i've got the slows....

The laziness in me is appalling. I just seem to have the winter "blahs"......I see all these things that need to get done, and have all these ideas....but after I do a few things, blah. Just don't care. I don't feel depressed or anything, just lazy lazy lazy.

I made a big pot of beef stew-soup last night with the leftover beef and gravy. I just added a bunch of water, and simmered it while I peeled cut up 8 or 10 potatoes. I added them to the soup, along with a bag of frozen thin sliced carrots and green beans. I let it cook for a while, added some salt and onion powder, then thickened it with instant mashed potato flakes. The surprising part: it was really good! The kids really liked it, and we ate the whole pot. It was just exactly enough. I always feel good when the leftovers get put to good use. It can be challenging here because there is usually not enough of something for another meal, so I often do soups with leftovers.

Okay, I have received a blog award (The Honest Scrap Award)from Moon Mama, at http://moonmania.blogspot.com. (thank you!)

I am supposed to write ten things about myself.....so here goes. (I have been writing on this blog for two and a half years now, so if there is anything interesting about me, you probably already know it....)

1. My mother had breast cancer when I was in high school. It was in her lymp nodes, and she had two radical masectomies. I used to go with her to get her chemo. Back in 1982, chemo made one very sick. That didn't stop my mother from taking me with her on the bus sometimes, and making it a fun day. It's hard for me to believe now, but she did that. She made it fun.

2. I like to make my morning coffee last a long time and enjoy it because a second cup never tastes as good.

3. I feel like I like Paul more than he likes me. Most of the time, anyway.

4. When I was eleven years old, I was really skinny, and I wanted to be a wrestler SO badly. I tried on my older brother's high school uniform, and thought that wrestling shoes were the ultimate.

5. My little brother Casey and I were bad. When my mother sent us to the store for the paper, we put a flat stone in the paper box, and used the dime to buy candy.

6. I am a picky eater. No mayonaise, no ketchup, no mustard, no tuna fish, no salsa. But I love Frank's hot sauce. I usually eat my salad with no dressing. And I do not like cheese, unless it is melted, and even then, not so much.

7. I would like to write a book someday.

8. If I got pregnant again, I would be ecstatic. If the sonogram showed twins, I do not know if I could bear the happiness. I try not to think about this too much, but it is still there, that newborn craving....

9. I wish I could just fly into Haiti, and rescue an orphan or two, and hug them and cuddle them and help them forget their troubles. And keep them forever, of course.

10. I like the show "American Idol", except for when the judges are mocking the people. Simon can be a meany. We don't watch much tv, but when "A.I." is on, we watch it. We mute the tv during commercials, no matter what we are watching.

11. I have had two dreams this week about meeting Martha, my blogging friend from near the lake. In one, she was buying a new coffee maker, and I told her I saw a cheaper one somewhere....it made no sense, but we got along just fine.

12. I am extremely attracted to large spacious homes. I have dreams all the time about finding an extra room, or sometimes a whole hall of rooms. All clean and decorated and new. And I always say in the dream, "I didn't know we had this!"

13. I do not learn. I know darn well if I give the kids the empty coffee container to play with, it will end up on the floor, but I do it anyway. I also know that it will turn into a mess when I let Jon open the biscuits, or the bathroom will get soaked if I let say, Suzanne, take a bath with say, Charlotte Claire....but I do it anyway.

14. I get optimistic and excited about going out and about. I try to make every excursion a fun one. I do not have much tolerance for sulky people.

15. Last night I dreamed that Rosie died, and I cried in my sleep.

16. I laugh sometimes when I shouldn't. I got M. really mad yesterday by taking her picture when she shrieked at me not to. I just did it anyway. She stomped off. I apologized later, but started laughing my head off, remembering how angry she was at me. She was furious, telling me that I was not really sorry. Well, I was too! I just couldn't help the laughing, is all. I'm telling you, it is scary sometimes. It makes me afraid to go to funerals.

17. I would like to be a marriage counselor. I would try to get each partner to see how they themselves are, and to forgive the other one seventy times seven. And to RESPECT each other. And to not be so quick to say, "I have a headache..." Because one can be blessed by blessing the other, if you know what I mean.

18. I am pretty sure this was supposed to be ten things, but: I do not like rules, and to break even a teeny tiny one is lots of fun.

I am going to pass the award on to only one person today, although I read many blogs I really like. This one person doesn't blog as much as she used to, because she is now obsessed with crocheting. She has talent! She taught herself, and she makes the most beautiful things. She is my friend, I have known her since middle school. When she met my brother one Halloween night, well, let's just say I took a back seat. They got married (she tells him she married him so her and I would always be friends!), and have 12 beautiful kids. So Kim: here is your award, "The Honest Scrap Award"....