October 1, 2015 · 9:05 pm

Things I Hope to Accomplish in October

Remember my very first list on here?  It was 5 Things I Want to Do In September.  (Take a moment to click and visit if you wish.)

Well, do you want to know how many of those things I accomplished?

Exactly 0 of them.

That’s right, I didn’t get to make one single item off of my short September to-do list.

So, here I am to try again with October!

1.  Get back on my diet/fitness routine.  I have a couple of doctor visits that are not going to go very well if I can’t stop snarfing down the salt like a mad woman.  And I would really like to end 2015 weighing less than I started it and thats not gonna happen if I don’t light a fire under my own rear.

2.  Reach Cash Out.  Yeah, I would be overjoyed to reach cash out in EVERY single one of my PPV or PPC blog sites, but I’d be happy just to reach cash out in ONE.  I don’t care if its this one, or one of the others, or more than one.  But I need SOME kind of money to go INTO my bank account instead of everything coming out.

3.  Get something into my ETSY.  I keep procrastinating on the creating and listing on things on Etsy.  I guess I’m afraid they won’t sell.  Fear of rejection/fear of failure is top in my mind right now.

4.  Leave work AT work.  Lately I’ve been LITERALLY losing sleep over my job.  Which is beyond ridiculous because its a retail job.  But its a retail job that I NEED and if things don’t do better than they are doing right now I might be in danger of losing it.

5.  Spend LESS time on Facebook.  Facebook has been a big time suck for me.  I get on there to check one thing and end up playing farm games instead of writing seriously.  Yeah.. Facebook is evil and I need to spend less time there.

Now, lets hope I do better at Octobers list than I did at Septembers.

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September 28, 2015 · 1:35 pm

Five Things I Can’t Live Without

Have you ever thought about the thinks you really like in your life?

I never really stopped to think about it.  I just finished reading a novel that is actually called Five Things I Can’t Live Without.  It was about a woman who started writing online dating profiles for other people.  One thing she always included were five things they can’t live without.  Each person, surprisingly, had different things, unique to that person.

These five things were not thinks you LITERALLY can’t live without, like air and food and water.  And not the obvious answers like, children and family.  And I’m sure that most people have more than 5 things that they “can’t live without.

But, on to my list of Five Things I Can’t Live Without

Five Things I Can't Live Without

Five Things I Can’t Live Without is a novel by Holly Shumas, but inspired this list of 5 things that I can’t live without.

1.  Nature.  I love the outdoors.  I grew up in the countryside, and while my dad didn’t own a lot of property there was a trail in the woods behind my house.  I spent a lot of time walking back there.  I loved seeing deer and turtles.  I loved hearing whippoorwills at night.  Living in the city like I do now, there is less nature around me and it makes me sad.  I still try to grow flowers every year, and I love sitting and watching the bats fly around at dusk.  Animals and pets fit in here too.  I like critters.  If you’re furry and have 4 legs I’m gonna try to pet you.

2.  The Internet.  I’m sort of addicted to the internet, which is bad.  But it is also my best way of communicating with my family and friends.  Sometimes its the ONLY way.  I suffer from social anxiety, and I’m so much more comfortable talking through text on a screen than through an actual phone call.  And I’ve been able to make and keep friends from all over the world!  I’ve learned so many things from tutorials on Youtube and other places.  My life would be so much more dull without the internet!

3.  Books.  For as long as I have known how to read, I have LOVED reading.  I like novels with suspense, like horror or mystery novels.  Sometimes I’ll branch out a little and read something like Five Things I Can’t Live Without, but I’m not usually big on romantic novels in general.  When I had more time I could read several novels in the persiod of a week.  Now that I work full time and have a family, I can still read about 2 books a week, if they are good books.  I LIVE for trips to the library, and am so happy that libraries exist because I can’t afford to feed my book habit.  Of course I also download almost every free e-book I can find on Amazon.  My Kindle is the best gift anyone ever gave me!)  (If you like to read, but don’t have a kindle, you can Read eBooks using the FREE Kindle Reading App on Most Devices)

4.  Creativity.  Some of my most miserable moments come when I’ve gone a long time without being able to create something.  I’ve been a writer for as long as I can remember, but I also love to do crafts.  I would never call myself an artist, but I do love to play with paint.  I like getting messy.  I like getting colorful.  Sadly, the way my life works right now leaves very little time for me to do creative things.  After a long spell of doing nothing but work, sleep, work, sleep, I can find myself getting more and more depressed, and I know that I have to be creative somehow.  Good thing that something as simple as sitting down and coloring a page in a coloring book counts as being creative, and I can feel my mood improve.

5. Solitude.  Each day I read a point where I just CAN’T be around people anymore.  I mentioned above that I have social anxiety, so you can only imagine how stressed out I am at the end of a work day when you consider that I work a retail job and I’m surrounded by hundreds if not thousands of strangers every day.  Then I come home to be a wife and the mother of two small children who NEED me.  I do have a limit.  If I don’t get some time alone, then I turn into an evil person.  I’ll be snarly and snappy and feel like I’m going crazy.  I feel DRAINED by all the people who NEED me and take and take and take.  So…I have to get some time alone.  Some time for my emotional reserves to refill.

And there you go.  5 things I can’t live without.  And if you enjoyed that list you might also enjoy my list of 5 Things that Make Me Happy (don’t be surprised if you see list crossovers!)

If you are intrigued by the book I keep mentioning it is available on Amazon as well!  You can get it in eBook OR paperback!

******

Thank you for taking time to read my list?  Now tell me,
What are the five things you can’t live without?

Feel free to leave a comment and let me know what kind of list YOU would like to see me write!

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September 9, 2015 · 8:43 pm

5 Wii U Games 5 Year Olds Will Love

I have a 5 year old son, and he loves to play video games.  He started off playing Angry Birds on my Kindle Fire, and it was a love affair from there.

He has played games on the Wii, and on Nintendo 64!  His favorite game system is the Wii U though.  He loves the touch screen control pad and he often plays it as if it were a handheld system like his 3DS.

wiiu

1.  Mario Party 10

 The latest in a long series of a virtual “board game.”  Unlike the older games which were all a race to the finish line, Mario Party 10 puts all the players in one car.  Every step you roll your whole team moves with you.

There are not mini-games after every player goes, you have to land on special mini-game spaces.  I don’t like that, but my son doesn’t do well with the mini-games so he hates to play them.  His favorite part of Mario Party 10 is what makes this version of Mario Party the most special.

In this one you get to be BOWSER.  That’s right, you can choose to play as the good team, OR as the bad guy.  And my son likes to be the bad guy.

2.  Lego Jurassic World

Like most 5 year old boys, my son loves legos, and he loves dinosaurs.  So Lego Jurassic World is pretty much a win/win for him.

In this one you can chose to play two games.  If you choose one path you get gameplay based on the original Jurassic Park movies.  If you go the other way then you get to play a game based on the newest movie, Jurassic World.

He thinks it is fun to customize his dinosaurs, and thinks it is fun to play as a dinosaur.  That’s right, in this game you don’t just get to be the people, you get to be the dino’s too!  I have to say even I enjoy getting to be Blue, and the other Velociraptors.

3.  Super Mario 3D World

When you think of Nintendo, you think of Mario, so it should not be a surprise that another game my 5 year old loves is another Mario game.

In Super Mario 3D World you are trying to defeat Bowser, the same as always, but you get to explore a whole new world.  There are plenty of old friends and enemys though.

You get to choose who you want your character to be.  You can be Mario, Luigi, Peach or Toad to start, and unlock other characters as you play.

My son calls this one “Kitty Cat” Mario, because Mario has a new power.  In Super Mario 3D World, Mario (or his allys) don a cat suit, and then they can claw their enemy, or climb the wall to reach high places!

4.  Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

My son has never seen any other Donkey Kong game than Donkey Kong 64, so the game play of Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze was a little different for him.

Honestly the game play for this one is a little bit harder for him than other games (its even hard for ME most of the time), and a lot of times he will ask me to play for him, but he loves to watch me play this game.  He will watch as long as I’m willing to play.

When he does play he likes to play the early boards, and collect coins that he will spend in the shop for extra men.  He currently has the maximum amount of men he can have, which is better off than I am.  And though DK can pair up with Diddy, Dixie or Cranky Kong in this one, my son likes “the girl” best because “she can fly.”

5.  Duck Tales

Now, Duck Tales is a cartoon when from when I was a little girl, so my son has never seen it.  The Duck Tales game is also from when I was a little girl, but it has been updated and re-released for newer systems, including the Wii U.

The game play is meant for  younger players so its very easy for a 5 year old to play.

In it you are Scrooge McDuck, and you are going after treasures for your collection.  Your Weapon is your cane that you can use for a Pogo stick and bounce off the bad guys heads.

My son played this game so much that it became the first game that he beat ON HIS OWN.  That’s right, he doesn’t even have to have mommy play it for him.

Of course, when I set it up I put it on the “easy” setting, but you can choose to play it on a harder level if you want to play as a grown up.

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September 6, 2015 · 9:32 pm

5 Things that Make Me Happy

In my last post on Listing Lists, I asked for people to tell me what THEY would like to see me make a list of.  Sandy said that she would like to see a list of things that make me happy.

So for @rusty2rusty here is a list of things that make me happy.

This list is in no particular order, and it is NOT all inclusive.

myboys

My boys making a cake at Nanna’s house.

1.  Well, it should probably go without saying, but my children make me very, very happy.  I have two boys.  The oldest is 5, the youngest is 1.  They will both have birthdays in November, on the 14th and the 18th.  The oldest is already a video game addict.  The youngest gets into EVERYTHING.  He’s such a troublemaker.  But they both melt my heart with hugs and kisses.

2.  Food makes me happy.  If you saw me that would be very apparent.  I’m a round woman.  Now that I’m older and developing health problems I’m making better food choices, but I am still very happy when I sit down and indulge in a favorite meal.  (Future List idea….favorite foods.)

3.  Reading makes me happy.  When I was a girl I would spend all day every day when I wasn’t at school with my face buried in a book.  I loved the Goosebumps series.  My favorite kind of day was when I got a new Goosebumps book, a bag of white cheddar popcorn, and fruit punch and spend the day devouring all three.

I gave away my collection at some point, and I regret it now.  I would love to re-read some of them again.  Maybe I should start my collection again.  I like this Goosebumps Retro Scream Collection Limited Edition Tin.  It comes with some that I remember enjoying the first time around.

As a grownup I like Stephen King (The Mist is my favorite book) and Dean Koontz (Phantoms is my favorite of his).

4.  Animals make me happy.  I’m one of those people who will happily burry their face in the fur of a puppy or kitten.  But my favorite animal is actually a RAT.  Yep.  I shared my home with pet rats for many years.  I love their little faces, their little feet, the little happy noises they made.  After my second son was born I decided to stop keeping them for a little while.  We have 2 dogs in the house, and  betta fish, and a 30 gal aquarium.  With all that and 2 kids I was stretched a little thin.

5.  Hot Bath Therapy makes me happy.  I’m not sure exactly when I started calling it that, but for as long as I can remember I have LOVED a long hot bath.  I’ll go in with a book and a hot cup of coffee, and stay in till my water gets cold.  Sometimes I’ll keep re-heating the water and stay in till the hot water heater goes cold.  As a mother of two who works full time in retail, my Hot Bath Therapy is the closest thing I get to “me” time.  Even if little ones or husbands come in and out a few times I’m still mostly alone in there.

So, there you have it, 5 Things that Make Me Happy.  Now its your turn!

WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY?

and

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE A LIST OF?
I take all suggestions seriously, and will use all suggestions as best I can!

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September 1, 2015 · 9:02 pm

5 Things I Want to Do In September

What are your plans/goals for the month of September?

Here is a list of the things I hope to accomplish.

1.  Fix my Dresser: The metal bars that hold the drawers in are falling off.  I need to E600 the heck out of them.

2.  Go through my clothes Kondo style.  Space is limited.  Its time to chunk out all of the clothes I never wear.  The ones that were gifted to me that I hate.  The ones with holes.  The ones that are too small.  The ones that are too big.  I hate to do it because then I’ll have nothing to wear.  I can only hope to earn enough to buy more before I have to go naked.

3.  Go through my sons clothes.  The baby is getting big.  Time to get rid of his 12month clothes.  Time to pack up his newborn to 12 months and get them in the attic.. along with his baby toys, his baby bath tub.  His play pen.  All the BIG things that he’s outgrown should be moved out of the main part of the house.  It’ll make more room for us.

4.  Destroy the driveway garden.  Okay, so I should have taken a picture of this before the sun went down.  There is a HUNK of weeds and baby trees of various kinds living to the side of my driveway.  They are a nuisance and an eyesore.  Every year I mean to do something to them.  So this month I plan to hack them down, and then to douse the area with a DIY weed killer.  I keep thinking I might like a small rock or container garden there.

5.  Apply myself to online earnings.  There are several places online that I write to earn.  Except I can go weeks if not months at a time without writing on any of them.  And we all know THAT won’t earn me a thing.  I want to make sure to post something in EVERY one of my blogs at least once a week, but preferably more often than that!

There are 5 of the things I want to accomplish this month.  Again I ask, what is something YOU want to accomplish this month.

Also, What would you like to see me make a list of?  Tell me in a comment and I will almost certainly use your idea for a future list!

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