So you think you can (Ukrainain folk) dance?

My parents came over to the house this past weekend for a celebratory dinner of Chinese take-out after K's ballet recital. While they were here, my Dad was kind enough to come up to my office and get my scanner up and running.

You know what that means don't you? Yep, I have more grainy pictures from my past to share with you. Today's pictorial focuses on the very early 1980's when I must have had the desire to really delve into my cultural roots.

But since there were no Irish, German or Swedish extracurricular activities at my school, I decided to branch out & delve into someone else's cultural roots instead.

Despite my total lack of grace and coordination, I spent a lot of time in my formative years doing Ukrainian folk dancing. I think the program started when I was about 9 years old. My social studies teacher got our entire class really excited about folk dancing. So excited that we were all willing to give up time normally spent watching Tom and Jerry re-runs to meet in the school cafeteria and listen to Ukrainian folk music. How did she do this? I have no idea. Perhaps she offered us all extra credit, or maybe we were just really excited about all of the fringe on our costumes.

I remember more about the costumes than any of the dances we did. The white skirts were actually pillowcases and our red shoes were made from red rope and circular cutouts from a vinyl tablecloth. We weren't supposed to wear those shoes outside. Ever.

If memory serves, I don't think anyone in my class had a lick of Ukrainian blood in their background. Our teacher's parents had immigrated from the Ukraine and she spent much of that year immersing us in the Ukrainian culture. I'm not really sure why, but we went along with it. (I will once again point out here how much we all loved the fringe on the costumes.)

We even got to travel up to Toronto and perform for what I think was a group of Ukrainian students. Imagine their excitement. "Hey guys, do you want to see a bunch of German and Irish kids from Ohio do some Ukrainian folk dancing for you?" I mean really, who wouldn't be thrilled to watch a bunch of 10 year olds hop around the floor in pillowcases with bits of tablecloth strapped to their feet?

Despite all the practices and performances though, I can't help but notice I always seem to be looking down at my feet with total concentration. Dancing is not really what I would label a strength of mine.

But, at least I was enthusiastic. A surplus of enthusiasm is one of my defining (and some might say annoying) personality traits.

The excitement over folk dancing must have been contagious. It looks like my sister joined in the act the following year. My enthusiasm looks like it's waning a bit in this picture. Perhaps it's the lack of fringe on my costume that's got me so down.

Oddly, sometime later that year we stopped doing Ukrainian folk dancing and started doing country/western clogging instead. I have no idea why the sudden change occurred. I think one day we came in for practice and our teacher announced that now we'd be strutting our stuff to country music. I have never really been a fan of country, but my lack of interest in the music was more than offset by the thrill of getting to wear tap shoes! And twirly square dancing skirts! (also made from pillow cases I believe). Thankfully, I have no photos to share with you from my trip into the world of clogging.

The trip was a pretty brief one. By that point we were all starting down the slippery slope of adolescence and the idea of dancing around in pillow cases just didn't seem as cool as it once had. So, the group disbanded and we spent our newly acquired free time talking about boys and playing Atari (and watching Tom and Jerry re-runs).

My Nemesis

For the most part, the outdoor maintenance around the House of Crackers falls on the very capable shoulders of Mr. Crackers. He's a down in the dirt, get your hands dirty type of guy. He's the one who maintains the lawn, does most of the planting in the garden as well as initiating any large outdoor projects that need accomplished.

Since I am at home a lot more than Mr. Crackers, I do more of the smaller detail work in the yard like weeding, hedge trimming and occasionally trimming the grass along the picket fence that lines our backyard. Since Mr. Crackers does a lot of the mowing (especially in the Spring) during weeknight evenings, we just never really seem to get the trimming done right away. But after a couple of weeks the grass grows so long that I start fearing we may lose the dog or maybe even one of the children along the fence line, so I decide to try & get the trimming done while Mr. Crackers is at work.

And in almost all cases over the past 6 years, I have failed to get the yard trimmed completely on my own....why? Yard Trimmers are my Nemesis. They are my kryptonite. Something happens when a yard trimmer gets placed in my hands that causes the trimmer to stop working. Completely.

We are currently on our 3rd trimmer in 6 years. The first two were corded electric models that were really inexpensive & I would like to think would have broken down as quickly for anyone. The cords inside the trimmers would either stop feeding correctly, or the top of the cord dispenser would continually pop off or some other plastic part would just plain give out. Mr. Crackers would come to my aid once the weekend hit, but (thankfully) would have just as many issues as I did getting the thing to work for more than 5 minutes in a row. Needless to say, trimming has become one of my most hated chores (second only to ironing).

Finally last year after our second electric trimmer failed we decided to get serious and get one of those incredibly loud, gas powered models.



Since we got it about halfway through the summer last year, Mr. Crackers had fun playing with his new toy & usually did the trimming right after he mowed. Not only did it work well for him, but it trimmed the yard in about half the time as our old electric trimmers. By mid-summer the grass wasn't really growing really quickly anymore, so Mr. Crackers could trim about every 2 weeks & everything still looked good.

But, it's Spring again. And the grass is growing so quickly that Mr. Crackers is pulling out the lawn mower every 5 days or so. And yet, the grass along the fence hasn't been trimmed once yet. I would venture a guess that it was at least 6 inches longer than the grass in the rest of the lawn.

So, last night I asked Mr. Cracker to refresh my memory & teach me how to start the electric trimmer. It took him a few minutes (since it hadn't been used in a few months), but he finally got it started. He then taught me how to do it & I decided I'd get out this afternoon & get it done before we lost the dog or one of the kids in the tall grass.

Ha!

Darn Trimmer! I tried to start that thing until both of my shoulders were sore. But could I get it to start? Nope! I finally walked away in case I flooded the engine (can you flood the engine of a trimmer?). After about 20 minutes I came back & tried it again. And once again that flipping trimmer wouldn't start.

I decided to try some tough love and began cursing a blue streak (quietly so as not to disturb my napping pre-schooler or the other neighborhood children) every time I pulled on the cord and it wouldn't start. Even though I felt a little better for venting, the cursing didn't really help get it started either.

I was getting to be seriously disappointed by yet another lawn trimmer (now that's a phrase I never in a million years thought I would say). I was ready to throw the thing into the street when it finally sputtered & coughed to life.

Hooray! I set to work & began trimming along the fence. Boy does that thing vibrate. Even though it was getting a bit heavy I kept soldiering on determined to for the first time in 6 years get the entire lawn trimmed without the aid of Mr. Crackers. I was feeling a real sense of accomplishment as I trimmed along the final stretch of fencing. I mean, just wait until Mr. Crackers sees that I was finally able to do it. Wahoo!

Then, all of the sudden the trimmer seemed to slow down a bit, then it gave a cough and stopped completely. What the what?! Holy cow did I manage to break yet another trimmer?!

Nope. It was just out of gas. And of course it is one of those engines that need an oil & gas mixture. Something that seems entirely too risky for me to attempt to do with my past trimmer history. I decided it would be best to wait for Mr. Crackers and make sure I do it right. I really don't want another lawn trimmer death on my conscience. Darn it, I was so close. Oh well, at least I didn't break this one.

I guess I better go finish the ironing.

As if I needed more proof that I was getting old...

I've recently been preparing myself for the shoe dilemma that has been plaguing mankind for years. "What do you wear in the spring & fall when the weather is too cold for flip flops, but too warm for boots?" Well, OK maybe mankind is dealing with bigger problems & it's just a personal issue, but I can never figure out what to put on my feet with capri's or jeans in the spring. I mostly end up wearing a pair of sneakers, but I know there is a shoe out there that will fit the bill without making me look like I am headed to the gym for a work out.



In an attempt to do a little research on the subject I headed over to my favorite online shoe store Zappos. I figured if someone had a shoe that would fit the bill it would be them. While I was browsing, I came upon something I found truly disturbing.







It's called a tube flop & I am at a complete loss for what to say except....Why? I am honestly a bit dumbfounded.




Maybe it's the stripes that are too much? Perhaps they'd look better in a solid color...



Nope. I still don't like them. How about basic black?




Yikes! Really? Can someone explain this to me?



I scrolled down to the reviews to see what people were saying about this new item & found a quote that I guess sums it all up " Tube Flops combine the awesomeness of tube socks with the comfort of flip flops. "



Oh....I see. No... I guess I really don't.


Probably my first problem is that the last time I thought about the awesomeness of tube socks was back sometime around 1978. Since then, tube socks have really lost their shine a bit for me. Besides which, if it's so cold that I need to wear socks up to my knees, what's going to prevent my toes from freezing off? Nothing, that's what.


I guess this must truly be a trend for the young folk. Darn those kids with their crazy rock music and their Tube Flops! Back in my day we wore our tube socks with sneakers and we liked it that way. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to head downstairs and take a Geritol.


Clearly, this will not be not the answer to my current shoe dilemma. I guess it's back to the drawing board (aka as Zappos) for me.


What do you wear on your feet in the spring? Will you be in the market for a pair of Tubeflops this year? Inquiring minds want to know!

Forty

It's official... we are now 1 week away from the date when I will be turning 40. Hmm... I don't really feel forty (it seems less scary if I spell it out) so I'm not really filled with a lot of anxiety about it. Although I should admit that I quite enjoyed my thirties & I'm not really looking forward to checking the box 40-45 years old on any future questionnaires that come my way.

A couple of weeks ago Jen, who writes the blog Absolutely Bananas, did a tribute to her husband Jay who was turning 40. She posted 40 things that were worse than turning 40. I liked the idea, so I've decided to use her list as a jumping off point, but change a few items to better suit me (I mean honestly, I fall down the stairs all the time).

Here for your enjoyment are 40 things worse than turning 40 forty by Jen (& Karen):

1. Being eaten by wolves
2. Getting a leg caught in a meat grinder
3. Poking your eye out Developing an allergy to chocolate
4. Running over a baby bunny or duckling Running a daycare in my home
5. Finding a finger in my soup
6. Irritable Bowel Syndrome A week long migraine
7. Losing the winning lottery ticket
8. Mullets
9. Being chewed up by hamsters, rats or cats Living with a long haired cat (oh, the allergies!)
10. Bed bugs
11. Falling down the stairs Walking around all day with my skirt tucked into my underwear
12. Stepping on a rusty nail
13. Kevin Costner with webbed feet Working at Toys R Us
14. Lice
15. Drinking lumpy milk
16. Taking the red pill. Having to get braces again
17. Getting eaten by a shark
18. Teenage girls and boys
19. Filet-of-Fish sandwiches Developing an allergy to baked goods
20. The stuff Mike Rowe does
21. Having gas on an airplane Riding home on an airplane after a week at Disney World with an exhausted, screaming 2 1/2 year old on my lap (again...)
22.The Real Housewives of Orange County Watching Ann Coulter on TV
23. Comb-overs
24. Trying to figure out how to sync your iPhone to a new computer without losing all your music Listening to New Age music everyday
25. Taking your baby to get his shots Having another baby
26. A root canal
27. Anything by Paris Hilton
28. A runny nose when you don’t have a kleenex Another allergic reaction to penicillin
29. Catching my hair on fire
30. Windows XP If the only station on TV was Fox News
31. Paying taxes
32. Accidentally brushing your teeth with hemorrhoid cream
33. The 80’s… back in style
34.Having the pilot of your airplane pass out from bad fish and all the other people pass out too and you have to fly the airplane but you don’t know how
35. Aliens that come to Earth to exterminate humans
36. Throwing up in your mouth
37. Dropping a baby
38. Stepping on dog poop. With bare feet.
39. Lower back pain
40. Falling down and you CAN’T GET UP! Turning fifty

Is it just me, or did about 5 of those items deal with allergies?

Honestly the list of things worse than turning 40 would take years to complete. I realize that it's just another number. And for the most part it's one I'm happy with (or at least not too scared of). I have been very blessed with a great family and a good life. Happy Birthday indeed!

Not exactly a dead ringer part 2

With my 40th birthday just two weeks away, it is becoming more evident than ever that I am losing brain cells at an alarming rate. As my Mom correctly pointed out (and Mr. Crackers seconded) I was wrong in my last post when I said that I have never been told that I look like anyone famous.

A few years ago on vacation, my Uncle George & my Mom decided that in both appearance and personality that they thought I resembled Samantha Brown of Travel Channel (& Champion Door and Window television advertising) fame...

I will agree that our hair is very similar in color (apparently neither one of us was happy with the color we were born with). We both also have a rather large set of teeth - although truth be told I think I've got her beat. Pale skin? Yep, it looks like she is rather fair, but if I'm not mistaken it appears in most of her photos that she does have a bit of pigment to her skin. I'm not sure that she'd qualify as "fish belly white" like yours truly, but I think our skin color is close enough.

But even with this new information, I'm still not planning on changing my Facebook profile picture to Samantha Brown...

or Tilda Swinton . Nope, I'm just not participating in Facebook's "Doppelganger week".

I don't even have this picture on my profile anymore.

Instead, I've decided to go with something a little more classic...

Because you can never go wrong with a Olan Mills Wagon Wheel portrait circa 1983.

Not exactly a dead ringer.

Apparently it was Doppelganger, a.k.a celebrity look alike week, on Facebook. To participate, you were supposed to replace your profile picture with a celebrity whom you have been told that you resemble. I noticed that several of my friends had switched their profile pictures to famous actors and actresses at the beginning of the week which seemed pretty strange. Finally, I was clued in to what was going on.

When I looked at my friend list this week, it was brimming with stars from both TV and the movies. I saw Anthony Edwards, Matthew Broderick, Valerie Bertenelli (the early years), Julia Stiles, Patricia Heaton and Traci Gold just to name a few. I have to say that in one case the resemblance to the celebrity was so close, that it took me a second to realize that the photo was Anthony Edwards and not the boy who I attended grade school with for eight years. In most cases, even if the resemblance to the celebrity wasn't striking, there were certain facial features that were similar once you took a good look at the picture (and maybe squinted a bit).

I have never been told that I looked like a celebrity. At all. Ever. I was once mistaken for an Austrian exchange student, but I was to blame for that one. I decided to french braid my hair and wear an apron style jumper to a meet and greet for some Austrian exchange students that were visiting from our sister city. In my oddly chosen outfit, I looked more like an Austrian than many of the actual Austrian high school students who were in attendance. I think everyone was waiting for me to start twirling and burst into song, "The hills are alive, with the sound of music..."

Other than that, the only person I've ever been mistaken for was another girl who happened to attend the same high school that I did. We both had the same hairstyle, we were about the same height and had the same fair skin that Mr. Crackers lovingly refers to as "fish belly white". Since she was a lot more popular than I was, I was often mistaken for her from a distance, and spent a lot of my high school years hearing, "Oh, I thought you were Molly."

Even though I was a little doubtful of the outcome, I figured I'd see if there a was female celebrity out there whom I might resemble. I thought that the easiest way to start would be to plug in some of my defining physical characteristics into Google Images & see what I could come up with. I narrowed my search to the three characteristics that I thought were most distinct about my appearance

I started with what I think is my most obvious physical characteristic, my height...or lack there of. While I like to think of myself as petite, my sister has been know to refer to me as height challenged. So, to get started I typed the phrase "short female actresses" into Google Images and got pictures of these ladies:

Umm, NO!

She's certainly a cutie (and man she's young), but no...no resemblance at all.

I wish...

So, I moved onto to my next item. Big teeth. Yep, I have big, giant teeth. Especially my front teeth. I try not to smile too widely at young children when I first meet them so as not to scare them. I typed "actresses with big teeth" into Google next to see what I came up with and got images of these ladies:

I think we can all agree that this woman is my exact opposite... the tan skin, the beautiful brown eyes (& let's agree not to discuss the difference in chest size OK?)

Just no.

Well, at least her hair is blondish. But other than that, it's a no.

Finally I decided to try my final characteristic - my fair skin (no Mr. Crackers I did not type "fish belly white skin" into Google Images). When I typed "actresses with pale skin" into Google Images this beautiful picture came up:

She is stunning. I bet Keith Urban never refers to her skin as fish belly white!

I also got an image of Tilda Swinton:

not a very flattering picture...can we do better?

Ahh...much better picture (not to mention the hair color is a little more similar to my own color treated hair). But is it a match?

Well, I think match is really too strong a word. I don't think anyone is ever going to stop me on the street and confuse me for Tilda Swinton (especially since she's probably about 6 inches taller than me while still managing to weigh about 15 pounds less), but honestly it's probably the closest match I'll be able to come with. Pale skin? Check! Light colored eyes? Check! Big teeth? Who knows...let's just wrap this up shall we?

Am I going to change my profile picture in Facebook? Nah, it'll just confuse people who will say "Geez I wonder who told her she looks like Tilda Swinton. I don't see the resemblance at all!"

It might be time for Barbie to update her wardrobe

A few weeks ago, my sister & her family came into town for the Thanksgiving weekend. On their final night in town we all gathered at my Parent's home for a family dinner. After helping to clear the table, I ventured down into the basement to put the dirty napkins into my parent's laundry room. As I threw the napkins in the dirty clothes hamper, I happened to look to my left & was struck dumb when I saw this:

Did a tragic laundry incident reduce this load of laundry to 1/10th of their normal size?

Upon reflection, what seemed even stranger to me than the size of the clothing was the fact that all of these outfits seemed strangely familiar.

I just stood there for a minute afraid to move, trying to figure out what was going on. And then it finally hit me why I recognized these tiny clothes...they belonged to my sister. Or more specifically, they were the clothes that my sister's Barbie dolls wore during the mid 1970's.

Apparently, my Mom had kept a lot of Linda's Barbie stuff from her childhood & Linda had decided it was time to pass these items on to her own daughter. She & Mom had washed the tiny clothes in preparation for the trip back home.

I couldn't resist a closer look.

Shall we explore some of Barbie's favorite outfits from the mid 1970's?

A caftan! No closet is complete without one. I am really grooving on the gold and brown trim.

Nice pants Barbie! I'm sure this versatile pattern goes with everything.

Wow! Even my camera was shocked by the pattern on these pants.

Apparently Barbie was not afraid of bright colors. Here's hoping she never wore that sweater with either of the pants we just saw.

This one isn't too bad. I'd certainly pick this outfit over any of the other ones we've seen so far. It kind of reminds me of something Florence Henderson might have worn.

"Here's the story of a lovely lady, who was bringing up three very lovely girls. All of them had hair of gold, like their mother, the youngest one in curls..."

Um, this one just feels wrong, even for the 1970's. I'm just not sure this look was ever really "in fashion" was it?

And, I'm not at all sure what to say about this coat. Is it just me or is this coat just screaming for some platform shoes and a purple fedora?

Wow! While I am impressed by the durability of these clothes, I really think that it's probably past time for Barbie to go ahead and take a trip to the mall. Quickly. Seriously Barbie, if money is an issue, I'll front you some cash sister. If you won't do it for yourself, think of the children and run to the mall. Now.

I can only hope that my niece's own sense of style won't be permanently damaged by what we have seen here today. You can bet that I'll be paying close attention to her outfits in the Christmas photos this year.

Revising my expectations

So it's been more than two weeks since my last post. You are probably thinking, "Mrs. Crackers I thought you said you'd do a better job of keeping up with your blog once your kids went back to school! What's the problem? Just what are you doing with your time?"


Umm...good question. You see, I thought I'd have buckets of down time once the kids got to school. I had fantasized using that time to accomplish all sorts of feats. I imagined I'd be living in a clean and clutter free house and that I would have plenty of time to do all of my laundry, iron it & put it away in the proper drawers. I thought I would be filling all of my new free-time with all sorts of worthwhile pursuits like:

1. Getting my endurance levels back up by running 3-4 times a week so I could prepare for an upcoming race.

2. Focusing myself into learning web design - my aspirational career once the kiddos are both in school full-time.

3. Planning out weekly menus again & spending more (child-free) time in the grocery store so that I didn't leave forgetting half of the items that I needed (like I normally do).

4. Redecorating the dining room, kid's bathroom & the office

5. Posting daily blogs & keeping up with all of my favorite bloggers.

6. Organizing all of my photos on the computer & correcting the ones that still need a little help.


I'll just stop listing all of my plans at this point, since I am starting to depress myself with all of the things that I now know I won't be accomplishing anytime soon.

It's clear to me now that I must've been smoking crack if I thought I'd come close to getting even 1 item on the list accomplished these goals weren't all that realistic. You see, it turns out I am childless for a mere 6 hours a week (less than that if you count the commuting time to & from school). When you also factor in that I have volunteered at my son's school to work in the library as well as assisting with some of the art classes, it is suddenly apparent that I must have had a screw loose if I thought I was going to have a lot of down time on my hands. (I won't even bore you with the details of our extra-curricular activities that sounded like fun during the lazy days of summer but that are now causing us to spend our evenings running around like crazy people.)

So, it's time to deal with the reality that I am not living in the clean & clutter free house of my imaginings. My laundry isn't getting done any more quickly than it was this summer & the ironing (let's not even talk about the ironing OK?!) isn't even close to being complete.

Luckily, the kids both love school & I have found a little time to squeeze in a few good runs over the past couple of weeks. Maybe it's not what I had originally planned, but for now it's good enough for me. I'll save all those grand plans for next fall when K starts Pre-Kindergarten & I'll have 10 whole hours of down-time. It's those extra 4 hours that will make all the difference, right?

I can't talk now, I've got to go save Gotham City

Sorry for the lack of posting lately. I have a limited amount of "free time" each week to blog or do other important things like cleaning the bathrooms, doing the laundry, ironing, weeding the garden, staring off into space, etc... During the summer months I seem to have even less time to engage in these pursuits than I do during the school year. It makes perfect sense then that I have added one more thing more to my to-do list. I am engaged in the important battle to save Gotham City from evil doers.

Yes, it's true. I have wrestled the Wii remote away from Mr. Crackers & our young son C so that I could play a bit of Lego Batman. The Wii is usually a "weekend only" treat around our house. Mr. Crackers & C will typically spend a little quality time on a weekend afternoon helping Indiana Jones recover lost treasure, or using the force to fight the Empire for control of the galaxy.

I blame my recent addiction on the rain that fell on the the 4th of July. Since all of our cookout plans had been cancelled, we stayed close to home & most of the family decided to take a nap. While the house was quiet, I decided to pick up a remote & try my hand at Batman. I can see now why C is always asking if he can play Wii. It's like crack. Once you try it, you feel the need for more.

Luckily there really isn't much time for me to play the game. Usually, I wait until the kiddos have gone to bed before I start flirting with the caped crusader. Lately, Mr. Crackers has started joining me on these evening missions to fight crime. We make quite the dynamic duo.

So, I'm sorry for the lack of updates around the House of Crackers. I promise to get you all caught up again once I rid Gotham of its criminal element (& I catch up on the weeding, laundry, ironing, etc...)

Does my lip look swollen to you?

It's been a tough week for Mrs Crackers (& therefore a tough week for the rest of the Cracker family). On two separate occasions this week I was sure I was mere moments away from an ambulance ride to the ER.

The first time came on Monday evening. I had been feeling a little lethargic all weekend, but had blamed it on a lack of sleep and a new allergy medication that I had taken on Saturday. Ignoring my low energy level (I'm not always good at cuing into my body signals) I set off on Monday afternoon for a nice 3 mile run a limping 2 1/4 mile walk/jog with an emphasis on walk. After I came home I was crazy hot -so hot that the thought of my kids touching me at all was sending me over the edge. It was humid, but the temp hadn't gotten out of the upper 70's. After I drank a couple of Gatorades I went from being hot to being so cold I started to shiver & my toes started going numb.

I took a shower to see if I could get my body temperature back on track & continued to pound down as many liquids as I could get my hands on. Being a closet hypochondriac I had already diagnosed myself with several disorders before I even finished washing my hair. After my shower I was still cold, so I finally realized I should probably take my temperature. It was 102.5. That's it! I was happy to finally settle on a diagnosis - I decided I had heat exhaustion brought on by dehydration and the high humidity levels! I don't get sick real often, but when I do I enjoy freaking myself out with grim and sometimes potentially fatal diagnoses.

I should state here, although it is probably obvious to you by now, that I have absolutely no medical training. at. all. I was about to demand that Mr. Crackers drop everything and take me to the ER immediately, but decided I should probably take some Advil and consult every hypochondriac's favorite website, Webmd, to confirm my diagnosis first. After reading all I could on the subject, it appeared I did not have heat exhaustion after all. Whew!

When I shared my good news with Mr. Crackers, he calmly pointed out that I had been feeling a little under the weather before I even went out for my run and that I had probably just made myself feel more sick with physical activity that my body was in no shape to handle. But what does he know? I decided that instead, I was suffering from severe, somewhat less than extreme , mild dehydration. I proceeded to drink 3 more glasses of ice water over the next few hours all the while telling Mr. Crackers that I would be back to normal by the next morning.

Well, after a couple of days of fighting exhaustion and temperatures ranging from 100.5 -102, Mr. Crackers made me I decided to go see my doctor. I didn't have any obvious symptoms so after speaking to the doctor, he decided to give me a prescription for Amoxicillin just in case I was suffering from a strep infection. He didn't do a test to see if I had strep, which was fine with me. I figured I am rarely sick, so a little antibiotics can't hurt me even if I don't really need them right? (you can almost taste the foreshadowing here, can't you?)

I woke up last night at 2:45 am because the palms of my hands were itching something fierce. I headed downstairs to take a look them & grab a glass of water. When I got into the kitchen I saw that my hands and arms were covered in a red rash. After some further exploring, I discovered that I was completely covered in a rash from head to toe. Crap! I had seen this rash before. I had a similar reaction to a prescription I was on when I first met Mr. Crackers. At that time though I was about 13 years dumber younger, so it had taken me several days to get myself in to see a doctor who diagnosed me with a drug allergy in about 2.2 seconds after I set foot in the exam room.

So, now I knew I was probably allergic to Amoxicillin. But, it was 3:00 am. Not much I could do but take a couple of Benadryl & see what happened. This waiting to see what happens is a very dangerous thing for me to do in the wee hours of the morning. I started imagining the worst possible outcome for every little twitch I felt. To alleviate my growing fears, I decided to again consult my favorite website(Webmd) to see what they had to say about my reaction to Amoxicillin and this is what I saw:
"A very serious allergic reaction to this drug is unlikely, but seek immediate medical attention if it occurs. Symptoms of a serious allergic reaction may include: rash, itching/swelling (especially of the face/tongue/throat), severe dizziness, trouble breathing."

Double crap! I could feel my blood pressure ratchet up a notch as I began imagining the "trouble breathing" part of that sentence. After a little while longer at my computer, I was sure that I could feel my lip start to swell up. I sprang up out of my chair to go check it out and got a little dizzy. Triple crap! Dizziness!? Another symptom! Now I was sure that I was moments away from going unconscious, so I decided to share the fun & wake up Mr. Crackers who was peacefully dreaming away. I put myself into my "crisis management mode" & went to rouse him from his slumber.

Me: Babe. Wake up.

Mr. C: Huh?! What?!

Me: Babe. I just need to tell you that I am having an allergic reaction to my medicine & I think we're going to need to call 911 like really soon.

Mr. C: Huh?! What?!

Me: It's just that I have a rash over my entire body & I was dizzy just a minute ago & I think my face is swelling up, so I wanted to wake you up so that you can call 911 if I pass out or something.

Mr. C: Huh?! What?!

Me: I took 2 Benadryl about 45 minutes ago, but I can't tell if they are working. Maybe you should call my Mom & Dad. I know it's early, but they could drive over and watch the kids so you can ride with me to the hospital in the ambulance.

Mr. C: What?! What time is it?

Me: Umm...it's 4:00. But that's OK I've been up for over an hour now (I still don't know what I meant by this statement. I must've thought this gave some weight to my argument or something).

Mr. C: Wait a minute. Why are you pacing around the room. I don't understand. Can't you stand still? Stop walking around for a minute OK!? (I should explain here that when I go into my "crisis mode" I start talking slowly in a very calm voice while pacing back and forth like General Patton addressing the troops. I have no idea why I do this, but this is not the first time I have discovered that the pacing is very off putting to others.)

Me: I think I can stand still. I dunno. Let me try. Yes. Yes, I can just stand still for a minute.

Mr. C: C'mon into the bathroom with me for a 'sec. Lets see what's going on. Hmm... yep that's a rash alright.

Me: How about my upper lip? Does my lip look swollen to you? Don't forget about the dizziness.

Mr. C: Are you dizzy now?

Me: No. Huh. Maybe I was just dizzy 'cause I got up so fast from reclining when I was running to the bathroom to see if my lip was swollen. What about my lip?! It's swollen right?

Mr. C: Well (squinting) ...maybe it's a little swollen, but you're still no Angelina Jolie. It looks OK to me (here he starts poking me in the lip with his index finger). It's really not that swollen Babe. You said already took 2 Benadryl right? What do you want to do? Do you want me to call 911.

Me: Well maybe I can just stay awake a little longer to make sure I don't lose consciousness. It would be more noticeable if I passed out while I was still awake, don't you think? Yes, I'm going to stay awake a little longer.

Mr. C: OK. Sure... why don't we go lie down though. No reason why we can't lie down while we're waiting for you to pass out. Right?

So that's what we did. We got into bed & Mr. Crackers rubbed my back to help me relax a bit & come down from the DEFCON 1 status I had gotten myself into. He was also kind enough to only mock me gently until we both eventually fell back asleep.

I called the doctor this morning & sure enough I currently have a non-life threatening allergic reaction to Amoxicillin. I've got a new prescription waiting for me at CVS as we speak. Hopefully this means a return to normalcy here at the House of Crackers. I'm sure Mr. Crackers will be happy to have me step away from Webmd for the balance of the week!

Really!? Middle age, already!?

I don't know if it's the fact that 40 is less than a year away or that I am just paying a little more attention to my surroundings, but lately I seem to be feeling ... well, kind of older. Not octogenarian old, but I guess I am finally starting to realize that I am a lot closer to 45 than I am to 25.

Umm, when exactly did that happen anyway? Hello, middle-age nice to meet you. For some reason I thought my kids would be on their way to high school when we were first introduced, but surprise! It looks like we'll be meeting while I still have a child in kindergarten. Realistically speaking if I am going to live to the average female life expectancy for this country of 81 - I'm there. Middle age is upon me ( of course it could be much worse - the female life expectancy in Mozambique is 40 years old. At this point, if I were living there I'd have much more serious issues to worry about!)


The thing is that a lot of the other Moms in my neighborhood are right around my age, so I really never considered myself an "older" Mom. All of us are the twilight moments of our 30's or our early 40's & all of us have pre-schoolers at home. There are a few younger Moms in the neighborhood, but I guess I never really thought about the "age factor" before.

So, you can imagine my surprise a couple of weeks ago when it slapped me right across the face. I was sitting with my neighbor Lisa and a group of other Moms in the waiting area while our kids were in their swim lessons. Somehow the subject of age came up & I discovered to my surprise that most of the other Moms I was sitting with were still in their 20's. I knew they were younger, but I didn't realize how much younger they were.

Apparently the age difference came as a bit of a shock to them as well since I heard one of them exclaim to Lisa "I had no idea that you were that old!" Lisa was very gracious about it, but I was reeling a bit. Who me, old? You've gotta to be kidding right? And then I started thinking ... if I had a kid in my mid-twenties, my oldest child would be getting ready to enter high school instead of first grade. Hmm...

Then a couple days later I got another slap in the face courtesy of one my neighbors. She and her husband moved into in the house across the street about a year ago & we are glad to have them as neighbors - they are really nice people. They happen to have 2 grown boys who visit from time to time to help them out around the house.

My husband & I had thought they were probably in their early 50's based on the ages of their kids. They both work out a lot, so we just figured they just looked really awesome for their age. The other day we were talking & she looks me in the eye and asks "Just how old are you anyway, if you don't mind me asking. My husband & I were trying to figure it out."

"Oh, I replied I just turned 39 & Mr. Crackers will turn 40 in a week or so."

"I thought you guys were our age! Joe wasn't sure, but I told him that I didn't think you guys were really young. Joe & I are 43."

Thankfully, I had the presence of mind not to blurt out - Gee we thought you guys were a lot older (sometimes my social filter kicks in just in time to save me from more embarrassing and awkward moments).

"You're right! We're all about the same age - I guess we're just in different stages of life." (I'm observant like that.)

She looked at me, and then shot a look at my two hooligans and said, "So, you guys kind of had your kids late in life, huh? I mean my two boys are 21 and 24. How old are your kids again?"

"Umm, well they're 6 and 3". I replied in my calmest voice.

"Wow! Well, I'm sure that being an older Mom you have a lot more patience than I did with my kids. I mean I was so young, I didn't know what I was doing. You've got maturity on your side (well, I guess that's one way of saying it) I mean, now mine are finally grown & living on their own. Joe & I are having the time of our lives."

"Oh, that's great. Yeah, Mr. Crackers & I didn't get married until our late 20's & then we were having fun just being a couple, so we waited awhile before having kids. I guess we're a little behind you on the whole life-stage thing, but we'll be joining you guys in about ...... umm 17 years or so (gulp)."

Dagnabit! Where did all those years go? If the last 6 years are any indication, I need to hold onto my hat because these next 17 years are going to fly right by. Before I know it I'll be looking around & realizing that I'm closer to 60 than 40!

Oh well -- Looking back on it, I realize that I wouldn't change a thing about the course my life has taken. I enjoyed my footloose and fancy-free 20's and have loved my family life and everything else that has blessed my 30's. Even though I may be doing things later than some people, I'm having the time of my life. I think someone once said it's not the destination but the journey (or something like that). So far it's been a pretty terrific ride.





**UPDATE: Since I am actually on the computer I figured I should probably do some internet research on the quote I was talking about above. The actual quote I was referring to (I think) was:

"The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination.” Don Williams, Jr. (American Novelist and Poet, b.1968)

I still agree... and I've loved the journey so far!

Life Lessons from New York

When I was 16 years old, my parents allowed me to travel to New York for a summer to study art at Pratt University in Brooklyn. Looking back on it now, I honestly can't believe they let me loose in NYC for an entire summer. I think there were about 20 high school students enrolled in the program from all over the country. We were supervised in a very loose way by some college RA's who were living on campus attending summer school. They were just a few years older than us and trusted us to take care of ourselves (excuse me while I finish laughing a bit here).

Here I am outside of my apartment building in Brooklyn with my friend Myra. Why do I look so scary (I mean besides the braces and the bad hair)? Why am I so blotchy and what are those things all over my lips? Please see life lesson #6.

I attended art classes from 9-1 Monday through Wednesday. On Thursdays our professor took us into Manhattan on trips to museums and galleries. That left a lot of downtime for me to explore the city and get into trouble. The upside of this was that I learned a lot of valuable life lessons that summer which I feel compelled to share with you now:

1. If you leave your purse unattended in Brooklyn - it will most likely not be waiting for you when you return.

On the first day of class I left my new white and black vinyl Esprit purse chock full of traveler's checks and my only piece of identification in an unattended room while I wandered off to find something to sketch that "called to me". The purse was not there when I returned, much to my surprise (but to no one elses).

2. Even if you can't taste the grain alcohol in your Kool-aid, be advised consumption may cause numbness in your appendages.

The RA's who were "responsible" for us threw a party to welcome us to Pratt. Along with some salty snacks, they served us a giant vat of fruit punch spiked liberally with grain alcohol. Thankfully they warned us about the alcohol content in the juice & I only drank 1 glass. Unfortunately, since I was not a big drinker (as I was only 16 years old) the 1 glass I did have rendered my legs completely numb. You'll be glad to know that I was able to get myself back to my room under my own power. Once there I ate about 3 bananas under the impression that they would help my body neutralize the alcohol.

3. The appropriate response to the question "How do I look?" is NEVER "I think you kinda look like a hooker."

My friends decided that we should spend one night in Manhattan going to dance clubs. After we got dressed to go out on the town, my friend Kelly asked me what I thought about her dress and I gave her my honest opinion.

Strangely, she was offended to hear that I thought she resembled an underage street walker - go figure. As we went into the city that evening, I kept my eye out for the cops because I was sure she was going to be incarcerated. I learned later that you can't be arrested for bad fashion decisions (which is really a pity). Since I was deemed too young looking (and honestly I was just too plain chicken) I stayed behind in our room at the Marriott Marquis with another youngster while the rest of the gang went dancing. I am happy to say that despite my worst fears, my friend was not arrested for impersonating a prostitute that evening.

That's my friend Kelly on the left. Sadly, I have no photographic evidence of the "hooker" dress.

4. Subway doors do not always re-open when hitting an obstacle in their path. Sometimes they just stay closed and the train will start to move anyway.

In this instance the obstacle in the path of the doors was my body. One arm and leg were outside on the subway platform, the rest of my body including my head were still inside the train. One of the guys with me was a football player and happily he was really quick on his feet. He flagged down the conductor and got him to stop the train before any permanent damage was done. I still bear the scars of this experience. My minivan has automatic sliding doors and I have lost track of how many times a day I scream "Be careful! THE DOORS ARE CLOSING! Hurry. THE DOORS ARE CLOSING!"






5. Dan Fogelberg should have never dropped out of art school.


Oddly the man who taught me art that summer had been Dan's art teacher back when he was in college. To put it kindly, this professor was not a fan of Dan Fogelberg's music - at all. He often used Dan as an example of the tragedy that could befall us if we didn't continue with our pursuit of art. In his estimation, we were all just a small misstep away from becoming adult easy-listening recording artists. Only our devotion to our art would save us from this sad fate.

The only thing I have in common with Dan Fogelberg- a former art teacher.

6. They're not lying about that hole in the ozone layer.

I decided to test out the theory that the sunscreen is really a placebo by not wearing any for an entire day of fun at Jones Beach (sure this is a theory held by only a few people, but I felt the need to explore it anyway). If you don't know me, I will let you in on a little secret - I have virtually no pigment to my skin. My best friend's little brother used to refer to me as Snow White & Mr Crackers often refers to my skin tone as "fish belly white". I can tell you now that a day at the beach without sunscreen is a day where I will later be badly burned and have a heaping case of sun poisoning. Luckily for me, Pratt had an on call doctor who was able to help me out with a bunch of salves to alleviate some of the pain. Which reminds me...I probably need to make an appointment with my dermatologist for my annual skin check.

I'm sure I probably learned more that summer, but the lessons I listed above have stuck with me the longest. In all, that was probably one of the best summers of my teen years. I had a blast and learned a lot about myself that summer (I mean besides the fact that I was completely naive and should always wear sunscreen). To this day I am very thankful that my parents allowed me to go. I'm glad that my own two hooligans are both so young. Hopefully, that means I have at least 10 years before I have to start worrying about the crazy life lessons they'll be learning while out from under my watchful eye.

A secret boyfriend for Mrs. G

Mrs. G over at The Women's Colony regularly hosts a section in her blog where she lists all of her secret boyfriends - men she admires for their good looks animal magnetism charm and strong acting ability. She asked her readers today to nominate their own "secret boyfriend" for consideration.


I can't disagree with standard beefcake trilogy: George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp. But I find that once I get beyond these three obvious choices, I seem to go my own way when asked by friends to pick the actors I most enjoy watching on screen.


For instance, I just don't get all the fuss being made over Robert Pattinson. He does absolutely nothing for me at all - Nada. Zip. Zilch. In fact, while I enjoyed reading the books of the Twilight series, I have put off seeing the movie because I am quite frankly put off by Robert in all of the promotional posters. I'm not saying that the millions of teenage girls and women who drool at the sight of him are wrong. I merely point this out to illustrate my point - I seem to gravitate toward what might be the less obvious choice.




If I were a teenage girl today forced to identify my favorite mancake (or I guess I should probably call them boycake) I'd choose either Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame or Michael Cera over Robert Pattison any day.

Yessiree, I sure am excited to see the next installment of the Harry Potter series. My, oh my! Here is one actor who is definitely more handsome than the character I had in my mind's eye as I read the book. (Of course the fact that the character in the book was like 15 years old may have been a factor in this as well.)




And I just can't resist me some Michael Cera. I think I've seen all his movies since he left Arrested Development (which still reigns as my all-time favorite TV show). I know I could be this kid's mother, but I just seem to get enough Michael. He's just too damn cute.



I think that the pick that seemed to scare my friends the most was when I told them that I thought Bill Murray was a hottie extremely attractive. Although I think I made this declaration about 10 years ago, I still recall the scene clearly. Four of my friends and I were driving back to work after a lunch break on a sunny Friday afternoon. We were having fun - all four of us were talking at once about our favorite actors. But, you could have heard a pin drop when I pledged my love for Bill. Everyone in the car looked at me with a combination of horror and (what I can only imagine was) pity. "Bill Murray!?" my friend KK practically bellowed " I don't understand, are you saying that you think he's attractive?" Yep, I do. I can't explain it, but there you go.



There's just something about Bill Murray that does something for me. It may be wrong - but as Mr. Crackers likes to say, there is a lot about me that's just not right.

So, without further ado, I guess it's time for me to reveal my pick for "secret boyfriend".

(Drum roll, please....)

The man I picked in answer to Mrs. G's inquiry was none other than Jason Bateman.

My, oh my indeed! Jason grabbed my attention when he starred in Arrested Development (yes I am noticing a pattern here. And yes, I will admit that I find Will Arnet, who also starred in the series, very attractive as well.) His sarcastic sense of humor and seeming inability to take himself too seriously sealed the deal for me. I was a goner. He's my pick. While I haven't seen all his movies, I really enjoyed watching him in Hancock, Juno and The Kingdom. There is a rumor going around that they are planning to make an Arrested Development movie. By God, I'm telling you this: If they make that movie, I'm going to be the first person in line to buy those tickets baby. Oh yeah!

But while Secret Boyfriends are fun to watch on screen, having someone around in real life who's attractive and can make you laugh is even better.

So here's to you Mr. Crackers. I'm happy that we managed to find each other despite the fact that neither one of is quite right.

My latest fear - the food court ambush

I wanted to tell you about the strangest segment I saw yesterday on the Today show. The woman trainer from Biggest Loser (I have no idea what her name is) was ambushing people in a mall food court somewhere.

I watched her approach a group of 3 women in their mid-sixties who were enjoying a nice ice cream break. Judging by the trainer's reaction, you would have thought these women were speed eating sticks of butter. The food nazi trainer went nuts, berating them for eating ice cream, asking them "Are you aware how much fat you are consuming? Do you know how bad ice cream is for you? Shame on you, eating ice cream at 11:30 in the morning!"

The 3 women stared back at her blankly, hoping that she'd just go away. I kept wishing one of them would scream, "Step back beeyoch! I am over sixty & I can eat a damn ice cream cone whenever the hell I want to!" (Being over 60, they can probably curse on national TV without repercussions -although I may just be making that up.)


Sadly, none of the women did this, they just continued to stare at her until she left to harass other people who were eating "equally dangerous" foods. Now it's one thing to sign up for a show like Biggest Loser & open yourself up to criticism, but it's another thing entirely to have someone ambush you in the food court while you are eating a hot soft pretzel from Auntie Ann's (mmm... pretzels). Seriously, what is this world coming to when you can't make food choices as an adult without criticism from complete strangers?


The segment came to a close with the trainer saying that people eat things like pizza and ice cream because they have low self esteem. She commented that if they could only look ahead to a healthier future for themselves they'd see that salad was a better option and they would give up those other terrible food choices.

I was like - Hey there trainer chick, I've got a news bulletin for you: pizza and ice cream are delicious! I promise that I'm not eating them due to low self esteem. There is no guarantee that I am going to live a really long life just because I eat salad instead of pizza. I could get hit by a bus tomorrow and I'm telling you now, if I have the choice I am choosing pizza over salad as my final meal.

I used to have this friend who was constantly criticising the food I would prepare for dinner. Here's a typical conversation:

Her: What are you making for dinner tonight? I think I'm out of ideas...

Me: It's Taco night at the House of Crackers!

Her: You're not making beef tacos are you? That's sooo bad for you. I hope you're making turkey tacos. Please tell me you're not using ground beef.

Me: Well, we do turkey tacos sometimes, but tonight it's ground beef for us.

Her: Seriously Karen, you shouldn't be eating beef - it's soooo bad for you. I feed my family ground turkey all the time & they love it. They say they can't taste any difference and I feel good because I am feeding them something that's really healthy for them. We never eat beef anymore. You should really stop making it too.

At this point my eyes would start to cross & I'd bite my tongue to prevent myself from saying, "Back off there sister!"

I'm telling you, no matter what I was cooking she always had a better, more healthful way to prepare it. As you can imagine I learned after awhile just to tell her that I had no idea what I was making for dinner. It was just easier that way. (Oddly, the woman put more sugary treats into her children than anyone else I know. Every time I talked to her the kids were eating candy or ice cream.)

Now I know that as a country we have a serious weight problem. I'm not advocating the pizza and ice cream diet. I'm just saying that I think it's all about balance. For heavens sakes, my Great Grandma lived to be 103 years old and she had a love affair with butter her whole life. I think that as long as you make the effort to put healthy foods in front of your family most nights, there is nothing wrong with a little ice cream or pizza.

Speaking of which, my mouth is watering - guess what we're having for dinner tonight?

I telling you this though, it may be a long time before I can eat at a food court again without looking over my shoulder. Stupid Today Show!

The February Blahs...

So, I know I haven't done a particularly good job of blogging lately. Something always happens to me in late February- I don't know why, but I seem to have the overwhelming desire to slow things down & go into hibernation. It doesn't seem to matter what's on the agenda, February has just always been weird month for me. This year has been no exception. First, I was busy getting us ready for the cruise, and then there was the cruise itself and after that there was the recovery period after the cruise. And finally, just when it was time for me to get back in the swing of things again, I came down with a horrible case of the February Blahs.... I know what you're thinking, excuses, excuses!

But I have to say, it was a particularly nasty case of the Blahs. While I was able to keep up with the daily grind of life - the laundry, the meal preparation and the general maintenance of my 2 hooligans - I let everything else go. And as I puttered about and took a long time to get very little accomplished, the house began it's frighteningly rapid decent into filth and disarray.

I began noticing yesterday that things had really started to get out of hand. The pile of ironing was approaching the 4' high mark (I began having nightmares about poor K being buried alive under a gigantic avalanche of horribly wrinkled clothes), the hard wood floors were getting downright icky (your socks shouldn't stick to the floors, right?), there was a thick coat of dust on every piece of furniture we own, and I can't even talk to you about the toilets... shudder, shudder. Let's just say I'm glad no one has dropped in on us unexpectedly as of late.

Even the yard was in a sad state of decay that wasn't only due to the cold and dreariness of winter. Nope. You see, while I am really diligent about dog "waste" removal during the warm months, I really let it slide once the weather gets cold. If a dog poops in the yard and no one is there to see it, is the poop really there? I mean if the kids & I aren't out in the yard than does it really matter how much poo is out there? OK, maybe it does but I figure what I don't see won't hurt me, right? We only have 1 dog these days, so it didn't seem so bad in December or even January. But once late February comes & the snow melts all of that poo starts making me a little twitchy. Seriously, there's a lot of poo out there people! I knew I had to get things jump started relatively soon or the Easter Egg hunt could be really scary this year.

Happily, I think I am on the road to recovery. I'm not sure if this week's warmer temperatures have been the cure or if the filth we are living in finally got through all my layers of apathy, but I can say I am starting to return from the land of the hibernating zombies. I actually took a good swing at the ironing yesterday & I'm proud to report that it's height has been reduced to about 14" or so. I am hoping that I can knock the rest out tonight (the good news is that even if all of the ironing fell on top of K - I think I would be able to find her quickly before she suffocated!)

I also went outside into the yard and tackled the area around the kids play set. I can now proudly say that the hooligans can play in about 1/3 of our yard without fear of stepping on any doggie made land mines. This morning I even vacuumed & mopped all of the downstairs floors. Now I am finally getting a new blog entry out there. Wow, compared to my activity levels over the past 2 weeks I'm on fire! Geez, what's next? Maybe I'll even don my hazmat suit and tackle all the bathrooms. OK, I take that back, maybe I'll just do one of them. I'm still in recovery after all & don't want to overdo it. Baby steps, it's all about baby steps.

Watch out world, February is almost over and I'm getting ready to kick some serious March butt (or more realistically, I may be ready to get the house back under control again)!

25 Random things...

As my Mom rightly pointed out earlier, "Don't you have a blog?"

Yes I do & I have been very lazy about it this week. I have some pictures & a post about the "Big Snow Storm" here in Ohio. It's not ready yet, so to tide you over, here is a list of 25 random things about me.

I got tagged on Facebook & had to list the items (OK, so I didn't have to do it, but I did), so I thought I'd share them here too. I was supposed to make my list of 25 things & then send it off to 25 of my closest friends (I honestly have nothing close to 25 friends). I normally don't like these kind of things, but I did have fun trying to pull the list together.

So here they are in no particular order - 25 random things about me:

1. I have gotten blood poisoning twice in my life from spider bites. I now have a healthy fear of spiders.

2. I played basketball in High School my freshman year and my junior year. I did not play sophomore or senior year.

3. I was an R.A. in college my sophomore year.

4. I am addicted to soda. I drink 1 coke and at least 1 diet squirt every day

5. I've always wanted to be able to sing, but I have a terrible singing voice.

6. I don't really like salty snacks - I prefer sweet ones - except for that certain time every month. I don't know why that is...

7. I am part Swedish, Irish, German and English

8. The English part of the family came to America by way of Barbados. It is my understanding that they were brought to the island as indentured servants. They eventually emigrated to New York.

9. I was in New York on a business trip during 9/11. Although I was all the way up in mid-town when the planes struck, it was an experience that forever changed me. My company finally chartered a bus to bring myself and other co-workers who were in New York back to Atlanta where I was living at the time. The bus ride took 18 hours.

10. I was also in New York for the big black out that took down the power grid in the Northeast for several days. I walked down 85 flights of stairs and then walked a very long way to get back to my dark hotel room. I pooled the cash I had with 2 fellow co-workers so we could hire a car to drive us to the Albany airport which was the only airport that had a flight available to get us back home.

11. I like romance novels by Nora Roberts, Suzanne Brockman & Julie Garwood. My favorite author is Janet Evanovich.

12. My goal is to become a web designer within the next 2-3 years.

13. If I only could eat one kind of food it would be Italian. I can't get enough pasta!

14. My favorite vacation was my honeymoon in Italy. I want to go back there for my 25th wedding anniversary.

15. I went to college on a full academic scholarship my sophomore through senior year. It was sponsored by Eastman Kodak. I had an internship with them after my sophomore year, but for some reason I don't think I interviewed with them upon my graduation. I think they just lost contact with me. Weird.

16. I think I am allergic to kiwi fruit. It always makes my tongue go numb when I eat it.

17. My dad grew up as 1 of 12 kids. Despite this, I have few first cousins on that side of the family.

18. When I worked in Atlanta, 2 of my best friends were also named Karen. We got lots of strange looks when we ate lunch together with our name badges still on.

19. I have Renaud's syndrome and lose circulation in my feet and hands very easily once the temp falls below 50 degrees.

20. I really want to go to Ireland some day.

21. I love the neighborhood where we live.

22. My neighborhood used to have a wild peacock, but he was found dead this past fall.

23. I don't think I have 25 friends to send this list.

24. My favorite TV show is Arrested Development. I still miss it even though it was cancelled years ago.

25. I have a crush on Jason Bateman (It all started with Arrested Development, but I keep it alive seeing all his current movies. My gosh he's cute!)

How about sharing a random thing about yourself? C'mon you don't have to list 25. Just give me one random thing about you!