LABEL POST

Personalities

Me - I used to have a wonderful personality and everyone wanted their kids to be like me. I was really well behaved, outgoing, friendly, nice to my sister, had more friends then I could count, and I wasn't afraid to do anything! Now I am shy, not usually well behaved, don't get along with my sister and am embarrassed about everything. I wish I could go back to my old self, because for one thing at camp this summer I couldn't even stick up for myself when I was being bullied. So even at my favorite activity I couldn't enjoy myself. My old self definitely could do that. My point is my old self is way better than who I am now.

Mom - My husband is very outgoing. I am not and have never been. My older daughter used to be outgoing and confident. My younger daughter was quiet and shy. My older daughter could make friends with anyone. My younger daughter wouldn't talk to anyone sometimes even people she knew. At home, however, she was a daredevil, and we always had to make sure we kept on eye on her or we never knew what she would be getting into. My husband and I always said that our older daughter was afraid of everything except people and our younger daughter was afraid of nothing except people. The last few years things have changed. My older daughter's personality has completely changed, and we don't know why. She is not nearly as confident and/or outgoing as she used to be. My younger daughter has come out of a her shell a little bit more as she gets older. However, I don't know how it will be when she starts a new school with all new kids this fall after being in the same school for three years. She goes back and forth between being very excited about it and very unhappy about it. Overall, though she is pretty much the same as she always has been.

And that's our view. Tune in again for another topic.

Little Sisters

Me - Little Sisters! Wow! I have a little sister as you all know unless you just started reading this blog with this post. Anyway, I have a little sister and her name is Aurella. Me and my little sister fight a lot. Me and my brother fight A LOT more!! My sister is always copying me, and I hate it! I get so annoyed, and I go crazy! I am always getting jealous of her and thinking that my parents have more love for her than for me. She's annoying, crazy and hyper. She attacks me just because I said at the moment I can't play with her. She is much better at math than me. When I was learning multiplication, she got the 1s and 0s, before I even got them. Me and my sister get along really well when we play doll house together, but she is always taking my stuff without permission. Me and my sister love to climb on stuff. We are both very ticklish. I tickle her, and she laughs like a lunatic. We make up dance routines and skits together. Now, that she is learning to read we make up plays. We are also very CURIOUS. My Mom thinks we'll be the kind of sisters that call each other over everything including things like "I got a mosquito bite on my arm pit" or "I got a new freckle on my belly." She may drive me crazy sometimes, but I'll love my little sister until the world ends.

Mom - Like my daughter, Melia, I also have one younger sister. My sister and I are not as close in age as my daughters are. I was already 6 when my sister was born, and I was very happy to have a little sister. While Melia was happy to have a little sister too, sometime she couldn't help as much as she wanted to because she was only 3 when her sister was born. Despite the age difference between me and my sister, we were actually very close when we were young. People always used to tell me "When you get older, you'll appreciate having a sister." However, I found that the opposite it true. I mean it's not that I don't appreciate having a sister, but we were really a lot closer when we were younger. I mean don't get me wrong, I love my sister, and we get along. We are just not especially close. We don't have one of those relationships where we talk all the time or when something happens we can't wait to call each other or anything like that. We are not best friends or even really good friends, and we certainly never call each other just to say hello or anything like that. On the other hand, we are family and we love each other, and I know that she would be there if I ever needed her and vice versa. My daughters have a love/hate relationship, but over all, they love each other and are really close. I definitely think they are each other's best friends. I hope they always stay that close.

And that's our view. Tune in again for another topic.

Exercise

Me - I exercise all the time. Being flexible really helps. Even so, I really don't need to because I am really skinny. When my mom hugs me she says I'm only bones and she feels nothing. I even treadmill. Me and my mom and my sister try to have a time called exercise time every day. Sometimes, we have it it inside. My Mom and sister play games like Animal Movement Charades and Can You Hop Like Kangaroo, which is a game where you try to walk like different animals. My Mom tries to get my sister to play it because she is only 5, but she likes to eat a lot. Sometimes, we have it outside. My Mom sits on a bench reading which isn't very good exercise except for your eyes. My sister and I run around like lunatics. She runs in circles and plays with her invisible friends. I eat a snack and climb the tree. My sister has a good imagination which comes in handy a lot. I don't have as good of an imagination as I did when I was younger. But anyway, back to the topic, I think that exercise is fun.

Mom - When I was a little kid, I never had to worry about getting enough exercise because we were always running around and playing outside and riding bikes and stuff. I never really played sports or anything like that though. I was never much of an athlete, I was much more of a spectator. When I was in high school, I didn't get much exercise at all because I never even participated in gym. When I was in college, I got exercise from walking around campus, but apparently that wasn't really enough. In my senior year of college, we went to visit my brother at his college. We were running late and had to go running from one end of the airport to the other. After that, I literally thought I was going to die, and I realized how out of shape I was. That was when I started exercising regular. I kept it up until I was pregnant with my first daughter. Then, my husband wouldn't let me exercise until I got the okay from the doctor, but by then I hadn't been exercising for a while so I just didn't for the rest of the pregnancy. The second time I was pregnant, I just kept exercising right through the pregnancy, and I felt really good. When my husband was out of work for a long time instead of exercising when my younger daughter was in school like I used to, I hung around with my husband. Then, gradually, I was just so busy doing other things I could never get back into the habit of exercising frequently. I only did it once in a while when I really forced myself. What I really need to do now is to force myself to get back into the routine of doing it all the time. I really felt a whole lot better when I was exercising regularly, and I really need to get back to that.

And that's our view. Tune in again for another topic.

Obsessions

Me - Obsessions, wow! I am always obsessed with Full House. I have mentioned it a lot in this blog. I love it more than anything in the world. My other obsessions change from time to time. Sometimes,  I am really obsessed with reading. I'll be walking on  the steps and pausing while I read. I read while I'm doing other things. I try to read two books a day. Reading is at the top of my hobby list, and I love it very much. I also like writing and at times I am so obsessed with it that I write a story almost every day. I am sometimes obsessed with playing my DS especially when I get a new game. I am also obsessed with collecting things, but I'll talk more about that at another time. 

Mom - Obsessions seems to run in my family. My younger daughter has been obsessed with Dora the Explorer since she was 2. She is so crazy about Dora and everything Dora that if they sold Dora toliet paper she would want to get it. My older daughter is obsessed with Full House,  a TV show that stopped having new episodes over ten years before she was even born. My husband used to be obsessed with home improvement shows but more recently has become obsessed with the History Channel. As for myself, I have been obsessed with various TV shows over the years. My current obsession is Glee. Although I am not as obsessed with it as I have been with other TV shows when I was younger. I literally use to countdown the minutes until the Hardy Boys went on. Now, I am obsessed with seeing every new episode of any primetime series I watch even if  I have to watch some of the episodes on-line. Luckily, I am not that obsessed with TV in general and I only watch about 10 different primetime shows. Lots of people I know watch many more shows than that. We also have other obsessions. My daughters and I are all obsessed with reading and we always want to get new books and read new books. My younger daughter likes to take about 20 or 30 books at a time out of the library. My Dad is always teasing her that she doesn't leave any books for the other kids. My older daughter goes through phases where she'll read a book or two a day.When I was younger I often read a book day. Now, that I have a husband and kids and so many other things that I want or need to do, I don't have enough time for that.  I do try to read a least a book a week and sometimes I read two books a week and/or even two at the same time. I also read the newspaper every day and can never get rid of a paper if I have not looked through it even if I am several days behind in reading the paper. I also liked to do the puzzles in the paper and cannot throw them out either so I almost always have a whole stack of newspaper puzzles that I haven't had a chance to get to yet. I'm sure I have many more obsessions as do the other members of my family but that is enough for now and it's all I can think of for now. Maybe, I'll get into some more of them at another time.

And that's our view. Tune in again for another topic.

Minor League Baseball

Me - Minor League Baseball, Wow! I have seen  the Trenton Thunder, the Lakewood Blueclaws, the Camden Riversharks, the Somerset Patriots, the Brooklyn Cyclones, the Newark Bears, and the Staten Island Yankees. This year I am going to see the New Jersey Jackals. My favorites are the Thunder, the Blueclaws and the Patriots. I love to see the different mascots. Sparkee and Slider are the Patriots mascots. Buster is the Blueclaws mascot. Boomer and Strike are the Thunder mascots. Once at a Thunder game, I was fan of the day. I got to play catch on the field with Strike and Boomer before the game. The Thunder also have two bat dogs, Derby and Chase. When I was fan of the day, I got to pet them and have my picture taken with them. I also have a Chase stuffed animal. The Newark Bears have mascots Effa and Ruppert. I like Effa. The Camden Riversharks have Finley. The Staten Island Yankees have mascots too, but I don't know their names. My favorite mascots are Sparkee, Slider, Buster, Boomer and Pinchy. Pinchy is the Blueclaws logo, but I also have a stuffed animal of him. Minor League baseball is fun!

Mom - Although I never really liked participating in sports, when I was young I liked to follow baseball but I didn't know much about it. When I got a little older, I didn't like sports at all. When I was in college, I got into baseball again learned a lot about it and became a huge New York Mets fan. Later, the Yankees brought my favorite player, David Cone, who had once been a Met, back to New York as a Yankee  so I became a Yankees fan. These days especially since David Cone retired, I have become more of  a Minor League baseball fan. It is cheaper, it is closer, it is more entertaining for the kids and overall, I feel like the Minor League teams care so much more about their fans than Major League teams do. The last time I went to Yankee Stadium, they were charging $7.00 for one hotdog and it was $35.00 to park. Minor League teams often have kids eat free games or all you can eat buffets for $12 or $14 a piece and parking is a couple dollars. They almost always have games, contests or entertainment between innings which makes the kids happy and keeps them entertained. Lots of great things have happened to us at Minor League games. My kids have gotten to meet lots of mascots. At the Trenton Thunder, each of my daughters has gotten picked to compete in a between innings contest as did my stepson. My older daughter was once fan of the day. She got her picture in the paper and got to throw out a ceremonial first pitch. My younger daughter got to say "Play Ball" before the first pitch of a game.We also had our picture on their web-site once when they took our picture as we entered the stadium. At a Patriots game, we got to sit in a special section all by ourselves in lounge chairs, get free food, meet the mascots, and have our pictures on the scoreboard. At a Newark bears game, my older daughter was given the bat a Newark Bears player hit a 3 run homerun with. We have also been lucky enough to get lots of free tickets to Minor League games whether we won them at a school auction, won them at the stadium, got them from the team when a scheduled fireworks display had to be cancelled, or just were given them. Last season, we went to about 7 games and only paid for tickets to 1 and that was dollar weekend so we only paid $4.00 for 4 tickets. Mostly, I like Minor League baseball because they care about their fans, if you have a problem or issue , and you write or e-mail them, they will always get back in touch with you. I have never had any problems with any Minor League team that hasn't been resolved satisfactorily. For all these reasons, these days I am really much more of Minor League baseball fan than a Major League one.

And that's our view. Tune in again for another topic.

Pet Peeves

Me - Pet Peeves, wow! I have a lot of pet peeves. I don't like it when sister annoys me which is pretty much always. I don't like it when people walk really loudly instead of normally. I don't like it when people read out loud instead of in their heads. I don't like it when people tickle me. I don't like it when people tease me which my Dad and grandfather do a lot so I ignore them. I don't like it when friends are mean to you all of the sudden. I don't like it when I don't get the grade I expect when I have to do a report or something. I  work really hard, and I think I did a really good job, and then I don't get the grade I think I'm going to get. I don't like it when I can't make be myself  be good even though I want to be good. I don't like it when I get the hiccups. I don't like it when my sister doesn't mind her own business. I don't like it when I try to hide or surprise someone and my sister says "Do you want to come see where Melia is?" or "Melia's here!" or "Hi, Melia!" I'm sure I have other pet peeves a lot of which involve my sister, but I can think of them now.


Mom- Oh there are lot of things that  really annoy me. Here are just a few of them that I can think of right now. I don't like when my kids don't listen and when they leave their stuff all over the place. I don't like when my younger daughter tells us that she hates us when we don't do or say what she wants. I don't like whining. I don't like when people talk really loud in public especially people who talk really loud on their phone in public or people who let their phone ring in movies and at shows and stuff. I don't like play who are very opinionated and don't let anybody else have an opinion. I don't like bullies and people who are mean to other people. I don't like people who have an inflated opinion of themselves. I don't like people who are you're friend one day and not the next without any reason for it. Unfortunately, I have known lots of people who are like that in my life. On a related subject, I don't like people who drop all their friends as soon as they have a significant other. Those are usually the same people that expect their friends to be there to help pick up the pieces if the relationship doesn't work out. I hate people who are stuck up. I hate people who think that their time is more important than yours. Like people who you have to make an appointment to see and you better be there on time, but then they can leave you waiting for hours before they see you. Or other people, who think they can push ahead of you on-line or on the road because where they are going or what they are doing is more important than where you are going or doing just because they are them. There certainly are a lot of not very nice people in this world, aren't there? Too bad I have had the misfortune of encountering so many of them as I am sure I will continue to for the rest of my life.

And that's our view. Tune in again for another topic.

Favorite Songs

Me - Favorite songs - Wow! My very favorite songs are "Take a Bow" by Rhianna and "Loser Like Me" a Glee original song. My other favorite songs are always changing. A lot of the songs I know, I know because I heard them on Glee. For instance, "Take a Bow" Lea Michele sang on Glee. I also like a lot of music from the Disney channel like Hannah Montana songs, Phineas and Ferb songs, and the theme songs from Wizards of Waverly Place, Good Luck Charlie, and Sonny with a Chance. I like the music from Disney movies like the High School Music movies, Camp Rock and Lemonade Mouth.  I also like Selena Gomez and Miley Cyrus music that does not come from their TV shows as well as Lady Gaga music. My favorite radio stations are the Broadway channel  and radio Disney on satellite radio and Z100 on regular radio.

Mom - I don't really have a favorite song. My favorite song is always changing. Lately, I have really been into "Firework", the Glee version sung by Lea Michele. Actually, over the past two years that Glee has been on, a lot of my favorite songs have been from Glee because I just  love the music from Glee and tend to listen to it  a lot. I like a lot of different  kinds of music though. I like pop music. These days I particularly like Bruno Mars and Katy Perry. I like show tunes including music from Billy Elliot, Rent and Mamma Mia among others. I like country music including Lee Ann Rimes, Martina McBride and Carrie Underwood among others. I like all different kinds of  rock from classic rock, to soft rock and even some hard rock including Chicago, Eric Clapton, Queen, the Beatles, Billy Joel, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Fleetwood Mac and Aerosmith among others. I like movie soundtracks like the music from The Committments, Forest Gump, or Fame (the original version). I like easy listening like Barry Manilow or the Carpenters among others. I like novelty songs like "Purple People Eater" and "I Want to Drive the Zamboni". I like music that my kids listen to or have listened to in the past like Laurie Berkner songs, Sandra Boynton songs, Madeline songs and songs from Disney channel shows and movies. In fact, if you name just about any genre of music there is probably at least one song I like and/or one artist and/or group that sings songs of that genre that I like.

And that's our view. Tune in again for another topic.

Summer Time

Me - Summer time, wow! I like not having any school work to do. I also like sleeping late. I like to have have days when I can play all day. I like swimming. I think that this summer when I get back from sleepaway game, I want to back a bag and camp out in my house. I sometime go camping with my Dad and my sister, but not in the summer time. It is too hot in the summer. I don't like hot weather. We hang out in our basement a lot in the summer because it is cooler. When the cold in the basement feels nice, you know it's summer time. I always do summer reading. I really like reading anyway, but it is fun to win prizes too. I have won books, blendy pens, a little blow fish, a little water fun, a t-shirt, a pencil, a pen, baseball tickets, and even money from the bank. So as you can tell, I'm good at winning prizes. I get that from my mother. 

Mom- Summer time and the living is easy. At least that's what the song says. I actually do think  that things are a little bit easier in the summer time. I like not having to stick to a schedule as much as during the school year. Sometimes, I like having the kids around more and sometimes I don't. It depends how well they are getting along and how bored they are.  I don't like the heat. Some people say they are warm weather people. Some say they are cold weather people. I am neither . At least in the cold you can put on more layers of clothing, and in the heat you can go swimming. My family really enjoys swimming although we don't go all that much. We hardly ever go to the beach even though we live not far from the Jersey Shore (incidentally I have never met anybody who is anything like those awful people from that TV show when I have been there). These days it is so expensive to go to the beach at least around here. You have to pay for the parking and pay to get on the beach and pay for the food except any food you bring with you. If you bring your food and eat it on the beach the sand gets in it. I hate sand in general but I especially hate it in my food. My girls like to go to the beach because they like to collect shells. The other thing I remember most about summer from when I was a kid is going on summer vacations. We used to go on vacation every summer. My girls don't know what that is like because we cannot afford to go on vacation. They have only been to New York to visit their cousins (although we don't stay over there) and to Maryland to visit their grandfather except for once when my older daughter went to Texas with her Dad. Having the time and money to travel is the thing I miss most about my life  before I got married and had kids.

And that's our view. Tune in again for another topic.

Things to Do On-Line

Me - Internet, wow! I like to go on Webkinz because I have over 20 Webkinz. It is fun to be able to have Webkinz get jobs, go to school, compete in contests and all kinds of other fun stuff. I go on Disney channel.com because I love Disney channel. I can catch up on shows and play all kinds of fun games. I go on Razz-Kids because I get to read and quiz myself on the book. I love doing it. I go on study island during the school year to do math and win prizes for my class, but I don't like doing that. I don't like math except Geometry. Study Island doesn't have geometry. I go on YouTube to watch videos. I go on Yahoo to check my e-mail and occasionally to write e-mail. I go on a few other websites to play games and/or learn and I also watch videos on Truveo.


Mom -  Ah the internet! It makes me life so much easier and yet so much more complicated. I mean I used to be so efficient about getting everything I needed to do done. Now, it takes me so long to do the things I want to and need to do on-line that I never seem to get to the things I need to do off-line. There are just so many things to do on-line that I like though. There is keeping this blog with my daughter. There is keeping my other blog, Stories for Dora, for my other daughter. There is reading other people's blogs. There is entering contests. So far this year I have won about 9 books for me, 4 for my younger daughter, Yankee tickets, and theater tickets and probably other things I can't even remember now. There is doing surveys. I got almost all my daughters' presents for the holidays as well as a Kindle for myself, and almost all the Glee CDs among other things with Amazon gift codes I got for doing surveys. There is secret shopping web-sites to check. I haven't done much secret shopping lately, but for a while I was. There is shopping to do. I so much prefer shopping on-line to going to the store especially at holiday time. There is music to download and episodes of my favorite shows that I may have missed to catch up on. There is Facebook. I actually am not all that obsessed with Facebook. I mostly use it to connect with people I haven't seen in a while or to connect with companies in order to get free stuff and/or enter contests. There are recipes to find and save. I'm sure there are a million other things to do on-line that I can't even think of right now. There are just too many things to do on-line! It is wonderful thing and a terrible thing. Like I said. the internet makes my life so much easier and yet so much complicated.

And that's our view. Tune in again for another topic.