Creative Scrapper

I saw this idea on my friend Autum's blog and I thought it was an idea worth stealing.

11 RANDOM THINGS ABOUT WHO I AM AND WHAT I THINK ABOUT...

1. My favorite color is purple. A year at TCU (before I married Steve) and it's just a fun color. I hated pink when Sarah was born and of course everything she got was Pink! Now however, after falling more and more in love with her and her "pinkness" each day, I even wear it too! There are days when we will be on our way somewhere and she will run back in the house because she realizes that she doesn't have on anything pink. Alas!

2. I wish I could garden (meaning have pretty flowers, not grow vegetables). I think that gardens are so beautiful and peaceful. I wish my thumb wasn't so brown and I was able to create and maintain a garden of my own.

3. I hate to cook and clean. Sometimes I try and cook a really good, healthy meal and before it even gets on the table, two little people are complaining, "Please, not chicken, again!" After eating a leftover dish 3-4 times, it no longer tastes good! Now, as for cleaning...when I am home and have nothing that NEEDS to be done, I do enjoy the elbow-grease kind of cleaning that makes a room sparkle. I love that my heart rate can get up there and I can skip the gym for the day. I love the 15 seconds that it is clean before those same two little people come, and just like TAZ from Looney Tunes....with a swoop and a swish and a body covered with sand, my sparkling house, becomes, not so sparkly. So I wonder, really, what is the point? 20 years from now, I hope my kids remember trips to the library or park, walks and bike rides, and cuddling for a story; not that there were always goldfish crackers on the rug and that the counter was stacked with "stuff."

4. My favorite foods are chinese and mexican. Cannot really make the choice of one over the other. We definitely eat Mexican more often, due to Steve's love of it. He could eat that or pizza 24/7. The problem with both is that I savor the fried stuff!

5. SNACKS. I am definitely a lover of empty calories. Dr. Pepper is my favorite drink. But after working on a treadmill for 30 minutes and only burning about 3/4 of the calories of one soda, I switched to Diet last year. Considering the aspartame, however, I am thinking of switching back. Other loves...cheeto puffs, brownies (with NO nuts), Hot Tamales cinnamon candies , peanut M&Ms, sour cream and onion Pringles, Reese's peanut butter cups, and BBQ lays. Oh and caramel. Most people love chocolate, I love anything with caramel.

6. Things I hate....mixing nuts in food (except for almonds in a salad, that was newly added to the like list.) Oatmeal. Scary, could happen in real life, movies. Brussel sprouts. Greens; those collard, seaweed looking things.

7. I am a "volunteer-a-holic". For some reason, whenever there is a need, I find myself raising my hand to help solve the problem. I have actually had to sit on my hands at a meeting to keep myself from taking on any new jobs/projects. I guess that my parents modeled serving others, especially children. They both did many things to lead kids in groups or to make great events/vacations happen. I know that it takes many people "behind the scenes" to make those things happen. I wish that I could compartmentalize my time so that the tasks I take on didn't take away from my family time, but I haven't figured out how to do that, yet.

8. I LOVE to read. I read like most people watch tv. I am always into a good book and have another one on request from the library. I remember my brothers telling me at 4 that I couldn't play games with them because I couldn't read. Well, that didn't last long. In high school, I discovered realistic and historical fiction and these are still my favorites. I have been involved in several book clubs where you read a book a month and then meet to discuss them. While I did love this "adult" conversation, I didn't like the presssure of having to finish by a certain time. I like that you can renew the checkout for the library many times. Now, I mostly read Christian Fiction, and occasionaly I throw in a non-fiction book about housekeeping, parenting, or making my marriage even better. My favorite authors are Francine Rivers and Karen Kingsbury.

9. I love to TALK. My favorite, and preferred form of talking is in person. My dad has known this since I was a very, little girl. He would sometimes lose interest in me while I was telling him something. I would say, "Daddy, I am not finished talking," and he would tell me, " His ears were tired of listening." Not to worry, this does not hurt my feelings. Some people are chatters and some are not. Working is a great way to be around people and get all those words said each day. When I first became a stay at home mom, the biggest change was that there were no people at home to talk to. Sarah was an infant and Steve was in Afghanistan, or flying somewhere in the world for the Air Force. During this time, I would literally be starving for conversation. I remember that my wonderful husband called and left messages on the answering machine for me like, "Good morning,Shannon." "Have a good day." "I love you." " Hope you had a good day, good night." I pushed that button more times than he would have ever expected while he was deployed or TDY for those 4 years. I am not sure he knew just how those silly little lines kept me going.

Funny enough, I do not really enjoy talking on the phone, except to my Mama. I could talk to her, hours each day if we both had the time. I do talk to Steve on the phone a lot, especially when he is gone, and I look forward to hearing the voice that still makes me smile and feel whole each day. Our conversations are usually pretty quick and to the point, but they happen multiple times each day! :) I only call people when necessary, I would much rather email or text. ( I am thinking we will be taking on the unlimited texting plan sooner, rather than later.)

10. I love to scrapbook. I want my kids and family to know just how much I love them and I want them to remember all the fun memories that we made each day by being together. Just in case the Lord should take me earlier than them, I hope the time I have spent working on their albums will give them a glimpse at how much I love them. They will never really understand how deep that love goes until they become parents themselves. I hope that when they look at their books, they don't focus on the pretty papers or fancy things, but that they read the stories and that my words convey how very rich my life is and has been because they are a part of it.

11. I love country and christian music. Artist/Groups: Garth Brooks, Brooks and Dunn, Erasure, George Strait, Reba, Mercy Me. Songs: Somewhere over the Rainbow, I Can Only Imagine, Amazing Grace (my chains are gone), Anyway, Cinderella

So this was supposed to be a 10 things list, and going back to the fact that I love to talk, I had to include an extra. Be forwarned, I plan to add on to this as more random thoughts make their way into my head (usually in the middle of the night).

So, as I conclude, hopefully this post has shined a light into my soul and given you a glimpse of who I am. It has really left me thinking...if I had a cook, housekeeper, and gardener, I would have more time to talk, read, volunteer and scrapbook. Ha!