101 Usless Facts about the Mangs

I had wanted to post this after New Years, but I got lazy. Now all of a sudden I have been tagged a few times on Facebook and decided to finally post. Here ya go, 101 useless facts about Darin, Maddie and Myself!

Darin:
1. Prefers white popcorn to yellow.
2. Drinks only Diet Coke, NOT Pepsi.
3. Went to Disneyland for the first time when he was 34.
4. His Siblings are 12, 14, 18 and 21 years older than he is.
5. His Dad fought in WWII.
6. He is a 3rd generation Boeing Employee and was interviewed for the newspaper.
7. Lived in Pennsylvania for 3 months.
8. Caught 50 lb salmon in Alaska.
9. The next fish he caught in WA was 44 lbs.
10. He has owned a Labrador from birth. He's never not had one.
11. Had a dog named Peanuts.
12. Loves old war movies, especially ones about WWII.
13. Has been shot with a shotgun 2 times- both on the same weekend.
14. Drove and docked 57' yachts.
15. Never been outside the US except for Canada.
16. Coached the same group of boys in basketball from 5th grade until they graduated last year.
17. The guy who hired him at Boeing was hired by his dad.
18. He only has 9 toes.
19. He's never owned a car, only trucks.
20. Fell in love with me at first sight. (aaawwww)
21. Had plans to open a fishing supply store with Ben.
22. Has only worked for 4 companies in his life!
23. McDonalds wouldn't hire him when he was 16.
24. Skipped school a lot to go hunting.
25. Lettered 4 years in Tennis.

Emily:
26. I have a tattoo that to me means independence.
27. I knew Maddie would be a girl before I knew for sure I was pregnant.
28. I could eat Mexican food every day for the rest of my life.
29. I used to be a Travel Agent.
30. My last 2 are black with grey interior.
31. I eat peanut butter and syrup on my waffles.
32. I danced ballet and jazz for 15 years.
33. I really hate snow! Nothing about it makes me happy.
34. I make a mean Minestrone Soup.
35. I love to read, but rarely do.
36. I have to eat my apples in a pattern.
37. I modeled when I was a kid. I did a few shows and some print work.
38. I listen to the Jonas Brothers even when Maddie isn't around.
39. I really hate the phrases "God doesn't give you more than you can handle" and "Think how strong you'll be"
40. I've only ever thrown up on one ride, "Mission Space" at Disney World.
41. I only write in blue ball point pens or the occasional colored one. I hate black pens.
42. I've been to Disneyland so many times I have lost count.
43. I got kicked out of class one time in high school for laughing.
44. One of my BFFs in high school and I were accused of stealing the blow up ice cream cone off the top of an AM/PM.
45. Growing up we used to play flashlight tag until the sun came up. I miss it.
46. My BFF and I managed the high school golf team cause we loved the coach, wanted a letter and to meet boys. =)
47. I only order water when we are out cause I am too cheap to pay for soda.
48. Usually I love wrapping Christmas presents but wasn't feeling it this year.
49. I love Harry Potter!
50. I can spread my toes. I call it Gecko Toes.

Maddie:
51. If she had been a boy her name would have been Hunter Ryan.
52. She has danced for the last 2 years and has been asked twice to be on the competitive team.
53. She was one of the biggest babies in the NICU at a whopping 3 lbs.
54. She has been to Disney World 2 times and Disneyland once all before her 4th birthday.
55. She claims that all the colors are her favorite.
56. Jasmin is her favorite princess.
57. Her favorite ride at Disney World is Goofy's Barnstormer, which was also her first roller coaster.
58. Her favorite rides at Disneyland are the Matterhorn and Pirates of the Caribbean.
59. She is right handed.
60. She LOVES playing on the computer.
61. She slept on the plane the entire way to Disney World and was mad she missed the plane ride.
62. Had her picture taken every month in her first year.
63. She modeled for Birthday Express, was in their catalog and website.
64. Is a card shark! She will beat you at Uno and Go Fish every time.
65. Bolt is her favorite movie.
66. Learned somersaults at 19 months.
67. Her first word was Mama.
68. She knows most of the German alphabet.
69. Her nickname is Noodle.
70. She is NOT a morning person. (Don't know where she gets that from...)
71. She has mature taste buds. She loves salad with balsamic vinaigrette and crab!
72. Asks for cake but only eats the frosting.
73. Her first crush was/ is Joe Jonas.
74. She finally made it off the Preemie Growth Chart on onto the 10th% tile on her 4th birthday check up.
75. She wants to be a Doctor at Children's Hospital when she grows up.

Family:
76. Our March of Dimes Family Team has placed in the top 3 for fundraising for 3 straight years.
77. Darin and I met in person July 10, 2002.
78. We met on Match.com.
79. Darin proposed on December 24th, 2002.
80. We got married on 9-6-03
81. We honeymooned at Disney World, of course!
82. We were going to get married Nov. 1st, until Darin remembered that was opening day of Blackmouth fishing.
83. We own a Disney Timeshare.
84. We didn't know if Maddie was a boy or a girl when she was born and the doctors forgot to tell us- we had to ask them what we had!
85. We moved into a house with twice the square footage of our last house and didn't have enough furniture to fill it.
86. Darin and I went camping 2 weeks after we met... I hate camping!
87. We call in sick and see the Harry Potter movies on opening day with my brother.
88. We can never agree on movies and have to take turns picking one.
89. We LOVE popcorn.
90. All 3 of us love black licorice.
91. Darin and Emily have the same prescription for glasses. We can share glasses.
92. All 3 of us own Crocs.
93. We all play the games at Chuck E Cheese. We have to divvy up the tokens evenly.
94. We cut down our own Christmas tree every year.
95. We love a good game of Corn Hole.
96. We won Dream Fast Passes (allowed us to bypass the lines on certain rides) getting off of It's a Small World.
97. Together we measure just under 15 feet tall.
98. We have a tradition of riding the train around the Disney parks first thing.
99. We miss living in Lake Stevens and hope to move back in a few years.
100. We own matching shirts.
101. We once drove 12 straight hours from Montana when Maddie was 2 1/2.

PHEW! We did it! There you go, 101 random facts about us! Those of you that keep a blog, I challenge you to come up with 101 things about your family and blog about it. For those of you non bloggers, give it a shot too, it's kinda fun! Think you want to know more about me, personally, I've listed 25 more facts about me on Facebook. =)

Ch-ch-ch-changes....

I had this long post planned about my thoughts of the inauguration yesterday and how I was glued to the tv for about 12 hours yesterday. I was going to post how brave President Obama looked as he walked out in front of 2 million people, how special his little girls must have felt watching their daddy become the most powerful man in the free world, and how absolutely darling they looked. I was going to post how even Maddie knew that it was something special when she sat and watched tv with me not asking if she could "watch one of her shows" but instead asking very grown up questions for a 4 year old. I was going to post how impressed I was that Michelle Obama kept it together and didn't shed one tear, as the rest of us bawled like babies, watching history happen. I was going to post how much I adored her green outfit and only felt, eh about her choice in ball gowns. I was going to post how I felt like change was going to happen and that we were headed into a positive and marvelous new direction. I was going to comment that even if it was only for one day, the citizens of the United States became one.

But today I realized that the more things change the more they stay the same. While I truly believe that the world around us is changing, things here in Mang World remain very much the same. Darin is back on crutches. *sigh* Our driveway was one solid sheet of ice this morning and Darin slipped on his way to hop on the carpool. By 9:00 his knee was so swollen he couldn't pull his pant leg up any more. Given his history we went to the doctor where they did some xrays. Right now they aren't sure if it's broken because it was too swollen to tell on the xrays so he'll go back in 10 days to do another xray. For the next 10 days he's on crutches and not allowed to put any weight on it. *sigh*

Good Luck to you Mr. President I think you have made some wonderful promises and pray that you really are able to take us in a more positive direction. I just hope your first day in office was better than ours!

And The Award Goes To....

Today I am passing out the Dumb Person or Place of the Week Award. Drum Roll Please....... And the winner is ..... Mountain View Credit Union and their employees!

So Maddie had been saving all her money and we decided that it was time to count it. She ended up with over $100 with $80 of it was change which we rolled. Cause we think it's stupid to pay Coinstar 8% or whatever they charge you and we wanted to teach Maddie about money, so we rolled it. We took the money to a Mountain View cause our credit union told us that we could make deposits there. We walked in with our bucket of money, and the teller asks us if that was all change. Nope, we crushed up dollar bills and stuffed them in these little rolls. Here's your sign! Should have been clue #1. Then she goes on to tell us that they don't "accept change, because we don't have a coin counter" WTF??? You've got fingers and toes, you work in a friggin bank and you cant count coins????? She tells me to go to her other branch and they will take it. I am a little pissed at this point but whatever. So we head to the other branch and they inform us that they cannot take the change because we don't belong to the bank. Now the other lady knew we weren't members of their credit union and sent us to this branch. Now, I am really pissed and have a few choice words for the teller. As does Darin. Let's just say they weren't G-rated. People are wondering why banks are going out of business? It's cause they won't take money! Why do we even have coins if banks won't take them???? I won't even tell you about my WaMu experience earlier in the week. I can tell you exactly why the had to be bought out also.

Cause I was in such a fan-friggin-tastic mood after the little escapade at the so called "banks" we decided to go to Walmart on a friday afternoon. Where we encountered more dumb asses including the moron who was going the wrong way down the parking lot, blocked me so I couldn't get to a parking spot and had the nerve to flip me off and curse at me. She's lucky she drove away cause I was ready to whomp her. =)

Here's the thing, I was in a really good mood before my "bank" trips today. I really was. I am try this new thing, called patience and keeping positive. I guess I still have a little work to do. =)

TGIF!

Sunday Blues

Man do I have a case of the Sunday Blues. I get them a lot, wake up Sunday knowing that it's only one day until Monday. Mondays mean back to the grind of watching monster kids. It just puts me in a funk. But adding to this funk is the announcement that the Big B will be laying off 4500 people in Feb. Darin's job is at risk. On Friday they already had to defend their jobs and explain why they had a certain number of people in Darin's job title. Even though he's been there 10 years, he's the low man on the totem pole, so to speak. They don't base layoffs based on job performance, they base it off this strange points structure and time on the job. So someone who does a crappy job and has been there 25 years will more likely keep their job than someone who does an amazing job and has only been ther 8 years. It's really stupid.

60 day lay off notices go out Feb 20th. Then they announced that come 2nd quarter they would be cutting more jobs. Second quarter starts March 1st. Not much breathing room if you survive the first round of layoffs.

If you are they praying type, we can use all the help we can get!

4 Things

My friend K sent me this and listed me as someone she thought would respond, so who am I to disappoint?? Without further ado here are.....

4 Things About Me............

Four names that people call you: (keep it clean, LOL) .1. Mommy 2. Emily 3. Em 4. Honey

Four jobs I have had in my life:1. Lead teacher in Infant Room 2. Office Manager 3. Travel Agent 4. Babysitter

Four movies I've watched more than once:1. Newsies 2. Top Gun 3. A Christmas Story 4. Every Disney Movie

Four places I have lived:1. Woodinville 2. Cheney 3. Lake Stevens 4. Marysville

Four places I have been:1. Orlando 2. Mexico 3. France 4. Hawaii

Four People who e-mail me (regularly):1. My Mom 2. Mike B. 3. Kathleen 4. Spammers

Four of my favorite Foods:1. Mexican 2. Pizza 3. Shrimp 4. Cake

Four Places I'd rather be right now:1. Disney World 2. Maui 3. Tahiti 4. Anywhere warm and sunny!

Four friends I think will respond:1. Steph 2. Dunno 3. Dunno 4. Dunno

Four Things I am looking forward to this year in 2009!1. Getting my house organized 2. Winning the lottery (hey a girl can dream, can't she?) 3. Spending more time with friends 4. A vacation? Maybe? Please??

Four TV shows that I watch:1. Grey's 2. Private Practice 3. Big Love 4. The Bachelor

RETURN DIRECTIONS: Now, here's what you're supposed to do...if you want to...Cut and Paste this into a new email. delete my answers and type in your answers. Then send this to a whole bunch of people you know INCLUDING the person who sent it to you. The theory is that you will learn a lot of little known facts about those who know you.Remember to send it back

Socialite In Training

Watch Out Paris Hilton, there's a new Soc in town! Maddie complete with Pluto stuffed in a Jonas Brothers designer bag, was stalked by the paparazzi posed a la Paris for the camera.

That's hot.

Fun With Photoshop

As you can see by our new title and background, I have been having fun with Photoshop Elements (PSE). I have had PSE for a few years and haven't really had much luck playing with it. This year I was bound and determined to make our Christmas card using it and found some pretty good tutorials online which helped me a bunch! Then I was reading how to make your own blogger background and had to give it a try. I am addicted to PSE! I can totally see how people who digi-scrap can easily spend hours and hours on one layout!

Things in Mang World are back to normal. Darin is back to work and Maddie is back at school. She was so excited to go back yesterday! I on the other hand, felt like it was the first day of school all over again and got a little sad when I dropped her off. Today was a different story and she didn't want to get out of bed. Like I said, back to normal. *sigh*