Series Of Ten Survey (In Any Order)

10 Of Your Current Favorite Songs:

01. I Only Have Eyes For You

02. Brian Wilson (Bare Naked Ladies)

03. I'll Cover You (RENT soundtrack)

04. Fool in the Rain (Led Zepplin)

05. Tangerine (Led Zepplin)

06. Ribbon in the Sky (Stevie Wonder)

07. I Know What Love Is (Don White)

08. Anything by Queen

09. Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World (Israel K.)

10. You're Just Too Good to Be True (Frankie Vallie)

9 Authors You're Into:

01. Agatha Christie

02. Martha Grimes

03. Dorothy L. Sayers

04. Sarah Powell

05. David Sedaris

06. Alexander McCall Smith

07. Arthur Ransome

08. A.A. Milne

09. Jef Mallet

8 Stores You Shop In:

01. Target

02. Meijer

03. Manhattan Meat Market

04. Bed, Bath, & Beyond

05. Sears

06. CVS (on the corner)

07. Border's

08. JC Penny's

7 Of Your Favorite Movies:

01. Evil Under the Sun

02. His Girl Friday

03. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

04. Thoroughly Modern Millie

05. Steel Magnolias

06. Ferris Bueller's Day Off

07. Animal House

6 Of Your Favorite Memories:

01. Vacationing with my family in Colchester, Canada

02. Traveling with Mom, Susie, Gloria, and Patty

03. Camping with Kirstie, Gene, and the kids

04. Anytime at the cottage in Lexington with the Dubenskys

05. EMU- every single year!

06. April 29th, 2005, in Kensington Metro Park.

5 Of Your Favorite TV Shows:

01. Will & Grace

02. Lost

03. How I Met Your Mother

04. Law & Order: Criminal Intent

05. Poirot

4 Things You're Afraid Of:

01. snakes

02. being alone in the house and hearing a strange noise

03. heights

04. dogs on the loose

3 Of Your Closest Friend:

01. Ken

02. Sarah

03. Kirstie

2 Of Your Favorite Hobbies:

01. Reading

02. Making jewelry

1 Wish For This Week:

01. I wish that Ken's grandma's recovery goes quickly and smoothly.

Fun with Sarah and Jason S.

Love and Marriage

Last night Ken and I went to our first marriage "PREPARE" class. We discussed the pre-marital 'test' we had taken a month ago. The test comprised of 164 questions that we had to answer with strongly disagree, disagree, not sure, agree, or strongly agree. We were in separate rooms when we had taken the test, but we discussed it on our way home. On all the questions we could remember, our answers were similar.

We met with the counselor, Ed, last night and talked a little about who we are, what we do for a living, and how we met. After that, Ed gave us each a sheet of paper that had several categories on it. We had to each choose and rank the top three Strengths we have as a couple, and then rank the top three Growth Areas. When we were done, Ed had us say what our number one was and why we chose it. So we got to compare our answers and discuss them. Then Ed told us what the 'test' said our number one was. On the test, we actually had a three-way tie between Religion, Friends and Family, and Domestic Roles. Ed chose Religion to be the number one. He then went over all the questions for that section and how Ken answered and how I answered.

We then did that for each of our rankings and Ed used Friends and Family as number two and Domestic Roles as number three of the 'test' rankings. What was really startling was that our answers were the same; we agreed or disagreed together about everything. It was kind of eerie.

At our next class, we will be going over our rankings for Growth Areas and over our issues with Conflict Resolution. That should be very interesting.

Grandma

It's been quite a week. Ken's grandma took a fall down her basement stairs Sunday. Ken's parents were getting Grandma's luggage when she lost her balance. Ken and I had only been home about 40 minutes when Ken got the call. We rushed to Oakwood Hospital; we made great time- I think we were there in 45 minutes.

We found out that Grandma broke two vertabrates in her neck. She also suffered a heart attack sometime Monday night / Tuesday morning. They can't operate on the heart because of the neck, and they can't operate on the neck because of the heart. They had to give Grandma a breathing tube down her throat, and they finally gave her a feeding tube, as well. As of today, her vital stats are very good and steady.

After good status, a decline, and then a bounce-back, Grandma is doing well. The family has been at the hospital constantly to keep an eye on things and to keep Grandma company. Grandma has been lucid and knows what's going on. She'll hold your hand and squeeze it when you talk to her or ask her questions. She was even writing things to her doctor. Once the tubes come out, I'm sure she'll be talking up a storm!

Once she's moved out of ICU, she'll have lots of visitors outside of the family. That will help keep her spirits up.

More Pics from Shedd

Here are a few more pictures

from Shedd Aquarium.

The Windy City

Ken and I had a great time in Chicago last Friday. We left here around 7:30 am and were in Chicago around 12:15 pm central time. It was an easy drive, with just a few traffic slow-downs.

We found parking and made it in to Shedd Aquarium by 12:30. What an aquarium! It was a fantastic layout, and the exhibits were terrific. While I suspect that the dolphins get most of the attention, I loved seeing the beluga whales play with the trainers.

I was disappointed that we didn't see any octopus. But we did get to see some of the animals being fed by divers in the huge central tank. That was pretty cool.

* . . About Nan . . *

* . . About Nan . . *

Eye Color:: hazel- green, blue, gray
Hair Color:: sometimes brown, sometimes blonde
Height:: 5'2"

Favorite Color:: at the moment- greens
Screen Name:: Red Maple Drive
Favorite Band:: at the moment- SuperTramp
Favorite Movie:: today, I'd say it is "Animal House"

Favorite Show:: "The Closer" and "How I Met Your Mother"

Your Car:: Sangria Red Ford Focus
Your Hometown:: Allen Park
Your Present Town:: Chesterfield

Your Crushes First Name:: Ken

Your Style:: dressy-casual

* . . Have You Ever . . *
Sat on your rooftop?:: no
Kissed someone in the rain?:: yes
Danced in a public place?:: yes
Smiled for no reason?:: yes
Laughed so hard you cried?:: yes
Peed your pants after age 8?:: yes
Written a song?:: no
Sang to someone for no reason?:: yes
Performed on a stage?:: yes
Talked to someone you don't know?:: yes
Gone out of your way to befriend someone?:: yes
Made out in a theatre?:: yes
Gone roller skating since 8th grade?:: yes
Been in love?:: yes

* . . Who was the last person to . . *
Say HI to you?:: Ken
Tell you, I love you?:: Ken
Kiss you?:: Ken

Hug you?:: Ken
Tell you BYE?:: Ken
Write you a note?:: Mom
Take your photo?:: Ken
Call your cell phone?:: Sarah

Buy you something?:: Me
Go with you to the movies?:: Fr. Joe and Ken

Sing to you?:: Ken
Text message you?:: Ken

Touch you?:: Ken

* . . What's the last . . *
Time you laughed?:: Today
Time you cried?:: a month ago
Movie you watched?:: "The Birds"

Joke you told?:: a Knock-Knock joke to Sophia
Song you've sang?:: "You're Just Too Good To Be True"
Time you've looked at the clock?:: when I woke up- 8:00

Drink you've had?:: water
Number you've dialed?:: Ken's cell phone
Book you've read?:: The Postern of Fate by Agatha Christie
Food you've eaten?:: a pb&j sandwhich

Flavor of gum chewed?:: Peppermint Vanilla

Shoes you've worn?:: slippers

Store you've been in?:: Sears
Thing you've said?:: I love you. Be good.

* . . Can You . . *
Write with both hands?:: Yes; my left hand is really sloppy, but readable.
Whistle?:: yes
Blow a bubble?:: yes, even a bubble-in-a-bubble
Roll your tounge in a circle?:: yes, and make a clover shape
Cross your eyes?:: yes, but it hurts
Touch your tounge to your nose?:: no
Dance?:: only if I can sing along with the song
Gleek?:: only by accident, though I do try
Stay up a whole night without sleep?:: in emergencies

Speak a different language?:: I'm fluent in Pig-Latin, though I do know a handful of words in Spanish, Latin, French, and Slovak
Impersonate someone?:: I can attempt
Prank call people?:: yes
Make a card pyramid?:: nope
Cook anything?:: yes!

* . . Finish The Line . . *
If I were a ...: tulip, I'd be growing and showing my leaves.
I wish ...: my bangs weren't quite so short.
So many people don't know that ...: 'gleep' means to aim at someone and spit a little with your tongue. At least it meant that when I was in high school.
I am ...: getting a new gold crown on my tooth today.
My heart is ...: happy.

Gettin' It Done

A lot has been accomplished for the wedding this weekend. First, Sarah came over and helped to fold, stamp, and stuff the wedding invitations. Second, we found and bought the flower girl dresses- $35.00 is quite a steal. Third, I addressed all of my invitations. Only Ken's side is left, and I think I will end up addressing those as well. He can do all of the licking shut of the envelopes. Finally, I found and bought the flower girl thank-you gifts... very sweet little purses and "pearl" bracelets. I am officially done with all of that!

Ken and I cleaned out our closets and got rid of a bunch of clothes that either don't fit or just aren't being used. Most of the stuff was bagged-up, and we donated them to the Council for the Blind on Champaigne and Dix. And some was given to my sister-in-law. I hope she can use the clothes.

Don't get me wrong, there are things I still haven't given away; some things I swear I'll wear again. It probably won't happen, but you never know. One more year won't kill me.

Right now it's raining like crazy. There is a tornado watch unitl 11am today, and then major wind gusts up to 60 mph after 4pm. Yesterday it got up to 73 degrees- totally gorgeous! By tomorrow, however, the temps are going to fall dramatically, and it will probably snow Thursday.

IT'S GRRREEEAAT!

Which

Kids Breakfast Cereal

Are You?

Your Cereal Personality: Frosted Flakes
You were none other than Tony the Tiger! You were GRRREEEAT! Your cereal-shards were tough to swallow, but coming from a tiger, who wouldn't try them? Only slightly more exciting than corn flakes, your appeal dropped significantly after Lucky Charms added purple horseshoes.

Take the quiz yourself! http://www.quizsoup.com/

Pass the Potato!

Help get my potato to all 50 states! - on - PassThePotato.com!

Quiz Me, Please

I found a few fun quizzes on-line. Here are my results to the Are You Normal? quiz:

Your Normalcy Quotient is: 70 out of 100.

Your quiz results make you a Quirky CharacterYou've found yourself mostly in the middle of the road, but you have enough quirky habits to not be entirely normal. You're probably glad to be more than ordinary, but you're normal enough to fit in. Sounds like a perfect balance.

You can take this free personality test by Clicking Here>> or going to www.chatterbean.com/runormal/

I also have a quiz about Ken and me. I made it up today; take the test and see how well you do...

www.quizyourfriends.com/yourquiz.php?quizname=060307102913-449418&

I'm going to send it to Ken and see how well he does. I hope he gets a 100%!

The First Audio Post

Audioblogging

Ooh, I've signed-up for Audioblogging. I like that we can keep-up with our blog, even when we're on the road. Although, it is a bit like recording the answering machine or voice mail message. It took me a couple of tries before I recorded something I liked. Check it out!

In Like A Lion

In like a lion... March has begun with snow, sleet, ice, and COLD Cold cOLd temperatures. However, I have begun to shop around for summer clothing... June is not that far off. So far, I have two new pairs of sandals that will keep my feet comfortable in and around the Kissimmee, Florida area. I can't wait to be there.

Ken and I have done a BUNCH of things for the wedding these past two weeks. They include (but are not limited to):

1) Registering for gifts at Target, Marshall Field's, and Bed, Bath & Beyond.
2) Hiring a Limo.
3) Ordering the wedding cake. It is going to be beautiful!
4) Ordering the party favors- the baggies are perfect for the candy mints.
5) Designing and writing the wedding program. It has taken me the full two weeks to get it just how I want it.
6) Registering for ballroom dancing lessons at the Allen Park Community Center.
7) Getting the Bridal Shower invitation list together.

Not to mention that we bought some shelving units for the basement. All of my teaching stuff is now organized and off the floor. Okay, okay, there are still a couple boxes left, but we still have to get a few more units. AND THEN it will all be organized. But at least we have a plan.

I've checked the New Year's Resolutions list I made, and I have succeeded in doing a few so far:

1) I have mastered 3 new recipes. Only 2 more to go.
2) We're signed-up for the dancing lessons. So I'm counting that one.
3) We are going to Chicago in 2 weeks for Olivia C.'s birthday.
4) I've put away all the Christmas decorations. Two snowmen have managed to stay upstairs, and I'll put them away when the snow stays away for good. C'mon Spring!!

In regards to the wedding programs~ I decided that I wanted to include descriptions of the traditional Byzantine wedding customs for all of the non-Byz. people who will be attending the marriage ceremony. I researched the internet and became frustrated when I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for. No matter, I did end up getting information about the Crowning, the Ceremonial Walk, and the Blessing.

But what I did come away with (from the internet) were some websites/blogs of people who are really into discussing and exploring their Catholic faiths. I was really interested, as some of them have knowledege of Byzantine Catholicism. I've even made comments on their blogs, something of which I hardly ever do. I just like the idea of people from all walks of life, from all around the country(and the world), of different ages, different situations, different religions talking about something they have in common. Long Live the Web!