Dusting myself off

"It is not the crtitic who counts,nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbled,or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena ; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood ; who strives valiantly who errs and comes short again and again ; who knows the great enthusiasms,the great devotions ,and spends himself in a worthy cause,who at best,knows in the triumph of high achievement ; and who at the worse, at least falls while daring greatly ; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat"

Enough about me

So I have noticed that my blog has turned into a novel about me without any photos~!

Here are some latest pics of Miss Alyson, our family & friends - ENJOY!

Miss Aly lovin "The Brooks" stairs 

Best Friends - Happy 30th to me~!

yep, thats right - 30 (sigh)

TWISTER @ Aunt Claire's

A "silly" Question to GOD

I have many questions to ask once I get to the pearly gates, but this one is not a serious as my others.

Friday, before we left for Houston, Daniel and I set a plan into motion.  Daniel goes to the gym until 10:45, I then go right afterwards, get home and then we set out  IH-10 - Houston Bound.

When Daniel left it was around 9:30ish I think.  The house was somewhat a wreck and I have this cute little one year old buzzing around me.  How am I going to get the house in order and keep her amused?  Thank goodness for Toy Story 2 and the exer-saucer.  In the short 1 hour that Daniel was gone, and actually it was more like an hour and half b/c he did not get home until 11:10am.  I managed to gather all of the clothes that had accumulated on our bedroom floor, start a load of laundry, begin to pack for Aly and I and our 1 day trip to Houston, clean the kitchen, unload the dishwasher and then load it back up again, fold a load of clean clothes, feed Alyson lunch, get her down for a nap (which those 2 things were supposed to be Daniel's responsibility) but since he was running late, I went ahead and did them..........

So my silly question is, after accomplishing quite a lot in that one hour and taking care of our one year old, I still had to treck out to the stupid gym and get in 20-30m of cardio/weight lifting in.  I think that if you are a mom and you are doing house chores/taking care of your children, or crazy enough to think - BOTH~! I think you should burn up to triple the amount of calories while doing them.  Do you really think after working a very demanding more than 40-hour work week, taking care of our beautiful daughter, trying to manage our household and spending time with my husband that I want to squeeze in time for the gym.

I will let you all fill in the blank.  Because my answer is a big FAT -
NO~!!!!!!!!!!

The End, I am off my soap box.

On the eve of my 30th

Well, I am one day away from being 30.  I feel like I should go do something - like bunji jumping or sky diving.  Ha - I would never do either.  So I am going to answer some questions from some survey I found online to mark this date in time as 29.  I did cut 5 inches off of my hair today at lunch - that's pretty gutsy!

Name: Jennifer Ruth Burkholder

Age: 29 - !

Race: Whitey

Gender: Girlie

Normal Questions:

Define normal using approximately ten words. 

There is no such thing as normal – so there.

Would you frame someone else if your friend committed murder? Absolutely not

When is killing justified?  When your life is in danger

What do you like most about yourself? 

I think I am funny and I try to be kind to everyone.

What was or is your favorite subject in school? Art

What do you want to do for a career?  Good question…..

Do you support the war in Iraq? 

I support the troops fighting for our freedom and assisting others for theirs

Are you religious? Absolutley

Do you read, watch or listen to the news often? All of the above

Is older always wiser? No, but more experienced in repercussions of actions

Is George W. Bush a good president? Was?  Yes, I believe he was.

If not, does he deserve to be assassinated? Ha – horrible question

Who cares about the rainforest, right? 

Well it’s been awhile, but whenever I waste alot of paper I think about the rain forest.

Are you going to marry your favorite celebrity? Doubt it.

Do you wish you were a celebrity? Absolutely not.

Is body structure a good indicator of personality? Hmm – it does show discipline, but it can also show obsession.  So no, not necessarily.

Is choice of clothing a good indicator of personality? It definitely shows personality, ya I think so.

Is choice of friends a good indicator of personality? Yes, most definitely

Are more and more technological advances good for mankind? 

Some and some are not.  Balance is key

Between male and female, which is the weaker gender? 

Neither, both are strong together.

Do you believe in karma or predestiny? Neither

Are you vegetarian? No~!  I love my number 1 with cheese!

Do you get along with your family? Yes, very much so.

When you discover that you are angry, what do you do to calm yourself? 

I don’t often get angry.  I internalize

When you are sad, what do you do to make yourself feel better? Try and fix the problem

Do you need a significant other in your life? 

I love my significant other and cannot imagine my life without him.

Have you ever truly loved? Yes – right now.

Is it okay for you to show weakness? Yes, I am human

Is revenge always the answer when you are wronged?  No, not at all

Is revenge ever the answer? Sometimes it feels good, but it never ends well.

Is everyone like an open book to you?  Ha no, everyone is very mysterious

Do you keep your mouth shut in public for fear of sounding stupid? 

I usually open my mouth 3 or 4 times before I decide to shut it. - Ha

Does your IQ mean much? I don’t think so

I grant you three wishes.  That there is a heaven and all of my loved ones are there waiting for me.   I can eat whatever I want and always stay at my ideal weight.  That my children will live a happy and God-filled life.

This or That

Passiveness or aggression?  I tend to be passive

Clinginess or detachment?  I can be clingy

Flattery or honesty? Flattery - whoops

Passion or reason? Reason

Liberal or conservative? Conservative

To listen or to talk? Both – you have to do both to have a good convo

To discriminate or to be hurt? I tend to be overly sensitive

Friends or lovers? Friends – it’s hard to be lovers when you are 90

Money or fame? This one is hard……..money?

Power or freedom? Freedom

Pain or numbness? Yikes – um, pain, b/c eventually the numbness wares off

Night or day? I’m a night owl

Marilyn Manson or Justin Timberlake? Ha - JT

Pink or Evanescence? Evanescense, ever since Pink did the whole trapeze thing I have become skeptical.

Nine Inch Nails or Blink 182? Whats my name again?

Bowling for Soup or Tool? Uh - Tool

Kittie or Britney Spears? Brit Brit

Ani or Madonna? Vogue – strike a pose

Malice Mizer or F4? who

Escargot or no? Escargot please!

Johnny Depp or Orlando Bloom? Captain Jack Sparrow

United States or Canada? USA

Felines or canines? meow

Charlie’s Angels or Kill Bill? Uma

Chicago or The Hours? The Hours

The Lords of the Rings or The Matrices? Lord of the Rings

Summer or winter? Winter

Finding Nemo or Scary Movie 3?  Dorie!!!

Newsweek or Playboy? Newsweek

Renee Zellweger or Angelina Jolie? Both are weird

Buy CD or burn CD? Burn