Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens

These are a few of my favorite things

When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when Christmas up north was really bad... I simply remember my favorite things. And then I don't feel so sad!



1. Mother's ring from Nelle & Lizzy. I love it!
2. duh, a sewing machine! Can't wait to see what crafty trouble I can get into now!
3. My favorite artwork ever, painted by one of these beautiful local friends. I cried when I opened it.

Merry Christmas!

From my family to yours...



Take some time to enjoy your families! I'll see you next week!

Wordless Wednesday - Christmas baking

Hoodies are of the devil

There have been many, many late nights.

Hand cramps.

Trips to JoAnn's.

Some learning.

Some crying.

Lots of doubting.

And recently, some evil laughs.

But finally...


I'm done! I'm wrapping these puppies and that's the last time I ever want to touch a hoodie.

And I better see my nieces and nephew wearing these constantly for the next 2 years.

On a different note though, the only other time I've felt such accomplishment was crossing the 5K finish line.

Superman wants me to knit him an ugly Christmas sweater for next year.

We'll see.

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Even though I'm not prepared for this week at all, I'm not so glad last week is over. We were not gone 4 of the 5 week nights. The kids and a mommy got a little crabby! During all the craziness, I was not up knitting until 2am two nights in a row. But I did not finish my Christmas hoodies yesterday! I think Superman thought I was a little nuts when I finished the 2nd one and gave a loud evil laugh. Now I am not knitting a quick afghan for Christmas!

We don't have so much to do this week too. I'm so excited about Christmas but kind of not looking forward to more knitting, baking, wrapping, packing and traveling. I'm not so ready to just relax a little.

And I don't think I'll make y'all wait a couple days to see the hoodies! Mwahaha! (maybe I have lost my mind a little?!)

Saturday Cell Phone Mosaic

Happy Saturday. This is going to be short and sweet.

We slept in this morning and missed our chance to go to the chiropractor. We felt really bad because he just had us over for dinner last night and was expecting us this morning. But we got around and ready to take Peanut to the eye dr for her yearly exam. We just started trying out the Wal-mart vision center so I left Superman in there with the kids to handle the eye appt. while I finished the last of the Christmas shopping. I got it out to the car and met up with them just in time to pay for Peanut's new glasses. Hopefully she'll get them before we leave next week.

After that we came home, had some lunch and I've been knitting ever since. I want these hoodies done. I'm tired of hoodies. I finished the final one and started getting ready to put the zipper in. I got the zipper pinned and ready to sew in and it honestly took my breath away. Not trying to toot my own horn, but I could not believe I actually made something like that. You'll see the pic with the zipper pinned in. Then I went to unzip the zipper. And I started crying. I've already bought zippers two or three different times because of colors and/or size changes and now I realized every single zipper I've bought does not separate at the bottom. They were for purses/pockets. Superman was napping and I woke him up crying, ready to give up. But he's so great, he gathered the kids, gave me a pep talk and took me to JoAnn's to find the right zippers. We picked up some supper and here we are.

Now, I need to get back to work. These hoodies WILL BE FINISHED TONIGHT. Or I might have a bigger meltdown.

From December 19, 2009

How was your day?

When does Santa get the axe?

No, I'm not talking about a murderous Santa. Sara doesn't need anything else to be afraid of! More on that later. Stick with me to the end because I need some advice.

I've decided that this is just not the right time of the year to be doing Healthy Friday posts. I'll get back to that after the new year. I think you'll agree that no matter how much we try to be healthy right now, with parties, gatherings, baking... it's just not gonna happen. Or maybe I'm just talking about myself. I say, bring on a few extra pounds. I put EA Sports Active on my Christmas list to my mom so I'll have that after things get back to normal. (if you really, really want something for Christmas all you have to do is put it on the list to my parents. They are so unoriginal that you know you'll get everything you tell them!)

So, did you see on Twitter yesterday that I made some toffee?


It's so darn good I just have to give you the recipe. You're welcome.

Mrs. Suddath's Toffee Recipe
2 sticks butter
1 cup brown sugar
Saltines (a little over one sleeve)
1 package Reeses Peanut Butter chips (10 oz)
1 package Nestle Semi Sweet Chocolate chips (12 oz)

Lightly grease cookie sheet.
Lay saltines all over pan.
Melt butter - add brown sugar – boil for 4 minutes – stir constantly (you can do it – it's only 4 minutes!)
Pour over crackers.
Bake at 350 for 6 minutes ( surface will be all bubbly)
Sprinkle PB and choc. Chips over entire surface.
Let sit for 10 minutes.
Spread with rubber spatula or wooden spoon – until choc and pb mix and cover everything.
Put in fridge – until hard – break into pieces – store in fridge

Someone made this at Superman's work the other day, so I got this through email. I have no clue who Mrs. Suddath is but God bless her! This woman knows her toffee. I wonder what else she knows. Now I just need to figure out who she is and hunt her down!

Now. About Santa. I'm conflicted this year and need your help. The kids are growing up. How long do we keep this Santa stuff going? Peanut already knows. We told her when she started 4th grade. She talked about so many other kids in her class not believing in Santa and thought we should get it all out there before 1) she believed until she was a teenager and 2) she got made fun of. Go ahead and laugh but another reason I wanted to tell her was because the schools in Indiana taught body changes in 4th grade. I really couldn't handle the thought of knowing my daughter would still believe in Santa and learn about Aunt Flo at the same time. Those don't mix in my opinion so we spilled the beans. She was pretty upset at first, then really excited that she'd get to help be Santa, the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny (yeah, once you open that first can of worms the rest just kind of pour all out).

So here we are. Princess and Little Dude are 9 and in 3rd grade. They talk about kids not believing. And after watching The Santa Clause over the weekend, I thought for sure we were in for some questions. Plus we're tired of Santa bringing the loot. He always brings the best stuff and makes us look bad. This year Santa is bringing little things and the nice presents are from us!

I'm pretty much decided that we'll tell them/they'll find out before next Christmas. My dilemma is this. When? How? I would kind of like to do it sooner and get it out of the way. And that way when next Christmas rolls around, we're not worried about telling them and killing their dreams when they're already thinking about Santa coming.

Are they already too old? Let me tell you a little secret. I was a very naive kid. Okay, more like just plain dumb. My parents let the Santa thing go until I was nearing my teenage years and when they told me they just kind of blurted it out making me feel stupid that I hadn't figured it out by then. I don't want that to be my kids.

Sure that takes away some of the fun, but it also opens up a new tradition. In Superman's family, once everyone stops believing in Santa you get to stay up until midnight on Christmas Eve. Back in the days before kids we used to be at his parents house on Christmas Eve, eating, watching movies, waiting until midnight. At midnight, his Grandma would call. She had a huge grandfather clock and we'd all listen on the phone as her clock rang 12 times... it was officially Christmas! Then we'd open presents!

Superman's Grandma has since passed, but the rest of the tradition can live on. It's been postponed for quite some time since Santa came into the picture. But with us living so far from family now, eventually Christmas morning will fall on a weekend (like next year) and we won't be home for Santa to come. That's always been important to us, him coming to our house and not finding us somewhere else.

Anyway, that's my point I guess. Next year schedules start getting screwy, they'll be in 4th grade... when and how should Santa get the axe?

Thursday Thirteen - Edition X

Courtesy of Izzy 'N Emmy. Inspired by Kimber.

1. X-ray - a picture of your innards

2. Xylophone - a percussion instrument

3. Xerox - a copy/to copy/type of copy machine

4. Xavier - a name

5. Xanadu - An idyllic, beautiful place. Also a wicked awesome looking movie.

6. XOXO - kisses and hugs! I end every email to Superman like that

7. X - a letter. Also a chromosome

8. XXXX's - they all live in Texas. (get it? It's a song. Oh, never mind)

9. Xanax - an anti anxiety agent

10. Xiphoid process - smallest of the three parts of the breastbone

11. Xenon - a colorless odorless gaseous element

12. X-axis - the horizontal axis in a plane coordinate system

13. Xmas - I can't wait!

Wordless Wednesday - Puppy Love

Help Portrait

Hey everyone! This is Superman guest blogging for Ace. Some of you have asked about Help Portrait; what it was, how it went, etc. First of all, let me say it was an honor even to be there and see the lives that were affected by this event. Not just the lives of those whose pictures were taken, but also the lives of the photographers taking the pictures. Tears were shed, laughs were exchanged and many lives were impacted for the better.

Help Portrait is a movement started by Nashville photographer Jeremy Cowart. Let me just say that Jeremy is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. He has a tremendous amount of talent and felt the need to share it at no-cost with those who couldn't normally afford to use his services. Jeremy felt like giving back. And Help Portrait was born.

The mission of Help Portrait is to provide those less fortunate with an opportunity to have a photo of themselves. Okay, this may sound insignificant to most of you, but believe me when I say, there are many people out there that have NEVER had their photo taken.

When I was there I saw some of the homeless come in not sure what to do when they were in front of the camera. Some stood there giving their best smile and some hammed it up posing in their proudest stance. These individuals who normally have been passed by a million times on the streets with no one giving them the time of day, were now the center of attention. The smiles and tears that were on their faces when they saw their photos was priceless and even more, touching.



These individuals were given a day to forget, for a moment, all of their troubles. It was a chance for mental peace; an escape. This was the miracle of Help Portrait. A single mother of two trying to do her best for her kids, young girls who have been told their whole lives they were ugly, toothless men, unkempt women, and more were all treated like kings and queens for an hour. They were given food, backpacks, clothes, a makeover and a portrait. They all left feeling good. Perhaps not good about their circumstances, but good about themselves. Maybe even for the first time in their lives.

Help Portrait, which seemed like a small idea, blew up into a day of over 30,000 portraits taken across the world. It was and still is a movement. It is continuing to impact lives and is the beginning of something great.

To see a sample of what this day consists of, check out the video below:

------------------------------------------

Let's give my Superman a round of applause. Not only for helping with something so great, but for having something to write about when I didn't! I enjoyed the break! If you're nice maybe he'll come back again soon!

Overdrive

Well, I sure am glad I'm feeling better because we are kicking it into overdrive this week!

Tonight we have Peanut's band concert. Tomorrow night is Superman's work Christmas party. Those are the best! The only downfall is that it's on a school night and they usually party on until around 11pm. And our babysitter lives 45 minutes from us. That puts us getting home really late tomorrow night. Wednesday evening is Superman's choir Christmas party at church. That's fun too and shouldn't last too long. It happens during normal Wednesday evening service times.

And then? The kids go to school 1/2 day on Thursday and are out for Christmas break! Do you know what that means? It means if I don't get everything done before then, I'll never get it done!

So I'm skipping my normal Not Me Monday post and getting started! I meant for this just to be a quick post to say I'm not posting today but, you see how that went! I have to run to the chiropractor, Wal-mart, maybe Starbuck's for a gift card, get the bills ready to pay, clean the house... Man, do I really need to clean the house. I kept up with running the dishwasher last week while I was sick but that's about it. Poor Little Dude wore the same pair of pants to school all week. And I was very thankful for school uniforms. No one has to know they were the same pair!

Here I go, as soon as I put my feet on the floor I'll be running!

Saturday Cell Phone Mosaic... On Sunday

First of all, I need to say a BIG FAT HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO NIKKI! I hope you have a wonderful day, Friend! Now, let's slam her latest comment box with birthday wishes!

I didn't really do much of anything yesterday at all. Superman was gone all morning at Help Portrait and then all afternoon training a client on a website he just did for them. So the rest of us just took it easy. I'm feeling better but still not 100% and the kids are starting to cough a little now. We just had a completely lazy day because this coming week is the week I need everyone feeling good!

There's really not much to say about yesterday that wouldn't bore you to death. The day included staying in PJ's, online Christmas shopping, an at home haircut, Papa John's delivery and watching Jingle All the Way and The Santa Clause. A lot of the pictures are from Superman this week. Enjoy!

From December 12, 2009

What did you do?

I think I'm unzombified

First of all, I looked zombified up on dictionary.com. It's a real word. I had no idea.

I'm skipping a Healthy Friday post this week too. Last week I was just in a bad mood. But there has been absolutely nothing healthy about this week. I meant to workout this week, but you don't have a choice after sickness knocks you on your butt.

I was fine on Monday, until that night. I was trying to knit, obviously distracted by Erin and Sara on Twitter with all their peanut butter talk. Superman and I ordered our Christmas cards online, I tweeted some more and by the time I was ready to get back to knitting the sinus pressure in my head was so bad I just wanted to rest. I hit the couch and must have had a fever by then because I shivered and shook under my blanket that whole time.

I tossed and turned all night. That's not like me. I usually sleep so hard that it sometimes takes a kid coming in to wake us up after all 3 of our alarm clocks (3 of mine and Superman's alarm clocks, that is) have gone off. I also snored and moaned all night. My snoring got much better after we started going to the chiropractor so that was unusual. And I've only moaned in my sleep when I'm extremely tired, pregnant or sick. Anyway, I woke up Tuesday morning zombified with a temp over 102.

And that's pretty much been my week. I hovered between 100-101 something constantly, and when I wasn't shivering right out of my skin, I was soaked with sweat. It's miserable I tell you. When I noticed the white bumps in my throat Wednesday morning I decided it was time to get checked. The dr. was actually very surprised that my strep test came back negative. I think we were both sure by the look of my throat that that's what it was. He then ruled it Tonsillitis.

Since then the white stuff in my throat has multiplied. I totally wanted to take a picture of it and put it on here because I've never seen anything like it. But the last time I looked at it, it grossed me out so bad I gagged so I figured we better skip that idea. You need to thank me.

But yesterday I had many fever free moments, which helps. A ton. I still sound really wimpy, like my head is stuffed full of cotton and my voice is really quiet, but I think I'm getting unzombified.

Now, as long as I don't choke to death on loosening mucus, I think I'll live.

Thursday Thirteen - Edition W

Courtesy of Izzy 'N Emmy. Inspired by Kimber.

1. Worn - as in worn out. My body is. Spending 3 days in a row with a fever over 100 and either shivering out of my skin or sweating like a pig has taken a toll.

2. White - a color. Also the color of bumps I have in my throat leading me to the clinic yesterday.

3. Whiny - me. What do you expect?

4. Weak - again, me. (sorry, what do you expect me to write about when I've been on the couch under a blanket all week.)

5. Work - Superman works hard, especially this week. Doing his normal job, freelance in the evenings and even running errands for me, taking care of me and handling everything for the kids this week.

6. Wish - just wish I could get over this and feel better. Superman took tomorrow off so we could enjoy the day together and I don't know if I'll feel like it.

7. Wake - up. to be awake. I've been doing this a lot at night, usually to pee or because the razor blades in my throat hurt so bad or because my temp is back over 102.

8. Write - I'd like to write about something else but my head feels like it's full of cotton and I can't think.

9. Wondering - when I'll be normal again. I could handle the sore throat and head stuffiness if the fever would just stay away.

10. Word - this is full of them. The word of the week is Tonsillitis.

11. Water - been drinking tons of it. The OJ burns and my Coke Zero just doesn't taste good.

12. Week - 7 days. Next week starts holiday craziness for us.

13. Wacky - I'm going there. Fast.

Wordless Wednesday - a little lower this morning

The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear

I had a revelation yesterday. An epiphany, if you will.

I was going about my day as normal. I went to the chiropractor and was on my way to Wal-mart when it happened. Something that brought a smile to my face. And I wasn't the only one smiling.

As I was stopped at a red light I noticed a homeless man. He was sitting on a bench even with the passenger window of the car in front of me.

Now I'll admit, when we first moved here I would've been checking my doors to make sure they were locked. I know, bad. I always wondered how people could just ignore all the homeless around here. But I've learned now that you just become accustomed to it.

He motioned to the driver in front of me. Like he was asking them to turn their radio up.

Again, ashamed to admit it, but I would've ignored him out of fear at this point. The driver in front of me did the exact opposite.

I watched as they lowered their window and turned their music up.

I watched as the old homeless man bobbed his head to the music.

And smiled.

The light turned green and the driver waved to the smiling homeless man, who waved back, before driving off.

That probably made that man's day.

Not the music.

Just being acknowledged. The fact that someone took a minute to make him smile.

And although I've been accustomed to seeing more homeless people, I've also learned that they weren't always homeless. Yes, sometimes it is their fault because of a lifestyle choice or whatnot. But there are people out there that used to make a living, used to have a house and nice things and the loss of a job was devastating. This is what they've been handed.

I have a challenge for you, and for myself too.

It's almost Christmas. Maybe you know someone down on their luck or regularly see someone homeless on your daily commute.

Do you know how much it would mean if you just rolled down the window to tell them Merry Christmas?

Do you have a couple extra bucks to give out? I know the cliche, "what if they go use it on drugs or alcohol?" Well, if it's only a couple bucks they're not going to get much now are they. But they could get a hot cup of coffee or soup.

Are you a photographer? Superman is participating in this, it's happening this weekend all over the world.

See someone counting change on their trunk just to get a little gas in their car so they can get to the job that doesn't pay enough, but is still helping them get by? Bite your lip and swipe your card. Sometimes buying someone a full tank of gas is the best thing you can give them.

Buy one small toy for a Toys for Tots bin. Our renters are signed up for Toys for Tots this year. They're struggling after he came within a couple days of losing his job after having back surgery. Then a month later the wife did lose her job. Even though we have to work payment out with them sometimes, we are thankful now that we couldn't sell the house when we moved here, thankful for these people.

*Edited to add: got a call from our renters this morning. They are struggling, but called asking for prayer for a family their son goes to school with. The school does something called Santa Land where the kids can bring money to school and buy presents for their parents. Their son noticed a little boy only had a penny to buy something for his Grandparents that he lives with, so he gave the boy all his money. Our renter called the school to find out more about this family and was told gifts would be nice but they really need food. Our renters kids have already said they are giving this family their Toys for Tots toys they get this year. But there is no Angel Tree in that town and this family needs help getting food. If this strikes you as something you would like to help with, email me. We'll get them some money for food somehow.*

Are you up for the challenge? Do one thing nice for someone between now and Christmas. That's it.

I'll be keeping my eyes wide open now.

And maybe jamming Christmas music from my car at stop lights.

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

We did not have a crazy weekend. Mostly at home without Superman which felt crazy. But Superman did not have a crazy weekend of singing at 3 different concerts! Want another clip? Well, I'm not feeling very Christmassy lately so you're getting one anyway. (one of my favorite songs)

I did not forget about supper Saturday evening. What kind of mom would do that? Not me. We did not get ready to go to the concert with Superman totally not thinking about eating anything. When the concert ended at 9:30pm we were not starving! We ended up hitting Arby's and McDonalds drive-thrus on the way home. Peanut and I did not super size our meals to get 2 more coke glasses and I totally can't believe she didn't eat the whole thing! Buying an 11 year old girl a super sized meal won't last forever... but we'll wait until I have each color of the coke glasses!

I am not looking forward to a crazy week next week. We don't have Peanut's first band concert next Monday night, Superman's work Christmas party Tuesday night and Superman's church choir Christmas party Wednesday night. We are not going to totally savor this week of free evenings and a day off for Superman this Friday before the craziness hits. Because after next week it's even more craziness with Christmas and more traveling. Then maybe we won't get to finally relax a little!

There's not only 18 days until Christmas and we don't still have 9 people to shop for that we have no idea what we're getting them!

What? She's blogging on Sunday now?

Well, yes. Just this time.

I have a video from the concert last night that I wanted to share. A special video... a gift to my friend Nikki. And the rest of you of course!

Nikki, I was excited to post some videos of the concert but you are constantly on my mind when I do, knowing you don't get the full effect. And I really hope you don't mind me doing this. But when this song started I knew I wanted to post this. An early Christmas present, if you will.

Enjoy! (I don't know if it will help, but you can make it full screen)

Untitled from Ace on Vimeo.

They are performing again tonight at 7:00 CST. Go here to watch.

Saturday Cell Phone Mosaic

We actually had kind of a lazy Saturday for once. And you know what? While it was good, it went way too fast. I kind of wish we would've stayed busy but it was also nice to not have any plans.

We didn't get up in time to go to the chiro, we actually slept in! Man, that felt good. We had some coffee and kind of just sat around for a little bit. Around lunchtime Superman started taking pictures for our Christmas cards! And while he started editing the pictures and designing our cards, I made lunch. Thanks to Christa, we had some awesome enchiladas for lunch today!

Tonight was the first performance of our church choir's Christmas concert. It was so good! Makes me so proud to see Superman up there with such a great choir. Feel free to watch it for yourselves! They will be streaming tomorrow night's performance live at 7:00pm CST. Go here to check it out.

From December 5, 2009

We've had birds around here like you wouldn't believe. Well, you might, but I've never seen anything like it! I had to include a little video I took yesterday. Just standing outside all you could hear were birds and the trees were full. Then it got eerily quiet. (just ignore when I say "holy crap")

Untitled from Ace on Vimeo.

What did you do today?

Friday

Notice I didn't say Healthy Friday. Yeah. We're just gonna skip right over that part this week.

I became past the point of caring this week. I was very annoyed with my blog this week. What happened to my originality? Instead of writing my thoughts, I'm doing "Not Me Monday", "Tuesday Tidbits", "Wordless Wednesday", "Thursday Thirteen" and "Healthy Friday". I see no originality in listing the day of the week every single day. Certain things I'll keep for sure but why don't I have anything good to say anymore? I got a blog award from Mind of Mindi on November 21st and haven't done anything about it. Now that I've remembered, her blog has been made private and I have no idea what the award was. I'm losing my drive for blogging.

I've become extremely annoyed with Twitter. I used to tweet a lot. Since I was following over 1,700 people I stopped caring. It was so much more enjoyable when my home page wasn't flooded with tweets that I could care less about. I don't need you to build me a new blog, I don't really read the free organic news, I don't want a designer door knob, I've never had poison ivy and don't need to know how to get rid of it. If I need any of this information, I'll look it up myself. I don't care about real estate around the country. Unless you can help our renters buy our house in Indiana, buh bye. Don't get me started on the social media tweets. And I was following Susan Boyle's cat. Seriously.

So I sat down yesterday and went through who I was following on Twitter. I cleared out hundreds. 1,580 to be exact. (If you think I accidentally unfollowed you, please let me know!) I'm just tired of it. Twitter was tons more enjoyable when I was able to see what my blog friends were talking about. You all were getting buried in the junk that comes in and I just didn't like it anymore. I breathed a huge sigh of relief yesterday when I was done unfollowing people and even got to enjoy chatting with Alicia again. It's weird how something like that was stressing me out. I told Superman I felt so technologically annoyed/buried. I feel a little better now. Another thing that would help me is a blog redesign. I want to ask Superman to do it for me, but he's had so many freelance projects lately that he doesn't need to be spending his time on a blog. He's off about 2 weeks at Christmas so maybe some changes will be made then!

Sorry to be Debbie Downer today. But don't tell me you haven't noticed my lack of enthusiasm! I thought it was finally time to address this and take care of it since it was annoying me so much this week.

I did make a meal this week worthy of noting. I've made it before and it can be found on Kelly's Recipe Blog. So yummy, warm and comforting!

And now, I'm going to do what I can around here today but also relax and knit a little. If you saw my tweets (which I'm doing more of since I feel so much more technologically relaxed!) this morning I'm not feeling the best. I'm still hoping it was the handful of greasy cashews I ate yesterday, but I've had a very upset stomach since late last night. I had a terrible time sleeping with my stomach churning. Pray it's not the flu!

Thursday Thirteen - Edition V

Courtesy of Izzy 'N Emmy. Inspired by Kimber.

1. V8 Splash - yummy juice my kids love

2. Vacation - I want one so badly that might possibly involve going more south instead of north like always

3. Vacuum - mine is rarely used now. The girls rooms are the only rooms with carpet. And they're usually messy so I couldn't vacuum if I wanted to.

4. Vanilla - not my favorite flavoring

5. Varicose - I would say, think old lady legs. But I have some on the back of mine and I'm not old!

6. VCR - it's been packed up for almost 2 years now. We never unpacked it when we first moved here and someday need to replace our videos

7. Vegetables - not a fan. I like corn and potatoes. That's it.

8. Velvet ant - not to be confused with velvet Elvis. Also referred to as "Cow Killers" because it's said that their sting is painful enough to kill a cow. Have you seen these things? Kind of scary when you see them in your yard.

9. Vermont - a state I've never been to. Makes me think of White Christmas.

10. Veterinarian - I think it would be fun being one. As long as you don't have to take care of reptiles

11. Viagra - one word comes to mind. Viva! (for the record, I hate those commercials)

12. Video games - we play a lot around here. Friday nights Superman and Little Dude have boy time and play. Sometimes I really wish I could skip playing Barbies with the girls and go play with the boys instead!

13. Visit - it's nice to visit family, but I would never want to live there again!