Monday Listicles - Into the Depths of My Purse!

I love purses. I buy far more than I need and change them out every few months. Last October, I decided I wanted a larger one than I had so I could slip things like books and my kindle into it.  What I ended up getting was this:

Someone was selling it at our local Cultural Festival and I thought it was perfect.  As large as I wanted, hand made, and about the same price I would have paid for crap at Wal-Mart.  And I do love it. The only problem is that, being as large as it is, I have a tendency to put more stuff in it than my back can handle.  I was expecting a disaster when I finally started taking pictures of what was in it today. I mean, look at this!

Clutter, clutter, clutter!  But it turned out to not be too bad, all things considered.

So now I invite you to join me in the journey through my purse for this week's Monday Listicles

13 Things You'll Find in My Purse

1. 
   
   I always keep a back-up book to read, usually something I'm very familiar with.  As much as I'd always like to be prepared and have my kindle or a book I'm currently reading on hand, it just doesn't happen.  This makes sure I have something to pull out if a wait gets too long.
2. 
   
   I'd read somewhere about using make-up cases to keep things under control in your purse and thought it was a great idea.  So I picked up three different ones and started keeping things in them.  I love the two clear ones I have, because it means I can see what's inside.  This one holds candy, wipes, toys.... little things like that.
3. 
   This clear container holds primarily my medicine and personal items.  The allergy med container isn't actually allergy meds - it holds my advil and other important pills.  I also have my Love's Baby Soft hand cream in there.  Absolute favorite!
4. 
   I keep my coupon keeper in my purse.  The only problem with this, of course, is that I forget to pull it back out to put new coupons in it.  Gotta find a way to remember to pull it out and regularly clip coupons.
5. 
   I'm asthmatic, so having my inhaler with me all the time is a definite plus.
6. 
   I didn't even try to look through these.  Receipts from shopping trips, papers from visits to various places and who knows what else.  Right now, it's known as Trash.
7. 
   I usually have to be the driver because, if I'm not, I start feeling pretty nauseous.  For the times when I CAN'T be the driver (other illness, usually), motion sickness pills are an absolute must.
8. 
   We end up with all sorts of things from Pokemon League visits.  this is a Pokemon pencil that one of the boys got, yet it managed to find it's way into my purse and not back out again.
9. 
   Some days I have nails, some days I don't. When I do, I have a tendency to tear them.  So my nail file is a handy thing to keep around.
10. 
    I love having long hair, but some days it just drives me nuts, getting in my eyes, fluffing out everywhere.  After not having anything to pull it back with too many times, I started carrying hair ties in my purse.
11. 
    I made an extra key for our apartment a few months back.  It, and this Pokemon card from a Pre-release (I think) had been stuffed into one of the outside pockets of my purse.
12. 
    I'm almost always in need of a place to write things down on.  The notebook on the left started life as a place to keep track of when my van was acting funky.  The one in the middle was for the days I forgot to write a note for Teddy for school and had to have something I could pull out.  The one on the right I got from a McDonald's Happy Meal a few months back.  Julius rocks.
    
13. 
    Finally, these are the odds and ends toys, pens and medicine that somehow found their way to the bottom of my purse.

Monday Listicles

Once again, I'm back with Stasha for


Considering one of the facts I wrote yesterday in my list of 10 facts about me, this week's list was pretty timely.  Because this week, Stasha wants to know
5 Things You Thought As a Child You Would Do/Be

1. A teacher  From the time I was young, I wanted to be a teacher.  Being able to share knowledge with others was amazing to me, and my teachers in elementary school were some of my biggest heroes.  As I got older, what I wanted to teach change - from early elementary to older elementary, to music and, finally, to high school math.  I even went to college to be a math teacher, but I realized while I was there that, as much as I loved sharing knowledge, I hated trying to get people that really didn't care to try to learn.  Tutoring or small group teaching, I'm great at.  Large group... there's a reason I'm not teaching now.
2. A writer  I've always loved to write, to use words to make my imagination come alive.  For awhile, I wanted to write novels, but I'd realized that I didn't do as well with long plots.  And there was awhile that I was actually writing a lot of poetry.  I wish I still had some of it, because it wasn't all bad.  Though going through my vamp phase in college did make for a lot of dark poetry.
3. An astronomer In sixth grade, I fell in love with the stars.  I'm afraid of heights, so I didn't really want to go into space myself, but I did want to spend nights studying what was out there. It's interesting that today is the day that I'm writing about this, also, since it's the 27th Anniversary of the Challenger explosion - which happened when I was in sixth grade, wanting to be an astronomer and a teacher that year.  This day, 27 years ago, was the first "where were you when" moment I had, and I still remember it to this day.
4. A Broadway singer I love to sing.  Always have.  I had a few (very small) parts in musicals in school and it made me want to be on Broadway one day.  But honestly, I don't have the acting ability for it.  But there's still a part of me that wishes that dream could come true.
5. A Mom This one, I am.  I never thought I'd be a stay-at-home mom.  I always thought I'd be a mom and work - even though my mom didn't until I was in later elementary school.  I just assumed that I would work and be Mom as well.  I didn't think being home with the kids would be something I'd want to do.  But here I am, 7 years into doing just that, and not wanting to go back to a full time job unless I absolutely had to.

I honestly tried to think of 10 things I thought I'd do or be, but being a teacher had been such a strong dream of mine for so long that I didn't let other ideas come to mind.  I certainly didn't plan on the things I actually did do.  Goes to show you how different life is than you plan.

Monday Listicles - Closet Time!

This week, Stasha, at The Good Life, wants to know 10 things in our closets.  Now, I have a LOT of closets in my apartment.  There are two in my room alone!  I decided to keep my list (and pictures) to those two closets and no more.  (Partly because most of them are an utter disaster and no one needs to see that!

1. A shoe tree.  For the longest time, all my shoes were thrown into a huge pile in a crate in the bottom of my closet.  When I did the Great Closet Cleaning late last year, I decided that I needed some way for me to remember what shoes I have.  So I bought this little shoe tree, which fits nicely in the back of my walk in closet.

2. Comics.  I love reading comics.  For awhile, before money got tight, I had 6 or 7 titles that I had mailed to me monthly.  I like going back to reread them sometimes, so I've kept them.  Of course, I also have a lot of books in my house and no shelf space for the comics.  So instead, they end up in the top of my closet.

3. Pokemon cards.  My husband and my boys play a lot of Pokemon.  (I play occasionally, when the mood strikes.)  They've collected a lot of Pokemon cards, tins, and binders to put the cards in.  I got tired of finding cards all over the house with no knowledge of whether they were good cards, bad cards, ones for Pete to play with or what.  So I put them into a box (sorted and organized)  and stored them in the top of my closet.  I've been finding random Pokemon cards around again, though, so I need to start filing again.

4. A dress that I, someday, want to get back into.  I love this dress.  I got it back in college when I accidentally brought it home with me when I had to pack up and leave.  I kept intending to bring it back, but now it's 20 years later.  I don't see that happening.  But it was always an awesome dress to wear on Halloween.

5. Games.  Games are another thing we have a ton of.  We don't get to play them as often as we'd like either.  We have one bookcase downstairs dedicated to just board games (and another in the dining room dedicated to just role-playing games).  We've run out of room on the board game shelf, so some of them have to live in our closet until I can reorganize the game shelves.

6. A shirt folder.  I bought this when Rich and I were first dating.  I could never figure out how to get shirts to look nicely folded.  It just never happened.  So I bought this and used it for awhile.  Now I know how to fold shirts without trouble, but Rich really needs to get some practice in with it.

7. Wedding bunnies.  I'm not sure if I've told this story before, but if I have and some of you remember it, I apologize for the retelling.  When Rich and I got married, the priest asked us to write a little about what we loved about the other one.  I wrote this eloquent piece that told every single thing I loved about my husband to be - and promptly forgot it in the apartment as we were driving over for the rehearsal.  I wrote, very shakily (writing in a car just Does. Not. Work.), as we drove to it and had it finished just as we were pulling up to the church.  I thought it was going to give the priest some ideas of things to say during the homily. (Yup, Catholic wedding.)  No.  The priest read it out word for word.  And one of the words I put in there was my nickname for Rich, Snugglebunny.  Of course, everyone got a good laugh (including Rich and I), and someone asked if he had a nickname for me.  And he told them Honeybunny.

Fast forward to the reception.  I'm standing there, talking with a few friends that had come to the wedding, when our friends, Kris and Tara came up to me.  They had waited around with us while we were taking pictures at the church (their daughter was the flower girl) and I would have expected them to come in sooner than they had.  But I saw mischief as they held something behind their backs.  When Rich and I were together, they whipped out what they'd been hiding - two bunnies.  One was colored like it was in a tuxedo and the other was all white.  Apparently, they remembered seeing a Toys 'R Us on their way to the church, so they made a stop, ran in and asked the first employee they saw, "Where do you keep your bunnies?!"  Rich and I carried them in when we were introduced at the reception and they guarded the cake for the rest of the night.  The only reason they're there instead of in some other prominent location is because, you guessed it, I don't have the room.

8. Bags of kids clothes.  All of these space saver bags are clothes in sizes between Teddy and Pete.  They used to be all mixed together, but I got smart.  Each bag has a paper in it with the size and, in some cases, the season, along with any extras like shoes, sandals or robes.  My kids have a lot of clothes.

9. Bookbags galore.  I love purses, bags, book bags, etc.  I buy more of them than I really need.  I did get rid of a lot of them, donating to Goodwill.  But I kept one large backpack (the brown one) and one smaller back pack, along with a lunch box or two, in case I need it for anything.

10. My fedora.  Back ten years ago or so, I went to a meeting of online friends.  We frequented the Straight Dope Message Board, were known as Dopers and our gatherings were called DopeFests.  I met a lot of great friends there.  In 2002, a bunch of people decided that fedoras should be worn (along with the regular request for the guys to wear kilts. Mmmmmm.... Kilts.)  I didn't have my own, but I did have a lot of friends that told me I looked really good when I snagged theirs from their heads.  One of those friends bought me my very own fedora for my birthday that year.  It doesn't get a lot of wear any longer - no place to really go out wearing it.  But someday, I'll have it back in rotation.

I'm looking forward to seeing what others have in their closets!

Monday Listicles

I love quotes. Book quotes, movie quotes, song quotes, game quotes... I love the being able to show my love for brilliant writing. So this week's Monday Listicles is perfectly made for me. 10 Favorite Movie Quotes. It means I've got to ignore some of my other favorite quotes from books, TV and song, but I can still come up with 10 great quotes that I hope, too, will enjoy.

One of my favorite movies is Ever After.  It's such a strong, girl-power movie that shows that love is just as important as independence.  Drew Barrymore is brilliant in it.  The following scene is far and away my favorite because it epitomizes exactly that.



Have you scene the movie Mystery Men? If not, you've got to check it out! The second tier superheroes are trying to save the world after they've accidentally killed Captain Amazing. In the scene below, everyone except the Shoveler wants to run away but he gives a rousing speech involving egg salad. It's brilliant!



I got a chance to preview Gnomeo and Juliet when my dad won free tickets just before it came out and it was far and away one of my favorite movies of all time. And the scene with Gnomeo talking to Shakespeare is just fantastic. "It's rubbish!" And I adore Patrick Stewart, so there's a major plus there as well!



I'm a big fan of super heroes in general, and when Avengers came out, I squeed with delight. There were so many great scenes in the movie, so many great quotes. But my favorite is, far and away, Bruce Banner finally revealing his secret when it comes to the Hulk.



Being the geek that I am, it should surprise no one that The Princess Bride is another of my favorites. The clip below has one of the most awesome, and regularly quoted, quotes from the movie. I love it. But it's Indigo's last line in the scene that I love the most.



I came late to the Firefly party - after the DVDs but before the movie Serenity, so I was able to watch the show in the correct order and love it from the beginning. When Serenity came out, I made sure to watch it opening weekend - what self-respecting Browncoat wouldn't? The following scene, with River's two words of "My turn" had me at the edge of my seat, in tears. It was so awesome.



Having grown up in the 80s, Grosse Pointe Blank is a movie that brings me back to my childhood with every song. Add in John Cusack, Joan Cusack and Dan Ackryod and it's just too perfect. This scene is one of many great ones. Just make sure you're not watching the scene without any kids around - the language is not something you'll probably want them hearing.



Staying with comedy, I also adore In & Out. And this is one of the best scenes ever. It's great show of support. Though I can't help but laugh at line "You're a tramp!"



Combining two of my favorites - kids movies and superhero movies - is Sky High. The scene where Layla finally uses her powers aggressively and says, with pride, that she IS a sidekick had me clapping my hands when I first saw it. Awesome scene!



And finally, I'm going to end with something Rich and I took out the other day. It's the Reduced Shakespeare Company doing the Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged). I laughed, clapped and constantly turned to Rich going, "Did you HEAR that?" through the whole thing. There are far too many fantastic parts, so I'm going to share here the opening with a recommendation that you see this at some point. Because you'll really love it.



While these may not have actually been my top 10 favorite scenes or quotes, they were ten of my favorites that I could find clips for. So I hope you enjoy it!

Monday Listicles - 10 Foods

This week's Listicles topic is 10 foods.  You can spin it any way that you like.  Me, I'm choosing to go with ten foods I've made.  That way, I can be sure to share pictures with you. :)

1. Baked Breaded Ravioli.  I found the recipe on Pintrest and knew I had to try it.  It came out great, too.  Next time, though, I need to make more.

2. Fundamiddles Cupckaes.  Ok, they weren't made completely from scratch but rather from the mix that I had sitting on my shelf.  But they came out wonderfully and they made great snacks for Pete's classes at PDO for his birthday.

3. Last Christmas, we decided to make a tortiere for Christmas morning.  Rich did the filling but I did the top.  I had dough left over so I figured I'd get creative.  And it came out pretty good, if I do say so myself.






Well.... it looks like I don't have as many pictures of the foods that I've made as I thought I did.  So the rest will just have to be pictureless.

4. .  Crock-pot lasagna.  This is an old favorite of mine, one that I came up with one day when I was trying to figure out what to make in my crock-pot.  I find it a lot easier than traditional oven-baked lasagna, and I usually make my own sauce to go with it.  it's something that's raved about fairly regularly.

5. Corn souffle.  I got this recipe from my step-mom, who got it, I believe, from my aunt.  It's made with creamed corn, egg, cornbread and sour cream.  Seeing the cornbread in it, my step-mom thought it would be something you'd cut like bread to eat.  Instead, it's something that you scoop with a spoon.  It's also a family favorite that I bring to many gatherings.

6. Snickerdoodles. These are far and away my favorite cookies to make.  I just love the mix of cinnamon and sugar on top.  And they're fairly easy to make as well.

7. Pumpkin Cake - This is another recipe that I am often asked to bring to holiday dinners.  I usually make it a two layer cake with cream cheese frosting in the center.  And it usually disappears before the guests all leave.

8.  Banana Bread.  We have a habit of letting bananas go uneaten in my house, which means I (semi-regularly) get to make banana bread out of it.  I usually go with the nutsless variety, because Rich isn't too big on them, but I enjoy it both ways.

9. Night Night Cookies - This is another recipe I got from my step-mom.  I still remember making them with her when I was in high school, having them ready to go in the morning.  I also remember a debacle when I tried to make them on my own the first time and didn't beat it long enough.  Instead of being dollops of cookie, it was a flat, yucky mess.  I've learned my lesson since then.

10. Grilled cheese sandwiches.  Yes, it's simple.  But I love to watch the bread brown on the skillet while the cheese gets nice and gooey inside.  It's one of my comfort foods, though I don't make it as often as I used to.

Monday Listicles

This week's Monday Listicles, hosted by Stasha at The Good Life asks us to compare 10 ways we are the same or 10 ways we are different from when we were children.  Oh, this is going to be fun!

10. I try to be friends with everyone. While it's something that sometimes gets me in trouble, it's something that hasn't changed in the last 38 years and that I doubt ever will.  I like people to like me.  And while I don't say whatever people want to hear anymore, I still do go out of my way to believe the best in people rather than assume the worst.
9. I love tacos. When I was a kid, tacos would be my request for birthday dinner every year.  I first had them in school for lunches and I fell in love with them.  Granted, I don't eat them all the time any more (older body, many changes) but I do still like to make them once in awhile.
8. I have a hard time controlling my temper. While I don't lose control of my temper as often now as I did when I was younger (I was horrid to my sister as a kid and sometimes, it amazes me that she survived me unscathed), I still have a really rough time when I'm tired or stressed keeping control on the anger bubbling under my surface.
7. I love to read. I started reading before Kindergarten, though my kindergarten teacher refused to believe it.  And once I started, I couldn't stop.  I volunteered at the library for a Girl Scout badge, then stayed volunteering because I loved to be surrounded by books.  I always had a book going and two or three waiting in the wings.  The only thing that has changed is the amount that I read.  Believe it or not, I read more  now than I did then.  I used to only read one book at a time.  Now I read three or four, often in different mediums (ebook/audio book/paperback/hardcover) and have To Be Read piles that would overshadow my townhome apartment.  Reading is too important to me.
6. I'm a clutz. Grace has never been my middle name.  If there's something to trip over, I'll trip over it.  If there's something to bang into, I'll bang into it.  Sometimes, I even manage to trip over nothing or cough on air.  Yep.  Not graceful at all.
5. I love to sing. Much like reading, singing has been an important part of my life my whole life.  When I was young, my mom taught me to sing, "Baby Face".  It was my first song.  I was asked to sing "Here Comes the Bride" at my aunt and uncles wedding, but didn't because I was too shy (I was 5).  I sang in chorus all throughout my school years, sang solos regularly in middle and high school and singing is still one of my favorite things to do to destress.  One of these days, once this cold has gone away, I'll video me singing the song that I wrote for Teddy as a lullaby, one I still sing to both boys occasionally.
4. I'm a writer. When I was younger, it would be short stories and poems.  Through college, I was pretty exclusively writing poems.  They weren't always very good.  Heck, some of them were abysmal.  But I loved getting my thoughts on paper.  Now I don't write short stories or poems as often, but I do love to write stories - either as part of online role-playing games that I participate in or true stories from the world around me that show up in my blog.
3. My room is a mess. When I was a kid, you would have been lucky to walk into my room and not kill yourself tripping over something.  I thought that, magically, I'd know how to keep things clean as I got older. Yeah... as much as both my mom and my step-mom tried to teach it to me, it's a struggle for me to keep up with things.  But I am making strides.
2. I get overly emotional about things. As a child, I would cry at the drop of a hat.  If I watched a sad movie or read something sad in a book, I would start to sob. Someone would scold me for something, and the tears would start.  And then I'd get mad at myself for it and cry harder.  It's the same now.  I've learned to have tissues near by.
1. I love to learn. I remember my mother getting a letter from my cousin when I was in first grade.  He'd graduated and was, I believe, in the Navy at the time.  He'd asked her if I still liked school and told her that it would change.  Well, there were aspects of school that I didn't like, but it wasn't the learning.  I loved to find out new things, to expand my brain.  Anything that would push forward my personal boundaries of knowledge.  And I still do.  I don't have the money to take classes, but I read a lot.  Even with the fiction I read, if something catches my attention, I'll do a little research to find out more about it.  One should never stop loving to learn, even if what we love to learn changes.

Monday Listicles!

Welcome once again to my contribution to Monday Listicles, hosted by Stasha at The Good Life.  This week, she's asking us to generate our lists based on complements.  So here are the ten complements that are guaranteed to make my day.

10 Complements Guaranteed to Make My Day

10. "The house looks fantastic!  You really worked hard on it today."
9. "You look like you're losing weight."
8. "You have a truly beautiful voice."
7. "Wow!  That was an awesome post.  You really made me think about what you had to say/You really painted a beautiful picture for me with your words."
6. "Hey, I wanted to tell you how proud I am of you posting all the stuff you do each day. I'm really lazy about cleaning my own house and when I see you posting about getting stuff done, it encourages me!" (This is a direct quote from a family member on Facebook and it truly did make my day.
5. "That's was a delicious dessert!  Can I get the recipe?"
4. "You're kids are adorable, and so well behaved!"  (This one is more a pipe-dream than any of the those.  While the boys aren't monsters, when they get in high spirits, I know the whole place will know their names because I'll be saying them constantly.)
3. "I love the color of your hair.  The red really shows in the sunlight."
2. "I'm the luckiest man in the world to have you as my wife."

and,

1. "You're the best Mommy in the whole wide universe."

Because, really, what better complement is there?

Monday Listicles

Welcome to Monday Listicles, hosted by Sasha.  Today's topic?

Top 10 Autumn Must Haves

I love autumn.  It's one of my favorite seasons.  So it's going to be hard to narrow it down to 10.  But here's my list.

10. Color changing leaves

I grew up in the Catskills, so the changing of the leaves heralded the coolness of autumn.  For the longest time, I took it for granted.  Then I moved to Florida where the leaves remained the same year in and year out and I realized just how much I missed it.  Now I'm back among the land of color change and I love to just stop and look when the weather starts to get chillier.

9. Pumpkins

Pumpkins for pie, pumpkins for decoration, it doesn't matter as long as pumpkins show up for the season.

8. Costumes

What's autumn without Halloween?  I love to watch the kids (and the grown ups) wander around in their costumes, showing off creativity when they can, as well as being able to get a glimpse into the things that they enjoy.  (Which is why, though I didn't make the costumes, my boys were Ash and Pikachu last year.)

7. School

Granted, here in Tennessee, my kids go back at the end of summer rather than the beginning of fall.  But by the time the weather begins to cool, they've been back for awhile and the routine is firmly in place. 

6. Birthdays and Anniversaries

 















September is a busy month for us.  Our anniversary is September 13th and Pete's birthday is September 23rd.  And while both may not be autumn as the calendar counts it, I still consider it autumn in my mind.  And it wouldn't be autumn if I couldn't celebrate it.

5. Baking

The summer is just too hot for me to bake like I'd want to.  Once the weather gets cooler, I can start making cakes, pies, cookies... yummy things to send in to school with the boys or enjoy for dessert at home.

4. Celebration of Cultures

Every year, practically since we moved here, we've made an effort to go to Nashville's annual Celebration of Cultures.  We have a chance to try foods from different ethnicities, enjoy shows from different cultures and do a little shopping at a large world market.  The kids have a blast at their children's center, and every year, we talk to the people from the Elephant Sanctuary.  And I think they remember us, because we always ask about their former Philadelphia native, Dulary.

3. Sitting Outside

The weather is cooler and it's time to send the kids outside!  Since I live in an apartment complex and we're on the main road, I can't just send the kids out to play.  And I despise sitting around, sweating.  But now that the weather is a bit nicer, getting outside, letting them play while I watch them, maybe reading a book, is a must.

2. New shows

I'd actually gotten out of the habit of looking for new shows to watch.  For awhile, we didn't have cable (and where our apartment is didn't get signal).  Then when we did have cable, it's was more for the kids than for me.  But this fall, I'm back to finding shows to get hooked on.  Arrow on the CW is probably top of my list (but then again, it's Green Arrow, so it should surprise no one that reads my blog semi-regularly), but there are a few others that I'm looking forward to/enjoying as well: Vegas and Revolution are two I'm already enjoying, and I'm going to be checking out 666 Park Avenue and Nashville.  And maybe a few others to hit my radar as well.

1. Family

Ok, so this might be a bit of a cheat, since this is a must have every season.  But in the autumn, I seem to get to spend more time with my family than at other times of the year.  My in-laws come down for Pete's birthday.  I can get out to visit my dad with a little more regularity.  We seem to get out to do more things.  It's just the time of year that my family seems to pull together the most.

Monday Listicles - Oh, The Things I Can't Do

 Today's topic on Monday Listicles (hosted by Stasha at The Good Life and inspired by Jessica at My Time as Mom) are 10 Things You Can't Do.  Sadly, I'm really good at listing my shortcomings.  But hopefully, I'll be working these listicles more in future, so you'll hear some positives as well.

1. Phone Calls I have a serious phobia about the phone.  I dread having to pick up the phone and call people - even people I know well, some of the time.  What if I'm interrupting them?  What if I sound like a complete idiot when I need to ask something important?  What if what if what if?  I'm not much better in person (or when people call me), but I can force myself in those instances.  I'm incredibly grateful for the invention of the internet and e-mail, because it lets me avoid my phobia for other means of contact.
2. Cooking Ok, if I actually tried I might get better at it.  But I don't like cooking so I don't try it as often as I should.  I haven't figured out how to spice things properly so I usually end up not spicing them at all and they come out bland.  Luckily, my husband likes to cook... though he's trying to push me toward cooking more so he doesn't have to. Because if he didn't cook, it would probably be fast food and instant meals more often than not.
3. Housework I try to keep on top of things but I suck royally.  I was much better at it before being married with children - I could keep up with the clutter of one person.  But trying to keep up with the clutter of four (because my husband doesn't see the need for neatness) is beyond my ability.  I keep trying to find a way to organize myself and my life but so far, no luck.  This, of course brings me to...
4. Organization Again, I can't seem to get on top of this.  I make lists.  TONS of lists.  I make schedules. I read books and websites about organization.  But does it help?  Of course not.  When it comes to this, I think it's overload.  I'm just trying too many things at once.  What I really need is to get someone to come in, sit down with me for a month, and help me figure out a system for my life.  But that's not likely to happen.
5. Backing into a parking space I don't know what it is, but when it comes to backing up, I completely suck.  I can't seem to make it between the two lines without trying about 30 times.  Woe to anyone who is within about 3 spaces on either side.  It's why I don't parallel park and I try to find somewhere that I can pull through in a parking lot.
6. Remembering important things I blame this one on my kids.  I'm convinced that both of them sucked memory and smarts out of me while they were in the womb.  It's the only reasonable explanation as to why I used to have brains and a memory and don't any longer.
7. Growing Things I try.  Really I do.  I've tried flowers, herbs, vegetables, you name it.  I manage to kill them all.  I even killed a cactus in college.  Yes, my thumb is thoroughly black.
8. Patience My patience is far lower than it should be for someone who wants to be crafty and is the mom to two boys.  Sometimes I'll have flashes where I can explain over and over again something to my kids, but more often than not, I just want to get them out of my hair or be finished with something as quickly as I can.
9. Fighting Depression I've suffered from depression for a long time. You'd think I know ways to keep myself from sinking in.  But no... far more regularly than I would like, I allow myself to sink into it's depths and stay there.  I know I should fight it, but it's too hard sometimes and I just can't force myself to do it.
10. Staying on Top of Things I'm usually good for about a week.  I keep on top of cleaning.  I get my books reviewed right after I've read them.  I get swaps out early.  I clean out my e-mail on a daily basis.  I post for my blogs daily. I do the memes that I enjoy doing. I read my favorite RSS feeds through my Google Reader or Feed Squares or whatever.  Then something gets missed for a day.  Then another day.  And another.  Next thing I know, I'm three months behind and know that I'm never going to get caught back up, so I scrap everything and start over again.  At which point, I'm good for about a week...

So those are the things I can't see to do.  And honestly, it was harder to come up with than I expected it would be.  Part of it is because of the broader categories that I put in, but part of it is that I'm not feeling quite as down on myself today as I usually do.  Having a little boy come in to snuggle and tell me about the monster in his room named Plan who has blue scales, a long nose, is spiky all over and is, most importantly, his friend, made me remember the things that I'm good at.  But I did manage to come up with ten things for this list.  So go me.