Meet Me On Monday

Today's post is part of a meme hosted by Java at Never Growing Old. Every Monday she posts a list of questions to help bloggers get to know each other better. Here are this week's questions and my answers.

1. What are your New Year's Eve plans?  We quit going out on New Year's Eve many years ago. We'll probably take in a movie and then go out for a late dinner. Odds are pretty good we'll be home for a champagne toast before midnight.

Image by Free-StockPhotos.com

2.  How tall are you? I'm 5'1" if I stand up very straight. While we're on this subject, Grandad is 6'5". That makes a 16" difference in our heights. We look a little like Mutt and Jeff.

3.  What is your favorite pudding flavor? I don't like pudding, it's a texture issue, so I don't have a favorite flavor. I do, however, like bread pudding with bourbon sauce. Does that count?

4.  What room of the house do you blog the most in? I only blog in the living room. I sit in my favorite chair in front of the television with my laptop on my lap and write away.

5. What is your best physical feature? I have beautiful hair and lot's of it. It's heavy and straight so I keep it short. It's brown with red highlights. Okay, truthfully. nowadays it's brown with red and gray highlights, but I keep it colored. Some day I'm going to get brave enough to just let it go gray, but probably not any time soon.

  

This is a blog hop.

Meet Me On Monday

Meet Me On Monday is a weekly blog-hop from Java at Never Growing Old. Once a week she posts a list of five questions to help us get to know each other better.



Here are this week's questions with my answers:

1.  What will your Christmas dinner consist of? We have our big family celebration on Christmas Eve at my mother-in-law's home. We'll all go to 6 o'clock mass then meet at her house for an evening of food, games, and opening presents. It's traditional for everyone to bring their favorite dish with very little advance coordination. We end up with a smorgasbord including ham, shrimp, lasagna, olive balls, broccoli rice casserole, and every kind of sweet you can imagine. I'm especially fond of my sister-in-law Jeanne's iced sugar cookies.

On Christmas Day I usually cook a pot roast for lunch. But, since there will only be four of us this year, I'm thinking of making a big brunch with french toast with raspberry compote, scrambled eggs, and sausage or bacon. Then I'll put a pot roast in the crock pot for after we go to the movies.

2.  Do you watch commercials or flip through the channels? We DVR everything. Then we fast forward through commercials. We rarely watch live TV, but when we do, my husband flips the channels which makes me crazy.

3.  How long will you leave your Christmas decorations up? I always take them down on New Year's Day. This question reminds me of my grandfather, who removed the Christmas tree on Christmas Day, as soon as the final present was opened.

4.  What movie makes you cry every time you watch it? Steel Magnolia's makes me go into the ugly cry. When Shelby (Julia Roberts) dies and M'Lynn (Sally Field) is so angry, I just completely break down.

5.  Do you have a Facebook?  Yes, I have a personal Facebook account and a blog fan page for Grams Made It. My kids say I'm addicted to Facebook. But I consider it a hobby.

Wordless Wednesday

Just like my Pop-pop!

Wordless Wednesday is a great day to post an awesome picture that “speaks” for itself, no words needed!!

I'm One in a Million

Grams has joined the army ... the Love/Avon Army of Women that is. Grams has joined and you should too!

You see, this year someone Grams knows lost her life to breast cancer. She was a beautiful, fun-loving, talented, caring woman who dedicated her life to her family, to the education of young children, and to mentoring young teachers. She was about the same age as me and her daughters went to school with my kids. She fought a long and hard battle, but ultimately she lost the fight. The entire community was moved by her struggle and devastated by losing her. Martha won't be there to hold her first grandchild when it's born in a few months. I joined for Martha.

And right now, someone I know is actively involved in the battle against breast cancer. She's a member of my book club. She is also a beautiful talented woman. I don't know her well, she's only been in the club a couple of months. She shares Grams' passion for reading. Her smile lights up the room. Sometimes she has chemo on the same day she comes to book club. Sometimes she doesn't feel like eating and she can't have a glass of wine, but she shows up and participates. I love seeing Becky every month at book club and I love her smile and positive attitude. I joined for Becky, too.



The Army of Women is an opportunity for women and men to take part in breast cancer research studies aimed at determining the causes of breast cancer–and how to prevent it. This is a groundbreaking initiative that connects breast cancer researchers via the internet with women who are willing to participate in a wide variety of research studies. The goal of the Army of Women is to recruit ONE MILLION MEN AND WOMEN of all ages and ethnicities, including breast cancer survivors and those who have never had breast cancer.

Signing up for the Army of Women does NOT automatically enlist you in any research project. What it does is put you on an eblast mailing list for notification of studies. When you get an email, you respond yes or no to let the Army of Women know whether you qualify for a particular study and whether you are interested and able to participate in that study. Participation is ALWAYS VOLUNTARY. Just because you join the Army of Women doesn't mean you'll be in a research study.

Studies will require a variety of different things. Participation in a study may be as simple as filling out an online questionnaire or you may be asked for a blood sample. It all varies according to the study. Joining the Army of Women is free.  It doesn't cost you anything and there's no charge when and if you participate in a study. This is an opportunity for women to help find the cause of breast cancer. The goal is to PREVENT breast cancer not just to cure it.

Now, Grams is asking you to join the Army of Women too. Sign Up Today. I joined for Martha and Becky. I also joined for my daughter and for Our Little Princess. Who will you join for?

After you sign up (or if you're already a member) you can also help recruit more members. Use this ‘invite a friend’ link to ask them to join.

You can also help by passing the word. On Oct 1 please post this following update to your Facebook status; “I signed up to STOP breast cancer before it STARTS. Have you? Join today at www.armyofwomen.com, then copy and paste this status update as your own”.

And, men, did you catch that you can join the Love/Avon Army of Women? That's right, you can and you should. As a matter of fact ... all men who love boobies should join.  And we all know you all love the boobies!

Where (and How) the Magic Happens

Fellow blogger Laurin Evans is asking bloggers to dedicate a post today to how we do what we do. I signed up for this one-time meme so here goes. Oh, yeah, I was supposed to post it this morning. But at 6 a.m. I got a call to substitute today so I worked at my real job instead of my fun one.

I'll just start by saying that for Grams, blogging is not work. It's something I do because I enjoy it. When I'm working, I'm substitute teaching, and they actually pay me. I would love to blog for a living, but I don't have enough of a following to make money at it. And, I'm okay with that, for now.

Our Little Princess on a rainy day.

I blog from my life experience. My blog would have to be considered somewhat unfocused in that I don't write about one particular topic or area of expertise. I'm just writing about whatever is on my mind on a particular day or whatever inspires me. I share advice, opinions, recipes, craft projects, and a lot of pictures of my gorgeous grand-daughter, Our Little Princess. (Laurin encouraged bloggers to include photos of their pets, and since we don't have pets, here's a picture of Our Little Princess instead.) Occasionally I rant about one topic or another. It depends on what's upsetting me at the time.

For inspiration, I keep a simple, running list of ideas for blogs so I don't lose them or forget them. When an idea pops into my mind, if I'm not at home, I send myself an email from my cell phone so I won't forget to add it to the list when I get home. I have gotten into the habit of carrying my camera with me almost everywhere I go. Sometimes a photo is the best inspiration and all the reminder I need.

That's the back of my head,so you can see my view.

I write and publish this blog using an old Dell Latitude laptop that Grandad snagged from a business that was putting it out to pasture. I work in my living room while sitting on my sofa in front of the television. I often have my feet propped on the coffee table. Here's the view from where I sit. And, yes, the television is always on.

This is my view if Grandad is home.

I write at my own convenience, in between all my daily tasks. If it's Monday, I'm writing between loads of laundry. While I'm writing, I'm trying to decide what to make for dinner, reading emails, talking to my kids or my sisters on the phone, Facebooking, snacking, texting, watching television or movies ... you get the idea. I'm not very focused. Distractions don't bother me. Remember, I'm already sitting in front of the television. When I do get distracted, I just go back and read what I've written so far and I can usually just go right back to it.

I always have a drink of some sort on the end table right next to me.  In the mornings it's coffee, afternoons and evenings it's water, iced tea, or Crystal Light Lemonade. In the evenings, it might be a glass of wine.

So that's it. That's how I blog and where I blog. The only thing I would change if I could is I would like a shiny, new laptop with a wider screen. Maybe Santa will bring me one ... a girl can dream can't she?