It's a special day for...! And a Friday night meme from CeeCi!
It's December 2nd, and that means...
Happy Birthday, Florida!!!!!!!
Yes, it's my wonderful friend Florida's birthday today (it's very early morning on December 2 right now)! And Florida, I'm planning on calling you but you tend to get up earlier than me so I'm hoping you'll check here and be surprised!!! :)
And I know that she doesn't like the mushy stuff, but I'm going to write just a little about why I love her so much! I've known Florida for about 4 1/2 years now (I almost can't believe it's been that long) and she is first of all one of the funniest, goofiest, most natural and real and wonderfully silly people I know - she puts everyone at ease almost immediately and people just love to be around her because she has such a wonderful energy about her, and she laughs often and is often laughing even at herself and her own silliness! She's also such a wonderful friend, and has been there for me if I needed her during hard times, and called me when she sensed I needed someone to talk to, and she has worried about me which has made me feel so good because I know she really cares. Also, her marriage to Asparagus has been such an example for me, and I've watched them and listened to how they keep their relationship so strong, and so I've learned in a way from them about the kind of relationship and marriage that I want through seeing them, and I've learned from Florida that a marriage is work and you need to put effort into it in order to keep it and the relationship strong.
Wonderful CeeCi tagged me the other night, and I think she knows how much I love answering these little things! And I loved her thinking of me!!! So here I go with tonight's fabulous meme!
•What are you proud of?
I'm most proud of the past about 14 months, which have been by far the best time in my life so far. In that time I have announced my alcoholism to my little world and determined to conquer it and take my life back, and I did it!! And as a result of kicking alcohol to the curb, I've lost a lot of weight and now love how I look, and that feels so good! And then somehow over the past year, because of a number of factors including the stopping drinking, the losing weight, taking control of my life, feeling the love and support of so many friends both in real life and this wonderful virtual world, realizing and developing my talents and interests, being fully mentally awake again instead of dulled by alcohol and fear, and due to the guidance of a very special friend - I have grown an enormous amount in so so so many ways in this past year, and I really honestly feel now that I'm spreading my new wings and starting to test them out for flight (or at least I'm in the whole cocoon and undergoing metamorphasis)! I know that sounds silly in a way, but I actually really see and really feel the differences in myself, and I'm so aware of everything now - everything around me, everyone in my world, every emotion going through my head and body, every thought and feeling and reaction and so much more - it's really amazing, and I feel so so so fabulous and happy and full of joy!!!! And I have such love in my life now, and it wouldn't have been possible 14 months ago! :)
•What time do you wake up in the morning?
Ugh, I hate even thinking about waking up! If I were good, I would get up at 6:30 and then be able to move at my normal very-morning-slow and still get to work on time (providing that I not play on the computer and not do other things that don't need to be done in the morning - which I always do anyway). I sometimes do get up at 6:30. Sometimes 7:00. More often a little after 7:00 when my mom calls me and talks to me while I feed the babies and make my coffee so she knows I'm really awake and not lying to her while I get ready to jump back in bed. But then I still move slowly and still play on the computer so I always get to work late and can't seem to break my bad morning habits. I think it's time for a new leaf to be turned over - I'll only get on the computer to get my wonderful morning song that Mr. H sends me everyday (and which I so love and look forward to!), but I won't read any other emails, and I won't write any emails (except maybe a quick email to my fabulous boyfriend!), and I won't read or write any blog posts. Then I should do better at getting to work on time!
•If there was one person from the past that you could go back and talk to who would it be?
Wow, this is a huge question! Does it mean all of the past, every person who ever lived? Because that's SUCH a hard question then, to pick just one person! Or does it mean from my own past, because it's possible to read the question that way, too. I think this question is ambiguous.
Well, if it's someone from my own past...I have been lucky enough so far to not have anyone close to me die - other than my dad's dad when I was I think in eighth grade, or maybe I was a little younger. He had a stroke some years before that and couldn't communicate well at all, but I never tried to really talk to him because his whole condition made me nervous and uncomfortable and I didn't know what to do or say. However, my mom would sit with him for hours when we would visit and she's told me how she would very slowly figure out what he wanted to say. In the past few years I've learned so much more about him, as well as my dad's mom who died when my dad was 21, through talking to one of my aunts, and I even got my dad talking one day, which almost never happens. Also, I've looked at so many pictures of my grandpa from the time of his marriage and while my dad was young and growing up, and I've also talked to my mom about all she's learned while interviewing people for her genealogy research. And I've often wished that I could go back to that time as I am now and get to know him better, and sit with him and let him get to know me.
As it is, I have one memory of my grandpa before his stroke - I remember him in his kitchen in Milwaukee, and my cousins and I were very young and running all around - and I remember seeing him smiling and laughing and at least in my memory I see him holding a red pot-holder.
Name 5 things in your freezer at the moment...
- Blueberries and mixed berries
- Brocolli
- Two old unopened bags of Edemame
- A bag of stir-fry from Trader Joe's
- A stuffed chicken breast from Trader Joe's
[And I'll fully answer - all of those things have been in there for a very very long time. I'm very bad with actually using the things I buy for my freezer.]
•Do you believe in afterlife?
I don't know exactly what I believe anymore. I hate not knowing what to believe, it's very very scary and very uncertain. However, I do believe there's some higher power or energy, and I do believe there's something after death but I don't know what that might be. I believe in something after death because I believe that some spirits remain on earth after death for various reasons - which points to something after death - and I believe that we are more than just bodies with brains - I believe very strongly that we all have souls - so even though I'm very uncertain about other things regarding God and the Universe, I do believe that something happens to our souls after our bodies die and I don't believe that we're just a simple organism and everything we know and feel and believe comes purely from our brains. Oh, and I also believe that animals have souls as well, so my Muffin is somewhere out there, and my babies will be somewhere out there as well when they someday (hopefully very far from now) pass away.
•What are 5 sites you visit daily?
- Yahoo Mail
- Blogger
- Google
[Those are the only three that I visit every day for sure. I also visit my favorite blogs, and my own blog, and Mr. H's blog, and various other sites - but sometimes not every single day right now.]
•Five things you ate that you will never eat again:
- Liver
- Anchovies (tried a dried one once just to see)
- Frozen orange squash (it made me gag when I was young and my mom tried to make me eat it)
[Hmmm, I can't think of anything else and I keep trying! There are foods I've never tried and never will try, like clams or oysters, but I can't think right now of anything else that I've eaten and hated so so so much that I would never ever eat it again.]
•Five things that make you happy:
- Waking up to an email from Mr. H every morning, and talking to him every night before I go to sleep. And really everything about us makes me happy!
- Hearing little James's certain mew and seeing his look of wanting cuddling on his face, and then feeling him cuddled against my side with my arm around him and listening to him purr.
- Laughing whenever Emma looks up at me and mews loudly for affection, because she opens her little mouth so wide and her little nose crinkles and she looks so adorably silly and so so so so cute!
- The fun I have with everyone at work on every weekday - the laughter, the talks, the silliness, the intensity and caring, the guidance and support I receive, the fact that it feels like home to me and they all feel like family.
- The hope and excitement I have for the future, but also the hope and excitement I have for every single day and every week and every month! Great things are happening! And something wonderful is always possible!!! :)
* * * * * * *
3 Things I'm Grateful For Today:
* It's Friday night (well really Saturday morning) so I get to sleep later tomorrow morning!
* The orange juice which I'm drinking to try to help with the cold I'm quickly getting.
* The soft toilet paper I use which is nice on my nose now that I'm having to blow it quite often (again, the cold).
And tomorrow, I'll be making a little trip to the store for more orange juice, some tylenol cold, and super-soft tissues with lotion on them!
Yes, it's my wonderful friend Florida's birthday today (it's very early morning on December 2 right now)! And Florida, I'm planning on calling you but you tend to get up earlier than me so I'm hoping you'll check here and be surprised!!! :)
And I know that she doesn't like the mushy stuff, but I'm going to write just a little about why I love her so much! I've known Florida for about 4 1/2 years now (I almost can't believe it's been that long) and she is first of all one of the funniest, goofiest, most natural and real and wonderfully silly people I know - she puts everyone at ease almost immediately and people just love to be around her because she has such a wonderful energy about her, and she laughs often and is often laughing even at herself and her own silliness! She's also such a wonderful friend, and has been there for me if I needed her during hard times, and called me when she sensed I needed someone to talk to, and she has worried about me which has made me feel so good because I know she really cares. Also, her marriage to Asparagus has been such an example for me, and I've watched them and listened to how they keep their relationship so strong, and so I've learned in a way from them about the kind of relationship and marriage that I want through seeing them, and I've learned from Florida that a marriage is work and you need to put effort into it in order to keep it and the relationship strong.
I feel that I'm not at all doing justice to my wonderful friend here! Somehow I'm having a hard time finding the right words to describe how wonderful she is - I'll cut this short and just say that I adore her, I have such fun with her, I care about her and her happiness so much, I want all the best things for her, and I want her to know, despite my complete ineptitude with descriptive language here, just how much I love her for everything about her!!!! And as far as I'm concerned, there's absolutely no one in the world like her - she is so unique, so special, so wonderful, so everything - and I think the world of her!!!! So everyone wish Florida a very very happy and fabulous birthday!!!! :)
Friday Night Meme!
Wonderful CeeCi tagged me the other night, and I think she knows how much I love answering these little things! And I loved her thinking of me!!! So here I go with tonight's fabulous meme!
•What are you proud of?
I'm most proud of the past about 14 months, which have been by far the best time in my life so far. In that time I have announced my alcoholism to my little world and determined to conquer it and take my life back, and I did it!! And as a result of kicking alcohol to the curb, I've lost a lot of weight and now love how I look, and that feels so good! And then somehow over the past year, because of a number of factors including the stopping drinking, the losing weight, taking control of my life, feeling the love and support of so many friends both in real life and this wonderful virtual world, realizing and developing my talents and interests, being fully mentally awake again instead of dulled by alcohol and fear, and due to the guidance of a very special friend - I have grown an enormous amount in so so so many ways in this past year, and I really honestly feel now that I'm spreading my new wings and starting to test them out for flight (or at least I'm in the whole cocoon and undergoing metamorphasis)! I know that sounds silly in a way, but I actually really see and really feel the differences in myself, and I'm so aware of everything now - everything around me, everyone in my world, every emotion going through my head and body, every thought and feeling and reaction and so much more - it's really amazing, and I feel so so so fabulous and happy and full of joy!!!! And I have such love in my life now, and it wouldn't have been possible 14 months ago! :)
•What time do you wake up in the morning?
Ugh, I hate even thinking about waking up! If I were good, I would get up at 6:30 and then be able to move at my normal very-morning-slow and still get to work on time (providing that I not play on the computer and not do other things that don't need to be done in the morning - which I always do anyway). I sometimes do get up at 6:30. Sometimes 7:00. More often a little after 7:00 when my mom calls me and talks to me while I feed the babies and make my coffee so she knows I'm really awake and not lying to her while I get ready to jump back in bed. But then I still move slowly and still play on the computer so I always get to work late and can't seem to break my bad morning habits. I think it's time for a new leaf to be turned over - I'll only get on the computer to get my wonderful morning song that Mr. H sends me everyday (and which I so love and look forward to!), but I won't read any other emails, and I won't write any emails (except maybe a quick email to my fabulous boyfriend!), and I won't read or write any blog posts. Then I should do better at getting to work on time!
•If there was one person from the past that you could go back and talk to who would it be?
Wow, this is a huge question! Does it mean all of the past, every person who ever lived? Because that's SUCH a hard question then, to pick just one person! Or does it mean from my own past, because it's possible to read the question that way, too. I think this question is ambiguous.
Well, if it's someone from my own past...I have been lucky enough so far to not have anyone close to me die - other than my dad's dad when I was I think in eighth grade, or maybe I was a little younger. He had a stroke some years before that and couldn't communicate well at all, but I never tried to really talk to him because his whole condition made me nervous and uncomfortable and I didn't know what to do or say. However, my mom would sit with him for hours when we would visit and she's told me how she would very slowly figure out what he wanted to say. In the past few years I've learned so much more about him, as well as my dad's mom who died when my dad was 21, through talking to one of my aunts, and I even got my dad talking one day, which almost never happens. Also, I've looked at so many pictures of my grandpa from the time of his marriage and while my dad was young and growing up, and I've also talked to my mom about all she's learned while interviewing people for her genealogy research. And I've often wished that I could go back to that time as I am now and get to know him better, and sit with him and let him get to know me.
As it is, I have one memory of my grandpa before his stroke - I remember him in his kitchen in Milwaukee, and my cousins and I were very young and running all around - and I remember seeing him smiling and laughing and at least in my memory I see him holding a red pot-holder.
Name 5 things in your freezer at the moment...
- Blueberries and mixed berries
- Brocolli
- Two old unopened bags of Edemame
- A bag of stir-fry from Trader Joe's
- A stuffed chicken breast from Trader Joe's
[And I'll fully answer - all of those things have been in there for a very very long time. I'm very bad with actually using the things I buy for my freezer.]
•Do you believe in afterlife?
I don't know exactly what I believe anymore. I hate not knowing what to believe, it's very very scary and very uncertain. However, I do believe there's some higher power or energy, and I do believe there's something after death but I don't know what that might be. I believe in something after death because I believe that some spirits remain on earth after death for various reasons - which points to something after death - and I believe that we are more than just bodies with brains - I believe very strongly that we all have souls - so even though I'm very uncertain about other things regarding God and the Universe, I do believe that something happens to our souls after our bodies die and I don't believe that we're just a simple organism and everything we know and feel and believe comes purely from our brains. Oh, and I also believe that animals have souls as well, so my Muffin is somewhere out there, and my babies will be somewhere out there as well when they someday (hopefully very far from now) pass away.
•What are 5 sites you visit daily?
- Yahoo Mail
- Blogger
[Those are the only three that I visit every day for sure. I also visit my favorite blogs, and my own blog, and Mr. H's blog, and various other sites - but sometimes not every single day right now.]
•Five things you ate that you will never eat again:
- Liver
- Anchovies (tried a dried one once just to see)
- Frozen orange squash (it made me gag when I was young and my mom tried to make me eat it)
[Hmmm, I can't think of anything else and I keep trying! There are foods I've never tried and never will try, like clams or oysters, but I can't think right now of anything else that I've eaten and hated so so so much that I would never ever eat it again.]
•Five things that make you happy:
- Waking up to an email from Mr. H every morning, and talking to him every night before I go to sleep. And really everything about us makes me happy!
- Hearing little James's certain mew and seeing his look of wanting cuddling on his face, and then feeling him cuddled against my side with my arm around him and listening to him purr.
- Laughing whenever Emma looks up at me and mews loudly for affection, because she opens her little mouth so wide and her little nose crinkles and she looks so adorably silly and so so so so cute!
- The fun I have with everyone at work on every weekday - the laughter, the talks, the silliness, the intensity and caring, the guidance and support I receive, the fact that it feels like home to me and they all feel like family.
- The hope and excitement I have for the future, but also the hope and excitement I have for every single day and every week and every month! Great things are happening! And something wonderful is always possible!!! :)
3 Things I'm Grateful For Today:
* It's Friday night (well really Saturday morning) so I get to sleep later tomorrow morning!
* The orange juice which I'm drinking to try to help with the cold I'm quickly getting.
* The soft toilet paper I use which is nice on my nose now that I'm having to blow it quite often (again, the cold).
And tomorrow, I'll be making a little trip to the store for more orange juice, some tylenol cold, and super-soft tissues with lotion on them!
