the grand finale . . . 30

Your favorite song. . .

Did you ever see Stranger than Fiction?  Interesting show.  Anyway he sings a song called Whole Wide World by Wreckless Eric.  It's strange.  I love it.  I don't know why.  I just do.

Yep that's it.  The end of the line and month here.  Not really going out with a bang, I know, but I didn't make up the list.  Go listen to the song it's fun.  I guess I'll see you in February with posts about all the stuff that happened in January. . . if such stuff exists.  We'll see.

29, lessons learned

What did you learn this month. . .

I learned that getting a point-and-shoot camera is a matter of sacrifice and compromise.  If you're not into reading a lengthy review of recent camera purchases you might want to skip the next little bit, I'll bold it when you can read again.  ;)

I love my DSLR.  It's awesome, but it's way too big for dragging along with me everywhere.  I have been on a search for a decent little camera FOREVER. . . (you know like in Sandlot).  I got one for Christmas, but I just wasn't happy enough with it.  It was a Samsung Dualview with the cool front screen.  It was to replace my Sony Cybershot (little red that in fact gave a lot of red eye and too much noise in the pics) that just didn't cut it for me over the last few years.  Sad.

Here's the thing, I have high expectations.  I expect the camera to be 1. Fast (in focus and shooting), 2. have Good pictures.  I didn't say great, I can't expect that, just good enough, clear with good color.  My Sony is fast, but not good.  The Samsung, well it was all bells and whistles without the quality, and the menus were tiresome to the extreme to deal with.  Oh and when did they stop printing out manuals?  You get a CD now instead?  Lame.  I didn't buy a Nook/Kindle because I like tactile feel of paper in my hands. . . which apparently trumps you know, trees and air to breathe.  Oh well, still a little annoyed.  ;)

So anyway, I traded it in for the new little Nikon Coolpix 8100.  I mean, cool is in the title so it's got to be great right?  ;)   My DSLR is a Nikon and I love it's pictures, so I expected probably more than I should have from the little thing.  It's pictures were great, but it's a trade-off, cause in less than optimum lighting it is not fast.  In fact is has an annoying stutter.  And I hate using a flash, they slow everything down, but with a little camera they are pretty much necessary.  Bummer.  Oh and the flash pops up, right where my finger goes, also a pain.  Ashton Kutcher was hawking this camera's lowlight awesomeness. . . he soooo got paid for it.  Another thing, after you shoot any video with it, (which is HD and pretty nice) it makes the stutter worse when taking pics again, talk about lag time.

This brings me to the Sony T99, upgrade from my very old Sony.  Bought this to compare to my Nikon.  Turns out Sony didn't change so much over the years.  Took me four hours to decide it wasn't good enough, and all that time was mostly spent charging the battery.  ;)  Same crappy pics, but it does have a cool panorama feature that I won't really ever use either. . .

Well my decision came down to what do I want more. . . Fast or Good?  After reading hundreds of reviews, it seems, on a dozen top rated cameras I think that I'm 1. exhausted, 2. know too much and now believe even less of their hype, and 3. tired of typing this review because it will just add to the noise of the thousands of other reviews.  Oh and 4. finding the numbering device a little annoying.  ;)  I think that means I'm keeping the Nikon for now, because I may be lazy like that.  I do have a slight desire to try out every camera Costco carries. . . they have an amazingly nice return policy.  ;)  And the new Sony Nex3 with interchangeable lenses. . . looks fun.

Here's what Mie and I look like after dealing with all these dang cameras. . .  (oh and her nice bruise is from running so fast, no really, that's what she says)

If you have any recommendations I'd gladly take them. . .

You can read again, if you skipped the camera nonsense. . . I also learned that I want to boycott perfection, live in the land of enough and be a minimalist.  Sounds so nice and catchy.  ;)  I read this awesome blog about cutting down your wardrobe to 33 pieces per season.  I don't know if I can cut that much, but I'm trying.  It is surprisingly fun to purge.  I also read somewhere to make a list of things that I don't need in my life and cut them out this year.  Working on that too.  After a stressful end of the year, I'm looking forward to letting go of a lot of stuff around here.

I learned that beta versions are pretty much crap. . . hello skype 2.8, coming back to you.

I learned that it is really for the best that I not read or hear the news, it only aggravates me and then Dave gets to hear one of my rants on the topic. . . and sometimes you do on the blog as well, though I resist that one pretty well.  I'm sure he appreciates my ban of this kind of information from my life.  Right now I'm fuming about immigration law and anorexia/bulimia in little children.  Seriously, don't get me started.  ;)

Oh and the iPod touch is the coolest invention ever, and why I also want an iPad and iPhone (Feb. 10, Yay!).  If it can entertain a 2 year old in a doctor's office for hours it's miraculous to me!  Steve Jobs may be my new hero, sorry Davey.  ;)

Day 28

A picture from a year ago and recently, and tell how you've changed. . .

 Well it looks to me like the only change would be that Dave and I decided to swap crazy facial expressions. . . that's something I guess.

Yeah, I really can't think of anything else.  I must be slow to change.  I'd have to go back further and then it'd probably only be my hair that was different.  ;)  Oh wait, I see different earrings.

twenty and seven

Why you're doing the 30 day challenge. . .

Well, honestly it was to take a whole month off from blogging.  I didn't have to think about a single post topic or come up with anything on my own.  And if we're being honest, I wrote all of these posts throughout November/December.  Yep, a whole lovely month off now.  They are scheduled to post on their own.  It's been great.  Well, it will be great once it's January and this posts.  I'm assuming.  I'm not psychic, but I have a feeling it will work out nicely. 

20/six

Pick one word to describe 2010 and one you hope for 2011. . .

I think the best word for our 2010 would be FULL.  It's not fancy, big or even very pretty, but it means a lot.  Our 2010 was full of family and events.  Chaos and obstacles.  Normal life and enjoyable moments.  Togetherness and friends.  I think we had a taste of it all and looking back now it seems pretty well rounded.  So I think FULL is the best description.

For 2011 the one word I think I'd like to focus on would be TRUST.  Trust that my life will be guided in the right direction for us.  Trust that that may not be up to me and I'll be better for realizing that.  Trust in family and friends and the innate good nature of people.  Trust that no matter what, 2011 will teach us things and we will be better for it, and survive it all too.

twenty-five

What would I find in your bag. . .

I absolutely hate carrying bags.  I don't like carrying around stuff, but when it is necessary my bag is full up with the essentials.

Things I will always have with me if I have a bag. . .

- Package of travel tissues
- Aveeno Chapstick!
- Mints, preferably cinnamon Altoids or King Leo peppermints
- A pen or two
- Nail file, technically I guess, an emery board
- Travel sized sunscreen
- the obvious. . . phone, keys, license, money, pirate skull, mace. . . blah blah blah

That doesn't sound like a lot of stuff.  Hmmm?  Nah, I still hate carrying all that. 

24th day

What is something you want to try this year. . .

I'm always eager to try a new art project, and I'd love to try my hand with air brushing, but I told Dave I didn't want an air brush for Christmas. . . cause I didn't think I did, so maybe this will have to wait.

I want to try my hand at designing my own fabric and then using it for something.

I want to finally try and make a blog book.

I'd like to put another color in my hair, that is less than natural. . . I'm thinking orange, red, or purple streaks, something like that, on a more than temporary basis.  I think it would be fun to have different hair for awhile.

And speaking of hair, I should probably try something different with Miley's. . . beyond the bun/ponytail/pigtail style that is so easy and handy.  I don't know what that something would be though.  ;)

23rd post

What do you crave for a lot. . .

Two things. . . french fries and chocolate.  Not together, but even then I'd probably eat them.  ;)

I took a break from french fries for a year.  A whole year without them because I knew they were greasy badness for me.  After the hiatus I gave in, as a reward for being so good at withstanding, and since then I haven't resumed my prohibition.  I don't eat them much though, I'm trying to be good.  They're just too good to resist for that long again.

And chocolate, of course, because I'm a girl and it's required to need chocolate.  Especially orange or coconut flavored chocolate.  Mmmmm.  Miley agrees with this as well. 

Just thought of another one. . . fried pickles.  Seriously, they are great!  Why do we crave things that are so bad for us?  Well I crave V8 Acai juice too, and that's supposed to be good for me.  Thank heavens for that because I could chug it. . . and, let's face it, it happens.  ;)

twenty-two

What makes you different from everyone else. . .

So I didn't know what to write on this one.  I don't think I'm all that strange.  I'm sure others share the same strangeness as I do. . . so I asked Dave.  His answer was 'my point of view'. . . he said he had never known anyone who saw things the way I do.  That sounds like I hallucinate bubbles and butterflies or something, so I asked for some clarification.  His explanation was that I was able to see both sides, the bigger picture, and right and wrong very clearly.  I can't comment on whether my point of view is strange, I can't understand people not seeing things like me so I'll just take his word for it that it's unique.

Here's what I came up with. . .

Onions~ I can't stand onions on burgers or anything else.  Gross.  I order onions on the side and devour them up.  Yum.  Haystacks, onion rings, onion peels, you name it onion-y goodness and I'll eat it with some horseradish sauce.  But this is not unique because Miley is the same way. . . . so. . .

Halloween~ It's my Christmas.  Which also applies to my fam and Kirst so once again not truly different.

Whistling~ is like fingers on a chalkboard to me.  I'm sure some one has to feel the same way.  It's too annoying to only bother me.  So. . .

Birthmark~ I have a birthmark on my heel that Miley thinks is an ouchie and constantly asks me if my foot is OK.  I used to be so embarrassed of it as a kid.  I can't even figure out why now, it just looks like a big freckle.  I guess it's the best answer for what makes me different from everyone else.

21!

A picture of something that makes you happy. . .

Easy answer. . . Miley, obviously. . . but more specifically I love her little expressive face. . . I just want to eat it.  The eye roll is particularly awesome.  It always makes me smile.

ten plus ten equals

Someone you see yourself marrying or being with in the future. . .

Can you tell I'm getting bored with naming these posts?

OK, so I thought I'd cop out on this one and just say, uhhh my husband, but that seemed too easy and not nearly embarrassing enough to admit. ;)  So then I thought about who I have my eye on for when my dear husband leaves me in my old age. . . and then that thought was disturbing and did not sound appealing at all, so we're going to pretend I didn't go there and head in another direction with this one.

To answer this question, I must go back to my youth and tell you who I imagined myself with. . .

Crush from elementary school, Cordell Nebeker.  We were so meant to be together.  ;)  One day he'll be randomly googling himself, I'm sure he's a self-googler, and wind up here to see this sad confession.  Maybe he'll have a sad confession of his own and I'll be totally weirded out too.

Other loves, and ones that lastest a bit longer than elementary school include. . . Scottie Pippen, played for the Chicago Bulls.  I know you're thinking, why?  He has a huge nose?  Shut up, it's not so huge, and he was AWESOME.  I loved watching him play basketball.  It was the arms.  I'm a sucker for arms.


Joshua Jackson. . . from Dawson's Creek.  Loved him, and love him still.  I watch Fringe because he's in it.  I'll follow him anywhere.  *Insert girly-type sigh*

9teen

Nicknames you have and why. . .

Usually everyone calls me Mindy.  My name really isn't long enough to shorten.  My fam and Dave sometimes call me Min, because that extra syllable is sometimes too taxing to say.  When I was a kid I wished I had a name that could have a cool shorter version.  Sad.  Min never really caught on like that.  ;)

Other nicknames include. . . Mindy lou or Mindy lou sue or Mindy lou whoo, aka Seuss.  I don't know who started using these first, but many have used them since.

My sister couldn't pronounce my name when she was little and called me 'Ninny'.  Miley calls me from time to time, besides Mommy and the like, honey or hon, and sweetheart. . . I think she gets this from Davey.

My Mom calls me Mindy-Cindy, not because she can't remember which it is, but because it rhymes.  She also calls me Tiff, Kari, Willa, or Miley, but those are because she can't remember who I am.  ;)

I believe my lovely college roommate came up with my most endearing nickname (I'm pretty sure I can give you the credit/blame?). . . Min-dorky.  Awesome.  Of course we came up with more, and hers was a pretty good one, but this isn't about the nicknames we gave others, so I'll refrain from throwing everyone else under the bus. . . for now.

18 day of this dang challenge

Plans/dreams/goals you have. . .


Umm, First my plan is to work on patience and not kill my husband.  ;)

My dream would be to be able to understand how the male mind works and have my husband understand mine as well.  Or to not remember my dreams so such things wouldn't seem tauntingly impossible.  I really shouldn't blog when slightly irritated.  Oh well.  ;)

Goals I have. . . to accomplish the first two things, and then this year I'm going to try and cook more and eat out less.  Not something that will be easy for me.  Also we're in minimizing mode here and I'm ready to reduce the 'stuff' in my house considerably.  This year I'd also like to make a better accounting of where our money goes.  I'm going to think about that dirty word 'budget' a little more, and add more saving to the equation.  I'm thinking I want to decorate for every holiday this year, a noble goal considering I hate extra stuff around my house.  (I only decorate for Halloween and Christmas).  I think Mie would like it though and it will be fun to make new decorations.  Get ready to celebrate 'Talk like a PIRATE day' in September with us.  ;)

17 again

Who would you like to change lives with for one day and why. . .

I think the life I'd like to experience would be that of the curator for the Louvre or MOMA.  That would be awesome!  Up close and personal with all that art, amazing!  One day would be good enough, because I'm sure that's a pretty stressful job as well.

day sweet sixteen

Another picture of yourself. . .

Pulling out an old curly-haired shot from the archives.  Sometimes I miss the curly hair, but most days lately I don't do it at all and that's nice too.  It's winter.  My hair hates the cold and tries to fall out in an attempt to escape it.  I understand, I try to escape it as well.

15, no 10 songs

Shuffled songs on my iPod. . . first ten. . .

1.  Little Wonders . . . Rob Thomas
2.  Vampire . . . Antsy Pants
3.  Don't Stop Believing . . . Journey
4.  Another One Bites the Dust . . . Queen
5.  Over the Rainbow . . . Harry Nilsson
8.  The Music of the Night . . . Andrew Lloyd Webber
9.  If I Fall . . . Amber Pacific
10.  Love Train . . . Wolfmother

Hmmm, what does that say about me?

And if you are wondering why I am posting this (in case you missed the beginning). . . here it is.

4teen

A picture of you and your family. . .

We have a lot of family and not all of them are in pictures, but I'll post what I do have here. . .  First, just us. . .

This is my side of the family. . . on my Mom's side, and this is all of us. . . everyone.  My Dad's reunion pic would be smaller than this.

This is just Dave's immediate family.  I had to post my family reunion pic just to compete with this kind of proliferation.  ;)

We have two whole other sides of our family that I'd include right here, if I had a family photo. . . hint hint.  ;)  Either way, we're lucky to have so many people we love.

lucky number 13

A letter to someone who has hurt me recently. . .

What kind of weird Dr. Phil moment are they trying to create with this prompt?  Oh well.  Here ya go. . .

Dear taste buds,

I appreciate all your hard work.  No, I really do.  I enjoy tasting my food and I know I put you to the test with all the strong flavors.  I don't do subtle as you well know.  I give you plenty of sweetness which I know you like, because well it's a craving I'm assuming stems from the tongue.  And now one of you in particular has decided you've had enough and got all irritated. . . after all the sugar we've had to enjoy together and you've given up on me.  Really?  I'm hurt.  And I mean more than just my tongue.  I'm missing my sweet fix.  So for the swollen lump of uselessness you've become this week. . . you're receiving this letter.  We'll be on speaking terms once again, once you've come to your senses and by senses I mean taste. . . sweet in particular.

Sincerely,

the twelfth post

How you found out about blogger and why you have one. . .

I'm not sure where I first heard about blogger.  I don't think I was reading any blogs before I started one.  I know why I started a blog, however.  We were near the end of our paperwork application for adoption in 2007, and I had realized how sad the LDSFS internet site was for truly showing ourselves.  I needed another outlet, and here it is.  Blogging was turning into quite a fad, so I wasn't so thrilled about that, (look Kari/Tiff I didn't say bandwagon, well except just there when I pointed it out) but I felt we needed more exposure and the blog worked out nicely to that effect.

Our first header. . .

I kept the blog going because 1. it was a fun, and 2. it has helped us keep in touch with all of our family all over the place.  Win win.  I guess number 3 would be, we're in the same boat again and hoping to have lightning strike twice.  ;) 
 

11

Another picture with friends. . .

Brittany made me do this (the matching shirt thing, at midnight). . . OK, it was fun too.  But the book was crap.

Oh, and because I have that big plaque, apparently somewhere in my umm home, my sisters who are my best friends. . .

TEN

Songs I listen to when I'm blah blah and blah. . .

OK the prompt for today's post was something along the lines of what kinds of music I listen to when I'm feeling certain emotions.  I don't know who wrote this list, but I'm thinking this one is slightly lame.

The song I hear most often in my house is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. . . courtesy of Mie.  Of course, she likes to make it a medley and add in a little How to Believe from Tinker Bell as well.

As for me, here's what I've got. . . I always put my playlist on random so I get a mix of everything constantly.  The only time when I do not do this is when my noise/stress threshold has been reached and I need something light to listen to. . . then I love this album by Mindy Gledhill, and/or my mix of folky pop which includes Ingrid Michaelson and various others . . . and then the volume is turned down pretty low too, well it's never very loud anyway.  I've got good ears.  I must not have listened to a lot of loud music as a teenager.  Dave on the other hand, totally deaf.

niner

Something I'm proud of in the last few days. . .

OK, Miley is the answer to this one.

So the other day with only minor threats of having all her toys sucked up by the vacuum cleaner, Miley ran into her playroom and actually cleaned it all up.  Not just throwing stuff out of the way, it was put away where it should go.  Miracle.  One big high five for you little girl.

Other proud moments would be when I hear her apologizing to the dogs for either scaring them or hitting them by accident and then telling them she loves them.  Aaaah.

day 8 goals

Short term goals for this month. . .

1.  Add more storage in the form of shelves and containers to the garage. . . or throw away anything that doesn't fit on existing shelves and in existing containers.  I'm good either way, as long as it gets done.  Organizing and throwing out stuff, aaaah, my two favorite things.  No seriously.  Forget spring I could do this year round.

2.  Organize Miley's baby clothes.  I just threw everything together and I think it might be nice to have it separated. . . just in case we need to find anything in the future.  This may or may not get done this month.  Depends how many other projects come up and push it down the list.  It's priority is low, and has been in the back of my mind for quite awhile, so I thought putting it out here might spur me to acting on it.  We'll see.

3.  Go through my office closet to see what I even have in there.  It will be like Christmas all over again because my art stuff gets lost on shelves and in the drawers.  Time to reorganize and simplify it all.

4.  Buy a carpet rake. . . and then use it.

5.  Nag Dave enough to clean up the leafy debris in the yard. . . or chances are, do it myself.  Oh and prune the bushes.

6.  Take my dogs for more walks (or any walks this month), if it ever decides to warm up to normal around here.

se7en

A picture of someone/something that has had a big impact on you. . .








This girl changed my life.  I will forever be grateful for her.  For finding us.  For trusting us.  I can't even talk about it, because even now, years later, I'm getting choked up typing this.  We love you Kristel.

Six. . . super hero

What is your favorite super hero and why?

 

That would be THE DAVE!  He may be the first to come to mind due to the fact that I see him staring me down in my garage every day or just that I really do think that my Dave is pretty super.

Either way, I'm glad to have these two red heads watching out for our little family.  We're pretty lucky like that.

(THE DAVE was created by me to celebrate Dave's 29th birthday, and the giant cardboard version is mounted on a wall in our garage. . . just FYI in case none of this made sense to you)

Five

A picture of some place you've been to. . .

Area 51.  Been there.  Well as close to there as you can get without credentials or camouflage.  Unfortunately we had neither.  The Extraterrestrial highway is a very long stretch down the middle of Nevada.  Every sign along the way had some sort of alien on it, i.e. cow crossing or being abducted by UFO warnings. . . you know, the important stuff to look out for.