This post is sponsored by the letter "D"

DREAMS – The women in my family have a thing when it comes to dreams. We have “premonition” dreams. For example….I had a dream once when I was young where I was sitting at a kitchen table with a little boy in front of me and another, older, little boy asked me (in spanish – which was really weird cuz I had never dreamt in spanish before) if I wanted some bread. Well, 5 years later I’m in Argentina in my Aunt’s kitchen and low and behold…..that dream was REAL!! It was exactly the same! Every single detail!! The little boy at the table with me? He wasn’t even five yet!! So, when I dreamt it, he wasn’t even a thought yet. These two boys, I had never even met! Not even in pictures!

DISLOCATED SHOULDER – When I was little, my sisters and I were in Trisha’s bedroom. She and Sandra were on her bed and Trisha wanted me to get on the bed too. I didn’t want to, but she tried to force me by grabbing my wrist and pulling me up off the floor. After I screeched, mom and dad came running. I was rushed to the ER for x-rays. My shoulder had been dislocated. I don’t remember having my shoulder put back in place, but I do remember the pain when they needed to get x-rays.

DIVORCE – I never ever thought I would get a divorce. And if I ever did, I would never marry again. Well, I did get divorced and it was the best thing that could have happened. I will say, though, when I thought about it, I felt like I was letting God down. I felt like I lied to Him. I know now that He would never had wanted me to stay in that situation. I have also decided (come to terms) that I do not need to remarry.

DEPRESSION – For the first year after my divorce, I was happy. I lost weight, I had money, Nathan was a wonderful child, etc. Well, then things changed. I noticed myself crying more and being more lazy and not wanting to do anything. It wasn’t until Nathan asked me one night, “Why you sad, Momma?” I burst into tears! That very next morning I called and made an appointment with my doctor.
DVR – I don’t know what I would do without my DVR! Yes, I have a VCR still, but I LOVE my DVR!! It makes the fall season so much easier to watch. Especially since I don’t have to stay up until 11:00pm AND can record up to 14 hours worth of shows!

DROID X – My first toy, in a really long time, where I totally splurged on myself. When I heard about the Droid X, I promised myself I was going to get it and treat myself to a really NICE new item! I LOVE IT!

DANNY KAYE – He is the greatest! He is one of my favorite comedic actors ever!! So many of his movies crack me up. Any time I see that he is in a movie, I immediately want to watch it.

“DOT” – This was my nickname in High School. Why? Well, if you look closely, you will notice a mole on the tip of my nose. The guys Senior year decided that “Dot” fit me quite well! I even had my own theme song….”I love you period. Do you love me question mark. Please, please exclamation point. I wanna hold you in parenthesis.” Oh the memories!

ABC's Of Me - Letter C

CHEESE – When I was little, I hated cheese. Ok, the only cheese I liked was Swiss cheese. I didn’t want anything to do with cheese. Now, the only (normal) cheese I don’t like is.....Swiss! I can’t believe it! But I do love me some cheese. The cheesier the better!

CHICAGO – I visited when I was little but I don’t remember much of it. I would go with my dad when he needed to buy something in particular for his (at the time) restaurant. I also went again when my granpa ("Papino") passed away and his funeral was up there. I went on a mini-vaca/scrap retreat with ‘my gals’ from HYWWP and it was amazing! I can’t believe how much fun we had and how much there is to see. I can totally see myself living there with Nathan (if it were warm all year round…).

CANELONES – Mom makes this from scratch, always has and always will! This is one of my favorite foods! But, it’s gotta be Spinach Canelones with white/alfredo sauce on top. You can make these with creamed corn and top with homemade red sauce, but it’s not even close to being as good as the original! I’ve made this only a couple times, but both times it came out amazing!

COOKIE MONSTER – How can I not like this guy? He was my favorite from Sesame Street! “C is for cookie, that’s good enough for me…” AND, he’s blue! What more could you ask for?!

CARLOS – My dad. It’s amazing how much he looks like my grandpa. I look at pictures of my grandpa at Dad’s age now and the similarities are uncanny! Dad is….well, my dad. He taught me and my sisters the basics of building and shooting. He also taught us how to be strong. These days, Dad is a bit of a terd. LOL! He can’t hear, missing a few teeth, yells at Mom and refuses to do much of anything. But, one thing is for sure…..he would kill anyone who tried to hurt any of his girls! I love my dad!

C-SECTION – For as long as I remember, I have always been adamant that I wanted a c-section. I knew I would never want/be able to give a natural birth! Gimme that epidural ANY day! Now, I will say that when we were in the hospital they called it an “emergency c-section” but it made no difference to me. I knew I was in good hands!

CARTOONS – My favorite thing to watch! I have a 6 hour VHS tape with nothing but cartoons on it. My sister, Sandra, and I have sooooo many inside jokes based off cartoons, it’s not even funny! Ok, well, to her and I it’s hilarious. Although, no one else really understands what in the world we are cracking up about. So many times we have called the other and simly said, "...I don't wanna..." and DIED laughing! Oh, and did I mention....I still CHOOSE to watch them even today!

CAVES – I can’t wait until the day I can take Nathan caving! My parents would take road trips with us girls to TX to visit my grandparents and we would seemed to always end up in a cave somewhere. It is the coolest thing ever! I just can’t believe that caves are naturally made. I think that’s what makes them even more amazing!!!

CHOCOLATE – What can I say about chocolate? Chocolate cake, chocolate bar, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate ice cream! OH. MY. GOSH. Can you ever have too much chocolate? Ok, yeah, I guess you could, but it’s nice to dream, huh? Those commercials on TV with the flowing chocolate make my mouth water. Or the chocolate river in Willy Wonka…..yummy! But, I have to warn you, I don’t like all chocolates! The only chocolates I like are the plain Hershey bar, Crunch Bar, Kit Kat, Palmer’s Hollow Chocolate Easter Bunny. The rest…..you can keep.

COKE ZERO – You gotta love something that tastes like the real thing, but has no calories! Ok, so it has other ingredients that aren’t all that wonderful, but I NEED me some Coke Zero! I don’t think I could survive without it. Really, I don’t think I could.

ABC's Of Me - Letter B

BOYS – I don’t know exactly why, but I have always seemed to get along much better with boys than with girls. All throughout high school, most of my friends were guys. It really made high school quite fun! Now, I’ not gonna say that they were “just friends” even though they technically were. Almost all the guys I was friends with and hung out with either I had a crush on them or they on me. I Never dated any of them during high school though. Go figure!

BAYLEE – I loved him so very much! I had Baylee Levis from 8 weeks of age until about 7.5 years. He was a black lab/Rhodesian mix. He was absolutely stunning!! He was so smart and so strong; much stronger than he thought. He loved chewing on wiring. He also loved to prove how well he protected our home. There were several times I would find some kind of dead bird on the back porch. One time, I even saw him snatch a bird right out of mid-air!! He would sleep on the pillow next to me in bed. If I woke up before he did, he would quickly pop up and stare at the window. He would make it look like he had been keeping a vigil all night long. He was my best bud!

BAMBI – Our very first family dog! She was the sweetest little thing.
She was about 14 pounds and we had her for 11 wonderful years! My sister, Trish, found her on the street one day and brought her to my mom. Mom fell in love with her immediately and couldn’t help but keep her. She was so thin and fragile, she looked like Bambi from the Disney movie. When my little nephew, Jeremy, saw her for the first time, he pointed to her and said, “Bambi.” She was my best friend and confidante. No matter how much Dad said he couldn’t stand her, he loved her so much! When his father died, she jumped right up on his lap and all he did was pet and snuggle her.

BIG BAND – One of my favorite things to listen to. Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, you name it! All kinds of Crooners! I think this is why I like Harry Connick Jr. so much! He has the same big band style of singing and music! It’s so very soothing and romantic and loving. It puts me at ease and leaves me with a wonderful sense of a better and simpler time – it leaves me with a sense of peace.

BIRDS CHIRPING – Yet one more thing that puts me at peace! If I wake up hearing the birds chirping outside, I know I’m going to have a great day! I wake up with a smile on my face. This is not an easy thing for someone who is so not a morning person! This is exactly why I need to move to a place that has birds chirping 99% of the mornings! I think my favorite chirp is the “Figaro” bird. My Abuelo Miguel pointed this little guy out to me when I was little. This little guy sings “Figaro, Figaro, Figaro” if you listen closely.

BLUE – This is my absolute most favorite color in the world! Ever since I can remember, blue has always been my favorite color, even when I didn’t realize it. Let me just give you a little insight. Some of my favorite things - Smurfs, Grover, Cookie Monster, half my closet …all blue things. I tried to say that my favorite color was red at one point, but it never took. I always came back to blue. There are several different shades of blue and, with the exception of powder blue, I like almost all of them. My favorite shade though, is electric blue-pepsi can blue-colts blue.

BROAD RIPPLE – My old stomping ground in my early 20’s. I drank and danced from like 10pm until 3am. Everyone knew me by name. Everyone loved me. My nickname was “Lush” (no, not too proud of that one!). Oh, did I mention I had class or work the next morning at 7am?? Yeah! Not a pretty picture. Not a smart move! Never again!

ABC's Of Me - Letter A

A good friend of mine, Jenny, got me started on this wonderful journey of "ME" by going through the alphabet, one letter at a time. I hope you enjoy this journey with me as I reveal just a little about myself.

APPLES – When I was little I didn’t like to eat apples the traditional way; to say that I wouldn’t bite into a raw apple, peel and all. I also refused to eat apple slices too, with or without peel. So, mom would peel my apple (Granny Smiths, of course), grab the cheese grater and grate my apple onto a dinner plate. When she was done grating the apple, she would add some sugar on top and hand me the plate with a fork. How yum-my!!

ANNIE – My long-time friend! Okay, so we weren’t exactly ‘friends’ when we were younger. We actually kinda ‘hated’ eachother. My fondest memories are of all the fights we had. I know that sounds silly, but the kind of fights we had were too. One memorable one is the marker fight outside in her front yard. We both had a permanent marker and chased eachother all over the yard and marked eachother up as best we could. All these many years later, I can safely say that we are great friends. We don’t talk every day or even every month. We barely even see eachother most years. I know, no matter what, if I ever needed her, she’d be there for me in an instant!

ARGENTINA – My home country. Most of you probably don’t know, but I was actually born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. My family came over (to the U.S.) when I was about 2.5 years old. The first time I went back I was 15 years old. It was amazing! The flight was long, but so worth the trip. I got to see my family and see the mountains and so much more. It was there, I fell in love with Pizza!

ASADO – I can’t say enough just how amazing this is! Basically, it’s a full cow, spread eagle on a spit, upright and smoked to perfection! When I was in Argentina at 15, I had one piece of every part of that cow and could have easily had seconds! I know for some, this may look totally disgusting, but I promise you, It's the best most tender and juicy meat I have ever had!

AMERICAN – Yes, we are all Americans and I am no better than any other. I will say though, I was not born an American, I was naturalized when my parents were. Because they became citizens and I was their child, I was automatically naturalized. I still remember standing in the hallway of the City-County Building in downtown Indy admiring the floor (marble and had this amazing circular design).

ANTIQUES – I’m such a sucker for a good antique! I love the old fans and sewing machines and just about anything that has a little rust and a little life in it. I’m not exactly sure why. I guess I’m just an old soul (with a young heart). They give me a sense of another time when things were simpler and life was easier. No fancy electronics or fancy toys to distract people from life. I get a sense of comfort and peace.

ALL SUMMER IN A DAY - when i was in grade school, i was teased from 4th thru 7th grade. Four years of crying on my way to school, at school, on my way home, crying myself to sleep. That said; there was this movie (all summer in a day) that we watched in 4th grade, i think. The parts i remember was that it was on another planet and the sun only came around like once in a lifetime or something. There was this girl, Paula, which everyone teased like crazy. They were picking on her one day, locked her in a closet. Then the sun came out. Everyone ran outside to enjoy it forgetting about the girl. When the sun went away and they came back in they realized they forgot all about her. I felt a connection with this girl. Not just because her name was Paula, but because of the teasing and everything. I have NEVER forgotten this movie and I KNOW I never will!

Well, i was just now looking up the title (cuz i couldn't really remember) and you know what? The girls name wasn't Paula! It was Margot! All these many many years, i SWORE her name was Paula! I was sitting there actually crying about this. I can't explain why exactly. It’s weird and i honestly don't know why this bothered me so much.