#atozchallenge : Y is for Your Bed

Y is brought to your by Your Bed! Since I can't see your bed, I'm going to show you mine. My bed is old.  Not antique old, but old as in I've had it for a long time.  I can't seem to part with it or get a new bed.  I love it.  Why fix what's not broken?  I've been tempted a few times, but quickly talked myself out of it.   My bed has a lot of pillows and a lot of blankets.  The soft, warm and fuzzy kind are my favorites and I don't care if they match or not.   I have two comforters and a top sheet (gasp!) on my bed.  I didn't know eliminating the top sheet was a thing.  Do you still use a top sheet?  I recently replaced the lights on my bed because Jager Kibben broke the last set.  He shattered the glass all over my bed.  That was a fun night.  

Tell me about your bed, it is one of the most comfortable places in the world? 

#atozchallenge : V is for Violence

This isn't going to be one of my normal blog posts.  It's a rant of sorts.
Yesterday at work, we hear over the intercom "Children can do gross motor in the gym".  There is a Head Start Preschool in the building we work in.  I figured they were outside doing work or a strange dog was wondering around.  An hour later, we hear an announcement "School is on Lock In, Nobody is to come in or out of the building.  This is not a drill" and my coworker and I didn't know what was going on.  I text my boss and she finds out from the school district that a guy had been shot and the suspect was at large.  She calls me at the same time people walk into our office.  I ask them how they got in as the school was on lock in and she said security let her in.  I went down to security and asked them why they let someone in our office during a lock in.  They said they figured we would be conducting business as usual.  The answer was no, we aren't.  Why should we let people in our office when there was a shooting suspect on the loose?  And the lady they let in...well, she's threatened to beat me up personally many times.  They didn't let anyone else in until the lock in was over and after the two security let in, we locked our own doors to ensure no one else would be able to enter our office.
So, what does this have to do with violence?
A man was shot around 8:15 am a block from my work.  He was shot because a random man walked up to him and asked him for a cigarette and he didn't give him one.  The man asked him 'why he was lying to him?" and that he "knew he had a cigarette for him".  The man that was shot was fixing a gas main in the area.  The man that was shot was 23 years old, had a good job and a family to support.  The man that was shot died.  The gas company pulled all their other crews off the street.  The police searched for hours for the suspect.  The man got away with taking a life because he didn't have a cigarette to give him.
Since I have worked in this building, there have been two bodies found across the street, a man stabbed in the middle of the street and our office was broken into and destroyed. 
I was walking into work at 8:15 am.  Children were walking into the school at 8:15 am.  A random murder in broad daylight in front of so many people.
And the description they got of the murderer...a blue hoodie and gray pants.  Half the people we see in the office were blue hoodies and gray pants. 
http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article209764894.html
The second picture on the surveillance picture was outside of the parking lot that I parked in yesterday. 
http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article209733594.html


This is too close for comfort.  I have no solutions.  I do not get into political debates. But I am shaken and I am scared and it takes a lot to get me that way.

#atozchallenge : U is for Underwater

I asked myself...why did I pick this word for U!  What am I going to write about?  Then, I remembered a video I saw about how deep the ocean is.  I am going to share it with you! 

I learned a few things from this video, like how deep the Titanic actually is.  How about all those undiscovered species?  What do you think you would find at the bottom of the ocean?


I envision a blind, transparent animal that has evolved from the beginning of time to be safe on the bottom of the ocean.


Here is another cute little video.  I am definitely going to be using these in my classroom.

#atozchallenge : T is for Time Travel

Time Travel.

There are conspiracies about time travel.  There are theories about time travel.  Is it actually possible?!

The answer is: Not yet!  But scientists are not giving up on trying. 

I found a few fun time travel conspiracies that I wanted to share today and how they were debunked.

My favorite one is the “Time Traveling Hipster”

This photo was taken in the 1940s during a bridge reopening in Canada. 

People thought he traveled in time because of three different things: his sunglasses, the logo shirt and his camera.

Here is how it was debunked:  the shirt logo is that of a short lived Canadian hockey team called the Montreal Maroons, the type of sunglasses he is wearing were available in the 1940s even though they were not as common place as they are now and the camera..Kodak did make a small, portable camera in the 1940s.  So all the things believed to be modern in the picture…really aren’t.

Another favorite one is the background character in a Charlie Chaplin film.  She is walking through and it looks like she is speaking on her cell phone.  Here’s the scene:

So does she really have a cell phone?  Nah, probably just an old hearing device called an ear trumpet.  The way she would have held it would have been similar to the way we hold a cell phone.

A book about time traveling: The Time Traveler's Wife.  I've read it once and I've seen the movie a few times.  Never again though.  It's one of those books that you can only deal with once in your life.  Have you read this book?  What are your thoughts and opinions?

Here are the reasons why I wouldn't want to read it again:

The point of view changes between characters with no distinct voice for either.  Sometimes you don't know who is telling the story.  It also flips between times and sometimes you don't know what time frame you are in.  Also, all the name dropping.  Stop already!

The premises behind the book is awesome, but could have been executed much better.

What are your favorite time travel conspiracies or books?

#atoz challenge : S is for Social Media

Which social media platforms do you use?  How many do you visit daily?  Are you so social media connected that you are losing sight of your in real life relationships?




I have accounts on a lot of social media platforms, but most I do not visit and probably couldn't remember my log in. 




Facebook:  That is the demon that I use the most.  I do not post a lot.  I looked on my timeline and an actual post from me was about a month ago.  I mainly have it for the groups for the roller derby league.  Everything is posted on Facebook.


Instagram:  This one I actually use!  You can find my feed and account information above.  Join me in that lovely world of pictures and fun. 


Pinterest:  I have that one posted on this here blog somewhere.  I think on the lower right hand side.  It's a favorite of mine too.  I probably visit it once a week or when I need inspiration for things.


YouTube:  I don't post much, but I watch a ton of videos. 
Twitter:  I don't use hardly at all and I barely look at it.  I have posts that go over there from sponsored posts or products.
Google +:  It's there.  I look at it occasionally and try to figure out how to work the thing.  I know my blog posts go over there and I can find others blog posts there.


I use Goodreads to find books and keep track of what I've read.  Influenster is the site I get free products from.  I look at Snapchat, but no idea how it works and I don't care to find out.  I read things on Reddit occasionally.


What forms of social media do you use?  Which is your favorite?  Which do you loathe?

#atozchallenge : R is for Recipe

Sometimes I am totally at a loss for what to make for dinner.  I've started making lists and then making definite decisions on what we will eat during the week. 


The recipes shown here are the ones I am planning for next week for the people in my home.  I do not get super fancy because the childrens will not eat fancy.  I don't know what days we are going to eat things yet, I have to consult with the calendar and see what's going on which days.


Flatbread Pizza w/ Caesar Salad


Such an easy dinner idea!  I'm simple with the salad.  I buy the bag with all the ingredients already in it.  The flat bread all you need is the flatbread, pizza sauce and whatever toppings you desire.


Shrimp Scampi and Angel Hair Pasta


My oldest son hates fried shrimp, but loves shrimp scampi.


BLTs


On this one, I am going to take out the T and replace it with an A for Avocados.  I use Texas Toast to make my sandwiches and grill them up all tasty like. 


Meatball Sandwiches


Another cheap dinner and another use for the leftover pasta sauce.  I get a large French loaf and halve it.  I toast it, then put the sauce and meatballs on and put the cheese on top, then toast it again. 


Breakfast for Dinner


Breakfast for dinner will be using bacon for another meal.  My plan is waffles (I kept seeing chicken and waffle recipes but that didn't sound good to me, so I narrowed it down to just waffles), bacon and eggs.  Yum.  So simple and also another cheap meal. 


What are some of your favorite meals and recipes?  Link them in the comments so I can take a look!

#atozchallenge : Q is for Quixotic

Quixotic.  Q works are hard.  I think the one I use most often is question.  It’s one of those phrases that I use a million times a day in my job.  People tell long elaborate stories and then I ask them….so what is your question?  They tell me stories but fail to give me their problem I need to help them solve.  I like direct and to the point.  I am not a mind reader, please just ask the question or tell me what you are needing assistance with.  Maybe I should have written the blog post on the word question.  Haha.  Anywho, back to quixotic.  I decided on this work because it’s fun to say.

Quixotic means unpractical and unrealistic and exceedingly idealistic.  This does not describe me at all.  I try to live in the practical and realistic world. 

But let’s take a minute and think of an unpractical and exceedingly idealistic life I could think of. 

This first thing: money!  We either wouldn’t need it in my world or I would have so much of it that I didn’t have to worry about it and I wouldn’t have to work.  I could spend my days vacationing with my family.  My family and I would travel all over the world with my never ending funds of money.  I would own a place for all the abandoned cats in my area.  I would have a staff to provide them exceedingly good care and the cats would live in cat heaven with all the toys and things to jump on at all times. 

I think I would still have my house.  I love my house.  But I would make all the improvements I have been wanting to do on them whenever I want.  I wouldn’t have to budget and plan, because I already have all that money at my finger tips.

So in my quixotic world, I wouldn’t work, I would travel all the time and I would offer a safe haven to all the abandoned cats in the area.

What would you do in your quixotic world?

I am pretty satisfied with my world right now, but it doesn’t hurt to think unpractically at times.

#atozchallenge : P is for Personality Types

When I was looking for a Pen Pal on Reddit, I saw a theme.  Everyone listed their personality types.  Why?  I didn’t get it.  Also, everyone is an introvert on there.  Except me.  I decided to take three different online personality tests online and I got three different answers.  Two of the traits I got each time, but the others were different.  My two traits that were the same on all of them were: Extrovert and Judging.  I got Thinking on two of them and also Sensing. 

What does this all mean?  I have no idea. 

What do you get when you take one of the personality tests?

I've posted my results below.