A Lovely Thanksgiving Weekend

Truly, a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend, so far. Ate wonderful foods at my Aunt & Uncle's. Gathered with many much loved family members and friends. Drank some wine. Laughed at the babies. Tried to keep from falling asleep on the ever so soft and gushy, sit-sink-and-get-lost-in-me-couch. Went home, fed and loved on the furry babies and watched a Christmas movie with Hallie.

Black Friday, we were initially strategizing our plan of attack. Kohl's was opening at 3am. Really wanted to go to Best Buy or Walmart to get something, but opted out the night before. I figure it's going to go on sale at least 4 or 5 more times before Christmas. Why put ourselves through all that - that headache?! Once upon a time, I loved to be in the middle of that chaos. To me, it seemed the hustle and bustle put me in the Christmas spirit. Not my idea of fun anymore, however. I lack patience when the line is half way around the store. I am NOT exaggerating. One Christmas, it was 3/4 around the store, and I just about fainted from just standing there, not to mention the heat of all the people sucking up the oxygen. Ok, I mentioned. That nightmare returns every Christmas when I think for a moment of venturing out and fighting the crowds on this day. I realize, I'll be dealing with holiday traffic from now till New Year's. I have no choice. The crowds will be out and about, as well, but I have no choice about that, either, but I'm so happy we opted out of Black Friday. We were completely lazy all day, watching movies - great movies and just relaxing. I cannot remember the last time we just laid around all day. Fabulous.

Today, we'll be hurrying up and waiting, since we do need to go to town to do a leetle shopping. Mostly for teachers' gifts, groceries and our Christmas trees. I miss the old days when we'd go walkin' in the woods, find the perfect tree and chop it down ourselves. A couple of years ago, I even decided since the prices of all the real trees were sky high, we'd take a chance with a poor leetle pathetic plastic tree. Big mistake. Huge. I mean, I suppose it was an ok tree as far as PLASTIC trees go, but it did not help with my Christmas spirit. At all. I wasn't feelin' it. To me, getting a real tree, that wonderful pine fragrance filling the house, even the needles falling on the floor, makes Christmas much more,...well,...Christmasy. I do not ever want to use a fake tree again.

Here's to hoping we find the perfect Christmas tree. Need to go find my tape measure. Even got my stand ready. Hope y'all have/find your perfectly perfect tree, as well.

Happy day. Love ya!

-Carol

Day 11 - Thanksgiving Eve...contemplation

Thanksgiving Eve. Too tired to do my cooking. Will have to get up early to do the smashed taters, lemon pie and deviled eggs. Started out with the idea of making 6 things. What was I thinkin'? Some people might think I'm Super Mom, but I'm really not. I'm really just tired. There will be plenty of food at my Aunt and Uncle's. 3 things is plenty. Everyone brings food...food for days and days and...

Just stopping by to say good night and bid you a very blessed Thanksgiving tomorrow, and a wonderfully long weekend with people you love. May we all be truly thankful to the Main Dude upstairs for all that he's gifted us.

I'm going to take some time for comtemplation this Thanksgiving weekend, to really count my blessings and realize just how blessed I am. It's so easy to take things for granted, isn't it? Take life for granted. I'm going to contemplate how I can make more of a difference and maybe give back somehow for all he's given. I seem to always be so busy and I don't know how I've given back lately. I'd really like to take some time to do that. To take action and show him how thankful I am.

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all. Love ya! God speed.

-Carol

Day 10 - Trying to Bust the Holiday Blues

I started out today's blog by singin' some holiday blues, but I really don't think y'all are blues folk, so I am sparing you the depths of despair. Onward and upward to a happier mood...

Hmmm...

The brighter side of life...

Positive things to focus on to make myself happy, and perhaps you, too?

Ok, I'll give it a whirl.

More things to be thankful for, and better yet, those things that make me belly laugh.

1. Hallie's silly songs, which are made up on the spur of the moment, and the words and tune just spill out of her mouth like water. We both wind up laughing till we're snorting and trying to fight back tears. Most of them are about me, after I've done something to embarrass myself, which is quite frequent, I might add. Hey, I can't help it. I'm pretty much a goof ball. But that kid has me beat.

2. Her comic strips. They are always funny and creative. The kid's got an awesome imagination. She's always reading my comic books. Yes, ok, I love comic books. I love to create comic strips. It's not just a boy thing, ya know.

3. Her creative stories. She's a great story teller.

4. Oh, and her silly faces. She's a clown. A total ham.

I am always in complete amazement and awe of how ingenious she is and how creative and free.

Ok, I feel a little better now and we're off to bed. If you've been singin' a little o' those holiday blues, hope these silly faces improved your mood, as well. Do have a lovely evening, won't you?

Love yooze guys.
;)

Oh, and if you have any comments you'd like to add, I'd love to hear about what makes you smile, or better yet, belly laugh.

Day 9 - I Need To Be More Thankful

Someone on KLOVE stated, ever so eloquently, "We don't need more to be thankful. We need to be more thankful." Love THAT!

I wish I could remember that all the time. So much of the time, I think my quality of life would be better if... I wish I could provide Hallie with... I wish I could give Mama...

The truth of the matter is God knows what's most important to me and He takes care of that. I pray one main prayer every single day of my life since Hallie was born, because it's the most important:

He keeps us safe from harm. He protects us always. He keeps us in good health.

This is what I pray for my family and myself. He knows my family is my mashed p'taters. Everything else good that happens in life is gravy. Of course, it would be nice to have my gravy with my mashed p'taters, and we do get that a lot of the time.

No, I don't have a lot of money. Sometimes, I can't even make ends meet, depending on the incoming bills that month. Do we get by? Yes? Do we do a lot of fun things together? Yes, and not all of it costs money. Do we have our needs met? Yup. I have a good job. Hallie has a decent school. We have a home and a car. We have family and friends we love. We have food on the table. We have each other. I know how blessed I am when I really get to thinking about it. It's too bad I can't focus on this all the time, instead of wanting for more.

Is there anyone out there that doesn't want for more, at least some of the time? Are you completely satisfied or content with all that you have and with your life? Is it humanly possible to be completely content and happy with your life and never want for more? Do you think it's because we are spoiled as Americans? Do you think it's because it's part of being human? What do you think?

More to be thankful for (continued from yesterday):
21. Good music
22. Happy memories
23. Old black and white/sepia family photographs
24. Pictures of friends and family that make me belly laugh
25. Fun games played with a group
26. Hugs from people you love
27. Hugs from children (I don't have to know them)
28. Puppy kisses
29. Snuggly kitties
30. Little fishies that blow bubble fish kisses at you - Moonlight does it all the time! Don't you dare tell me that leetle fishies can't love. You'll probably think I'm wierd for saying that but I don't care. We love our fish.

What are you thankful for?

Day 8 - What Are You Thankful For?

Thought since I was so long-winded yesterday, I'd make this one short and sweet.

Being 4 days before Thanksgiving, and feeling a bit overwhelmed with all we need to do, and perhaps feeling a little blue, I'd cheer myself up with a list of some of the things I'm thankful for.

(and in no particular order)
1. God
2. Jesus
3. Hallie
4. Mama
5. All our furry babies: Sammy, Carlie, Buddy, Tiger, Lilly, and our scaly baby, Moonlight
6. Kristie, my bff
7. Family members that are close by that we love (Jerry, Cheri, Laura, Hal & Brad)
8. Friends that are like family (many soul sisters and twisted sisters)
9. Chocolate
10. Coffee
11. Yummy Food
12. Chicken Piccata
13. Good health
14. God always keeping us safe and protected from harm
15. A cozy home that's warm in the winter, cool in the summer
16. A car that's paid for (no matter what it looks like)
17. A decent job that pays the bills (or most of the bills)
18. All good teachers for Hallie this year
19. The ability to take a vacation every year
20. Sunsets



I will post more tomorrow. Didn't want to go on and on and...well, you get the picture.

What are you thankful for? Let me know.

Day 7 - On Forgiving (5 days before Thanksgiving)

I’m afraid forgiveness is something I learned late in life, and I’m still working on it – I’m a work in progress.

I actually learned how to forgive from my daughter, when she was about 8. So, I guess I was about 39. I’m quite talented at holding a grudge – I have many years of experience with this.

We were at soccer practice. Thought I’d neva be a soccer mom, but whoa, was I ever! Screamin’ with the best of ‘em. I didn’t know who I was anymore.

I digress. I do that a lot. I’m extremely ADHD. Lemme try to focus. What were we talking about?

Ah yes, soccer practice. The girls are practicing and running and kicking. One of the girls on the team is not a team player. We’ll call her Michelle. Some of the moms are thinking her mother is forcing her to play soccer to perhaps learn a little team spirit? For whatever reason, Michelle wasn’t friendly with the other girls; Hallie most of all. In the car on the way home, Hallie tells me from the back seat how Michelle is mean to her and to the other girls. I ask her what she is going to do about it.

“I’m going to make her my friend.” she says, confidently and self-assuredly.

Wow. At that point, I felt like crying. I’ve always been so good at hating. Someone wrongs me and I hold a grudge, like, forever. I pondered on what she said, for days, until the next practice. I wondered how she’d just magically make her her friend. I’ve never been very good at reaching out to people. I’m still trying to teach myself how to do this. Hallie winds up teaching me. Who knew you could learn more from a child than you could actually teach her? This kid is wise beyond her years. I have always believed she has a direct link to the Main Dude Upstairs.

Well, except for those times when she turns into a little hairy monster and her head starts spinning around, like something out of The Exorcist and claims “the devil made me do it”. Good excuse, by the way.

So, the next soccer practice is here and time to deal with Michelle and I’m anxious to see how this unfolds.

You still there? I realize this is rather lengthy.

They practice for a little while, take a short bathroom break and when I see them walking back to the field, Hallie and Michelle are walking side-by-side, chatting it up with each another. Michelle seems much more relaxed, starts playing well (or better, anyway) with others and I see no more tension between them. I can hardly wait to see how Hallie handled it.

So, we’re on our way home and I ask her, “How in the world did you make her your friend? What did you do?”

“I just went up to her and asked her if she’d be my friend.” she says, matter of factly.

~sniff~ Do you have any idea of how much I wanted to pull that car over and squeeze that sweet baby? So, I waited till we got home. Then, I just about squeezed the stuffin' out of ‘er.

She’s always been a better person than me. God sent her to teach me how to be the best person I could be, and I’m still trying to learn. Hallie is a really great teacher. I’m just not always the best student. Hard to let go of all those years of training to keep my guard up, keep those fortress walls strong.

However, I just wanted to confess I did reach a milestone in my life a couple of years ago, with Hallie’s help through her lessons on forgiveness. I swore I’d never forgive this guy for hurting me. I thought to myself, if I ever saw him again, he’d be picking pieces of himself up off the sidewalk when I got through. Let me just say had Hallie not taught me that lesson on forgiveness, I’m not the hitting type, so I would not have inflicted bodily harm on the man. (We’ll call him Jessie.) Jessie actually saw me first and faced me, with a rather reluctant look on his face, I might add, as if he knew what I’d been planning for him all those years. The look of severe constipation is a good description of his facial expression at that moment.

So, I think to myself, “Wow, he's got some...guts (yeah, guts) facing me and wanting to talk. So, I’ll try to be nice.” At this point, he's maybe earned 5% of my respect, choosing to face me, after what he did. I figure he's either really brave or really stupid.

I gesture to him that it’s ok to come a little closer. No bullets flying...yet. We walk towards each other and start talking, show off pictures of our daughters, try to cover the last 15 years in about 20 minutes, and at that moment, I was so relaxed and I realized I’d forgiven him for wronging me all those years ago.

I actually felt about 50 lbs lighter. At that point, I realized I’d learned how to forgive someone and also learned something else. Forgiveness isn’t a gift you give to someone else. It’s a gift you give to yourself. You can read it and hear it all day long, but to experience it is something else entirely. So much anger and resentment left my body that day. My heart was lighter; my mind was free of that frustration.

Although, it would have been nice to actually have been 50 lbs lighter (well, ok, 40).

Funny how it happened. Like on the day Hallie was born and I looked at her for the first time – (a WOW moment) it was like God opened a window to Heaven, reached down and touched my heart and Poof! I immediately knew love in a new way – a higher capacity to love that I never felt before and it was overwhelming. I knew I’d grown in an instant – with love. God granted me and trusted me with a most precious gift – love. And even better - the love of a child I’d wanted since I was 2. Yes, 2.

On that day of finally realizing forgiveness for someone, it was another WOW moment. I finally understood what it meant, not just for the other person to let go, but also for myself. It was a gift from God, with Hallie as his instrument. I’m most eager to see what this kid has up her sleeve next. I so don’t deserve her but thank God every day for the precious blessing that is her life.

Now, to work some more on forgiveness. I have several family members I’m trying to learn how to forgive. It’s not the easiest – at least not for me. But it’s nice to know that I can do it. I have a little bit of experience now and figure the more I do it, the easier it'll become. I’m learning…

Day 6 - A fun fact about me? Maybe not...

Earlier, I know I prechose the topics I'd blog about for my 30 day challenge. All I have to say about that is I'm a woman and as a woman, it is my prerogative to change my mind. The topic just didn't...well, I wasn't feelin' it.

The focus of this challenge is to actually make the time to post every day - to get back in the habit - to actually do something for myself.

Since this is the week before Thanksgiving, I felt the need to focus more on that, since, to me, this holiday is about giving thanks to God, showing thanks to those I cherish and I'd like to post my gratitude. So, for this week before turkey day, I'd like to talk about gratitude, giving thanks and talk about what's most important.

Today, I'm thankful for many things, but what comes to the front of my mind is love. Love and family. For without it, there would be no reason to go on. It's what makes the world go 'round. I met the love of my life when my daughter was born. I got the greatest gift from God out of that marriage. I'd marry him a million times again to get that little girl. The sun rises and sets with her kiss of a smile. She's such a little nut. The kid cracks me up until I have milk coming out my nose!

Mama is my rock. She keeps me grounded. This woman is gentle and kind, yet she makes me strong - Strong-willed and strong-minded. Some people would call this stubborn. They'd be right. I've watched this woman come into herself, growing more independent and strong - where do you think I got my stubbornness? She has a very sarcastic humor. It's probably one of the reasons we get along so well. She's my moonlight shining in the darkest of nights. Together with Hallie, they are the air that I breathe.

The three of us - peas in a pod.

In no particular order - For love, Hallie, Mama, for family near and far that we hold in our hearts, friends that are considered family, our furry babies, for God, Jesus and an endless supply of blessings, people, places and things we love, I give thanks.

Yeah, so, I'm a big mush ball. Don't tell anyone.

Day 5 - My all time favorite quotations

There are so many quotations out there that inspire me or that I may meditate and contemplate. Some of my favorites are the following:

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." -Lao Tzu ;

"Two roads diverged in a wood and I - I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference." - Robert Frost;

"I was wise enough to never grow up while fooling most people into believing I had." - Margaret Mead;

"Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point." - C. S. Lewis;

"Anything's possible if you've got enough nerve." - J. K. Rowling;

"Tomorrow is always fresh, with no mistakes in it." - Lucy Maud Montgomery;

"Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it." - Goethe;

"My child has taught me more about living, forgiving and loving than I could ever teach her." - Carol Blake Sessums

Although the above listed quotes are wonderful, even as useful mantras, my favorites come out of the mouths of babes - my babe, to be exact. I love Hallieisms! I love how she's 11 and she has her very own vocabulary, always has and I do not correct her. I don't have the heart. She just makes my heart swell when I hear these wonderful words and phrases that are just HER. She'll be all grown up and speaking correctly soon enough. Here are just a few of her Hallieisms:

"Can you be more pacific?" - age 10 & 11

"Scared me to deaf!" - age 6-9

"I think I'm going death!" - age 6-9

"I'd like to particerate in that." age 5

My favorite of all time?

"I pwedge awegiance to de fwag, of de United States of Amewica. An to de pubwic, fow undewstands, invisible, an dis is fow awe." - age 4

I just wanna squeeze her all the time!

Day 04 — A favorite book

Hallie and I both enjoy making time for reading together. She’ll choose a book and we’ll take turns reading to each other. As far as kids’ books go, my favorites, I would have to say, would be any SkippyJon Jones book or Junie B. Jones. Both series are friggin’ hilarious. With SkippyJon, Hallie likes for me to read it with a Chihuahua mui mui soft voice (he’s actually a leetle kitty boy with an identity crisis). The books are so hysterical, we are both sore afterwards from long bouts of belly laughter.

I’ve got several favorites myself that I’ve had for many years. I’ve got mostly sci-fi titles on that list – Go figure. But I’d have to say Anne of Green Gables is my favorite of all time. Really? Hmmm. It’s a toss up. I like many books for different reasons – the places they bring you to with your mind and your heart. I do love an adventure, too. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe comes to mind. The Hobbit. The Time Machine. All favorites. Lord of the Rings. Oh, don’t get me started… I think it’s time to pick one of these books up and read it again. ;)

If you are ever in need of some good ole’ bust a gut belly laughter, I highly recommend SkippyJon Jones but yoooo must reeed eeet weet yo’d mui mui soft leetle Chihuahua voice. Oh, dat sweet leetle kitty boy! Even if you don’t have kids, read it out loud to yourself. We had taken it over to Mama’s to see what she thought of the book, and, of course, I had to read it in SkippyJon’s leetle Chihuahua voice. She laughed so hard, I’m not sure if it was really good for her. She became an instant fan and recommends the books to her friends that have kids and grandkids. I’m just sayin’, even if ya don’t have kids, you should read one of the books. Or maybe I’m just a kid at heart. Ok, yeah, I admit it. Neva grow up! Not completely, anyway. That’s my motto.

Photos courtesy of Judy Schachner (Skippyjon Jones); Lucy Maud Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables); and C. S. Lewis (The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe).

Beep...Beep...Beep...We interrupt your regular broadcast

I interrupt this broadcast to bring you this:

http://www.andvinyly.com/
(The perfect resting place for vinyl lovers)

I mean, really?!

and that's all I have to say...

Day 3 - A favorite tv show

I record our tv shows via DVR. We catch up on Hallie's shows on the weekend, usually, or on a night when we don't have an activity (such as studying for a test, basketball, etc.). I catch up on mine when I can drag my 'dragon' zombie butt out of bed early, before I have to get ready for work. Grab a pot o' coffee to pry my eyelids open and sit for an hour, or 45 minutes (I fast forward thru the commercials). I watch them early, because they're too old for Hallie, so I have to sneak 'em when she's asleep. She doesn't watch violence. I don't want her to be desensitized. Not only that - she doesn't like watching violence. I even had to mute and fast forward thru a couple of violent scenes in Twilight, while she had her eyes closed.

Well, there are about 7 tv shows that I love and some of these, the family watches together on Girls Night. On Friday nights, I get take out for the 3 of us (Hallie, Mama and me). Mama comes over and we watch something that we've recorded that we all like, I will have rented a chick flick, or sometimes Mama will bring over Seventh Heaven DVDs and we'll watch some of those episodes. We all love it!

There I go, rambling again.

The topic is "a favorite tv show", so I suppose that would be between The Event and Vampire Diaries. I am a big time fan of sci-fi! I'm a geek, I know. I don't care. I love science fiction! Always have! Ok, you probably already know what I'm going to say, if you read yesterday's post. Yup, Vampire Diaries it is. The writers are quite talented at developing the story line and keeping me on the edge of my seat. The show stays interesting throughout and I cannot zoom through those commercials fast enough! When it's all over, I'm left longing for the next episode. What I love about that is if we've had a really busy week and I could not manage to get up early for a while, I'll have 2 episodes taped and then I don't have to wait for the next one! Ha! Between seasons, I was seriously going into withdrawals. Yes, I realize I have a problem - cannot help myself. I'm past help. You might think this is another teeny bopper flick, and perhaps it is focused for 16-24ishes but I am fascinated with vampires and the show is really great, so there ya have it. That's my favorite.

Photos courtesy of (The Event) NBC; (Seventh Heaven) the WB; and (Vampire Diaries) the CW.

Day 2 - A favorite movie

Movie-watching is one of my favorite pastimes, so it was a little more difficult to narrow my choices, compared to yesterday's topic.

If I have to pick just one (at the risk of revealing I'm a teeny bopper at heart), I would have to choose Twilight. I LOVE vampire flicks, ok? There. I said it. While there are some pretty lame-o ones out there, I found Edward, Bella and Jacob to be totally enthralling. I couldn't choose which young man was more strapping, as they were both great pieces of eye candy. So what, I'm old enough to be their...their Aunt. Ain't nuthin' wrong with admiring beauty; checkin' out the merchandise. Don't worry, no cougar here. Although...no, never mind.

New Moon was good, but I must admit, a bit comedic, especially with Jacob skipping up the tree, stepping into Bella's window and howling out a "hey." The theatre rolled. I wonder if that part was scripted for a laugh. The special effects could have been better, as well. With technology these days and computer graphics, I was amazed at how poorly the werewolves turned out. Weren't you? All in all, a good movie. I bought it. We've watched it a few times, although Twilight is still my fave. I haven't seen Eclipse, yet, but I'm sure I'll get to it when it comes out on DVD in December.

Talking with Hallie, as we are both huge movie buffs, she chose Secretariat to be her favorite. She's loved horses since she was 2 years old and has been riding since she was 3. She's seen all the horse movies. I do believe she knows Flicka and Spirit word-for-word. I very much enjoyed Secretariat, as well - an extremely well put together movie. Plus, we adore movies based on true stories and THAT was a great story! She likes the vampire flicks, too, although she has only been allowed to see the Twilight movies, so far.

Photos courtesy of (Twilight/New Moon) Summit Entertainment; and
(Secretariat) Disney Enterprises, Inc.

Day 1 – A favorite song

Hard one. I have so many favorite songs, I guess I have to narrow it down to the one I’ve been finding myself singing the majority of the time, which for the last couple of months has been I Will Follow – by Chris Tomlin.

Hallie and I listen to K-LOVE (100.9 FM) and MIX 98.7 (FM), but we wind up listening to K-LOVE more often. They just play the most awesome inspiring music and we are always singing along. It’s uplifting, comforting and it’s one of the best parts of our mornings and evenings in the car going to and fro. Plus, Hallie prefers family friendly radio and tv, and although MIX 98.7 calls themselves family-friendly, it doesn’t meet our definition. There are many songs they play that have inappropriate language and kudos to Hallie for not accepting that – one of the many things I love about her.

Chris has just the greatest, most amazing voice and he’s so easy to listen to. This song really speaks to my soul and makes me feel more of a connection to my Heavenly Father. Not only that, but it inspires me to be a more caring, compassionate human – more of the person God wishes for me to be.

It’s not always easy. In fact, most of the time, it can be the hardest-blasted thing in the world – following him, serving, reaching out, trusting and loving. There are a lot of crazy maniacs in this world and it’s nearly impossible sometimes to reach out to people, but I want to please God, so I want to at least try and follow him, and try to trust that he will always protect us.

Why not give it a listen? You just can’t help but sing along. Let me know what you think of it.

“Where you go, I'll go

Where you stay, I'll stay

When you move, I'll move

I will follow...

All your ways are good

All your ways are sure

I will trust in you alone

Higher than my side

High above my life

I will trust in you alone

Where you go, I'll go

Where you stay, I'll stay

When you move, I'll move

I will follow you

Who you love, I'll love

How you serve I'll serve

If this life I lose, I will follow you

I will follow you

Light unto the world

Light unto my life

I will live for you alone

You're the one I seek

Knowing I will find

All I need in you alone, in you alone

In you there's life everlasting

In you there's freedom for my soul

In you there joy, unending joy

and I will follow”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoU8zBQE6Q4

Photo courtesy of www.gannsdeen.com

30-Day Blog Challenge

I've been thinking I haven't been blogging in quite a while. I haven't posted on Facebook in a while; not regularly anyway and haven't tweeted in even longer. So, that's why the 30-day blog challenge. I plan on making a post on my blog every day for 30 days, starting tomorrow. Well, I guess it's sort of starting today, since I happen to be blogging about beginning the challenge.

I figure it's a fun and engaging way of my becoming more focused and more committed. I haven't done too well with "other" challenges in the past (see my clutter/fitness project blog), and so why would I stick with this one, you may ask? Well, that's a really good question.

I realize I need to take more action. I need to make time for me, doing things I enjoy, like blogging and staying in touch with my peeps. I'm not really good at making time for me since having a child (allowing my world to revolve around her, which is not necessarily a bad thing, right? Oh, and working a full-time job, oh, and...), so it may be a bit hard for me, but I'm going to take a crack at it anyway.

I have listed 30 topics below. I may choose from these or if you have some topic ideas, please share.

Day 01 — A favorite song
Day 02 — A favorite movie
Day 03 — A favorite TV show
Day 04 — A favorite book
Day 05 — A favorite quote
Day 06 — A fun fact about me
Day 07 — A favorite photo
Day 08 — Something I crave
Day 09 — Pet peeves
Day 10 — A photo of me taken over ten years ago
Day 11 — A photo of me taken recently
Day 12 — Something I bought recently
Day 13 — Something I want to buy
Day 14 — An old photo
Day 15 — My celebrity crush
Day 16 — A favorite food
Day 17 — A photo of my family
Day 18 — A baby photo
Day 19 — A fun memory
Day 20 — A hobby of mine
Day 21 — A favorite recipe
Day 22 — A favorite joke
Day 23 — A video
Day 24 — A travel story
Day 25 — A favorite photo
Day 26 — A funny (true) story
Day 27 — A child I love
Day 28 — A place I love
Day 29 — A person I love
Day 30 — Hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days

Tomorrow is Sunday, November 14, 2010 - good a day as any to start my "30-day Challenge". Let's see if I can stick with it.
(hands clasped together) I can do this!

Oh, and the clutter/fitness thing? Well, that will be one of my next projects I'll be jumping back on soon. However, first things first, and one at a time, please. Baby steps...

Carol