First, I have to thank you for letting me hi-jack Fun Monday for a week! Thanx Guys! Then I need to thank AFF for inspiring such a fun topic. Thanx Girl!

So, I asked you guys to tattle on yourselves.

A quirk is defined as a peculiarity of action, behavior, or personality; mannerism. We are all unique individuals, having quirks that help make us who we are. I would like to know what your quirks are. Confess to one, confess to ten, you decide. Just come back Monday ready to spill the beans, the rest of the world may look at you like you are from Mars, but you‘re among friends here. We won’t laugh, in fact that eccentricity just may endear you to us more.

I ran around all week asking my family what I do that is weird. Might I suggest never doing that? Boy did they come up with a list! I don’t think I’ll share them all. But here a few from their list.

• I have to fill my insulated cup (it has to be insulated) with ice and then soda. It has to be full of ice to the top first, over flowing even. After the ice is falling out of the cup I add the Diet Coke. Yes, Diet Coke (and Mocha Frappucino) is the only drink that ever crosses my lips. On the rare occasions I drink Milk (like once a year) it must have ice. And I never use a straw because it warms the liquid up too much.
• My food has to be hot hot hot, but that’s not the quirky thing. It must be a certain way on the plate. Like breakfast, eggs on the right, bacon on the hash browns (to keep them warm) and toast on the opposite side of the plate of me. I eat a bite of egg with a bite of bacon, then the hash browns and lastly the toast. There’s a method to any meal. Burgers and fries? Burger on the right and eaten first, fries on the left and eaten last. The big reason for this is that I love ll kinds of potatoes and don’t mind if they cool a little, hate meat so it must be as hot as possible, ketchup can be put in the spot left by the meat and then the dipping of fries is easiest.
• My ketchup must be room temperature or it will make the food cold.
• I will not eat any meat with “pink” in it. It must be well done, burnt even.
• I have to have, at a minimum, three pillows to sleep with. Two for under my head and at least one to hug. When at home I have two feather pillows for my head and a pillow on each side of me and one between my knees - yeah I sleep on my side.

• Ok, I had to add one more, it’s a good one, When I ask a question I always ask two questions. And the questions would have opposite answers if the person answered both. For instance, “Do you want to read a book? Or do you want to watch tv?” or “Should we go to the store? Should we stay home? Or I know we can go to the movie. Do you want to go to the movie? You’re probably too tired aren’t you?” or “I’m getting hungry, are you hungry? Oh no, you just ate an hour ago so you probably aren’t hungry. Are you?” I mostly do this with my husband and while writing it down it dawned on me that maybe I’m just carrying the conversation.

I think that’s enough quirkiness from me for one day. Run over and see how quirky our fellow bloggers are. Other people fessing up today are:

1. Anglophile Football Fanatic
2. Are we there yet mom?
3. Hulagirl at Heart
4. AOJ & the Lurchers
5. Return of the White Robin
6. Sayre Smiles
7. From the Planet of Janet
8. Small Reflections
9. The Dust Will Wait
10. Got Milk?
11. Finding Beauty in Most Every Day
12. Dungarees Ablaze
13. The Prytz Family
14. Ramblings by Reba
15. 1 Crazy Stitcher
16. Summit Musings
17. RDH Mom
18. Arkansas Songbird
19. Mama Speak
20. Gattina Writer Cramps
21. A Florida Journal
22. Wisconsin Candy
23. Robinella
24. Irish Coffeehouse
25. Susan's Musings
26. U R Olive (our lovely host next week)
27. Nekked Lizard Adventures
28. Min @ Mamadrama
29. Heather's Recipes
30. Hale Family Site
31. Hootin-Anni
32. Mama Rehema
33. Jo Beaufoix
34. Karisma and Kids
35. Crunchy Bits
36. Tiggerlane
37. La Vie en Rose
38. My Husband Calls Me Weird
39. Anecdotes, Antidotes and Anodes
40. Candid Karina
41. Happy at Home
42. Running at Large
43. Mamalang
44. Lady K
45. Beyond My Slab
46. Mariposa Tells
47. Heaven in Belgium
48. Stephanie @ Mamadrama
49. Things in General
50. Adam's Wife
51. The Junk Drawer

Now wait a minute, this can’t be, a post without photos?! No way. I had to edit and add a few.

My son’s quirk is washing off his rock collection.

Hope you’re keeping cool!

A quirk is defined as a peculiarity of action, behavior, or personality; mannerism. We are all unique individuals, having quirks that help make us who we are. I would like to know what your quirks are. Confess to one, confess to ten, you decide. Just come back Monday ready to spill the beans, the rest of the world may look at you like you are from Mars, but you‘re among friends here. We won’t laugh, in fact that eccentricity just may endear you to us more.

Let me know in the comments that you want to play and I’ll hook you up. Also, leave a note if you’re interested in hosting the next FM.

Hey you, yeah you, you can play too, we always love to have new players. Come on, we’re a friendly group, don’t be shy.

1. Anglophile Football Fanatic
2. Are we there yet mom?
3. Hulagirl at Heart
4. AOJ & the Lurchers
5. Return of the White Robin
6. Sayre Smiles
7. From the Planet of Janet
8. Small Reflections
9. The Dust Will Wait
10. Got Milk?
11. Finding Beauty in Most Every Day
12. Dungarees Ablaze
13. The Prytz Family
14. Ramblings by Reba
15. 1 Crazy Stitcher
16. Summit Musings
17. RDH Mom
18. Arkansas Songbird
19. Mama Speak
20. Gattina Writer Cramps
21. A Florida Journal
22. Wisconsin Candy
23. Robinella
24. Irish Coffeehouse
25. Susan's Musings
26. U R Olive
27. Nekked Lizard Adventures
28. Min @ Mamadrama
29. Heather's Recipes
30. Hale Family Site
31. Hootin-Anni
32. Mama Rehema
33. Jo Beaufoix
34. Karisma and Kids
35. Crunchy Bits
36. Tiggerlane
37. La Vie en Rose
38. My Husband Calls Me Weird
39. Anecdotes, Antidotes and Anodes
40. Candid Karina
41. Happy at Home
42. you

So the clothes that I don’t feel ready to part with belong to my grandson and he has long outgrown them. His mom has given me bags and bags of clothes to put on eBay, have a rummage sale or something with, but I’m having a hard time parting with all of them. She doesn’t want the new baby (due Dec 24th) to wear the same things since we take so many photos of Tristan. She’s afraid the baby, when he/she got older, would feel bad if they both had the same clothes in photos. Who knows, maybe I’ll pull my favorite outfits out to just let the baby wear on days I don’t take photos. Shhh, don’t tell him/her.

Tristan’s 5 weeks old here. This is one of the first outfits we found for our first grandchild before he was even born. It’s a sweet little corduroy jumper with a little mouse on the front and little mouse lining, so soft. And when we found that bright striped shirt we thought it was a perfect set. We did a lot of shopping for him in outlet malls but I think we probably spent the most on this outfit as we bought it at a very nice kids’ store in the Mall of America.

And who wouldn’t love the little ducky sleeper?

This little blanket sleeper was so soft it felt like he was snuggled in a cloud.

He’s not even a month old here. And I love the hat, it sits in his toy drawer and I can’t wait to another baby around to stick it on. The outfit he’s wearing is a fleece two-piece, the pants were striped with feet in them. The hippo’s mouth opens and we bought a bright orange one with some other animal on it too.

This one, although you can’t see it in the photo, has a moose on it and is soft fleece.

I have to say that I’m so happy that Chris keeps the current host of Fun Monday on her sidebar. I can’t tell you how many times I have had to peek over there to keep myself on track. And I almost forgot, Robin composed a list of all the topics we've covered so we can refer to it when we're hosting and the history of Fun Mondays for anyone interested in joining in.  Thanx Chris & Robin!

Hi everyone! I have missed participating in Fun Mondays and am so happy to be able to play again! Life has just been so very busy lately. I still have photos from as far back as May 20th that I haven’t even looked at. But slowly I’m wading through them.

I almost sat this one out too because well, I have nothing on my walls. I’m pretty boring. I do have a couple of empty photo frames on my wall because I like them but haven’t been able to decide which photos to put in them so. . . And I almost sat out because this weekend we were extremely busy taking photos at three cancer charity benefits, which I’ll tell you all about later. It was an exciting weekend up in the northwoods but tonight we get to sleep in our own bed and relax a bit.

One last quick note, if you haven’t been around lately you may not know that I am in the process of moving sites. The new place is still extremely bland but you are welcome to go over there to read and comment if you find it easier. I also put the link up there at the top of the sidebar to make things easy.

I almost forgot, I do have one thing on the wall, above my tv in the bedroom. He used to hand above our master bedroom fireplace in Texas. Now the rest of the photos are things that used to be on my wall but aren’t currently. Hope you don’t mind my cheating.

When we bought our house in Texas there were several mounts on the wall and we ooed and awed over them so much that the previous owner left us this one. I would love to tell you he was still on the wall, but he is currently being stored. I can’t wait to get him back up somewhere, along with our 8’ long longhorns. That orangey color on the wall was in our living room, kitchen and hallway areas of the house we built. I don’t remember its proper name but I always called it pumpkin.

My favorite color in our whole house though was in our bedroom. A sort of terra cotta. (side note - the reason the moulding is down slightly from the ceiling is because there’s rope light up there for some ambient uplighting).

Just off the master bedroom was the master bath and I also am pretty fond of the colors on that wall. I call it a kind of mustard color. We never did get around to hanging a mirror, we just couldn’t agree on what to do with that wall. But up in that corner was a small flat screen tv so I could relax in the whirlpool and watch tv. I know it’s not on the wall but we found that old buffet at an antique store. We got those sinks and faucets off eBay for a steal and I fond the thing the faucets are on at a hardware or craft store. I was pretty pleased with how it turned out.

PS - Can you tell I missed you guys? I went a little overboard, please forgive me. Also forgive me for the photos, they were all taken before I had my lovely new camera.

Now jump on over to Jan's place and see who else is playing.  I know you'll find her hospitality outstanding!

My only problem is that holidays are exhausting and I’m soooo tired. So while I don’t have the energy to go through all of my photos right now, I will show you where we’ve been.

I guess I thought I was Wonder Woman temporarily, as I believed I could load my photos each night, tweak them, upload them, write my post, and still have time for relaxation. Uh, nope. I’m no wonder woman. So, the bulk of the photos will have to wait until I get home. However, I do have some neat bird photos already ready. . .

I’ll leave you with a photo of the view from the balcony of our hotel the last couple of evenings.

Mariposa would like to see our collections.

What?! It’s a collection. I collect photos, tons and tons of photos.

But if this doesn’t do it for you, I recently told you about my collection of enamelware coffee pots and copper tea kettles.

Our Fun Monday hostess, Sauntering Soul, would like to know our dirty little secrets. How do we react to things, or people, who upset us. How are we jerks?

Well, I’m pretty passive aggressive. For the most part, things don’t get to me, but we are talking about when they do. I had to dig a little to come up with some things but here’s what I’ve got.

Waitresses bad service - I have been known to, on occasion, give my waitress tips on how to get better tips via a note on the check and a low tip. I only result to this if we have had the same crappy waitress several times so I know it’s not just a bad day. We tip very well and when I order a soda I probably want a refill or I would not pay the high cost of it in the first place.

Noisy people above us in a motel - My brain cannot handle repetitive noises, they drive me batty. And when on occasion we have had noisy people above us stomping, jumping on the bed and acting like they just purchased the entire motel, I have been known to thump back, even if I had to jump on my bed with a shoe on my hand in order to do so.

Which makes me think of those people in the movie theaters, the ones who think their ticket has bought them every seat around them and they kick my seat or put their feet on my seat, etc. I will begin to lean back as far as my seat will go, or sit up really tall so my head is in their way, or sometimes I just move to an area away from them.

Tailgaters - people who ride my butt, practically pushing me down the road. Yeah, I slow down to a safe speed about 5 mph under the speed limit and sometimes if I see their blinker turn on I will turn too.

Salespeople ringing our doorbell - I don’t answer. My kids always call before they come over so if I hear the doorbell ring and don’t know who it is, I don’t answer.

People who tell me I have to do something when I think it is my choice - I just don’t do it. For example, when the seatbelt law was passed, I stopped wearing my seatbelt because it ticked me off that I was told to. I do wear it now, but I rebelled for a while. Pretty much if I’m not given a choice, but am told, “You have to do this. . .”, I want to not do whatever it is.

I think I have spilled my guts enough, thank you very much. I hope to find that I am surrounded by people who can also be jerks from time to time. Leave me a comment, how are you a jerk?

Happy Fun Monday! Kitten wants to know about our heroes. I have told you about my hero many times before and I am on the verge of death. No? I hope in a couple of days I will be back up to my chipper self but for today, me and my fever are snuggled in bed.

This week’s Fun Monday assignment is to share our favorite path/walk. Well, probably my favorite area to walk near home would be Iverson Park. You’ve seen the park before if you’ve seen the photos we did of my kids last fall.

These photos were taken Dec 31st, 2006. It looks quite different than when we shot the kids’ photos, doesn’t it?

This bridge is also in Iverson Park and if you cross it, you can follow some animal trails and find Skunk Cabbage:

And maybe my owl friend.

(These were taken last year with my point and shoot)

But Wisconsin is full of great trails just about anywhere you go.

And even though it decided to spit snow (no accumulation thankfully) on us all day on Saturday, I took a few more photos for you with my new 15mm fisheye lens. It was in the low 30s all day, brrr!

And I took one last one Sunday, although I had the macro lens on. We had a semi-sunshiny day in the 50s.

Thanks for the fun assignment, Angela! Hope I didn’t overload you on too many pictures.

Southern Doll would like to know how we’re doing on our Bucket Lists. I think I’m doing pretty good, how about you? (all these photos have been taken in the last week) There are words to go with the photos, if you put your pointer on the photo they should appear.

Remember all of the photos were taken within the last week. :)

5 Photos, 5 words each - What fun! Thanx Nekked Lizard Adventurers!

3 old, 2 new, I can’t wait to visit you!

Victor Collar Button still around?

Tell me a childhood secret.

Still playing mysterious music, nightly. (taken 5 years ago)

Biggest catch of the day!

Can he stay little forever?

The first photo is in one of the store fronts in Oshkosh, where they are filming Johnny Depp.  There are a bunch more photos of the renovations in the post below if you're interested.

Our harried host, Jo Beaufoix, would like to know if we've ever had a celebrity crush.  To be honest I never have.  While are my schoolmates were swooning over Shaun Cassidy I thought they were silly.  I figured why care about someone who would never know I existed.

I did go through a period though, when I was in my 30s, single, before I met my hubby, that I guess you could say I had a crush.  I just loved Duncan on VR5, his name, his hair. . . yeah, I guess it was a crush.  In preparing for this post I found out that Michael Easton (pictures here) is exactly one week younger than me.  Last I knew he wasn't acting, he was busy being a poet (yeah I kinda forgot about him when I met Dennis in 2002), but apparently he is now on One Life to Live (I don't watch soaps).  He's working on a graphic novel and he likes photography too.  Thanx for the walk down memory lane of my only celebrity (little known) crush.

Robin asked us to share quotes that inspire us. Long ago, in a land far away, or at least a few states away, I wrote quotes on post-it notes and plastered them on a board, so I could see them everyday. I can’t seem to find them all again but I was able to find one of my favorites.

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

A couple others, no clue who said them, that I have come across more recently are:

Don't ask for a miracle, BE the miracle.

When Swampy gave us our instructions to post something to do with the ABCs, I felt like I was playing the ABC game with my kids. You know the one where you take turns naming foods, animals, names, etc through the alphabet. It kept my kids entertained in many a restaurant while waiting for food.

When she left it wide open for topic I was lost for a while. I thought about doing National Parks visited (it‘s our goal to see them all), States visited, etc but I couldn’t come up with one for each letter so I broke it down even further. Below you will find a partial list of cities I have been to; I made sure to include Canada and Mexico and at least one city from each of the 33 states I’ve visited. Maybe I’ve been near you?

• A - Alba, Missouri
•      Ashland, Wisconsin
• B - Baton Rouge, Louisiana
•      Bethesda, Maryland
•      Biloxi, Mississippi
•      Brownsville, Texas
• C - Ciudaa Acuna, Coahuila, Mexico
•      Clearwater Beach, Florida
•      Chicago, Illinois
•      Corpus Christi, Texas (lived there)
•      Clinton, Kentucky
• D - Durango, Colorado
•      Dubuque, Iowa
•      Dallas, Texas
•      Devil’s Tower, Wyoming
• E - Estherville, Iowa
•      Escanaba, Michigan
•      Elyria, Ohio
• F - Flagstaff, Arizona
•      Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin
• G - Goshen, Indiana
•      Gardiner, Montana
•      Grove, Oklahoma
•      Galveston, Texas
• H - Hays, Kansas
•      Horseheads, New York
•      Hershey, Pennsylvania (yummy)
•      Houston, Texas
• I - Idaho Falls, Idaho
•      Indianapolis, Indiana
• J - Joplin, Missouri (raised in)
•     Jerome, Arizona
• K - Kelso, California
•      Kenosha, Wisconsin
• L - Little Rock, Arkansas
•      Las Vegas, Nevada
•      Lubbock, Texas
• M - Mobile, Alabama
•      Miami, Florida
•      Memphis, Tennessee
•      Moab, Utah
•      Marshfield, Wisconsin (lived there)
• N - Neosho, Missouri
•      Niagara Falls, New York
• O - Orlando, Florida
•      Omaha, Nebraska
•      Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• P - Pensacola, Florida
•       Pueblo, Colorado
•       Presque Isle, Michigan
•       Pittsburg, Pennsylvania
•       Plover, Wisconsin (lived there)
• Q - Quincy, Illinois
• R - Red Wing, Minnesota
•      Rochester, Minnesota
•      Roswell, New Mexico
•      Rapid City, South Dakota
• S - Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
•      Sedona, Arizona
•      Salina, Kansas
•      Santa Fe, New Mexico
•      Sioux Falls, South Dakota
•      Salt Lake City, Utah
• T - Tucson, Arizona
•      Twentynine Palms, California
•      Tulsa, Oklahoma
•      Terlingua, Texas (awesome ghost town)
•      Thermopolis, Wyoming
• U - Union City, Tennessee
•      Uvalde, Texas
• V - Valparaiso, Indiana
•       Viroqua, Wisconsin
• W - Wichita, Kansas
•      Wabasha, Minnesota (Grumpy Old Men)
•      Webb City, Missouri (born in)
•      Wheeling, West Virginia
• X - x marks the spot of over 3000 geocaches done
• Y - Yorktown, Texas
•      Yellowstone, Wyoming
• Z - Zion Lodge, Utah

I look forward to visiting many more states as soon as the opportunity arises. If you feel like you need a photo see some of the Easter ones in yesterdays post. I think I need a nap now.

Nikki wants to reassure herself that we all are as weird as she is, so she asks us:

I don't know about you, but my family is great at creating strange words that only we know the meaning. Some were created when the kids were first learning to talk, others came about when our tongues were twisted and the word came out funny. Either way, the words stuck and we still use them in our daily conversations. What created words does your family use?! Please share the story behind the word if you remember. If you don't have a made up word then tell us about the unspoken way you communicate with someone. Do you and your significant other have a look that means "This party is boring, lets split" or do you have a look that your kids know means their butt is in serious trouble? Please share!! And a picture of the look would be very entertaining!

Are you listening? All week I have tried to remember, or pay attention to any odd words we use, and I have found we are very boring. I could come up with nothing. It might have been easier if I was able to, as my husband suggested, spend the week with my mom. (Hi Mom!) But as it stands I guess I will just say that my husband and I have this weird knack of reading each other’s minds. He has told me that when I’m ready to leave a gathering I touch his arm. I never even realized I did it until he pointed it out.

My middle son, Khristiaan, is the only one who can understand me when I talk without words. Like, say my mouth is full and Haden walks in and asks me where something is, I respond with, “Hm hm hmmm hm-mh”, said in different pitches of humming and Khris can translate, “It’s in the closet.” He’s the only one in this house that can decipher me and he’s extremely good at it.

There’s only one thing that really sticks out in my mind, aside from my hillbilly upbringing full of gotta, gonna, hafta, basically adding an “uh” to any word and slurring long words together (I love you Mom!). And I say, “I’m gonna hafta get some, ya wanna?” way too often, Dennis laughs at me, but he’s the king of, “Alls I’s sayin’”. Oh yeah, the little secret communication between hubby and I? Well, since very early in our relationship, when one of us gets snarky the other will sweetly say, “Honey. . .” and when the snarkster looks we nonchalantly show our finger. Yeah, you know which one, often at that precise moment we have an itch somewhere that only that finger can scratch. And in our messed up little world that finger represents, “I Love you! (You annoy the crap out of me, but I love you)” and the person who warranted the “finger” generally responds back with a verbal, “Well I love you too Honey” and the debate is ended.

Yeah, I admit it, the photos had nothing to do with the words, but what’s a post without photos? I think you’ve had enough of Lisa Land for today, I think you should mosey on over to some other Fun Mondayer’s and be sure and join up for next week.

PS -I've been messing with my site.  The Blogroll has just been moved to its own page. :)  You're still there or in the process of being put there.  You can find the link near the top of the sidebar.  Let me know if I need to change how I have you labeled, or take you off, or whatever, just talk to me. :)

The IT Guy instructed:

I need YOU (yes, the wonderful YOU!) to pick 5 memorable lines from 5 different movies (if you could tell us which character said it and to whom, would be a bonus)...and tell us to WHOM (who in the people in your life) you could have said those lines.

Lydia (Jeanne Tripplehorn): Gerry, I'm a woman! We don't say what we WANT! But we reserve the right to get pissed off if we don't get it. That's what makes us so fascinating! And not a little bit scary. ~ sliding doors 1998

Carol Malone (Jennifer Tilly): Where you gonna go, where you gonna run, where you gonna hide? Nowhere... 'cause there's no one like you left. ~ bodysnatchers 1993

Johnny (Al Pacino): So, how about you? Do you ever want to kill yourself sometimes?

Frankie (Michelle Pfeiffer): Yeah, everybody wants to kill themselves sometime.

Johnny: I want to kill myself sometimes when I think that I'm the only person in the world and that part of me that feels that way is trapped inside this body, that only bumps into other bodies, without ever connecting to the only other person in the world trapped inside of them. We have to connect. We just have to.

Johnny: You don't have to be afraid anymore.

Frankie: I am. I'm afraid. I'm afraid to be alone, I'm afraid not to be alone. I'm afraid of what I am, what I'm not, what I might become, what I might never become. I don't want to stay at my job for the rest of my life but I'm afraid to leave. And I'm just tired, you know, I'm just so tired of being afraid. ~ frankie and johnny 1991

Elizabeth Farmer (Madolyn Osborne): I'm convinced that our marriage has been one of mutual betrayals. I know it! YOU know it! Even Yellow Dog knows it!

Andy Farmer (Chevy Chase): I know it and you know it. Yellow Dog doesn't even know what town he's in. ~ funny farm 1988

Bridget (Renee Zellweger): It is a truth universally acknowledged that when one part of your life starts going okay, another falls spectacularly to pieces.

Bridget: Look, are you and Cosmo in on this together? Because every time I see you, you seem to go out of your way to make me feel like a COMPLETE idiot. And you really needn't bother: I already feel like an idiot most of the time anyway - with, or without the fireman's pole. ~ bridget jones's diary 2001

I can easily see myself saying any of those lines to pretty much anyone at the appropriate time. However, the Funny Farm one I chose because of Chevy Chase’s response. If you have seen the movie you probably remember that yellow dog is the dog they get after the Irish Setter runs away. Yellow dog never moves, even when the fireplace catches his tail on fire, he does nothing. Our sweet little Lhasa Apso, Fibi, is yellow dog. She is the laziest, ditziest, lil’ blonde I have ever known.

It doesn't matter where you go in life . . . what you do . . . or how much you have . . . It's who you have beside you ♥

Mariposa would like to know:

(1) Please share to us how the NAME of your BLOG was made? I can't wait to hear interesting funny stories!

(2) Please share to us (in words or photo, though a combination of both will be a bonus!) your favorite/ most common dish!

The first part is easy peasy, as a mom of four and step-mom to two how can our house be anything but chaotic? Add in that my husband’s work schedule is all over the place and we never know when he’ll be home and how long he’ll be gone, it’s utter chaos. Then add in two Lhasa Apsos and various creatures the kids drag in and we have eternal chaos. And, um, well, my name is Lisa after all, and I’m the “mom”, keeper of the house, therefore I own the chaos. So there you have it.

My favorite dish I have posted previously, so if you want to hear all about it, Cashew Chicken.

I may take a little bit to get around to everyone today, we're having Tristan's first birthday party today.  Can you believe my grandson is one already?!  Neither can I!  He's such a sweetheart! 

We ventured out this past weekend to take some photos at an event I'm a betting you have never heard of (I hadn't) and when we stopped to eat lunch at the Medford Diner, I love the eat their burger special every chance I get!  The burger comes on a kaiser roll and it's served with a mixture of french fries, fried cheese curds and onion rings.  I love having the little taste of each thing.  But, oh, back to the bird.  From the moment I stepped out of the car I kept hearing a bird.  Finally, I spotted the noisemaker in the tippy top of this tree.  It happily talked to us all the while I went back to the car, got the camera, snapped a few shots and put the camera back up.  It sure had a lot to say!

Search - The guilties                I keep messing with my lymph nodes

Sayre has made her request:

Every day as I go to work, I see things around me that make me laugh. Usually these are in the forms of signs. So take your camera with you as you go about your business and take a picture of the things that make you laugh along the way (but it doesn't necessarily HAVE to be a sign).

And if the weather would have cooperated with me I could have shown you a few new things. But we spent most of the week out of town and the weekend snowed in so, you get some photos from a while back.

Maybe I’m a little warped.

And the master is?

Where does the rest of me go?

Frozen Lake Winnebago.

Have you seen fractional streets anywhere else?

Still cracks me up after all this time.

Julie wants to know what song we relate to.  Which song most represents me?  Well I assigned a song to myself quite a few years back and although I haven't really thought about it lately I think I'll just stick to that one.

You have no idea the joys I experienced when I asked my husband and son to help me find this video on YouTube.  You guys are really trying to change me now aren't ya?  Remember?  I hate YouTube!  But, I have just experienced a first.  A YouTube video in one of my posts!  And, I only had to listen to my son and husband sing along to it once they helped me find it.  This was fun but don't expect me to start adding videos all the time.

So back to my song.  Meredith Brooks said it best when she wrote "Bitch".

I'm a bitch

I'm a lover

I'm a child

I'm a mother

I'm a sinner

I'm a saint

I hope you don't think less of me, now that you know. :)  My husband was wishing he had his own blog so he could participate this time but since he doesn't I'll just add his little ole song below here.  Shhh, he'll never know.  I found this one all by myself. :)  What sort of monster has been unleashed?

Tiggerlane is tour guide this week and she wonders:

Have you heard of The Bucket List? Well, that's what I want from you! Make a list of things you want to do before you die. It must be at least five items - and you can make it as long as you desire. Photos are optional. And let's hear about some of the wackiest, most bizarre to-do's on your Bucket List! 

I was tempted to run out and see the Bucket List for inspiration before even attempting to write my fun Monday. But I restrained myself. So then I mulled it around, do I go serious with this, or funny, or . . .Well, I opted for honest.

I think most of you know that I have had the opportunity to write a real list. I spent a little time crying when I heard people talk about their 40^th anniversary thinking that I would never see mine, and such as that. But time is a healer and I have a much better outlook now.

I’ve had so much time to put into thinking about this list (all my months of chemo I agonized that I hadn’t yet done this or that) that I think I have it narrowed down rather nicely. I started with the stars and the moon, thinking I wanted to skydive or bungee jump, see a certain place or do a certain thing. But as reality sank over me I came to the realization that what I really wanted to do before I die is:

1. Stay alive until Haden is 18, so he’s not a minor having to worry about who will take care of him. - He’ll be 16 in April, so far so good.
2. Live long enough to see my grandchildren. - I now have a grandchild so I want to be a part of his life for as long as I can and I keep a blog for him so I he can know me when I’m no longer here. Yeah, I guess I am assuming I will die while he is young. But if I’m still around when he’s 20, I want to sit with him while he reads it and giggle with him over his sillinesses and my own.
3. Make my mark. - Even if it’s only by making sure my family, every single one of them, knows how much they mean to me. I hope to ease their pain in my passing by making sure they all feel good before it happens. It’s those left behind that hurt and I wish I could take away that pain for them.
4. Enjoy life. - That sounds so simple, but how many people actually do it? I enjoy today, today may be all I have and I try to live like today is all I have. There is something good in every day. I want to smell the flower, photograph the bird, etc. I really see my photos as part of this, as I want to share with people my view, how I see it, and that there’s so much good in the world.

That’s it, four things. They’re all that are really important and because I’ve had the warning I feel like I could be run over by a truck tomorrow and be at peace about it, if that makes sense. I also feel like I know how I’m going to die (just not when) so I most likely won’t be run over by that truck.

But if you need a fifth thing, find homes for my Lhasas. I know Dennis wouldn’t keep them so they would need homes. But I feel pretty good, so I don’t really feel the need to run an ad or anything.