Prompted Blog (again)

I thought I'd take another stab at the "prompted blogs" again. Honestly, because I feel the need to write, but not sure that I want to write all of what's going on in my head.... it might overwhelm you a bit. :)

335. If all my wishes came true, I would......

Wow. That's huge. If ALLLLLL of my wishes came true, I'd be living quite the contradictory life. I mean, how can I be married to Justin Timberlake, Steven Tyler, Jillian Michaels, Joaquin Phoenix, Jared Leto, Wes (from The Bachelorette) and Chloe Sevigny (Big Love) at the same time? That would be quite the house full, huh? Not to mention I'm not sure how people would react to me being married to so many people of both sexes. haha! :)

But seriously. It wouldn't be possible for all of my wishes to come true.

I never want my kids to grow up. That would be wish number one. My heart aches every time Jackson's voice cracks or how I notice that Taylor's waist keeps getting smaller and smaller and she keeps getting taller and taller. I want my baby boy back who was so content being wrapped so tight in a blanket that I swear his circulation was going to be cut off. But he loved it. I want my little bald big eared baby girl back who would be so moody and cry so hard that there was no sound coming out and she would turn blue because she was SO mad. I miss that. I miss it so much that literally, my heart aches.
But wish number two is that I want to be the most fantastic grandparent ever. So, see, contradictory.

Wish number three is that I want to be my kids' best friend. I want them to come to me with everything and feel comfortable doing so. I want to laugh with them, have fun with them, never be upset or harsh with them. Never having to discipline them.
Wish number four - I want to be the best mother ever, knowing when to have tough love and not be their friend. Knowing when it's ok if they hate me, confident that they will be better adults for it in the future and that they won't hate me forever. I want to know the difference between sheltering them too much and letting them grow up. It's really tough. No one ever tells you that you HAVE to let them grow up. You have to let them learn to live. You have to teach them how to be ok when things aren't ok.

Wish number five would be that I would want to be completely blissfully happy and content with nothing. No processions, nothing to my name but the people I love.
Wish number six is that I would be the richest person ever. Having everything money can buy and not wanting for anything. Again, extremely contradictory.

Wish number seven.... knowing all the answers. Being able to tell you what you need to hear, have it be the truth and for it not to hurt. Even if it's something that would hurt. I want to be able to comfort, speak wisdom, have it all make sense. I want my heart to be seen for all it is, all it isn't and for it all to be clear and understood.
Wish number eight is that I want to be blissfully unaware and have it be ok to be so. Unaware of the hurt, heartache, hunger (for food, but other things as well) and evil that lurks almost everywhere. I don't want to know it's there. I want to pretend that this world I live in is as perfect as it is in my daydreams.

I could go on and on, but I think you can see where I'm going. :) It would be impossible for all of my wishes to come true and for it all to work. And I think that's what makes life so fantastic. Even though some of my wishes don't come true, some things are super shitty, some things are so difficult that it makes it hard to breathe at times, some of my wishes do come true. A lot of them have. Most things in my life are so beautiful that I wonder what I've ever done to deserve to be where I am now. To have the children I have. To have the friends I have. What about me makes it possible that the good things in my life are so good?

A healthy mix of wishes coming true and some not makes this life worth living. You never know what wish will come true for you tomorrow.

Facts are only what you believe?

The title has really nothing to do with my blog, but I've been thinking a lot about suggestion, facts, perspective and such, so that's what I wanted to name this blog. I guess I could talk about it for a minute tho, right?
Right.
I think not all facts are actually fact. So much of a fact is one person's perspective. And that's enough about that.... ponder it tho, you might end up having quite the deep conversation with yourself. :) On to the blog.....

Life is a maze. Sometimes you find the end and start the maze over and are successful at every attempt. But rarely. Most times you bump into a block and have to turn around and try to find a new way. A new way doesn't mean a wrong way. The way you came that made you run into the block doesn't have to be the wrong way. Or the right way. Sometimes it's just simply the way you went. You can chose to throw a bitch fit at the block and yell a few four letter words at it, hit it, try to punch a hole through it, breaking your hand or a finger or two in the process or you can chose to just turn around and find a new way. When I run into a block, in all of my 31 wise years * :) * I've learned that the best desicion is to just turn around and find a new way. Because obviously if you ran into a dead end in the maze, you weren't going the right way. That way won't work. But you can and should use the lessons you learned in heading the wrong way for when you turn around and head the right way. Sometimes your compass gets a little skewed. If you need to go North sometimes you end up going a little Northwest, or West and sometimes you just completely miss the mark and go completely South. But going South doesn't have to be bad. If you're successful at life, being self aware, I believe that you can make going South into a positive and it can be the new way you're supposed to be headed. But if not, just turn around. That's all. Just turn around.

I found this quote on one of my best friends' pages (thank you Aubrey, my love <3 ) and it says so much more than just the few words it takes to fashion the quote.

"The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware."

Beautiful, isn't it? And so very true. Life has ups and downs, disappointments and moments full of joy. Chose to take the bad times head on, just as you do the joyous times. Face them and keep going. Keep going. Don't get mad at the dead end, you can't change it. It's not moving. YOU have to. Don't be broken, that's a choice you can make. Chose to live, love, be joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.

New tattoo....

For those of you who know me well, you know that I am totally opposed to names tattooed on bodies. Even names of people close to you, husband's, mom's, dad's, children's names.... it's just not something I want on MY body. Don't confuse this with me not liking names on OTHER people's bodies. I do! I've seen so many beautiful names tattooed on people and really love the way it looks. But, it's just not something I want on me. This very appropriately falls under the "to each their own" category. :)

So in saying that, Miah and I want matching tattoos. Obviously names are out. lol We have always said, well, not said, but paged, texted, emailed, written, flashed headlights and break lights (I'll explain)to "143", meaning I love you. The headlight and break light flashing happens when we're following each other, we'll flash the lights once, then four times then three times to each other. I know, sappy, make-you-want-to-barf, lol, but it's what we do. Almost every time we're following each other in separate cars. I was very much in-like with this idea, but then Miah decided that it was too girlie. *sigh* So the quest continues.

Any ideas?

Only at Walmart

Imagine this.....

Trying to maneuver a SUPER heavy, SUPER filled up grocery cart into a check out lane, only to have a trashy, long haired, dirty, TOOTHLESS, loud mouthed cashier frantically waving her arms at you to come to her lane. Then when you get there, she looks at your cart and says, "OH NO! Nevermind!" And starts laughing hysterically.

I guess her sense of humor is different than mine.

I should feel bad because she was so friendly. But I don't really. I know, I know, I'm a horrible person.

So as I start loading my haul onto the moving belt for her to start ringing me up, she's talking/spitting away with her toothless mouth and I'm just politely smiling and nodding. Then she SCREAMS then whispers (why whisper? I have no idea) for someone to bring her another cart. Not a big deal at all. I actually appreciated that because then I wouldn't have to rush to put my groceries on the belt. I have a system. It's VERY strict. Ask Miah. All boxed goods have to go together, canned goods together, frozen foods together, cold foods together and in NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM can any NON food items (such as make-up, paper towels, trash bags, dish soap and such) touch my food items! And eggs and bread ALWAYS go last. Always. So I was relieved that I could do my sorting in peace.

But no, that was not the case. As much as I appreciated another cashier coming and bringing another cart, I was not so thrilled when she started loading my cart. IN THE COMPLETE WRONG WAY!!! My skin was crawling. I have to load my cart in the same way that I put my groceries on the belt. All the cold stuff HAS to be together to keep it all cold! Why didn't she know that. I had one eye on my loading and one eye on her completely messing up my loading system. Who puts chips and cereal on the bottom of the cart? WHO FREAKING DOES THAT?!?!? omg. I'm getting a little hot under the collar again just thinking about it.

I finally get done loading all of my groceries on the belt. WHEW! Now I can go tell that chick who's boss and take over loading the groceries in the cart. Just kidding. I didn't tell her who's boss. She probably could have kicked my ass. But I did start loading and rearranging my cart. She looked at me like I was insane. I may be, but it's how I am. It's ok, really it is.

So as the toothless cashier is talking to me/spitting at me, she stopped and started hysterically laughing again. I didn't ask what she was laughing at, I took that as a perfect opportunity to stop having to listen to her and load my cart QUICKLY! The other lady who is still there overseeing me load my cart asks her what she's laughing about. She holds up one of my items, a beef roast, and says, "Oh nothing, it just reminds of me a 'grosser than gross' joke."

omg.
Really?

Then she said, "oh, nevermind." and starts laughing again. The says, "Ok, well, I'll tell you."

SERIOUSLY?!

She tells the other cashier the joke, in her ear, no less. I mean come on, if I HAVE to hear that exchange, please for the love of everything that's good LET ME HEAR THE DAMN JOKE!!!!

I finish loading the rest of my groceries and am getting ready to leave when the other cashier grabs one more of my bags and THROWS it on top, so that it's literally partially hanging off and says, "OH! Those are the eggs! Be careful with that!"

wtf.
fml.

Blog 11

434. If you could do whatever you wanted to right now, what would you do?

Definitely move.

Not just me, my husband, kids, family and a few select friends (you all know who you are), but the whole city of Eugene.

I know there are other college towns all over the USA that I could love almost as much as I love Eugene, but the thought of leaving Eugene (the Eugene area, rather), even for sunny and hot weather, makes me heart sink.

My husband and I talk all the time, more serious of talks as of late, about moving. We've talked about moving to Arizona, Vegas, Southern California, and most recently (and the most appealing to me) Texas and South Carolina. South Carolina sounds like almost heaven to me, actually. All of the quaint little towns with so much history and beautiful buildings and all of the nice "southern hospitality" type of people, but it is really far away. But if I could take all of who I mentioned above, and took Eugene too, I would move in a heartbeat!

The weather here gets harder and harder on me every year. When I was a kid and all the way up through my teens, I LOVED the rain. I loved the snow, I loved the cold weather. I don't know what changed, but about 5 years ago a deep seeded hatred for it started to emerge. Now I think I would be ok if I never saw another rain drop until I was 95 years old. To keep everything green it can rain at night, but during the days, all I ask is super sunny 80 degree weather. That's not too much to ask, right? Right.

Since I can't move the whole city of Eugene (and by that, I don't mean just the people of Eugene, I literally mean the WHOLE city, buildings, streets, everything) without super powers and since I don't foresee super powers in my near future, we'll have to wait to move until my heart doesn't sink so much at the thought of leaving Eugene. You never know though. $$$$ can change a lot of emotions. ;)

Blog 10

456. What would happen if animals could talk? What are some of the questions you would like to ask animals?

Well, nothing would happen if they could talk, I don't think. Besides them talking I mean. But I would love to ask they lots of questions. I'll compose a list.

1. To a dog - What do you think of us humans trying to teach you "tricks"? Is it demeaning to sit, speak, lay down, roll over, you know, stuff like that?

2. To a cat - Do you like the taste of your own butt hole? Or is it just a necessary evil?

3. To a lion - Do you REALLY know how beautiful you are?!

4. To a giraffe - It sucks that everyone can see right up your nose cuz you're so tall, huh?

5. To a snake - Do you get your feelings hurt that everyone thinks you're gross? I think you're gross.

6. To a fish - How does it feel knowing that you're going to be flushed down the toilet someday? Sooner rather than later, no doubt.

7. To a turtle - Isn't it awesome that you have a shell you can just hide in and no one can get you out? I'm jealous.

8. To a worm - Does it hurt when a jerkass kid rips you apart knowing that you'll just grow into two worms? Or do you get excited because you've just been cloned?

9. To a bird, specifically the black birds that peck my head when I run on Territorial - Can you please stop pecking me head please?!? I'm NOT out to hurt you!

and 10. To a male rat - Do you love it or hate it that your balls are so big?

Blog 9

446. What would you do if you were in the middle of the lake and your boat began to leak?

Plug it up with my finger. Duh.

Blog 8

242. What is your full name? Who were you named for? How do you feel about your name?

My full given name is Shannon Lee Skovbo. I tacked on a Jones at the end when I was 18 years young.

I have no idea who I was named for. That's an odd question. I'm not named after anyone. Well, not my first name, at least. My mom and I share the same middle name though, and I think that's cool.

My parents tell me that they had two names picked out for me. Shannon Lee for a dark haired baby and if I would have been born with lighter skin and blonde hair, my name would have been Randi Ellen.

And I probably would have turned out to be a lesbian.

So good thing for Miah and my kids that I was born with dark hair! HA! :)

Blog 7

189. I am never me when...

I'm always me.

I spent a good few minutes thinking about this before I answered, and honestly, I'm always me. Different aspects of "me", but I'm always me.

There's the me that's uncomfortable in awkward situations and I don't feel like I'm 100% ok unless I have my better half by my side. Sometimes if he's not around and I'm in a situation that I need him in, I literally ache for him. My stomach turns into a big knot, I feel sick, my lungs hurt because it's hard to breathe. And although that my change my mood, my words or my outlook for the time being, I'm still me.

There's the me that's grumpy in the mornings and sometimes snaps at my kids when I'm getting them breakfast. That's the same me that says "I'm sorry" and gives them kisses all over their faces when they're eating their cereal, when I'm sure that they're thinking that just one kiss would have been good enough. Or just the I'm sorry alone. :)

There's the me that HATES to cook, but does it 5 days a week anyway.

There's the me that's ashamed to admit that I love the soap opera General Hospital like a fat kid loves cake. I even DVR it. I know, I know. It's bad. And shameful. But I love it so much. So so so very very much. :)

There's the me that gets so excited everyday to watch tv with my husband at night. I love our nightly tv watching ritual with our popcorn and/or monster cookie and soda. We split the monster cookie, of course. :)

There's the me that loves to sleep in on Saturday's and Sunday's. Oh how I love to sleep in. And by sleep in, I mean till at least 10:30 or 11:00am. Thank goodness my kids LOVE to sleep too! And so does my husband. We're quite the sleepers. :) Taylor's learning to love it finally. :)

There's the me that adores to get ready and go out. Where? Anywhere. Whether it's to the grocery store, shopping at the mall, out to lunch or dinner, or drinks with friends, I just love the whole act of "getting ready". I love to do my make-up and my hair. I love to pick out my outfits and shoes. I love it all!

There's the me that works out. Works out HARD. That's the me who's running the Eugene 1/2 Marathon in May!!! WHOOHOOO!!!!

The most important me I am is the wife and mother me. My husband and children are everything to me. I love to take care of them (even if that means cooking 5 days a week, LOL). They don't know this, but they take care of me way more than I take care of them.

So in short, I am me. All the time.

Blog 6

273. Would you like to be famous? Why or why not? What would you like to be famous for?

Of course!!! I have always wanted too. Well, just as much as anyone else probably. But I just admit it. ;)

As a kid I wanted to be a singer, but I think 95% of kids, girls at least, had that dream. I remember getting my first tape (yep, cassette tape! LOL), it was Paula Abdul, and I'd jam out to her, singing as loud as I could. When I watched her music videos, I wanted to have my hair, make-up and outfits JUST like hers. Boy how times have changed! LOL! But let me tell you, I could do my bangs in that high wave better than ANYONE I knew! Seriously!!! I was super talented in that way. ;)

Then I went through a phase in high school (during the OJ case, man, that dates me, huh?) where I wanted to be a famous lawyer. Not just a lawyer, but a famous one. I wanted to wear all the fancy high end suits and shoes and wear cute little glasses and argue with anyone who would pay me to. I still argue with whoever, but you don't have to pay me unless you really want too. lol :) I think I may have missed my calling by not being a lawyer, or a politician for that matter, but my husband gets plenty of my arguing and debating, so I guess it's not such a lost cause after all. :)

So yes, I would love to be famous. Pretty much for any reason (within reason, lol) that would make me that way. ;)

Blog 5

469. Did you have a favorite blanket or toy? Tell about it.

I do.
And my husband probably hates it.
It's not a toy, it's a blanket that I use on our bed. It's not as big as our HUGE bed, even though it's a big blanket, so when I make the bed I make it with the blanket all the way on my side of the bed and Miah maybe gets 1/4 of it. :) But he's fine with that. He's not as in love with it as I am. :)

I got the blanket as a gift when I was either in jr. high or high school, I can't remember which one, but I've loved it since the moment I got it! It's handmade and quilted and super soft on the sleeping side. I admit, it's probably the ugliest thing I've EVER seen but I just don't care because it snuggles me sooo good!! :) It's ridiculously coming apart and is in MAJOR need of repair, Daisey likes to chew on the tassels and like I said, it's super duper ugly, but it's still my favorite blanket. :)

Blog 4

572. What pets have you had as a child, teen, and adult?

This is an interesting question to answer because I bet I've had hundreds of pets. Mainly cats and fish and the occasional dog, but I remember my first kitty very well.

My mom swears I came up with her name all on my own, but I think she may have helped me with it because I think it's a pretty big name for a 3 year old to come up with all on her own. But....who knows. I could definitely see my kids coming up with a name like that when they were 3, so maybe my mom is right. And it was all me. Want to know the cat's name? Of course you do!

SONGA SEWER BUTT

Yep. Songa Sewer Butt, but I affectionately called her just Songa. Songa?! Really? SONGA? What kind of name is Songa? I did and still do adore music and I love and still do love to sing, so maybe that was it. I don't know. But somehow I came up with the name Songa. And so it was, my first cat was Songa Sewer Butt. I loved her very much. But she was a very strange kitty. She ate her babies. Yeah. idk. Weird cat. lol

I've had several other cats, Bob, Pepsi, Sprite, Willie, countless nameless ones, Mandy or Brandy the dog, I can't remember which one the name was, maybe we had one of both, lol, then we had Dani the dog. And sooooooooooo many fish. I know that I named them, but I can't remember any of their names.

And now I just have one cat and one dog and plan to keep it that way. My Daisey and my Lilly are perfect!! :D

Blog 3

47. "An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind." -Buddha

I don't think I've ever had an evil friend. Well, no, I take that back, I have had an evil friend or two, but not evil like "I'm going to murder you", lol, but evil in the since that they want to see you not succeed in life. SUCKY! I feel relieved to not be friends with people like that any longer!

But outside of just a VERY small handful of "evil" (insincere is definitely a better word) friends that have come and gone in my life, I feel pretty blessed for the most part. My good friends way outnumber the bad ones. I've had a friend or two that has literally broke my heart, but who hasn't right? I TRULY believe that forgiveness is only the best thing to do in situations like that. Holding grudges, being mad/mean, constantly dwelling on the negative will ONLY HURT YOU. You being mad, holding a grudge will not hurt your friend. They aren't in your head. They don't feel your feelings or pain. If you forgive, you won't feel the pain as bad either! For me, that's always been my motto. But at the same time, forgiveness for me doesn't mean putting myself right back into the same situation or forgetting. A few of my friends who are part of the small group that have broken my heart I'm still friends with, but definitely not in the same capacity as I was. It's just not beneficial. But not forgiving them is detrimental.
So, forgive the insincere and evil friends you've had (or have?! lol) but just don't put yourself back in the same position to be taken advantage of.
BUT DO FORGIVE!
:)

Thus ends my public service announcement. Carry on....
;)

Blog 2

459. What would happen if it really did rain cats and dogs?

Well, Bob Barker would be very upset because it would be impossible to spay and neuter all of them!!!

haha

I love this website that gives you prompted blog subjects! Who would really ask this question? Really?! But to be fair, I did decide to do this blog, so I guess I'll have to answer the question! I think it would be best put out in pro's and con's, so I'll make a list of both.

Pro's:
~Everyone would have a pet! Or 1,000!
~The pickings of the pets would be easier. If you didn't like one, just throw it back outside in a cat or dog puddle and pick one that suits your fancy better.
~That's really all I can think of for pro's. :/ If I was in a wittier mood, I'm sure I could come up with some better ones, but I'm just not feelin' it today.

Con's:
~It would REALLY suck to drive in a rainfall of cats and dogs. They would probably break your windshield, dent your car, and can you imagine swerving around all of them?! Or would you just run them over? Hmmmm, that's probably another blog....
~There are bound to be mean cats and dogs in this rain mix.
~SO many cat fights!
~SO many dog fights!
~The spay and neuter thing I mentioned earlier.

So I guess the verdict is that I'm sure glad it literally doesn't rain cats and dogs. lol :) I'd love love LOVE to hear your take on the question!!!!!

Official, Blog 1

97. "This above all; to thine own self be true." -William Shakespeare

((if the above sentence confuses you, please refer to my previous blog and click the link, it's way cool and you'll get what I'm doing.))

I mostly agree with this statement. And in the last few years, I think I'm learning and learning that it IS ok to be true to yourself. You're you. You have your own thoughts, your own choices to make, your own will, your own direction. My whole life I've always been afraid of offending someone, always making sure that no one was mad at me, tiptoeing around the people that I felt I needed to, was bold enough around the people who I thought could handle it, and frankly, it got to be too exhausting. Not to say that I changed to a different person depending on who I was with, because that wasn't the case, but I can say that I adapted myself a little to fit the company I was with better. And of course, I think that needs to be done in any situation, but I was letting it overwhelm me almost. That wasn't good. It wasn't healthy for me.

I think I've been changing for the past 3 or so years into being "true" to myself, but mainly in the last year. Turning 30 has had a pretty big impact on me. For the better. I've learned some hard and painful lessons by being this way (true to myself), but lessons that needed to be learned for my benefit. I've realized people aren't fair or kind when something doesn't go their way, or words spoke to tickle their ears, or you don't act how they think you should, but I've also learned that people gain respect and look up to people who are willing to really and honestly be true to their self and what they believe and believe in. I think the balance is good. You find out a lot about yourself by being true to yourself. ((how many times can I say "yourself" in a sentence?? LOL))

Above all, I think you should be true to God, so that's why I said earlier that I mostly believe in this quote, but that's the one difference. But in being true to God, it makes it a lot easier to be true to yourself. And it allows you to be confident in doing so.

Hello!!!!! And an idea....

I have many things to thank my friend Acacia for, but most recently was part of our visit last night when we were talking about old school days. She mentioned something about a journal entry that she had written that was prompted by the teacher. I remember those days! And those entries! And I thought it would be a perfect opportunity for me to do it here.

Truth be told, I love to blog, but often go to my blog site and sit and try to think of something to say, something witty, something to write about and 9 times out of 10 come out empty handed. Or empty blogged, if you will.

I searched for a site for prompted entries and I found one!!!!

Click here for the site

I'm excited to do this! I feel like it's a lazy way to blog, but oh well. That's ok. I'm going to make it MY way of blogging! And I'm sure it's going to be fun. :)

So....off to do my first, er, second entry!!!! :)