One Word Tag

The rules for this tag are pretty simple: you can only use one word as your answer. 

1. Where is your cell phone?

Purse

2. Your significant other?

Couch

3. Your hair?

Up

4. Your Mother?

Vegas

5. Your Father?

Heaven

6. Your dream last night?

Adventurous

7. Your favorite drink?

Tea

8. Your dream/goal?

Teach

9. What room are you in?

Library

10. Your hobby?

Scrapbooking

11. Your fear?

Bankruptcy

12. Where do you wan to be in 6 years?

Caribbean

13. Where were you last night?

Home

14. Something you aren't?

Thin

15. Something you wish for?

Savings

16. Last thing you did?

Eat

17. What are you wearing?

Nothing :)

18. Your pets?

Husband

19. Favorite store?

Navpress

20. Tag 2 people:

Corey, Mindy

My Latest Reading List

I really haven't been doing much in the last month other than the normal routine of sleeping, chores, going to work, and making dinner. In the mean time I've been reading as much as I can. I know that the last time I wrote about the next group of books that I would read were all classic novels but this time I took a something a little more contemporary.

My first book was Facing Your Giants by Max Lucado. Very, very good inspirational book based on the life of David. We all have our own Goliath's. "He taunts you with bills you can't pay, people you can't please, habits you can't break, failures you can't forget, and a future you can't face." There are some days when I feel like I'm not only facing Goliath, but all his brothers standing behind him too. And then there is David. I have wondered in the past what God saw in him because his actions-well, most of the time they were pretty appalling. But, of course, God saw his heart. Max does an amazing job of tying in the story of Jesus and his redeeming love. Where David failed, Jesus surpassed. I recommend this book highly to all who need, for just a moment, a new perspective about the "giants" in our lives.

Next, I moved on to something a little more devilish, I suppose. Sure, its a cliche to say that the book is better than the movie and in some ways it was. Anyone who has seen the movie knows that Anne Hathaway is not the star at all but that Meryl Streep stole the show. The movie does not really follow the book except in two or three places but the end is fairly along the same lines except that it is so much more cathartic. I really like the way Lauren Weisberger weaves a tale and I will be reading more of her works very soon. I really get her sense of humor-logical, sarcastic, and perfect timing. 

I've been wanting to read this one for a very long time. Longer than the movie has been out. This movie happens to follow very closely to the book, but, of course, it can't have everything. While attending UNLV I had several courses in Japanese history and was given the assignment of researching the "geisha-districts". I had no idea what a geisha was and probably thought immediately that they were just top-notch hookers. They are not, but they are top-notch entertainers that at one time were owned by the owners of their particular geisha house and were usually sold by their parents before the age of 9. Anyway, Arthur Golden does a fantastic job of weaving a tale of hope, disappointment, and redemption. He writes each character so life-like that you can't help search the Internet to see if any of them ever existed. Again, I highly recommend this book and hope that you won't be disappointed.

My Untold Quirk

There is no way around it. I'm a little...well, nuts. I am quite particular about a few things in life and I'm not sure exactly why. So I thought that I would share one of them with you.

Laundry. My laundry is organized and it has helped me immensely! How has it helped me? Well, before both Alex and I would just fill up a laundry basket until it was full to the brim until laundry day. Then I would take it all out, sort it into piles on the floor and spend the rest of the day keeping an eye on the washer and dryer...in theory. Most of the time I would get distracted or have to run off somewhere leaving piles of dirty clothes in the bedroom which would then be thrown back into the basket until it was over-flowing once more and I would repeat the process. Not to mention the days when I was looking for some article and I couldn't find it and would have to dump the whole thing out and sift through the towels and unmentionables until I came across the item just to discover that it truly was dirty and now I'd have to figure out something else to wear. Whew!

I knew this was a system that wasn't working and had to change. I have seen the laundry organizers with the names printed on them but they were small and only had 3 compartments. I looked all over the place until I decided to get these with the gift cards that I've been saving up. I wrote the categories and have a completely different one to the side for "dry-clean only".

Maybe that doesn't sound so crazy after all, but if you'll take a closer look you may notice that all the baskets/hampers are matching and they are placed in alphabetical order. What's great about this is now I can visually see when it's time to do, let's say, the whites. Plus, the added bonus...Alex places his clothes in the appropriate container! (One of our first newlywed heated discussions in regards to laundry was about my role as a wife, not a mother.)

Well, there you have it. That wasn't so bad after all, or at least that's what I'll keep telling myself.

A Christmas Catch-Up

Well, 2008 has come and gone and I'm just amazed at how quickly time has passed. Our first Christmas in our new home was lovely. My father, mother, and brother-in-law drove down from Chicago to spend "our Christmas" with us. Today, is their Christmas (according to the Serbian Orthodox calendar) which is about 2 weeks behind our calendar in relation to Christmas, New Years, and Easter. Cool for me because a) I get to take advantage of all the seasonal sales, and b) who wouldn't love to celebrate 2 Christmas'?

Here's our first Christmas tree in the new home:

We actually bought tons! of presents for the in-laws and tricked them into thinking that they only had 2 each, which I'll get to in just a moment.

This year, we actually bought and stuffed stockings. I think I had more fun buying stuff for the stockings than I did for anything else. My in-laws have never had a stocking before so they were so very excited to wake up on Christmas morning and find a stocking with their name in it with all kinds of personalized goodies. It was like watching little kids just dive into their presents!

I actually had to move the stockings over to the other side of the room because the bevelled edge on the mantle made the stocking holders flip over when the stockings were full.

We opened all the presents under the tree and got lots of great stuff but I've posted two of my favorites. For the last 10 years, Alex's family has been collecting the state quarters for us to put into the collection board. I never thought about collecting these coins before but when I saw the complete collection I got so excited!

Someday, I'll get a normal smile out of my husband. But anyway, on to my second favorite present. I really like nativities but they have to be cute, or unique, or even whimsical. I have 6 different ones so far. The very last box that I opened contained the 4 piece shepperd and animal set to the Willow Tree Nativity that I have been slowly collecting over the years.

The only thing that is missing is the creche and an ox and a goat. Hopefully, next year it will be complete. Then I can move on to some other ones that I've been eyeing for a while.

So after all the presents were opened under the tree, I hurried down the hall to bring back the "real" presents that I had stacked in a huge laundry basket. A little side story...my family does the Christmas list thing. You submit a list of 10 or 15 things and then everyone picks from the list. This way you get what you wanted and you don't have to fake excitement over an ugly sweater vest with matching pants from Aunt June or have to brave the lines the next day to return it. Or if you don't really like the items on the list, at least it gives you an idea what kind of stuff that person likes. So I call up my little bro and ask him what we should get them for Christmas. He comes up with nothing and my husbands ideas for them were a little less than exciting (ties and a pen set-yikes!). So I come up with a better plan. Z is going off to college in August so why not give him a package of emergency items that he'll need but nobody thinks of buying. And the parents will now truly have an empty nest, so why not an "Empty Nest" package. This is what I pulled out in the laundry basket.

We handed Z's presents to him first, because Mom & Dad's just wouldn't make as much sense. Alex had to explain why each one was important and even passed on a little brotherly wisdom/advise. Here' what we gave him (all individually wrapped): a big bath towel, a laundry hamper, 10 clothes hangers, a hoodie, laundry detergent, a case of Top Ramen,  a medicine cabinet all in sample sizes (deodorant, tooth brush, tooth paste, Listerine, shampoo, razor, shaving cream, vitamins, energy drinks, aspirin, cold medicine, and #2 pencils...again all individually wrapped) in a Sterilite container, and a $25 American Express card to use when money is tight and he's hungry. Alex got really involved in this present and it was so sweet to see how caring and loving he was about what his little brother "needed".

Next came Mom & Dad. I made them a scrapbook card called "My Empty Nest Check-List" and as they read off each number they unwrapped the presents that went with it. This is what they got:

1. Cry! (a box of tissue)

2. Celebrate! (individual bottles of champagne)

3. Relax! (a box of loose-leaf tea, 2 tea infusers, 2 tea mugs, and a magazine about the Caribbean)

4. Hobbies! (a do-it-yourself home repair book, a book on gardening with some flowers to plant, and a book on European wine)

5. Date, again! (the movie "The Red Violin", popcorn, raisinettes, a 4-pack of Coke, a blanket to snuggle under, a Blockbuster gift card, and a copy of "The Love Dare" for each of them)

I had such a great time giving them all these gifts and it was really nice to spend some time with my extended family.  The weather was kind of strange while they were here so we didn't drive around much, but we did get in a little Phase 10 time and even introduced them to Apples to Apples which was absolutely hilarious! It was really nice to have family visit and I hope it won't be long before we have some more guests to entertain.