Chad outsmarts Maya...

Maya has been obsessed with Hurricane Sandy. She was telling her class all about how the storm was windy and started at the beach. She asked me yesterday where Sandy went. I kept telling her that the storm was gone. She kept asking "but where did Sandy go?" I kept saying "it's just gone." Needless to say, she wasn't satisfied with my answer. Who can blame her. Science isn't my forte.

Tonight after dinner, she asked about Sandy again. I looked at Chad and said "Can you take this?" Here is how their exchange went.

Maya: "Where did Sandy go?"
Chad: "It's gone."
Maya: "But WHERE did Sandy go?"
Chad: "Do you really want to know?"
Maya: (nods)
Chad: "It dissipated."
Maya: "Can I have some more milk?"

:)

10 Years and Counting

Dear Chad,

Ten years ago today, I was a 22-year-old recent college grad, putting on a white dress to walk down the aisle toward my future.  At the time, ten years seemed like such a long way off.  I had no idea where we would be, what we would be doing, how much we would have/have not changed... but I never doubted for a second that we would love each other any less.  I wasn't worried or anxious.  I was curious.  I knew when I decided to marry you, I was signing up for a lifetime of love, stability, challenges (the good kind and the bad kind), surprises and excitement.  I knew we were a good fit.  You're grounded, calm, logical, patient and forgiving.  I'm spontaneous, emotional and zealous (read: neurotic/obsessive).  You're a black-and-white sort of fellow, and I live in the gray.

So much has changed over the last ten years.  We're different people than we were on June 1, 2002.  I don't claim to be an expert on making a marriage work (far from it!), but I will say this: I think the secret to making our marriage work has been to allow the other person to change, grow and evolve, and remember the commitment we made to love each other no matter what.  That no matter what has been put to the test plenty of times over the last ten years.  There are times I don't even see a glimpse of the people we used to be.  But then we spend an evening together on the couch, challenging each other to find songs on iTunes that remind us of when we were dating, and I am reminded that the people we used to be are still buried in there somewhere, and those people have helped us become who we are now.

Side note: I distinctly remember the moment I knew we had something that would last.  We had done our share of breaking up, taking a break, dating around... but we kept coming back to each other.  One day I was at your parents' house, and you were playing your guitar.  I wasn't really sure where our relationship stood, but when you took the time to re-tune your guitar so you could play "Daughter" by Pearl Jam, I knew we were on our way back to solid ground. 

That night on the couch reminded me that it is important to take time to acknowledge how far we've come in life, and to remember the person we each fell in love with all those years ago.  I didn't used to think staying married for ten years was that amazing of an accomplishment.  I just assumed most people stayed married.  I'm thankful for that idealistic mindset.  We have been blessed with such amazing examples of marriage from our parents.  We have certainly had plenty of bumps in the road that were big enough to throw us off course, but it has never been an option to either of us NOT to stay married. 

I woke up this morning expecting to feel different somehow, like hitting the ten-year mark would be something I could tangibly feel.  But it just felt like every other day.  Some people might think that is sad, but I don't.  It means we don't hold one day a year aside to appreciate each other.  I love that our relationship is just as important the other 364 days of the year as it is on June 1st.

I wanted to take the time today to let you know how much I love you, how much I respect you and how I am so thankful for you.  I have told you so many times before -- but it bears repeating: I love how you challenge yourself to always be better, achieve more and make your family proud.  Your character is impeccable.  Your love and forgiveness is undeserved, but wholeheartedly cherished.  Your ability to be taken seriously while still being someone who is fun to be around is amazing.  After nearly 17 years of knowing you, I still look at you wide-eyed, wondering how I am so lucky to have won your heart.

Thank you so much for being who you are, who God designed you to be.  Thank you for helping shape me into who I am, who God designed me to be.  Thank you so much for Maya.  We have accomplished a lot over the last ten years, but she is truly our greatest blessing.  I love the way you love her.  With her, you are both firm and kind, both a protector and a playmate, both serious and silly. There are so many things to worry about when you have a child.  I am so thankful that I will never have to worry about her having a father who loves her, protects her, encourages her, teaches her, and serves as an example for what she should look for in a husband someday.

Thank you for being my partner through this journey called life.  Can't wait to see what the next ten years bring.

All my love,

Molly

 

 

 

Toddler comedy at its finest...

So Maya, like most toddlers, knows no boundaries regarding privacy and personal space.  Since we entered the world of potty training several months ago, the bathroom has become a place where we can no longer expect privacy.  I'm sure most moms can relate, but I can't remember the last time I got to go to the bathroom by myself.  Sometimes Maya will clap for me and say "Great job, Mommy!"  Gotta love encouragement, I guess :)

I hadn't really ever paid attention, but I guess Chad has still been enjoying plenty of bathroom privacy.  That all came to a crashing halt yesterday.  When we got home from work last night, Chad went to change his clothes.  Maya, who has increasingly become more of a daddy's girl over the last few months, decided to go look for him.  She went into our bathroom, and then the closet to look for him, to no avail.  She finally opened the door where the toilet is, and she found him.  I think the fact that he was standing up caught her off guard, because he said she did a double take.  She looked at him and exclaimed, "Daddy, that's a LOT of pee!"  After Chad agreed, she looked at him again, confused, and said "But is it coming out of your thumb?!?" 

Source: plumbingproducts.com

Oscars, Sweat Pants, and some Pretty Potent Punch

I can be pretty un-girly about a lot of things, but I love awards shows.  Totally a girl about that, and totally proud of it.  The Academy Awards were last weekend, and I was pumped.  The irony here is that I have seen mayyyyybe 3 movies in the theater over the last year.  We'll blame that on having a toddler in the house.  And the only reason I even made it to the theater at all is that my friend Joanna suggested we start reading books that are being turned into movies, and then go see the movies.  Now, most movies that are based on good books end up sucking.  Nevertheless, we decided to read the books, and then head to the movies with giant purses full of smuggled wine candy.  Anyhow, we read Water for Elephants, saw the movie, and then did the same with The Help.  I know I said I saw 3 movies last year, but I honestly cannot remember what the third one was.  Oh well.  Moving on...

Back to the Oscars... Being a lover of award shows, lounge pants, and socializing, I decided the only logical thing to do was throw a party.  And thus, the First Annual Academy Awards Champagne and Sweat Pants Party was born.  My good friend Bitsy offered to co-host (maybe "offered" isn't very accurate... I'm not sure I gave her much of a choice).  Given that I only saw one out of the nine Best Picture Nominees, I knew I wasn't going to care that much about the actual awards, so I promoted the party as an opportunity to wear sweats, eat snacks, drink champagne, and judge questionable fashion choices (Gwyneth - what was with that cape?)

Here is a picture essay of our evening... Note that I completely forgot to take pictures of any of the people at the party.  I had great intentions to, but, well... let's just blame the punch.  So basically, here are a bunch of pictures of food.  If anything looks particularly scrumtrilescent to you, I have included links to the recipes.  Also, please excuse the shadows in all of the pictures.  I was using the camera on my phone, and I was standing in front of the lights on most occasions.  Again, let's blame the punch...

 

 

 Brie, Walnut and Cherry Tartlets

The picture really doesn't do this tasty treat justice.  These took the most time out of everything I made (Puff Pastry and I were not on speaking terms after this experience).  But it was worth the time and frustration, because they were AMAZING.  As one party-goer said, "This is one of the best things I've ever eaten.  Ever."  I might be paraphrasing.  I can't remember.  Let's continue to blame the punch... 

Prosciutto Pinwheels

I love cheese and carbs.  Especially together.  This recipe called for more dreaded Puff Pastry, and I was over it.  So I cheated and used a crescent roll sheet.  P.S. Remember when we used to have to spend all that tedious time pinching crescent roll triangles together to make it into a crust?  I'm glad that's over.  Thanks, Pillsbury! 

Moving on...

Goat Cheese Deliciousness

Confession:  I don't know what this is called.  I don't even know what's in it besides goat cheese (tomato sauce? Ryan Gosling's tears?).  All I know is Bitsy brought it, and it was gone in an instant.  And it was made of cheese and carbs, so it obviously fit the theme.  I don't know why I even bothered to buy fancy paper plates for the occasion, because we all just stood in a circle around this and inhaled it.  Then we had a conversation about how everyone's mom has a square baking dish with the exact same flower pattern on the side. 

Black Bottom Cupcakes

Keeping strictly to our carb and cheese theme (I didn't even realize we HAD a carb and cheese theme until about 10 minutes ago when I uploaded these pictures), I opted for cake stuffed with cream cheese.  Yes please.  Nothing much more to say about these bad boys.  They are super easy to make, and super delicious to eat.  One batch made something like 60 mini-cupcakes.  In an effort to keep our house free of as much junk food as possible, Chad was covertly sticking baggies of leftover cupcakes in everyone's purses as they were leaving. 

 Moet's Silver Screen Punch

 Did I mention that I made some punch?  What kind of an awards party would it be without champagne?  This stuff was amazing.  And potent.  I found it on the Oscars website, so I figured it must be pretty legit.  A few recommendations if you decide to make this: 1) Use affordable champagne.  I think I used $8 or $9 champagne.  I was too scared of the $5 and $6 bottles, but I didn't want to spend too much money if I was just going to mix it with a bunch of stuff.  2) Don't skip the ginger.  I thought that ingredient was SUPER weird, but I just went with it.  And it was amazing.

We did manage, in our punch-induced stupor, to play a rousing round of Oscar Bingo!  You know me... I like games! Too bad there wasn't a square for "J-Lo Nip Slip." 

We managed to eat pretty much ALL of the food, and everyone was out of my house by 10:30 -- and Chad cleaned up the kitchen.  It doesn't get much better than that.  Thanks to all you girlies to were able to come!  :)

Be my valentine and "OWL" be yours!

Let's take a little trip back in time: February, 2011 (ok, not a trip way back in time... just humor me).  Maya had been attending the daycare at our church for about 5 months.  For the first year of her life, she was in the care of one of my besties, so I was still relatively new to this whole "institutionalized daycare" thing.  One day a note came home in Maya's bag to let us know that Valentine's Day was coming up the next week, and I needed to send 22 valentines with Maya for all the various friends she would see in her class over the next week.  A good chunk of the kids at her daycare are only there for Mom's Day Out one or two days a week.  So she saw a different mix of kids nearly every day.  This meant that she was fortunate enough to celebrate Valentine's Day for 5 straight days - hence the need for 22 valentines.  I thought back (wayyyyyy back) to my experiences as a child with classroom Valentine's Day parties.  (Look at that... a flashback within a flashback!  It's getting a little "Inception-y" in here).  Since I was not in daycare as a child, my only experience to draw from was elementary school.  I remembered decorating a bag in art class, hanging it on the front of my desk and walking around dropping store-bought, perforated valentine cards into everyone's bags... followed by the most important part -- taking the bag home and over-analyzing the message on the front of the card from Billy Turner to see if there was some sort of romantic intent in the selection he chose for me (He-Man... not so romantic).  So in anticipation of this very exciting week, I went to Target and bought a box of valentines from the VERY picked-over selection in the valentine aisle.  I wrote Maya's name on the back of each one, chucked them into an envelope and put them in her school bag.  At the end of the week, Maya brought her bag of valentines home.  I took a look (curious to see if she got a love note from the very dreamy Jake Shafer), expecting to see a whole pile of store-bought Hello Kitty and Veggie Tales valentines... Instead, what I pulled out of the bag left me speechless.  There were intricate homemade cards, bags of candy, and Martha Stewart-esque masterpieces.  Even those moms who sent perforated store-bought valentines at least had the wherewithal to tape a sucker or a piece of candy to the card.  My first (and only) thought was: "Man, I've gotta step up my game next year."  


Moral of the story: Valentines Day in the toddler world is for Moms.  Not for kids.  Lesson learned!


This year, I decided to embrace my growing obsession with crafts (ok, my growing obsession with Pinterest) and make my own valentines.  Wait a minute... Did I say my own valentines?  Clearly I meant Maya's valentines.

I have been wanting to pretend to be a craft blogger (a girl can dream), so this seemed like a great time to kill two birds (owls?) with one stone.  I have a weird thing for owls right now (and really, who doesn't?), so I searched the frighteningly large world of Pinterest for some owl ideas.  I found this as my inspiration:

I almost hate to post this picture,
since this lady puts my craft
ability to SHAME...

Now that you know WAY more about this story than you ever cared to, here's how I made our little owl friends...

1. Buy some card stock or scrapbook paper so you can cut out a billion tiny circles for the feathers.  Or if you're me, take a trip over to your local home improvement store, pretend to be considering a complete interior remodel of your home, and take LOTS of free paint samples.  Voila!  Free paper.  Done and done.

2. Borrow a circle cutter from a crafty friend (in this case, Jena... this girl is like my craft fairy godmother).  Cut an obscene number of circles (probably about 3/4 inch - I can't be bothered to measure...).  I realized I would need 15 "feathers" for each owl, so I needed to cut 270 circles.  Thankfully this circle cutter machine of Jena's cut several sheets at once, so this really didn't take more than 30 minutes of my life.  Maya was very intrigued by this process ("Mom, why are you cutting circles?" "Mom, are you still cutting circles?" "Mom, are you cutting more circles?"  Two-year-olds: a never-ending source of questions).  So here is what I was left with:

Pay no attention to the paint-related messages
on the back of each circle... I didn't really
think about that part when I was shoving
paint samples into my purse...

3. Cut out 36 black circles of the same size for the pupil of the owl's eye.  Then cut out 36 white circles one size larger for the rest of the eye.  Note to self: If you're going to steal help yourself to free paint samples, make sure you grab all the same shade of white.  I failed to do this, so I had to do a lot of "eye-matching" later in the process to be sure I didn't have one "winter white" eye and another "ecru" eye.  Live and learn... I bought some small rhinestone stickers to use as the knowing gleam in the wise owl's eyes.  Once all the circles were cut, I assembled the eyes.

Owl eyes, they're watching you.  Owl eyyyyyyyyes...

4. Cut out 18 hearts and 18 triangles to use for beaks and feet:

Excuse the obnoxious glare
in this photo...

5. I searched the Interweb for an owl pattern to use for the shape of the body.  I found a PDF of an owl pillow pattern, so I just used the body from that pattern as my outline.  I bought some colored card stock from Mecca Hobby Lobby (50% off - SCORE!!) and cut out the body of the owls.  Doesn't look too hard, does it?  Some people could probably freehand that shape.  I am not one of those people.

6. Mistake #2 from my circle-cutting adventure... As you can see above, I paid absolutely no mind whatsoever to keeping like colors together, so I had to spend some time sorting all the colors back out.  I knew I wanted there to be a variance of colors on each owl, but I wanted them to be in the same color family.  Side note: Some people might find this process to be super tedious.  However, my compulsive nature lends itself well to sorting activities, so I was in OCD Heaven.  Once I sorted the circles into color families, I divided them out onto each owl body.

This makes me want some Skittles really bad.
If you know what I'm talking about, we've been
friends for too long... (ahem, Rachel)

7. From there, I glued on the feet, feathers, beak, and eyes, and ended up with this:

8. Once they were dry, I flipped them over, wrote a note on the back with a gold paint pen, and called it a day!

Bonus: I bought some sparkly scrapbook paper while I was at Hobby Lobby ( I am drawn to sparkly things, even when I have absolutely no use for them).  I had a few extra circles, and a few extra (possibly mismatched) eyes, so I made a few extra fancy owls for Maya to give to the grandparents for Valentine's Day.  These ended up being my favorite :)

The verdict is still out on the owls... We'll see how they stack up against all the "Daycare Martha Stewart Moms'" valentines when Maya's valentine bag comes home on Friday.  One thing is for sure: if I pull out a perforated, store-bought, candy-less valentine, I will probably invite that mom to get some coffee, since certainly we are soul mates.

Happy Valentines Day!

What I Heard...

"You tell me..."
This is Maya's new alternative to "I don't know."  Recent example as we drove home the other day and went through an intersection:
Maya: "Green means go.  Red means stop."
Me: "Yeah, but what does yellow mean?"
Maya: (thinking.....) "You tell me!" 

(Source: openclipart.org)

 


"I got the angry birds.  I can't beat it and it's making me angry.  Do you have any hints on how to beat it?"
- Chad's mom, to Chad via text last week after his parents upgraded from Blackberry to iPhone.  I love when our parents (attempt to) embrace new technology.  If you know Chad's mom personally, this is much funnier than if you don't.  Picturing a 4'10" Filipino woman getting mad about Angry Birds makes me giggle...

(Source: softonic.com)

"Maya, remember how my friend Holli had a baby in her belly?"
"Yeah."
"Guess what!  Her baby came out!"
"I used to be in your belly.  But I'm too big to fit now."
Logic prevails with this kid...

Baby Cohen... so sweet :)
(Courtesy of Holli Ford)

Maya has been sick for the past week or so, and it all came to a head yesterday -- with green mucous coming out of her eyes (gross, I know).  Chad worked from home today and sent me a text describing this little scene... Apparently she was sitting on the couch, thrust her cup up in the air and shouted to Chad, who was sitting at the kitchen table:
"Dad! I need more milk right now so I can get better!!" 
Clearly she is starting to feel better (and taking advantage of the opportunity to master her manipulation skills).

This is obviously not Maya,
but this picture cracks me up...
(source: busymommymedia.com)

 


Stay tuned for next time, where I post some pictures of the (completely over-ambitious) Valentines I made for Maya's classmates...

No More Excuses...

+

+

 

=

Time to Start Training.

So, I ran last night for the first time in probably 9 months.  According to my half marathon training plan, my first long run is in 5 weeks... and it's 7 miles.  Dum-dum-dummmmm... I ran two miles last night without dying, so that's a start!  Jena has promised to keep me accountable over the next several weeks, so stay tuned for some progress updates as the weeks count down.  

Speaking of countdowns, Chad happens to work in the OneAmerica building downtown, and there happens to be a real-time countdown clock to the start of the race.  So that's a nice dose of reality for him every day (and for me when he decides to let me know just how little time we have to get our poor bodies into shape for this crazy race).  

God help us...

 

What I Heard...

OK, so my cousin Lacy has a blog (you can check it out here), and I have been busy reading it and stealing all of her ideas for posts, headers, etc.  I love when she posts "What I Heard," little snippets of conversation overheard throughout the week at her house, etc.  In an effort to capture and share more hilarious Maya-isms, I thought I'd just go ahead and steal Lacy's idea.  Chad thought it would be a great idea to post a "Sh*t Maya Says" video on YouTube, but he isn't willing to dress up as Maya, so this will have to suffice for now.  Enjoy!


"Mom!  We're on Hazel Dell.  And we're going to Grandma's house.  On Picadilly!" - Maya, in the car on Monday as we drove to my parents house.  For the record, we WERE on Hazel Dell Parkway, and my parents DO live on Picadilly Lane.  Looks like we've got a little Rand McNally on our hands.  

"Who cares what teams make it to the Super Bowl.  Their fans just need to show up and bring their wallets." - My Dad, during a conversation about how terrible it would be for the Patriots to come to Indianapolis and win a Super Bowl at Lucas Oil.  I find this to be totally hilarious coming from my dad.  I don't know why.  

Get out of here, Tom Brady.

 "Signing up now... I hate you." - my friend Jena, via text, after I coerced her to sign up to run the Indianapolis mini-marathon with me in May.  I may have talked her into it purely by suggesting that we could make shirts for the event.  I know how much she loves crafts.  We've also got our friend Maggie roped in, and I'm working on Rachel and Lexi.  COME ON GIRLS!!  Everyone hates running.  Might as well all hate it together!

This could be us!!!!

"Mom... what are you doing?"
"Spraying this stuff (Lysol) on the trash can so it doesn't smell bad."
"Oh.  Can you spray some on Miles?" - Conversation between Maya and me yesterday as Chad took the trash out and I was putting a new bag in the trash can.    Back story: Miles is a stuffed rabbit that travels almost everywhere with Maya.  He tends to smell pretty terrible after being hauled around by a toddler.  So last week I told Maya that Miles was "stinky."  Her response - "No!  He smells WONDERFUL!"  Ummm, nope.  Sorry kid.  He smells awful.  So I talked her into giving Miles a "bath" (in the washing machine).  So she dragged her step stool from the bathroom into the laundry room and proceeded to throw all of her "friends" into the washing machine so they could get a bath.  I was so pleased with myself for getting her to cooperate with the whole process.  Little did I know we were creating a monster.  Now, at some point nearly every day, Maya lets me know that Miles might be getting "stinky" again and may need another bath.  She hadn't mentioned anything about it yesterday until Chad took the trash out.  Turns out Miles' hygiene is always on her mind... :)

I don't have a quote for this one, because she didn't say anything when she woke up from her nap on Saturday.  But there was no way I wasn't going to share this picture, because it's hilarious.  Frighteningly similar...

I made these!! (Plus a bonus Maya video)...

So... it's no secret that I am NOT a very crafty person.  In the kitchen, I'm cool as a cucumber.  But get me around glue guns, felt, fabric, or (gulp...) sewing machines, and I am WAY out of my element.  I am amazed every day by the creativity I see on other people's blogs (thank you, Pinterest, for helping me realize the depths of my creative void).  My good friend Jena is doing her best to ease me into the world of crafts (baby-steps... and some hand-holding at Joann's)...  So when I recently had the opportunity to wander over to a friend's house to learn how to make crafty zipper pouches, I jumped at it.  I'm not even going to pretend to try to tell you how I did this.  I'm just going to send you over to Anissa's blog, and you can learn from her, seeing as she is the master...


Here are the results of my effort (with a significant amount of help from Anissa and Emily)...

Don't mind the coffee cup and pipe cleaner jingle bell bracelet...
I was so amazed by my new-found craftiness that I didn't think
to spend the time taking a good picture... I just slapped those babies
on the kitchen counter and started snapping away with my phone.

That's right, folks... it's a different color on the inside!  I was originally
going to use these as Christmas gifts, but I liked this one so much, I kept it.

Eat your heart out, Thirty-One :)

Just for kicks, here is a bonus video of Maya singing her ABCs
(and conducting... she has seen too many episodes of Little Einsteins)

Innaugural Post! Get to know me if you don't already...

Hello there!  What better way to start off a new blog than an "All About Me" survey??  Those who know me know that I'm addicted to surveys.  Don't know what it is about 'em, but I can't get enough.  So when I stumbled across this one on the blog of my good friend's hilarious cousin, I got excited about it in a nerdy way.  Thanks for letting me steal your survey, Calli!

A. Age – 31.  I had to do some math on that one.  I never thought it would be possible to forget how old you are, but I guess it is.

B. Bed size – King.  I need my space.  And so does Oscar.

C. Chore that you hate – Folding and putting away laundry.  With the burning passion of 1000 suns.  I'd rather clean my bathroom every day than fold laundry.  But please don't tell Chad I said that or he might expect me to clean the bathroom every day.  And we all know that isn't going to happen.

D. Dogs – I love dogs more than people.  We have three dogs: Oscar, a 10-year-old pit bull, who is a total pansy.  Hates wet grass and sleeps under the covers at night.  Sonny is a 9-year-old maltese/poodle mix (Chad won't use the word Maltipoo...).  Sonny thinks he runs the house, and a lot of the time, he does.  He usually looks like a homeless dog, but we actually took him to the groomer the other day, so he is currently presentable.  And then there's Frank, a 7-year-old disaster bloodhound.  Frank is a hairy, slobbery beast.  He has the softest fur, but almost no one knows that because no one wants to touch him.  Poor guy.  He has the sweetest temperament of the three, but he's so messy that it makes it hard to appreciate his winning personality.  He is also dumber than a box of rocks.  He once ran smack into a light pole while he was running with Chad.  True story.

Sonny is in the middle there,
but he blends in with the snow...

E. Essential start to your day – Brushing my teeth.  Many things can get skipped in the morning, but not that.  Coffee is a nice bonus, but it doesn't always happen.

F. Favorite color – Green
G. Gold or silver – Silver.  Sometimes I put on gold jewelry when I'm going to see Kara, so I can pretend to be as trendy as she is...

H. Height – 5'4".  Most people think I'm taller than that.  Turns out I'm not.

I. Instruments you play – I used to play the violin (not very well), and I can still knock out a mean "Old Mac Donald" on the piano...

J. Job title – Office Manager 

K. Kids – 1 daughter - Maya.  She's 2 years old, super adorable, ridiculously intelligent, hilarious, creative, and fun. 

She loves broccoli in an angry way...

L. Live – Noblesville, IN. 
M. Mother’s name – JOYCE!  She's the greatest.

N. Nicknames – Oh boy... Molls, Me-molls, Mo-Dub, Swan/Swanner/Swanny, Gail, Turkey... I answer to a lot of names.

O. Overnight hospital stays – Just when I'm birthing humans...

Thank you, drugs... :)

 P. Pet peeves – Flaky people, slow drivers, people who don't keep their dogs contained in their yards, people who refuse to take responsibility for their own life and success

Q. Quote from a movie –  "Stop looking at me, Swan!" 

R. Right or left handed – Righty

S. Siblings – 1 sister by blood (Carrie), 1 sister by marriage (Kara), 1 brother by marriage to my sister (Bob), and another brother by marriage to my sister by marriage (Dan).  And a partridge in a pear tree.

Me and Carrie :)

Me and Kara :)

T. Time it takes you to get ready – Well, if I only had to get MYSELF ready, I'd say about 45 minutes.  When you add a toddler to the mix, I'd say about an hour and a half...

U. Underwear – Yes.  Always.

V. Vegetable you hate – Green peppers.  Especially when cooked.

W. What makes you run late – See: "T. Time it takes you to get ready"

X. X-rays you’ve had – Teeth.

Y. Yummy food you make – Pretty much everything I make is yummy...Except for the homemade gnocchi that one time...

mmmmmmm...

MMMMMMMMM!

Z. Zoo animal -  Otters.  I like all cold-weather aquatic animals, but otters are the best.  Especially baby otters.

Well, there ya go!  Hope you learned something :)