Tag, You're It!

A while back I was tagged by the sweet Ashley over at The Christian Wife Life and the precious Tamara at T times 3 for a fun little blog game. I figured I'd wait a few days and ponder the questions before I answered, so here goes!

the rules. . .

one: you must post the rules.

two: post eleven fun facts about yourself on the blog post.

three: answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you've tagged.

four: tag eleven people and link them on your post

five: let them know you've tagged them!

fun facts. . .

 one: I'm a sucker for anything chocolatey and pepperminty

two: I'm a total book worm. 

three: I'm still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up

four: I am old lady who struggles to stay up past 10pm

five: I'm a bit of a bossy boots/control freak. Must be the oldest child in me. . .

six: my husband is my best friend

seven: Billy Joel's "Greatest Hits" is the most played album on my iTunes

eight: I do not enjoy the month of January and start the countdown to Spring as soon as Christmas is over!

nine: I have known some of my best friends for twenty years!

ten: If my husband would let me I would adopt every abandoned pup at the pound

eleven: Oddly enough, I really enjoy grocery shopping.

questions . . .

(I'm answering some from Ashley and some from Tamara!)

1. Where is your favorite place to shop?

Target, Gap Outlet, Old Navy, J Crew, and anywhere I can get a good sale!

2. What food could you eat every day?

Sweet potatoes, mm mm mm

3. What is your favorite animated movie?

For the longest time it was "Monster's Inc" but nowadays I'd have to say it's "Up" because the old man on there reminds me of my Pappy!

4. What was your best subject in school?

language arts, what a cowinky dink that is what I teach:-)

5. What shows are you watching these days?

Mod Fam, Once Upon A Time, New Girl, and The Office

6. What is something you collect?

Anything with pineapples on it. For those of you non-Southerners, pineapples are the traditional sign of "welcoming"

7.Where is the furthest place you have been from home?

I went to the Grand Canyon with my best friend Kelley and her parents in high school

8. If you could go on vacation to anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Right now Savannh, GA is on my radar or anywhere tropical 

9. What is a TV show that you absolutely won't miss?

Jersey Shore. That show is such trash!

10. Do you have any "favorite kid" names planned out for your future children? (C'mon, we all do!)

We have a few in mind, but I don't want to spoil the surprise;-) 

11. What is the first thing you do in the mornings?

Run.

 Since most of my sweet blog friends have already been tagged I'm going to leave it open to anyone else who wants to do it! 

New Year, Better You

"New year, new you"

I have lost count of how many times I have heard/seen that phrase in the new year. I don't know why I'm surprised either. It's tradition to see the new year as an opportunity to start over. To tell you the truth, though, it kind of bugs me. Why are we so obsessed with starting over? Why can we not just take the old experiences and grow from them?

Starting over can be a good thing. Some times we need to get away from a past event that may have been negative. Some times we just need a fresh start. But, we don't need to forget about that event; we should take it and build upon it.

A few weeks ago I wrote about what a roller coaster 2011 was for the Mobleys. Even though it was a scoach cuckoo, I wouldn't change it for the world. All of our adventures were stellar learning experiences that helped build our faith and our marriage.

My question for y'all is, how are you taking 2012 and making it a better you? Not a new you, because you should never lose who you are, but a better you? Are you going to the gym more? Eating healthier? Reading the Bible more? Communicating with loved ones more? What? I'd love to hear about it!

Christmas Questionnaire

I saw this precious questionnaire over at Matt and Kara Adopt and I thought I'd give it a go!

1.  Egg nog or hot chocolate? Hot chocolate all the way, especially with a little peppermint flavoring!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa never wrapped presents. They were always decoratively placed around the room.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White all the way. On the tree and on the house! I love the classic look when it comes to Christmas decorations.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? I did last year when I got some from a family member's farm, but haven't gotten any this year.

5. When do you put your decorations up? As soon as I can get home from our Thanksgiving travels!

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? My aunt's sweet potato casserole. It's absolutely delicious!

 7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? The very first Christmas David and I celebrated as a married couple:-)

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I honestly cannot tell you. What I can tell you is that I remember getting in trouble for telling the little girl next door! I guess I couldn't believe that it was true so I had to check with the other kids in the 'hood.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? When we were little we would beg and plead until The Momma gave in. Now we exchange our secret Santa kids between the Wardlets on Christmas Eve.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Our tree is a mish-mash of us. We have some ornaments from our childhoods (like the MASSIVE collection of Star Wars ornaments-I'll give you one guess who those belong too!) and some from our lives together. Something we started doing is getting an ornament from every trip we go on together. In our collection now? A few from Disney, one from Charleston, one from Waynesville, one from the Biltmore, etc. It's so neat to see them on the tree and remember the wonderful time we had in those places!

11. Snow! Love it or dread it? Both! I love it for like a day, then I'm over it. It's really the anticipation of the event that gets me.

12. Can you ice skate? Oh heavens no! Do I strike you as a coordinated person? Because if so, we're going to need to talk. . .

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? I don't think I have a favorite. Each gift has been special for its very own reason.

14. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you? The two uninterrupted weeks of time with all my loved ones.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Ooo this is a toughie. I love making and sharing homemade sugar cookies with homemade frosting. Nom nom nom.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? For as long as I've remembered we've always gone to Christmas Eve service and then come home and celebrated just the Wards (and now David!). We'll get out all our old favorite board games and pig out on snacky appetizer-type foods. It's one of the few times we're all together!

17. What tops your tree? A beautiful bow given to us by David's grandmother.

18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving? Giving all the way. I love seeing the look on people's faces when they open it up and discover what they wished for. 

19. Candy canes: yuck or yum? Yum!! I'm the crazy one who stocks up at Christmastime and snacks on them all winter.

20. Favorite Christmas movie? The Santa Clause series or Elf

 
21. Saddest Christmas song? "Christmas Shoes" has me bawling every time.

22. What is your favorite Christmas song? Oddly enough I love "Last Christmas" by Wham! I can't help but start to dance and sing along when it comes on!

Now it's your turn! Link back in the comments section with your answers!

Say What?

"What did I just say?" is a fairly common phrase in my classroom these days. I ask it often to see if the students are actually listening when I speak. It's actually kind of depressing how often they can't answer that question, but such is the life of a middle school teacher! My students aren't the only ones I ask this question of. Heck I ask any one any time I don't think they're paying attention, even my sweet husband. Side note: either he has me figured out or he is a really good pretender, but he is great about repeating things back to me:-) Communication is huge in any relationship and questions are huge in communication. Whether it's my relationship with the hubs, my kids, my co-workers, my family, friends, any one really, it is essential that we ask those important questions.

Today finds us in the thick of parent conference week, and we're getting a lot of questions. Some common ones: "how is he/she doing in class?", "are they turning their work in?", "what's the behavior like?", etc. These are all great questions to ask that enhance our communication regarding their students. They get us all on the same page so we can address any issues (if there are any) and move on with helping the students.

My question now is, why aren't we asking more questions? I mean honestly, how often do we assume something instead of taking the step to ask someone else a question? Far too often is the answer. I used to be afraid to ask a question for fear I would look stupid or that person would become angry with me, but in the end I just created more work for myself, and often them too, by not just getting straight to the point. In retrospect I could have saved myself a whole bunch of time re-completing assignments if I had just asked what the heck I was doing! I understand your boss/friend/coworker may be an unapproachable person, but don't you think they would appreciate you asking the question versus having you mess up in the long run?

Questions are an integral part of more than just the workplace; they can be huge assets in marriages and other relationships! How often are you frustrated with the way your spouse does something, and instead of asking why they do it that way you just jump down their throat about it? Or what about when a friend is upset about something and you can't seem to understand why that would make them upset. Ask them! Questions also do a great job of aiding every day conversations. When was the last time you asked how your friend's family is doing? Or, when did you last ask your coworker how their day was?

Asking the questions isn't the only part of the equation, though, you must also be willing and ready for the answer. You may find out your doing the project wrong. Can you humble yourself enough to then ask how to do it? You may discover your friend's family is struggling and they need guidance. Can you offer it? Your coworker may be swamped with work. Are you willing to offer help?

I challenge you to start asking more questions. Not just silly questions, but deeper questions. Questions that build relationships and fix issues. As for me, I'm an open book, so ask away. . .