OMG, I feel chatty!

I'm just posting like crazy lately!   And I did some tweaking on all of my blogs, adding the snazzy social media buttons & adjusting colors and fonts and stuff.

I really should be finishing packing up the stray Christmas things floating around the kitchen, putting out Valentine's decorations and cleaning up the living room so it'll be ready for watch the Big Game tomorrow.  But here I sit, with purring orange cat on my lap.  Chester will sit and stare at me or bat at my arm until I lift him up. He's got to be close to 15 years old (we adopted him in 2002 and the Humane Society told us he was 5, but we couldn't believe he was that old)  and is finally feeling his years, so I help him onto my lap and there's a small chair next to the bed for him to use to get up there.  You wouldn't know he was that geriatric if you saw him running around the house, skidding around corners like he was earlier today!

I had a lap.  He had to get on it. 

So Miss Angela did dance Friday afternoon.  I'm OK with that, since I know she won't do more than what she can handle.  She was allowed the skip the jumps and most of the turns and everyone else was OK with it, since they don't want her getting hurt anymore.  One girl dropped out of the team this week and it doesn't seem like anyone is overly sad about it.  Angel said she was a snob and no one liked her anyway.  I suspected, since the first day I watched, I noticed this girl was standing way out to the side, instead of close in formation with everyone else.  She was doing that because she would have been behind another girl and nobody could see her.  Whatever, sunshine.

She asked me a little bit ago if I thought she'd be able to actually dance tomorrow, that her ankle actually felt pretty good last night.  I told her to give it a try and see, but not to overdo it.  It hasn't even been a week since she sprained it and she really hasn't sat out of any classes completely except for the one right after it happened.   She's been chilling on the couch with her feet up since we got home this afternoon.

Angel & I got up and went out to my sister Laurie's this morning.  She had found a lump on her breast and went in Friday for a biopsy and she can't do any heavy lifting for a few days.  So we went out and I cleaned stalls while she and Angel filled up water buckets at the house and pulled them in a sled to the barn - her water pipes froze out there, so that really sucks.  We also went into town and she bought some horse food & bedding and I unloaded them into the barn.

Captain was the first horse Jack ever met.  He was about 12 weeks old and wandered into Captains stall, with his nose to the ground like a typical Beagle.  He came nose to hoof with Captain and it was SO funny to see him stop and just look at that hoof, then watch his eyes slowly travel up those long legs and finally to Captain's face, who was watching him.  His little tail tucked between his legs and he yelped, but now him & the horses all get along just fine.  He thinks nothing of going into Kisses stall under her feet and (gross) eating poo.  And she doesn't care that he's there!

Heehee, little pain in the butt Baxter puppy was a bad boy escaped the barn and took off running around the yard, thinking it was a game when Angel chased him. He was in the back corner of the pasture under the fence when I reached thru and was able to grab him by the harness.  I told him I was going to feed him to one of the horses and I thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head when Kisses stuck her her nose out to sniff him.  He really freaked out when she started to lip his paw!  I can imagine it was scary, when her head is bigger than his whole body!

So Angel drove us home (and she finally completed the required number of hours she needed to drive with an adult!!) and we just had enough time to drop Jack off at home and then head to the roller rink to watch her boy interest play hockey.  She was hoping to go over his house afterward, since they've been having issues and they were supposed to talk, but he gave her a quick hug and told her they'd facetime later.  She was sort of ticked.  Can't say as tho I blame her.  He's a whipper-snapper freshman anyway.

So we're supposed to get some snow starting tonight & all day tomorrow.  I'm pretty close to the upper part of that bright pink band (on the right) in the 7.5 inch range.  There are cities that have already declared a snow emergency! Sheesh!

So on that token, I am sort of torn, hoping they cancel Movement Project classes at the studio tomorrow, even tho I know they need all the practice they can get with Nationals less than 2 weeks away.  Their classes are from 12-3 so that would be right in the middle of the crap.  Oh well - guess we'll have to wait & see!  Randy & Ted will be driving home in that mess, too.  They're way up north, in the like the fingertip area of the mitten, so they'll be driving into it. Ugh.  Hope they don't have any troubles.  Since the news & NWS is making a big deal about this, I'm sure the plows & salt trucks are ready to go already.

Well, Miss Maddie just meowed at me, telling me it's bedtime, so I guess I need to sign off.  If any this crappy white stuff is coming your way, stay safe & warm!

Friday Funnies 013015

Always a classic

Gross, but funny!

...make that ~another~ injury

So I mentioned in one of my last posts that I took Miss Angela to the doctor last Friday to get what was basically a pulled muscle looked at .  It had been hurting for 2 weeks or so.  So we got the spiel about rest, heat & massage.  Of course she had her solo class that night and another 4 hours Sunday night.  Monday, midway thru the evening, I get a text from her saying I'd probably need to be taking her back into the doctor's office!

They were in hiphop (the same class she fell & bruised up both knees very ugly) and since she's the smallest & lightest, she usually gets to be the one lifted or flipped, or whatever.  This time (I've only seen it once, so I'm trying to remember and her description was confusing) she'd gone over Kayla's head and onto Lauren's back and she just slid from the piggy-back position to the floor and landed wrong.  Everyone in the room heard her ankle crack and she fell.  When she tried to get up, she couldn't put any weight on it.  Luckily, her teacher works for a doctor's office and was able to check it out to ensure it wasn't broken.  And she sat out the rest of that class and the next with ice on it.

 How pitiful does she look?  

So I was able to get her into the doctor's office fairly early Tuesday morning.  I was so happy we didn't see the same guy as Friday, but as it was, the nurse taking her vitals commented on her just being in!  Weelp.  It just happened.  I just took most of the day off work, since we both had dentist appointments that afternoon.  He determined it was just a sprain and told us about a type of ankle brace available that laced up so you could adjust the amount of support.  Once we left his office, we went to the medical supply place to check these things out.  They were big & clunky and to make a long story short (where she highly entertained the lady behind the orthopedics counter and I got a discount after someone cut in front of me in line) we ended up getting her this arthritis sock thingy that goes from mid-foot to mid-calf and gives her plenty of support but allows her to move still.

We had lunch, then home for a while before the dentist.   They rested.

 Monday night I'd gone over to my nephew's house to pick up my sister's dog for my shift in puppy-sitting.  He'd had Baxter since Friday night.  This mutt came with more luggage than the 3 of us took to Arkansas for a week!  He had a box with 2 kinds of treats, 2 containers of food, an air horn ( WTF!!!), some baby shampoo, 2 bandanas, a sweater and his bowls.  Then he had a bed, his crate, a baby gate and a car seat!!

Luckily he's cute and a good snuggler, because he is high maintenance!   He will whine to you when he wants something, but you have to guess what it is.  Food? Play? Outside?  He won't tell you. I don't think he'd ever been told NO, so he didn't know what to do when he heard it.  Sure as hell didn't know the word STAY.  And since my yard isn't fenced, we had to go outside in shifts.  He would get distracted outside and totally forget to potty!  He found plenty of random things to growl at in my house.  The cats, of course.  The fish.  A solar-powered dancing flower in the window.  A black latex cat from Halloween that I'd forgotten was on a high shelf in the bedroom (until he stood next to the desk and was looking up there, growling.  I was sort of afraid to look at what was back there!!) and today I thought he was growling at a plant, til I realized Chester was on the other side of the coffee table.

Oh, and his bell.  I should have thought sooner to take his collar off since he was always on the move and hearing DINGLEdingleDINGLEdingleDINGLEdingle all the time made me crazy.  Tonight he moved on again to Laurie's house, where he will stay til Linda & Dave get home from their tropical vacation.  Now I know why my nephew was so ready to let him go!  He's used to having people around 24/7 but since we all work days, he spent time alone and was annoying until he got his people fix.

This walk was an adventure.  If the roads had been any icier, they could have pulled me around the block! 

So that's all that's going on here.  Randy left Wednesday to go way up north to do radio stuff for a road rally in the snow called the Sno-Drift.  He will be home Sunday hopefully before the big game.  One of the other guys has an aunt & uncle who live in the area so they stay at their house and get home-cooked meals and such.  What a hardship!

OMG, we got like an inch of snow tonight within about an hour and all evening classes at the studio were cancelled. It was a mess for a little while.  Angel had to be there at 3 for the Movement Project class and I was expecting her to be there a lot later, (even when they can't dance, they still sit in the class to observe) and Laurie didn't have her phone on her.  So Angel texted to say they were done with the dance team classes, but Laurie wasn't there to get Baxter yet, she had to wait like 45 minutes.  

She told me she actually participated in class, tho.  She didn't do any jumps of anything that would bother her ankle, but she was able to work on placement & spacing & stuff with the other girls.   And we just found out they have another 2 1/2 hour class tomorrow and probably 3 hours on Sunday.  It was to be expected - Nationals are in 2 weeks!   Mr. Jonathon told me they would be having more practices.  Yay us!

So now that's its peaceful & quiet in the house and the cats & Jack are much more relaxed & happy....it's time to go to bed!  

Thoughtful Thursday - where I live....

The weekend is near!


Please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section yonder at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your Thoughtful Thursdays questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own Thoughtful Thursdays post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

Where I Live

1. Where do you currently live? Shelby Township, a suburb about 20 miles north of Detroit.

2. Have you lived in your current state throughout your entire life?  No, but mostly. I did 8 years in the Navy, so I happily moved away for that. I came back to Michigan, but not the same place.   I grew up in a small town where I graduated with the same people I went to kindergarten with.  Very clique-y.

3. If you answered no to Question 1, then where else have you lived? In Orlando for 2 months for bootcamp.  Pensacola FL for 4 months for school, then was stationed for over 2 years in Georgia on my first ship (which is now nothing but a fond memory - RIP USS Canopus AS34!) then I moved to California to report to my next ship - a slightly bigger one - the USS Abraham Lincoln CVN72 for just over another 2 years.  We changed homeports from Alameda CA to Bremerton WA, and then I transferred to the Naval Base in Everett, WA for the remainder of my enlistment.  

Purty!

4. What is the coolest thing about your city/town? It's a nice place, nothing too special that I can think of.  Some historical significance with the park at the end of my street used to have a race horse farm owned by the boxer Joe Louis and a restaurant that was also a stop on the Underground RR. There was a huge cedar tree that was planted prominently in the area called the Beacon Tree.  There's an elementary school called Beacon Tree in it's honor.

5. Are there any holidays that your state goes all out to celebrate? Not so much holidays....we are avid sports fans here (not me personally - I just like the Wings!)  There's a statue in Detroit called the Spirit of Detroit that wears a custom jersey whenever any of the sports teams make the playoffs.  It got a Lions one for the first time in ages this year!  And it gets a LOT of use out of the Red Wings jersey.  

Fox Sports

 

I have a picture of just the Spirit framed and it sits on the end table in the living room. 

6. Describe your neighborhood (climate, scenery, etc.) Like I said.  We're about 20 miles north of Detroit and within 40 miles of 2 different Canadian border crossings. Close proximity to both big cities & country.  It's an older neighborhood, my house was built in 1940, as were most of the houses around.  We have 2 season - winter & construction.  Actually I love both spring & fall.  I don't handle heat & humidity well.  

7. What do you wish you could change most about the place you live?  The roads.  They suck.  When I was driving my Escort (it's an elderly car, but perfect for the girl's first set of wheelz) there were times I actually thought it was going to break apart.

8. Describe your home. What’s your favorite thing about it?  Ooo, I'm gonna have to dig deep for this one!  The only time I take pics of the house is at Halloween!  Hence the jack-o-lanterns on the step. 

It's tiny.  We have a big yard.  The roof is new, so it doesn't leak.  There is a shed in back for storage, as well as an add-on across the back of the 2 car garage (that a car has never been in) that's about 8 feet deep - so lots of room for my Halloween & Christmas decorations.  Which is good since we don't have crap for storage inside!  

9. Where do you shop for groceries? Sometimes Kroger, but mainly a little local place called Hollywood Market.  They have a great meat counter.

10. What is your favorite regular activity in your city/town? Going to the park at the end of the street.  From our back door, down the street and around the entire park & back is exactly 2 miles. There's a nice walking trail & nature center there.  There's another park not far away also, that's more nature-y called Holland Ponds.  There's a heron nesting area there and places to sit and watch if you remember binoculars! 

Weigh in & stuff

I knew when I got out of the car this evening that weigh in wasn't going to be good.  I just didn't feel good about myself & sure enough - up 1.6 lbs.    I really need to start planning better, but when the kid is at dance such wonky times so many days per week (usually until 9), that makes it hard to figure out dinner.  We tend to stop and grab something quick WAY too often.  Oh and when I don't know when Randy might get home from work, since he works for a bunch of asshats.

Soooo, Randy is out of town until mid-day Sunday.  So it's up to me to plan the Superbowl noms.  There's lots of good stuff on the WW site and such, so I'll have to make some things and not tell the picky ones that they're anything different.  But I don't think I can lighten up lil' Smokeys and BBQ sauce much.

So. activity looks decent.  Saturday was weird.  I had so much to do and I can't even recall what I did.  It sure wasn't clean my house! Sunday I was finally putting away the troops of nutcrackers. Tracking down and wrapping over 100 nutcrackers makes for a noticeable activity.    

Friday night Randy & I went to the Texas Roadhouse for dinner.  My entree itself wouldn't have been bad alone - (6 oz sirloin & grilled shrimp with a house salad & veggies) but there's all the peanuts & the rather large adult beverage I had, and thankfully we only had 1 basket of yummy rolls with honey butter = 2 each. Those are where the points added up.  And of course their website only shows minimal nutritional info (calories).  The last time I looked, there was a disclaimer that they didn't show such info, because each chef prepared the meals differently, etc.  Pppft.

Since Monday, we've been puppy-sitting for my sister while she's sitting at some tropical resort having umbrella drinks & such.  He's a spoiled little turd and my Beagle tolerates him, but I can tell Jack is ready for him to go.  Tomorrow after work, my other sister is coming by to pick him up for a couple days - YAY!!   He's got a bell on his collar, so every time he's on the move, you hear 

DINGLEdingleDINGLEdingleDINGLEdingleDINGLE.

Yeah. 

The goofy little thing - his current favorite thing to do right now is stand in the doorway of the bedroom and growl at my cat who is laying on my lap.  Yesterday I couldn't figure out what he was growling at and I decided it had to be the solar powered dancing flower in the window.  Another time I was at the desk and he was growling at something behind me - that sort of freaked me out, until I realized there was a black latex cat from Halloween up on the shelf back there.  He's growled at the fish in the aquarium and also at the dishwasher.     

I took them for a walk today and almost went skating!  The roads here don't get plowed, so only patches are bare so it can be slippery without the sled team pulling you!

On the plus side, he's a snuggler.  Funny that I'd just taken Miss Angela to the doctor Friday afternoon because her ankle still hurt from dance and it had been like 2 weeks.  They said a pulled muscle.  Then Monday, I get a text from her while she's at the studio and cryptically said I'd need to take her back in.  They'd been in their hiphop class and at one point, she is on Kayla's back, and somehow leapfrogs over onto Lauren's back.  Then she slides from piggy-back position to the floor.  Except she landed on the side of her foot and everyone there heard a loud CRACK and then she fell.  So yup, she was back in the doctor's office Tuesday morning, for the other ankle!  And I got "the Look" from the nurse, when she noted we'd just been in.  At least it's just a sprain, but she's agreed to sit out of dance for a week or so before trying to ease back in.   It's going to kill her, since she's got a big competition on Valentine's weekend!!

Fuzzy, wiggly sympathy.

So anyway, that's all that's going on here.  Hopefully next week will be better on the scale, even with the Superbowl (that I care absolutely nothing about - just the commercials & halftime!)

Friend Makin' Monday - Did I do That?

I honestly can't read that without hearing Steve Urekel in the back of my mind!

Before I get started on FMM - sign ups are happening over at Blogging from A to Z Challenge !!  For 26 days in April, you simply post each day with your topic following the alphabet.  April 1, your topic starts with A, April 2 it starts with B, etc.  It's pretty fun & challenging - this is my 4th year doing it.  I'm # 148 & 150 because I signed up Tales from the Love Shaque, too.

DOOOOO EEEEEET!!

Oooo, and I finally got with the cool kids & joined Twitter.  @Lisa_n8ltg .  But I truly have no freakin' clue what I'm doing there!

Ok, Carrying on smartly......

Did I Do That?

Here’s how it works: you copy the questions, answer them and post them to your own blog. Then you come back here, and in the comments, post the link to your blog post with your answers to this week’s questions. If you don’t have a blog of your own, just post your answers in the comments.

1. What is something that you would never, ever want to do?  Become vegetarian / vegan.  Kudos to those who are, but there's just no way I could do it.  God made critters taste tooooo good!

2. What is something you’ve done and regret?  Like Sara said, there's things I've done that in hindsight were pretty stupid, but they made me who I am today, so I can't really regret them.   Oh wait, I regret not taking my Skeeter kitty to the vet as soon as he started acting off.  I waited a day. They may have been able to save him.  He had crystals in his urinary tract and by the time they put the catheter in, he'd basically been poisoned and didn't make it thru the night. I still miss him and it's been 3 years.

3. What is something that you’ve done that you are very proud of?  Served 8 years in the US Navy.

4. What was something you did as a child that landed you in the hospital?  I can't remember ever going to the hospital.  "The Clinic" yes.

5. What is something that you have always wanted to do?  I want to visit all 50 states.

6. If you didn't have a choice and HAD to choose between bungee jumping and skydiving, which would you choose and why?  Skydiving.  I think it's the closest you could get to flying.  I'm not big on the thought of being bounced around like a cat toy.

7. If you could have any job in the world, what would it be?  Aw man, if I knew I would be working on getting there!  I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.

8. When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?  I wanted to be a horse trainer.  I had applied to and was accepted at the University of Findlay Ohio for their equestrian program back in the day.  Then I saw a Navy recruiter at school one day and that was all it took.

9. Do you do your own handy work around the house? Give an example of something you’ve fixed or made.  Somewhat.  When it comes to my Halloween display, I made a full-size coffin out of plywood and also made all my headstones for the cemetery.

10. What do you do that makes you the happiest?  Being outside, taking pictures. Just nature in general, especially in spring or fall.  Horseback riding rates up there, too.

Yearly Nutcracker Inventory

I finally got around to putting away the nutcrackers.  They were the only bit of holiday stuff left in the house.  

Wow, I didn't take pics for crap this year!  But I took this one of the living room when we had just gotten back from Arkansas and I sat down for a breather from unpacking the car (I'd just started coming down with the Plague and was beat!)

So the grand total of nutcrackers that I have? 

 104 ! 

 I actually thought I had more than that, but I did get rid of a few as Christmas gifts.

Bye, Felicia!

A.

This is one of my favorites.  He's big & unusual.

B.

The horses aren't nutcrackers, but they look like they belong with them. 

I didn't count them. 

 C.

 D.

I've had the sailor the longest.  

 E.

Olaf the Viking is one of my faves, too. 

 F.

 G.

The middle Santa is technically an incense smoker. 

 H. 

 I.

Mrs. Claus didn't hang out with the rest of the girls. 

She was looking for her lost tray of cookies. 

 J.  

Since Randy was a butthead & didn't get me the hockey player nutcracker I asked for at Christmas, I found this guy on eBay and bought it myself.  He's not a Red Wings one, but I like him a lot.  And since it's still hockey season, he didn't get put away. 

 K. 

I had to add Randy & Angel's name to Santa's list, since mine was already on it!

 L.

I found Razorback stickers to put on the football player. 

 M. 

US / Canada / Mexico - the NAFTA of nutcrackers!

 N.

The cute little football player got Razborback stickers, too.  

I found him at Kroger in Hot Springs. 

 O.

Robert on the far right is another of my favorite, I don't know why, tho.

Austin Powers in his red velvet suit is on the left & Vladimir the Fabulous is in the center. 

 P.

 Q.

 R.

The ladies.  

Angel is OK with the ballerinas this year since she's finally taking pointe herself. 

 S.

I love my solider bears! especially the one in the middle. 

 T. 

U.

 V.

 W. 

The tall one has already had his arm put back on and the black-face one will have to wait another year for a certain blonde girl to finish painting him. 

 X.

The big guys.  Sir Owein, Sir Richard & Sir Jasper. 

 Y.

I didn't count these guys in the total, since they're actually porcelain ornaments.  I got them at Hobby Lobby with the intention of painting them.  But I like them how they are.

I used to think I needed intervention, but I am becoming more discerning with my buying.  If I see any in the store, they have to be unusual or funky.  I sort of regret not grabbing the Abraham Lincoln one I saw at Garden Ridge.  Oh well, Maybe next year!  And since next year is one we get to stay home, as soon as I unpack these guys next December, paint touch-ups will happen.  

Woohoo!

I have a Twitter account now - does that make me one of the cool kids?  No idea what I'm doing with it and I had a follower before I even set my bio up!  Weird.  I put a link to me on the sidebar, along with my Instagram & Pinterest links.  I can't even begin to guess how often I'll use it, but it's there if I want it!

So anyhooooo, I found out more about the new dance team.  It's called the Movement Project and yes, they ARE going to Nationals next month!  I'm not sure how they are able to take their pom routine when they haven't even finished it yet, let alone competed with it!  But they are.  So they'll be performing pom, hiphop & jazz and whatever girls are doing solos.  I still don't know if Angel is doing hers.  It's actually a studio dance, but Jonathan is her teacher so he was going to ask if she could take it. I haven't heard yet.  Valentine's Day in Cincinnati, tho????  Ugh.

This poor kid has danced since she was 4, and until this year has only had 1 dance-related injury (and 3 non dance-related).  I have had her in the doctor's office twice this season already!!   I took her back in yesterday to get her ankle checked out this time.  First time was in early October for her knees.  She'd been walking across the other girl's backs.  Bare feet + sweaty skin = a fall from 3 feet up.  It was ugly.   Back story for this one - occasionally at the studio, the comp team will gather in one room and they'll perform trios / duets / solos for each other, to show off what they've learned so far.  She was doing her solo about 2 weeks ago and did a center leap and rolled her ankle when she landed.  I saw her land funny, but she never really let on that it hurt until later.  The verdict is a sprained muscle on her outside lower calf, not really her ankle.  And since the doc who did the exam also asked a lot of questions, he figured out the she realistically couldn't rest it as much as he'd like, so he recommended massage & stretching & heat.  They must think I abuse her, since I've only taken her in immediately twice.  Every other time has been at least 2 weeks later, if at all.  Hey, if she says she's OK, I tend to believe her!

She's sitting in there watching TV with a heating pad on her leg right now.  I told her I refused to massage it until she shaved her legs, tho!  It's amazing how dancers take pride in their hairy legs.  You wouldn't think it.  But they sit around and compare leg hairs. And complain about the one dance where their costume calls for no tights.  So they'll all have to shave!  I've also heard a conversation about whose feet stink the worst, too.  No bodily functions are taboo.

OMG, sign ups for the April blogging A- Z Challenge are going to be happening soon!  Monday, I think.  It's pretty fun, you should do it!  Basically on April 1, you post about something that starts with A.  On April 2, you write about something starting with B, you get the point. 26 days (no Sundays) and 26 letters.  I jumped right in back in 2012 with all 3 of my blogs and it was a bit much since I didn't know what to expect.  2013 I signed up all 3 again.  But in 2014 I only did 2 since I also do another challenge in October, so I saved my Maple Grove Cemetery blog for that one.  I was only going to sign up this blog for 2015, but I had an idea for another set of topics, so I'll sign up ...Slow & Steady  also.  I'm not announcing my topics yet, since the A-Z site will have a link up for the "theme reveal" in March sometime. I'll do it then.   Mysterious!

Oooo, I can tweet my posts!  #atozchallenge !!!!

I don't normally care for beauty pageants, but Miss Canada has my vote for Miss Universe!  You can't get any more Canadian than this!!

We are puppy-sitting next week and I promised my sister I wouldn't let any of my nutcrackers attack her dog.  But they make such a good guard!  Here are the big ones keeping Jack from charging the door to bark at the pizza guy. 

I actually plan on putting them away today, as soon as I finish this post.  But I have a comfy warm cat on my lap, so I can't get up!!

Thoughtful Thursday - Getting to know you (OK, I'm late!)

I'm a wee bit late of this linkup.  It was late when I saw it so I marked it to do first thing today. 

This is a new linkup by the lovely Miss Kenlie over at All The Weigh.  I've followed her blog for years and she is truly an inspiration and an overall beautiful, real person.

Let’s spend a few minutes getting to know each other!



Please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your Thoughtful Thursdays questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own Thoughtful Thursdays post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

Getting To Know You

1. List three things that you don’t need, but that you wouldn't want to live without.  My phone, Facebook, my Kindle

2. What is your favorite/least favorite household chore?  I enjoy gardening / mowing the lawn / etc.  I completely despise laundry.  The folding & putting away part especially.  My house is really small and there's no place to fold, other than my bed or the kitchen table.  And I have to move a bunch of stuff out of the way to get into the closet to hang things up.  It's a huge pain in the butt.

3. Tell us about your hobbies (things that you do to relax, to have fun, etc.)   I love to read, play hidden object games on the computer and do cross-stitch.

4. What’s your favorite holiday, and why?    I love Halloween!  It's just FUN.  Mine is the only house on the street to really decorate outside.  I have a full cemetery & a family of skeletons that I do different things with each year.  I don't like yuck & gore so it's a bit on the funny / cute side.

5. It’s Wednesday night. What will you do to enjoy yourself?   My usual Wednesday thing is to take Miss Angela to dance (she dances 5 nights a week!!) and I'll hang out and visit with other moms at the studio for a half hour or so, then I go to my Weight Watcher meeting.  I started going to this meeting location a couple months ago & I really like the leader - so I really enjoy going there.  Then, depending on classes for the night, I'll either go back to the studio and wait for the kid, or I'll go home for a while.  I actually enjoy watching her dance classes.  I have watched most of these girls grow up and it's neat to watch them learn.  My life pretty much revolves around the kid & her dance.

6. Share at least three things that you like about yourself.   My creativity, my sense of humor and ...

7. What are you looking forward to doing most over the coming weekend?  Finally getting my nutcracker collection put away (I have over 100 so it's not a quick project).  Getting my house back in non-holiday mode.

8. Did you make any goals for January? If so, how are they coming along?   I didn't make my goals for the month or resolutions.  We joked around on New Years about "committing no arson", "quitting heroin" and "no homicide".  So I guess in that case, I'm doing great!

9. Are you in a relationship? A romantic one?  Yes,  Happily married since 2006 and we've been together since 2002.

10. What is your favorite TV channel?  This is a tough one since I don't watch much TV.  I guess I could make a stretch and say whatever channel Saturday Night Live is on and also LogoTV, home of RuPaul's Drag Race.

Now it’s your turn to answer this week’s questions! Don’t forget to come back and link up in the comments!