A little Q & A...

OK, Christine, thank you for a challenge I can get done on time! Come on everybody...I showed you mine, I wanna see yours! (:

1. FIRST NAME? -Vanessa
2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? - I don't think so. I think my parents just liked the name but they did get asked a lot whether or not they liked Vanessa Redgrave.
3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? - About an hour ago.
4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? - yes
5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? - Very thinly sliced (but not falling apart - that's key) honey or maple ham.
6. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? - 1 awesome dude, Spencer.
7. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? - I like to think so.
8. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? - Yes, but I write in it sporadically at best.
9. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? - Yeah, right, I just love sarcasm. (:
10. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? - Yup.
11. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? - I like to think I would but I'm not sure. It is one of the reasons I'd love to go on the Amazing Race. I'm too competitive NOT to do it in a race!
13. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? - No.
14. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? - I used to and now I'm not so sure. Trying to get that mojo back.
15. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? - Mint chocolate chip
16. SHOE SIZE? - 8
17. RED OR PINK? - Red, baby!
18. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? - My increasing inability to make decisions and my constant second-guessing (and, like Christine, I like to watch TV too.)
19. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? - A couple of friends I let fall by the way side and my Grandfather.
20. WHEN AND WHERE WERE YOU BORN? - December 2nd in Ridley Park, PA - just outside of Philadelphia.
21. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? - Denim cut-offs and no shoes.
22. WHAT IS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? - Applesauce, wait a sec.... some chocolate...mmmm...that is so much better.
23. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? - The clock tick, my husband and son whooping it up watching the World Cup.
24. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? - Burnt Sienna
25. FAVORITE SMELL? - That first day in fall when the humidity drops, there's a beautiful breeze, the sky is brilliant blue and you inhale and think "ahhh, THAT is fall." The beach. Freshly baked muffins.
26. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED WITH ON THE PHONE? - my parents.
27. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU MEET? - Their smile.
28. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? - I can touch my nose with my tongue. Yep, mighty "special."
29. FAVORITE DRINK? - non-alcoholic - Diet Coke; alcoholic - red wine
30. FAVORITE SPORT? - baseball
31. HAIR COLOR? - brown-ish (;
32. EYE COLOR? - green
33. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? - No.
34. FAVORITE FOOD? - cannolis, blueberry muffins, lamb chops, chocolate covered pretzels, pad thai and pizza.
35. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDING? - happy endings
36. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Garfield 2: A Tale of Two Kitties (sad, but true.)
37. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? - Mauve cami with a men's Hilifiger multi-color stripe button down shirt.
38. SUMMER OR WINTER? - Summer!
39. HUGS OR KISSES? - Kisses
40. FAVORITE DESSERT? - White chocolate mousse or a cannoli.
41. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? - Jimmy Carter's "Our Endangered Values - America's Moral Crisis", 2 week's worth of Newsweek and the latest CK.
42. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? - I don't use one.
43. FAVORITE SOUNDS? - Spence's belly-laugh, the ocean, a baseball game.
44. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? - The Stones.
45. THE FURTHEST YOU'VE BEEN FROM HOME - Korea.
46. IF YOU COULD PICK ANY TWO PEOPLE TO HAVE DINNER WITH, WHO WOULD THEY BE? Really, just my husband. We haven't been out in awhile!

House Hunting

Ah...house hunting. So much more fun looking at houses when you have nothing better to do on a Sunday afternoon as opposed to seriously doing it! When we moved here 3 years ago we didn't think we'd be here this long. It was just another military assignment - in and out in 3 years (or less). Now it turns out we will be here until Mark retires and we would like to stay here after that. So, we need to either refinance or move. There are also other considerations. Spence's school will not be the greatest. Also, and this could be a big one, behind the houses across the street from us is a four lane parkway. Right now it is lined with trees and you can neither see it nor hear it. There are two things proposed for that land behind the houses across the street: 1) The water authority wants to put in a bigger water main so they want to take an easement onto those properties and cut down all the trees. There will be construction and construction equipment there for 18 months (which, like all construction, probably means at least 2 years.) And 2) There is now a plan to widen the parkway by 2 lanes. Now this is all happening across the street and there are no final plans in place but still, it makes us think a bit. Throw in a slump in the housing market and the fact that 4 other houses on our street are for sale (one next door and one diagonally across the street to make matters worse) and I just don't even know if we can sell our house now. I'm thinking if we really had to sell we'd have to come in well below the other 4 houses. So we are house hunting to at least narrow down the neighborhoods we like but if we see something spectacular then what? Or we hope that nothing happens across the street and we put our house on the market early next spring when the house inventory is down. So that's where we are and it is confusing and frustrating but I do know that IT IS OK! (Love, love, love Ali Edwards!) Things tend to work out one way or the other. So that's the house hunting scoop for now! Happy Friday!

Back from vacation!

So things are a little nutsy here. School ended, Spence and I went on a whirlwind trip to Hershey Park (4 moms, 5 kids) for one night, I got a stomach thing on the way home (yuck) and then we went on vacation for a week to the Williamsburg, VA area. Then we came home, tried to catch up, started physical therapy (oy, my aching back) and somehow we are now in the throws of semi-serious househunting. How that happened is a whole other story. So, we're back but things are just a little crazy and I can barely look at my house. It is in that state where I look around and can't figure out where to start so I just don't. That feeling will pass - hopefully soon! And then I look around the house with the idea of putting it on the market and then I have to go take some Rolaids. I just bought a new container without checking the seal which, of course, is open so let's add one more thing to the list - "153. Return Rolaids to Safeway." Talked to a mortgage guy today and am completely bewildered by how much money these people are "willing" to lend you. Completely ludicrous. I'm thinking "Yeah, and we just won't eat or cloth ourselves for 30 years. Thanks." OK, rant almost over. Don't even get me started on the DC real estate market. Well, how about some lovely vacation photos? Great idea!

We vacationed with my folks a lot last year and we thought that a vacation with Mark's Mom would be in order this year. She graciously exchanged a timeshare week and flew in from Arizona for a week in Williamsburg. I love Williamsburg and hadn't been in awhile so I was psyched. I also wasn't too sure how Spence would like it. Seriously, how much history can a five year old really dig? I figured we'd do a little bit and then spend lots of time at the pool and doing kiddo friendly stuff. It turns out the coolest part of the trip was how much Spence got into the history stuff. We spent a full day at Jamestown (that's the little settler on the left), two full days at Williamsburg and a full day at Yorktown. We threw in a bonus day at Busch Gardens - hey, we all needed a break and Anheuser-Busch is nice enought to let military folks in for free! WOO HOO!!

Here is the young patriot with some friends he met along the way.
The guy in the middle put on his shades, too.

There is a cool thing at Williamsburg called "Revolutionary City" where every afternoon there are characters that act out scenes. While we were there the Declaration of Independence was just written and was read from the balcony of the Capitol. Then, Benedict Arnold showed up (boo) to inform us the British had taken over control of Williamsburg. Fortunately, there were brave, young patriots about who could protect the city from the "Griddish" (the kid was cracking us up).














After protecting the city, we joined General Washington for his march to Yorktown! Spence says his favorite part of the trip was the battlefield at Yorktown. He tried to run up and down every hill of it!

That's about it. I'm going to throw in a couple more of my favorite pics. More on the househunting later!