Oh The Places I Have Lived!

Welcome back to Table Topic Tuesday! Today's question is:

Where have you lived, and what were your favorite things about each place?

I haven't lived in very many places. In fact, I have lived in Omaha, Nebraska all of my life, with the exception of a brief two years in college when I moved to Lincoln, Nebraska. Which is all of 5o miles away.

I'm okay with this, as I love the midwest. I love Nebraska. I love the people here. All of my extended family, with the exception of two aunts are here as well, and I love that I have so many people that I love within arms reach. I've always wanted to live in a small town, and I am trying to convince Jeff that we need to retire to one. Hopefully one day I'll get to add a tiny picturesque town to my list.

Here in the Big O, I have lived in three different houses with my parents, and two with my husband. I loved the house I lived in for the first four years of my life. Mostly because it was just me and my sister back then. Not that I don't love my two little brothers, but I loved it when it was just Sarah and me. I felt so cradled in love from my parents, and my little sister was my best tag along buddy.

I also loved the house that Evan and I moved into when he was three years old, and I had finally finished college and gotten myself gainfully employed. It was tiny, but absolutely perfect. I have had many wonderful things happen in my life since the day we moved into our little bungalow, but not many have come close to the joy I felt at finally being able to provide a home for myself and my little boy. I felt like we were finally our own official family. The space to be on our own allowed me to finally start introducing our own traditions. I loved every minute we spent in that house. Once we added Charlie and Jeff to the mix, we were busting out of the house at the seams and I knew we needed to move on, but OH MY was it hard to leave that place.

So-where have you lived? What did you like best?

Table Topic Tuesday...Except it's Thursday

I flubbed up my record this week for Table Topics. It's been such a crazy week! But I am going to catch up now...

This week's question is: Who do you sorely miss?

I didn't even have to think about this one. I SORELY miss my Grandma Sophie. She died 16 years ago when I was 16 in 1993. I can't believe that she has already been gone for as long as I knew her. My Grandma was one HECK of a lady. She raised 10 kids and did a damn fine job of it. She was fun, loving, and jolly. She loved her grandkids and pinched your cheeks and told you "I looooove ya!" every time she saw you. Her laugh was amazing and she could sing songs in Polish. She always let us have more desert and her mantra about food was "a little bit won't hurt!" She was the best house keeper I ever met, but even though her house was immaculate, a herd of grandkids running through didn't bother her at all, and we were free to have fun and make messes.

Her quiet yet strong faith in God was a rock in her life, and a wonderful example to others. She was terrified of storms and would have us join her in a rosary if a strong one was coming through.

Once I saw her kill a bee in church by slamming a hymnal loudly smack dab on top of it, right in the middle of a silent part in the service. She just grinned and waved at all the peolple who turned to look. My sister and I giggled and snorted, and she smiled back.

She had the strength to bury her 17 year old daughter and help the rest of her family through the tragedy. I don't know that I could do that. She was, in short, one of the most amazing women I have ever known. I think about her everyday, especially since I have become a mother. When my three boys overwhelm me, I imagine her with 10 kids, and tell myself to suck it up.

I sorely miss her, and I look forward to seeing her again. I just know she will be one of the first people I see in heaven. I love her dearly.

It's That Time Again!

Welcome back to Table Topic Tuesdays!
Here is today's question:
If you were going to create a new holiday what would it be and how would people celebrate it?

Huh. I have thought about this all afternoon. The best I can come up with? Positives Day. I think it would make an excellent Hallmark holiday. This would be a day for you to count up all the GREAT things in your life, especially the small things that you take for granted day to day. You could give people a card telling them that they are one of your positives. You could post a list on your bathroom mirror with all of your wonderfuls.

I don't know about you, but I tend to focus on what is WRONG with everything. I forget to look at the good things. I was reminded of this a couple of times this week.

I read the blog Nie Nie everyday. If you don't read The Nie Nie Dialogues, (by Stephanie Nielson), she is a young mother of 4. She and her husband were in a plane crash in August, and she was critically burned, was in a coma for 4 months, and is now recovering. I think about her everyday, and what she might be going through. It makes me thankful for simple things, like being able to cook my kids dinner, and looking in the mirror and seeing a face that I recognize. These are things that Stehanie misses, that all of us would miss if we lost them, but that we don't pay much attention to on a daily basis.

My uncle is dying this week from lymphoma, a disease he has battled for a long time. I am so sad for him, but I also can't stop thinking about my aunt. I simply cannot imagine loosing Jeff. I need to take more small moments each day to appreciate that he is in my life. That we are healthy. That he is the wonderful man he is and that I am lucky enough to be with him everyday.

So here's to Positives Day, and recognizing the little things that we love, and don't take enough notice of. I'm off to kiss my kids and tell my husband how much I love him.

Table Topic Tuesdays

Here's today's Table Topic Tuesday question:
Would you rather be smarter, more athletic, or better looking?

Hmmmm. I am having a REALLY hard time answering this one. I know I should pick smarter. Obviously, that helps you to go far in life.

But if I am honest? Deep down? I would have to pick the more shallow answer and say better looking. When I was a pre-teen and going through the absolute hell of junior high, I was not pretty to look at. I had the worst perm you have ever seen, coke bottle glasses, a face full of acne, and was about 20 pounds over weight. I was teased and bullied mercilessly. It is because of this that NONE of my kids will attend a public junior high. I remember standing once talking to a group of friends before school started in the morning, and a group of boys stood behind me calling my name and barking like dogs.

I will NEVER EVER forget that. I think it still colors my experiences and feelings today. And so if I am honest, I would have to say I would always pick beauty over brains. At least life is less painful, especially as a child.

Table Topic Tuesdays

Today's post is inspired by Christy over at Real Life Adventures. Her family got a neat game for Christmas by the same name that has questions printed on cards for your family to answer and discuss around the dinner table. Cool idea, huh?!

Christy decided to continue the discussion on Tuesdays on her blog using these cards. Today she invited other bloggers to join in, so without further adu, here is today's question:

What is the hardest thing you've ever done?

As you may or may not know about me, I had anorexia nervosa in high school. I am 5 foot 8 inches and at my lowest point I got down 98 pounds. It is something I still struggle with everyday. A little secret-when I look in the mirror, I still see a 500 pound person.

Anyway, after I was finally diagnosed, and the doctor had sat my mother down and spelled it all out for her and put a name to the problem, I initially felt a HUGE sense of relief that someone knew what was wrong with me. My parents and the doctor then had a big serious talk with me and detailed what would happen if I continued to starve myself. DEATH. Which despite how I looked, was not what I wanted. They gave my parents a strict eating plan that I was to follow to the letter if I was to stay out of the hospital. That's when the relief turned to panic.

The hardest thing I have ever done was to make myself eat that first meal. I had to do it alone where no one could watch me, because it made me feel weak, powerless, and less in control to put food in my mouth. And afterwards, I had to sit with my best friend for a long time with her arms around me so that I wouldn't go running to burn off the calories, or take some Exlax to get rid of things. I love my friend Katy to pieces, and one of the reasons is because she helped me to save my own life.

I will NEVER forget having to choke down that food. It makes me feel anxious just to think of it now. It was harder than childbirth, and being left by my fiance pregnant and alone.

However, I am immensely glad I got past that first step because each step afterwards was so much easier.

So, come on bloggers! Play Table Topic Tuesday with us! If you do, link to Christy's site.