What You Never Knew About Me

Today is Easter Sunday and is my birthday. Yay, happy birthday to me. I read this article this morning that told me that this year coming up going to be the best yet.

1. I have never eaten a food that I didn't like. The only one that comes close is that I will not eat liver. I've never had it, but there is something unnerving and unhealthy sounding about eating a giant filter.
2. I have only been out of the south once, or three times depending on how you count it. 
3. I have never flown in an airplane (and now won't. Thanks TSA); I've never even been inside an airport.
4. I am pretty good at Scrabble.
5. My parents sometimes call me the nickname Buffy. (dear God, did I just tell everyone that?!)
6. The first instrument I learned to play was the guitar.
7. I really, really love to sew. Alas, I don't have to time to do it as much as I would like.
8. Homeschooling was something that I always wanted to do, after I got saved and learned about it. Hubby and I were like-minded on this before we got married.
9. I was in color guard in high school and completely lived for winter guard. I even continued this after graduating from high school briefly.
10. I am completely into Star Wars and Star Trek and have been ever since I was little.
11. I want a Nissan NV3500...but if I got my choice, I'd really dig a red 1979 Jaguar XJ6. Just like this one. So awesome.
12. I have never broken a major bone. I may have broken a toe and my nose related to high school color guard.
13. I have always lived in north Florida, except for 10 months after I got married. At that time we lived in Alabama, but it was walking distance to the Florida/Alabama border.
14. I can't remember learning to swim. It's like I have always known how.
15. I attended a secular college, nearly completed an Associates degree, but hated every moment there. I nearly enrolled at Pensacola Christian College, but got married instead. :-)
16. My most favorite, #1 place of all time to shop is ... Amazon. I could spend hours shopping there!
17. I cannot read lips....AT ALL. Don't even try to "mouth" something to me.
18. I have had varicose veins since I was 16.
19. I have a very loud, very dorky sounding laugh. It is so distinctive in fact, that I recently met up with some cousins of mine who I have not seen since I was about 6. Once of the first things said to me was, "Wow, your laugh hasn't changed a bit."
20. I very much love to read, especially classic fiction.
21. My favorite grain is the very obscure quinoa. YUM!!
22. I hate doing to dishes with a purple passion.
23. I read the encyclopedia and dictionary for fun.
24. I always said that when I grew up I wanted to be a lawyer, but I never really wanted it deep down. The only thing I ever really wanted to be was a mommy.
25. I have 3 different flowers that I love and I can never decide which is my favorite: gardenia (its smell is intoxicating and lots of nostalgia there), zinnia-the pompom type (looks so happy), and magnolia blossoms (so iconic to the south...smells good too).
26. Had I been a boy, my parents would have named me Adam.
27. My first job was as a grocery store cashier. My first full-time job was a bank teller.
28. I am insanely terrified of cockroaches...especially of the American Cockroach, like this one. They literally make me nauseous.
29. We switched to Apple products in 2005. We have iPhones, an iMac and a MacBook. Hubby uses Apple products at his business also. I don't think I could switch back to Windows OS. However, I wouldn't mind becoming a Linux user. After all, Tux is quite cute!
30. I have a problem with my sacrum which has caused all 5 of my children to be breech. All of them have been born via c-section. I labored only once and it was such an amazing experience.
31. If there were ever a place I would want to visit abroad, it would be London.
32. I would never, ever want to move from where we live now. However, I would love to build on to our current home.
33. I have to control my tendencies to be a grammar cop. Then I vent all of my self control on my poor husband. ("Honey, read this! Can you believe this?! This sentence has subject/verb agreement issues. How first grade is that?!?")

So there you go.  Thirty-three things that you never knew about me. Or maybe you did know them.

Pinterest Monday

You may notice that my latest favorite place to find helpful hints, tips, fun things to do, and pretty much anything under the sun has been Pinterest. I recently have "met" Amber both in the blogosphere and in Pinterest. She features a recurring feature called (you guessed it) Pinterest Monday. So this just seems all up my alley, especially since the past several posts have been Pinterest highlights anyway. So here goes...my Pinterest Monday contribution. Enjoy!

Oh, a little how-to on how I have this set up. Click on the images below to take you to my pin for more info. Then click on the same image on the Pinterest website for more info. Maybe you didn't need that extra info, but hey, just trying to be helpful. :)

One of my favorite boards that I have is my healthy eating board. Healthy, in this case, being defined by me as any food that uses healthy ingredients. It maybe the that my healthy eating board may feature a dessert, but that dessert will contain real food...no trans fat, no HFCS. Lots of made-from-scratch here.

This one was a huge hit! We eat some form of muffin every Friday morning. But what could be more convenient that opening the box, adding vegetable oil, egg, milk and about 20 minutes? Plus, lets face it...I haven't been able to make a muffin that actually looked good. Mine usually have very low crowns and they just don't taste as good as the box or the bakery.

Those days are in the past.

The kids flipped out about these blueberry muffins. They were a work of art.


My other pin to share is a passenger van that I actually like. Yeah, I said it. I like this one.


A Nissan NV3500. 12 passenger max. Super-duper nice interior. Plus it looks like a Nissan Titan on the outside.