How good are your ultrasound skills?

Yay! We're having a .... click here to find out... We are excited to know!

Mystery Photo - Special edition

I was planning on putting the ultrasound picture on here as a special edition mystery photo but I don't really know how much of a mystery this will be for anyone.

Guess Away! Boy or Girl? Let us know what you think...

messes

About a week ago I made the comment to Dave that I thought we were "about to hit the messy stage with Ana."

He laughed. "What have we been going thru for the last 18 months?"

This morning, Ana calmly asked me for a drink of juice. I was in the middle of reading a blog so I told her to wait a minute. She stood their patiently for a minute and then took off. I forgot about it. A few minutes later ...

I found her in the kitchen. I was actually somewhat surprised at how little she got on the floor. The bottle had a few drips in it too. I really wish I could have witnessed the whole thing. Did she get some in the bottle and drink it? Did the bottle tip over? Did she try to drink it out of the pitcher. I'm not sure. She sure is an independent little girl though. I did have to change her clothes.

Also, Ana has taken to coloring...

on our front door. Or the floor. Or the table. But not on paper. She'll come to me and say, "I color." So I'll give her a crayon and some paper and she takes off straight for the door and starts scribbling. So, then I have to take the crayon away and she gets upset. I really want to encourage creativity, but not on the front door. I think that she doesn't like how much the paper moves when she colors. Any suggestions?

So, Dave, here is the beginnings of the messy stage.

Here it comes...

The 31st will be a day of revelation.

We find out if the baby is a boy or a girl.

AND

Lost comes back.

As far as the ultrasound goes, we will find out what we have been waiting for and questions will start being answered. You know, picking a name, Erin can buy a cute girl or boy outfit.

Lost is pretty exciting too because we get to find out what happened with this "rescue party" from the end of last season. I have been waiting for this longer than I have been wondering what sex the next baby would be because Erin wasn't even pregnant at the end of last season. The main drawback of course is that although a couple questions will be answered, it will probably just give me a ton more. Like this one --Where was Juliet in Jack's wierd future-flashback thing from the last episode? Does anyone else care about her at all? I really started to like her there for a while.

I am ready for a day of surprises.

Pink or Blue #2

In two days (Thursday) we find out if our baby is a boy or girl. Yay! We're excited. We found out with Ana and they were positive she was a girl. We figure its a surprise either way - you're surprised at 5 months or at 9. Besides, I like to choose a name, and buy a special "this baby only" outfit. Feel free to post your guess. Those who are right can have the satisfaction of knowing they guessed right. You've got a 50-50 chance.

Dave is afraid that if this one is a girl, we'll never have a boy. You have to understand that girls run in my family. I have 7 sisters and only 1 brother. My oldest sister has 5 girls and another due any day - no boys. Now I know from biology that it is the husband that carries the gender, but studies have shown that the wife has certain biological influences over the gender.

As for preference, I don't have one. It would be cool to have a boy. Then Dave would have a little buckaroo and we'd have one of each. Plus then I could dress him in little polo shirts and khakis and buy all sorts of cute boy clothes. It would also be cool to have a girl. I love some of the little dresses Ana grew out of so fast. And I could keep her room pink. And Ana could have a younger sister to be friends with. So, really I don't mind either way.



Now that I have a baby bump, or as my sister said, "starting to look pudgy," (I took it as a compliment.) I am getting really excited. I suppose the fact that one sister just had a little baby in Dec and my brother just had a baby girl yesterday (see picture) and my oldest sister is due any day with a baby, I have babies on my mind. Also the fact that had I not miscarried last June, I would be having my baby now too.

So, guess away. Is it a pink or blue #2?

dress up

Dave and I bought these adorable red shoes in DI in Burley last weekend. Ana loves to put them on and wear them around the house. Sometimes she can even get them both on herself. She doesn't like help.



I think we are going to have one little girl that loves dress up. She'll also carry clothes around the house and try to put them on.

Moment of the week

So, I wanted to do a story of the week every week but I already missed one. Lets see if I get back on track or if this feature just floats away...

I'll warn you, this story is really geeky but hey, I'm a geek.

In my behavioral neurobiology class we had to do a couple case studies. It gave us a few symptoms and we had to tell what had happened and to which parts of the brain. They were from real cases. Anyway, the guy in one of the cases had lost his sense of smell three years earlier. We talked about what may have caused it and ther other symptoms he had. The last question our teacher asked us was "Are there any unresolved issues?" I said "He still can't smell." Everyone laughed at my dumb joke because we were just supposed to give a diagnosis.

I am not just sitting here beaming with pride because of my joke, it wasn't really the highlight of my week. I just can't think of a single moment that stood out more than that one.

That's a little sad.

I need to work on this.

Saturday

A while ago I found a website with a bunch of cartoons like the ones below. Some of them were pretty funny. I especially liked these two at the time. Now if I could only remember how I found them and what the website was...


Good stuff

off to a good start

So, I've been thinking about my theme for 2008. A lot of times, when I set new goals for myself, I get easily discouraged over little slip ups. But this year its been different. Maybe its because I changed my focus from everything I was doing wrong to just one thing. I felt like I've been doing pretty good at "capturing the moments." When I'm just sitting around wasting time, I often find myself thinking, "Erin, capture this moment. What can you be doing right now?" Its never a guilty feeling, but an encouraging one. Here are some things that I think I'm doing better at.

*dishes. This is the one chore that I am notorious for putting off until it is way too overwhelming. But I've found that doing them for just a few minutes throughout the day is so much better. Even if I don't get them all done when I start to do them, a few dishes here and there can add up. Also, I've tried to do them when Ana is awake so my evening isn't full of dish-doing. It has been so much better!

*I made a "chore chart" for myself. I even made it all cutesy crafty so its more pleasant to look at. I organized my daily chores, weekly chores and monthly chores and assigned a specific day to each weekly chore, and Fridays to doing a monthly chore. It is so nice because I can focus on just one or two things instead of a whole week's worth of housework. It has really helped to lighten my burden.

*I feel like I've been better with Dave, too. I just have been feeling more loving towards him. Hopefully I've showed it more, too.

When I was at Dave's parents house this weekend, I was inspired by how quickly she cleans up dinner, toys, or whatever else. Its not like she spends all day cleaning, but her house is clean because she straightens up before it gets too bad. I felt like it was something I could do. So, I think I'm off to a good start.

Quick Thought

Dave just looked over at me from what he is reading at the couch and said,

"I don't ever want to name any of our children Rhett."

Okay dear thats fine. He went right back to what he was doing...

A couple stories

So, today I was laying on the floor with my head propped up against the couch after getting home from class. Ana came and copied me. She started giving my head hugs and it looked like she was about to give me a kiss on my forehead...

SHE BIT MY NOSE! She has some sharp little teeth and a strong jaw. Not to mention she is speedy. I shouldn't have been surprised (another story of Ana'a amazing speed). She thought she was so funny. So did Erin actually which really won't help discourage future incidents.

Anyway, Ana has started taking things out of the fridge quite regularly. She came walking out of the kitchen recently with a big glass bowl of green peas and tried to drink all the liquid from the bowl. Nothing spilled but Erin said this - "I think we are about to hit the messy stage."

WHAT? What do you call throwing dinner all over the kitchen and spreading M&M's throughout the house to who knows where? (Ana knows, every once in a while she has one in her mouth and we have no idea where they keep coming from). It hit me like a ton of bricks. Or at least one pretty heavy brick, that hurts too but is less deadly.

I was kind of happy thinking things were looking up from here as far as messes go. She is almost old enough to start potty training, she doesn't drool all over any more, and she even keeps chocolate drool under control most of the time.

Oh well, I am sure we will all live through it.

And the winner is...

Amanda Reynolds!!!! I'll be sending her a pack of hand made Valentines, like these:

I had a lot of fun making them and might just make me some too!

I loved reading all your comments. Keep 'em coming!!!

Cloverfield

Yep.

Erin and I went out to see Cloverfield while we were in Rupert over the long weekend with free babysitters and all.

It seemed pretty short when it was over but that was ok. It was actually kind of nice to get back home in pretty good time. On the way out of the theatre, the manager asked us if we loved it or hated it. I guess it is pretty polarizing like that. We heard one guy behind us grumble something like "I can't believe I paid money for that" as he was leaving. I didn't think that.

At first the camera was really unsteady, and it kind of annoyed me, but I either got used to it or it became less shaky as time went on. It focused on a small group of people instead of focusing on the crazy monster. On the way home I commented to Erin on how I liked the absence of the moment when the scientist explains to the president where the monster came from and that it has laid 50 million eggs in a basketball arena - you get the idea. I really liked how real, or true to life, this felt focusing on this group of people.*

I thought this movie looked cool a while ago when Dylan posted about it, but then I forgot all about it until recently when another friend recommended it. We didn't really know what to expect and maybe that's part of why we liked it.

Overall, it was pretty different and I liked it.

*(I know monsters don't really exist)

Ana's new word

This morning Ana found a remote for our Wii. The TV was already on, and when the Wii Menu came up, she looked at me with a smile and said, "Wii!" and started waving the remote around. They learn fast.

P.S. You have until Wednesday to comment on my 100th post. I'll draw the winner out on Wednesday.

100th Post!!!

I've reached a landmark in my blogging. I feel like I've made it in the blogging world for reaching this point. So, for my 100th post, here are 100 things about me, with a surprise at the end.

1. My favorite color is Pink.
2. I seriously love my sisters and brother. I could live next door to any of them.
3. I really enjoy being with family and try to see them as much as I can.
4. My husband is my best friend.

(June 2007)

5. I really like it when he is around, even though I usually don’t get much done.
6. I lived with my sister in New York for a year after high school. It was pretty cool.
7. I really did love high school.
8. I was in choir all through school.
9. I sang all the time growing up. I even was in the show/a capella audition choir in high school. I thought I was pretty good and sang in musical numbers in church quite a bit.
10. I auditioned for the Women’s Choir at BYU-Idaho and didn’t make it.
11. It shot my confidence. I decided not to be a music major and I’ve only sung in church once since I’ve been married. It was last month.
12. I always wanted to be athletic.
13. I played city league basketball in 4th, 5th and 6th grade. When I tried out in 7th grade, I didn’t make it. But I tried out again in 8th and 9th. (Didn’t make it then either.)
14. I also ran track in junior high.
15. The only time I didn’t come in last in a race was when I tied for 3rd in the 200 meters in 9th grade. The person who finished after me had lost a shoe.
16. My friends were sincerely happy for me - for not getting last.
17. In September 2004, I ran a half marathon.

(after the race)

18. I mostly did it to prove I could.
19. Everyone in my singles ward thought I was “sporty.”
20. That was one of the biggest compliments I’ve ever received.
21. I still love running, but I don’t do it much.
22. I bought a bike last summer and rode it all the time.
23. I really enjoy being active.
24. More than anything else, I wanted to be a mom when I grew up.
25. I think it’s cool that I am a stay-at-home mom.
26. I hope I never have to work outside the home.
27. My daughter is the cutest little girl ever.
28. I really think that.

29. I wanted to serve a mission before I got married.
30. I got married instead. We plan on serving a mission in the future.
31. I think I was my best self the year before I got married.
32. Not that getting married ruined it, but suddenly my whole world didn’t revolve around me and so some good personal habits started slacking and some bad habits started sneaking in.
33. I’m working on getting back to my best self.
34. I really don’t like cleaning house.
35. I’m usually embarrassed at the state of my house if people just drop by.
36. I like it when people just drop by.
37. I really like having a clean house.
38. If I could have one talent it would be seeing other people’s struggles and knowing just what to do for them.
39. I also wish I was better at keeping in touch with old friends.

(My two best friends from high school, summer 2004, in San Fransisco)

40. I always wanted to be a cowgirl.
41. Sometimes I still want to be a cowgirl.
42. I love country music.
43. I also like Dave’s music, which is most anything but country.
44. I honestly have no complaints about my in-laws. I married into a great family!
45. I could live next door to any of his siblings too.
46. I don’t like shopping.
47. I really like Sudoku and Logic Puzzles.
48. I do this daily crossword almost everyday.
49. I grew up thinking video games were evil.
50. I wanted a Wii as much as Dave, and love playing it!
51. Guitar Hero is pretty cool too (though we don’t own it).
52. I also thought “The Simpsons” was evil growing up.
53. We own two seasons now and I think it’s really funny!
54. I love anything health related and I love learning new things about it.
55. I always hated biology in high school.
56. Human Biology and Anatomy/Physiology were two of my favorite classes in college.
57. I like giving health advice.
58. If I were to have a career, I’d want to help people live a healthier lifestyle.
59. Both Dave and I like playing card games.
60. It works out because we play them a lot together.
61. I like doing crafty things like sewing and card-making.

(Valentines I made this week)

62. But I don’t think I’m a very creative or crafty person.
63. I could go on and on against text-messaging. Particularly among young single adults. I think in general it’s a cop-out style of communication.
64. I want a big, nice house when I grow up.
65. I feel a little guilty about wanting a big, nice house so much.
66. I also want to be able to have enough money to be able to give it away liberally and don’t have to ask people to pay me back.
67. I am a hopeless romantic.
68. I love chick flicks, cheesy church novels, and anything remotely cheesy/romantic that is said or done by my husband. I eat it up!
69. I love reading.
70. Pride and Prejudice and To Kill a Mockingbird are two of my favorite books.
71. I am a Mormon.
72. I like going to church on Sundays.
73. I was very diligent about keeping a journal for more than 10 years.
74. I’m not as good at it now. My blog is my journal in a lot of ways.
75. I wish I could speak Spanish.
76. I was one of the best speakers in my beginning classes, but when you don’t practice, you lose it pretty quickly.
77. I wanted to marry a Spanish speaker so we could speak it in our home.
78. I married a Spanish speaker, but we don’t speak it much.
79. Summer is by far my favorite season.

(family reunion - 2005)

80. I love wearing shorts and my chacos and it being light outside in the evenings.
81. I like fishing and camping and hiking.
82. I really like Rexburg and could raise my family here.
83. I always liked school and did well.
84. I graduated with my Bachelor’s degree in the top 5% in my graduating class and I’m pretty proud of it.
85. I am a really passionate person.
86. I dwell on things so much I lose sleep over them. Even insignificant things.
87. One reason I’m doing this 100 things post is because I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
88. Sometimes I start raising my voice when I am talking about something I feel strongly about, and people think I’m getting upset.
89. Afterward, I dwell way too much on what I said and how I said it.
90. I always think I made people not like me.
91. I am more self-conscious than I like to admit.
92. Especially around girls. I always had more guy-friends than girl-friends and I still have a hard time making girl friends.
93. I am a social person, though, and love being at small parties with lots of chit-chat.
94. Dave and I are both night owls. “Early to bed” for us is about 11 or 11:30. Usually it’s 12:30 or 1.
95. I consider myself patriotic, and love US History.
96. I like to do things 100% or not at all.
97. I get overwhelmed with my responsibilities when I can’t do them all 100%.
98. I am pretty emotional. I cry at Hallmark commercials and nostalgic songs.
99. I didn’t cry at our wedding, though, and Dave still brings it up when I cry at anything else.
100. Overall, I try to be a good person. Sometimes I think I have a lot to work on. Sometimes I think I’m doing pretty good.

So, thats me! Now, comment on this post and I’ll enter your name in a drawing to win a pack of the Valentines pictured above. I hope you enjoyed my 100th post!!!

Quick Thought

We were in IF today and made a stop at the DI. We saw something pretty funny there. If only I would have had a camara.

It was a VHS copy of the nativity video that the church put out a while ago for Christmas. It was still in it's brand new shrink wrap. On it was a printed sticker that read:

To the Thurgood family, from the Bishopric. Merry Christmas

Just like Daddy

Ana loves her daddy! She's always excited when he comes home. And she loves doing things like him. His new iPod he got for Christmas is one of her favorite things. (For Example). Usually when she sees it she points and says, "Song." Today she was listening to They Might Be Giants' "Here come the 123s" podcast for kids. She loved it! And she sat listening and watching the screen calmly for quite a while.

She wanted to listen again after her bath. She cries so hard when its time to put it away.

Also the other day we pulled out the guitar and were playing a bit. She wanted to play too!
She loves everything to do with music. She likes singing "Popcorn Popping" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider." She even does a lot of the hand motions. She also loves dancing. When she hears music, she almost always starts dancing or twirling. Dave has really good rhythm, and I play the piano, sing and love dancing! I'm sure Ana has music in her blood. Wouldn't it be cool if she were this petite, good little Mormon girl who could rock out on the guitar and drums? I think so.

On a different note, this is my 99th post. I'm working on a big post for my 100th tomorrow or Thursday. Keep checking back!

Really?

A little background: I was looking up the results from the primary in Michigan tonight and started reading a few articles related to the presidential race. One of the articles was from Newsweek.com. I don't even remember exactly what it was saying, something about South Carolina probably. As soon as I saw the ad on the side of the screen I laughed so hard it put all other thoughts out of my head.

So, through a little computer magic, I have posted two pictures from the ad. It is for some wrinkle cream that I am either very scared of or that I am going to buy NOW and save it for 50 years to start using when I look like the lady from this first picture. I might die before I look like that actually.

I know they put the little words on these pictures "simulated imagery" but wow that's ridiculous. Keep in mind, these were REAL.

Before

After

Sundays

Can I just say I love having morning church! We went from having church at 1:30 to 8:30. Sure its a little bit tricky for me to get up earlier, but its so nice to be home by noon. Last Sunday, (the 6th) I was the only member of the Primary Presidency at church. I was really nervous because of all the changes that need to happen on the first Sunday of the year, but it turned out really well.

Yesterday Ana started nursery. I stayed in there for the majority of it, mostly just to help her along through the activities. She did really well. She is by far the smallest little person in there, but I think she'll do great.

I just want to add that I love being in the Primary. The brand new Sunbeams are so adorable! I think they behave better than the CTR 5s. I love the funny things they say. Yesterday I was waiting for them to calm down so I could begin closing exercises and I told them to "sit on their pockets, all eyes up front." Right after that, a little Sunbeam girl came up and started pulling on my dress while I was talking. When I was done talking she said to me, "I don't have any pockets on my dress." It was funny. They always say cute funny things.

And, here is a random picture of Ana from Christmas Eve that my mother-in-law took and just emailed to me.

Crazy letters

So, you will now notice (if you leave comments) that there is a new word verification step in commenting on my blog. I was having a great time thinking, "no, that only happens to other blogs," but I just had my first spam comment from some crazy website. That's why.

The wacko comment is gone now and so is my blog innocence.

Nasty Ice

So, I guess it wasn't much of a mystery but it was worth posting a picture. I couldn't believe the nasty ice that was all over the car. This first picture was taken from inside the car, so was the mystery photo.

Here is what it looked like after a little effort.

I have never had such thick ice on the windshield.

Mystery Photo

I wasn't sure about keeping the mystery photo going but I got a good one a while back.


Guess away!!! Be specific.

mmmm...lemony

So, last night at about 8:30 I got this unnatural craving for lemon bars. I debated making them, since they are not Dave's favorite and I wasn't quite sure if I had enough lemon juice. But, I decided to half the recipe and got started about 9:00.

When I got to the lemon juice part, I realized I was about 2 Tablespoons short, so I ran next door to borrow some. (Coincidently, she had just made some recently and offered them to me, but I had already started, so I declined.) I finished measuring the lemon juice, and put in the eggs - twice too many. Dang it. All I wanted was some lemon bars. The crust was already made, and I had already returned the lemon juice to my neighbor. I begged and pleaded and whined until I convinced Dave to go to the store for his pregnant wife who just wanted some lemon squares. I even said I'd help him scrape the windows, which turned out to be quite a feat.

See, we got this weird combo of icy snowy misty stuff that had put a layer of ice a couple millimeters thick on everything. We scraped for probably 10 minutes and didn't make much progress until we chipped a chunk off. Working from that point it went much quicker, but dang, I have lived in Rexburg for almost 5 years and have never seen the like.

Anyway, he made it to the store and successfully, and I finally got to eat a lemon square at 11:00.

It was worth it.

(picture is not an actual representation of my lemon squares, but I'm sure mine were just as satisfying...)

Ana girl

Yesterday for the first time I made playdough for Ana. She liked it for about 10 minutes. (Which was longer than I expected, but shorter than I hoped.) She liked watching me make the playdough as much as playing with it.
She really doesn't stay put for very long right now. Okay, she doesn't stay put ever. So, I'm trying to slowly work her attention span longer by doing activities with her like playdough, coloring and reading books. Since she starts nursery this month, I want try to have activities for her during the week so maybe church will go smoothly for everyone.

Some other things about Ana:

*She really likes putting things away, and running little "errands" between me and Dave.
*She likes having both Mommy and Daddy around.
*She talks a lot, and tries to say almost everything we say to her. Today she said "roni" for marcaroni.
*He brings us the phone almost everyday and says, "call Grandpa." Its really cute to listen to her talk to Grandma and Grandpa on the phone.

Ana is cute

Ana's newest word is "aroni" as in the last part of 'macaroni'. It's pretty cute.

Also, we had a funny moment today. Ana came out of my bedroom carrying my ipod with the headphones draped over her shoulders and said to me with a big smile "listen!!" As soon as I stood up, this amazing look of realization flashed across her face. The look said, "I can't believe I just told on myself!" She knows she isn't supposed to play with the ipod without my help so she quickly ran away as fast as she could. She made it back to the bedroom before I caught her.

After the chase we listened to/watched one of the TMBG podcasts for kids. They are really fun Ana even watched it for about a minute. It's a record, she doesn't hold still often.

If you haven't checked this podcast out, I encourage you to do so. (For those of you without ipods, you can still watch the podcasts in iTunes as long as you have it installed.)

Voting time

This is mostly for anyone who looks at my blog ocassionally but doesn't check Erin's as much. Take a couple seconds and go over to her blog and leave a vote for your favorite picture.

Beautiful Baby Contest

Live with Regis and Kelly does an annual Beautiful Baby Contest. Since I am a proud Mama and think my baby is beautiful, I want to enter her in it this year. People are always telling me she is gorgeous, and there is a grand prize of $125,000 toward a college education. So, Dave and I took a bunch of pictures of her today and I want to know which one I should enter. We narrowed it down to 5. I have to enter it by Friday, so you only have a couple days to comment. Which one is the best?

New Year's Resolutions

So, I've been a little slow getting this together. Mostly because I feel like I'm so far from where I want to be that I don't feel that I'm at a good jumping off point. But my friend Morgan had a great idea on her blog. Instead of a list of goals, just pick one word that describes the change you want to make in 2008. So, I've decided to change my focus from a list of improvements to an overall theme for my year. I couldn't come up with just one word, but my theme for the year is:
Capture the Moments.

I want to capture all the wasted moments when I could be cleaning house or finishing projects.

I want to capture the moments of peace and quiet and use them to refill my spiritual tank.

And I want to capture the little moments with Ana and Dave. With Ana, I want to have more activities for her to do, more structured play. And I want my husband to know each day that I love him. I think I often just assume he knows I do, but I really want to show it more.

So, for 2008, I just want to capture the moments. Every moment is given to us. The only thing we can give back is how we spend our time.

Story of the week #1 - Redbox

Erin and I love getting a movie at the redbox every once in a while. It doesn't have quite the selection of netflix but there are A LOT of newer movies we haven't seen. Also, if we only want to watch 2-3 movies during the month we only pay 2-3 dollars. Good deal.


There is always a line at the redbox. Always. There is a little touch screen you use to look at all the movies that are in stock and inevitabely using that screen is someone trying to decide what movie to get, looking through the entire selection at least 4 times. One time I was behind a couple that was putting in about 20 different codes to try and get a free rental. None of their codes worked so they finally decided to just pay a dollar. Returning a movie takes about 20 seconds so it's a pain to wait for those slow-pokes.

I try to avoid being one of those people so I always reserve the movie I want to rent online. I just log in to the redbox here in Rexburg, look at what's available and make my choice. All I have to do is swipe the card I used to pay for the movie online and the machine spits it out. It is so fast. I wish there were an express lane at the redbox for smarties like me who reserve and pay online first. Really. I fantasize about my express lane for about 5 minutes every time I am waiting for someone.

Anyway, the story...

I reserved and paid for the new Harry Potter movie we hadn't seen yet (online). After finalizing I realized that the card I used to pay for the movie was left in Rupert over Christmas (I couldn't use it to swipe and pick up my reserved movie). There was still another copy available in the machine but I really didn't want to pay twice for just one movie. I know it's only a dollar but I just couldn't do it. Erin kept telling me to just do it, but while she was putting Ana to bed I snuck in a phone call to the redbox customer service people. I told them about my problem and they didn't even laugh at me. They gave me a free rental code to even things out. It took 9 minutes to get the free rental code over the phone. I might be slightly crazy. I was happy to talk for 9 minutes just to get my $1 rental worked out but when I went to the redbox and had to wait for about 4 minutes I was a annoyed.

I'm still spoonfed

I got three free video credits when I registered my ipod. This was one of the videos I got.

2007 reflections

I always like a new year. I always feel somewhat refreshed and re-motivated to improve. And I like to think about the past year - accomplishments, blessings, struggles, changes, etc. I have mixed emotions about this last year. Here are some thoughts:

I'm really proud that I got my Bachelor's degree. Its always been a goal of mine and I feel really blessed that I was able to do it. Sometimes, I feel like I cheated getting a degree in University Studies and that I'm really not all that smart. Overall, though, I am glad that I did it.

I am so glad I started blogging this year. Though I often spend way too much time on the computer, this little piece of cyberspace has been a way for me to find my identity again - figure out who I am besides Mommy and Homemaker (though I love been both of those things).

I am also glad I've started sewing and crafting more often. I've never felt I was that crafty a person, but as I've gotten into it, I find I really like it, even if its not as artsy and cutesy like I always see.

But, I have a lot of goals for this year, too. I usually think for a while about my resolutions. There are so many things I want to do better that it takes me a while to narrow it down to just a few reachable goals. I'm still working on that post.

This has probably been the biggest change over the year:

(Ana, 1 year ago)

2008

I am considering a couple new features for the blog. I want to have a few regular things that you can all look forward to each week/month. Here are a few of the ideas I have:

*When we got our Wii a few months ago it came with a free rental each month for a year. It might be geeky but I will probably start a monthly game review of whatever game we rent. I don't know for sure whether I should ignore the games we rented in the past or just double up til I get them out of the way.

*I will probably keep up with the mystery photo, or maybe just change it to a cool picture a couple times a month. I am not sure the mystery thing is really for me.

*It would be cool to post every Saturday my most interesting/awkward/absent-minded/crazy... moment of the week. I really have no idea what I would call this feature. For example, this week I reserved a movie from the redbox... Actually, I better save that one for later, when I have more writing time.

Any suggestions?