Monday, April 4, 2011

Meet Me On Monday

Meet me on Monday is a blogging meme hosted at Never Grow Old. There are five questions each Monday. It's a great way for bloggers and their readers to get to know each other better.

These are the questions for this week:



1. If you had to eat only one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

That would have to be potatoes. I love potatoes in many forms: baked, mashed, fried, hash browned, roasted, and french fried. I have always been picky about my french fries, though. I prefer them with very little or no salt and not too greasy. I know, you are probably thinking, "Fries without salt? Why bother?" Simple...I don't like salt. I do not eat french fried very often anymore, though, because of my swallowing difficulties from my Parkinsons.



2. Do you write your blog posts in advance or the day you post them?

I usually think about my posts for a day or more (sometimes even long in advance) and have it all but written in my head. Once I actually begin typing the post, I usually finish it that day and post it right away.



3. Have you ever ridden in an ambulance?

Yes, two times.
The first time was when I was in the second grade. We were on vacation with friends and at a drive-in movie. Us kiddos were laying on the hump where you park. The movie The Pink Panther was showing. It was the second movie and most of us kiddos were asleep. I was RUDELY awaken to a full-size car filled with eight people sitting on my feet. It was the owner of the drive-in whom was driving really drunk! My mom made him move forward and off of my feet and pulled me out before he could run them over with the back wheels. My best friend also had her toes ran over. One of my friend's cousins saw the car coming at the last minute and pulled my younger sister out of the way. She would have likely been ran over in her mid-section... obviously NOT GOOD!

I was taken by ambulance to the hospital. The main thing I remember was how loud it was in the ambulance. It seemed that they had at least five different radios going loudly at the same time and neither of my parents were with me. Pretty scary. We were from out of town and the drive-in theater's owner was a friend of the doctor, apparently. He told my parents that nothing was broken, but that I had to stay off of my feet as much as possible for a few weeks. Well, we were quite poor, so my "second opinion" came from a phone call my mom made to a doctor. He said that if nothing was broken, then the worse thing I could do was to not walk on my feet. It hurt SO bad. I had to go to my dancing lessons and even remember crying at recess, because the teachers were determined to keep me on my feet all through recess to help me...

Well...when I was twenty-four, I had x-rays on my feet. Guess what they showed? My feet had been broken in MANY places and fused back together badly. I was born with really bad feet and ankles anyway. I was taking dancing lessons initially for physical therapy. It was cheaper and our landlady's daughter was a dance teacher. She turned out to be a wonderful influence in my childhood...wonderful lady!

Ever since then while watching a movie at a drive-in, I refused to sit outside of the vehicle. My children never did either. This last summer, I sat outside on a lawn chair at the drive-in for the first time since. It felt weird, daring, and in a way...liberating. I also have avoided any of the Pink Panther movies...no joke.

The second time was in 1995 when my then-husband whom was famous for getting into car accidents, succeeded in tipping our van over and spinning it on a Kansas City area highway in a one-car accident. Impressive huh? :) As the van was heading straight to a wall of rocks and my life LITERALLY passed like a movie before my eyes, the van started to roll. We had a medal TV mounted in severely hard plastic between the front seats. On the third time that my head was on its way to smacking into the TV, I blacked out. I cracked that severely hard plastic with my head. My daughter (about seven at the time) and I rode to the hospital in the ambulance. My ex was unharmed. My daughter had hit her head, so they took her as a precaution. Because of the way they had found me, they used the jaws to pry the back door of the van open and removed me on a board. They were sure that I probably had a broken neck, ribs, ankle, knee, and possibly back. I obviously had a concussion and MANY bruises. It turned out that I had no broken bones, but several bruised bones, ribs that still to this day go out very easily, and my concussion.

I still get VERY nervous when driving near rock walls. Then guess where I moved a few years later...to the most mountainous state: Nevada. I am getting much better, but I have to preoccupy myself when I am a passenger, so the driver (usually hubby) isn't driven insane. :) I can't help it.


4. What is your favorite candle scent?

It kind of depends on the season. Some faves are vanilla, lilac, lavender, and apple spice.


5. Coffee or tea?

The ONLY coffee I like is a Lite Mocha Frappucino with lots of cinnamon powder on top and no whip. My hubby calls it my fru-fru coffee. I also love FRESH-brewed ice tea without lemon or sugar and not too strong. I'm really picky about my ice tea.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Meet Me On Monday

Meet me on Monday is a blogging meme hosted at Never Grow Old. There are five questions each Monday. It's a great way for bloggers and their readers to get to know each other better.

These are the questions for this week:

1. What jewelry do you wear 24/7?

Only my wedding and engagement ring set.


2. Do you twirl your spaghetti or cut it?

I'm definitely a twirler! In fact, when I was really young, I honestly thought that I had invented twirling. My parents mostly cut their spaghetti, so I must have seen it done on TV or something. When I showed them my amazing discovery, they informed me that it had already been invented...after they stopped laughing...


3. How many siblings do you have?

I was raised with my half-sister whom is three years younger than me. We share the same mom. I also have a step-brother and a step-sister whom share the same dad with my half-sister. My step-father adopted me at a very young age. I'm the one on the left.


4. Were you named after anyone?

My mom wanted me to have a name that nobody she knew had. I was supposed to be named Renee'. Just before I was born, my mom moved next door to a little girl named Renee' whom evidently was a real "brat"! lol

So, my mom changed my name to Stephanie Le'ne. She believed that she made up my middle name, but in the last several years I have met several people named Linnea, Lynnae, etc. I really like my middle name, but do not like the spelling at all. Except for my birth certificate, any governmental papers will NOT include the apostrophe. Therefore, my name looks like "Le ne" or "Lene" - neither of which looks or sounds like anything to be proud of...

My daughter's name includes my middle name in a way that I feel is spelled much better. :)
This is a favorite picture of my mom and me. I was almost 3 years old.


5. Coke or Pepsi?

Neither! The main pop I will drink is 7up or Sprite. I have many times gone without a drink just to avoid Coke, Pepsi, and many others.


Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Wordless Wednesday

My beautiful furry child, Isabella!
She is a mix of Belgium Shepherd and Black Lab.




Monday, March 14, 2011

Ten Places I Want To Visit In My Lifetime

For someone whom has never been out of the contiguous United States, this is a lofty list, but this would be ideal for me.

1. The Atlantis Resort in Nassau, Bahamas - I have seen a lot about the vacations there and it is AMAZING! Many great aquariums, swimming with marine life, etc, etc... This is definitely number 1 on my list!


2. Italy - There is just some much I love about Italy! Beautiful scenery, wonderful food, and full of history!


3. Egypt - To see all of the history there including several of the pyramids. My son LOVES learning about Egypt and seeing mummies at museums.


4. The Grand Canyon - Believe it or not, I have never been there. It is SO beautiful and majestic.


5. The East Coast of the USA to visit many historical sites from history. These would include places like Washington D.C., Pennsylvania, Maryland, and more.


6. The Cherokee Indian Reservation in Oklahoma - I am VERY proud of my Native American Heritage! I have a lot of Cherokee and Choctaw blood in me and as my grandma used to say... a few drops of Shoshone. I would also like to find out where my ancestors were before the Trail of Tears and visit there, too. I'm sure that it would be an overwhelming experience, but would definitely be worth it.


7. Pearl Harbor and Hawaii - I should have visited when my sister and her hubby were stationed there, but I could not afford even the flight then. I'm a very patriotic person and really want to explore Pearl Harbor someday. I would want to check out several of the touristy things in Hawaii like a luau, eat LOTS of fresh pineapple, and experience the beautiful sunsets!


8. Australia - It is such a beautiful country and I can speak the language! ;)


9. An Alaskan Cruise - I have always wanted to go on a cruise. I'm not really into walking on ice or being super cold, but I do love to experience some beautiful scenery!


10. Niagra Falls - I absolutely LOVE waterfalls. This would be the ultimate!


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