Describe your family dynamic of your childhood vs. your family dynamic now.

I've been getting more and more slack about following my list of blog titles lately. That's mostly because of blogs like this. I feel like I need to put alot of effort into trying to fully answer this, but I really don't have the energy to try and find words that could ever do justice to explaining what it really feels like to be in my family.

As a child, I had a simple family dynamic. I loved my family very much. My parents were, of course, able to handle any problem.They were so tall, too. They were fun, loving, and just parents. My brother and I were like twins in my mind, being about a year apart. We played together most days, occasionally fought, but always bounced back. My older sister was my role model in my mind: being four years older, everything she did was the coolest thing ever. Besides the occasional brattiness on one of our parts and deserved punishments, we had a fairly normal family.

When I was 14, I realized, rather harshly, that my parents can't solve any problem in the world, and that I did have to face consequences for problems I create. From 13-18 was a much less friendly family dynamic, mostly because my parents had two angsty teenage girls for two of the years, then Trish moved out and I continued to be angsty.  I argued with them frequently. Why are teenagers so belligerent and grating?

Now, we're back to our normal, happy family. Part of that is probably because I don't live with my parents. We talk frequently, I love them very much, and I visit them occasionally. There's not much more to say to that. The only difference is that, as a child, I saw my parents as gods in my world. Now, I realize that they aren't perfect, nor do they have all the answers. They, like me, are just regular people trying to live a life for Christ.

That aside, it's been a crazy week. I no longer believe in the curse of Friday the 13th. Here's my story:

A year ago, I got a part-time minimum wage job at a company with an office in town. Three months later, on a whim, I applied to a salaried position in the same building via Career Builder. Surprisingly, they interviewed me three times. I didn't get the job, but they gave me a different, full-time, hourly job with benefits and told me that they hoped I could move up to the other job eventually.  Wednesday, someone put in their two weeks. Yesterday, my promotion was announced. In one week, Mike got a good annual raise, I got a promotion, and my brother received a job offer for a great job with Habitat for Humanity out of college.

I feel excited and happy, but I also feel scared. Everything is going great, for the first time in a long time, which means something is bound to go badly. Also, I keep thinking of the song "Thank Goodness" from Wicked. "I couldn't be happier... but... there's a kind of a sort of cost, there's a couple of things get lost." 

Either way, I have my first "adult" job now. I feel like a real grown-up.

List your top 5 hobbies and why you love them.

1. Reading. This is by far my number one hobby. As a child, I would spend every second reading: before school, after school, in between lessons or classes, on any car ride, etc. I don't read as frequently now as I would like, but this is partly because once I start a book, I will not stop until I am completed. (Example: Two summers ago, I decided to re-read the Harry Potter series. I was finished in less than two weeks. It would have been sooner if I hadn't been working full-time as well.) I love reading because it completely engulfs you in a story, much more fully than a movie. Movies only can use sight and sound, but books can touch all five senses and can more thoroughly penetrate your imagination, allowing you to live the story.

2. Video games. I am a true gamer at heart. Like books, I have to be careful because they will consume my time. Luckily, all videos except WoW and the Sims that I've played have a legit ending, so they can only captivate me for so long. I love video games because they are fun.

3. Singing. One day, I'll join a choir again. I think a love of music is just part of being human.

4. Cooking. I love cooking because the end result is eating.

5. Working out. While I am in the process of working out, I hate every second of it. It's after the workout that I love. There's a strong sense of accomplishment, stress relief, loss of fat, higher metabolism, and an overall feeling of healthiness.

Speaking of working out: I finally went to week 5 of C25k. Day 1 was easy: Just three intervals of running for 5 minutes. I was all, "Oh I can do this!" Wrong. Unlike the past weeks, week 5 changes the workout each day. Day 2? Two intervals of jogging for 8 minutes. The first 8 were fine. The second 8, all uphill, nearly killed me. My heart rate was at 186 for a good part of the workout, which is about 18 bpm higher than it should be for a cardio workout. On another note, I love my heart rate monitor!  I burned 374 calories from that workout!

Anyways, that's all for now. I don't have to be in work till an hour later today, so I had free time to blog. Hopefully I'll find more time to write again soon.

If you could have one superpower, what would it be and what would you do with it first?

Probably flying. And the first thing I would do is go flying. The second thing I would do is sell my car.

Second choice would be teleportation, but only if I could teleport other people, too. I have a whole business scheme planned out.

Today is a day that I'm glad is over. Although it ended well, the rest was less happy. Work was boring and disappointing. Upcoming changes aren't happening as quickly as I'd like, and we all know that I'm not at all a patient person. After work I had to go running, which was disheartening. I'm still on week 4, due to my stomach virus last week. Also, since I did squats on Tuesday, my quads are killing me. Running is supposed to be the remedy, but it still just feels miserable. And it's on the verge of thunderstorming around 5 every day, making workouts a dangerous gamble.

The dinner party was fun. It was my week to host, and we had lasagna and homemade breadsticks. The breadstick dough did not behave as I had hoped, but the lasagna was tasty. And I get leftovers for lunch!

Overall, I'm just glad that tomorrow is a brand new day to be what it will.

Describe 3 significant memories from your childhood.

Uhhhh. Well, I can describe three memories that I significantly remember!

1. I remember going into surgery for one of the last of my surgeries (ten operations on scalp, born with 1/3 of scalp covered in cancerous mole.) I remember being wheeled back and the doctors put the breathing thing over my mouth and told me to count, or they were counting, but I only made it through three numbers before I was asleep. Back then, it seemed so normal, but now I wonder what it's like for a doctor--putting an adult under anesthesia is one thing, but a tiny three year-old girl? I wonder what it felt like for them. I have a few other bits of memory regarding the surgeries- getting stitches removed, looking in the mirror at the tube from the tissue expander sticking out of my head, and seeing my head entirely shaved (after the last surgery, they cut it all off.) I looked in the mirror, ran my hands over it, then ran to my parents to let them know it felt like Daddy's face when he hadn't shaved.

2. I remember the only time in kindergarten that I got a sad face (as opposed to a straight or smiley face.) I got straight faces more than I should have, but only one sad face. First of all, I was already pesty because it was costume day or something and I had dressed up as a ballerina. I was wearing an old pair of shoes that had broken, and instead of letting the janitor fix them, my mom let the teacher know that I had an extra pair of tennis shoes, so I had to wear those. At recess, some kid thought he was hot stuff by holding onto the edge of the circular slide so that he was hanging off of it, then inching his way up with his hands till he was a foot or so off the ground. I was not going to be outdone. I went around to the top of the side, then flung myself over the edge so that I was dangling a good five feet or so off the ground. The teachers saw me and, alarmed, came to the rescue and asked me what had happened. I probably would have been fine if I just told them, but I was mad that they had ruined my moment so I crossed my arms and turned away. I still would have been fine except this next part: when recess ended, I refused to move. The teacher had to carry me back into the class as I kicked and screamed in fury.

3. When I was four, my dad shaved his mustache off. I ran outside and hid behind a tree crying. I did not recognize him.

I'm not sure if I remember these because they were so significant or because they are still talked about by my family.

I spent today preparing lasagna and breadsticks for group dinner tomorrow. I made the dough tonight and shaped it and am leaving it in the fridge. According to the Internet, I can still have them rise tomorrow before baking. We'll see how it works!

If you could live anywhere, where would it be and why?

This was one of the questions at my bridal shower where you play the game that everyone takes a quiz about you. I named my hometown. My parents moved to Lake Helen when I was two and bought a house there when I was four. They still live there. If anywhere feels like home, it's that little four mile square beautiful town that's 15 minutes away from any sort of not locally owned business. I love it there. Even if it can be a bit boring, it's always going to feel like home. (Also, living closer to parents=free babysitting.)

I've disappeared for a few days. Work has been busier and I've been more tired. I'm still on week 4 of C25k since the stomach bug set me back some. I've been playing lots of Zelda on the Wii in my free time. Also, I hung out with Leah friday, which was awesome.  Since Leah works late on Fridays, we didn't have much time to go anywhere because she came over a little after 9. So she just sat down on the couch and started talking. Before we knew it, it was almost 11. I'm going to miss her when she moves away. Luckily, since we enjoy talking, we can do that on the phone just as easily. Or skype. We also tried to determine the origins of our friendship, since neither of us could really remember what we talked about freshman year. We decided that we have a friendship solely based on singing duets. The best kind.

Anyways, back to Zelda.