Thursday 13 - Back to Blogging!

Things have calmed down a little (okay not really) and I have a moment to actually put up a blog post. It's been awhile...but I do want to get back into blogging publicly on this blog. So...this week Thursday 13 is an update and welcome back to blogging post! Hopefully you'll see more from me in the future...as I have some great things going on!

1. The girls are doing well in school. They're both loving 5th and 2nd grade. The both love their teachers and love the things they're doing in class. So far, we haven't had any problems at all this year. This was the first day of school...they look so cute. :)

2. Both girls are in cheerleading this year and they're having a good time with it. Ashlyn was SO excited that they opened up signups for grades 1-3 this year and she was able to participate. My little diva LOVES cheering. Aubry is likes the fact that she gets a trophy at the end of the year. ;) She's on the fence about whether she wants to do cheerleading or volleyball next year. She has awhile to decide.

3. I can't believe that the year is almost over already. I woke up and it was October again! I'll be turning 31 years old this month...seems so crazy!

4. And yeah...it's October. Which means it's almost November. And this is an election year. Which means my facebook has exploded with people talking politics. I loved the thing I saw on pinterest that said pinterest makes me like people I don't know and facebook makes me dislike people I do know. ;)

5. Ashlyn turned 8 years old last month. EIGHT! My sweet little seven year old turned into a defiant little eight year old. She's always been my mama's girl and has been so good about doing what she's told. Until like the DAY she turned eight. Then it was like someone flipped a switch. Mom wants me to take a shower? NO! Hmmm. ;P

6. We celebrated Ashlyn's birthday at Chuck E Cheese this year (just like Aubry's 8th birthday). The girls had a wonderful time...but it was a lot more busy this year than two years ago for Aubry's party. The kids didn't mind at all, of course, but it started to wear on the patience of the adults. :P My dad actually went this year (it was his first experience ever at Chuck E Cheese) and I think after two minutes he'd decided that he wouldn't mind never repeating all the fun of Chuck E Cheese. ;)

7. My health has been fun lately. NOT. Had some new issues pop up that haven't been fun. My doctor decided it was time to start testing again and trying to get a definite answer. So I have an appointment with an MS specialist scheduled and hopefully that goes well.

8. Oh! I am working! I'm now the proud owner of my own cleaning business. I've been tinycandi on the internet since I was 15 and at 30 I'm not tidycandi cleaning an office. ;) It's only a couple times a month but the flexibility has been a blessing when it comes to my health issues popping up. And it's also during the afternoon while the girls are at school so it doesn't interrupt my time with them, either. It's just been a perfect opportunity.

9. I was honored to be able to take photos for another birth this year. I didn't photograph the actual birth...but I was there through almost the entire labor and several hours after delivery. It's always an amazing experience. And this one was special to me because they have become my second family and I love them dearly.

10. And speaking of my second family...I've been dating someone again! I'm sure I'll write more about it later...but suffice to say I'm incredibly happy and my life is complete. I have my girls and I have my love (and my family and friends) and life is complete. Life doesn't always give us second chances to have exactly what you want with someone and I feel very blessed that things have played out the way they have. He's an incredible man and thinking about him just makes me smile. :)

11. I've been doing a lot of studying lately...though I'm not getting through all of my books as quickly as I'd like and some of them are a little more time-consuming than others. It's not always fun reading a textbook cover to cover...especially when it's a statistics book. :P But...I'm soaking up all the information I can! It has to go in spurts...because I write my notes by hand (it helps put things in long-term memory because my short-term memory is kinda useless) and after awhile it starts to cramp. I've always had a bad habit of writing down too much...and starting over again and again so they're neat and have the information the way I want. :P Note taking with OCD is awesome! ;) lol. But...the more times I write the information the more I'll remember anyway so I'm looking at it that way. It just takes a little longer than it probably should. ;)

12. I'm SO happy that my shows (most of them, anyway) have come back from summer hiatus! I'm really, really sad that they killed off Mark Sloan on Grey's Anatomy and Pete on Private Practice...I liked both of those characters (especially McSteamy!!) but so far the shows are carrying on better than I thought they might. Law and Order SVU and NCIS have been wonderful so far. I'm trying to get used to the new girl on Criminal Minds...I miss Prentiss. Which is funny...because Prentiss was on the first episode of SVU and I actually didn't like her on it very much...I thought her acting was much better on Criminal Minds. But the episode of SVU was good and Criminal Minds is doing alright. If they get rid of David Rossi on Criminal Minds, though, I'm gonna be pretty darn upset! ;) I'm also super excited that in a few weeks Burn Notice will be back again from hiatus! I think that's my favorite show out of all of them. :) The only show I'm really sad is gone is CSI Miami. I miss Frank and Walter and even Horatio and Ryan. It was one of my favorites, too.

13. The weather has been crazy lately. A few days it's been SUPER cold (like the day it was 40 degrees and we were sitting in the bleachers watching the girls cheer for a youth football game), some are rainy (today it's 60 so it's a cold rain) and then other days it has been in the 80s. Welcome to Kansas in October! I'm not ready for the cold. I like 70s...I could handle 70s year round. :)

And there's my Thursday 13 of randomness! I will be back to blogging in full-force now! So expect to see more from me soon! :)

Thursday 13: Catching Up

I haven't written here in awhile. I actually have like seven drafts since my last post but I never actually finished them. I do that a lot. :-/ I either get bored with it, get busy, or I change my mind about posting what I'm writing about.

But...I really like doing Thursday 13...I like lists. :) So here's 13 updates for our life lately...

1. Last week, the girls and I had lunch at a sports bar. A local non-profit group that I support was having a donation drive and lunch there. The girls just thought it was SO cool that they were in a BAR and there were BEER signs on the wall! :-P But there was no beer going on...just lunch. I had chicken tenders, Ashlyn had corn dog bites and chips, and Aubry had a grilled cheese sandwich and waffle fries. ;) And there was a lot of items collected so I'd say it was a pretty good day!

2. Last weekend we went to Chuck E Cheese. A lot of parents loathe that place, but I like it. They have good pizza and it keeps the girls occupied for awhile. I really, really love that the kids can keep their cash-out tickets (and they never expire!) to save up for a bigger item instead of just coming home with crappy plastic tops and candy all the time. The girls each found something for 1500 tickets. They have about 1000 more to go! 

3. We also went to the drive-in last weekend. We go about once a year and the last couple years my parents have gone with us. We pack up some snacks and drinks in the cooler and take some chairs and enjoy the evening! We saw Ice Age 4, Brave, and Madagascar 3. My mom slept through the last two movies and Ashlyn fell asleep about 20 minutes before the end of the last movie. ;) But me, dad, and Aubry stayed up for all three! We had a really good time. I love the drive-in because it's a lot more economical. All 5 of us are able to see 3 movies for $28...it costs that much for just me and the girls to see 1 evening movie at the theatre. 

4. Tonight the girls and I went to Michaels. I found a 25% off coupon that's good until Saturday. Since it's been so dang hot lately (it was 106 today and supposed to be even worse the next couple days) we've been doing a lot of arts and crafts. I wanted to pick up some canvases. They had value packs on sale...I got 5 16x20 and 7 12x12 for $15 each. There was also a rolling 10 drawer cart on sale for $38. Then we grabbed a couple little art sets the girls picked out and some acrylic paints that were on sale for $.89 each. I got it all for the original price of the organization cart! Here's our art area now (in my bedroom). 

 

5. One simple art project we did not too long ago was one I found on pinterest. You just trace your hands and draw lines across the paper with curved lines where your hand is...makes your hand look 3D on the paper. The other picture is something I used to do when I was in middle school...the teacher would draw a line and you would draw a picture from it. I also found this site on pinterest and printed a bunch of coloring pages. We've spent a lot of time coloring them before bedtime. 

 

6. I took pictures of the girls and my nieces this month. My oldest niece has hit a stage where she HATES to have her picture taken. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a photo of all four girls but I got a couple good shots that day anyway: 

  

  

 

7. And then there was some swimming: 

 

8. Board games are another favorite on a hot summer day: 

 

9. A good friend of mine just had a birthday last week. He is a big fan of all things Civil War. We went out to dinner with several friends and I gave him this picture that I drew. It turned out a LOT better than I expected. I usually do not draw portraits very well. Had I known it was going to come out looking so well, I would have used my charcoal pencils instead of a mechanical pencil! 

10. I am SO glad that Burn Notice is back on right now. It is one of my favorite shows...and it's nice to have some new episodes while all my other shows are on hiatus. The girls like Burn Notice, too, so we've been watching a lot of the older episodes that I have on DVD, too. 

11. I also recently found Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken really cheap on Amazon.com and bought it for the girls. I hadn't seen it since I was in middle school...but I knew they would love it. It has horses (which they love) and stars Gabrielle Anwar (who plays Fiona in Burn Notice) so they thought that was cool. 

12. Speaking of Amazon.com, I really, really love having free streaming video with my Amazon Prime membership. I've had it for quite awhile but never really took advantage of the streaming video part of the membership. I don't have cable and couldn't sleep one night...so I went looking for stuff to watch. There's SO MUCH on there. I started watching a new show...The Secret Life of An American Teenager. I like watching a series from the start so I'm all caught up now...and I like that it has new episodes through the summer, too. But there are a LOT of shows and movies on there...I could keep myself busy for quite awhile! 

13. I think today we are going to do one of the things in my Stuff To Do With The Kids board on Pinterest...but I can't decide which one! We might have to do a few. :) 

Thursday 13: More Random

1. This week has NOT been good. Everything just seems to go wrong. It's nothing SERIOUS...but one of those weeks where you stub your toe and then turn around and stub it again.

2. I spent the day cleaning house. Well actually I spent the first half of the day with my kids but then I cleaned house.

3. The kids and I watched movies and played board games. Aubry won two games of Sorry. I don't think she was sorry. ;)

4. I've started creating art again. I'm not painting because I don't really have a good spot in my apartment to oil paint and all of my supplies are at my mom's...but I found my colored pencils and I'm starting a few little things. I'm excited about that.

5. Still working on grad school applications. Uuugggghhh.

6. I've been all about strawberry shortcake lately. The food, not the little Hasbro doll. ;) Ashlyn likes the doll but hates the dessert...mostly because she doesn't like "whoop cream." Silly girl! ;)

7. I bought a bunch of books after I graduated...things I wanted to continue studying in the field. I still have yet to finish the one I started first. :P I'm more than halfway done now, though! I just don't make a lot of time to read. I sit down and read 10-20 pages and then I start thinking of all the other things I need to do. Most of my reading occurs when I'm waiting. I got most of the pages read when I was in waiting rooms at the doctor's office and the DMV. :P

8. It's probably really sad that my leisure reading consists of books about criminal psychology, substance abuse, and social work theories. :P

9. Friday I will be spending the day going to garage sales with my dad. :) We've gone together the last couple years and it's always fun. I don't really spend a whole lot of time with my dad because we just don't have much in common (other than our personalities!), he's a dude so small talk usually consists of him talking about his glory days, and most of the time he's playing outside with my kids. But a whole day buying someone else's junk that we probably don't need...that's always good times. :)

10. I don't have cable but I have all my TV shows on DVD. I tend to cycle through all my favorite shows and have daily marathons of whatever show I happen to be fixated on at the time. Currently it's Grey's Anatomy. Mark "McSteamy" Sloan is so yummy. It came to me the first time I saw McSteamy on the show and now I can't see my McSteamy without thinking of the resemblance.

11. I really, really like riding on the back of the motorcycle. SO relaxing and fun. It's probably been one of my favorite "me" things to do so far this spring/summer. :)

12. The girls can't wait to go back to Botanica. The butterfly house opened this week and they're SO excited to see it again. We also need to go to the zoo and children's museum again.

13. Mostly we've been busy with a whole lot of softball. From yesterday until June 22, one of the girls has a game EVERY weeknight. That's a lot of softball. I'm not really too happy with Aubry's level this year. We are a rec team and some of the teams we're playing are competitive teams. The difference in experience is HUGE. This is the first year for our girls to be playing kid pitch and some of the other teams...they're 9 and 10 year olds and they're throwing hard and fast. It wouldn't be that bad...except two games now the other team has hit at least four of our players. These girls seem to have lots of speed but absolutely no control. It just irritates me. But...I'm not a fanatical die-hard sports fan, either, so...maybe it's just me. :P

Boob Tube Finales

Linking up this week to talk some more about TV... SPOILER ALERT...I'm talking about some TV show finales so if you haven't seen them and don't want to be spoiled, don't look! :P 

 Yep...I watched the finale of Grey's Anatomy. And I think I'm in the minority but I actually liked it. I hated the Season 3 Yang/Burke wedding finale, Season 5 Izzie Cancer/George Dies finale, and the Season 7 shooting finale. Hmm...I guess next year I won't like the finale. :P I think how viewers feel about the finale depends on how they felt about Lexie. I really like Lexie...but she wasn't a make or break character for me. Plus, I'd already pretty much figured out she was going to be the one to go. She and Arizona were the only ones on the plane who hadn't re-upped their contracts and Lexie looked to be in a lot worse shape than Arizona. I really liked Lexie and Mark together and their scenes in the finale were pretty heartbreaking (I'll admit, I cried)...but I'll still watch. I'm just glad McSteamy will still be around because he's sexy no matter who he's with. ;) He looks like he needs some comforting...I'll volunteer! ;)

Let's see...what other finales have I been watching...

Private Practice - Aww...poor Amelia. It was a really sad episode but it was a pretty good one. Violet gets on my nerves at times but I really like Pete and hope everything works out with him. I didn't used to like Charlotte but she's become one of my favorites, too. The only part of the episode I didn't like was the end. I'm over the whole Sam and Addison thing and I think she should stick with Jake. I'll be irritated if she accepts Sam's lame proposal...too little too late, in my opinion. 

NCIS - GREAT episode. I don't think any of the main characters will die in that one. They left it open as a cliffhanger...but I think everyone will be okay. The biggest shock was Ducky having a heart attack at the end, but I know he has re-upped and will be back. 

Criminal Minds - I thought the finale was pretty good. I'm sad to see Emily go but I think it will all work out alright. I think it will depend more on if they replace her and who they replace her with. Now Rossi...I'll be very sad if he ever leaves. :P He had a lot of good episodes this season and I loved the arc they had with his first wife. He needed some comforting too...I'd volunteer for him, too. ;) I'm excited for the next season.  

Once Upon a Time - I liked the finale. I pretty much knew Emma was going to wake up Henry with "true love" because it's a fairytale, after all. I really just started watching this show because I was bored one night but I've really liked it. I'm glad it will be back next season. I'll be curious to see how they play it out with magic coming back. 

The Secret Circle - I only started watching this show because Joe Lando was on it and I like that guy. But...they made him a bad guy and then killed him off so...I wasn't that upset that the show wasn't renewed for a second season because I wouldn't have been watching anyway. But...it was interesting while I did watch it. I'd like to see Joe Lando on TV some more, though. ;) 

House and SVU finales will air next week. I hadn't been much into House the last couple years but the last episodes of the series have been pretty good. I'm kinda indifferent to it being the last season of that show. But I'm REALLY sad that CSI Miami won't be back...it was one of my favorites. Tripp and Walter were my favorite. :) SVU has had a really good year so I'm glad it will be back. I was afraid it would suck after Elliot left, but they've done a good job with it and I'm still watching. 

I'm glad Burn Notice will be starting again in about a month! I've missed it! So I'm really excited about that. Gene Simmons Family Jewels will be back again this month so it'll be nice to have some new episodes of a show to watch through the summer. Oh! And I'm really liking Ice Loves Coco so hopefully that will be back sometime soon, too. 

I think that's it! 

Thursday 13 - Old TV Shows

A couple weeks ago, I discussed my 13 favorite tv shows of the moment. I also listed a couple TV shows that were no longer on air (Dr Quinn Medicine Woman and Smallville) and I thought I would list some more shows from the past that I enjoyed....

1. Dawson's Creek - I watched this show pretty much from beginning to end. I was around the same age as the characters in the show and a lot of it seemed to be similar to my life. I actually have this series on DVD...I had a gift card from my birthday and found it online pretty cheap. :) It was interesting going back and watching it now as an adult. It was awesome back then...a lot different now. ;)

2. Beverly Hills 90210 - The original! I started watching it fairly late...I think it wasn't until 1995-1996 that I started watching it. And back then I wasn't as OCD about catching up on old episodes (plus it was harder without the internet). To this day I still haven't seen all the episodes. But...I enjoyed it. Brandon was my hottie crush and I liked Andrea while she was on there.

3. Party of Five - You really don't hear much about this show these days but it was big when I was in high school. I didn't watch it as closely as Dawson's Creek but I tried to watch it when I was home. My favorite characters were played by Scott Wolf and Jennifer Love Hewitt. :)

4. Sisters - Anyone remember this show? My mom liked it so I watched it with her a lot. I liked Teddy and Georgie...they were my favorites. I don't think I watched it through all of the seasons because my taste started to move more towards "teenage" shows.

5. Picket Fences - OMG does anyone remember this one? I forgot all about it until I looked up "90s TV Shows" and it was on a top 40 list. LOL. I watched this one with my mom, too. I really like Kathy Baker...she was my favorite on this show but I liked Tom Skerritt's character, too.

6. The Real World - I watched this off and on as a teen. My favorite season was when they were on the ship for Semester at Sea. I so badly wanted to be able to do that (Semester at Sea, not Real World). I've always loved traveling...but...couldn't afford it! And now I'm too old...and still can't afford it. :P

7. Oz - I started watching this show after I started watching Law & Order SVU...because Christopher Meloni played in it...as well as several other characters I liked (like JK Simmons). It's kind of a brutal show but as someone who wanted to become a correctional counselor, it was interesting to me.

8. Roseanne - Such a dysfunctional family show...but I liked it. I love John Goodman. I do think the old Becky was more believable in that family than the new Becky the eventually had. Darlene (Sara Gilbert) was also one of my favorite characters.

9. Star Trek: The Next Generation - The ONLY Star Trek that I enjoyed. My mom watched this show a lot so I watched it with her.

10. Cheers - This was another show that my mom watched so I ended up watching it. Kirstie Alley is also a local (she's from Wichita, Kansas) so that was always neat to me. It's not like a lot of people from around here really make it big.

11. Buffy/Angel - I'm listing them together because one was a spinoff from the other. This was another show that was big when I was a teen. I mostly watched them for David Boreanaz (YUM).

12. Empty Nest - Does anyone else remember this show? I loved the five main characters. This was back when I actually watched sitcoms...which I don't watch often anymore. When I was little, I watched things like I Love Lucy, I Dream of Genie, Bewitched, etc. which were shows that my mom liked...and this was another one that I watched because my mom watched and ended up liking it.

13. Golden Girls - I LOVED this show growing up. Sometimes I'll still watch reruns if they happen to be on TV. Sometimes it was completely corny...but I liked the characters a lot.

Thursday 13 - TV Shows

I don't have cable. I have a TON of kids movies in my house and pretty much every Andy Garcia movie ever made, a lot of Bruce Willis's movies, and the Lethal Weapon collection. I have maybe 10 other movies aside from that. ;) I like to have my TV on while I'm doing things around the house or playing on my computer. So most of the time...I'm catching up on my favorite shows or watching old episodes. OH...and I have this compulsion that when I decide to like a tv show, I HAVE to watch the series from the beginning. Most of my favorite shows I started watching after the first season...so I actually went back and caught up on everything I missed. I just felt "twitchy" (what I describe as that "not right" feeling in my OCD) until I was caught up. I'm weird. :P

I like a lot of TV shows. Here are 13 of my favorites:

1. CSI MIAMI - I've been watching this a lot lately. I tend to go in spurts about which show is my favorite of the moment. My favorite characters are Tripp and Walter (and Yelina when she was a regular)...but I like the cast as a whole. I really, really hope the show is renewed for another season. I started watching the show during Season 5 and have been keeping up with it since...though I didn't like the episodes that had Elizabeth Berkley in them. Her arc really didn't appeal to me. My kids actually watch this show with me (Aubry more so than Ashlyn). Aubry has become really interested in the "clues" and things like fingerprints and gun powder and how it leads to a suspect. We've had a lot of "fake blood" conversations and they understand that these kind of shows aren't real. We've even watched some videos on how movies are made and stuff. The bodies and killers don't really scare them...they're actually more afraid of the alligators that are often on the show. ;) Aubry's favorite character is Horatio.

2. NCIS - This is another show that I really love the whole cast together. It wouldn't make me very happy if they had to change any of the key players (except maybe Vance). I like Ziva better than Kate...but I do miss Mike Franks. One thing that I like about this show is there is a lot of humor for a "crime procedural" type of drama. The girls watch this show with me, too. Ashlyn likes this one more than CSI Miami. They both think Gibbs is amazing, Abby is awesome, Ziva is pretty, and the "Gibbs slap" is the funniest thing ever. I didn't start watching this show until around 2010 when I was watching my newborn niece and started watching it at my sister's house.

3. CRIMINAL MINDS - It's a very dark show but I like the subject. It's basically what I went to school for. In another life, I would have loved to join the BAU. But...I have kids so not going to be moving across the country anytime soon. I also really, really like Joe Mantegna who plays David Rossi. This is one show that I don't watch when the girls are home...it's too scary and complicated. It's easier to comprehend fake blood than acting out evil motivation and behavior. I started watching this show in 2009 or something. My mom once told me that David Rossi reminded her of my boyfriend (dark eyes, dark hair, dark skin, the goatee) and then started watching it. But the subject matter is really what hooked me.

4. GREY'S ANATOMY - I started watching this show during Season 3 when my supervisor at work was talking about it and saying I should watch it. I was given Season 1 of the show by a friend and one night I couldn't sleep so I started watching it. Then it became something we talked about a lot at work. :) At times it mirrored my life and some of the quotes (especially the voiceovers at the beginning and end) were so fitting. My favorite characters are McDreamy and McSteamy. ;) The girls don't watch this show with me, either.

5. PRIVATE PRACTICE - I didn't think I was going to like this show but I started watching it one night when I was tired of reruns and I ended up liking it. I started watching during season 2 and have kept up with it since. My favorite character is Pete but I like the cast as a whole, too (that seems to be a common thing for the shows that I like).

6. HOUSE - I started watching this show during Season 3 because my boyfriend liked it. I like House because he and I think a lot alike sometimes when it comes to human behavior and puzzles. He likes medical puzzles...I'm more of a psychological puzzles type of person. This is the last season of House and I can't say I'm very surprised...it has changed a lot over the last 8 years and there have been times when I don't even feel like watching it. I do hope it gets a good ending, though.

7. LAW & ORDER: SVU - I started watching this show in 2003 (Season 5) shortly after I got married. It's pretty much what I did on Tuesday nights and would always make sure I was home to watch it. They also ran a lot of reruns so I caught up with it pretty easily. Sometimes the subject matter is difficult because I had been a victim of sexual assault in high school. I really like the cast in this one, too, but Olivia (Mariska) has always been my favorite. I actually sent her fanmail one year and she even wrote me back (back when she was still answering her own emails). There were a couple years where I didn't follow the show as closely and this season I really miss Elliot (Chris Meloni) but the new characters are growing on me and I'm getting back into the show more.

8. BURN NOTICE - I almost forgot to list this one because it's on hiatus right now! I really, really love this show and it's actually one of the few shows I've been watching from the beginning. The cast is awesome together and I have a really hard time picking my favorite out of the 5 main characters. Sometimes Fi reminds me of myself...we're both skinny and lanky (long necks and long arms) and we both have attitudes that are a lot alike (though I'm not really big on blowing things up, myself). The new season starts in June and I'm interested to see how Fi being in prison plays out. The girls watch this show with me, too, and they really like it...they like that Michael saves everyone. :)

9. ONCE UPON A TIME - This is another show that I've watched from the beginning...though it just started this season. ;) I was all caught up on the new episodes of my shows and looking for something to watch one night...and this happened to be what I picked. I recognized Jennifer Morrison from House so that's what initially caught my attention and then I got hooked on it. :) I keep waiting to see what happens next. If you haven't, check it out! It's really interesting. It's really different...and the way they play out some of the "fairy tales" is cool.

10. THE SECRET CIRCLE - I just now started watching this show...a show about witches. I didn't know what to expect from it. My dad told me about it and all I knew was that it had Joe Lando in it so that's why I decided to check it out. ;) I was surprised...even though it's not something I typically like, I got into it. I started with Joe Lando's first couple episodes and now I'm catching up with the first 14 that I missed.

11. DR QUINN MEDICINE WOMAN - Speaking of Joe Lando...this was one of my FAVORITE shows when I was growing up. My mom, sister, and I started watching it from the pilot and really fell in love with it. We used to set the VCR to record every episode. I'm sad that it was only on for 6 seasons...I think they could have done a lot more with it. I luuuuuuved Sully. :) I have the entire series (which included the 3 movies they made after it went off air) because I thought it would be something the girls would enjoy and we could watch together. They love it, too! I love sharing part of my childhood with them.

12. SMALLVILLE - This show isn't on the air anymore, but I liked it when it was. My boyfriend started watching it in the fall/winter of 2007 and I kept getting sucked in. He was trying to catch up on the past episodes, too, and after awhile I found myself catching up on all the episodes that he'd watched with out me, too. I got into it a lot more than I expected. Ashlyn also really liked watching it with me. She called it "Clark" instead of Smallville and her favorite thing was to sing the intro song ("somebody saaaaaaave me"). ;) I think my favorite part of the show was the beginning when they were in high school. My favorite character was Chloe followed closely by Lana...but I actually really liked Lionel Luther after he went to the "good" side. I wish they would have kept Lionel, Lex, and Lana longer than they did. The end of the series started to kinda lose my interest off and on but I still kept watching it until the end. Every once in awhile I like to go back and watch reruns. :)

13. TEEN MOM 2 - This is my guilty pleasure show. ;) For some reason, I just get sucked into watching these young girls and their drama. I watched it a lot when I was at the man's house working on homework during the day. I watched the original Teen Mom as well, but I found myself following Teen Mom 2 more. Trashy Reality TV :P



So...those are my favorites of the moment! There are a lot of past shows I liked that aren't on anymore...but I've reached my 13 for this week. Maybe next week I will revisit 13 of my favorite tv shows from the past (aside from a couple that I listed here). :)

Happy Happy Happy!

- I'm happy that I'm starting to actually DO more with Pinterest. It's inspired me to think of new ways to be more organized. And I've tried some new recipes. Last week I had my parents and my sister over for Crockpot BBQ Chicken. It was hard smelling it cooking for 4 hours! Aubry and Ashlyn thought it was a bit spicy but everyone liked it. Last night, I had two leftover chicken breasts and I felt like more BBQ chicken. I decided to change it up a bit...biggest thing cooking it in the sauce on the stove instead of the crockpot. I cut it into strips so it didn't take long to cook. And it tasted AWESOME. It wasn't as spicy, either, so I think the girls will like it better, too. I kinda just threw some ingredients together but I did try to put the recipe together and added it to pinterest. My cameraphone doesn't take the most awesome food pictures but I only had about 5 seconds before I started stuffing my face. ;) This summer I hope to do a lot of the craft projects with the girls that I've found on pinterest.

- I've started playing Draw Something. I've seen people talking about it for awhile and I downloaded it...but hadn't played. Last night I couldn't sleep because of vertigo and a headache so I thought I'd jump in. I really like playing it...even though it kinda makes me feel a bit self-conscious about my art skills. Especially when they can see the pictures you've "trashed" too. lol. :P I've discovered I'm really not that great at drawing with my finger on my phone. And I have a Zagg screen protector and it's kinda rubbery-ish and not very smooth so that doesn't help. But I've really liked playing and seeing what other people draw. :) My username is tinycandi if you want to play with me!

- The school called to say that Ashlyn has a fever so I went to pick her up. I'm not happy that she's sick...but I'm happy that it means we get to cuddle on the couch together until her dad gets home from work. She's asleep now.

- Watching CSI Miami makes me happy...and I'm super happy that there were new episodes this week. Of course, I haven't watched the two newest episodes because I've been busy working on pictures so I just watch reruns on my TV instead of the new ones on my computer. But they're there when I'm ready! :)

- Speaking of pictures...I finished the 1 week photo shoot of my niece! So now I just have her baptism pictures...which I'm about 1/4 of the way through. :P But I really like working on my pictures so it's not too bad. After the baptism pictures I'll have some time to catch up on my own...I have Ashlyn's music program and need to catch up on my 366day photo project.

- The weather is BEAUTIFUL. Today it's supposed to be 80 here in Kansas! My friend Mark is going to take me out for a ride on his motorcycle this week...if the weather stays nice. So hopefully it works out! :)

- My phone is dying...which doesn't really make me happy...but I am available for an upgrade in April so that makes me happy! I think I'm going to get the HTC Rezound...anyone have any experience with that phone? According to the specs it has everything I want (mostly impressed with the 8mp rear camera and 2mp front camera). Right now I have the HTC Incredible which I've LOVED but after the phone upgrade a couple months ago, my phone hasn't been the same. It randomly turns off, does funny things when I'm on the phone, and just in the last couple weeks my speaker blew. BUT...just one more month and I get a brand spanking new phone! :) Shiny new electronics make me happy.

- I'm just in a really good mood today...which is nice because I guess I've been PMSing the last week...I've been pretty darn cranky. So...being happy goes on my happy list! :)

What is your happy list? Link up and share!

Thursday 13 - Random Thoughts

1. Today I got the phone call from the eye doctor saying that Ashlyn's glasses were in! She's been waiting since last Friday and asked everyday if they called yet. So I picked her up from school this afternoon to go get them. She looks SO adorable in them...and she's pretty excited. I'm definitely hoping they will help with the issues she is having at school with reading and writing. We have exercises to do for her eyes as well...to help with her tracking/focusing.

2. Had lunch today at the Dillon's Bistro...we went with Chinese. If the Dillons that I usually go to has Teriyaki chicken, I've never had it. But that's what I had today and it was really good! A little messy...but it tasted good. :)

3. I think it's really, really cute that Ashlyn always calls her hands her "paws."

4. Aubry is growing up way too fast. She is already starting to get that teenager attitude going. I thought I would have a few years more with my sweet baby girl before heading into that stage of her life. :P

5. My super awesome friend, Kelli, gave me two boxes of girl scout cookies. I just finished the box of Peanut Butter Patties and I'm trying really, really hard not to devour the box of Lemonades all in one sitting. :P

6. We have had some pretty crazy weather here lately. I've really liked the warm days. Early this morning we had a thunderstorm with lots of sleet and some snow. I like thunderstorms...minus the cold weather. :P

7. I've been really enjoying the website sneakpeeq.

8. I wish we had more than one company in this area that provides phone, cable, and internet service.

9. I wish my tv shows were new this week! It seems like every show I like except Once Upon a Time and CSI Miami was a rerun. Booo.

10. I've been on a CSI Miami kick lately. Walter and Tripp are my favorites. In recent years I really like Ryan, too. I really like when Yelina makes an appearance, too. I wonder if they will ever bring back Suzie and Madison?

11. I'm still working on trying to finish all these pictures I've taken lately. I did get a lot of cute ones, though. Here's one of my favorites that I took of my newest niece:

I have nicknamed her Bebe...because that's what it sounds like when her big sister (who I nicknamed Bug) says "baby."

12. I also need to catch up on posting my 366 day photo project pictures. I have been taking them everyday...just not always good about posting them in a very timely manner. I think I did better when I was doing the 366 days of self-portraits because I had joined the flickr group and had a time limit of when they could be posted to the group. But I haven't used flickr in a long time.

13. I have a headache and I would really like to go to bed...but I have vertigo and it really doesn't get that bad until I lay down. So...hopefully the medicine will kick in and I can get some sleep.

And one more final thought...I'm not sure why I keep adding the label "meme" to my posts since it seems almost every single post has been a meme of some kind. :P

Boob Tube Babble!

I found another blog carnival that I like! My blog is fast becoming a collection of bloggy meme answers. But...right now it's what I've got! I'm a little bit late but I just found it...and I just finished catching up on my shows. I like a lot of shows. ;)



Favorite 90s TV Shows!
- I actually wasn't into Friends or Seinfield. They were really popular in the 90s but I just never got into them.
- But I did like Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman (Michaela and Sully are my favorite couple!) and I now have the series on DVD and my kids really like watching it.
- I liked Dawson's Creek (Pacey and Joey were another favorite couple!), Buffy, Angel, Party of Five, and Beverly Hills 90210 in the late 90s.
- I watched Chicago Hope and ER in the 90s but didn't watch it in later years.
- My family also watched Sisters if anyone remembers that one.

And now...what did I watch this week? (watch out for spoilers if you haven't seen these shows yet!)

CRIMINAL MINDS - I really love this show. I thought it was a pretty interesting case this week with the home invasions committed by a guy whose motivation was influenced by a politician's hate crime attitude. Pretty interesting. I also caught up on the episode the week before...I loved the moment in the elevator when Rossi was quizzing Hotch about his date. :)

CSI MIAMI - I loved the beginning where Ryan was freaking out about the horse and Callie was able to easily walk to the horse and calm him down. "Don't put your fingers in his mouth!" :) The whole being stuck in a tanning bed thing...UGH. I'm claustrophobic and the fact that she died from no air just makes that even more creepy. I liked when Horatio said "attempting to lie to me is an unwise practice." The ending was sad but I like that Horatio got there in time and it turned alright. I like Horatio's soft side.

GREY'S ANATOMY - It was an okay episode. I loved McSteamy throughout the episode...he's always nice to look at but he was kinda cute the way he was trying to set Avery up with a woman...not really what he was doing but how he looked doing it. ;) lol. I also liked the moment at the end with Bailey teaching Derek how to fix Zola's hair...it was cute. :) The situation between Richard and Adele was really sad, though.

PRIVATE PRACTICE - Mmmm...I like Benjamin Bratt. He's nice to look at. ;) I'm glad things are going well between Cooper, Charlotte, Erica, and Mason. And I'm curious to see how things go with Amelia. For some reason, the week before I wondered if she was pregnant. And I also want to see Pete and Violet back together. I have a thing for Pete, too. ;)

HOUSE - I'm not into it as much anymore as I used to be. But I've still been watching it. I do think it's been a little better the last few weeks. The foreign wife thing is an interesting plot...I wonder how that will play out. I liked House and Wilson in this last episode and loved the moment when Taub said he'd split the pay raise with House to get the job.

NCIS - It was an alright episode...but not really hugely spectacular. I am kinda indifferent to Jamie Lee Curtis's role. I don't know...just wasn't one of my favorite episodes. It had too much of the shrinks and not enough of the characters I already like.

ONCE UPON A TIME - This is a new show that I got into this year. I think it's been a pretty good one...it at least keeps me interested even though it's really not my kind of show. I'm curious to see what will happen with the affair thing..and where the chick was after the car accident.

SVU - I kinda liked the glimpse into Benson's private life and seeing her date someone. I'm not particularly a fan of the dude...but it's not that bad. And he is pretty sweet with her. I like a balance of case and private life. And I thought it was an interesting case in this episode.