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LATE: Day 4 – Childhood Favorite(s): 

I was born January of 1980. And although I don’t remember much about the first few years of my life; I do remember my toys and the cartoons. The toys and cartoons of my childhood were pretty spectacular and awesome. I often wish you could get the toys we use to have for our kids now. Sure there are some of the same like My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake and Transformers (to name a few), they don’t have the magic like the ones from our childhood did. Some of my many favorites included: Popples     My Little Pony     Carebears     Muppet Babies     GI Joe TMNT     Original NES     Girl Talk: Date Line     Caboodles     Polly Pocket     Doug      Fraggle Rock    Rainbow Bright     Strawberry Shortcake     Alf     Thunder Cats     Jem & The Holograms     She-Ra     He-Man

Music Monday – Favorite Christmas Carols

The following are my favorite Christmas Carols:

“Angels We Have Heard On High” – 1862 – a French traditional carol “Les Anges dans nos Campagnes”

“Away in a Manger” – 1885 – first two stanzas attributed to unknown auther with the third stanza written by John McFarland in 1904

“Do You Hear What I Hear?” – 1962 – written by Noel Regney and Gloria Shayne

“Joy to the World” – words by Isaac Watts based on Psalm 98; music arranged by Lowell Mason based on themes in Handel’s Messiah

“Noel nouvelet” – French Carol – 15th century – translated into English as “Sing We Now of Christmas”

“O Holy Night” – words by Placide Cappeau de Rouquemaure, translated by John Sullivan Dwight, music arranged by Adolphe Adam

“Silent Night” – “Stille Nacht! heilige Nacht!” – written by Franz Xaver Gruber and Josef Mohr, English translation by John Freeman Young

“We Three Kings of Orient Are” – 1863 – written by Rev. John Henry Hopkins – strictly an Ephiphany carol

My 10 Summer Must Haves

I was prompted on the idea for this thanks to the lovely, and wonderful Nicole and her post about ‘Summer Must Haves‘.  I have seen a few other lists as well on blogs, websites and in magazines.  Here is my ‘ 10 Summer Must Haves’ List:

  1.  Sun Block – We currently favorite the following in our house and use them on every outing that involves the sun, especially our boating excursions.  We have been lucky enough this summer to only have a few occasions were sun burns happen, when in other years it was a constant during the summer.  However, thankfully in the process, we are all developing ‘Florida tans’.  I use a trick I was told in Hawaii of putting on the SPF for protection and then tanning lotion for enhancement.  It seems to work, or at least I think it does.
Coppertone Waterbabies SPF 50 – for protection
Neutrogena For Faces SPF 70 – for the face
Australian Gold Tanning Lotion SPF 15 – over top of the SPF 50

2.  Flip Flops – A must have every summer I think in every state….but especially in Florida were you can wear them almost year round.  I currently own more flip flops then other type of shoe and in many different styles and colors.  I would love to own a pair of these

Fish flip flops

 Or these:

Hello Kitty Flip Flops

3.  First Aid Kit – These are also a must, at any time.  We have one in the truck, one in my car, one in the boat and a travel one that is usually in my purse or whatever bag I happen to be carrying at the time.

4.  Bags – I have an assortment of canvas and cinch bags I put things in and carry with us.  I have a bag for the boat (titled ‘The Boat Bag’).  I also carry plastic grocery bags as well, especially on the boat and to the beach to put wet items in.

5.  After Sun Lotion – Ok so maybe this should have been up with or closer to sun block but a must have in my household during the summer is Banana Boat After Sun Lotion with Aloe.  It helps to take the sting out of burns as well as moisturize the skin and allow tanning to last longer with out peeling.

6.  Nail Polish – although I might not get regular pedicures (because of time & price constraints) I do regularly work on my feet at home and keep my toes painted.  I love colors and love to change colors, sometimes weekly.  My favorites right now are:

Sally Hansen – Hard As Nails – Xtreme Wear – #42 Gunmetal

Sally Hansen – Hard As Nails – Xtreme Wear – #140 Rockstar Pink

OPI – Texas Collection – Houston We Have A Purple

OPI – Texas Collection – Austin-tatious Turquoise

OPI – Pirates of the Caribbean Collection – Mermaid’s Tears

OPI – Pirates of the Caribbean Collection – Skull and Glossbones

OPI – Pirates of the Caribbean Collection – Steady As She Rose

OPI – Hong Kong Collection – Jade Is The New Black

OPI – Alice In Wonderland Collection – Thanks So Muchnesa

7.  Fruit – Gotta love summer fruits….grapes, strawberries, blueberries, cherries, raspberries, blackberries, pineapple, watermelon….all so good.

8.  Bathing Suit – I recently found a full piece that is perfect for me.  It fits me well, covers enough but also shows enough – if ya know what I mean.  It is black with design and has a ‘boy-short’ type bottom even though it is a full piece.

9.  Hair stuff – I always have a ouchless pony tail holder in my bag or around my wrist.  I try to buy ones that are brown in color to match my brunette color so they aren’t as noticeable but I also have ones in colors to match different clothing I have.  Also, my hair is naturally curly and living somewhere like Florida, humidity is a problem and so is frizz.  My current frizz product of choice is Agadir Argan Oil Treatment.  Plus it smells really good.

10.  iPod – got to have your tunes while relaxing by the pool or on the beach.  My playlist changes quite frequently depending on my mood or where I am going.  The iPod is also good for long car rides to get to the destinations.

30 Days of Truth – Day 2

Day 2: Something you love about yourself.

Something I love about myself was kind of hard to come up with.  There are things that I like about myself but don’t know if I would say I love them.  I mean I like my legs, I like my feet, I like my personality (well most of the time).

So I had to search for something that I love about myself.  I thought about asking someone else close to me, like my husband or my kids, but then that would be what someone else loved about me.  But I asked anyways, because I like hearing good things about myself (I swear I’m not narcissist).  My favorite was my 8 year saying, “I love everything about yourself, mommy” and then hugging me.

So something I love about myself would have to be my cooking.  I will brag about my cooking.  I am a good cook.  I wasn’t when I first met my husband, I was a horrible cook and thought that making hamburger helper or Stouffer’s lasagna was “making dinner”.  My husband being the genius he is started buying me cook books and I can’t thank him enough for that.  I started cooking as much as I could; trying new recipes and new themes every chance I got.  I still like to experiment with recipes and try new things.  For example, meals for this week are:

Monday Night – Spaghetti – Salad – Cheesy Garlic Bread

Tuesday Night – Roasted Red Pepper, Corn & Crab Chowder – Crescent Rolls

Wednesday Night – General Tso’s Chicken – Fried Rice

Thursday Night – Herb Crusted Roast with Red Wine Sauce – Pan Seared Asparagus with garlic – Crescent Rolls

Friday Night – Stuffed Poblano Peppers

Saturday Breakfast – Pancetta/Asparagus Fritta

Saturday lunch – Frozen Pizza – Salad

Saturday Dinner – Irish Blue Cheese soup – Crescent Rolls

Sunday Breakfast – Cinnamon rolls

Sunday Lunch – Spring rolls

Sunday Dinner – Chicken and Asparagus Soup