Third Time's a Charm

When you're out of the loop for a few weeks, things really start to pile up! There were over 300 posts to catch up on not to mention all my own personal emails (although there weren't too many of those). Needless to say, I am overwhelmed with how much someone can miss by just being away a few days.

I know it's really crummy, but there is no way I can comment on all of the wonderful blogs that I just spent some time catching up on. I have read about new babies, a trip to the E.R., family outings (or in-ings), a new vehicle, a nursery that is being lovingly put together and so much more. So please don't think that I'm ignoring you or that I don't care about all of the wonderful (or maybe not so wonderful) things going on in your life right now. I'll be starting from this point on to be an active participant once more.

So while I was gone, I got tagged three times. Three! One was the ghost you see at the top of the page that visited me one night with a plate of cupcakes and instructions to ghost two more friends. Troy and I had fun sneaking up on our own chosen victims, leaving goodies, banging on the door loud enough to wake the dead and then running like the dickens.

Tag #2 came from Courtney. The tag was to post the 4th picture in your 4th folder when you open up your pictures file on your computer. We didn't have a digital camera until literally a month or two before we had Peyton so all of our digital pictures only go back to 2007. The 4th picture in my 4th folder is of a brand new baby Peyton that Troy took while experimenting with the color selection tool on the camera. As you can see, he made the picture black and white and only highlighted the blue.

I think it was also around this time that we finally got new cell phones that could take pictures and upload ring tones on- the Alltel employee was flabbergasted that our phones were so outdated. Yep, we're a little slow on the technology front in this house!

Tag #3 came from Charity. The tag was to post 6 of your quirks. Only 6?! ;-)

1. I really dislike being touched in the crease of my arm near the elbow. I've always hated having my blood drawn so whenever someone grabs me around this area, I start to get queasy and anxious as though I'm about to get jabbed by a needle.

2. If I feel like I'm being followed or that a car behind me has taken too many of the same turns, I won't go home until I lose them. My biggest fear is of being abducted and murdered (which is quirky in and of itself, I know). If they still tail me even after I've tried to lose them, I try to find a police station or a really busy and well lighted place until the person passes me. I think I've just read too many cases in the news of scary abductions and also after having dealt with my own stalker situation many years ago, I am always super cautious now.

3. Sometimes I won't answer my cell phone even if I'm sitting right by it. I go through anti social phases where I don't feel like I have anything to say or I don't have the energy to appear bubbly and outgoing over the phone. I think this comes from growing up in a Caller I.D. house- if we didn't recognize the number, we didn't answer the phone. I still field my phone calls and I'm really bad about calling people back even if I really do intend to. It's nothing personal- sometimes I don't call Troy back!

4. I don't like to celebrate Valentine's Day on February 14th like everyone else. One year when Troy and I were still newly married, we both didn't get paid until the day after Valentine's Day so we decided to celebrate then. It was a much better experience- we could go to almost any restaurant and it wasn't over crowded so as a result, we got better service. There weren't limited menu's so we had a bigger selection to choose from. Traffic wasn't as crazy because everyone else had already celebrated and if you decided to buy flowers you got fresh ones instead of the overpriced wilted left overs that they try to stick you with on the actual day. Now if we decide we're going out, we do it the day before. If we decide to stay in, we'll celebrate it the day of, but we'll have all of our shopping done the day before so that we can just make a fancy dinner and curl up watching lovey dovey movies on T.V. Troy and I also take turns being in charge of 'Heart Day'. Every other year is my turn and alternately, if I plan Valentine's Day, he plans our anniversary and vice versa. It's a pretty good system.

5. I'm really weird about lunch meat, fruit or vegetables that look like they're going bad and leftovers that have been in the fridge for a few days. If the lunch meat starts to feel slimy or if I think I smell a strange odor about it, I'll toss it even if it 'says' it's not expired yet. Ditto with milk. My grandma and my Mom both chop off the bad parts of vegetables and salvage the rest but if I think it looks questionable it's in the trash. Same thing with left overs- if I haven't eaten it in two to three days, it's gone. Also, if food has been sitting out for longer than an hour I'm pretty wary about wrapping it up unless it's been left warming. I've had food poisoning about three different times so that's where my food phobia comes from.

6. Every day I have to open my blinds and let the sunshine in- if I don't, I get really down in the dumps. I love natural light and seeing the trees and birds outside my window. After I had Peyton, I went into a pretty bad post-partum depression because the recovery room I was in at the hospital had thick heavy drapes blocking out the sun and I was in there for two days. Then when I got home, I was sleep deprived so everyone kept telling me to shut the blinds and block out the light and try to sleep during the day when Peyton was. Unfortunately, it made me feel like I was living in a box because I'd try to rest unsuccessfully during the day with all of the windows covered up and then I was up all night with Peyton when it was dark out. With this new baby, I'll know to get out of the house and to open up my windows so I can get some sunlight in.

Was that quirky enough for you? ;-)

Since I'm not positive about who has been tagged and who has not, I'll leave you to decide if you want to post a picture from your file or talk about 6 of your quirky things. Have fun if you do decide to do them!