poking my head back into the bloggy world....

... after an amazing trip to Chile. I didn't read any blogs while I was gone and of course didn't post anything, so I'm just catching myself back up.

In keeping with my gratitude theme, I am going to express my thanks to Heather for posting this meme that gives me something to write about! I've got a lot swirling around in my head, but not much coherent to put on the blog, really. I am also so very thankful for such a lovely trip to Chile where little A met countless family members and friends. I also got several great photos of the "reservado para futura mama" parking signs, one of which will soon appear on the blog. For now, on to the meme:

Five things I should know how to do, but don't:

1. Dive. As in, dive into water. I never learned how to do it somehow and I feel way too old and timid to try at this point. So I just stick with my strategy of squatting down and then easing my way into the water.

2. Speak comfortably in front of a group. I mean, I'm a teacher for pete's sake! I do this every day! But for some reason I still get major nerves when speaking in front of a group of people - even in a small group setting.

3. Say no to things that I really don't want to do and/or don't have the time to do. I'm known to take on way too much. Then I end up feeling stressed about not getting it all done. I've gotten better about this over the years, but I still tend to want to say yes to more things than I should.

4. Remember the plot of books and movies. I can always remember what I thought about a book or movie - if I liked it or not, but probably 8 times out of 10 I can't remember the plot. Weird.

5. Play sports. I have never played a sport in my entire life. Crazy! It's one of the very few things I regret about my childhood - not being on a team at some point.


Five things I do well, thank you very much:

1. Save money. When I was a little girl and earned an allowance I used to save and save and save. My parents used to borrow cash from me sometimes - in an age pre-ATMs. Luckily I'm still a good saver.

2. Put together I.kea furniture. We have LOTS in our house and I've put it ALL together by myself.

3. Cook. I love to cook and other people seem to enjoy my efforts.

4. Plan. I am a big time planner in pretty much all areas of my life. This comes in super handy as teacher, as well as a mom and wife. Mr. P is - fortunately and unfortunately - not a big planner, and he's taught me over the years that sometimes the best times can be had when things are unplanned. But for the most part I enjoy having things planned out and organized.

5. Make decisions. In my work I make probably hundreds of very small split-second decisions a day, so it helps to be fairly good at it. I am very confident of the important decisions I make in my life. It's not hard for me to make them, and many of the most important decisions I've made have been made rather quickly. I asked Mr. P to marry me after only a few weeks of dating.