What would be in your ideal trail mix?
Steven bought this awesome tropical trail mix a few weeks ago. And I picked all the fruit out of it (picked around the tree nuts).
I assumed me doing that was sort of annoying, so I bought individual bags of the things I would want in my ideal trail mix - banana chips, pineapple chunks, golden raisins, dried mangoes, and cocktail peanuts. I think the only thing missing is chocolate chips!
Gosh. Now I really want to add some chocolate chips.*
It seems my trail mix is all about the sweet tastes with a slight hint of salt. Is your mix on the sweeter or saltier side?
*I actually wrote this post last Sunday. I added chocolate chips on Wednesday – no bueno. Chocolate chips not necessary.
Do you have close relationships with any of your neighbors? Do you know any of their names?
In MWF Seeking BFF there is a statistic quoted that 28% of Americans know none of their neighbors by name. Honestly, I am surprised the percentage is not higher. We were close to a family in our neighborhood, but they moved to Albuquerque a few years ago. I was pretty bummed. We did a lot together. The husband and I would even run and race together!
We haven’t developed relationships with anyone else, to date. More often than not, I am knocking on their door to ask them to turn their music down, not to give them a plate of cookies.
We have actually had many neighbor issues, but I try not to write about that stuff here. It just makes me even angrier.
I had to fill out some security forms at work and I was supposed to write down the name of a neighbor who knows me well. I had no one to write down. So they had me list the name of our neighbors who moved. That made me feel kind of lame.
I am wondering if anyone else is in the same situation as me?
Where do you like to search for new recipes? Are you able to read a recipe and tell if you will like it or not?
We have a ton of favorite recipes but are always on the lookout for new ones. Surprisingly, we do not peruse any of the cookbooks we have (two shelves full!):
We mostly tend to run across recipes online or get recommendations from friends. Steven can usually read a recipe and tell if he will like it or not. I am somewhat decent at it. Somewhat.
What I am wondering is how the heck I got so many cookbooks. I doubt I bought more than 10% of those. People really like to give cookbooks as gifts (and I did ask for some of them). But they just sit there. On our shelf. Looking nice (I hope). Hey, that’s what books do, right?
What field do you work in? Has your field been affected at all by “the economy”?
I found this little gem when I was looking through the papers at my grandma’s house last Friday:
I have an architecture degree (I am not licensed though) and yeah, our industry has been hit big time. A lot of people from college are unemployed or working in entirely different fields (<– which I think is totally okay*).
I have a non-traditional architecture related job, and work for the federal government. It was not my intent to work for the government**, but I am very happy that I do.
*Just because you get a degree in one thing does not mean you have to be that ONE thing. IMO.
**The opportunity kind of fell in my lap!
Do you drink coffee? Why or why not? If you do, how long have you been drinking it, how often do you drink it (in a day) and do you make it at home or buy it out?
Steve and Steven on the subway – this is the only picture I could find on my blog with coffee cups in it, ha ha.
Can you guess what I woke up craving this morning?
Just kidding! I don’t drink coffee. It really upsets my stomach. But I have been thinking a soy chai latte from Starbucks sounds good since last night. Maybe that is in my destiny for today.
Sometimes I feel like everyone drinks coffee except me (and Erin) so I am curious to hear what you all say.
If you don’t drink coffee, do you drink something else that is caffeinated?
What do you guys think of New Year’s Resolutions – pointless or useful?
Image from this hilarious auto resolution generator – check it out!!!
I am kind of in the pointless camp* – I think we should be striving to better ourselves year round, rather than thinking about it once a year.
But! That doesn’t mean a few ideas have’t popped in to my head about things I really need to work on improving more. So maybe these are my pseudo resolutions? Am I changing camps? Hmm.
- Take better care of my hair – get it cut every 6-8 weeks.
- Pay full attention to people when they are talking to me. Less distractions – quit doing what I am doing to listen.
- Work on my anger problem. Technology mishaps really make me angry these days – a deep anger I can feel in the pit of my stomach. This is ridiculous.
Short and simple.
Bonus Question!
What is something that was not a resolution of yours for 2011, but you think you did really well at?**
I did a really good job this year of making and sustaining friendships. I am a bit in the loner camp***, and am really independent. I’ve had a hard time staying close with people throughout life – I keep in touch with no one from high school, and hardly anyone from college. But this year some of my existing relationships really flourished, and I made some new ones. This makes me feel like I have been missing out on friendship until the last few years. Spending time with my close friends makes me feel so good. There is a special love and support between friends… I just feel lucky to have found that.
Wow! CHEESY OVERLOAD!!!
*I didn’t make any last year, but I did make running goals (which I will go over tomorrow!).
**Sorry for the weird sentence structuring/ending in a preposition.
***What is it with all the camp references?
Do you put up any exterior holiday decorations (lights, wreath, etc.)? Did your family put any up when you were growing up?
Our “exterior” holiday decorations are only actually visible from the exterior – an electronic candle in each window and a wreath. The decorations are actually inside the house.
We never had lights or anything on our house growing up. Probably because we lived back in the woods and no one would see them!
I love running through my neighborhood in the dark and seeing everyone’s holiday lights, and those funny blow-up things that people put in their lawns. Some people really go all out!
Did you believe in Santa when you were growing up? When did you stop believing? How did you find out he wasn’t real?
If you have kids, what will you tell them about Santa?
Of course, I thought of this because we started watching Miracle on 34th Street last night, and in the movie, the little girl does not believe in Santa (at first).
I remember thinking Santa was real when I was growing up. But I don’t remember when I found out he wasn’t. I was a pretty naive kid so it probably took me a long time to figure it out. Maybe when I was 8ish? From someone at school? Who knows! I don’t think one of my siblings told me.
Speaking of siblings, my older brother made me this nice video with a special message from Santa just for me! We thought it was pretty funny so we had to make a few more videos last night, like this one for Steven, and this one for Data.
Are you good at remembering people’s names?
Usually, I am pretty good at it, and make an effort to remember people’s names when I first meet them (I usually come up with a trick to remember their name).
However, I was at Whole Foods a few weeks ago with Erin, and very* randomly ran in to two coworkers and could only remember one of their names! AHHH!!! I was a bit embarrassed! Granted, I do have hundreds of coworkers, but I should have known that one.
Then, last week at the Rotary Santa 5K, I saw a coworker and could not remember his name until after I introduced myself, chatted, then said goodbye. And at Thanksgiving I could not remember our friend’s parent’s names (who I had met a few times before).
I hope my memory is not starting to fail me already!
*I live far away from that Whole Foods and they do too. What are the odds?!
For the holidays, do you tend to buy one big item for people, or a bunch of little things? If it’s a bunch of little things, do you try to have a “theme” to tie it all together? Which would you rather receive (one big item or a bunch of little things)? What type of “theme” gifts do people get for you?
Recycled picture from last year’s Excited to Give post
Recycled picture from last year’s Helper Cat post
This year, it seems like I am picking up a lot of little gifts for people. And the only theme that the gifts have is “things Kim thinks you would really like.”* I do know people who will try to theme your whole gift – and get other people to go in on the theme too. For example, they give you a set of golf clubs, and have your parents get you a golf bag and tees and balls, and somehow convince your spouse to buy you golf lessons at the fanciest course in town. Then you open the gift and say “Thanks! I can’t wait to use this in four months when there isn’t a foot of snow on the ground.” Anyway, some people really get in to that.
The funny thing about that completely hypothetical situation is that I often buy Steven gifts that he cannot use until the spring. Like last year’s formula car driving Groupon. I’m going to try not to do that this year, but darnit, why does his birthday have to be three days before Christmas?!
Anyway, I digress. I actually think the themed gifts can be done right, if it’s a theme you are interested in! Like diamonds. Or cashmere. Okay, that’s obviously a joke. We all know a I don’t have that fine of taste. My major theme seems to be running/exercise. And sometimes Star Wars.
*Except for one person I already warned that almost all of her stuff seems to be cat-themed. Sigh. Oops!
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