As always, you may answer these questions in your own post or in the comments section!

This 5 Question Friday was brought to you by:

On to the questions!

1. Do you wake before the alarm or stay in bed until the last possible second? I normally don’t have a set time I NEED to wake up but when I use an alarm, I tend to wake up when it goes off, not before. Today, however, I woke up 35 minutes before it went off(cause I had to use the bathroom!) and stayed up.

2. Who should get a baby shower? Is it just the first baby or all babies? Well, I think mainly just the first baby, but I think there are good reasons to sometimes break that rule. For instance, if a family had a baby and then didn’t have the next until so long after that they had already gotten rid of all or most of their stuff. OR if a family has gone through some disaster and lost a lot or all of their stuff. In those cases, and others that I probably didn’t even think of, it makes sense. If however, a person has a baby then has the next a year after, then I think it’s kind of ridiculous(even if the baby is a different sex than the first). Friends and family can still give gifts for each baby, nothing wrong with that…but a baby shower for each consecutive baby is a little much, in my personal opinion.

3. How will you spend Memorial Day? Probably taking my Mom to run some errands as I usually do on Monday and then coming home to just hang out at my house with my husband.

4. Do you have a Storm/Hurricane/Tornado/Fire plan for your kids, house..? No, not a specified written plan….maybe when I have kids, I will actually get one done…but for now, I guess I’m too lazy.

5. What is your favorite morning drink? Well, I don’t like Coffee or Tea…Over 10 months ago, I would say Mountain Dew cause that’s pretty much all I drank. Now I just drink water ALL the time with those drink mixes so I don’t really have a choice in what I pick here…

Day 24-A book that you wish more people would have read

This is an easy one! I have to say anything by Kimberly Kinrade, but overall the WHOLE “Forbidden Trilogy”. It’s in the same vein as a lot of these other books that have been turned into movies lately, for instance, “The Hunger Games” but better, in my honest opinion. I know other people through her Street Team and her launch parties that love this trilogy BUT I don’t have any really super close friends or family that have ever read it and that makes me sad. I would love it if they all read it too and loved it as much as I did so we could share the love together! AND getting Kimberly more loyal fans would be awesome for her too as she truly deserves it. I would love it if “Forbidden Trilogy” was made into movies too!

They say you should never feel guilty about what you love to read so I try not to, BUT there’s definitely a series of books that I’m going to pick here because I love them so much, yet others consider it a guilty pleasure to feel embarrassed about. Those are the few that seemed to love it like me. The ones that don’t love it seem to completely hate the series and think the author is trying too hard to be funny. I disagree and that’s my personal right. The series is the “Undead Series” by MaryJanice Davidson and they are all about Betsy,who dies and turns into not just any Vampire…but the Vampire Queen. Betsy is big into shoes, expensive shoes and she reminds me of a preppy girl that in real life I would despise, but in the books…I find it hilarious. I read the first chapter on the computer years ago cause it sounded interesting and..I HAD to read them! And yea…I admit they’ve gotten a bit cheesy lately but I can’t help it. They’re easy, fun reads where I don’t have to think too much and I love them!

What did you recently finish reading? “For love of evil”(Book 6 of Incarnations of Imm0rtality) by Piers Anthony

What do you think you’ll read next? “How to talk to girls at parties” by Neil Gaiman (this was free from pre-order about a month ago so I ordered it and it JUST got sent to my Kindle about a week ago so I’m going to read this next. It’s a short story, so it won’t take long!)

Day 22-Book you’re currently reading

It’s funny how this is the question today of all days when I already say what I’m reading…so I’m not going to repeat myself. See above for the answer!

Day 21-Favorite Book from your childhood

“The Monster at the end of this book”(Sesame Street) by Jon Stone is the first one that comes to mind. Every page warns you to stop turning to avoid the monster at the end only to find out that the monster is…Grover! I remember reading it over and over even as I got probably too old for it just because I thought it was cute and funny. I didn’t even know until looking on Goodreads today that there was a sequel but I definitely need to look for and buy this book for when I have kids!

That’s what I keep telling myself at least. Maybe if I just keep being optimistic and pushing forward, things will eventually turn around. Other aspects of my life are at the moment. I find a company I can do training with for one year to do Medical Transcription. After a couple months, I’ll get paid for training and after training, I will be employed with them. As long as I’ve been hunting for this type of job that I could do from home and actually make decent money….I am just thrilled and ready to get started. Of course, training and having to get a new laptop isn’t coming cheap. I’m taking a “parental loan”(we’ll call it that, lol) and I’ll have to pay it back over time, but I think it’s going to be worth it. I am really excited about my future…way more so than I was a month ago, so I am thankful for that.

I just became a Great Aunt again for the 5th time last week, my 2nd youngest niece(that’s not through marriage) got married today and my youngest niece(also not through marriage) graduates high school in June. Time is flying by!

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Day 20-Book that makes you laugh out loud

Shout-out here to a guy and his blog that I had the opportunity of reading about through WordPress on my first yearly daily post challenge! “The Bellman Chronicles” by Robert Hookey are hilarious! They are exactly about what it sounds like, too. The daily happenings of a Bellman in Canada…but I must clarify, that he’s NOT just a bellman, he’s also a husband and dad and he is super funny. I wholeheartedly recommend his book for anyone that needs a laugh. If you’re easily offended, you might not like it as well cause he says what he feels but I appreciate the candidness and honesty! I also recommend you check out his blog and follow him…I think his tagline of “You’ve been Hooked” will ring true.

Anyone is welcome to use the idea on their own blog and spotlight whoever or whatever THEY choose, but if you do, please use my lovely graphic that my friend made somewhere in your post to show that the idea came from here! And I would love it if you left the link in my comments, so I could go check out what YOU spotlighted!

Today I’m doing a short and sweet update to bring some more exposure to a great website run by someone who used to sell Jewelry Candles when I was. (For those who are curious, I never specifically quit selling them, I just don’t push them anymore because I’m busy trying to get into doing Medical Transcription.)

Anyways, this woman has been making custom sock monkeys that are adorable as well as other items and trying to start up a business. Her website JUST went live yesterday and while there’s not much on there as of yet, she will be adding more and she will custom make the items however you like. Currently, she sells candles, tutus, tutu dresses, tutu headbands and custom sock monkeys with or without tutus. You can order the monkeys for girls or boys and specify the colors and patterns. I checked the site out yesterday because while I don’t have kids yet, I do have nieces and great nephews as well as a new great niece. I absolutely fell in love with all the different tutus and the headbands and the prices are VERY reasonable! Seriously….we have some stores in my area that sell tutus and the prices are always around $35-50 and I’m thinking, “I wish I could afford that!” The tutus on her site range from $10-15 and the tutu dresses from $20-22 and the headbands are $4! Not bad at all, right?!

So…you’ll probably hear more from me about this store in the future cause I expect to be a frequent customer as soon as I get some more funds coming in!

Go check out her site, Key to my heart creations, like her page on Facebook and spread the word! It’s a new SMALL business and we need to support small businesses!

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Day 19-Favorite book turned into a movie

I have to go with “Hunger Games” here that I only read shortly before watching the movie, but I actually felt like the movie stayed pretty true to the book for the most part and I was satisfied with it. A lot of times, the movies change SO much about the book and it tends to make me aggravated but the “Hunger Games” movie didn’t change as much as some other ones out there. For instance, the “Harry Potter” movies….the ones I have seen are great movies, in and of themselves, but they are NOT true to the book. They change too much and it just frustrates me when people who have just seen the movies act like they know everything about Harry Potter when they can’t unless they have read the books! Ugh! Yes…geek girl problems indeed!

I honestly don’t remember the FIRST one but I know I use to have these Disney books that went together, kind of like a Disney Library that I loved. I think it was one of those sets you mail off for and it had a bunch of big hard cover books in multiple colors with shortened versions of Disney stories like Cinderella and Snow White. I feel like one of those was probably the FIRST I read but I can’t remember back two decades as to which one was actually the first out of them I read.

As always, you may answer these questions in your own post or in the comments section!

This 5 Question Friday was brought to you by:

On to the questions!

1. Do you have a doppelgänger? Maybe…I’ve had people act like they know me and then go, “Oh, I thought you were so and so, you look just like them” so somewhere around this area, there could be one but I haven’t personally ran into someone that I thought, “They look just like me!” Of course, maybe I have and just didn’t know it cause I didn’t think they DID look like me…who knows? I think everyone has someone out there who could be their twin

2. Do you keep your car cleaned up? I’ve been using my Mom’s car for months now and I try to keep it pretty clean. My car never stayed clean cause my husband drove it and kept it messy…ugh!

3. What is a current fashion that drives you crazy. Leggings wore wrong bother me but not so badly if they’re in a dark color, like black…NUDE leggings should be banned. Seriously…especially if you’re going to wear them as pants without a long shirt, tunic or dress over them. If you see a person in skin tight nude leggings and their butt isn’t covered up, it REALLY looks they are bottomless and….that’s just tacky and inappropriate. I don’t care if you’re a size 0 or a size 30, it looks like you’re completely nude on the bottom and that’s just gross!

4. How often do you go grocery shopping? About twice a week when I take my Mom to run errands, so I get a few things on Monday and a few things on Friday.

5. What has been the best surprise of your life? I know what WOULD be the best surprise, but what has already been….I don’t know…maybe when my husband surprised me with proposing to me almost 5 years ago when I knew he wanted to but couldn’t afford the ring. When he surprised me with the picnic, it was in the back of my head that he might, but then I also really doubted it cause I knew he didn’t have a ring. So when he proposed with his great grandma’s ring, I was shocked and very surprised but it was definitely a great surprise!

Day 17-Favorite Quote

I know my favorite quote but this obviously speaking of favorite quote from a book. I’ve never really thought about what my favorite quote from a book was. I’m going to say it would be, “If only there could be an invention that bottled up a memory, like scent. And it never faded, and it never got stale. And then, when one wanted it, the bottle could be uncorked, and it would be like living the moment all over again.” This is a quote from “Rebecca” by Daphne Du Maurier and I choose it because of the beauty of it. I think it WOULD be lovely if memory could be bottled as a scent. I absolutely adore this book!

My Nanny made a comment before the 50th Wedding Anniversary of my parents that most parents don’t live long enough to see their daughter’s 50th and that is definitely true. My Nanny is 90 years old and that is an accomplishment, for sure. She said she wanted to make it to see the anniversary and then after that, she was ready to go….I’m sure you understand what she meant.

That was back in November. Since then, it has gotten harder for her to even move a step from chair to chair. Two Sundays ago, she fell in the bathroom while my parents were at church. Stubbornness runs in our family and she was trying to do something she shouldn’t have (getting something out of the closet), failed to turn her wheelchair off and it bumped into her, causing her to fall on her stomach. Luckily, my Uncle Wayne was coming in that day, got there early, heard her call for help and took the bathroom door off and helped her back in her chair. She had bruises on her head, was sore all over and possibly sprained a finger and her ankle. Since then, the even one step has been torture for her, as I have seen with my own eyes. My Mom tries to help her as much as she can but my Mom is 69, almost 70 herself and she is basically having to carry my Nanny’s weight a lot to help her in the chair. This past Monday and Tuesday I was over there and I could see the frustration on both of their faces as they argued with each other. My Mom gets frustrated because my Nanny won’t let do what she needs to do and she won’t let her help her the way SHE wants to help her. My Nanny gets upset because it’s so hard for her and she hates that Mom has to do so much. There’s been many a time when I have heard her say it would be easier on my Mom if she wasn’t around and that breaks my heart. I know it breaks Mom’s heart. On Tuesday, my Nanny said she thought she might have possibly cracked a rib or two during the fall and you could visibly tell she was in excruciating pain. She’s diabetic, her legs swell like crazy, she’s too old for surgery and she can hardly get around at all anymore. She’s been telling me “Don’t ever get old, Sharon” a LOT lately. What do I say to that?

My Mom seems to be at the end of her rope with what she can do. She has mentioned nursing homes a lot lately and I KNOW Nanny will absolutely hate it if that happens. My Mom would be there as much as possible though. Our family is NOT the type to put our family in a nursing home and abandon them. My Mom would end up living there if allowed, trust me. But in the back of your mind, we all know what nursing homes stand for. A last resort. The place you go to when all other solutions fail. My Nanny has adamantly stated in the past that she never wanted to go to a nursing home. I fear that if my Nanny permanently goes to one, this will mean she won’t be here much longer. She’s been saying for awhile now that she doesn’t expect to be around before each event comes. We all just try to ignore it and tell her she’ll probably live to 100. Deep inside, I and probably everyone else fears the truth. When someone starts saying they don’t expect to be around much longer, I think they have stopped having a reason to live. A lot of people go to nursing homes and then don’t last much once they enter those doors.

I don’t want to consider that my Nanny might not be here come next year. I don’t want to ever think about a world where my last grandparent is gone from this world. I don’t want to imagine that someday I will have my first child and he or she will never know their Nanny. BUT you can’t hide from the truth forever and it’s finally hitting me. As I write this post, the first tears form and flow from my eyes. I’ve NEVER thought this out the way I am doing now so I’ve never allowed myself to cry over it. I am now, though. I thought it was time I let my feelings out so I can really digest everything that’s happening around me. In the same week as I become a Great Aunt again, I have to also come to grips with the fact that I could possibly lose another family member in the not too distant future. It’s possible she WILL live to 100, but my head and my heart tells me that I need to be realistic. So I am…and it hurts…and I’m scared but I will get through because someone will have to be here for my Mom when the day comes.

This one is harder for me to come up with then the male character and I’m not sure why. Maybe because there are so MANY female characters that I read about and love. There are characters that I can relate to and I love that about them and then there are the ones I can’t relate to at all but I love them because they are what I wish I could be more like. There’s not ONE specific character that sticks out my head as my most favorite so sadly, I think I’m going to have to leave this one unanswered. I WILL say my favorite types of female characters are the ones that stick up for themselves and others and aren’t afraid of being who they are because that’s what I strive for myself.