Last Book post of 2012!

     I almost can't believe that I've actually kept an actual list of every single book I've read this year. And it wasn't hard, or annoying, or even a 'challenge' at all! To be honest, I'm going to feel kind of strange this next year when I stop keeping my running list all month long. I'll have to find something else to blog about on a schedule though...as busy as my life is, if I don't have that set schedule coming around regularly, I won't ever remember to blog about anything!

     Most of this post's reading has been done in the last week. I had Christmas eve and Christmas day off from work (hallelujah!), so aside from doing our traditional family Christmas things and napping, I got a fair bit of reading done. I took a day off Thursday because I had a routine doctor's appointment to work out some details with my migraine treatment, so more time to catch up on reading. This weekend I've been sick at home with the crud, so watching Redbox DVDs and reading is about as spiffy as I feel like getting.

November and December

The Pillars of Creation - Terry Goodkind

Naked Empire - Terry Goodkind

Chainfire - Terry Goodkind

Phantom - Terry Goodkind

Confessor - Terry Goodkind  

     I finally finished that audiobook series! That was a long one!

The Dark Enquiry - Deanna Raybourn

Secrets of a Lady - Tracy Grant

The Mask of Night - Tracy Grant

Reflected in You - Sylvia Day

Bared to You - Sylvia Day

The Bloodletter's Daughter - Linda Lafferty 

     This book was my favorite! Very well written, great characters.

Redeeming Love - Francine Rivers  (yes, again...)

Wicked - Gregory Maguire

Two Graves - Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

The Joy Luck Club - Amy Tan

     This one disappointed me. So many great reviews, and the book fell a little flat.

Brooklyn - Colm Toinbin

So, drumroll please........................................

This list of 16 books puts my total of read books for 2012 at 119! Quite a few, I think. And I enjoyed (just about) every one! I definitely recommend you all to keep up with your books next year. It might surprise you what you turn to when you're bored, what you never ever read, and what your favorites really are!

Christmas Q&A - Getting in the spirit!

     Hello friends! I hope you all are enjoying this crazy Mississippi weather, and maybe starting to make your lists and check things off getting ready for all these big holidays coming up!
     The end of the year holidays are my very favorite. My family has always made sure we celebrated them all to the fullest, from Halloween to Thanksgiving to Christmas to New Years, but we all know Christmas is the star of the season. So I decided to share a little bit of my Christmas with you, and maybe see how your memories compared.

Crushing on one of these trees! I spent many childhood hours playing with my grandmama's tree like this, and I want one just like it!

Favorite Christmas movie: The Santa Clause and the original 'How The Grinch Stole Christmas'. If it doesn't come on at least three times a Christmas, I get sad. Maybe this year I can catch it on the DVR!

Least favorite Christmas movie: It's a tossup between, and I know half the planet Earth is going to want to crucify me after I say them, A Christmas Story and Elf. Oh how I hate both of them! A Christmas Story comes on only once a year, thank the Lord, but it's on over and over, ALL DAY LONG, on Christmas day. It has a few good lines, but I could never see it again and be content.. And Elf...I'm just not a Will Ferrell fan, and Elf just doesn't light my fire

Favorite Christmas carol: O Holy Night. I can hear it dozens of times each Christmas, but I still have times when I hear it and get chills.

Favorite holiday food: I love when the Christmas popcorn buckets come in. At our house, the caramel and cheese go fast, and nobody ever eats the plain butter flavor.
     People puppy chow. Also known as muddy buddies. Make it every Christmas and eat myself sick on it, but it's soooo good. We just made a batch this weekend...and it's almost gone already.
     I'm not sure what the proper name is, but that cornflake-peanut butter candy...oh me. That stuff is good.
     Regular candy canes. No, they don't taste the same as regular peppermints do. It's candy cane flavor. And it's a once a year, special, Christmas thing I look forward to all year long.

What does your family do for Christmas Eve? On Christmas Eve afternoon, we try to go out as a family and eat an early supper, then see a movie. Nobody else is ever in the theater with us, so it's like we have the theater to ourselves. If there isn't anything playing we want to see, we stay home, put on our Christmas pajamas, put glass bottled Cokes in the freezer until they get slushy, and drink them while we play cards or board games.

What does your family do for Christmas Day? We get up around nine or ten, open our presents together, then my grandparents come over to see what all we got. We cook a huge breakfast and eat together, then spend the rest of the afternoon putting together presents or watching our new DVDs.

What are your favorite Christmas traditions? When I was a kid, it was being in the Christmas play. Now as an adult, it's singing the Christmas Cantata the Sunday before Christmas after we eat breakfast together as a church.
     Putting together Christmas shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child every year, especially after being able to go to Atlanta to work in the shoebox processing center and see the tons and tons of boxes getting ready to go out all over the world.
     Christmas present scavenger hunts, if you are getting a particularly good present.
     Candy in your stockings. Every person gets a bag of 'their' candy. My dad's is always Hershey Kisses, mama's is KitKats, Molly's is Reeses, and mine varies from year to year, but I think this year I'll pick peanut butter M&Ms :)
     Wrapping presents. I love to wrap all the presents, it's very relaxing for me.
     This one is kind of a generic fall one, but annual Dressing Day with my mama and grandmama. Once a year, we take a day and make up all the chicken dressing we're going to eat for the entire next year.

What's your decorating strategy? This is a little hard for me at present, being as I don't have a house of myself where I have full reign of the decorating choices. My mom is mostly alright with me throwing my opinions around with decorating, but it is her house and her final say so.
     My personal Christmas decorating style, and I can't wait until I have my own house to decorate, is very simple. I love silver and white and brown and green, and I love decorating with old things and natural things.

What's your personal wrapping style? I would love to be one of those people who wrapped all their presents in matching, one color paper, and had gorgeous bows and tags and trimmings. But...I am not that dedicated. I wrap the things that have to be wrapped in two or three different kinds of paper, and I try to get designs that coordinate. The majority of the presents tho...we bag wrap. I love gift bags because they're so reusable! Six Christmases later, still recycling the same bags.

Best Christmas present ever? Definitely the Christmas I was fifteen, when my parents surprised me with a car. I already had my permit, was getting my license the next week, and we had been talking about going car shopping when Christmas died down. Come Christmas morning, I got a box with a note and a set of keys. I ran outside barefoot and in my pajamas to a pretty little Jeep with a big red bow. It was really hard to settle down and eat breakfast with everybody afterwards when all I wanted to do was go for a ride!

Christmas traditions you're glad you don't keep: There are two big ones I can think of right off the top of my head. First one, and the biggest one, is Black Friday. For lots of people that's their Christmas shopping, all done in one day, and they love the rush and the competition and the chaos. But I've been once, and I can't see the attraction. I'm content to start shopping early and find deals and not have to fight everyone else in the mall for it. The second one is having to dress up fancy for family Christmas dinners. You always see on TV where the people all wear dresses and ties to eat, and use fancy china and cloth napkins, and they just look miserable. I"m happy my family know that it's still Christmas even when we wear jeans and eat off paper plates!

Pinterest Project: Coin Frame...Completed!

     I've been hanging on to this project for a while, and it's finally done! Yay! 

Original pin

     So here's the thing. I collect coins, specifically coins from other countries. We travel a lot, and it's a cheap, interesting souvenir. I have coins from every continent except Australia. Most countries have very pretty money; we're the exception. So when I found this pin, I loved it! I hated just having all my coins in a dish or container somewhere where nobody could ever see them, and this was perfect for displaying them! 

     I waited on my Dad to get back from his last trip to Africa to call it finished, and good to his word when he got back last week he brought me several new coins from various countries in both Africa and Europe so I could finish off my frame.

It's done! I love the frame I found...best part, I got it on clearance!

I think my black velvet looks much better behind the coins than the original pin's tan color; it makes the coins show up so much better.

Close up! Just in this shot, there are coins from Qatar, Cuba, Ecuador, Belize, Europe, China, Canada, and the US.

This might be my favorite out of all the Pinterest projects I've done! Love love love it!

Election 2012 - A Different View

   

 



 

     Tonight, Mr. Obama was reelected to his second term as our president. Even though he wasn't my personal choice at the polls, I'm not going to get my panties in a wad and let everyone know how mad I am that my team lost. I was raised better than that.

 

     Honestly I'm so relieved that this election is finally over. I completely dislike politics, and really hate election year politics, because of the condition our country declines to during them. On social media sites especially, election years bring out the worst in people. And it sickens me. Just because someone isn't voting for your candidate, it's okay for you to make racial slurs, belittle their intelligence, talk about their religion? I've seen picture, memes, signs, slogans, anything you can make, and most of it I woulnd't dare repost or even repeat! Saw these two today:

 

 

     Pitiful. And people get offended when their rights aren't respected to the utmost degree. How about 'friends respect their friends political views, no matter if they're different from their own'?

     This is America. And because they missed a couple of lessons in government class, whoever posts those signs should be educated in what that means. America was formed by people who didn't have freedom to vote for the way their lives were ruled. Our founders and lawmakers through the years set up our voting system, and many many men and women have given their lives through the years, so that you might have the priviledge to vote and do it freely. You can pick the candidate of your choice, the party of your choice, and vote however you like on the choices given you. Just because someone doesn't vote the same as you, it doesn't give you the right to belittle them or their choice. You have the right to respect that their views are different from yours, and the right to hope that the candidate or platform you voted for wins.  

 

     It's so hard for voters to make an intelligent, informed decision these days when you're voting. With the media throwing their opinions around, all the gossip on social sites, and the debates that do absolutely nothing to clarify candidates positions, I'm amazed anything truthful ever makes it to the ears of the voters. But it's our responsibility and our right to make an informed decision.

     My parents wanted to raise a responsible adult who cared about understanding the vote I would be casting and learning about the candidate I was marking my tally for, and thank God for it! I take time each year to talk with them and understand what it is I'll be voting for, which candidates have what view, and what their opinions are. This year's voting has been the source of many conversations around the Falkner house, and will probably spawn quite a few more.

 

     As for this election, even though Mr. Obama wasn't my candidate of choice, I was raised to understand that once the vote was in, that was that. He's now once again our president, and as such deserves our respect. I may make jokes about him, and have about several other presidents, but I would never make a remark that insulted his race, called him retarded, or said that I would rather him die than be reelected, like some of the comments I've read lately. I admire him and his wife very much for keeping their family together so well in spite of all the stress I know they must face. You can tell they love each other and their children very much, and that is a quality I value highly.

     All I will say about him and this election is congratulations Mr. President, and good luck.

 

 

 

 

      

 

Help!

     This is a girls only post, which means all you cootie filled boys have to stop reading now or forever be tainted by the hormone, femininity filled post ahead.



     Are the men gone? Okay ladies, Alyssa needs help! Advice, tricks that worked for you, family remedies, life stories, anything short of crazy I am open to trying. For the casual reader dropping by, I'm getting pretty personal about myself in this post (nothing gross I promise) but it's because I know at least one of you out there has to have had some of my problems before.
    
     This whole year last year, I have had problems with my hormones. Very basically, when I got mono last year and dropped 20+ pounds in a month, I stopped having a period. My doctor knew about it, and though it wasn't great for me, we had other things to worry about and that wasn't a totally unexpected side effect. Side note: zero possibility of me getting a date at that point of my life, much less pregnant, so that was definitely not the problem. Fast forward a couple of months to early summer, I've gained most of my weight back, mono is gone, I'm healthy in all other regards, but still not having a period. All the women of the world are drooling with jealousy here, I know. However, I've been on birth control for several years to help with my migraines, and with me still not having a cycle, I'm getting more and more messed up the longer I go. My migraines also started getting worse, as they're very hormone controlled.
     The 'lady' doctor I had been seeing made matters worse, first putting me on extra estrogen then a higher dose birth control pill, and when that didn't work taking me off everything altogether, because 'sometimes skinny people just don't have periods' and 'it's not hurting you not to have one'. Oh. my. gosh. Talk about dropping me off a cliff. Taking me from a pretty high regular dose of hormones that I've been on for years, cold turkey? I had a migraine for a straight week, and was dangerous to be around. The people at my house need me to be hormone regulated. Proven need.
     I finally went to my family doctor who has seen me a lot this past year, a very very smart woman, and confessed to being a dangerous woman out on the loose. She treats me for my migraines, which is a talent surprisingly few doctors have. A neurologist once told me that since I was to be allergic to triptans (Imitrex type meds), I was just going to have to suffer. Like, not joking told me that. Um...no. Very unimpressed with your bedside manner there doc.
     Anyway, back to my doctor. She treats me for everything else, so I told her she could add the 'lady' doctor part to the list. Just fyi, skinny people still need periods just like everyone else, especially if you're a 23 year old skinny person on birth control, and it is highly unhealthy to go without your regular period.
     She put me right back on my old birth control (much rejoicing occured at that decision), and ran much blood work to make sure I had nothing else out of whack other than the level of my hormones.

     Now I'm slowly getting back to normal but having all these weird hormone related side effects. It's kind of like going through puberty all over again, but worse than I ever had it as a teenager, and all at once! Ugh.
     First, my hair has changed texture twice in the last year. That is more of a manageable side effect, you find the right shampoo (again) and once its dried and straightened you're pretty much done.
     Not so manageable is the fact that my skin is no longer my beautiful, smooth, not dry and not oily, never get a pimple skin anymore. Don't get me wrong, I use good makeup, I take care of my skin, always have. But lately it doesn't seem to matter. I'm constantly in the middle of one breakout or another, I have blackheads popping out like crazy, and my skin is oilier than I can ever remember it being. Disgusting! And yes, I have lots of stress, and yes I deal with dirty nasty money all day long. This probably doesn't help matters, but not a changeable thing. I have always been secretly thankful for and proud of my skin, because it was so easy to deal with and, if my family is any key, only gets better in the long run. I want it back!
     I don't know if any of y'all have any problems with your skin or hair still, but if you can remember any tricks you loved from back in the day or that saved your life for that one huge date, SHARE! Basically, I want to know how to keep my face from breaking out so much, how to keep your face not-oily, how to stop a breakout when I know it's coming or how to make it get over quicker, how to make the blackheads vanish, any tricks that make you feel un-blugh when you're extra hormonal, all that jazz. Anything, Help a sister out!

Thrifting!

     This week I am so excited about sleeping under my new blanket from the Thaxton Mall (Dollar Gen.) It's one of those so-soft velvety almost furry feeling ones, in a pretty latte tan color that goes with my bedroom quilt. I've seen these blankets at places like Kirklands or Bed Bath and Beyond, but I was never willing to part with megabucks for one that was only throw-sized. Thaxton Mall had them for $25, and it's HUGE! Covers my whole bed! And not too heavy to pick up and tote to the couch to continue my snuggling pleasure in there :) I'm telling you, folks, cheap ain't always a negative term.
     My awesome friend Lauren is the thrifting QUEEN. No joke. It's my plan for us to retire and open a thrift store, so I can get in on all these great things she finds firsthand haha. After hearing for years the benefits of cruising the cheapo depot store circuit and making weekly shopping trips to the Goodwill, I decided to try it out - if maybe not weekly to start with!
     My big thing is finding cheap accessories and jewelry - I like to splurge on nice basic clothing pieces and add to them to make outfits, and decorating things. I also collect glass - as in cut crystal - wine glasses, serving pieces, bowls...I think it's the Southern in me coming out. I think every Southern woman should have a good set of china, pretty serving dishes for family gatherings and church suppers, and a set of wine glasses for when you want to feel fancy, even if it's only with sweet tea.

     I shop for certain things in certain stores. Oxford Goodwill I don't get to visit much, but I usually find pretty glass and decorating things there. In Tupelo I rarely visit the Goodwill because its too far for me to visit on my lunch, but I'll probably be going as I start Christmas shopping - gosh, is it really that time again? Ugh. TJMaxx is just across the street from work...highly dangerous. I can find just about anything there. My latest score was a Columbia fleece jacket for $25! Hobby Lobby is across the street too, and I have to just exercise self control with them, especially this time of year. They ALWAYS have a sale, and you can ALWAYS find something you want. I love the Dollar Tree, surprisingly. They have some strange things, but sometimes it's things you're like 'Okay, wow, I pay three and four dollars for this at WalMart,' or wherever you shop. Especially storage containers, candy, school supplies, cleaning products, dishes... Best find there: a retracting iPhone/USB charger. $1.
     As for finding sales and getting deals, one big secret really is being a repeat customer. Go back to a store every week or every other week and you start to see things being marked down and eventually moving out to clearance. The salespeople remember you too, and they'll tell you about upcoming deals and sometimes even hand out coupons!

     The other secret is to be creative. So what if that shirt is missing a button or a belt - if it's $2, you can sew on a new button or mix and match your own belts, and an even better one at that. Lots of times jewelry or purses are clearanced because they're 'broken' when all they really need is to have a clasp fixed or a ring replaced, or a decal glued back on. I bought a really expensive Guess purse once on clearance for $20 because the decal had come off leaving just a bare silver plate on the purse front. I hunted around and found an earring that looked like a buckle, and glued it on there. Looked better than the real thing, for $2 of work.

The earring I found to replace the missing decal

Finished product! And this purse still looks good after having it for about a year now :)

Happy Halloween!

     I'm back! At least for today :) I don't know what happened to October. One minute I was starting my job at the beginning of September, and all of a sudden it's time for trick or treating and making Christmas lists and cold weather? I know I've been busy, but seriously, who ate the six or so weeks I feel like flew by?
     Work has been amazing, and I LOVE my new job. Love love love. Can't imagine why I didn't start doing this sooner, but I'm glad I didn't wait any later! I've been very busy at work and trying to get used to the new routine, but it's a good busy and usually a fun busy. We never have a completely dull day, and the ladies I work with are anything but boring! I think what I love most is that I know everyday we have our routines, and even though our hours are sometimes long we're well rewarded and well appreciated. I love how thoroughly I was trained and taught, and how comfortable I feel with what I'm doing. I love that my boss actually cares about her job and her employees more than just if we show up for work and if we get all our work done; if we're having a bad day she wants to know why and if she can fix it. For the first time in my life I'm happy to get up and go to work every day, and I'm not just hoping the day passes quickly so I can get home. Definitely a great start to what I hope is a good long career.
     
     Obviously, with the routine changing and longer hours and less weekend days, reading has taken a little bit of a backseat lately. Getting a little better though...I can take my Kindle to work on the slow days, and I have my lunch hour every day when I'm not running errands or shopping (working next door to the mall is bad tempting!). Most of my driving time is quality audiobook listening time too. It's more calming after a long day than trying to fight my shuffle! haha

September - October

Blood of the Fold - Terry Goodkind

Temple of the Winds 

Soul of Fire 
Faith of the Fallen  --- I'm working through an audiobook CD series. So far, only on book 6 out of 11...slow going when you only 'read' thirty minutes in the morning and evening and at lunch.

Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
The Red Tent - Anita Diamant
Silent Honor - Danielle Steel
Broken Laces - Rodney Walther
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - Amy Tan
Extraction - Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

Fifty Shades of Grey - E. L. James
Fifty Shades Darker
Fifty Shades Freed
     Before y'all hop on the judge train, I'll explain this choice of reading material. I have heard opinions from the scale of great to good to bad to worse about these books, and rather than just forming a blind opinion and saying either 'You're awful for reading those books!' or 'They're no worse than half the movies or TV shows out now,' or 'Whatever you read is your choice,' I decided to just read them myself. I'm pretty sure I'm old enough and mature enough to read them objectively and decide whether or not they're as good or bad as they're hyped up to be.
     After reading them all through, I have to say that they're pretty out there in the adult content sense, but honestly when I read I tend to block most of that out and just focus on the plot of the story. Its like reading something with curse words; my mind sees them, reads them, and either registers them as unimportant in the context of what I'm reading or subs in a word I like better. As far as the plot of Fifty Shades goes, it's a pretty good little romance, with just enough drama thrown in to keep you reading. I didn't really like the story of the first book, but the second and third were written on a more lovey dovey romantic line, and I'm a lover at heart, so I liked them much better.
     Overall, I'm not sorry I read them, and I can't say I won't reread them eventually at some time in the future, but I'm glad I bought them on sale via Kindle rather than spending more money for the real books.

Thirteen books, grand total 103!!! If I was following regular Centurion Challenge rules, I would have hit my challenge quota of 100 books in a year this month, but since I'm just tallying how many books I read throughout the year, we'll just keep right on going.


     Granddaddy update - Some of you know my granddad has been in the hospital in Memphis for the last month going through a bone marrow transplant and intensive chemo for his multiple myeloma. If you're friends with my mom on Facebook, she's been putting regular updates on there about his progress, but this week we've gotten super good news. He's moved out of the isolation unit of the hospital to their hotel room nearby, where he'll stay this week as they monitor his blood levels on an outpatient basis. If everything stays good through the week, he's looking at coming home! 
     He's very excited about this, almost too excited. Tonight he called me and asked me if I would bust him out of 'jail' and take him home to visit his cat. I told him the wardens (my mama and grandmama) might not like it too much if they caught us. He agreed, and said he'd deal with it then. He then said he was amazed that  the same breakfast from the hospital that make him sick smelled and tasted so much better at Cracker Barrel, to which I told him 'Duh, Granddaddy, it was hospital food.' Yall, it ain't ever dull around here.

Rant Alert!

   
     By the way guys, I didn't just forget about days 24 and 25 of my blog challenge. Those days...really really sucked as far as topics go. Definitely not worth me trying to come up with something for them y'all probably wouldn't enjoy reading!

     Today I just really need to vent a little steam about something that has been getting on my nerves for a good while. I've been a good, tolerant little girl and kept my mouth shut, but it's just gotta come out today.

     I don't know about y'all, but my Facebook lately has been taken over by the skinny-crazy people. The people who are obsessed with losing weight, working out, anything they can do to make their bodies more pleasing to themselves.
     I've got people doing Zumba classes, people on every diet imaginable, people promoting this or that amazing new gym with cheap membership, people going group walking two or three nights a week, people running 5ks and marathons. It's basically the Fit Network, all relocated to my Facebook!
     There's this one new thing going around the FB world...Advocare. It's a pyramid-scheme company based on selling weight loss/energy/health supplements and promoting short-term plans for losing weight using Advocare products. Out of my friends, first a core group of several people started using this product, then selling it on the side. They were hooked, and they hooked their husbands and wives, their friends, and their families along with them. All of a sudden all of they quit having personal lives on Facebook. Every single post was 100% focused on promoting and selling Advocare, recruiting more sellers to be in their sales team, nothing but Advocare. No more posts about their kids antics, their husbands sarcastic comments, their crazy days at work...just Advocare.
     There are several things I'd like to fix with this picture. Facebook is a social network, not the place to conduct regular business. I realize it's probably a well-paying, rewarding job that you really love, but if you want to tie your business into Facebook, make a group or a separate page for it. Don't spam everyone on your friends list with your every post. A group or a separate page will allow you to post all you want, and everyone that actually wants to see it will. You can invite whoever you want to your group/page, and if they say no, you say okay and move along. Making the occasional comment or shout-out is great, but spam about a product I didn't want in the first place doesn't make me change my mind about it.

     Next, and this is a much bigger issue than just Advocare spam on Facebook, but it is connected. I realize I live in Mississippi, the obese state. I realize that our country as a whole has more and more overweight people each year. I realize that's a serious health concern that people need to be educated on dealing with. However...I am not obese. I am not overweight. Just because many people out there are dealing with this issue, it doesn't mean I have to deal with it also. I don't think it's fair to me, or to anyone out there who is already healthy, to basically be told to get healthier now because we'll probably be overweight one day.
     Schools no longer allow kids to choose whether to eat healthy snacks or to eat ice cream with lunch, whether they can pick between water and diet drinks or whether they can drink a Coke. Even high schoolers, who are by most people's definition old enough to make their own decisions about their food, have their choice taken away from them. My opinion - if you don't offer any choice at school, they'll just bring what they want from home, so what good are you doing?
     And it goes farther. The first lady recently announced that if her husband is reelected this fall, one of the things she's planning on tackling in the next term is cutting sugars, fats, and sodium from grocery store products. Now, as an adult and an American, I know that I have the right to choose whatever the heck I want to eat, no matter how horrible or how healthy it may be. I don't need the government making that choice for me. The way I see it, now you have the choice between Oreos or 100 Calorie pack cookies, whole or skim milk, Cheeto puffs or baked Doritos...you already have the option to pick your 'healthy' level.

     To be honest, sometimes I honestly feel discriminated against in that I'm NOT obese, on a diet, a member of a gym, or otherwise on the 'Get Healthy' kick. I'm a small person, always have been. I've always been active, doing band in high school and walking when I was at college. In the last five or six years, I've had health problems (ie mono, twice) that caused me to lose a lot of weight I really didn't need to lose in the first place, and then I had to work at gaining all of it back. I'm still working on getting back to my normal weight from the last time I was sick, in December of last year. It's very hard for me personally to gain weight, and made harder to do in this lose-lose-lose world. I'm sure there are people who have thought I was anorexic or something, when all of a sudden I dropped 20 pounds from my normal weight and took over a year to gain it back. I know there are people that hate the fact that I can eat whatever I want and it doesn't show. I know it's something lots of people would love to do, but honestly it's something I get tired of. When I get ugly looks just because I order a milkshake, it's time for people to take a reality check. Sometimes the grass isn't greener on the skinny side.
     Please don't get me wrong, I'm in no way knocking people for being healthy or for trying to get fit. I am always on the cheering team for anyone who wants to start a new diet, or train for their first 5k, or just have fun with the Wii Fit Plus. I have so many friends that have changed their lives completely by joining Weight Watchers or by starting training to run, and I know how much a difference it's made for them. I love that they all had that much will-power and strength of commitment to see their goals through. I may make jokes about me never going running unless something chases me, but I really do admire the people I know that can get up every day and just go run and feel amazing when they finish. They're absolutely a special people. I just want to make it clear that I think it's all about our choice, our free will, to decide when and if we want to take that step for ourselves.

Day 23: List your top 5 hobbies and why you love them.

     Challenge day 23: List your top 5 hobbies and why you love them.

1. Reading: I love reading, always have. I can't really explain why, except that I grew up reading, from baby age on up. My parents read to me and told me stories before I could even understand, so from that time I understood books as something pleasing and comfortable and good. Now I read to pass the time in waiting rooms, to get relaxed before I fall asleep, to calm down after I get home from work, or to just pass any free time I have. I even 'read' while I drive, listening to audiobooks. Definitely makes those early morning drives to work less sleepy, and the evening drives home seem a little faster.

2. Crafting: Since Pinterest came about, I've gotten a renewed liking for any kind of crafty project. Anything that I have laying around the house that is on the plain side or that I don't particularly like has the potential to transform into something new. I always loved little art and decorating projects like that, ever since I got interested in art in high school, and Pinterest is just fuel to the fire :)
     My favorite seasons are coming up, the ones with all the good weather and good holidays! We haven't ever been big decorators, mostly just reusing the same things every year for Christmas and sometimes putting out one or two little things for Halloween and Easter. I did some pretty things for Christmas last year, and this year I'm getting even more creative. Hopefully soon I'll be able to show off pictures of all the new holiday lovelies I've added our collection!

For real! The first step to getting help is admitting you have a problem...

3. I love playing the piano, and I love singing as well. I've played the piano for fifteen years, and it's a great release for me. Best stress reliever ever made. Singing I like much better when it's just me, in my car, and I can turn up the volume of both the music and me, and nobody can hear anything I do. If any other car happens to catch sight of me, well then they'll just get a show of dancing like they've probably never seen.

4. I like to cook, and bake, and experiment with new things in the kitchen. My favorite thing to do is desserts, unique things that come out pretty and taste even better than they look. I'm not a picky cook. I don't eat spaghetti, but I've made up my own signature recipe that my family loves. I make a big effort to do things the old fashioned way, as much homemade as possible. Everything just seems to taste better that way!

5. This is probably my newest hobby, but I really do love to blog. I just started my blog about a year and a half ago, but I very quickly got hooked. I always hated having to write in a journal for school and I never could keep a diary, so I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed blogging so much. Maybe it's because it's so customizeable, or it's so easy and fast to just type your words instead of having to pen them out. Whatever it is, I'm glad I started.

Day 22: Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10? 15?

Challenge day 22: Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years? 15 years?

     In 5 years, I will be 28 years old. I'd like to think I see myself still with BancorpSouth. I might not be in my current position as a teller, maybe a CSR or something, but I don't see myself leaving the bank anytime soon. I love the company, and I don't think I could find a better job anywhere else. I'm planning to finish out my Bachelor's degree through Ole Miss, though my major is still undecided. And I hope to be in a small house of my own somewhere in Pontotoc or Tupelo. As far as my love life in concerned, I don't have any plans except to pray and hope that God has something good in the works.

     In 10 years, I will be 33 years old. I hope that by then I will be married and have at least started a family. If I'm lucky and very hard working between now and then, we might can have our house built where and how we would like it to be. I wouldn't mind at all still working for BancorpSouth still; they're a fabulous corporation, but I can't say that my plans and career won't change. I might go for my Bachelors, fall in love with a totally different career, and be working somewhere I never imagined.

     In 15 years, I will be 38. Maybe at that age my husband and I will be busy with our children's various activities. Ball practice, or music lessons, or homework, or Bible drills, whatever they want to be involved in. I hope to still love my job, whatever it may be. And I hope to be content with my life, however it turns out.

Day 21: If you could have one superpower, what would it be and what would you do with it first?

Challenge day 21: If you could have one superpower, what would it be and what would you do with it first?

     This one is a fun topic! I've been waiting on this one, because I have a fun answer :)

     If I could have one superpower, I would choose to have Jedi powers! That's right. I watch Star Wars, yes. My parents raised me right. I watch Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Lonesome Dove, John Wayne, movies where people blow stuff up and fight with guns and swords and do 'manly' stuff (my dad tells us we have to balance out the estrogen movies with stuff like that, haha). 

     Jedi powers are awesome. First, they have the whole telekinesis thing, the ability to move things with their mind, which I have always found completely awesome. I would love to be sitting at my desk, or laying in my bed, and be able to think "Book, come here," or "Pen, come here," and have it glide right over to me. 

     Second, they can influence the way others think. You know, the "These aren't the droids you're looking for," thing. I probably wouldn't use that so much, but I can't say that I wouldn't use it if I got pulled over or something. "Officer, this isn't the speeding car you're looking for..." 

     Third, they have hyper-aware senses. If someone they're tuned into walks into the building, they know. If anything bad happens to someone they're connected to, they can sense it. I think that would be pretty cool to be able to sense people walking in and out of your house, or if your kid got sick at school. The hyper-awareness almost extends to knowing the outcome of a situation before it even occurs. That's probably the most appealing thing to me. I'm a planner, and any knowledge of an event ahead of time is almost calming to me, and definitely makes me more comfortable knowing that I am more prepared for what's coming.

     Last, and I'm not sure if this qualifies as a part of their power, but it's definitely connected to it. Jedi's have lightsabers, and those are freaking awesome! Who wouldn't want to tote a lightsaber around? I'd want one like Mace Windu's...purple! 

Day 20: Describe 3 significant memories from your childhood - Dedicated to my grandparents.

Challenge day 20: Describe 3 significant memories from your childhood.

This blog is dedicated to my grandparents, Barbara and Larry Hale, who I love very, very much.

     This past weekend we went up to Memphis to get my mama, granddaddy and grandmama settled into their hotel. My granddaddy has multiple myeloma, cancer of his bone marrow, and has been taking chemo all summer. He's starting his most important treatment soon, intensive chemo to get his system ready for a bone marrow transplant next month, that will attempt to send his cancer into remission. He felt really good Saturday for the first time in a long time, so we all went out to eat where he wanted, at Cracker Barrel so he could get a steak and fried apples. He even felt good enough to sit outside in their rockers afterward for probably an hour talking to all of us. Definitely the best day we've all spend together in a very long time. 

     Being up there with them, just spending time like that, got me thinking about the many times I've stayed with my grandparents, or that we've gone on vacation with them, or all the Christmases we've had over there. Most of my happiest childhood memories are ones with them in them. Life was so simple and so laid back when I was at my grandparents' house. I have never felt less than amazingly loved and one of the most important things in their lives. They call me their 'loving' grandchild, because I have always loved crawling up in their laps and hugging and kissing on them, but really I think I got that from them. I was their first grandbaby, and I was probably the most loved baby that ever lived. Not much has changed since then; I'm still hugged and kissed on constantly, I'm still spoiled by them, and I'm still loved beyond measure.  

     My granddaddy was a farmer my whole life, and my grandmama either helped him in the field or stayed at their house to work in the garden or spend time with me if I was over there. Many of my memories with them are from the times they let me go with them to the fields, or of walking with Grandmama to the creek behind their house...things like that. Most kids didn't have such a precious, simple life like that, but I wouldn't trade anything in the world for those memories. I loved walking to the creek with my Grandmama, especially if it had just rained and I could walk barefoot through the mud. I remember getting to go to the fields with them if they were working, and riding the tractor with Granddaddy, and drinking the best, coldest water out of their water jugs and snacking on the salted peanuts Granddaddy always had in his shirt pocket. In the fall when they harvested the soybeans or cotton, they'd let me play in the trailerload of shelled beans or fluffy white cotton bolls. It was kind of like having the biggest sandbox ever full of little soybeans, or laying on the biggest pillow ever. If they worked in the garden I would walk behind them, digging in the dirt for marbles - the plot where their garden was used to be an old houseplace. Over the years we found dozens of marbles there. My first marble was a little periwinkle blue one. I still have it. Grandmama was never too busy to take time out to fix me biscuits and gravy for breakfast, or watch me ride my bike in the carport, or push me in the swing that used to be in their front yard, or walk me to my Mawma's house next door. At night, after they let me stay up way too late watching tv with them, they'd tuck me into my bed under as many blankets and quilts as I wanted, all of them soft as can be from being washed a hundred times. 

     I can't remember ever being unhappy with them, or wanting to go home, or wishing I had someone else to play with when I was at their house. If it was just me and them, the I couldn't be happier. I wish everybody had memories with their grandparents as wonderful as I have. I hope one day I'm as loving and as patient and as giving and as strong a role model of a grandparent to my grandchildren as my grandparents are to me. If I'm half the grandparents they are, I will have accomplished something great indeed. 

I love you Granddaddy and Grandmama.

Here's some of our pics. Please excuse them not being the best quality, most of them are old photos scanned into my computer on not the best quality scanner. But for my purpose, it's the picture and not the quality that counts here.

My grandmama and me, I'm about a year old.

My grandmama and me the day Molly was born

My granddaddy and Molly, Caleb, and me on Halloween, 1998

My grandmama mowing the yard, letting me ride in the leaf catcher

My granddaddy on one of our vacations. He wouldn't ride a real horse, but he said this one was safe :)

Family pictures, I think I'm about 13 here.

Our vacation to California. Behind us is the Pacific ocean.

Christmas card pictures, 2005

Another Christmas picture

And another :)

My loving grandparents

Christmas picture 2006, by my granddaddy's airplane

Christmas picture 2007

My Grandmama, Mama, and me on dressing making day last fall

My grandparent's Christmas card picture maybe three years ago

This was the last family picture we had made before my aunt Tiffany died in 2004, the last time my original family was all together. I miss her very much, and I know my grandparents do too. This week makes 8 years since we lost her, and I know that makes this week for them especially tough. 

A few years ago my uncle got remarried to an amazing lady named Barbara, and she has a fabulous daughter Molly's age, Lauren. Gable couldn't have picked anyone better. No one could ever replace Tiffany, but Barbara is the best mom Caleb could ask for and I know she loves him like he's her own son, and we love her just like she has been with us all along. Lauren has been great for Caleb as well. I don't think he'd know what to do now without an older sister to fight with, haha. Hopefully sometime soon I can convince everyone to do another set of family pictures, this time with our new additions :)

Playing Catch-Up - Days 17, 18, and 19

Challenge day 17: What is the thing you most wish you were great at? 

     Hmmm...this one is a hard one! There are a lot of little things I wish I could do better, like sing or speak Spanish or sew. I think most of all though, I wish that instead of having my talents spread out more or less equally over a large range of things that I could swap some of that over to being really good at just one or two things. I think it'd make a lot of things easier for me, like picking a career haha. Don't get me wrong, I love being able to do all the things I can, but sometimes I wish I could just pick one! But I don't think I could ever give up my art and crafting for my piano, or reading for cooking and baking. I wouldn't want to trade being able to speak Spanish to make my bookkeeping and math abilities better. So I guess I'd have to answer that I don't really have one thing I'd wish to be great at. I'd rather just be good at all the things I already am.  

Day 18: What has been the most difficult thing you have had to forgive?

     The hardest I've ever had to work at forgiving someone was when my fiance and I broke up. When someone you don't know or who doesn't have a large impact on your life wrongs you, it isn't fun but it isn't life changing. When its someone you love...its much harder to first recognize it, and then to deal with it, and then let it go.
     My fiance and I were not very far away from actually tying the knot. We had been together for years, and been through some very difficult things together. He had joined the Marines while we were together, and we managed to stay together through the long distance and the mental craziness that comes with that. He came home, and suddenly everything changed. My fiance wasn't the person I fell in love with, and he didn't care. It felt like everything he did was to test the limits of my commitment, see just how far I'd tolerate him going to break my trust. After months of that, I knew I couldn't handle it forever. I told him I couldn't agree to marry him until we got things straight. He told me that I was the one with problems, he had everything figured out, and when I got my life straight I could give him a call. I knew I had made the right choice. I gave him back my ring, drove away from his house, and never looked back.
     Afterward I found out he had been cheating on me, and somehow everyone knew but me. He even had the nerve to tell me he would stop seeing her if I'd come back. I think that hurt more than anything else, knowing that even though he was my only, I was his second best.
     It's been three years since we broke up. Nowadays, we're friendly to the point that we chat on Facebook. It took me a long time to get to that point. It took a long time to get to the point where I didn't think of him with anger at what he did, or sadness for the life I might have had if he hadn't done those things. Now I know that I am so much better off, and have had such a fuller life and will continue having that life. But it took a lot of prayer, a lot of late night talks, a lot of really having to make myself believe that I had come out on top. And to be honest, I still sometimes miss the companionship I had in him, the way we never ran out of things to talk about, the amazing dates we had without spending over $5, the happy, spontaneous, warm person I became when I had someone to be fun and loving with. But I hope, and believe, that one day I'll have another chance at love and it'll be a thousand times better, because this time it'll be forever.

Challenge day 19: If you could live anywhere, where would it be and why?

     This is an easy one! I'm probably in the minority with my answer, but I would rather live here in North Mississippi where I already live than anywhere else I've ever been, and I've been quite a few places. 

     I'm a huge home-body. I don't want to be far from my family. If you need an airplane to come home to visit, that's entirely too far. Pretty much, if you have to drive over an hour. that's too far too. 

     My ideal home would be somewhere in Pontotoc, Oxford, or Tupelo, but out in the country where I can build my house on a lot with tons of trees and privacy, no neighbors right up in your backyard, no traffic noise, no busyness right next to you. Your house is where you go to be at home, to be yourself. It doesn't need to be somewhere you can't get comfortable.

     Hopefully with my new job, all the saving up I'm doing will help my dream house become my real house very soon! There will be MANY blogs to follow if that happens, so just be ready!

FYBF: New Job Fun!

Borrowed from thedomesticatedme.blogspot.com

     

     Anybody else SOOOO glad it's finally FRIDAY?!?!? I've had a great week, but I don't think I've ever been so ready for a Friday to get here. I'm finally finished with my training for my teller job at BancorpSouth, and my brain is tired! There's so much information to absorb and remember, so many procedures you have to be familiar with and follow to the letter, all kinds of forms to know and remember which one to use and when. After two weeks of all that I was getting a little bit of information overload. 

     This week I finally got to begin working a teller window on my own - with a little supervision from my trainer Cori, just to make sure I'm being a good little teller. I worked the drive-through for the first time tonight as well; I think that's my favorite thing so far. I like actually working much better than reading manuals and working computer simulation modules! I'm a very hands-on, learn by doing person so I've learned much more working the window than in the simulations. 

     Next Monday comes the big day...I leave the training nest for a window of my own and all the fun stuff it comes with. I already got my first BancorpSouth t-shirt, but I'm really excited for that little nameplate saying Alyssa to sit in front of my window :) Y'all can all come see me down at teller window #2. 

     Honestly, I'm more excited than nervous. My trainer has been great at letting me work with her and covering all the topics I need to know even outside the manuals. I don't think I've ever been so thoroughly trained at any job, and I'm very thankful for that! Working with money, especially some of the bigger transactions, you want to be as careful as possible and as sure of yourself as you can. At this point both my bosses and I want me to focus on being correct, not fast, but I can already tell my counting out is getting faster and easier, and I'm more sure about processing my transactions. Next week will really seal the deal for me as far as really hammering in that learning!   

     Monday when I get my in my window and all the cool accessories, I promise to take pics and update. See y'all back then!

    

 

Day 16: What are your 5 greatest accomplishments?

Challenge day 16: What are your 5 greatest accomplishments?

     Okay, this one I'm going to cheat on a little. I don't necessarily think that I can come up with 5 things that I think of as 'great' accomplishments. Yes, you do things every day that are accomplishments. Every little goal you reach is an accomplishment. But being able to call them great...that's a little harder for me.

     I do think that me being able to get this job at Bancorp South is a great accomplishment for me. A lot of people work their whole lives for a job as great as the one I have now. My personal goals I set when I started looking for a new job this summer were that I didn't have to go back to school forever to do it, I would get paid well and have benefits, and that I could go to work and come home happy each day. That's it, pretty simple. Well when this job landed in my lap, I honestly was so surprised and happy I didn't know what to think. I've wanted a job with them since last Christmas but hadn't been able to get it for one reason or another, then all of a sudden I'm sitting behind the teller desk! And I fulfilled all my goals: I only have to go back to school if I want to, and BCS helps me if I do; I have better benefits than I ever dreamed of and a great salary, plus they're very generous with bonuses and encouraging us with raises; and I'm happy - I have come home every day tired but happy in that I am going to love my job and keep loving it for a long, long time.

     This might be strange to some people, but I consider me having traveled so much at such a young age a great accomplishment. Again, I know many people older than me that have never seen the outside of Mississippi, yet I've seen over half of the states in the US and been outside the country multiple times, even by myself, which is an accomplishment all its own. Traveling gives you an opportunity to broaden your mind in a way you'd never be able to sitting at home, and it's just plain fun any way you slice it.

     Even though I'm not happy that I only have an Associates degree, I know that going to college and getting any degree is an accomplishment. Every degree takes hard work, and mine was no different. Even if I'm not planning to stay at that level forever, I know to respect the effort it took to get there.

     

     

     These are the next things I hope to accomplish and I consider them to be very great accomplishments. First, and I've already started this, is to save and invest my money so that I can build up a nest egg. I like to have money already put back if something comes up that I especially want or for any kind of expense I might not have seen coming. Next, I want to find myself a small house somewhere out here in Thaxton or Hurricane hopefully, and start making it mine :) That's what I want next as far as big goals, to have my own place and be independent. Wish me luck on those, they're big things but I don't have any doubt I'll get there!

Day 15: If you were an animal, what would you be and why?

Challenge day 15: If you were an animal, what would you be and why?

     Seriously? Somebody skipped out on making up their question.

     Very well. If I were an animal, I think I'd want to be...a hummingbird maybe? I don't think I'd want to be something ordinary like a dog or a cow or a fish. Definitely not anything cold weather bound. No bugs or lizards or snakes. 

     I admit this isn't something I have ever put much though in before. I don't care for this line of psychology, and I don't think you can glean much information about someone's personality from questions like this. 

     We have hummingbirds around our house all summer. My mom puts out probably ten feeders as soon as it gets warm and they just swarm them. They're very funny to watch, and they're pretty in all their jeweltones. The big ones and the little ones fight over who gets to eat first, and they flit around in pairs or groups chasing each other. They just look like they have fun all day long. Then when fall comes, they fly back to whatever tropical place they came from, and vacation all winter. Fabulous life!

Blue and green

Hot pink

Lime green...I kind of think I'd like to be one of these.

Coral...or these, they look tropical!

Green...ours look like these

Even purple!

This one looks like a butterfly :)