Thank you, Jackie

The rules of the award state that I must list seven things I love, and then to pass the award on to seven bloggers I love to read. Here we go!

7 things I love - aside from the obvious or previously mentioned...(my husband, kids, family...)

1.  Well if I can't include family the first thing that pops to mind is BON JOVI, and along with him music in general.  I have always loved music.  I remember calling the radio station when I was about 10 and requesting Bad Bad Leroy Brown by Jim Croce.  I always loved the radio and making mixed tapes.  When I was 10 my cousin gave me my first cassette that wasn't a tape off the radio.  It was Heart's Little Queen, I wore that tape out . . . in case you aren't aware that was the Heart album with Barracuda.  I played that song over and over again, so much so apparently that my dad learned it, and a friend at work whose wife made ceramics made him a fish and a mermaid, each with a tag -- one read "Barracuda" and the other red "Bare-cutie".    This began my love affair with rock and roll, and eventually, in the early 80s, my love affair with Bon Jovi.  My room was plastered with posters and I played their songs over and over.  I am thrilled that even almost 30 years later they are still rocking their fans.  Zac has been to a concert and enjoys some of their songs.  ME, I love EVERYTHING except songs from This Left Feels So Right . . . their acoustical attempt to rearrange their classic songs, I just couldn't get the concept.  But everything else, I could listen to over and over again.  Jon just turned 47 on March 3, and damn if he don't make 47 look absolutely gorgeous!

2.  My iPod . . . This little gadget is so frikkin amazing, it has made me fall in love with music even more.  I have a classic 20G ipod, it is just about full of my favorite tunes.   I just made a playlist for Cassidy, so when she wants to dance, I just push a button.  Zac has the iPod touch and that is even more amazing!!!   Even Zac says, "what kind of gadgets will Cassidy and Jaxon have when they become teenagers".  

3.  My Computer/Internet -- I honestly think these things have helped keep me sane these last 15 plus years as a SAHM, it's probably been an important part of keeping my marriage pretty much bump-free.  It allows me to connect to adults and talk about kids.  For a long time (before the peanuts came along) I was a huge trivia player in chat rooms.  I would play and host games, I started by asking trivia questions, but as I became more and more comfortable I would play my music and it was basically "name that tune & artist" . . . of course, everyone knew my games would have at least ONE Bon Jovi song if not more.  I have made many friends online, those who don't frequent the internet will never understand.  I even traveled to North Carolina for Snotfest ---- a beloved interned friend with the nickname Snotrokit, opened his home one weekend a year for anyone who was willing to make the trek.  It has been going on for a few years now.  We went in 2006 before I knew I was preggers and I haven't been able to get back since because of babies or pregnancy.  I hope to get back in a couple years.

4.  Sports -- Watching them.  I also think this is a huge contributing factor to my happy marriage.  I am perfectly happy to spend a Sunday watching football, hockey, or baseball (neither of us are basketball fans).  I think when it comes to baseball I am a bit more obsessed than Chuck. Chuck runs a fantasy league and I take pride in being the only gal in it, I've won it a couple years and have always cashed in some winnings.   I have a few rules for my fantasy teams -- NO YANKEES (booo hiss) and only cute guys . . . which isn't hard.  My favorite players are catchers, probably has to do with Chuck being a catcher.  I do miss him playing, he does get bugged to join an over 40 or over 45 league occasionally, but his knees are fragile and it's probably only a matter of time til he needs surgery so he's always leary . . . I would never tell him he couldn't.  His baseball years were some of the best years of our lives and we made so many friends and had lots of great times.

5.  My house -- although it has gotten quite a bit "smaller" since we moved in as a family of three, thinking we'd never have a child in the third bedroom . . . dubbed the "yellow room" for the first several years we lived here.  Of course, now that's Cassidy's room now.  I wouldn't be surprised if this girls favorite color is yellow, it is the first color she can consistently identify correctly.  Of course when we found out about Jaxon it presented us with a dilemma . . . we gave Zac the option of the yellow room (the smaller of the kid's room) or moving into the basement .  . . of course as most teenagers would choose, he picked the basement.  It's his cave, he does usually come up in the evenings to watch tv with us.  I also love my house because I am so close to my parents.  Zac disappears to my parents often.  We spend several nights a week in the warmer months sitting in their backyard (or my Aunt & Uncle's who live next door to my parents).  My parents are so in love with these two little surprises it's ridiculous.  I enjoy watching Zac go to the same schools I did, he's now in a newly built high school, but I'm so proud he plays Ice Hockey for my high school.

6.  Sleep . . . this one really needs little explanation.  Sleep is elusive for me many nights, I guess I have insomnia, I have never taken anything to help me sleep because of my dislike for most things medicinal.  There are many nights I am looking at the clock 2 hrs later.  So yes, I do like to sleep in when I get the chance.

7.  Photos/scrapbooks . . . My house is filled with photographs, walls and shelves are cluttered with tons of frames.  I also love to scrapbook.  I have 8 scrapbooks for Zac and am working on books for the munchkins.  Digital cameras make it so easy to take so many pictures and spend time picking the best ones to frame or tell the story of a day. 

OK, I didn't nominate anyone for this award, because everyone's blog that I frequent has already got this reward.  If I missed you, I'm sorry.