Blog Challenge - Day 6 - 20 Of My Favorite Things

1.  Family - both my own and my husband's
2.  Singing - been singing since I was a toddler and I never ever go one day without it
3.  Sleeping in on occasion - being without a job has made these "occasions" a little more frequent
4.  Baking yummy desserts - for us, family, friends, and I used to bake for co-workers as well
5.  My babies - 4 indoor cats
6.  Listening to music - all genres, except some of the newer stuff that can hardly be called music
7.  GOOD surprises - like when my husband proposed  :-)
8.  Ice cream - I'm not picky when it comes to ice cream.  Ask my hubby...I could eat ice cream daily.
9.  Walking around barefoot - if not barefoot, then flip flops when I can get away with it.
10.  Flowers - gerber daisies are my favorite.  Simple and beautiful.
11.  Our sweet neighbors - they always invite us for dinner at their house and the wife even made our wedding cakes (my hubby wanted a guitar for his)
12.  Writing - even though lately I haven't been good about keeping up with this blog.
13.  Expressing myself
14.  Art - I loved going to France when I was in high school and visiting the Louvre.
15.  Cool, breezy days - which, here, only occur in Fall
16.  Happiness
17.  Laughter
18.  Western decor - this is how we have our home decorated and I think that's why so many people feel so comfortable visiting us.  I hate going into homes where you don't even know if it's okay to sit on the couch or not. 
19.  Helping others
20.  Going on dates with my husband - I think we're going to see the Winnie The Pooh movie coming out on Friday...and maybe dinner?  It'll be fun.  We're such kids.

Blog Challenge - Day 3 - My Favorite T.V. Show

This one is also a difficult "favorite" for me.  Not because I have too many shows to choose from, but more like not enough that I think are that great...definitely not many worthy of being a "favorite," ya know?

I guess lately I've been most "into" shows on Discovery Fit and Health, because they're interesting and sometimes I find myself actually learning something.  Other channels on my list would be Travel and History, on occasion. 

And, who am I kidding?  I love Guy Fieri's Food Network show, "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives."  Okay, so I can't leave Paula Deen's, "Paula's Home Cooking" off my list either, because I love to watch her show when I get the chance.

I don't know if anyone else enjoys watching this show, but "Hoarders: Buried Alive" has to be on my list.  I think some people may like this show because it's just hard to believe someone can allow their home to get this "out of control."  Some people may like it just for the fact that, let's face it, we all like to see someone who is worse than we are.  I mean, you might think your house is messy, turn on this show, then comparitively...your house is clean. 

I think this show is sad.  First, I believe that these "hoarders" suffer from a psychological disorder.  There has to be something deeper going on with these people.  In fact, in several episodes of this show that I've watched, the "hoarders" have lost someone close to them, and in turn, are attempting to fill the void in their life by collecting stuff. 

I know where these people are coming from.  Not that I'm a hoarder, but I unfortunately do know what it's like to lose someone close to you.  I come from an immediate family of four, meaning, growing up it was my mom, dad, my older sister, and myself.  I lived 21 years of my life with this being the case.  At that time, almost 7 years ago, my life changed drastically.  My sister passed away at the young age of 28 from what the corroners believed to be a brain anuerysm that finally burst.  In a moment, my life as I knew it was turned upside-down as my only sibling left this world. 

My life changed at that point.  In fact, it might even make the most sense to say that I began a new chapter of my life at that point.  Or even a new life, if that's even possible.  I mean, take everything you've known for the first 21 years of your life and throw it out the window.  Start at square one, because life no longer makes sense for you.  That's how I felt.

So to these "hoarders," who have lost a family member or spouse...I'm sorry.  I know it's hard, but it will get better.  There is help for you out there.

I always like to look at the bigger picture.  What made these people begin this lifestyle?  When did it get out of hand?  What can others do to help them?

I know that when my sister passed away, my parents left her room untouched.  They are just now, with my help, going through my sister's things...after almost 7 years...so that I may sell them.  But other people aren't fortunate enough to have family members close enough to help them get their lives in order...to sort through the chaos.

Losing my sister was the most difficult part of my life thus far.

I also would like to leave you with this:  Things are not always what they seem.

Why do we feel the need to justify ourselves?

I notice a text received at 7:21a.m. around an hour after it was sent.  "Call me." was all it said, but I replied almost two hours after with a one word reply of: "Busy."  After I sent that, I wondered why I felt the need to justify myself to this texter or to any other person for that matter.  I suppose I should have just ignored the receipt of that message.  OR...I could have just said "No." and even that would have sufficed.  But in one word, I provide not only a response to their message, which is an implied "No," but I also provided an explanation as to why I couldn't call them by saying "Busy."

I guess I felt the need to justify myself for several reasons:  the text was from a family member who is in distress over a child custody battle and I care about and love him.