Values Profile Test

Your Values Profile

Loyalty: You value loyalty a fair amount. You're loyal to your friends... to a point. But if they cross you, you will reconsider your loyalties. Staying true to others is important to you, but you also stay true to yourself. Honesty: You value honesty a fair amount. You're honest when you can be, but you aren't a stickler for it. If a little white lie will make a situation more comfortable, you'll go for it. In the end, you mostly care about "situational integrity." Generosity: You value generosity highly. So much so that you often put your own needs last. There's nothing wrong with having a caring heart... But you may want to rethink your "open wallet" policy. Humility: You value humility highly. You have the self-confidence to be happy with who you are. And you don't need to seek praise to make yourself feel better. You're very modest, and you keep the drama factor low. Tolerance: You value tolerance a fair amount. You are open to new cultures, beliefs, and ideas. You have very few prejudices that you're aware of. And while you are tolerant, you do stand true to what you believe.

The Five Factor Values Test

Wordless Wednesday

(LOL- I bet that phone was ringing off the hook!)

Pantry Makeover!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I cleaned out and organized our pantry the other day. It had gotten SO bad! It looks much better now!

Here are the very embarrassing before pics:























...and here are the much improved after pics:





























Let's see how long it can stay cleaned out & organized this time!!!

Quick and Dirty IQ Test

LOL! Well, I guess we can't all be "above average" on everything, huh?! I would have thought my results on "logical intelligence" and "mathematical intelligence" would have been reversed, as I suck at math! lol But, I guess a lot of others do too. heehee.

Your IQ Is 95

Your Logical Intelligence is Below Average Your Verbal Intelligence is Above Average Your Mathematical Intelligence is Above Average Your General Knowledge is Average

A Quick and Dirty IQ Test

Spring?

Well, after an unseasonably warm winter, for the first day of spring yesterday we got snow! Not as much as they were calling for though. They were saying we would get about 6 inches, and we ended up with about 2. And the streets were just wet. So, no school closings or anything. Joe's work closes when the local public schools are canceled, so he was really hoping the school's would get canceled. We even stayed up late last night and finally watched the movie Walk the Line. lol So, now we're both tired today, but oh well. It was a good movie...although I found myself saying "Jerk!" outloud to the tv several times. heehee. This might sound kinda weird and you may think I'm crazy, but I've noticed for many years now (started noticing it when I was around age 10 or so) that when I hear certain songs/music from around that time period I get this weird feeling...kinda like a de ja vu mixed with haunting feelings come over me. Especially with a few of the Beatles songs and some of Elvis's songs, and several others too. It is so strange. I can't really describe it in words very well. But it was the reason I put off seeing Walk the Line, even though I knew it was probably a great movie. I did get a little of that feeling at certain parts during the movie, but not nearly as bad as I do with some other songs. Very strange. I guess I'm just weird.

Oh! And guess what I did a few days ago? I cleaned out and better organized our pantry! lol Real exciting, huh? But it was HORRIBLY messy and cluttered and unorganized before and it looks SO much better now. I took before and after pics...I'll try to remember to post them later when I get home. lol

Bathtime Fun!

Just had to share this picture of my boys playing together in the tub! Makes me smile every time I look at it :) Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

My 4-day Weekend Report :)

I’m back in blogland after my 4-day birthday weekend. I had a good time! Thanks so much to all of you for all the nice birthday wishes and comments you left for me!!!! (Melissa and Laura even featured me on their blog entries, how fun is that?! Thanks!) For anyone that is interested, here’s how the weekend went:

Saturday: Was the "surprise" party for me in the city we use to live in. It was funny to watch Joe try to keep things a secret, seeing as I knew, but he didn't know that I knew. He did pretty good, although kept checking his watch the whole drive, and commenting on we might be a little late. We got to the restaurant, and walked to the back room where everyone shouted "Happy Birthday" when I walked in. I smiled and said Thank You and didn’t act shocked, but tried not to look too unsurprised either. My family and Joe’s family were both there, as well as a few of our friends. Unfortunately a lot of the friends couldn’t make it. One of my friends from high school that I still keep in touch with but who now lives on the complete opposite side of the state was there- she drove all that way to come! There were about 35 people there total. We had a nice lunch get-together. Joe and I both used to work at this restaurant about 14 years ago (it’s where we met), so it was kinda fun to go back. Funny enough, a couple of the same people even still work there!

After lunch, Joe’s family watched our boys while we went to the movies. Well, actually first we went to the tool store. LOL Then we went to the movie theater (which has changed a lot since we were there many years ago). They now have an Imax along with the regular theaters, and we saw "Deep Sea" in 3-D in the Imax. It was great, because we could actually get a beer and bring it in the theater! Don’t know if this is common in other states/areas, but I’ve never been able to take beer into a movie before! Unfortunately we didn’t know that the Imax one was only 40 minutes long, and we were a few minutes late, so it was over very quickly. We then went across the street to a little pizza place to have a beer and hang out. They had one of those old video game tables, similar to THIS so we played Ms. Pac Man at that table and drank some beers. It was fun to just play together and be silly and not have to worry about being parents for the moment! I kicked Joe’s butt the first game, but he badly kicked mine after that. We then were planning to go over to a good friend of ours house since he was working during the lunch party and missed it, but Adam was suddenly extremely fussy and tired, and we knew he wouldn’t make it through another get-together, so we had to cancel on that part and drive the boys home & put them to bed.

Sunday: I went to the 6-hour scrapbooking crop in the meeting room of Pizza Hut. Enjoyed hanging out with my sister and some friends there. My sis had another birthday cake for me there too. Unfortunately, the storms started while we were there, and when the tornado sirens went off, we had to go into the bathroom to take cover. (It was the restaurant’s policy). So, we all crammed into the bathroom. Sirens stopped, so we went back out and back to scrapbooking. Then they went off again, so this time we brought our chairs into the bathroom with us! lol (and yes, being the good little scrapbookers that we are, we did take pictures of us in the bathroom! LOL) This happened 3 times. Finally we decided to drive home when there was a break in the storms. That night we had tornado warning after tornado warning all around us. Our house was without electricity or phone line until the middle of the night. Since we couldn't cook, we drove back into town and picked up some Chinese take-out. Yum!!! Got back and ate it by candlelight since we had no other choice! I was awake til about 3am hearing all the warnings every few minutes on the battery-powered radio. We can’t hear the sirens from our house, so that’s the only way we could know when to take cover. Luckily we were not affected too badly at my house. We lost 1 tree, it snapped in half. But that appears to be the only thing. Other towns around us were not that lucky.

Monday: After being up most of the night, I was not too thrilled about getting my picture taken for our family photo! And it was still SO windy from the storms. I got blown all to pieces getting in and out of the car, so by the time we actually got the pic taken, any curl/style that had been in my hair was completely gone. *sigh* Oh well. We got the family photo done anyway, and it is okay. Not good, but not as terrible as I expected. See the results HERE. The 1st one would have been our pick, but Brendan had this devious demon-child smile on his face (which you can’t tell too much from the computer image, but it’s very obvious in person), so we had to go with the last one. Then after that we dropped the boys at daycare, we went to lunch at a restaurant I’d been wanting to try, and then went to see THIS. I thought it was supposed to be a very funny comedy, but it wasn’t at all! Joe thought the movie sucked. I thought it was okay, but it just wasn’t what I expected. I had wanted to see 16 Blocks, but the show time didn’t match our schedule for that one. (By the way, anyone out there that has seen the movie, did you find it as creepy as I did all those live "angels" dangling from the ceiling at the wedding?! Looked like a bunch of people had hung themselves or something...I know it was supposed to look neat and "beautiful" but I thought it looked ridiculous and creepy! LOL)

Tuesday: My actual birthday and the official beginning of being 30. Joe worked, boys went to daycare, and I had the day to myself at home. I did a little scrapbooking, a little tv watching, and a little cleaning around the house. Not very exciting, but was nice to just be by myself for awhile.
Today: I’m back at work, and back to reality. *sigh*

Almost the weekend...

...and it's not just any ol' weekend, it's almost my birthday weekend! Woohoo!!! Yes, I get a whole weekend, not just 1 day :) True, my actual b-day isn't until Tuesday, but I'm taking off Monday & Tuesday so I have a 4-day weekend. As I was leaving for work this morning, I told my husband that at 5pm when I leave work today, it will officially be the start of my birthday weekend. He laughed and said, "that's funny, most people only get a birthDAY, but you always have a birthday WEEKEND." Yep! He's got it! All year long I take care of everyone else, my birthday is when I demand to celebrate me. LOL!

Growing up my parents always made a big deal out of my birthday (and my sister's too of course). My mom would spend months planning our birthday parties and everything would always have a theme, depending on what we were interested in at the time. It was just awesome. She would decorate the house with balloons and streamers and various other decorations in our "theme". There would be colorful plates and napkins and cups, and a centerpiece on the table to match. Party games would go along with the theme too. And she would go way overboard on gifts as well. Every year was different. Sometimes it would be at home, sometimes at the roller skating rink, sometimes at the bowling alley, sometimes horseback riding party, and then the best ones when the parties were sleepovers and the fun lasted all night long! She really made us feel so special (every day of the year, but especially on our birthdays!) So I blame (thank) her for my obsession to make sure I enjoy my birthdays, even now that I'm an adult. lol And probably why I get so disappointed and hurt on the years that hubby doesn't do anything for my birthday, some years not even a card.

BUT, he has been getting better lately (he remembered to get me a couple Christmas gifts this year), and I happen to know that he's got something planned for this year's birthday- my 30th! Yippee!!! So, I am just itching to get out of work today...is it 5:00 yet? No? Only 4 more hours to go. I started laundry last night, and will finish it up tonight so that I do NOT have to worry about laundry this weekend. Tomorrow we are going to (a city I won't mention) and "eating lunch with hubby's brother and his fiance". That's code for "surprise party for me!" LOL! Ssshhh...I'm not supposed to know about that.

On Sunday I'm going to a scrapbooking crop with my sister and friends. 6 hours of kid-free time for me, woohoo!

On Monday, Joe is thinking about taking off too. If he does, then we might finally go get a family photo taken. Ugh! Have mixed feelings about that. We really need to, the last family photo we had done was when Brendan was 1 yr old. He's now 5. And poor little Adam has never been in our family photo yet. So we really need to. But, I'm dreading it because I still can't get over the fact that I still have 20 lbs to loose after having 2 kids. I hate to have "proof" of this in a photo that lasts forever. LOL! But, maybe I can get over that...maybe...I'll have to do some self-convincing. If the pics look too horrible, we don't have to buy any, right? We could always try again in a few months when I've lost more? *sigh*

Then, maybe we'll drop the boys off at daycare for part of the day, and go see a movie. I love to watch movies in the theater. I don't know why, I just do. But every year, I am reminded that March is usually a terrible month for movies. I really can't decide what I want to see.

Then on Tuesday, my actual birthday, I will have the day to myself. Joe will be at work, the boys will be at daycare, and I will have the whole day to myself. I haven't decided what exactly I'll do that day yet. But I love time alone, I crave it, so it really doesn't matter what I do, I will enjoy it.

Just curious, what would you do with a day to yourself???

So, anyway...if I'm not blogging much the next four days, then you know I'm having fun celebrating! Hope everyone has a great weekend :)

Wordless Wednesday

Look what I just ordered!

I just ordered THIS for the boys to have fun playing with this summer. It is so cute and looks so fun (and so affordable!) that I couldn't resist! Heck, *I* want to play on it too! LOL

Evil?

Found this from Melissa's blog...I'm not quite as evil as she is though. LOL!

You Are 34% Evil

A bit of evil lurks in your heart, but you hide it well. In some ways, you are the most dangerous kind of evil.

How Evil Are You?

Here's a funny!

Skipping Monday Memories this week!

I'm skipping the Monday Memories this week, sorry! I'll jump back in on that again next Monday :)

Sharing Pics

Just thought I'd share some pictures from the birthday party the boys went to last weekend. It was for one of Brendan's little friends at preschool. Both my boys had a blast!

What do you think?

Okay, so a few days ago I mentioned that I thought something was up, and that I was suspicious that Joe was planning something for my 30th birthday. Well, yesterday I found out I was right! lol There was a message on our answering machine from the restaurant asking for an expected headcount for that Saturday before my b-day. Too funny. But now I don't know what I should do. I deleted the message so Joe wouldn't know that I know. But, then that means their phone call won't get returned. So, I'm not sure what to do. Should I go ahead and tell him about the message? I don't want him to be disappointed that the surprise is ruined, but the restaraunt needs to know a headcount. Hmmm...what do you think I should do? lol

Wordless Wednesday

Almost March!

I "learned" something new today. I laid sod for the very first time. We helped the landscape division at work lay sod from 8am-12. It was really easy, although by the end of the 4 hours I was definitely tired, and it was good exercise walking back and forth, squatting, standing, lifting, etc for four hours straight. (and I had already done my 5am exercise too, so double bonus!) And what a beautiful day to be outside! It's in the 60's and supposed to be in the 70's before the day is over. How nice! Now I'm back in my office, sitting inside with no window so I guess I will miss the rest of this beautiful day. That's the bad part about having a job that is about 80% desk work.

Here it is almost March already! I love March. My birthday is in March, and the days are getting warmer, but not too hot. I'm down to exactly 2 weeks until my 30th birthday! I think Joe *might* be planning something (yea!) because about a week or so ago he told me that he wanted us to go to the city most of our friends and family live in on March 11 (the weekend before my b-day) so that he can go to the Harbor Freight store with his brother, and then he added that we'll eat at Ponderosa (where we both used to work when we were first dating back around 1992). Now maybe that doesn't sound suspicious if you don't know my husband, but this is very strange for him to have things that well planned that far ahead, especially of where exactly we'll eat! So I'm thinking something is up. Which is great! I'm excited. I love to celebrate birthdays, I guess I'm still like a kid in that way.

Monday Memories

Did I ever tell you about the family vacation when I realized my parents' marriage was coming to an end?

Growing up, my family was one of those families that usually took a big long family vacation each year. Shortly before I moved out, my parents had a trip planned to visit the Oregon Coast, Mount Rainier, Mount St. Helens, and a few other places. They wanted me to go, so I decided, what the heck, I'll go along on one last big family vacation. My sister was already long gone out of the house, so it was just me and my parents. The trip was a mixed bag. I already knew that my mom was suspicious of my dad's relationship with another lady. I remember the whole trip feeling this underlying tension. We did have fun on several parts of the trip, but there was just something in the air that didn't feel right. Something was different. Something was missing. The moment that particulary stands out, is when we got out of the car to walk along the coast. It was so incredibly beautiful! My dad walked and walked and got way out ahead of us. He finally stopped and sat on a huge rock and just stared out over the water. I sat down and watched him from afar. I could feel his turmoil. My heart sank. I knew in that moment that my mom's suspicions were probably right, and I knew that their 27+ year marriage was in jeopardy. I remember sitting there, in what seemed like such an ironic setting...the scenery was so beautiful, yet so sad and empty. My mom caught up to me, looked out at him, and she said something like, "He's trying to decide what to do, whether to leave or stay. Today's her birthday you know. He's upset that he can't be with her on her birthday." Of course he hadn't ever said out loud that he was trying to decide or anything about wanting to be with the other lady on her birthday, or even that there was someone else, but mom could tell. I didn't really know what to say. Deep down I knew she was right, but at the same time I felt the need to comfort her, tell her it was okay, and not to jump to conclusions. I wanted to be able to tell her she was imagining things, that Dad wouldn't do that to her, that their marriage was too strong for that. These were the things that I wanted to believe and wanted to be true. But things in life aren't always what we want.

I can't remember exactly the time span of events after that trip, but it wasn't too long after that, (maybe several months?), that Joe and I got a call early on a Sunday morning from my mom. She told us that he had finally admitted the truth, that there indeed was another woman. He was at church that morning (a little ironic! lol) when she called. What do you say to your mom when your dad has just broken her heart and crushed everything they had for almost 28 years?! "Oh no! Mom, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry" I kept saying.

They did get a divorce (as did my sister from her first husband, for similar reasons earlier that same year) Of course it took awhile for all to be final, but their divorce was eventually final the week before my wedding. What timing, huh?

There is obviously much more to this story as a whole, that I will not get into right now. But I do want to say that my dad was not just cheating on a hormonal whim. He believed that he had found his soul mate in this other woman, he was in love with her. It was tearing him up, because he didn't want to leave his family, but he also knew he was supposed to be with this other lady. It's a long, complicated story of emotions, feelings, and events that is too long for this entry.

Yes, he should have ended things with my mom before going to someone else, I don't excuse that. But in all fairness, I want to mention that aside from this betrayal, he is a great person and he has been one of the biggest inspirations in my life and I look up to him with great admiration.

And if you're wondering...My dad did marry the other woman. Now, almost 9 years after they got married, they are still very happy. My mom has had a boyfriend for almost that many years also, and he is very good to her. My dad's wife is a wonderful woman, and she is phenominal with my boys and my sister's boys. We all wish things had happened in a different order, but in the end everyone is probably happier with their lives.

Other Monday Memories:

Shelli (new hostess of MM)

Kdubs

Uisce

Melissa

Kimmy

Norma

Music Meme

I've been tagged by Kdubs!

The rules:
List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they're any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they're listening to.

Seven songs I like and listen to often are:

1. The first 5 songs on Kelly Clarkson: Breakaway cd
2. Something More by Sugarland
3. 100 Years by Five for Fighting
4. How Do You Like Me Now? by Toby Keith
5. Redneck Woman by Gretchen Wilson
6. Escape by Enrique Iglesias
7. I Volunteer by Collin Raye


If you're reading this and you haven't done this one yet...You're it!
Let me know if you do it :)

Just rambling about nothing much

Today is flying by. I had a bunch of stuff at work this morning at another facility, and just got back to my office and the day is more than half over! Tonight there is a fundraiser at a local restaurant for Brendan's daycare, where 15% of our bill gets donated to the daycare. So, we will be heading out to eat around 4:00, so that I have time to get back and work tonight from 6:30-9:30pm for an extra activity that's going on tonight. I'm bummed that I will have to miss American Idol tonight! I really wanted to see it, as an online friend's cousin is one of the ladies performing tonight. *sigh*

On another note, I've been listening to Dr. Phil's "Family First" book on cd to and from work for the last several days. It's been an eye opener in some ways. I mean, not that these were things I didn't logically know, but definitely pointed out some things that I hadn't thought about, interesting statistics/facts/studies, tips and things to do and not do, and I can see where we could possibly go about things better, for sure.

My co-worker just dropped off some Girl Scout cookies that I ordered from her daughter awhile back. Ugh! There's just no way to resist that temptation! lol I love GS cookies. I was a good girl and had a salad for lunch, so I can eat a few cookies, right? LOL