Spotlight 1: ANDREA

Well. As mentioned in my post earlier today, apparently Spotlight 1 was pretty easy...it was in fact, my sister, ANDREA! So, let me tell you a little about her.

First, as a reminder, here were MY answers to the Spotlight questions about Andrea:

1.  Hair and eye color. Blond and Blue
2.  Where were you born?  Where did you grow up? Utah, Utah...
3.  Where did I meet you? Utah
4.  How many brothers and sisters do you have?  Where do you fit in oldest / youngest? 1, 2, middle
5.  If you have children, how many? 4
6.  What are some of the different places you have lived?  Your favorite place?  Favorite Place to visit-I think is Hawaii.
7.  Were you named after anyone? Not that I am aware of
8.  Your favorite color? Blue
9.  Your favorite food? Parmesan Chicken
10.  Your Favorite Book? Their Eyes Were Watching God
11. Your Favorite Movie? Girls Just Want to Have Fun
12. Your Favorite Cereal? Cheerios
13.  Your Favorite Ice Cream Flavor? Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
14.  What are some things you enjoy doing? Facebook, Hang out with family, Sing, Hold Babies, and Scrapbook.
15.  What color is your car? Gold
16.  Name a movie or book that best describes you or your life. As Good as it Gets
17.  Tell one story about you. I cannot think of one that will not give this away...let me think...ok...um...Here is my plan on this one. I will tell you a story about this person at the END of the week when it is revealed WHO it is! :) 

And now, because my sister is awesome and willing to play along, here are her answers (correcting mine):

1. Green and blonde/brown
2. SLC. Mostly SLC, but I also lived in Denver and Lansing.
3. I'm guessing St. Mark's Hospital.
4. 1 brother, 2 sisters. I'm in the middle (the older in the middle).
5. 4
6. I have lived in Utah, Michigan, and Colorado. My favorite places are Puerto Vallarta, Hawaii, and Disneyland-yep, I have 3!
7. I don't think so-my parents just liked my name.
8. Blue (deep, dark blue)
9. Stuffed peppers, Navajo tacos, my mom's Parmesan chicken, and sushi.
10. Ender's Game and Their Eyes were Watching God
11. I have SOOOO many-top 5 are probably Footloose, Count of Monte Cristo, Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Lion King, and The Family Man
12. Rice Chex and Cheerios (it's true, I know, I'm boring).
13. Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie.
14. Reading, Writing, Scrapbooking, babysit (especially little babies), make cookies and bread, autism advocacy.
15. Goldish
16. What Women Want :) hehe
17. (Note from Beckee-Andrea is recovering from surgery and is a little drowsy, so she asked me to recount this story from her about us SO this is in Beckee's words): When I was a senior in high school, I was playing Adelaide in Guys and Dolls. During one particularly long rehearsal, Andrea and Heidi (our friend) asked if I wanted anything from Arby's. I said I wanted Curly Fries. They came back with HOMESTYLE fries and (allegedly) I pitched a fit. On stage, in front of all, I screamed, yelled and stomped that "I want CURLY fries."  They went back and got Curly Fries...(and I have not heard the end of it from my family since-my mom was there in the pit playing the piano and this is my "diva fit" that the family still references when I get to be a handful...)

NOW, MY TURN to share some facts and stories about ANDREA:

1: Andrea is notoriously a terrible cook (though as an adult she has improved). But as a kid/teen/young adult, we teased she could burn water. This is not a joke. This is real. Let me tell you the story. I am 2ish years older than Andrea. When I was 16, I came home late one night from a rehearsal or something and Andrea was up and trying to cook a late night meal of pasta of some sort. She had put water on the stove to boil with a touch of oil and salt in it and walked away. At the time, out family lived with my grandparents. They slept upstairs, we were downstairs. That night I came home just in time to see Andrea's water had boiled out and the stove was on fire. Everyone was asleep. I didn't want to scream, but wasn't sure how to get it out (do you throw water on a fiery electric thing?!) So, I ran into my grandparents room where my sleeping grandparents were sleepign and calmly asked my XiaXia (grandma in Greek) "Excuse me, the stove is on fire, I am not sure how to get it out, do I throw water or flour on it?!" She kind of mumbled something like "yeah that should work." I said "OK-thank you." Closed the door and started walking back to the fiery kitchen. Apparently at that point XiaXia realized what I had asked and I am telling you-that 65-year-old lady ran past me like she was Dash from the Incredibles, and that fire was out before I even hit the kitchen.  That story is why we say Andrea can burn even water! :)

2: Andrea loves to travel, but is not very good at it. I realize my saying this I am asking for a retaliation as I am notoriously the WORST traveler ever (I have terrible luck on drives and flights in traveling, but that is for another day). Back to Andrea being a bad traveler though: Case in point, when my dad took her on a daddy daughter vacation to Costa Rica, she spent all of like 2 hours there before heading back to the states to seek medical attention due to an allergic reaction she had and was still having some issues for. BUT worry not-my dad and sister can make anything an adventure-they did not come directly home-they went via Mexico and like 4 other places. I don't remember all the details but it was crazy.

3: I am a klutz, but she can out-klutz me any day. She wore a huge cast on her leg to the junior prom because the day before prom she fell off her platform shoe and got her leg stuck in a door breaking her ankle. Yeah-really-she broke her ankle that way. I so wish I had the picture to show you of her in her flowy light blue mermaid-like prom dress with this bright (green?) cast and walking on crutches!

4: Speaking of being klutzy, she once broke her nose performing on stage in front of all the kids her age from the high schools around. She was doing a dance move and just slipped and fell on her nose. But don't worry-she finished the song with the blood gushing out her nose. A stage crew member brought her tissues in the middle of the song but she just finished before going to seek medical attention.

5: She may be super skinny, but she can eat you under the table under the right circumstances. Like if her (now husband) breaks up with her, she MIGHT park her sad butt on the bottom of her older sister's bed and remain there for days eating dozens and dozens of eclairs (provided to her by her dad who knew not what to do otherwise...). Or like if dad were to make Navajo Tacos, or mom makes Parmesan Chicken...Just saying...

Though I have another sister and one brother, they are both quite a bit younger than I am, so Andrea and I grew up together and didn't have anyone else until I was 10. So, I got to grow up with Andrea and fight with her and she stole my clothes all the time. But we still like each other and she is thoughtful and great and I am lucky to have such a fun sister!

So, Thanks Andrea for all the things you have done throughout my life to make it more fun and exciting and for helping me through the hard days too.





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Time to Show some Appreciation Friend

Today, I am thinking about a friend that I don't think I truly appreciated enough when I lived close. Really. I just don't think I noticed and thanked her nearly enough for all the nice things she does for others including me.

This is a friend who has volunteered to watch my kids for me over and over so I can go do things that needed to be done. A friend who has kids the same ages as my younger kids and whose kids are friends with my kids (gosh-isn't that a TRUE BLESSING for a mom to find friends whose kids also get along with your kids!!!). 

This is a friend that responds to things I post online, even the most silly insignificant things. A friend who knows how silly I am and that I always appreciate a good joke and I am always up for a laugh, so eh makes sure to share those things with me. Seriously, many of the funniest things I have read or seen on FB I would have missed were it not for this friend pointing them out to me or sharing them with me.

So, for all the times you helped with my kids, for providing friends for my kids and for all the laughs, I say THANK YOU! I cannot tell you the number of times I have been moody since I moved, then looked at FB on my phone to see something hilarious you posted and it turns my day and mood around! So, THANKS, Maggie!!

Spotlight updates!

You may or may not have seen my Spotlight post last week. I have learned a lot this week. So here are a few notes and changes:

Note 1: If you guessed the spotlight and did not see your comment/guess appear on the post it is because I am not going to moderate and post ANY guesses until the last day (when I reveal who it is) that way you get to make your own guess without being influences by other guesses/comments.

Note 2: As mentioned above, that was too easy. So I am going to update my questions. This is the list of questions as they appeared in Spotlight 1:

1. Hair and eye color.
2. Where were you born? Where did you grow up?
3. Where did I meet you?
4. How many brothers and sisters do you have? Where do you fit in oldest / youngest?
5. If you have children, how many?
6. What are some of the different places you have lived? Your favorite place? Why?
7. Were you named after anyone?
8. Your favorite color?
9. Your favorite food?
10. Your Favorite Book?
11. Your Favorite Movie?
12. Your Favorite Cereal?
13. Your Favorite Ice Cream Flavor?
14. What are some things you enjoy doing?
15. What color is your car?
16. Name a movie or book that best describes you or your life.
17. Tell one story about you.

This is the new set of questions:

1. Where did I meet you?
2. Of all the places you have lived, what is your favorite?
3. What is your favorite place to vacation? (Somewhere you have been)
4. What is your dream vacation spot?
4. Were you named after anyone?
5. Your favorite color?
6. Your favorite food?
7. Your Favorite Book?
8. Your Favorite Movie?
9. Your Favorite Cereal?
10. Your Favorite Ice Cream Flavor?
11. What are some things you enjoy doing?
12. What color is your car?
13. Name a movie or book that best describes you or your life.
14. Tell one funny story about you.

Note 3: Spotlight 1 has only been up a few days, but in the future I will only do one spotlight a week-it will be posted on Mondays (and revealed on the next Monday).

Look for Spotlight 1 to be revealed later today! AND for Spotlight 2 to go up.

Weekends

Well, I missed a couple days over the weekend. I think I may just do that each week-only post on week days. Mainly because if I ever get time with my husband AND kids, it is on the weekend and I don't want to add another thing that takes away from that family time. But worry not, with the return of Friday's I will also return to throwing out some love...watch out for a post ocming up shortly!

Who could it BE?! Spotlight #1: Feb 1, 2013

I, Beckee, am answering these questions about a mystery person. I will answer honestly and to the best of my ability...please comment below if you believe you may know who this mystery person is. Next week, I will reveal who said person is, and IF he or she is willing to play along I will have them correct any information I got wrong!

Without further ado, I bring you Spotlight 1:

1.  Hair and eye color. Blond and Blue
2.  Where were you born?  Where did you grow up? Utah, Utah...
3.  Where did I meet you? Utah
4.  How many brothers and sisters do you have?  Where do you fit in oldest / youngest? 1, 2, middle
5.  If you have children, how many? 4
6.  What are some of the different places you have lived?  Your favorite place?  Favorite Place-I think is Hawaii.
7.  Were you named after anyone? Not that I am aware of
8.  Your favorite color? Blue
9.  Your favorite food? Parmesan Chicken
10.  Your Favorite Book? Their Eyes Were Watching God
11. Your Favorite Movie? Girls Just Want to Have Fun
12. Your Favorite Cereal? Cheerios
13.  Your Favorite Ice Cream Flavor? Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
14.  What are some things you enjoy doing? Facebook, Hang out with family, Sing, Hold Babies, and Scrapbook.
15.  What color is your car? Gold
16.  Name a movie or book that best describes you or your life. As Good as it Gets
17.  Tell one story about you. I cannot think of one that will not give this away...let me think...ok...um...Here is my plan on this one. I will tell you a story about this person at the END of the week when it is revealed WHO it is! :) 

WHO COULD IT BE?! Leave your best guess below in comments! :)

Spotlights: Will it be YOU?!

As I mentioned, this blog is mainly a place for me to throw out thanks and kudos to awesome people that have made my life a little easier with the little things they do. Mostly it is people that I don't get to see every day. People that may not know how their interactions and support mean a lot to me.

BUT the people that I know the best and that have affected me in the most profound meaningful ways on a daily basis throughout life deserve some major kudos and love too! BUT since the little things they do for me are too numerous to list, I decided to do something that I think will be fun. We shall see if you do too...

Here's the scoop...I have always gone to church weekly growing up. In my church, the children's program (for ages 3-12) is called Primary. Every congregation I was ever part of during my primary years (and the ones my kids have been part of) all have some version of "spotlights" for the kids. I love them! I LOVE when I am spotlighted and I love hearing others' spotlights! Some of my favorite ones are the ones where the parents are asked to fill out a questionnaire about their kids. Then the Primary leaders read the answers out loud to the Primary kids as hints for the kids to guess who is being spotlighted. I love when the kid gets up there and the parents have like half to all of the stuff "wrong!"  It is so fun to hear what the kids say after hearing what the parents wrote down.

So, here is my plan. I will spotlight someone close to me (most will probably be family but I guarantee many will be friends as I get further into this-should it work out...). I will try to answer (to the best of my ability) the following questions about my whoever I am spotlighting:

1.  Hair and eye color.
2.  Where were you born?  Where did you grow up?
3.  Where did I meet you?
4.  How many brothers and sisters do you have?  Where do you fit in oldest / youngest?
5.  If you have children, how many?
6.  What are some of the different places you have lived?  Your favorite place?  Why?
7.  Were you named after anyone?
8.  Your favorite color?
9.  Your favorite food?
10. Your Favorite Book?
11. Your Favorite Movie?
12. Your Favorite Cereal?
13.  Your Favorite Ice Cream Flavor?
14.  What are some things you enjoy doing?
15.  What color is your car?
16.  Name a movie or book that best describes you or your life.
17.  Tell one story about you.

Then YOU comment and guess who you think I am writing about! First names for guesses is good to go. AND if my spotlight people are willing to play along, maybe at the end of the week, when I announce who my spotlight was, they will correct my answers! :)

A few things--when answering the questions, I will not intentionally answer incorrectly, but I may be vague so as not to totally give away who it is. Also, I may cheat by looking at your Facebook pages to see what you claim to be your fave movie or things like that. AND lastly-I will not divulge personal info like your last name, or the names of your children or anything like that. I will be a bit vague as I said before.

Wahoo! I am about to post Spotlight #1 in a few minutes! WILL IT BE YOU?!

Friends Who get it!

Do you ever just feel like you are the only one dealing with a particular issue? Like selling a house or applying for jobs? Like no one understands how terrible it is to get you house ready to put on the market, or how hard it is to pack up your kids and leave a clean, prepared house for a showing at the last minute? Or how much it COSTS to sell a house and get it ready? Or how bad the market is?

Yeah-or like you are the only one dealing with piles and piles of terrible paperwork for your husband's new job? Like no one else can possible get it how stressful it is to get a medical license done, credentialing for hospitals or insurance set up?

I will tell you-I have felt all of those things (and more), but I have a friend that I know is doing the same thing I am. She is going through the same stage of life as I am and she is always willing to commiserate with me and make me feel better about it!

We have not been friends long. We have known each other since our husband's started medical school together but did not really become friends until near the end of residency maybe a couple years ago. Our daughters got to be friends at playgroups and we got to talking and became friends too. When I feel alone in this journey I can ALWAYS send a message and get a response that she understands and is totally doing the same thing!

So, to CHRISSY I say THANK YOU for always making me feel better about what I am doing! Thanks for letting me know we are in it together even across the miles and miles! You are AWESOME!

Shout out: Dads Rock

Just a quick Shout out to all the dad's that step in and help out!

Like my husband, who is working the mid shift right now so he is home in the mornings. My baby (well, almost 2 year old) has had some terrible poopy diapers. I have already changed a couple this morning. I sat down to try and get my Deals blog post done about the grocery deals in Scottsdale this week. It is supposed to be a weekly post, but it takes me lots of time to do it and I have been ignoring it weekly for months now. I was getting back on the ball, buckling down and typing up my pricematch faves. It was taking some time. I had to stop to help with bottles, fighting kids, all kinds of little mommy distractions. When I was about at my wits end with the diaper issue in particular, I looked over to see Wes was changing yet ANOTHER poopy diaper. (It was hard to get pictures, but I tried:

It may be a little thing to change a diaper but today it was a HUGE thing for me! So, to WES I say Thank you! Thanks for just being you and for making my morning a little less crappy (sorry couldn't help myself...)  :)

Inheriting Cousins is AWESOME!

I am Greek. I have a large family just like in the Big Fat Greek Wedding Movie. Well, I thought I had a large family...until I married into an even larger one. My husband's family is very, very large and they invite EVERYONE to EVERYTHING! On both his mom and has dad's sides. Always. I have been known to describe it as overwhelmingly large. Overwhelmingly because there are a lot of people and they are a very loving bunch. Lots of hugs and kisses and affection. My family does all that stuff, but not to the extent. I have been married to Wes for 12 years in May. Even though the family is far bigger now, it is not so overwhelming anymore. I am used to it and I like being part of the family.

Way, way back in the day, I went to one of my first parties of his dad's side of the family. I felt like an outsider...it was awkward. We were not even married yet as I recall. There were 2 lovely ladies that looked a little uncomfortable and were much quieter than most of the others. They came and sat with us and I got to talk to them. They were Wesley's cousins-well step cousins if we are being technical, but in our family, a cousin is a cousin, so I will stick with cousins! I loved them both right away! Wes and I got married and I would see them at occasional family functions and then Wes and I moved across the country. We saw much less of all the family. They also both moved around. They too have families and husbands now.

Once during my husband's radiology residency, I was feeling particularly poor and I noticed a post on Facebook from one of these lovely cousins of Wes (well and of ME now!) She had been shopping, well couponing, and posted a picture of her amazing shopping trip! I was AMAZED! I started asking questions (via Facebook) and learning everything I could about couponing and deals and that led to my Deals blog!

Both of these girls post on my FB page and send me LIKES and I get to "talk to them across the distances that way! I know we talk only on occasion and that we have not seen each other in YEARS, but to Shanna and Christy, I say thanks! Thanks for all the little things you have done over the years to welcome me to the family, to help me learn to find the best deals, and to just feel good knowing you liked something I posted!

You Probably think this Blog is About you...and it Might be...

Hello world! This is Beckee from Ah...Life...(My personal family blog--Where the Beautiful People come), Ah...Deals...Beckee's Deals (Where the Beautiful People come to score a deal), Ah...Books! Beckee's Book Club (Where the beautiful people come to find a good book, and now this Blog: You Probably think this Blog is About You. It kind-of bucks the trend in that it is not named after me, but that makes sense since it is not going to be much about me. Well, a little, but mainly, it will be about YOU! The beautiful people that I love and adore-the people that have made my life a little better just by being you!

Why, you ask, do I want to write a blog about YOU?! Well, let me tell you how this all came to be...

I moved away from my "Homaha" (as the kids called out Home in Omaha) last June. I live in Scottsdale, AZ, and I only live here for one short year. In a few months I will be moving to Washington state. This is not our first move. Since getting married in 2001, my husband, Wes and I (with our growing family) have moved from Utah to Nebraska to Spokane, Washington, took a 6 week pit stop in SLC, Utah, moved back to Nebraska, and now are living in Arizona (getting ready to move to Aberdeen, Washington). Our families live in Utah (mostly), and we move a lot. We meet LOTS of friends at each stop and I feel like I am leaving family as we leave each home.

It sucks to leave family behind for the unknown. BUT it is also really, really awesome to have friends all over that I know I can still talk to via the fabulous advances in technology that have happened over the past 20 years or so! THANK YOU email, THANK YOU Facebook, THANK YOU Skype for helping me to stay in touch with my people!

I got off track a little (not uncommon for me)...OK, so you get that I know lots of people all over the country-well, even world. It occurred to me a few months ago, that there are a number of people in my life that do small things that make a big difference in my life, but they have no clue! I thought, MAN, I never make a difference in anyones day-ever. When I told my husband how I felt, he said something like "I am sure you do, but you just don't realize it because no one mentions it." That was the beginning of this blog-ideas began to form in my mind-WE SHOULD TELL EACH OTHER HOW AWESOME THE LITTLE THINGS ARE!

What do I mean by little things? Well, thanks for liking my FB post! Thanks for sending me a little email or text! Thanks for remembering my birthday! Thanks for just caring!

I was not sure how to tell people how awesome they made my day or how much easier my life is because of them. I hate emotional interactions-really I do, but I like to tell people how much I like them without having to have a mushy, uncomfortable moment. So, this way I can tall you how awesome you are, if you need to cry a little or if I need to as I type, we can do it on our own and you can send me cyber hugs and we will give real hugs when we see each other in person next time.

Now-to get very serious (and a little emotional-I am crying already as I type this), I think of doing stuff like this often, but never do it. It took a HUGE, tragic push to make me do this. On December 14th, 2012 I was in Disneyland with my family. We were in a bubble of happiness and fun. No cell phones, no news, nothing outside Mickey and his friends. Then we walked out to our car and turned on the radio-and turned it off quickly as the news of the devastating shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT was scaring our children. I grabbed my smart phone with it's dead battery and plugged it in and joined the rest of the world as I watched in disbelief and horror at the news coming out of CT. I have a 6-year-old, a First Grader, and this tragedy has devastated me and scared me in ways I could never have expected (I wrote a blog post more about this here if you want to read it-I will not go further into my thoughts here).

Quickly people started to try DOING something #26Acts, Showing Kindness, Love Wins...to me, the overwhelming theme was SHOWING LOVE to Others-to friends and strangers-making people feel love and know they are loved, needed, noticed and appreciated.

Today I read an article about Daniel Barden's parents. Daniel is one of the children killed in Sandy Hook Elementary School with 19 of his classmates and 6 adults. This is the part of the article I want to point out:

"Something good has to come out of this," said Jackie Barden. "And that's a little comforting to know."
The Bardens said they want their son's memory to live by encouraging people to do little gestures for other...s.
"A little gesture like that goes a long way," said Mark Barden."I think if more people realized that you don't have to do great big things, just little things, it would make a big difference. You can do a lot of good with a little gesture."

So, Here is my small gesture. It is a little thing, but hopefully, I can make sure some of the people that have made me feel loved, needed, noticed, and appreciated can at least get a shout out and a thank you! I Guess Hopefully this blog will be Where the Beautiful People Come to Feel the Love! :)