TAGGED WITH EIGHT QUESTIONS - TIMES TWO!

My friend Amy from Keeping up with the Schultz Family sent me a tag and you know I will always play along. I won't be tagging anyone today but if you want to play along and answers these questions feel free to join in. Thank you Amy.

What was the last thing you ate?
It was a SOYJOY bar.

What is one of your best childhood memories?
Has to be Christmas, each year was better then the next. My parents showered us with gifts. I think I loved the year I got the white mouse that I asked for.

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you were older?
A wife and mother, that was my dream. Of course in the 50's girls didn't dream much further then that. Some of the girls I knew would dream about going to college to meet a guy to marry, wishing for doctor.

Do you paint your toenails in the winter?
Yes but we have some pretty nice weather here. My toes are done all year long, I go about every six weeks. Actually got them done last Tuesday!

Do you watch any reality television? If so, what show is your favorite?
Big Brother is my favorite! I only watch a few, not really into most of them.

What were some of the "trends" when you were a kid?
Well that would be bell bottom jeans and flowers in your hair! It was hippie time.

What is your favorite time of the year? Why?
Weather wise it would be Spring and all the flowers blooming. If I was picking a Holiday it would be Christmas for the birth of Jesus, the decorations and buying presents for the people I love.

Do you have any hobbies?
Blogging is my newest hobby. I use to do all kinds of little craft things and stitching of pictures. I bowl, isn't that a hobby?

Then I was tagged from Danielle at We Don't Have It All Together, But Together We Have It All. So here are the 8 questions that she gave to me. Head on over and read the questions that she had to answer. Thank you Danielle!

What is the scariest or craziest thing you have ever done?
I drove for sixteen hours in a horrible snowstorm once and it was very scary.

How many kids do you have/want?
We have two awesome children. Our son is 31 and our daughter is 29.

What one thing could you NOT live w/out?
Actually this one thing is a HUGE concern of mine. It is Primatene Mist inhaler that really helps me to breathe when my chest gets tight. Have been using it forever and in December 2011 they will no longer be making it! I honestly do not know what I am going to do.

What is your favorite quote & why?
I answered this recently but since it's my favorite I will say it again. "Just Breathe" from Ever After with Drew Barrymore. She is going to the ball and before she enters she says that to herself. For me it's about my asthma and the fact that some days I just want to be able to do that!

Who is someone you look up to?
I have always admired Princess Diana. I look up to my husband, he works hard at his job, supports the family, works hard around the house and never stops. I think I could say that I am jealous at times because I so much want to have that drive and determination along with ability of good health.

Coke or Pepsi?
I stopped drinking cola many years ago but it was Coke.

If you only had one wish, what would it be?
That my children live long happy lives.

What song best describes you or your life?
Haven't come up with one yet. Sorry :(


HERE ARE THE QUESTIONS FROM AMY IF YOU WANT TO PLAY ALONG:
What was the last thing you ate?
What is one of your best childhood memories?
When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you were older?
Do you paint your toenails in the winter?
Do you watch any reality television? If so, what show is your favorite?
What were some of the "trends" when you were a kid?
What is your favorite time of the year? Why?
Do you have any hobbies?

HERE ARE THE QUESTIONS FROM DANIELLE IF YOU WANT TO PLAY ALONG:
What is the scariest or craziest thing you have ever done?
How many kids do you have/want?
What one thing could you NOT live w/out?
What is your favorite quote & why?
Who is someone you look up to?
Coke or Pepsi?
If you only had one wish, what would it be?
What song best describes you or your life?

RANDOM DOZEN

Linda was celebrating a birthday and asked us to send her some questions. My question is #10. Head on over (click on the button) and join in the fun!

1. From "Men Are Dumb ....": If you had a theme song that played whenever you walked into a room full of people, what would it be?
It would be my favorite song: What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong
It's my ring tone on my phone!

2. From Pam of "Alert And Oriented x 4": Which of your shoes are your absolute favorite, and which are of the object of your most painful shoe-buyer's remorse?
I wear Birkenstocks all the time and Born shoes are pretty awesome too. All the rest would be buyer's remorse for me.

3. From Susanne of "Living to Tell the Story": Tell about your favorite birthday celebration that you've personally experienced.
I have had several and I just celebrated one on Sunday! I really enjoyed celebrating my birthday last year at Disneyland but I think a great one was when I was in Florida and my niece surprised me and drove down from Atlanta with her children.

4. From Lori of "Just me and My Life": If you were a flavor of ice cream, which would you be?
Butter Pecan is my favorite ice cream. Now if I am supposed to list one that describes me as a person (I went and looked up flavors on a few sites) I would say Chunky Monkey!

5. Cindy Swanson of "Notes in the Key of Life" asks: Have you ever had a crush on a movie star? Who was it, and are you still crushing?
Yes, it's John Travolta! I've been in love with him for at least 35 years.

6. Jill from "Jill Boyd's Place" inquires: Glasses or braces--if you had to wear one, which would it be?
Well if it's forever I would choose glasses, if it's just for a short time I would choose braces!

7. Nel from "Fasteneau Facts" asks: If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
I don't know where but I would love to live on an island with all of my family members around me. Like a big reunion 24/7/365 but I imagine it would wear on us over time. Hey, this is just a dream right?

8. Thena from "Patiently Waiting" wants to know: If money were no obstacle, what would be the perfect birthday gift to receive?
I guess it would be the island!

9. From "Life Through Bifocals," LynnMarie asks: What is your favorite birthday meal?
Well I posted that on Sunday! My newest favorite is a risotto/chicken dish and for dessert it's warm sticky toffee cake, it's awesome.

10. Debby at "Just Breathe" checks in with: Do you still send hand-written thank you notes?
That's my question! Yes I do, I already sent out 7 for my birthday gifts. I love doing them, always have always will.

11. Linda from "Mocha with Linda" poses this question: What is something you've done that you never thought you'd do?
Being the honest person that I am I smoked pot once in my thirties when I was trying to win my husband back. It was all about sex, drugs and rock 'n roll then for him! I also handled my aunt and uncles estate after they passed away and that was a huge challenge.

12. Jewel, my homegirl from Indiana who writes at "Musings from the World of Jewel," is very insistent that we answer this: Mount Rushmore honors four US Presidents: Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt. If you could add any person to Mount Rushmore, who would you add and why?
This is an excellent question but I'm not sure who I would ad. ME, the Queen would be a good choice. I'm not sure if the presidents that I know of or have voted for are worthy. I am certainly going to enjoy reading every one's answers! My son's birthday is always on the inauguration day so when he becomes president and takes office on his birthday they can put him up there.

POST IT NOTE TUESDAY

Click on the post it and join us!

THREE OF MY FAVORITE PEOPLE + MEET ME ON MONDAY

For those of you who are here for MEET ME ON MONDAY it is towards the bottom of the page.Here are three of my favorite people that you can also meet. Happy Monday to all and thank you ALL for the wonderful Birthday wishes yesterday, I really appreciated them. xoxo

I obviously have other favorites in the world of blogging but today I want you to meet these three. I am going to introduce you to Alexis, Amy and Kristin. Amy and Alexis are also friends but I always say I am their favorite when it comes down to it. We are surely three of a kind, equal in our friendships. Today I am going to focus on Kristin because she had a post last Saturday that was written for me only she didn't actually know that. So here I go in alphabetical order because I won't have to claim a favorite. (love each of you equally for different reasons)

Alexis is from Running away? I'll Help you pack! Mom 2 my crazy 2 is her link name. No her children are not crazy but they are two active little boys. I think she would agree with me when I say her life is crazy. Busy crazy all the time! This woman accomplishes more in her week then I could ever have done in a month in my younger days. Speaking of that I could easily be the mother to all of these ladies. I must have youth in my heart because I get them and love them. Head on over and visit with Alexis and live vicariously through her busy life with her husband and her boys Caden & Cole. She cooks and bakes like no one else I know.

Then we have Amy from Keeping up with the Schultz Family. Amy's life is not as busy and I enjoy reading about her daily life with her cutie pie Alyce. Just look at the sweet picture she posted for me last Tuesday, she knows how much I love giraffes. We have very similar likes when it comes to TV. We have a close relationship which involves not just reading each others blog posts but we also email each other almost everyday. Lookie here, this is the proof of the friendships we have with each other. Amy's favorite is ME and Alexis' favorite is ME. I can say this because as you know I am the Queen! We are three peas in a pod.

I will often sit and daydream about the three of us meeting one day. I have even said to my husband "what would you think if I bought the three of us tickets to meet somewhere" and of course he thinks I'm crazy. I'm thinking that maybe the three of us need to go to Jacksonville, FL and spend some time with Kristin!

Kristin is from The Goat and I love reading her blog. She just has the best posts with links to the best places to visit like this one which was one of her Friday Fragments. I also enjoy her photos. She takes pictures that I fall in love with each time she posts them. Her eye sees what I see but I am not able to get it in a photo like she does. Here is one of her POTD posts and she does them often. She also has an Etsy shop! I know I have given you several links to visit but I assure you that you will fall in love with Kristin too!

So last Saturday I was reading blogs and trying to get caught up because we were going to go to the apple orchards for apples. Duh! So I was reading her latest post and I was so thrilled when I read it. She was talking about one of her favorite top 10 items. Its an Anchor Hocking Microwave dish and I have owned one forever! I love it too and then she found some at an estate sale that she went to. Then on top of that she talks about the applesauce that she makes in it in the microwave. I was just searching for easy recipes for making applesauce and there it was. Like I said she wrote that post for me but didn't even know it!

We share a love of dishtowels and I just love the way she has hers displayed in her kitchen. She also shares a passion with my daughter for collecting smashed pennies. Something else that she collects are fortunes that you get in fortune cookies. So when I was in Mammoth Lakes this summer I got her a smashed penny and mailed her a little surprise package with the smashed penny, a dish cloth and some fortunes.

Kristen was also kind enough to let me post this picture on my For Your Tears blog. Here is her link to the picture which she called Painted Angel.

I know it is a long post, something I don't like to do but there was just a lot to say about these three friends of mine. I hope you had some time to go to the links, if not I hope you can find time to come back and check them all out.

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1. What is the best dish you can make?
I make a great Black Bean Chili and also a pretty good lasagna.

2. How often do you change your sheets?
Every other week.

3. What is the longest car trip you have ever taken?
Chicago to California

4. What is your favorite fruit?
Blackberries

5. Would you rather have breakfast for dinner or dinner for breakfast?
Breakfast for dinner except for those days when I have cold pizza for breakfast!

IT'S ALL ABOUT ME TODAY

So feel free to wish me a Happy Birthday!

Yes it's October 3rd and it's my birthday all day long. We actually went into Los Angeles yesterday to celebrate my birthday. I have fallen in love with a restaurant called The Tavern. So I invited myself over to our son and his best girls condo so we could go over to eat there for dinner. Of course I let my husband, daughter and son-in-law go along too! (Skye & Charlie had to stay home)

Of course this is the main reason I go:
Warm Sticky Toffee Cake

Best thing I have ever tasted!

It was a great day/evening with my family. Our meals were delicious as always. I received 4 DVD's that I have been wanting and a box with crisp $100. bills so we could go to the Louis Vuitton store to buy me a new purse but they didn't have the one I wanted in stock. {big sigh} But it's okay because the time with my family was priceless and I couldn't have asked for a better day. Thank you to my family for a great time and I love you with all my heart.

APPLE PICKIN' TIME

Well not really, the Queen doesn't pick her own apples but I am sure you already knew that! But it certainly was apple buying time. So last Saturday we headed out on our adventure. Over the years we have found that we like the Rome Beauty apple from Los Rios Rancho at Oak Glen so that was our first destination. Lots and lots of apples to buy and as you can see there were a lot of jams, jellies and butters.

( click to make the pictures larger )

So we passed a place that we don't normally stop at and on their sign it said Honey Crisp Apples! Ding,ding,ding,ding,ding went the alarm in my head but I was afraid to say anything. Make this trip as short and sweet as possible to keep dh happy was running through my mind, along with keeping our daughter and son-in-law happy too!

See last year on Carmen's blog Mom to the Screaming Masses she mentioned Honey Crisp apples but I could never find them in the store. She recently had a post that said they are available again (above link) and I really wanted to find some.

So at lunch he asked me if there was anything else I wanted to do before we headed home since it was my day! (said sarcastically often on this trip) I said well I would really like it if we could stop and get those Honey Crisp apples at that other orchard. (that's were the raspberry vines were which are getting past pickin' time) Of course I got to listen to a comment about the fact that the other two bags of Rome Beauty apples were not enough! we needed more? No we didn't need more but I still wanted them. So them I got :)

The little green rooster and coaster followed us home too along with a few carmel apples! There was also a very beautiful Redwood tree there too!

So I have a lot of apples and I better get crackin' at some pies and some applesauce..........and in case you were wondering, I agree with Carmen, the Honey Crisp apple is very good.

New post over at Debby's Tree!

P.S. It was well over 100 degrees last Saturday.

WE ALL NEED A SKYE IN OUR LIVES

Head on over to DRESSBARN to get yours today!

During October, for every Skye sold at $5, the American Cancer Society® will receive the entire net profit of $2.00 to support local and national breast cancer initiatives and help save lives. Give Skye a home for just $5 and help make a miracle happen.

Thank you to my friend Kristie for telling me about this back in September. I ordered a few today.