50 Questions

1. What time did you get up this morning?

Woke up late last night. Haven't gone back to bed yet. I'll do that after my husband gets up and leaves for work.

2. How do you like your steak?

Well done.

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?

Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

4. What is your favorite TV show?

Outlander, The Walking Dead, Vikings, Turn: Washington's Spies, The Last Kingdom, Fixer Upper, House Hunters International, Finding Your Roots, Who Do You Think You Are?, Rizzoli & Isles, Sleepy Hollow, The Amazing Race.

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?

I would only choose to live somewhere other than the area I currently live in if it didn't exist. In which case, I would choose New Zealand or Italy.

6. What did you have for breakfast?

English muffins with cinnamon butter.

7. What is your favorite cuisine?

Italian and Southern American.

8. What foods do you dislike?

Vegetables (though I do love tomato sauces and will eat carrots if they're in soup or stew), Asian food, organs or other weird foods, most condiments.

9. Favorite Place to Eat?

In Greensboro: Lucky 32, Salvino, Villa Rosa, Bravo, Pizzeria L'Italiano. In Southport: Fishy Fishy Cafe and Locals. (There are more I want to try.) In Asheville: Vinnie's Neighborhood Italian. In Manteo: La Dolce Vita.

10. Favorite dressing?

I don't eat dressing or salad.

11.What kind of vehicle do you drive?

2007 Honda CRV.

12. What are your favorite clothes?

Maybe my church clothes. And my summer clothes. And the clothes I wear around the house because they're comfortable.

13. Where would you visit if you had the chance?

New Zealand, Italy, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovenia, and maybe Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, France, and Greece.

14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full?

½ full.

15. Where would you want to retire?

The same area I live in now. I love my church too much to ever leave.

16. Favorite time of day?

Late at night.

17. Where were you born?

Wilmington, NC.

18. What is your favorite sport to watch?

NFL football (Carolina Panthers) and UNC Tar Heels basketball.

19. How many siblings?

One.

20.Favorite pastime/hobby:

Reading, hiking mountain trails, walking in the woods at Hagan-Stone Park, watching movies, genealogy.

21. Who are you most curious about their responses to this?

Susanne, if she does it.

22. Bird watcher?

No. I mean, I like watching birds, but I'm not a bird watcher.

23. Are you a morning person or a night person?

Night.

24. Do you have any pets?

Yes.

25. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share?

No.

26. What did you want to be when you were little?

Nothing that I can remember. As a teenager, I thought about a few things (travel industry, computer programming, social work, writer), but lost interest in them after a few years. Nothing has interested me since, other than being a wife and mother.

27. What is your best childhood memory?

Most Christmases. I loved not only the presents, but also the tree and the pretty, colorful lights, the carols, the food, family.

28. Are you a cat or dog person?

Cat. I like dogs, but I love cats. :-)

29. Are you married?

Yes.

30. Always wear your seat belt?

Yes.

31. Been in a car accident?

No.

32. Any pet peeves?

Slow drivers, drivers who go too fast, drivers who don't use their blinkers, drivers who can't make up their minds (turning, not turning, yep turning; fast, slow, fast, slow, etc.), clothes and socks on the floor, towels on the floor, shoes in the living room, open drawers or cabinets, pantry door not closed all the way, toilet lid left up (who wants to see the inside of the toilet?), people not picking up after themselves or wiping up their spills. I could probably go on if I thought about it long enough, but I'll stop here.

33. Favorite Pizza Toppings?

Just pepperoni, thanks.

34. Favorite Flower?

I love all flowers really. But probably my favorites are red poppies, orange lilies, hyacinth, hydrangeas, purple (blue) irises, light pink peonies, and any red, purple, orange, or yellow flowers. And pink.

35. Favorite ice cream?

Baskin-Robbins chocolate chip cookie dough. Ben & Jerry's blueberry cheesecake. Unfortunately, that's been discontinued. :-/

36. Favorite fast food restaurant?

I'm not big on fast food. I'll go long stretches where I eat it about once a week. And then I'll go long stretches where I don't eat it at all. (I'm currently in one of those long stretches of not eating it.) When I do eat it, I usually choose Taco Bell, Chick-fil-A, or Steak and Shake. Once in awhile, Arby's.

37. How many times did you fail your driver's test?

Zero.

38. From whom did you get your last email?

A blog design/backgrounds site - The Cutest Blog on the Block.

39. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card?

I don't have any credit cards. And if I did, I wouldn't want to max it out. Now, if the question were at which store would I want a free shopping spree, there are a few. Dillard's, Macy's, Barnes and Noble, Belk, or Best Buy. Or Tanger Outlets.

40. Do anything spontaneous lately?

Not that I can recall.

41. Like your job?

Yes.

42. Broccoli?

No.

43. What was your favorite vacation?

Every time we've gone to Southport.

44. Last person you went out to dinner with?

My husband, my kids, and my son's girlfriend.

45. What are you listening to right now?

Nothing. Though if I stop typing, I can hear the refrigerator running.

46. What is your favorite color?

Green. And then red, various shades of blue, light pink, plum, and lavender.

47. How many tattoos do you have?

None. I hate tattoos.

48. How many people will fill this out?

No clue.

49. What time did you finish this quiz?

7:26 AM.

50. Coffee Drinker?

No.

Books and Movies of 2015

My books and movies post is one of my favorites to do each year. Here is 2015's.

Books, in order from favorite to least favorite.

1. The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah
2. We Were Liars, by E. Lockhart
3. Orleans, by Sherri L. Smith
4. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, by Holly Black
5. All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr
6. Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel
7. The Last Kingdom, by Bernard Cornwell
8. Paper Towns, by John Green
9. The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins
10. Legend, by Marie Lu
11. What I Thought was True, by Huntley Fitzpatrick
12. Neverhome, by Laird Hunt


I loved The Nightingale. A 5-star book. By far my favorite of 2015. Book 2 gets 4 stars. Books 3-6 might be in a different order if I wrote this list some other time. There were things I liked and things I didn't like about each one. I give them each 3 stars. Books 7-10 get 2½ stars.

I really wanted to love The Last Kingdom (historical fiction is my favorite genre), but I didn't care about any of the characters and won't be reading the rest of the series. (I do really like the show though.) I started reading it in September and didn't finish it until mid-December. If it hadn't been for that, this list would have at least 2 more books on it.

Books 11 and 12 get 2 stars each. They just weren't that interesting to me.

Books 8 and 11 probably would've been a little higher on the list if it hadn't been for the teen sex and drinking. To some this may be "reality", but that doesn't mean I have to be okay with it or enjoy it.

Book 9 is another book where I didn't like the characters. Especially the main character. She got on my nerves so bad.

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Now for the movies. I saw 42 movies for the first time this year. I usually have a top ten list, but I only liked 8 movies enough to have on a favorites list.

1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
2. Cinderella (2015)
3. Avengers: Age of Ultron
4. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
5. Ant-Man
6. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2
7. The Good Lie
8. Brooklyn


I liked: Unbroken

These were okay:  The Maze Runner, Interstellar, Insurgent, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Maggie, Woman in Gold, Far From the Madding Crowd (2015), Age of Adaline, Little Man Tate, Testament of Youth, Z for Zachariah, The River Wild, San Andreas, Mr. Holmes (excellent acting though), Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Jurassic World, Paper Towns (mostly true to the book), The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Maze Runner: Scorch Trials, A Little Chaos.

Meh: Taken 2, The Best of Me, The Theory of Everything (also excellent acting), Dracula Untold, Into the Woods, The Imitation Game (excellent acting), Only Lovers Left Alive, Black or White, The Longest Ride, Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, Tomorrowland, In This Our Life (1942).


I've never done this before, but these are the movies that had my favorite costumes (in no particular order):

Cinderella (If I did list them in order, this would be my favorite. Simply gorgeous.)
Brooklyn
Far From the Madding Crowd
Age of Adaline
Testament of Youth
Mr. Holmes
A Little Chaos
The Theory of Everything
The Imitation Game


Movies I'm looking forward to seeing in 2016:

The 5th Wave (I loved the book), Captain America: Civil War, Star Trek: Beyond, Bourne 5 (official title hasn't been released yet), Rogue One, Passengers (not rated yet; won't watch it if it's rated R), and The Zookeeper's Wife (depending on rating). Oh, and The Martian, which came out in theaters a few months ago, but I haven't seen it yet. I'll rent it when it comes out in Redbox.

Christmas and New Year

We had a very nice Christmas. After opening presents, my mom came over and brought Sean's girlfriend Ashley with her. We gave them their gifts and Mom gave us ours from her and then I started Christmas dinner. We had originally planned to do a roast chicken with stuffing, etc., but Mom said she'd like something different. So, I made Lidia Bastianich's Chicken en Guazzetto (sp?) and penne with homemade marinara sauce (also a Lidia Bastianich recipe, only her recipe doesn't call for onions and I put onions in mine). My mom brought green beans. The food was really good. We may have eaten a little too much. lol

I had thought about going to see the new Star Wars movie that night, but Kelly wasn't feeling well. So, then we were going to see it the next day, but I woke up not feeling well and didn't even go vacuum the church like I usually do on Saturdays. I also missed church on Sunday and Wednesday night. :-(

We were finally able to go see it last night and we all (me, Charlie, the kids, Ashley) loved it!


Christmas gifts this year:

I (we) got my mom a purple faux leather jacket, four purple glass dessert bowls by Pioneer Woman, and a Cam Newton (the Carolina Panthers' quarterback) T-shirt. I gave her the jacket and bowls a couple weeks ago because I couldn't wait. lol

I got my husband a black dress shirt for church. There's something else I was wanting to get him (black leather jacket with a gray hood, by Levi's), but didn't. I'd still like to get it for him.

Charlie and I got Kelly a new mattress for her bed (she picked it out and loves it), two sweaters she wanted, red Vans she asked for, a plush black blanket for her bed (looked everywhere and couldn't find one; had to order it from Amazon), film for her instant camera (I put it in her stocking), and, in her stocking, candy, gum, and Burt's Bees wild cherry lip moisturizer.

For Sean, two video games (FallOut 4, Need for Speed), Carolina Tar Heels ankle socks, a Carolina Panthers trash can (he asked for one), a Carolina Panthers calendar, Carolina Panthers plush blanket, and, in his stocking, a multi-tool/knife, candy, and gum.

I also got a gift for both kids to share - a table top air hockey game. They love it. :-)

Charlie got me a new camera. A Nikon DSLR. I love it. Now I have to figure out how to use it. lol

Mom got me a set of red dishes by Pioneer Woman. I had bought one set already, but needed a second set in order to have eight each of dinner plates, salad/dessert plates, and bowls. I love my new dishes! She also gave me some money. She gave Charlie and the kids money, too.

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As I mentioned earlier, we saw the new Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens, last night. Awesome movie! I was a little worried that it wouldn't be as good to me as so many other people were saying (a lot of my friends had already seen it and said it was "awesome", "magical", etc., on Facebook), but I loved it!

After seeing the movie, we came back home and after a few minutes, Sean, Ashley, and I went to the church to pray in the new year. It was a great prayer service. When we left the church, we went to Steak and Shake to get some food to go (I just got small fries and water), dropped Ashley off at her house, and then came home.

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So, now it's 2016. I know we say it every year, but it really is hard to believe that the new year is already here. Twelve months felt more like six.

I hope anyone who reads this has a blessed new year. I wonder what this year will bring us. Charlie mentioned a couple months ago that he'd like to put our house on the market again. (We had it on the market from November 2007 to November 2008. We got a few bites, but each time the buyers chose another house.) So, we may be doing that this year. No other big plans really. Well, other than buying a house if we sell this one. And then there's vacation in September. That seems really far away. Maybe we'll take a quick weekend trip some time before that.