Part 2....

I am so overwhelmed by the response to my last post. You girls are amazing – not only are you there for each other but you have no hesitation when someone new joins in. I know Princess has mentioned this before but I just want to add what a unique quality I think this is. It says so much about each and every one of you. You All Rock!

So that being said I will continue with the list.

26. I sang in the Hillsborough Girls Choir for 7 years – grade 6 through 12. I started as a soprano and eventually moved to second soprano. Practices were every Saturday from 9-12!
27. I played 1st clarinet in high school band so all of my noon hours were spent in the music room.
28. I NEVER when to band camp or any camp for that matter
29. I went to UNB because I wanted to be just a number – I wanted to loose my choir and band girl stereotype and start fresh
30. I went crazy my first year of University –I never drank in high school but by the end of my first year I was buying a case of beer AND a pint for a Saturday night
31. I have no idea how I passed most of my classes that year.
32. I once went to a guys room after a social and got really scared when I realized the situation that I had put myself in. I asked for a glass of water and when he went to get me one I bolted. I can’t remember his name or even what he looked like
33. I have never hugged my dad
34. I tried hugging my mom once and it was very weird and uncomfortable so I have never done it again.
35. I hug my kids everyday!
36. It took my friends Kara and Mel to help me get over my dislike of hugging. They both came from a family of huggers so I was pretty weirded out by their attempts to hug me. Eventually they broke me down : ) but it still feels awkward with some people.
37. I am very shy about being naked. When I was in University I would sneak over to the washroom every day to change. I thought nobody noticed until at the end of the year they gave me the Superwoman award. My roommate had to explain it to me because again – I did not think anyone noticed me doing this! Very Embarrassing!
38. Because of #37 I never thought I would breastfeed but I nursed both kids until they were over 12 months old. I could never get them to take a soother or a bottle!
39. I would like to volunteer for a breastfeeding group.
40. I had a very short – but intense – labor. I started contractions at 3pm and by 4pm I was holding my baby!
41. I went through both labours drug free. Not by choice – I begged for something for the pain but the doctor kept saying “you’re ready to push, you’re ready to push!” They had to yell at me to get me to calm down – I was totally freaking out. It friggin hurt.
42. I have never forgotten the pain of childbirth
43. My mom came in with me when I had my baby boy and said it was a horrible experience – she refused to come in with me for baby #2.
44. When we were planning for a second child I followed rules I found online for conceiving a girl- it worked!
45. I met my husband at a Groundhog Day party
46. My wedding day was the worst day of my life – that will be a post all unto itself.
47. I have read all of Ann Rice’s books – even the dirty ones : )
48. Matthew McConaughey is my boyfriend.
49. My Favorite Movie is “Four Weddings and a Funeral”
50. I love the show – “My Name is Earl”
.

Part 1 of the 100 List...

I wrote this about a month ago just for my own personal reasons but decided I would like to share it here with Ch'all. I'll keep plugging away at the next 25.

25 things about me that people might not know about me:

I hate talking about myself.
I am very shy.
I love to sing.
I have always dreamed of releasing a hit single
I wonder if I will ever be happy – or even satisfied – with who I am right now.
I love to learn new things.
I don’t mind being called a geek.
I miss my university days – miss my friends, the excitement of the weekends and feeling like part of a group.
I think my sister Lisa is really funny. She can always make me laugh. I wish I could be more like her.
I feel very disconnected from my youngest sister. There is a huge age difference and I missed her growing up while I was away at university. I hope that someday we will be able to find something in common that we can laugh about and share with each other.
I wish I had dated more guys before I got married.
I love the color green.
I love to take pictures and look at other peoples pictures.
I failed 2 classes in university – calculus and organic chemistry
The only A+ I ever got was in Computer Science
I am proud that I was able to finish University – the last years were very difficult and I did not think that I would get all the credits I needed
I went back to University about 3 years ago, took 10 Computer Science courses and got a Certificate in Software Development.
I hate to exercise.
My son broke my heart when he bit a kid at daycare. It changed the way I thought about him and my parenting skills.
I love my kids more than I thought I could ever love anyone.
I don’t really have a best friend right now. Don’t get me wrong – I have lots of friends but nobody that I feel comfortable sitting down and sharing my deepest darkest fears without having to explain my entire past.
I feel like I can’t be truthful about who I really am with people I meet. I feel like I should always be the happy fat girl
My husband married the happy fat girl and is now meeting the depressed cranky bitch.
I wonder if the problems in our marriage stem from my dislike of myself. I hope I can figure it out before the divorce : )
I hate to cry. I avoid it at all cost.

We hardly Ever eat out...

We were driving past McDonald's yesterday or should I say the lack of McDonald's and I turn to my oldest and say "Look Bud, The McDonald's building is gone! His immediate reaction - to cry - slow pathetic sobs. I'm thinking why did I have to even mention it - I should have just kept my mouth shut! I try desperately to put a positive spin on it by telling him that the new one will have a bigger and better play structure! His response- louder sobs. "But I liked the old one" he responds. Man, Some days you just can't win! Later on as we pass by again I hear from the backseat "Goodbye old McDonald's - I'll miss you" OMG- the therapy bills are going to be huge!

Friday Funny

I would like to share a story from this summer to end the week with a smile. My little boy comes up with the strangest things. I often wonder how his brain works. Keep in mind as you read this that he was only four when this conversation happened!

Me: I would love a kiss from my favorite boy.
him: but I already gave you a kiss!
Me: But two is always better than one!
him: (long pause with that 'deep in thought' look on his face) Yeah..Except if you are talking about mosquito bites - then one is better than two.

I love it when a kiss from me makes him think of a mosquito bite!

Picking a title for my blog..

Well here I am. I have joined the blogging world! I decided last week that it was time to begin my journey into the blogger realm. I loaded up the page all ready to write then realized that I hadn't even thought about a title - dilemma! So I will start up with how I came up with Stumbling on Happiness. I am fortunate enough to be able to listen to music at work so I have a little player that I use when I am doing long boring tasks that require no brainpower. Music started to get a little boring after a while so I went in search of something different. My coworker told me about pod casts and showed me how to download them to my player then he gave me a few of his favorites. In this bunch was a podcast from TED talks and the speaker was Dan Gilbert. It was totally fascinating! He talks about how your brain can change the reactions to situations to make you happy - he calls it synthetic happiness. What a concept! Think about it - we, as human beings, have the capacity to manufacture that in which we are constantly chasing! How cool is that! Even when you don't get exactly what you want your brain can make you believe that you have and it is just a lasting as true happiness. If you have a chance pop onto the site and have a listen at http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/97. He gives examples and stats to support his theories and explains it much better that I could ever do here. So it just seemed an appropiate title because of my own struggle with happiness and my hopes to eventually stumble apon it. I have learned a lot this past year about what happiness is and I can tell you honestly that when you have great friends you don't need to synthsize a thing!