winter difficult because he is an outside kind of guy. He told me that he looks at winter as a time of rest, repose and reflection. He expounded on it a bit more and I really thought about what he said, took it to heart and have since learned to appreciate these few months of winter more.
Still, that being said, the dreariness and starkness can get to me at times. Hey, I'm human! :-)
Oh, and having snow on the ground and sunshine once in a while helps tremendously!!! :-)

6. Have you participated in after-Christmas sales?
Would you believe for the first time in our married life (almost 23 years) that we did???? We just went to Wally World and it wasn't very crowded. We needed new garland for our front porch and we got the last four bundles of deluxe pine garland at half price!!! And we bought two storage bins! So it was really worth the trip!!

7. Do you have plans for New Year’s Eve?
No. I used to feel that we had to be doing SOMETHING, going SOMEWHERE, being with SOMEONE but as I've gotten older, I've discovered that it is just as wonderful to just be home with my husband, snuggled in bed, reading a good book and wishing eachother a Happy New Year before we go to sleep, which is almost ALWAYS before midnight! :-)

8. Is there anything special awaiting you in January?
Hmmmm.....not that I can think of. Daniel will be 23 on Jan. 3. My baby!!!! LOL That's all that I can think of!!

9. If your life this year was a movie, what category or genre would it be? (Romance, Comedy, Drama, Thriller, Suspense, Farcical, etc.)
Well, my life might very well have contained a little of each, more of some, less of others. So, that's my final answer!! :-)

10. How much time per day do you spend blogging? Please do not lie. I will know.
I'm thinking two hours, three at the most, when I am on the computer. Some days I don't even turn the computer on. Or some days, I just check email or read blogs. I just don't have the time to be on the computer, like I used to, now that we're taking care of little Jaylon. I do want to do better at posting on my blog because I think of it as my journal of sorts. That's my first resolution!!!

11. Who runs your household?
Well, Ed and I both have things that we do, so I would have to say that we both run our household. It is such a partnership and through the years, we've eased into a pattern of doing things and taking care of responsibilities that just works wonderfully for us!! :-)

12. Share one hope/dream for 2010.
Okay, off the top of my head, I'm wanting to say: "World Peace." You know, like Miss America or Miss Universe! LOL
BUT, on the serious side, I want to be anchored to the Lord as never before and grounded in His word. I want to be a light in this world of His grace and mercy for He is coming soon and I have so many loved ones and friends who need to be saved!

We have begun!

Hi everyone! Well, Christmas DAY is over but the Spirit of Christmas should last all year! Because He is the same yesterday, today and forever!!!

We started yesterday in cleaning out our big walk-in closet/pantry which used to be Daniel's closet. We are almost finished in there.

After doing that, we moved out to the big storage room which is attached to the garage. We call it the "pool room" because Ed built it specifically for Daniel AND it did have a pool table in it at one time! BUT after Daniel got married we moved the pool table out to the youth activities room at church and started using the room for additional storage.

My, but we did have some wonderful family times in that pool room. *sigh* And while I do treasure the memories so, I do miss those days and times.

Anywayyyy......during the years, which amounted to 5 or 6, in which I was unable to get around very well, things just got shoved and thrown into this storage room. We keep our recycle bins in there. When Daniel and Erin moved here beside of us, they put alot of their things in there. Ed has kind of tossed things in there helter/skelter over the years, so you can imagine the disarray.

Well, amazingly, I started in the corner just inside the door to the left and began sorting and uncluttering and sweeping as I went. In about an hour and a half, I had made ALOT of progress. Now we just have to contact our neighbor who runs a trash/refuse business and have him come by Tuesday to get all of the junk we no longer need or want. And I have to have Erin come over and tell me what to do with some of their stuff.

What an accomplishment it is to have that room finally decluttered and organized! Yayyyy!!!

The next area to be organized and decluttered is my hall closet! AND I am showing no mercy!!! :-)

Daniel, Erin, and little Jaylon came over Christmas Eve and we exchanged gifts and spent some precious time together. Here is Jaylon with one of his books that we got him and a little bead/maze toy.

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Ed and I spent a rather quiet Christmas Day together. Of course, in the morning, as usual, I talked to each of my siblings on the phone. :-) I just love them all so much! My oldest brother and his family went to Myrtle Beach for the holidays! It sounded like they were having great time and he said everyone, if they are able to, should do Christmas at Myrtle Beach or somewhere simlar at least once! I dropped a heavy hint to Ed!! :-)

I fixed a delicious breakfast casserole for us in the morning and later that day put a roast in the crockpot.

We went to see my sister Debbie later in the day where we had a wonderful. Though my siblings and I don't exchange gifts, I've always given Debbie a gift of some sort at Christmas. It is almost always something that she has told me that she needs. This year it was a duster. Actually, two dusters. You know....the kind that you wear around the house. A lightweight, usually cotton, housecoat.

Well, Ed started teasing her and telling her things like: "I can't believe you spent good money on those things just to dust the furniture with them!" or "How do you dust the furniture with those?" I egged Debbie on and told her to come up with a good comeback for him because he teases her unmercifully! To which she replied, "I just put one on, spin like a top, and go through this place like a white tornado!" That was pretttyyyy good!

Which leads me to ask, "Why do they call them dusters?" Does anyone know?

Yesterday, the day after Christmas, we did something we've never done! We went shopping! Yes, we went to Walmart in the morning, around ten-ish.

I think what prompted us to do this was the fact that my girlfriend Tina stopped by early that morning to give me a Christmas gift as she was on her way into Walmart to it the sales! Soooo, Ed and I thought we would venture out, too!

It wasn't nearly as crowded as we thought it would be and we got the last 4 bundles of deluxe pine garland for half price!!! Yayyyyy!! AND we got two storage bins and a couple of other unnecessary useful items. :-)
We came home and I made two cheeseballs for my girlfriend Pat and her husband. They came down a while later and I did her hair.

After that, we just relaxed until starting on the closet and storage room.

Then we freshened up a little and took off to see the Christmas lights in the area.

All in all, it has been a very relaxing and enjoyable holiday weekend!

And tomorrow, Jaylon will be here bright and early!

Here is another picture of him enjoying his birthday cake!! :-) (The boy loves sweets!)

Jaylon's first birthday!

Bring on the cake! :-)



And so we did! :-)

Good Monday Morning, World!

We have snow! For Christmas! Yayyyy! And we don't have too much.....like so many on the east coast...yet, we have enough to make it feel and look so Christmasy! Above is a picture of our home that I took on Sunday morning, yesterday, as we were going to church!

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It has been a busy weekend and past few days! Wow. Friday evening, we went shopping for our weekly groceries and then came home and waited for the snow! Oh, how I was hoping we would get some, because we were right on the line on "getting or not getting" very much snow.

Happily, we awoke Saturday morning to a covering and it continued to snow throughout the morning. Our Sunday School Christmas Program practice was canceled but our family Christmas gathering later in the day was not, thankfully.

We all gathered at the church in the afternoon and enjoyed a delicious variety of food and a great time of just being together! Only one nephew and his family was unable to be there! And my three nephews, who are truckdrivers, all made it home safely before the snow hit! One of my nephews said he had alot of fellow-drivers who were stuck in the mountains in New York and other points east.

Erin's mother and two friends took The Funbus (a local tour company) on an overnighter to do some Christmas shopping and I still don't know if they've made it home or not. Hopefully, they have!

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Gotta go...the boy is after the kitty!!! He's on the move!!! LOL Be back later hoperfully!

Monday randomness!

Don't you just love the fact that they (whoever "they" is/are *grin*) have made HTML and tweaking your blog soooo much easier??? I am!!!! I had mosied on over to Barbara's blog and saw that she had snow falling! Yes, snow! Wellllll, I wanted some. (said in a whiney little-kid voice.) LOL Soooooo, I googled "how do I put snow on my blog" and, alas and alack! there it was! AND it is so simple! AND now I have snow falling on my blog!!! Yayyyyy!! You can find other neat things at Jill's blog!

(Yessss.....I knowww......it doesn't take much to entertain me!)
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AND if you'd like to see some Redneck Christmas lights, head on over to Sir's blog HERE! :-)

Barbara has some Christmas funnies that I really enjoyed! Thank you, Barbara! AND Ivman has a great post on Christmas decorations HERE!
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Here is a picture of Ellie the cat of the house sitting in the window watching me as I took pictures of our front porch the other night! :-)

Here it is...Sunday already! Yesterday...Saturaday....was truly a day off for me! It has been such a busy week! AND my internet access has been sketchy because our phone line needed repaired outside but Ed got it fixed yesterday morning! In the frigidly cold morning air!!! :-)

Sooo, that is one reason why I have not posted or commented on blogs the last few days!

BUT on the positive side, I sat at my computer last night...Friday night..... and got all of my pictures organized into folders!!! *whew* That WAS an accomplishment!!! AND an enjoyable one, I might add!
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Soooo....to recap my week:

Tuesday evening, my sister Debbie and I went to our church's ladies' Christmas party. I took a delicious Peanut Butter Apple Trifle that I DIDN'T get a picture of!! I wish I could be more like Barbara or Mrs. NurseBoy who always post pictures of everything! (Do you two have your cameras surgically attached to your hands or sumthin'? *smile*)

I had wanted to fix a Christmasy looking trifle but couldn't find the recipe I had wanted to use and couldn't come up with anything off the top of my head BUT wouldn't you know....I found the recipe for the Christmas trifle AFTER I had finished the Peanut Butter Apple one! *sigh*

I also took Potato Soup which was delicious on such a rainy, cold evening. I really just wanted to stay home...inside and warm....but I'm so glad that we went. We had a great time with the ladies.

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Thursday evening, Erin and I joined in with my sisters, nieces, great-nieces, and a few random great-nephews thrown into the mix....*grin*.....for a cookie exchange! We had a ball!!! And did we ever have the cookies!! I brought Ed home a plethora of cookies! (To THAT he would say, "You brought me a bunch of different kinds, too! LOL) You should have seen how his face lit up!!! :-) He loooooves cookies!!

Our sister-in-law Sandy brought a big cooker of homemade vegetable soup and I made sloppyjoes and we had sherbet punch....my fave!!! :-) We had a blessed time but, alas, no pictures! AND I DID have my camera with me! But I was too busy to be taking pictures! You know.....hogging down munching on cookies, slurping up eating vegetable soup, guzzling sipping punch! :-)
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Both nights I was soooooo worn out, aching, back hurting...so much so that I just had to force myself to go but both times I was so glad that I did. I just love being around people and I love this most wonderful time of the year!

This week our Christmas banquet at church is Tuesday evening at Lee's Banquet Haus. And our annual Peters' Family Get-together is Saturday at 3pm at the church in the fellowship hall. I am roasting a turkey and making rolls for our get-together. AND I'm in charge of our annual game of family/Christmas bingo which everyone loves!! :-)
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I finally got to watch the movie "Julie and Julia" last night. We don't watch alot of movies but when we do we have been getting them from the Red Box dispenser at Walmart. Kroger's also has one. It is so nice to be able to pay $1 for a movie for one day. We quit renting them when the video stores started charging for five days. I mean, who wants to watch a movie for five days? Hello. Also, our local library has a great selection of old and new movies and we like to get movies there, too, though they are sometimes hard to get.
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Little Jaylon is growing by leaps and bounds!!! He is just about ready to walk! :-) He will be a year old the 22nd of this month! He calls most everything "Gog" which we thinks means "Dog". Ellie, the cat, will take off through the house and Jaylon will start saying "Gog....Gog...." I told him that Ellie would be so mortified if she knew that she was being called a "Dog". :-)

Here is a picture of the boy with which I will end this post before it gets too terribly long! :-) For some reason, he loves playing with his grandpa's belt! :-)



But WAIT! There's more! (Where have I heard THAT before? LOL) Here's a picture of our front porch decorated for Christmas!

Random Dozen!!

Linda at 2nd Cup of Coffee hosts a weekly Random Dozen meme at her blog! If you'd like to join us in the fun, just hop on over to her blog and go to it!!! :-)

1. Which physical trait do you now accept--maybe not love, but accept--and no longer feel extremely self-conscious about?

Would you believe my hands? Yep. You see, I have fairly big hands. Also, the veins in my hands are huge and "bulgey", a phlebotomist's paradise!!! :-) My nails have not always been very nice either, though now that I take supplements and vitamins for bone and joint health, they are really nice! :-)

But I have learned to love my hands, to appreciate them, for they give out so much love and care to those around me and they help me to care for me. :-) They enable me to play the piano and express myself musically and to be a blessing to others musically.

2. This week Meredith Baxter Birney, best known as the mom on the favorite 80s sitcom "Family Ties" came out of the closet, which led me to formulate this question: Who do you think is/was the best TV mom?

Hmmmm.....I've really had to think about this one and I would have to say Claire Huxtable *sp*. She was/is just so classy AND a good mom!

3. Do you speak any foreign languages? Are there any you'd like to learn?

No, I do not speak any foreign languages, though sometimes my DH husband gives me this puzzled look after I've said something, making me wonder if I did just say something "foreign" sounding. (I think it's a man/woman thing. *grin*) BUT I would love to be able to speak Spanish and French. At this stage of life, though, I have to be honest and say that I just don't believe that I have the dedication that it would take to learn another language. *sigh*

4. Who is your personal hero?

My sister, Debbie. She has been through so much; has lost everything and built her life all over again from nothing; raised three wonderful children almost single-handedly. She is now the best "Nanny" her grandchildren could ask for and "Aunt Debbie" that her nieces and nephews could want! She is simply amazing and she is my hero!

5. What is one holiday food that you find extremely difficult to resist over- indulging in?

Would you believe any kind of meat? Be it ham or turkey or meatballs or the meat on a deli tray. Jody made the most scrumptious meatballs for our ladies' Christmas party at church last night! They were to die for! And our pastor's wife made a dip/spread that was mostly chicken. You put it on crackers. Oh my! I am such a carnivore!!!

6. Tell me about a Christmas decoration that has special meaning or sentimental value.

I don't know that I have just one because, you see, through the years, as Daniel was growing up, we collected ornaments that he made or received at school, from relatives, in our homeschool group and those are very special to me.

7. How do you feel about snow?

I love snow! If we are going to have winter and it is going to be cold and overcast, then let there at least be snow on the ground to make everything look beautiful, pristine and wintery!!!

8. On average, how many hours of sleep do you get each night? Not that I'm jealous of any number over three or anything.

In all honesty, I usually get about 7 hours of sleep each night. I just have to and I've learned this the hard way.

Oh, when I was younger....as in my 20's and early 30's....sleep was not important to me and I went around soooo sleep-deprived most of the time.

THEN, after I got married and little Daniel came along, I REALLY learned what it meant to be sleep-deprived! I worked full-time, was very involved at church and had my home, husband and little baby to care for. When I just couldn't push myself anymore, I would sign up for a day's vacation, not tell anyone, get Ed off to work, take Daniel to his Aunt Sandy's (his care-giver) and I would go back home and sleep all day.

9. Tell me about your first crush.

Oh my, do you really want to know?

Okay.....I was in the 7th grade. I lived in the country and our school was in a small village called Union Furnace. There were 21 kids in my class. 10 girls/11boys. Nothing too exciting here.

UNTIL this year. *sigh*

All 21 of us had gone to school together for these 7 years. Oh, maybe an occasional new kid here and there. But, more often than not, it was the same classmates, year after year.

UNTIL this year.

In he walked...and rather noisily, I might add. He had on these shoes with heels. You know, like the Beatles wore. Wow. AND he wore "slacks", not jeans. Wow. And nice shirts. *sigh* He combed his hair straight back and it was a little wavy, not parted on the side or a flat-top or a burr haircut like the rest of the boys in our class. Wow.

He was so cool. He was from the city. His family had moved that summer to SE Ohio. Appalachia. Wow.

AND he was assigned the seat RIGHT BEHIND me! Wow.

I was so totally smitten. I was a goner. Over. Done with.

AND he was so polite. Polite? Wow. He held the door for girls. Let them go first. Was rather soft-spoken. *sighhh*

I'll save you alot of gorey details and just tell you that I did want to be his girlfriend and that didn't work out, BUT we did become really great friends and in my estimation, that was even better. AND I survived that first tumultuous crush without any lasting emotional scars. Thank you, Lord!

10. You're stuck in a room for 2 hours with only a chalkboard and chalk. What will you write/draw?

Hmmmm....... in all honesty? I'd get bored PRETTY quickly and probably just try to relax and catch up on some rest (see # 8 above). :-)

11. Do you dress for the current temp or for the day's forecast?

For the day's forecast! :-)

12. Favorite Christmas movie is?

I have to pick just one??

I would have to say the newer version of "Miracle on 34th Street" with "Elf" running a close 2nd. Then it would have to be the newer version of "Little Women" with Susan Sarandon in it, coming in 3rd. (Yesss....Little Women has a Christmas scene in it!! )

More randomness

Sooooo.....last Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, my friend Pam and I went out for lunch at Jack's Steakhouse where every Friday they have a lunch special for $4.95 which consists of a killer fishtail sandwich (it's huge!), steakfries, cole slaw and dessert. Yes, you read that correctly! You get all of that for the amazing price of $4.95! I love it!!
Afterwards, we went to see The Blindside. Well, the theater was a bit drafty so I put my coat down around my legs, kept my gloves on and as the movie started, I dozed off. I must have slept through a little more than half of it. I mean, I had just eaten a nice lunch, I was all cozy and warm and it was bound to happen! Plus, I had had a fairly busy morning, so I was ready for a nap, though the theater might not be the best place to take one though it worked well for me!!! :-)
Anywayyyyy.....the part that I did see was really good!
Soooo.....yesterday, I asked Ed, my DH, if he wanted to go see it as I had missed the first half of it and he did! AND I want you to know that I stayed awake for the entire movie!!!! Yay!!! :-) AND it is indeed a wonderful movie! But you have to be sure and stay for the credits because they show alot of pictures and so on at the very end as people are leaving. We don't go to the movies very often but we had heard that this one was really good and we usually go to the movies at Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years as it has become a sort of tradition for us like the Christmas Parade.
Afterwards, we stopped at Speedway and got a hotdog BECAUSE they have the BEST hotdogs and I had a craving for one!!!! AND what IS it about the way they cook them on those roller cooking thingies that makes them sooooooo scrumptious?!?!?!
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AND one last thing! Ed has asked me what I want for Christmas and really? I don't need a thing and can't think of anything that I really want, sooo I told him that I would like to give a good offering to Christmas for Christ which is a program in our organization (UPCI) that supports Home Missionaries and starting new churches. So, we will be doing that.
AND I've always wanted to go to NYC at Christmastime! We are cautiously considering this and looking at our options. I mean, it is, no doubt, going to be very cold in NYC at this time of year and we will be doing alot of walking and will we be able to get a room at a decent price. Oh, and we are planning to drive instead of fly. So, there is alot to consider. I'll keep you posted!!! It's so exciting to think about!!! I loooove NYC....anytime of the year!!!
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Well, I have to go and get ready for church! Have a blessed Sunday, everyone!!
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Oh, and did I mention that it is 15 chilly degrees here in SE Ohio this morning?!?! BRRRRR!!!!!!

Like, Major Randomness!!

You have been warned! :-) This will probably be a jumbled up mess of everything from the past two weeks!

If you have stopped by my blog during this past week, you've, no doubt, noticed that I've been playing around with my blog design! How frustrating!!!!

I haven't been able to find a blogheader image that I like and when I did find one that I liked, it wouldn't fit! Grrrrr!! Sooooo, at this point.....I'm leavin' it!!!

I even found a website that gave instructions on how to remove the border from the header but I lost it into cyberspace and haven't been able to find it again!! Soooooo.....what you see? Yeah, that's it. *sigh*

I like pictures. I don't care for what I call "Patchwork" design or "Scrapbook" design. I mean, I love it on other blogs...just not mine. Ladies, you know how we are: We know what we want. :-)

AND, what with having dial-up, it has been supremely frustrating, to say the least!!! It takes forever to do anything like blog design.
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Our Thanksgiving was wonderful!

This year, we bought a fresh turkey. Every time I've said that, I've instantly thought of how people used to say a young person was getting "fresh" when they flirted with you or spoke to you inappropriately. Do any of you remember that terminology? But I couldn't think of anything that a "fresh" turkey might say when looking death in the eye! LOL SIR, I think you, of all people, would be able to come up with something!! :-) Help me out here! Please?!?!
Anywayyyyy.....the turkey was absolutely scrumptious! The best we've ever had! I put it in the oven at about 3am and ohhhhhh, when we woke up later, the house was filled with the blessed aroma of turkey!! Is there any better smell???? *sighhhh*

As the morning progressed, I made light rolls, noodles , dressing AND REAL mashed potatoes made with evaporated milk and real butter. Oh yum! A little while later, I made a peach pie for Ed because that is his favorite and he doesn't really care for pumpkin pie.

Daniel came over at around 10:30 that morning to change the oil in his car, came in the house and immediately grabbed two warm rolls and started eating them! :-) He came in and snatched a couple more before he went home! :-)

We enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner with Erin's family at two that afternoon, but I always make a Thanksgiving meal for Ed and me to enjoy during the weekend.
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My family all gathered in Logan on Saturday afternoon for the annual Christmas parade. I wasn't able to go last year because of my hip surgery, thus I was so excited about going this year! Not all of the family could be there but those of us who were had such a wonderful time. I had called most everyone and reminded them to bring bags for the kids to put their candy in! :-)

Those little ones scrambled to get the candy that was thrown to them like they had never had a piece of candy before in their lives! :-) Go figure!

My twin-brother Johnny won "Best Walking Unit" in the parade! :-) He, his son and daughter-in-law gave out candy and stuffed animals as one of his other workers drove on of the business trucks in the parade!

All-in-all, we had a great time!
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Jaylon loves to bang things together, whether it is blocks or whatever he can get his little hands on, so I got the idea of giving him something cymbal-like to bang together. Alas! Aluminum foil pie pans! He loves them!!! As you can see in this picture!!! :-)

Wednesday's Random Dozen #14

It's time for another Random Dozen! Number 14, to be exactified....that's Tigger-speak for those of you that don't know. :-)

Anyhoooo....if you would like to join in, just link up over at Linda's blog, 2nd Cup of Coffee and have some fun!

1. Which Wizard of Oz character are you most like?

Wellll......some might say the Wicked Witch of the West, but I would have to say the Scarecrow! :-)

2. When you're deciding what you're going to wear each morning, which item do you select first? Why?

My top or blouse because then I build my outfit from the colors that are in it: shoes, skirt, t-shirt, hose or tights.

3. What kind of animal do you think the world could live without?

After watching the Blue Planet series, it would just have to be one of those deep sea critters that lives miles below the surface of the ocean that no one ever sees anyway, even if they are really unique and beautiful when discovered and captured on film by some special camera that cost a kazillion dollars so someone like me could see them and be simply amazed and oooo and ahhhh because I like to watch stuff like that. the end.

4. How many Christmas trees are in your home?

Only one, IF I decide to put it up this year. I will definitely put up lighted garland and such, but I'm undecided about the tree, as of yet. You see, we have this crawling-about-to-walk adorable little boy in our home this year and I'm thinking I don't want to have to tell him "no" constantly or be smacking his little hands.

5. Would you prefer to be emotionless if it mean you didn't have to feel a heartbreak?

Oh, no.....I could not survive without feeling the love and happiness that life can bring. Yes, heartbreak can be debilitating but the Lord is such a comforter and has always been there and seen me through.

6. Do you ever experience holiday let-down or depression?

Yes, some years more than others. Though, as I've gotten older, not so much, thankfully.

7. Do you like Michael Jackson's music?

No, because I've never listened to it. Well, I'm sure that if I listened to some of it, it would be familiar, having randomly heard it, here and there. You know what I mean! :-)

8. Why is it that we never judge people who have their teeth fixed for cosmetic reasons, but every other cosmetic procedure has a stigma?

Well, let me tell ya, I just think some people look ridiculous with these perfectly white, straight, gap-free, HUGE teeth! I mean, come on!!!!

9. Enjoy horseback riding?

Uh, no. I've never had any luck riding a horse. Two of my uncles had horses, so when we went to visit them, we kids always wanted to ride them, of course. Well, at my Uncle Bill's, they helped me up on this horse, who immediately took off in hunt of the horse next door who was, well, "available", for lack of a better word. Right in front of my uncle's house, he stepped out of the front door, having heard my blood-curdling screams, yelled something at the horse and that horse stopped dead in its tracks, catapulting me over its head to the ground! Wow! As you can tell, I've never forgotten THAT experience.

Then, my other aunt and uncle had horses, too. Sooooo, one time when we were there, once again, they helped me up on one of their horses for a leisurely ride around their mobile home. Did I say leisurely? That horse took off around the house where it got too close to the house, which did not have under-pinning and it was way up in the air, and caught my thigh on an undercorner of the house, about ripping my leg off! I survived, but I no longer have a fondness for riding horses. But then, even if I did, this 58-year-old, double-hip-replaced body has no desire to climb up on one. *groan* No, thank you, I'll just pet their soft noses. :-)

10. Shoes--practical or stylish?

Practical because my body won't let me wear stylish. :-)

11. What was the name of your first pet? Feel free to post a pic.

Winky. He was our family's little Pekingnese. He only had one eye, so my dad got him for a really great price from a kennel where he did the plumbing work.

12. What percentage of your Christmas shopping is done?

I cannot really say because we don't do alot of shopping and gift-giving at Christmas-time. It is more about getting together with friends and family and celebrating and remembering our Saviour's birth in that way, whether it is at church or parties or banquets! Let the celebrating begin!! :-)