Shout Out

Is there anybody out there? Just wondering if anyone reads my blog. Just curious, you know.

Do me a favor. In the comments section, let me know if anyone is there. Leave a comment...anything, say hello, where you are reading from, if my blog really sucks. I just want to know if anyone is there on the other end. Feel free to leave a comment anonymous, just leave something.

Send me a shout out!

October Unprocessed 2012 Challenge

I just made the commitment to take the October Unprocessed 2012 Challenge. I am hoping it won't be that much of a challenge since I do this most days. I guess what makes it so much of a challenge is that it is a true commitment I am making to myself and the whole blogosphere.

One fix I will have to make is for breakfast. Mornings are so crazy around here it is so easy to grab a processed granola bar and go. My other morning go to is cereal. I need to come up with some quick and easy breakfast recipes.

Tonight I got the dry ingredients together for quinoa pancakes. For each cup of the dry mix I put together, I need to add some almond milk, vanilla, and cooked quinoa. Sunday morning will be the true taste test with the kids. Their favorite pancake mix is Krusteaz. I hope mine can compare.

Please join me and take the challenge, too.

Crazy Eights

I have been tagged for a meme. This is a first for me! At first I was going to just do it real quickly, but I decided to actually put some thought into it and use it as a learning tool into my deeper self that I rarely tap into.

So, here's to you Sheila at My Memories. Thanks for tagging me and making me look a bit deeper into myself than I would normally allow others to go.

Here's the Crazy Eights Meme:

Things I am passionate about:
1. Hand writing thank you notes and good manners
2. Having fun in life
3. Reading to my children
4. Stimulating my brain by doing puzzles, reading, computer games
5. My family
6. Dancing and listening to music
7. Learning
8. Health: being healthy, staying healthy, advocating a healthy lifestyle

Books I’ve read recently (or am currently reading):
1. Ines of My Soul: A Novel by Isabel Allende
2. Little Earthquakes by Jennifer Weiner
3. Smart Discipline by Larry J. Koenig,, PhD
4. The Making of A Happy Family by Larry J. Koenig,, PhD
5. The Dirty Girls Social Club by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez
6. Pocket Parent
7. Secrets of Longevity: Hundreds of Ways to Live to be 100 by Dr. Maoshing Ni
8. The Hidden Manual: Mac OS X

Things I say often:
1. Little Miss
2. One, two, and if I get to number three
3. Good golly
4. Oh my gosh
5. What do You think?
6. My oh my
7. You tell me why
8. Please and Thank you

Things I want to do before I die:
1. Instill in my children the values I feel are important
2. Be able to have a conversation in Spanish with my husband
3. To visit a foreign country and communicate in their language (not English, of course)
4. Visit Hong Kong to fulfill my grandmother’s last trip planned before she died
5. To teach my children all of the necessary lessons needed to be respectful and productive human beings
6. To teach my children to be passionate about life
7. To dance: I love to dance and think it should be part of my daily life
8. Have one last dance with my husband

What attracts me to my friends:
1. A little bit off like me
2. March to the beat of their own drum
3. A passion for life
4. A certain spirit about them
5. Honesty
6. Good values
7. Listening even when I am making no sense
8. Common ideas of life

Things I learned last year:
1. Sometimes you just need to let it go
2. Choose your battles with your children
3. My children are a lot more like me than I realized
4. My girls also have a great love to dance
5. I can order everything I need from Sam’s online. They will do all the shopping, and I just have to go there to pay for it and pick it up
6. No recycling means tons of waste
7. Hardships can make you stronger
8. Downsizing all of my possessions (due to natural disaster) has been a really good thing

Songs I can listen to over and over:
1. Only Love Can Break Your Heart (Saint Etienne)
2. Diamond Girl (TKA)
3. Never There (Cake)
4. Amargo Adios [Version Tequila] (Inspector/Mariachi “Los Reyes de Guadalajara”)
5. Rompecabezas (Aterciopelados)
6. Cuts You Up (Peter Murphy)
7. Good Times Roll (The Cars)
8. Rush (Aly & AJ)