the final countdown

Because she might need something to make this less stressful and maybe even funny...

One week and six days until chili-bingo is over for Mrs. Ootfp.
Tags: bingo

And the cheese stands alone.

OK so here is how it went down...First ChewyMom tagged Curmudgeon who in turn tagged me (Ironically some I barely changed)

7 things I want to do in 2006:

finish unpacking and be more patient.

Lose a bit (ahem... a lot) more baby fat.

Read to Squink more often.

Keep a much cleaner house and invite people over more.

Smooch (I forgot how much I adore that word) my husband a lot more.

Tell people that they are being nice and thank them (also do my TTOAST every week).

Finish at least one room in the house.

7 things to do less of in 2006:

Over-react.

Spend money.

Goof off.

Procrastinate.

Complain.

Worry.

Go to the dollar store.

7 ways I‘m going to be a better spouse/parent/friend in 2006:

Smooch my husband more.

Invite people over more.

stop "sweating the small stuff"

7 Things I want to memorize in 2006:

Seven German nursery rhymes.

7 Books I’ve Never Read that I‘m Going to Read in 2006:

Canterbury tales.

Six books that are on sale at Costco or Sam's Club

7 Movies I’ve Never Seen that I’m Going to Watch in 2006:

Narnia

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (new version)

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The Brother's Grimm

Wedding Crashers

Oliver Twist

Second meme tag, Guilty Pleasures Via Curmudgeon (again) who in turn got tagged by Mary

Meme: Ground Rules: The first player of this "game" starts with the topic "5 Guilty Pleasures" and people who get tagged need to write an entry about their 5 Guilty Pleasures as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose the next 5 people to be tagged and list their names

1. CBS News Sunday Morning

2. The dollar store (any one of them), or BigLots.

3. emolients.

4. spending time with my Squinky and family.

5. Reading every night

I do love a good meme

I tag... Curious hamster, Nettie (should she ever come among the living bloggers again), Catherine, Agnes, My mom, and my aunt ... pick one or both or none at all, but just know I am thinking of you!

Tags: meme

Tuesday Toast

I left my wallet at the doctors office. Too many visits I imagine, anyway... they called on my way home, said they would put it in the managers office for safekeeping, but the point is that they called my home and then my cell phone in order to contact me as quickly as possible. My cell was off so I did not get the message but I thought it nice that they went through the extra effort.

What kind gesture have you seen recently?

Everyone is sick, though Squink is getting better faster...

Squink is really sick... be back when he is better.

Tuesday TOAST

My dear blogfriend, Curious Hamster, over in Scotland and I once wanted to write about random acts of kindness... Well, we are going to try again.

For my very first Tuesday Tokens of Altruistic Subjective Thoughtfulness I will relate a story.

The valley in which I live was "fortunate" enough to have a marathon this weekend. Now people do marathons for many reasons... but I found one reason compelling enough to warrant being my first Tuesday ....OK how about TTOAST for short...
The particular gentleman I chose decided to run for a friend of his that had passed away in a strange and sad camping accident. It seems that the person he was running for had been sleeping in a tent with three other people when a tree fell over and killed him. The other folks were fine, the tree just killed this one person. What a devastating event and how nice that he decided to run and honor him... I believe I heard that they were raising money for the family too. But a marathon, that is a long distance and while not what I would choose to do, I think it is very nice for this person to have done so.
So, my first TTOAST goes to this man, whose name I know but have never met.

Here is Curious Hamsters post.

What token of thoughtfulness have you observed recently?

UPDATE: I too think it may have cliche part to it. But I realized that when I notice people in acts of kindness that I feel better, happier even even if it has nothing to do with me. So, I hope to be able to post noticed kindnesses however small because we all, after all, are in this together. Take the time to see what nice things your children, friends strangers do and celebrate that we are not all grumpy inside, there is something that can recognice nice gestures.
TAGS: TTOAST

ADDENDUM

My dear mother in law just reminded me that I completely forgot to put in one ofmy favorite things... probably becasue I haven't had it in a while (Papa wo bist du?
so in the name of haste I am changing favorite foods to now read.
Four Favorite Foods:

1. Papa's Kartoffel- und Gurkensalat (which is my way of trying to impress everyone into thinking it is some awesome exotic dish or that I actually speak German (ha), but if you read German you would know it is just plain old potato salad and cucumber salad... however, I promise that there is nothing plain about papas' cooking. They will be here very soon, so I will have to put a weapon to papas head and make him cook the papa papa salad* for me)
2. Tortilla de patata
3. Weinerschnitzel
4. Medium rare steak
5. llapingachos or Fritada or just about any of these
(all links removed cause I am just to lazy this mornign to do it)


* papa papa salad is papa for father as in my father in law, papa for potato in Spanish... and salad is for salad..

Oh, mama danke for the reminder!

Tags:potato, food

Cuatros

= Fours

I've hove not seen this anywhere and got tagged by Jordana. Which is always exciting, cause it makes you feel blog loved.

Four Jobs I've Had:

1. Programs Manager
2. Health Educator II
3. Assistant instructor for Child Development (DENVER Lab) section and Community Health (medical school)
4. Health Educator I

(aside from my most important job of Mom!!!!)


Four Movies I Watch Over and Over Again:
( similar to Jordana [OK, only two, but I found it interesting], and in no particular order)

1. Breakfast at Tiffany's
2. Auntie Mame
3. The Princess Bride
4. Animal House or Raiders of the Lost Ark (it is a tie)


Four Places I've Lived:

1. Colombia
2. Spain
3. Ecuador
4. Arizona


Four T.V. Shows I Watch:
(this is so embarrassing)

1. One Tree Hill
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. 70's Show
4. CBS news Sunday Morning (best good news show ever) <---- Not embarrassing!


Four Places I've Been on Vacation:
(all before Squink joined our happy household)

1. San Francisco, CA
2. Cancun, Mexico
3. Nogales, Mexico
4. McAllen, TX and Reynosa, MX (border towns) to watch my dad bullfight


Four Websites I Visit Daily:

1. My blog roll - all of it, several times
2. My personalized Google homepage
3. My webmail account
4. My sudoku sites

Four Favorite Foods:

1. Tortilla de patata
2. Weinerschnitzel
3. Medium rare steak
4. llapingachos or Fritada or just about any of these

Four Places I'd Like to Be Right Now:

1. In bed reading
2. Ecuador
3. Hungary
4. Somewhere new that I haven't been to before

Four Bloggers I'm Tagging:

1. Catherine
2. Nettie
3. Patricia
4. You, over there, yeah, I am talking to you... (because no one else reads my blog on a semi regular basis other than my mom or my MIL and I don't think they would especially... my MIL because she doesn't have a blog).

He loves his sweater Oma und Opa

PICT0003
Originally uploaded by Blair Necessities.

A more recent picture of Squink

51217005 Originally uploaded by Blair Necessities.

Yes I actually do call him that to his face!
For those who are familar with Tintin... can you see how his hair does the front up flip?
It is amazing, one of my favorite comics come to life!

This painting is worth $25,000

Schenck_Hills_of_Bidahochi Originally uploaded by Blair Necessities.

OK, before you rush to judgement it was painted by Bill Schenck and it is called "Hills of Bidahochi" and yes, that is me on the left.

Commercial interuption

OK, so I look forward every day to the latest instalment of "Diary Of A Girl" (love it!!!!)
But in honor of delurking week... I am interested in knowing who my one lurker is...
so come on, leave a comment... it is mandatory. I know who you may be (sort of)....
Now, before we get back to DOAG here is a teaser... she told her mom about Grey and his petting problem...

Better than desperate housewives

Diary of a girl over at Swapatorium.
Starts here.

I am so addicted!

wow

So, Christmas eve came and went, Christmas day came and went, New years eve, New years day, Three kings day... all gone.

Phew.

We were sorta busy...

Squink had a horrible ear infection and we have to see an ENT now. He even had to get Rocephin shots on Christmas eve. I never noticed a thing. No guilt, just amazed he could spend that much time in pain and not tell me anything.

We worked a bit on the house and have an idea for the windows that would not involve our selling the house in order to accomplish that... reminds me of that story about the hair and the watch...what was it?

Anyway.

I am here, alive, ready to get back to work tomorrow after a long break during which I slept a ton. I learned that if I lay quietly when Squink wakes up that he just fusses for a few minutes and goes right back to sleep until 9 AM or so... Love that boy.

Only thing is that I swear that the day after he turned one, he became a real baby. I mean he fussed and screamed and such. I was horrified, but apparently this is normal. What a shocker though. No more taking him to restaurants where fellow patrons look at us and sigh in content because he isn't "one of those screaming kids".

Bless him.

I have pictures, will try to upload some soon. I enjoyed my break and can't wait to get back to my blogs.

Happy new year fellow bloggers! I missed you all!