5 Things Meme

I've been tagged by Adventures of the Reluctant Housewife for the 5 Things Meme. This should be fun, because I get to answer questions instead of picking out five random things on my own. Focus! Focus is good for me. It keeps the crazy down.

What were you doing ten years ago?

Let's see. 1998? I was in graduate school getting my master's in public health wondering why I was in graduate school getting my master's in public health. Just another notch on my belt of degrees I seldom, if ever, use.

Name Five Things from Today's To Do List.

1. Laundry
   
2. Vacuuming.
3. Going to an all organic supermarket! So excited about this one!
4. Having dinner with my mom and brother (the Mister is having dinner with clients)
5. Reading either
1. The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Alberto Ureta
   
2. The Simple Living Guide by Janet Luhrs
   
3. A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle

Note that writing should be on that list. It's not. One day I'm going to work up the courage to write about fear.


Name 5 Snacks You Enjoy

1. Chips! I especially enjoy a crunchy bag of Kettle Chips.
2. Avocados. When they are fresh and in season, I like to cut them open, take out the pit, drizzle Balsamic Vinegar in the cavity left behind, and eat with a spoon.
3. Good bread, dipped in good olive oil sprinkled with good salt. It's all good.
4. Dark chocolate.
5. Icecream! Love it. Love it, love it, love it.

5 Things You Would do if You Were a Billionaire

1. Visit my grandmother.
2. Pay off my lawschool loans. Hell, pay off all my debts if I'm a billionaire!
   
3. Invest/Put money aside for the boys' college tuition.
4. Share the wealth with loved ones.
   
5. Remodel the house!

Name 5 Bad Habits

1. Emotional eating.
2. Leaving the lights on when I leave the room.
   
3. Leaving the slider open when I go out side.
4. Changing my mind about everything. All. the. time.
5. Going to the grocery store without a list. Also, going to the grocery store with a list but forgetting to look at the list. Also, going to the grocery store with a list but getting 53 extra items that weren't on said list.

Five Places I Have Traveled. It's supposed to be places I've lived, but I like this one better.

1. Europe
2. Argentina
3. Mexico
4. Hawaii
5. St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands

Five Jobs I have Had

1. Medical records clerk
2. Controller
3. Research Attorney
4. Writer
5. Mom

Five Bloggers I Tag

1. You
2. You
3. You
4. You, and
5. You.

Hah! I can't tag people. It requires a decision, which is not my strong suit. I also don't know any bloggers that haven't already been tagged. I love reading these, though, so if you decide to keep the meme moving, do it in the comments or on your blog and let me know!

A Homemade Birthday Party

Our little Nico is now 1 year old as of Saturday. To celebrate, we had a little family party at the house on Sunday. It was perfect. Quiet, small, and full of handmade, simple decorations and food by yours truly and big brother, Mikey. I went with a Valentine theme. I figured I could get away with the more feminine decorations since he's only 1. Hey, humor me; I'm a mom of two boys. I don't get many opportunities to buy pink so I grab onto them when I can!

Mikey and I started off by making a sign in honor of the birthday boy. Mikey did all the coloring and the entire time we worked on it he would say, "My daddy is going to love this." He did.

For decorations, The Mister, Mikey and I set about creating a picture mobile of Nico's 1st year. Looking at those pictures of him as a newborn tugged at the heart a bit, but I know the best is yet to come. We hung pictures of Nico immediately after birth from the light above the dining table. The rest of the pictures we stretched along our impossibly long, 8 foot slider. I was a little nervous about how people would receive this idea, but it was a hit. Sorry for the lousy pictures. My house is notoriously dark so I had to use a bit of flash for the pictures to come out but believe me when I say it all looked much better in person!

For favors, we made Valentine Hershey's Kisses Crackers. (As in firecrackers, not yum! crackers) Mikey and I made the wax paper together. It had hearts, "N"s, and Nico's birth date randomly through out.

We had a simple lunch of homemade enchiladas and brought in rice, beans, chips, and salsa from a favorite (local) Mexican restaurant. For dessert we had cake, of course. I made a Snickerdoodle Cake with Cinnamon Buttercream frosting and Breyer's "Fried Ice Cream". No one here is a particular fan of cinnamon, but I am impossibly anal and had to carry the Mexican theme to the end. Snickerdoodle cake isn''t exactly Mexican, but it has cinnamon so I convinced myself it all worked.

Parenting Tip: I know it's hard in this day and age, but don't give your baby any candies, sweets, cookies, etc. their first year of life. First of all, they don't need the sugar--if they want something sweet they can have a fruit. But, mainly, it's so you can see the look of ecstasy when the first bite of cake touches their lips on their 1st birthday. The looks on Nico's face was priceless. He couldn't get the cake down his pie-hole fast enough. At one point he had the entire slice in both hands and was trying to shove it all in with one bite. We couldn't stop laughing, and ended up giving him another piece just because it was all so amusing.

All in all, it was a great day. Thanks for letting me share it with you.

Netflix or Blockbuster?

Does anyone out there reading subscribe to one or the other? My friends Kara and Chrissy both love Netflix, so I was all set to sign up until The Mister's friend tossed in his two cents on his Blockbuster. I don't know all the technicalities, but you can rent online just like Netflix and then pick up an additional movies in the store--and somehow you get those additional movies wind up being free if you cost compare.

That didn't make any sense. Let me try that again. The Mister's friend says Blockbuster is cheaper and more convenient than Netflix. Now we're writing in English!

Anyway, failed attempts at communication aside, do you have a preference?

Oh, yeah.

It's on like Donkey Kong.