Archive for the 'Memes' Category

charmaspice

Quirky Lurkey!

Published
by
charmaspice
on June 7, 2008
in Memes and UFO
. 2 Comments

Current Mood:Mischievous emoticon Mischievous

quirkyquirkyquirkyquirkyquirkyI know it’s been a while since I’ve posted, and I’ll explain about that in another post, but we’ve been tagged to do a Meme by pal Big Binder.  Seeing as how Brad would probably never share in his quirkiness…I shall not break the Meme Love and share in my quirkiness.  Apparently you have to share 6 unspectacular quirks…although I honestly don’t know how quirks could be unspectacular.  So…here goes:

  1. I have to pick on Brad’s face - literally.  If he has a zit he hasn’t noticed, I have to pop it.  If he has a stray beard hair, I yank it.  I particularly can’t handly wiley eye brow hairs.  I too pick at my own face, but it doesn’t bother me.  I’m also that mom that picks at her kid’s face.  I don’t know why I do it, I just can’t leave things alone.  I also secretly want to pick at other people’s faces if I notice they have a zit.  I show restraint and don’t do it, but most of the time I spend talking with them I can’t stop from staring at their zit!
  2. I think I might be OCD (overly obsessive compulsive disorder).  If we leave the house for a weekend I check the locks on all the doors at least 3 times.  I have to check at least twice that lights are on, and that nothing else is on or running.  When we go to a hotel, I tear apart the room making sure we have everything we came with, and walk through it at least 3 times. 
  3. I refuse to have company over if my house is a mess.  It’s something I think I got from my mom - sorry mom, I love you!  I run through a routine of vaccuming, dusting, sweeping, mopping, doing the dishes, and cleaning the bathroom if we have a playdate, our family comes over, or our friends come.  I’ve gotten better about this and have cut back on somethings (but only for people I’m really close to, and understand my lack of cleaning time).
  4. I love cleaning, when I’m in the mood for it & have time for it.  If I start cleaning an area, I can’t stop until it’s done.  I’ve even sent Brad & Clare out to dinner without me because I’ve not been done cleaning the downstairs.  I think part of this also goes along with #3 & #2.  I will also clean to get out of doing other things.  When I was in college I was known to have the cleanest dorm room during finals!
  5. I love to do yard work.  There’s something about a finely pruned bush in the back yard that makes me feel all sunshiney good!
  6. I like driving.  Well, if I’m too tired I don’t like it.  For the most part though, I don’t mind it - especially since it’s my car we take most of the time.

Well, there you have it.  Some of my quirky lurkiness all out there for the readers to see.  I think I’m going to tag Adventure Mom.  I’d love to hear some of her quirks!  Anyone else that wants to join is of course asked to just leave a comment link, so I can follow-up.

charmaspice

Ode to Brad - AKA The Hubby Meme

Published
by
charmaspice
on May 5, 2008
in Memes
. 3 Comments

Current Mood:Lovey emoticon Lovey

Normally I am not all mushy and gushy about my hubby Brad (I don’t know why, just not my personality), but seeing as how today is our 7th Anniversary I figued it seemed fitting to finally do this meme I was tagged to do by The Diaper Diaries .  So, here it goes:

How long did you date? I think we had one official “date”, after that we were just kinda together as it seemed right.  To put a number on it we were together for 3 years before we were married - I had to finish school first (if it weren’t for that little deal it would have been sooner).

How old is he? 31, soon to be 32 in 2 months

Who eats more? Probably me, but were a pretty close to being even.

Who said “I love you” first? I think it was him, but I’m not sure.  It’s all so blurry after 10 years.

Who is taller? Him, but then again if he was shorter than 5′3″ I think I’d be a little concerned.

Who sings better? I think we’re both pretty good.

Who is smarter? Probably him, but then again he is way more techie smart while I’m more around the house smart - so we might be pretty evenly matched.

Whose temper is worse? We are both very passionate people when it comes to argueing.  He thinks he’s right, I think I’m right, and we both want our oppinions to be heard.  So, I think we’re both worse!

Who does the laundry? I do the laundry.  Mainly because I am a “little” OCD about it.  I really hate it when my shirts shrink, so he just leaves me be in my madness that’s the laundry area.  Once in a while though he’ll put clothes in the dryer or do the towels for me.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? He does

Who pays the bills? I took over this a few years ago, it’s only slightly more organized than our previous method - but we have less over draft fees now :)

Who cooks dinner? We both do.  It kinda depends on the dish, cause sometimes his ideas are way better than mine when it comes to certain things.

Who drives when you are together? Mostly me, my car is the family car - and I don’t like to give her up.

Who is more stubborn? Probably me, but I think we both have our fair share of this trait - remember the passionate thing I mentioned in the temper question.

Who kissed who first? He kissed me first, but he missed my mouth completely.  When he came back for the second time I got a little over zealous, and tried to er uh stick my tongue down his throat give him a great big kiss.

Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? We both equally suck at this, but I might suck at admitting this more than Brad does.

Whose parents do you see the most? We see them probably both equally, as they live aways from us.  It also depends on the amount of family events going on with either side.  Thank God I think we’re done with babies & weddings for this year!

Who proposed? He kinda did, there was no suprise proposal.  We went ring “looking” on a whim so he could get an idea of what I liked, and next thing you knew he was buying the ring I tried on.  He came up to Kalamazoo after it was sized and “proposed” in my dorm room right before I had to go take a final.  Thank God I had a good grade in there to start with, because I don’t think I did so well on that exam.

Who is more sensitive? We’re both pretty equal in this arena as well.

Who has more friends? I probably do, but that’s probably because it takes little or no effort for me to find someone on the street to talk to - and next thing you know we’re friends.

Who has more siblings? I do

Who wears the pants in the family? We both do pretty equally.  I tend to be more of the final decision maker in the family, but I think that’s because I hold the keys to the calendar and how much money we have.

Alrighty then, I’d love to hear about the men in your life if you’re a reader.  Feel free to play along.  Leave me a comment, and link back so I can come find out about you and your hubby.

charmaspice

Mommy Meme

Published
by
charmaspice
on January 29, 2008
in Memes
. 0 Comments

Current Mood:Mischievous emoticon Mischievous

I’ve been tagged by my pal Adventure Mom to do a Mommy Meme.  I figure why not, it’s better than you reading my complaints about the wonderful MI winter we’re having. 

  1. How long have you been a Mom?
    5 and a half years
  2. How many children call you Mommy?
    Just the one (although I think the dog thinks I’m her mom too)
  3. Girl? Boy? or both?:
    both girls if you count the dog
  4. Did you know what you were having?
    I was far too excited about having a baby to wait to find out what it was!
  5. How old were you when you became a Mom?
    25
  6. How long were you in labor?
    Friday night at 6pm ish my water broke, and she was out by 2:20pm ish on Saturday (It was a LONG process!)
  7. What’s your favorite thing about being a Mom?
    Getting the chance to see Clare grow into an amazing little girl and hopefully an amazing woman in the future.  She has such style and imagination I can’t wait to see what she’s like in 15 years!
  8. What’s your least favorite thing?
    The temper tantrums.  Clare is VERY spirited, and when she thinks she heard something or knows something the demon is unleashed!
  9. Do you want more kids?
    Some days yes, then the bad days come and it’s a definite NO!  I think we’re done though as the bad days seem to outweigh the good ones.
  10. Do you plan on having more soon?
    HELL NO!
  11. How many times have you been pee’d on?
    If diaper leaks count, then many - other wise I’d have to say none really
  12. Barfed on?
    Far too many to count!  Clare was a pukey baby around 3-6 months.  I think I had more formula on me then in her!
  13.  Is your child named after anyone?
    Mostly yes 
  14. How did you come up with their name?
    Clare is after my Grandma (She was Clara, but Brad thought that was too old fashioned - so we comprimised), and Ella is after Ella Fitzgerald (from our love of music of course)
  15. When your child gets in trouble, who is the bad guy?
    We both take turns, and when one needs back-up the other one is always there for assistance!
  16. What is the longest you have been away from your children?
    We usually take a road trip out to CO in the summer without her, I think one year we were gone for like 14 days or so.  It was FABULOUS!
  17. Bedtime routine?   
     Clare is sent upstairs to get ready on her own.  She goes potty, brushes teeth, picks out her story, and then comes down for her piggy back ride up with Brad and then they read together.
  18. Are your toes painted?
    Nope.  They usually don’t get painted until it’s warm enough for sandals.
  19. Last movie you saw in the theater?
    August Rush (IT was AWEFUL!)
  20. One thing you will not give up just because you’re A mom?
    Spending quality time alone, going on dates with Brad, and drinking Martini’s.
  21. One thing you did give up now that you’re a mom:
    I have slight memories of free time and not having to get babysitters to go out.
  22. Best Mom perk:
    The hugs and the laughter
  23. Snack, you sneak bites from your child?
    Not really.  Once in a while though if she’s having something and I’m too lazy to get my own snack I will.
  24. When the kid is napping, you are:
    What’s napping?  I don’t get that any more.  Although I do get school time - during that time I do errands, watch TV that I can’t watch when she’s around, do housework, and the like.
  25. Where is your child(ren) now?
    Watching TV in our bedroom
  26. Favorite place to buy maternity clothes?
    I really didn’t buy maternity clothes.  My mother-in-law made mine for me, mostly because I worked and my work shirts were big enough to still fit me so all I needed were brown pants.
  27. If I could do it over…
    I wouldn’t change a thing

Now to tag a few of my favorite mom bloggers - and since most of the ones I know were already tagged, I have no one to tag.  However if you do decide to play along, feel free - just link back so I can come read it!

charmaspice

114 Posts

Published
by
charmaspice
on January 3, 2008
in Memes and UFO
. 2 Comments

Current Mood:Martini Mood emoticon Martini Mood

fireworksSo…apparently I’ve posted 114 times on our little eastowners site.  I have also previously posted on my MySpace page, although I’ve mainly be posting here as most of my readership seems to be here.  My MySpace posts are pretty much nill, but it’s there.  If you MySpace and would like to be friends please add me and I’d add you.  We comment back and forth :)  I also have a Facebook page, but not much is there as I created it on a whim - mainly to keep an eye on my little brother (just wanted to make sure you’re staying out of trouble :) )

Anyway…back to posting here.  Apparently, after you’ve posted 100 times you are supposed to share 100 things about yourself.  I figured I’d give it a shot, seeing as how I have nothing better to do this afternoon and I am procrastinating on doing housework and taking down the xmas tree.  No worries, it’ll be done by the weekend!  Now…onto 100 things about me: Continue reading ‘114 Posts’

charmaspice

Random 7 Meme

Published
by
charmaspice
on November 18, 2007
in Memes and UFO
. 1 Comment

Current Mood:Flirtatious emoticon Flirtatious

tagOkay….so I’ve been tagged by my pal Adventure Mom to do a Meme about me.  Since I don’t ever have a problem talking about myself I figured why not! 

The meme: 7 random facts about me

The rules:  Link to your tagger and post these rules.  Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.  Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).  Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

1. I was in Color Guard for 2 years in High School during marching season (yes, I was a flag twirler - and I loved it).

2. When I was younger I wanted to be a Veternarian - I think it had something to do with how active I was in 4-H with my rabbits.

3. I wanted to have 3 kids when I was younger - now I think we’ll just stick with the 1 we have…she’s enough trouble to keep me from staying sane most days.

4. I wanted to have a horse when I was a kid - my parents wouldn’t let me despite the fact that we lived on a farm.  I think they knew I’d loose interest and try to pawn the care of it off on them.  It’s what I did with the rabbits. 

5. After graduating High School I went with the Michigan Lions All-State Band to Korea, China, and Hawaii for about 2 and a half weeks to the International Lions Convention in 1995.  It was the trip of a life time, and I’ve seen some sites that are amazing!

6. During my years at Western MI University I became known as Charma - mostly because on one boring night my friend Beeko took me out dressed rather slutty provocatively and we took pictures around town.  It was lots of fun to do, and it helped me come out of my shell even more.  No, I wasn’t drunk during the photo shoot…it was just something funny to do - we even harassed some security guards at Meijer! 

7. I wore green chuck taylor tennis shoes to get married in 6 and a half years ago.  The whole wedding party did in fact.  Brad wanted to wear Bozo shoes….I said no, so this ended up being our comprimise.  I still have them in the closet, and on occasion wear them.  It’s kinda funny to put them on and say that I’m wearing my wedding shoes.

All right, tag! the following people are it…

Good Idea Momma

Ang

And anybody else that would like to participate - since I can’t think of anyone else right now!

charmaspice

Crazy Eights Meme

Published
by
charmaspice
on October 30, 2007
in Interesting and Memes
. 1 Comment

Current Mood:Cool emoticon Cool

eight ballI have been tagged for the Crazy Eights Meme by my pal Jill over at The Diaper Diaries.  Who can pass up a good meme?  Not I…and this one is harder than it looks, so here it goes:

8 Things I’m Passionate About 

  1. My Hubby
  2. Clare
  3. My dog Moonshadow
  4. Far too much television
  5. Movies
  6. Music
  7. Food & Fine Dining
  8. Martini’s & Wine

8 Things I say Often

  1. Stop harassing Moonshadow
  2. Can Mommy just have a few minutes of quiet and relaxation
  3. What do you need to say? (please, thank you, ect.)
  4. Give me just a minute
  5. Hang on!
  6. Please go find something to go do or play with
  7. What should we have for dinner?
  8. I need another drink

8 Books I’ve Recently Read

  1. The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd
  2. Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling
  3. Songs of the Humpback Whale by Jodi Picoult
  4. The Secrets of a Fire King by Kim Edwards
  5. Running with Scissors by Augustin Burroughs
  6. Little Children by Tom Perotta
  7. The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks
  8. Weird Michigan by Godfrey - Norman - Sceurman

8 Songs or Albums I could listen to over & over

  1. The entire Ingrid Michaelson - Girls & boys Album (one of her songs is now in an Old Navy Comercial for sweaters - I found her on MySpace & fell in love with her stuff)
  2. The entire Beck - Guero Album
  3. Pretty much any Sarah McLachlan
  4. Depeche Mode’s Violater Album
  5. Any & ALL Hello Dave songs - they are out of Chicago, and we go see them when they come to MI…look them up at www.hellodave.com to listen to them - they are a soulful country-fried rock & roll band
  6. All I got by Amel Larrieux
  7. Spoon’s entire album - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
  8. Scissor Sisters by Scissor Sisters (I love me some disco-esc music)

8 Things That Attract Me to My Friends

  1. The need to have fun & a good laugh
  2. Loyalty
  3. Honesty
  4. Enjoying good food with good drinks
  5. The desire to watch Dirty Dancing on a Friday night (or any night)
  6. Somewhat intelligent
  7. A common link in life - such as kids, music, food, drinking, people
  8. The desire to go dancing once in a while

8 Things I’ve Learned This Past Year

  1. Me time is extremely important - especially when it comes to my blog reading/writing time
  2. Date night/afternoon is almost as important as Me time
  3. Our old house is a pain in the butt to get fixed & in the shape we want it in
  4. Kindergarten is LOTS of fun
  5. Getting back into going to the gym is a pain
  6. Having nieces to spoil is better than having a second child right now
  7. Suprise get aways are LOTS of fun & very romantic
  8. I miss our road trip out to CO to visit our friends Beeko & Jackie

8 People I think should do Crazy Eights (I don’t know if I know 8 people that Jill didn’t already tag)

  6. Anyone else that reads this and feels up to the challenge (just link back so I can come read your answers)
charmaspice

Eat Local Meme: Vegetable Burritos

Published
by
charmaspice
on September 16, 2007
in Local, Memes and Recipes
. 4 Comments

Current Mood:Happy emoticon Happy & Surprised emoticon Surprised

eat localSo, I was tagged by my pal Big Binder to do an Eat Local Meal this week. What this requires is that the majority of your meal comes from within in a 100 mile radius of where you live, and if that’s too hard then at least from the state you live in. The reason being, if you buy and eat local, the majority of your money stays in your local area. Since MI is in such a bad place, the more local things you buy the faster our state will recover.

After some thinking, because it does require thinking to figure out what and where are we going to get local foods, we came up with what we hope to be a tasty Mexican Fiesta! We went to our local greenhouse grocery Horrocks to see what we could find. It didn’t take much looking, or searching for products when we got there…..but thinking of a recipe made me draw a blank - which is why I called on my trusty partner in crime life. Thanks to Brad though, he created what I think is a pretty good meal! So, here’s our recipe for Vegetable Burrito’s ala Brad:

1 1/2 cups Calrose Rice (cook as directed - we use our wonderful rice maker, but you can use the stove. After it’s cooked add the juice of a lime - let steam for a minute or two then add 1/3 cup fresh chopped cilantro, stir well)

1 1/2 cups Black Beans (we found Carlson-Arbogast Farm out of Howard City, MI) Cook as directed, and season with 1tsp. minced garlic (if you do fresh 3-4cloves), 1/4tsp. cumin, 1/4tsp. salt, pepper, 2tsp sugar

1 pepper of each color: Red, Orange, Yellow, and Green (our green peppers came from Brad’s Parent’s garden in Niles - 104 miles away but who’s counting, the others were store bought)

1 Crookneck Squash sliced, and then quarter the slices (Ours is not from within the 100 miles of home, but it’s from Char’s Parent’s garden in Goodells, MI - 164 miles away…hey it was free to us, and something we had on hand)

Saute the peppers & squash in 2 tablespoons Olive oil, add 1/3 cup tequila, salt, pepper, and Fajita Seasoning (all of our spices come from Penzey’s, not local but fabulous!)

1 package of 10″ Flour Tortilla’s (ours were San Marcos from Grand Rapids, MI)

Salsa freshly made by Horrocks

Monterey Jack cheese (also from Horrocks in their local cheese bin) shredded

Steam your tortillas in the microwave for about 1.5 minutes

Build your burritos (by the way this makes about 6 burritos maybe more if you don’t make them too big) by spreading some sour cream on, add the rice, peppers & squash, shredded cheese, and salsa. Wrap up and ENJOY! As a side we also served up our favorite El Matador Tortilla Chips (from Grand Rapids, MI) to dip in our yummy salsa from Horrocks.

Brad did a fabulous job on these, and I hope that we’ll make them again soon. I wish we would have taken a picture of them so you could see our final meal, but it’s a burrito…..do you really need to see it?!?! Everything in our meal was local (if not to our 100 mile area, at least our state) with the exception of the rice, limes, cilantro (maybe?), the seasonings, the tequila, and the colored peppers.

Now, I am supposed to tag 2 people to do this Meme as well. I tag Mom to Two Boys and The Artistic Pursuit of Life on Earth. If the 2 of you actually do this Meme (I sure hope you do…..I’d be interested in seeing what you come up with) please be sure to link back to Eastowners as well as Big Binder. Good Luck, and Happy Cooking!

charmaspice

Marriage Meme

Published
by
charmaspice
on August 6, 2007
in Family and Memes
. 1 Comment
100_1930.JPG

    So, I’ve been tagged by my friend Big Binder to do a Marriage Meme.  It’s a sort of game Bloggers play with one another, to share some things about themselves.  So, here are 8 things about my marriage to Brad that some of you may not know.  It also fits in a little bit with my Wedded Bliss blog from last night. 

1.  I met Brad through my friend Beeko (aka Chris B.).  Chris & I met when I was in the MI Lions All State Band in high school, and both ended up going to WMU together…..and kept in touch for probably the very reason to get Brad & I together.  One night Chris informed me that since my roommate had moved out we’d be partying in my dorm room with his friend Brad that was coming up for the weekend.  A night of drunkedness insued.  The following night the 3 of us went out to dinner together, and Brad was complaining about how he had to go stack fire wood at home….I said it’s not so bad I actually don’t mind it too much.  IT was then and there that he proposed to me, in his car, after only knowing him for 24 hours.  My response was, “I don’t really know you all that well, but maybe if I knew you a little better….”

2.  We dated for about 2.5 years before we got married, giving me plenty of time to get to know him better.  We were married on Cinco de Mayo in Kanley Chapel at WMU.  It was the cheapest non-denominational place we could find!

3.  We waited only 5 months after we were married before “trying” to have children.  Little did we know it would only take us a month of trying before Clare as concieved.

4.  We went on an impromptu honeymoon.  The first night was planned up here in GR at the Amway Grand.  Then we went home to see how much money our guests had given us as presents….as that would determine where we were going on our honeymoon.  It was decided at 4pm on a Monday afternoon in South Bend, IN that we would head East to Ocean City, MD to watch the sun rise.  We didn’t make it the first night, but spent a day in lovely Baltimore and then headed East to the ocean.  On our way home we stopped in Ohio to see the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

5.  My engagement ring wasn’t really a suprise.  We were out on our way to buy parts for my car that Brad was working on, and decided to have lunch at a mall.  After lunch he suggested that we go to “look” at rings.  Next thing I knew we were buying the ring, and she was sizing my finger.  He picked up the ring later that week and proposed to me in my dorm room during finals week.

6.  Brad lost his job a month before we got married, thankfully he started a new job the week before we got married.  They were kinda enough to give him time off for our honey moon.

7.  We were both in a funk & soul band called Staggercat before we got married.  The band played at the reception, and I have pictures of me banging a tamborine at my side in my wedding gown.  I played in the band until we had Clare…..almost to the day, as the band wanted to do a gig the day she was born.  Something told me she was going to be early….and it wouldn’t be a good idea to travel to play.

8.  Together we have a pretty good life.  Our marriage has had it’s ups & downs, but in the end Brad is my best friend and I couldn’t have asked for a better partner in life.

I think just about everyone of my friends has tagged one another in the Marriage Meme except one so, I will tag Good Idea Momma and ask that anyone else that would like to participate please join in the fun!