Passing Notes

 



Today I'm Passing Notes! But I can't even seem to get the date right! I blame it on staying up late to watch the Royal Wedding. Plus it's Friday so officially by brain has checked itself out! Happy Weekend!

 



 

fill in the blank friday

 

1. I am looking forward to going on vacation in a month, it finally getting nice outside, being able to spend more time outdoors, the next couple months!
2.  Something kind of embarassing that I still love anyway is watching bad reality shows like the Hills. I don't take it seriously, but I just enjoy watching it!


3.  My favorite car is I can't say I have a favorite! Some of my first cars hold a special spot in my heart!

4.  If I could pick one type of weather to live with for the rest of my life it would be the time between spring and summer. It's not cold and rainy anymore and it's not too hot and humid yet! It's just right!

5.  My favorite thing to do after a bad/stressful day is exercise, watch a movie, take some time to myself, have a drink or two.

6.  This weekend we were supposed to be leaving on vacation but had to postpone it. Instead, I plan to spend lots of time outside in the sun and do some crafting!

7. If I were a color, I'd be always changing with my mood. Sometimes pink, or blue, or teal, or purple, or yellow.

Hi, My Name Is...

Can I be honest for a second?

I HATE writing "about me"s! I'm SO bad at it and I sound like a giant tool! I feel as if what I sound like is "Like... haaaii! I totally love pink things.. and umm like bubble gum... and the color pink and I like shoes and... like did I already mention pink things??" I'm sure it's not that bad but when I read what I've typed it sure feels like it!

Ironically one of the first things I love to read when I discover a new blog is their "About Me" section! Even if I've been following that blog for a while I'll check that page. It gives me a good idea of their personality and what they feel is important to know about them and what their interests are. Then I can read what they've written about a shared hobby, or an unfamiliar topic.

Some people just write a short sentence or two, while others have this amazing page written that makes me feel like we could instantly be bffs. That's where my problem lies. What do people like to read in "About Me" pages or write-ups?

I just added to my page. The pictures of me make me cringe, although any picture of me seems to have that effect! Of course if I could learn how to smile without my "smile twitch" perhaps I'd love pictures of me more. Oh I haven't mentioned that yet? Perhaps soon. It's one of my many quirks.

I added some of my favorite posts that I've written. There were more I really like, but how many are too many?!  I think I like those ones because they're pretty honest and genuine. I wrote them without much of a filter. It's easier to do that when at that time you know you're the only one reading them!

Garsh! I feel like this whole post is one long rabbit trail! The questions on my mind today are:

What do you enjoy reading in "About Me" sections? Do you like lots of pictures? Links to lots of different posts? A vlog? Or do you prefer to discover who the blogger is through posts alone? What's on your "About Me" page? Check out my About Me Page and tell me what you think.

Giveaway at After Nine to Five

Hey Everyone! This month I've been a sponsor over at After Nine to Five and right now Ashley has 9 amazing giveaways going on! Giveaway #9 just so happens to be for a print from my shop! So click this link and enter to win! And while you're over there, check out the other giveaways!

Road Trip Playlist Recommendations?

I used to go on road trips every couple months. Sometimes with friends and sometimes alone. They were pretty spontaneous trips. Often to escape from the daily life I lead to somewhere hours away where I only knew one or two people. The last road trip I took was with Jon and our dogs in a u-haul, a year ago when we packed up our life and moved from Saskatchewan to British Columbia. We didn't have any way of playing music in the truck plus we'd driven this route many times so it was a pretty looonngg and boring trip.

 

This road trip to Vancouver will be a lot different! It will be the first actual "vacation" we've ever taken together. Plus we'll have a sweet stereo to play tunes for us the whole drive! So now I'm trying to come up with a kick ass playlist! I'm thinking I'll put some podcasts on the ipod for the down times but for the rest of the time I need some upbeat, energetic music. I was thinking maybe a classic rock playlist, a dance playlist, etc.

What do you guys listen to on road trips? I'll take any and all recommendations! Or do you prefer to play car games? What are some of your best memories from road trips?

What I'm Thankful For

 

Things I'm thankful for:

• Walking into the bathroom and discovering a magical fairy named Jon has cleaned it.


• That we live in a free country where we're allowed to vote


• The great changes going gluten-free has done for me


• Jon's promotion!!


• Although I complain and dislike parts of my body, I'm thankful that I'm healthy enough to work-out and live each day pain free.


• Early morning cuddles of the four boys in my life... Jon, our two dogs, and our cat.


• Delicious Easter dinner


• Laughing

 

What are you thankful for today??

Spring Fever Challenge--Week 4

 

 



Week 4 Questions:

1. What have you done this past week to help you achieve your goals?

-I worked out on 4 days, one day I worked out twice so that counts as 5 times this week right??
-We looked up a couple hikes we want to try to get in on our trip
-I picked up and moved my course work to a shelf. But that's about it this week.
-I completed two different projects this week! I'm going to post about them later today.

What did you do this past week to make you feel good about yourself?
Man, I keep forgetting about this one.


Fill in the blanks:

Cooking and  joking/laughing comes naturally to me.

Making friends and meeting people does not come naturally to me.

I wish confidence and being photogenic came naturally to me.




Fun Question: What is your favourite Easter candy? Are you allowing yourself some this year?

My favorite are Cadbury Mini Eggs. Such a weakness, and I don't even like chocolate! Thankfully they are now available all year round.. that's the bad news. The good news... we didn't buy any easter candy this year so none for this girl!

Vlog Friday

This week I thought I'd participate in vlog friday!

The prompt is: What famous star do you look like? And who would you like to play you in a movie?

Sorry for the horrible horrible quality! I tried a couple different video recording technology and nothing was working right! Check out other vlogs over at Adventures in Love and Happiness





Pictures of Zoe Kazan. I don't remember where on the internet I got them from! So if they're yours send me an email and I'll totally take them down!



Ok so I KNOW I have better pictures than this but I can't seem to find them!

What do you think? Doppleganger?

Fill in the Blank Friday

Today I decided to participate in Fill in the Blank Fridays. Click the button above and play along! Then leave a comment telling me so I can check your answers out!

 

1. Fridays are the best day of the week!

2. A good cup of coffee, receiving mail or blog comments, and taking pictures make me terribly happy.

3. Something that inspires me is reading a good book or blog post about living life to the fullest and stopping to smell the roses once in a while.

4. If I had the day off today I would sleep in then enjoy a cup of coffee over breakfast. Perhaps do some crafting or surf the net.

5. If I had to put a label on my home decor style, I would say my style is comfortable modern. Modern look but not the staunchy can't enjoy style. But the elegant homey style.

6. Concerning politics I would say I'm voting tomorrow as I'm going to be away when the polls open next week. I don't push my political views on people but I'm more Conservative than any of the other parties. They've all got their faults but that's the one I side with most.

7. I'd like to go to Australia/New Zealand, Europe, somewhere hot with a beach so I can experience the country and culture.

An Upcoming Trip

Tomorrow's the start of the long week-end and as such, I feel like I should be extra productive today. But nothing's magically getting done. I mean, give a girl a hand! Even Cinderella had some help getting things on her To Do list completed before she had some fun! I'm too busy thinking! That's my problem... I think too much! Don't you hate when that happens! (as if! I think sometimes I need to use my brain more!)

[caption id="attachment_672" align="aligncenter" width="350" caption="Maybe than I would stop taking such weird pictures of myself"][/caption]

The main thing I am thinking about is my upcoming trip! We thought about taking a camping trip in the mountains where we first met and started dating exactly 5 years ago. But we thought for our first trip together it'd be nice not to camp or have to make our own meals. So we've decided to take a quick road trip to Vancouver for a few days! I know it's nowhere exotic or amazing to vacation to but this is huge for us. For two reasons:

1. I am too much like my father in which I can't handle spending money on trips instead of bills. Stresses me out!

2. Jon and I have never gone on vacation together! Not even a honeymoon! Anytime we take time off work to go somewhere we go visit family. And if you've met our families you'll know that it is totally not a vacaction.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="448" caption="I snagged this picture off http://www.tourismvancouver.com/"][/caption]

 

One goal that I set in my 101 things in 1001 days list was to act like a tourist in 3 places. I realized that I never see the areas where I live!  I work, eat, shop but never get to see all the touristy things. So that's our goal. We're going to be cheesy tourist and see all the popular spots in Vancouver. I get embarrassed carrying my camera around all the time and snapping pictures but I'm going to give it a try.

We're also planning to take our time on the way down and the way back to stop and see all the "spots of interest" that they have on the side of the road. Plus I'm planning to load the ol' GPS up with some cool geocaches that we can locate on our way.

 

[caption id="attachment_673" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="A geocaching expedition last summer that Mr. J took my brother and cousin on."][/caption]

So hopefully it's going to be a trip that is slow and relaxing; that leaves us refreshed and more sickeningly lovely dovey! The trip isn't for a week and a bit but I'm still excited and distracted!

What are your favorite things about road trips?

What are your must have road trip snacks?

If you could take a road trip somewhere right now, where would you go?

Wee Bit Wednesday

 



 

{one} how often do you do laundry?
Our laundry room is the next room over from our bedroom and beside our bathroom so it's really convenient to throw a load in. I'm a little obsessed with clean sheets/blankets and clean towels so we do laundry quite often. For the two of us... 4-5 loads a week?

{two} what is your favorite type of cookie?
My favorite cookie is probably the most unhealthy cookie out there. It's a german cookie called smoene kuchen and essentially it means cream cookies. They are a soft white cookie that is good with or without icing. They are the yummiest! Seriously. You need to try them.

{three} what would you do with an extra $2000 per month?

Put in our house fund. Or something else boring like savings.

{four} what was/is your favorite subject in school?
My favorite in high school was psychology and biology.

{five} have you ever ridden in a hot air balloon?
No I think I would pass out the whole time.... a little afraid of heights.

{six} what was your high school mascot?
a viking although I can't recall seeing a costumed mascot just the image on jerseys and the gym.

{seven} if you had the chance to go into space, would you?
I highly doubt it. I'm sure it would be an amazing experience but too risky in my mind.

{eight} how often do you go dancing?
hardly ever. If a turkey could dance, they would steal my movies. When we first were dating we'd go pretty often.

{nine} would you rather drive or fly?
probably drive. I love road trips! Although if it's a really far boring distance than probably fly.

{ten} have you ever been caught re-gifting?
No I don't think I have ever regifted something.

Vlog Friday without the Vlog

I've only vlog-ed once and it felt horribly awkward and toolish (yes that is a real word, because I just used it in a sentence). I've wanted to record another one to redeem myself. But I haven't thought of something really intelligent to vlog about or... no that's about it. I enjoy watching the videos for Vlog Friday that Nicole features over at Adventures in Love and Happiness sometimes I have nothing relevant to say for the topic but just enjoy people's answers but this past Friday I had a pretty good example/s for it. But of course, life happened.  I was gone all day Friday. So I figured I'd record a vlog for it Saturday... a day late isn't that bad right? Saturday turned out really busy. As did Sunday. Now here we are Tuesday afternoon! It'd be total lame sauce if I posted a video now. So I thought I'd still write about my answer but not do a video... that'll work right? So here's the link to her prompt last week.

The prompt was: What's the worst date you've been on?

There was this guy I was "friends with privileges" with in high school. It was a weird 2+ year relationship/friendship. I think we liked each other but we didn't want the commitment. So although we may have seemed and acted like we were dating... we weren't.

It was the week after Grad and we went to the city to return his tux and perhaps go for dinner or something. We ended up going to the theater to watch a movie.

When he had picked me up that morning he had made a comment about how the cereal box that morning had a coupon for the theater so maybe he could treat me to a movie. I laughed and was like yeah ok. I'm all about saving money but a coupon at the theater? Not the way to impress a girl. We ended up deciding to see Mr. Deeds.

When we walked up to stand in line to buy tickets he handed me the cut out cardboard coupon and said "Here you can pay for yours with this"

I said "No that's ok. I'll just use my debit."

He said "Just use the coupon!"as he tried to shove it into my hands.

"Nah, that's quite ok. I don't mind paying for myself."

By now he's starting to get really frustrated with me as the line starts to inch closer and closer to the counter. We get up to purchase tickets and he says "Two adult tickets to Mr. Deeds. I have a coupon for her ticket and I'll pay cash for mine."

Way to make me feel like I'm worth something! He's all smug because he saved himself some money. And forget me getting anything at the food stand! That's way too over-priced and there's no coupon for that!

Did I mention I used to call him The Coupon King? He was like this with everything! If there wasn't a coupon for it then we had to stand in the aisle at the grocery store for 10 minutes finding the best deal. Although the joke is probably on me... he's probably really rich by now!

 

So there's my story on one of my worst dates! I have a few more experiences. I seem to get myself into awkward situations. Or perhaps make situations awkward!

Deciding To Go Gluten-Free

I'm never one of those people who jump on every healthy bandwagon they hear of. My mom totally does at times, and I think that deters me from it a bit. I'm a meat-potatoes-cheesecake kinda gal.

Lately I've been hearing a lot more about the Gluten-free diet. I have some friends, real life and blogger, who have gone g-free. Honestly, before Friday I knew nothing really about it. All I knew (or thought I knew) was that you can't eat a bunch of stuff and you instead eat weird stuff.

I'm all for educating yourself on topics regardless of interest in them directly. So when I browsed the book section in Walmart on Friday and came across a book called "The G-free Diet - A Gluten Free Survival Guide",



I stopped and picked it up. I'm not a huge fan of Elisabeth Hasselbeck; but  I thought it wouldn't hurt to have some knowledge about being gluten-free. I came across the section on Symptoms of Gluten Intolerance, and wouldn't you know it I had a lot of them! I've had some health "issues" for several years now and people always think it's one thing or another. Stress has been blamed for the majority of it, even when I feel perfectly calm and de-stressed! I had noticed that some meals cause me to feel really sick and have horrible stomach cramps, but I couldn't attribute it to anything.

I still wasn't sold on the diet. So I put the book down and finished my browsing. I returned home from the city and started doing some research on the internet. I started kicking myself for not purchasing the book right away, or looking for other books there! My sister was coming into town from the city so I text her asking to pick the book up for me. I "enjoyed" my last gluten day by eating different breads, not.worth.it. And then that was it. I started the gluten-free diet the next day!

I'm only 3 days in so I know I haven't completely detoxed from the gluten I've previously consumed, but already I'm feeling pretty good! The first and biggest change I've noticed is my sleeping! I am (and have for a long time) a horrible sleeper! I can't fall asleep, I wake up every couple hours, I toss and turn all night, I sleep really light, I have bad dreams, I wake up early and more exhausted then I went to bed. The past two nights... my sleep has been amazing! I fall asleep right away, I sleep SO deeply, and my dreams are relaxing and happy making me wake up rested! I've been mentioning the past couple weeks how much I'd love to be able to wake up and work-out but I'm so tired when I wake up I hardly have energy to do anything! Today I woke up thinking I should go for a run! So my energy level has started going up!

So I'm pretty excited! I can't wait to see if it "fixes" anything else in me and makes me feel even healthier! I'm not into weird diets but this one isn't about not eating a bunch of stuff. It's about replacing gluten items with healthier ones. Going back to natural and pure foods and getting rid of additives and fillers. It's about eating foods your body was made to digest easily.




Do you normally stay away from "diets"? Are you gluten-free? Do you know any good websites or cookbooks for eating gluten-free?

Spring Fever Challenge~Week 3

It's time for Spring Fever Challenge Week 2 Review!

This Week's Questions:

1. What have you done this past week to help you achieve your goals? I sorta failed this week. I only worked out twice. We went on an impromptu sort of a hike to some waterfalls. (pictures to be posted in the next couple days). I did some but not a lot of work on my course. I worked on a few projects. And I ran twice. But overall not a great week for me. This week should be a lot better!


2. What did you do this past week to make you feel good about yourself? I forgot about this part of the challenge! I guess I could say deciding to go gluten-free. I'm going to write a post about that Monday. 


3. Are your SFC goals your ultimate goals or steps to your ultimate goals?  Do you find it easier to set big goals or do you like making mini-goals? My SFC goals are more steps to ultimate goals. The working out, hiking, and c25K are to encourage healthy living and getting into shape. The course goal is to further my schooling and career. And the project goal is to encourage my creativity and hobbies.


4. What are some of your ultimate goals, things on your bucket list? hmm my bucket list would be a bit to explain and I tried to add most of those to my 101 things in 1001 days list.


5. Fun Question: If you could achieve only one more thing in your life, what would it be? to be happy and enjoy life

To Buy Or Not To Buy

My Mom and Jon often give me a hard time about being cheap. I don' t think I'm cheap; I see it as being frugal. In my head, whenever I see dollar signs, it's immediately followed with folders with labels like "BILLS", "CREDIT CARDS", "STUDENT LOANS", and "SAVINGS".  Once the little piggy banks that live in each one are satisfied, in my mind there shouldn't be anything left. This thinking has caused more than a few conversations about the importance of having a good sized wardrobe, going on vacations, buying extras. For my birthdays and christmas my mom buys me clothes or takes me to the mall to treat me to some new clothes. I don't walk around in rags! But she feels the need for more clothes. Jon and I have never gone on a vacation, we had one planned for May, but we just decided to cancel it and put the money from it into savings. Not a bad decision right? My motto is you can never go wrong with putting money into savings. Course the exception is, if you put money for bills into savings!

Our latest topic of debate is on purchasing a desk. I had a fairly ugly one before that we got for $5 from someone. This thing is special. I've never seen anything like it before. The legs are weird and pointy, the drawers are annoying and it's table top has a map on it. Which is ok; if that's your thing! This is a picture I took of it when we first got it a couple years ago.



This past Christmas I bought Jon a 55 Gallon fish tank and we didn't have anywhere to put it so I gave up my "computer" desk and moved my stuff to the bedroom dresser. That was ok, but got old really fast. So I built my own desk out of boxes in our storage room, some pieces of wood and roofing. I was pretty proud of myself. And since then it's served me well. It's nothing pretty to look at but it's stable and works. However, I seem to be outnumbered here.

So I looked for a cheap cost-efficient desk to appease my opponents.  I found a few but there was always reasons why they weren't that great. Either they didn't seem very sturdy or well built. Or there was some bad reviews about them. I've sorta given up looking. After a while they all kind of blend together. We found this one that we both like from Sears

 



Cons:

-It doesn't have the best reviews
-It costs more than I wanted to spend
-Do I really need a new desk?

Pros:

-It fits my decorating (or ideal) scheme.
-We could get it in town instead of driving to the city (convenient)
-It would fit all my desk type things and more
-I would be more organized and therefore more productive?

So what do you guys think? How important is your desk/workspace to you? Do you use a desk? Should we go with the above desk, keep looking, or keep using what we have?

Trying Something New

I LOVE trying new things. Ok, maybe not all new things; especially not food related ones. Lately I've really been enjoying trying new crafty type things. So I thought today I'd show you a few things I've been working on. Jon played around with my camera and took some pictures so all photo credit goes to him today. If you've seen the random comments left on here by a "Mr.J" that's him.

I've seen some beautiful dainty necklaces on etsy that were made by wire writing so I decided to give it a try. I've got a lot of practicing to do before they look smoother and flowy-er (if that's a word!).

This one is for my sister. She liked it so much she's thinking of getting me to make one that says "Bride" and using it when we photograph her dress!

 

What about you? What kinds of new things do you enjoy trying? Have you worked on anything crafty lately?

Wee Bit Wednesday

{one} have you ever fainted? Four times? The last time was a year ago.


{two} what is your favorite casino game? blackjack, texas hold em


{three} do you have a good sense of direction? I have a great sense of direction but bad with directions and maps, if that makes any sense!


{four} laptop or desktop? I currently have a laptop that's screen doesn't work so it's connected to a monitor. So I have in between. We're hoping to get a new laptop one of these days but we're starting to think a desktop might be nice too.


{five} what is your go-to hair style when having a bad hair day? Almost every day is a bad hair day! I throw it up in a pony tail. The other day I wore it down and stopped by the place where my mom and sister work and they went "whoa! your hair looks so different! you must never where it down!" Pretty much.

{six} Do you read the newspaper on a daily basis?not a paper newspaper. I do read a few online newspaper apps on my phone every day.


{seven} do you have a favorite celebrity chef? no. We don't have tv at the moment so I rarely watch enough of those shows to know any names.


{eight} what tv show would you like to make a guest appearance on?
Current shows? Big Bang Theory or Hot in Cleveland. They both look like they all have a lot of fun filming together.


{nine} do you have satellite radio in your car? No


{ten} what was the last movie that made you cry?
"The Thing About My Folks" with Paul Reiser and Peter Falk.

A New Address

Today I don't have many words to say. Ever have those days where you're just quiet? No particular reason, it's just one of those meh days. I did want to tell everyone though about my latest blog news! I bought a domain and am now self-hosted! Yay! If you haven't already noticed... my new website address is www.kissedafrogblog.com Should you type in the old address it should automatically redirect you here!

One of the things I'm really excited about is being able to now have Google Friend Connect! Want to be my friend? I'm also glad I am able to now have a feature at the bottom of each post called "You Might Also Like". This new hosted site should allow me to do various different things with plugins and codes that the other wordpress.com doesn't provide.

So yay! Welcome to my "new" blog! And while we're talking about it... is there anything you guys would like to read about?

Old McDonald Had A Farm

***Warning this is a picture heavy post. I tried to put less on but they're pretty cute! Please don't leave any mean comments about how evil farmers are, I will delete them***

Yesterday we had planned on taking the dogs and our bikes out in the afternoon. But we woke up to snow on the ground and snow falling from the sky so we decided to change plans. Jon made some delicious cinnamon buns, then we were off. My dad still lives on the farm I grew up on so we headed out there to drop off a few things and to see the baby calves.

You know how some people have dogs, cats, hamsters, etc for pets? Well my Dad has cows. When I moved away for college, he would email me pictures of his pets. My roommate's mom would put their family dog on the phone to talk to her. My Dad would send me pictures of cows. From January to May if you talk to my Dad, he'll talk all about his little babies.

How convenient would that be? You could clean your nose!

 

 

This little girl will show up a few times. She was not camera shy and kept following us around the whole time.

 

The weather was so cold and rainy out there, but these guys never seemed to notice. They ran and played just as much.

 

Poor girl! Only a few weeks old and already she needs to pluck her eyebrows!

 

Sometimes the calves look like their moms and it makes it easy to tell who they belong too. Other times it's more difficult.

 

Bet you didn't know that they enjoy blowing bubbles!

 

My Dad gets tickled pink anytime people show an interest in his animals. He hates pictures so that's how I know he was pleased as punch, that I had my camera out. This cow he calls "Baby", he was showing us how much she loves to get her back scratched.

 

I guess it runs in the family! Her baby loves it too!

 

This poor gal is HUGE! She gets this big time, but usually she has the calf early. Not this year. But she's a good mama or so my Dad says!

 

Here's that little girl from before. She seems to have gotten herself in a fight she can't possibly win... but wait

 

She just wanted to give this other mama a bath.

 

It's feeding time! My dad's worried about the strings from the bales getting tangled on the calves' legs so for every bale, he gets out and cuts all the strings and removes them. That can take a while with a large herd!

 

There's my handsome husband! I always forget that calving isn't a normal spring occurrence in everyone's childhood.

 

[caption id="attachment_624" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption="Got Milk?"][/caption]

Sportin' a little milk beard.

 

All in all a good afternoon. I managed to stay relatively clean but got chilled. Today it has stopped snowing and the sun is out! But it's really windy! How's your Monday going?

Spring Fever Challenge~Week2

Inspirational Picture:

I picked up this notebook yesterday to help keep track of my goals/lists. Jon was saying my memory has been atrocious lately so hopefully this helps me remember things and be more productive! It now will hold wonderful lists of anything I can think of, like my hikes list!

This Week's Questions:

1. What have you done this past week to help you achieve your goals?



Workout: 4/5 My easier days were a bit easier than I probably should have, so this week I'm going to have to kick it in gear.




Hikes: Made a list of hikes in the area that I want to do this spring/summer




Course: Completed 1 1/2 chapters this week




Projects: I made 2 necklaces but I don't know if they count as completed projects. I'll count it as one. I'm thinking of posting a few pictures of them in the next day or two.




I didn't think I had a very productive week, but looks like it might have been not too bad.



2. What did you do this past week to make you feel good about yourself?



I love make-up! But when I stick around at home I don't normally put much/any on. Yesterday we went to the city and I took extra time on my makeup just for fun.



3. Is your mindset future-oriented or living in the now? How does this impact you when you are working towards a goal?



My mindset is usually future-oriented. I like having plans and lists of what I want to accomplish or goals I want to work towards long-term. This can get frustrating when I working on completing a goal because  just want to finish it NOW not patiently work at it.



4. Is there someone in your {real} life that inspires you to strive for the best?



Cheesy, but Jon inspires me to strive for the best. He has way more faith in my abilities and worth than I do. And encourages me all the time.



5. Fun Question of the Week: Do you read blogs on the individual websites or via Google Reader?



I occasionally read blogs on Google Reader but I think that people go to the work of making their blog theme give a sense of their personality, I should go the the actual blog. So I usually click the blog from the Reader and read it on the actual site.

Easy As A, B, C

For sometime now I've seen this A, B, C meme going around the blogger-sphere and have been thinking of doing it. Recently the lovely Lindsay from scenic glory completed the A, B, C's about her so I decided to give it a shot and link up to her!

Age: 26
Bed Size: Queen size. But with all our animals on the bed there's no room for us, so the next bed we get is definitely going to be a king.
Chore you hate: Anything garbage related.
Dogs: Butch he's a loveable mutt; part chihuahua/shih tzu/miniature pinscher.   And Kudjo; he's part border collie/great pyrenees. We also have a cat named Lucy who thinks he's a dog.
Essential start of your day: Quiet "me" time
Favorite Color: teal or pink, or dark blue
Gold or silver: white gold
Height: 5'4 and 1/2 don't forget the 1/2 part!
Instruments I play (or have played): Clarinet, Organ/piano, and guitar. I would LOVE to learn violin!
Job Title: Homeschool teacher, housewife, blogger. adventurer, and laugher. My life is pretty sweet!
Kids: Nope.
Live: British Columbia, Canada
Mom's Name: Liz
Nickname: I've had SO many... carisle, caris, chrissy, herbie, and my blog namesake... kissafrog
Overnight hospital stays: I have never. I am TERRIFIED of hospitals. One time they really wanted me to stay overnight and I said absolutely not. One day I'll have to get over that.
Pet Peeve: people who are always really late, telemarketers who are rude, people in general who are rude, people who drive stupid.
Quote from a movie: It's really hard to think of one off the top of my head. The only one that instantly comes to mind is from You've Got Mail.
Right or left handed: Righty
Siblings: 3 youngers sisters and  a younger brother. And a bunch of step sisters but we're not really all that close.
Time you wake up:Lately 7:00 am.
Underwear: I try to make a habit of it, yeah.
Vegetables you dislike: olives, brussels sprouts, there's a couple more but can't think of them right now.
What makes you run late: My own forgetfulness. It's getting really bad. I forget everything and have to run back inside. Jon even bought me a notebook today so I can write everything down.
X-rays you've had done: My chest after I fell in 6th grade snowboarding on a toboggan. I don't recommend it.
Yummy food you make: Lots of stuff! I'm actually a pretty good cook.
Zoo animal:I've only been to the zoo once and I really don't remember it. Perhaps elephants?

E-Book Giveaway Winner!

I printed off the entries for the giveaway, put them in a hat and drew the lucky winner out!

The winner of the photography e-book How to Shoot Your Kids is....



Congratulations Jen! Jen I've emailed your address from your blog, to Maggie! Enjoy the e-book! Thanks girls for entering! And thank-you Maggie for offering this giveaway to my readers!

The One About Relationships And Communication

Jon and I don't always have the perfect marriage. We have our faults and quirks. But then again show me a couple that doesn't. We do however try to remain conscious of our relationship and make an effort to be our best. One area that we've had to work a lot on and I imagine will have to continue to work on for years, is communication. We try to take interest in each others hobbies and do things together. One thing we both enjoy is playing video games. We like different games mind you. But there are a few we enjoy playing together.

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A couple years ago another couple that we were friends with challenged us to a gamecube mariokart tournament. Couple vs. Couple. We hadn't played that version before, so they lent the game to us for a couple days. For those two days we practiced playing it to any spare minute we had together. We got to the point where we were amazing. We even had special code words for communicating during the game. We went to their house that Thursday pretty confident. They put up a far fight but in the end we walked away the champions. They had a few snippy words at each other, but we understood. There had been some mis-communication during the game. And when you're on a team and your team loses it's disappointing.

 

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Fast forward to the day Mario Brothers for Wii came out. We are huge video game nerds. Ok ok... Jon is a huge nerd. I'm merely a video game enthusiast. We went out right away and bought it; rushed home and proceeded to play. It did not go well. Oh, it started off good.

But soon there were conversations like "why did you do that?! I said I'd get it!" or "thanks! because you shot that turtle shell at the tube, it bounced back and killed me!" or "you're too fast! the screen moved and I was behind and I died! I just got a propeller hat!"

Several times we decided it was best to just turn the game off and do something else, perhaps even something separate for a bit. We don't hold grudges though so an hour later it'd be like nothing ever happened. We laughed about the whole thing. Who'd a thought a video game would cause so much trouble! We decided to use it as a tool though. While we were playing we kept in mind that our sole intent in doing something together was to build a stronger relationship so why not use the video game to do that. We began to work on how we communicate with each other; not just what we say but how we say it and what words we  used. Using teamwork and strategy to reach the goal of finishing the world and moving on.

A few months later Jon's coworker mentioned they had just bought the game and he and his wife were going to spend the evening playing it. Jon gave him a heads up that it was going to challenge their communication skills. They had a good laugh. But the next morning when they returned to work his coworker confirmed what Jon had warned of. They had ended up turning the game off too! My sister and her boyfriend also bought the game and we forewarned them. Last week-end they were here and someone mentioned they hadn't played that mario brothers game for a while. They looked at each other and my sister said "yeah, we used to play it together but we can't anymore. We have to play it separately."

We love playing it together now! We've gone on to beat the game! But we still laugh about how worked up we got about a stupid video game. But I think it was worth it!

So what's the moral of my story? Communication skills in any relationship is important! Want to gain more or test the ones you have? Do something together as a team like a sport, board game, or a video game!