Who am I?

Here are my answers to this week's assignment:

1. What is your favorite color?  

I like the color cranberry, a deep red.

2. What is your favorite sport? 

I really like mountain biking, but I find it hard to find the time to do it in my life right now.

3. What is your favorite food?

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Mexican food, mainly shredded beef enchiladas or tacos or chimis. YUM!

4. What is your favorite thing to do after school?

I really like spending time with my husband and son.

5. What is your favorite age you've been so far?

The year I turned 26 was a really good year. I did a lot of traveling, camping, and rock climbing as I finished up my teaching degree.

6. What is your favorite show to watch?

I really love the show Parenthood (because I'm a parent), but I also really like Survivor, American Idol, and Amazing Race).

7. What is your favorite movie right now?

I have many favorites, but one is How to Make an American Quilt.

8. Who is your favorite friend? (Just describe...don't give a name.)

My husband is my best friend. :)

9. What is your favorite item of clothing?

I love just a plain white t-shirt.

10. What is your favorite thing to do on the weekend?

I love to spend time outside on the weekend.

11. What time do you go to bed on a school night?

I'm an early bird and go to bed by 9:30 PM, but I get up at 5:15 AM.

12. What would you buy if you had an extra $20 in your pocket to spend?

I might buy a new piece of jewelry with $20.

13. What do you think you will ask for for your next birthday?

I would love a pedicure!

14. What is your favorite number?

My favorite number is 18, since it is the day of my birth.

15. If you could change your name, what would you change it to?

I really do like my name, so I'd want to keep it, but someone once told me that I look like a Samantha. What do you think?

Assignment for 4/25/11: Getting to Know You

For this week's assignment, you are to comment on:

WHO ARE YOU???

Answer the following 15 questions, in complete sentences, and include 3 images of your own or from the web. I'm going to suggest you copy and paste the questions, and somehow make your answers easier to read.

1. What is your favorite color?
2. What is your favorite sport?
3. What is your favorite food?
4. What is your favorite thing to do after school?
5. What is your favorite age you've been so far?
6. What is your favorite show to watch?
7. What is your favorite movie right now?
8. Who is your favorite friend? (Just describe...don't give a name.)
9. What is your favorite item of clothing?
10. What is your favorite thing to do on the weekend?
11. What time do you go to bed on a school night?
12. If you had $20 in your pocket to spend, what would you buy?
13. What do you think you will ask for for your next birthday?
14. What is your favorite number?
15. If you could change your name, what would you change it to?

Also try to comment on 3 or more posts others have written.

Assignment for 4/18/11: Next Year

For this week's assignment, you are to write about:

Next year, you will be starting a new grade. You could be afraid or hesitant for some reasons and excited about others.

What are the things you are looking forward to next school year, what are you hesitant about and why?

As always, be descriptive and add lots of detail. We have our 150 word minimum post, 3 images of your own or from the web, and the goal of commenting on 3 or more posts that others have written.

What I'm Looking Forward to Next Year

This week's prompt is about what you are excited about or hesitant about next school year. Since I'm not in school, I'm going to reflect on what it was like for me, moving from 6th grade to 7th grade, way back when.

When I was in sixth grade I went to an elementary school. All of us did back then where I grew up. Elementary schools were grades K-6. Junior highs were grades 7-9, and high schools were grades 10-12, that is right up until I left high school, and after that year, the freshmen (9th graders) moved up to the high school.

Anyhow, I was leaving sixth grade to go to junior high. It was kind of scary and kind of exciting too. We only had two junior highs in our town, one where all the kids went to that lived more or less on the south side of town, and another where those that lived on the north side of town went. We didn't have financial differences in our town locations, like there are in some town, where one area is poorer, we were all just sprawled out.

I was excited because all my friends from my school were going to the junior high. I was also going to be there with some kids that I'd made friends with in summer camp at the YMCA. I loved summer camp there each year!

I was also highly involved in band, and looking forward to playing with the new teacher and meeting new kids. I played the clarinet (no, that's not me).....

and later the bassoon.

I even tried out and played the bari sax for awhile.

I was really looking forward to being able to store my things in a locker. So different than having a desk!


(Okay, that's not me either....just a stock photo.) But, one of the fears we all had was being a little guy on campus and getting shoved into a locker. This photo reminds me of that! It didn't ever happen to me, whew...but it was still a fear!

I got moved up to a higher math class, prealgebra, which really help my passion for math grow.
Do you like math? I was also in Math Counts, a competitive math program that we have here at our school too.

I ended up really loving junior high, making new friends, listening to great new music (that would be after school with my friends), attending dances, and going to Disneyland for the first time. I went with my best friend, her mom, and two other friends.

Junior high (for you, middle school) was such a great social time for me. It had its hard moments as well as its fun ones.


What are you looking forward to next year in whatever grade you'll be in?

Fun in the Sun

I love this warm weather. Not the hot, can't breathe, sweltering weather, but the "I love being out in the sun, doing fun things," weather.

First of all, I am thrilled about spending some extra time with my three-year-old outdoors, and how much fun he'll have doing these things at this age.

These are some things I'm hopeful we can do together or as a family:

1. Go to the splash park.

2. Go to the park and have fun playing ball, soccer, or just running around.

3. Have picnics in our backyard or at a park.

Secondly, just being out in the sun makes me feel good, really really good. If ever I'm down, one of the best things I can do is to go outside and typically do something active.

4. Go on some hikes.

5. Take our bikes out for a ride.

6. Go camping.

7. Take our dogs out for a walk.

We can also do some different things we can't do in the colder weather, or it is not as fun.

8. Go fishing.

9. Go out for ice cream on a hot night.

10. Go swimming at the community pool or a friend's house.

11. Go watch bugs and talk about them (with my three-year-old)

12. Go to the mountains.

13. Go feed the fish at the zoo.

What do you look forward to as the weather warms up?

Assignment for 4/11/11: Thinking about Fun in the Sun

For this week's assignment, you are to write about:

As the warm weather comes upon us, I begin to think about all the great spring and summer things I like to do and am looking forward to doing this summer.


What are the things you are looking forward to in this spring and summer weather?

As always, be descriptive and add lots of detail. We have our 150 word minimum post, 3 images of your own or from the web, and the goal of commenting on 3 or more posts that others have written.

Think warm thoughts!

Sock Monkeys

Peter, one of our blog club members, LOVES sock monkeys. So did I when I was younger (and even now). My mom made my son a sock monkey a few years ago, that hangs out in his room. Last month, the monkey made its way into my son's bathroom for a pose.

You might wonder what is on his head. It is a white sailor's hat that I got on a ceramic duck as part of a flower arrangement, and somehow, it ended up on his head.

If I Were the Last Person Alive in the World

I picture this...
I wake up one morning and it is dark outside when it is supposed to be light.
  I don't hear my dogs whining, like they usually do for their morning snack.
    I look at my alarm clock, which is battery operated, and see that yes, at 7:10 AM, it should be light.

      I walk into the kitchen and the light won't turn on. The microwave clock is off.
        I certainly can't make coffee without electricity either. That's a first thought.


I look outside. There are no street lights. I realize I won't be seeing the sun rise like I usually do.

I look in the room where the dogs sleep and they are laying very still. That makes me sad.

I think that immediately I need to gather all the clean water and food that I have.

I wonder, what if the water is contaminated?

What am I going to do? Are others around me safe? Am I the last person alive in the world?

What a scary thought that would be, wouldn't it, to feel so isolated?

Assignment for 4/4/11: If I Were the Last Person Alive in the World

For this week's assignment, you are to write about what it would be like if you woke up and you were the last person alive in the world. See my sample post for ideas.

As always, be descriptive and add lots of detail. We have our 150 minimum post, 3 images of your own or from the web, and the goal of commenting on 3 or more posts that others have written.

Have fun!