100 Things About Me - Part I

Tonight I'm stumped as to what to write for my daily blog, having foolishly committed myself to NaBloPoMo. This does not bode well for the rest of the month seeing as it's only the 8th day of the month. In an effort to remain true to my commitment, I figured I would do the ol' "100 Things About Me", except that my belly is way too full of carne asada tacos right now to think of 100 things about myself. So tonight you'll get 25. And then, if I get stumped again, I'll have three other installments to bore you with share.

So, without further ado, here are 25 random facts about moi:

1. I am the youngest of three girls; my sisters are 7 and 9 years older than me.
2. Their names also start with the letter "K".
3. We couldn't be any more different if we were born on different planets. I often feel like we were.
4. I grew up in the Seventh-Day Adventist church and went to private schools from 2nd grade through high school.
5. I haven't been to church regularly since I was a teenager.
6. I still have many of the beliefs I grew up with although I question many others.
7. I will never cram religion down anybody's throat or force my beliefs on them.
8. I don't believe in soulmates.
9. Sometimes I think I want a 3rd baby.
10. I wish I had more adventure in my life.
11. I've been to 27 of the 50 states.
12. I've driven cross-country twice, both times with my Dad.
13. I'm DYING to visit Italy & Greece but fear if I go that I will never come back.
14. I have lived with cats my entire 37 years except for about 18 months.
15. I would love to go to culinary school, but only for my own enjoyment and benefit, not to make it a career.
16. I probably have 50 books on my "Want to Read" list.
17. I am fascinated by the Amish and am a bit envious of their simple, uncomplicated lifestyles.
18. I am also fascinated by, and a bit envious of, large families like Jon & Kate Gosselin and The Duggars.
19. I apparently am insane and a throwback to a previous century.
20. I'm not sure I believe in past lives, but if I did, I'm pretty sure I was a pioneer woman who came west in a covered wagon.
21. I still miss my big, black Chevy Silverado Z71 extended cab truck that my husband made me trade in three years ago for a {gag!} minivan.
22. While I don't believe in ghosts and spirits, I don't discount others' beliefs and experiences with them. I think the ghosts and/or spirits only reveal themselves to believers.
23. Every time a plane flies over a little too low, I look up in fear.
24. This did not start after 9/11 but after an Air Force cargo plane almost landed on my high school during my 7am class in 1989.
25. I make an awesome Thai Chicken pizza.

K, so there you have it. Twenty-five useless bits of information about me. I'm sure I'll throw more at you in the coming weeks, but first I have to do some soul-searching to come up with 75 more things I feel comfortable enough to share.

Before & After

Ok, I think I've whined & cried about my hair long enough and can face the pictures. So here you go.

Before:

It was alot of hair. And now it's gone.

After:

:

Other than the length, my biggest complaint is with the back. When The Hacker cut it, she separated it into two ponytails but not in the way you'd think. Instead of doing two sections, parting it down the middle like one might think, she separated it horizontally so as to cut 8" off the long part and then 8" off of the layers. Makes sense but it's left me with an absolute shelf in the back of my head. I'm not crazy about it, to be honest. But whatever. There's not much on my head right now that I am crazy about.

Except that, in an effort to somewhat placate myself, I colored my hair this morning (something I haven't done in a long time due to the sheer volume of hair I had). The pictures don't show much of a difference because of the crappy lighting, but it's a darker, richer brown. Think melted chocolate. I'm happy with that at least. Maybe I should have cut my hair myself too. Hurrrumph.

The Long & Short of It

I did something today on a whim. Although I've been contemplating and planning on doing it for quite awhile, the action I finally took today was completely spur-of-the-moment. I was bored. And things didn't turn out the way I'd hoped. The way I envisioned when I was imagining even doing it.

Right now I am alternately very sad and slightly mad.

I realize that, in the grand scheme of things, it's not a big deal. It could be worse. What I did was for the right reasons and for a great cause. But right now I'm not happy I did it. I'm regretting it, even though it was a selfless thing I chose to do. Part of me is happy because I know others will benefit, but right now I'm feeling regret.

It's silly I know, and probably largely wrapped up in vanity. But it's how I feel right now.

I don't expect the feeling will last, thankfully.

What is this awful thing I've done, you ask?







I cut off my hair today.

See? I told you it wasn't some earth-shattering act. But I don't like the results. It's way shorter than I wanted....WAY. My only consolation is that it will grow again.

I have two very lovely, long ponytails that I will be sending off to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths program. In partnership with the American Cancer Society, they make and distribute free wigs to women dealing with cancer and its effects. The sadness I feel right now at having cut off so much hair is nothing compared to how it must feel to lose all your hair, let alone deal with cancer. I know this. I know I sound silly and petty and selfish.

I'll get over it. Just give me a minute.

Wordless Wednesday - Naptime

It's Wordless Wednesday!

Shhhh. It's naptime.

A New Day

Halloween

Wish I'd gotten these pumpkins in focus! They were so cute.

Before the looting trick-or-treating began, Darth Vader and the Snow Princess posed for a few pictures.

The Snow Princess was tuning up her "I'm so adorable & sweet, so GIVE ME ALL YOUR CANDY!" smile.

Waiting oh-so-patiently for the door to open...

National Torture Month

What IS is about November that makes people want to commit to various forms of torture for an entire month?

A few years back, I stumbled upon an endeaver fondly known as NaNoWriMo, an abbreviation for National Novel Writing Month. The challenge is to write an entire 175-page novel (50,000 words) in one month's time. Why would anyone want to do this, you ask? Well, I suppose for the satisfaction of actually doing it. The emphasis is not on quality or thoroughness of thought; just the act of putting words on paper. If you are able to complete those 50,000 words by midnight November 30th, you can upload your novel for verification and then you are added to the Winner's Page on the website and get a certificate touting your accomplishment. And, as they say on the website, "Win or lose, you rock for even trying."

I don't know this for certain, but it seems other groups have sprung up with similar month-long goals, also using similar acronyms. (Is it an technically an acronym? Or some other -nym I'm thinking of??)

There's the ever-popular NaBloPoMo, aka National Blog Posting Month, wherein bloggers commit to posting every day of the month. Wailing and gnashing of teeth can be heard from all corners of the blogosphere during this event, especially from those that have chosen to participate and are kicking themselves as they struggle to come up with something at least half-witted to post about on a daily basis.

There's the photojournalistic endeavor known as NoBloShoeMo. This is a Flickr photo group where members post daily pictures of, what else? Their shoes! And there are some pretty darn cute ones being worn.

I'm sure there are other NaNo groups out there, but those are the ones I've stumbled across. I have to say, someday I'd love to attempt the NaNoWriMo craziness. I've always wanted to write a novel, and for years have been on the look-out for *just* the idea that will spark my creative juices and enable me to write the next Greatest American Novel.

But I digress. Life is too busy for me just now to attempt to write 50,000 words in the next 28 days. Even if those 50,000 words are in my native language. In the next month, I will be working, trying to finish building a house and then subsequently getting ready to move into said house (Squee!!!) , not to mention shopping for furniture & accoutrements for said new house. Then there's the issue of a certain holiday that will be occuring on or around the 27th of this month and requiring my culinary skills to be put to task. Not to mention my advanced eating skills. And with December lurking just around the corner, along with it's beloved holiday, there will be more shopping and purchasing that will need to be done. So, NaNoWriMo is out for me this year.

And while I love the thought of focusing my attention on fabulous footwear, I am not the owner of fabulous footwear and nobody wants to see my dingy New Balance slides or my disintegrating Eddie Bauer fleece slippers posted day after day. And considering my tootsies haven't had any much pampering lately, I am loathe to share pictures of them in my fabulous and much-loved collection of flip-flops. No NoBloShoeMo for me either.

I guess that just leaves NaBloPoMo. And I really don't have any excuse not to do this one. I mean, I have a blog. If you know me IRL, you know I always have something to say. It's just a matter of putting it down on paper screen. I'm sure there will plenty of excitement in the coming month that I can record and share with ya'll. So, what the heck. I'll give it a whirl and see what happens.

And yes, I realize it's November 2nd already. But this is such a long post, surely it counts as two. :) I do solemnly swear to do my best to post every day for the rest of the month.