Life in a Small Town

1. Every January 1st since 1976 Lake Superior University has published a list of words they'd like to see banished from the Queen's English. Words may be banished due to misuse, overuse or just general uselessness (go here to read more about how the words were chosen). Here are the words/phrases they'd like to see banished in 2014-

selfie, twerk/twerking, hashtag, Twittersphere, Mr. Mom, T-bone, ____on steroids, the suffixes-ageddon, and -pocalypse added to anything and everything, from the world of politics the words-intellectually/morally bankrupt and Obamacare, and from the world of sports the words-adversity and fan base

Which of these words/phrases would you most like to see banished from everyday speech and why? Is there a word not on the list you'd like to add?
Can I pick all of them? Yes, I thought I could!

2. What one unfinished project nags at you begging to be completed in this new year?
Cleaning out totes in the basement. I absolutely dread going through all of them. There are some that we haven't looked through since we moved here...9 years ago.

3. When did you last have a bowl of soup? What kind? Homemade or from a can? What's your favorite soup?

CH & I really like the Progresso Italian Wedding Soup. I'm not a huge soup fan, but I will fix a quick bowl of Ramen every now & then.

4. Snowed in, snowed under, snow job...which one most applies to your life in recent days, figuratively speaking.
Ha! Funny you should ask! Today is Day 3 of our extended break. Not really because of the 1 inch of snow we got Sunday night, which, by the way, is still on the ground (so you know it's cold if it lasts more than 1 day in the South!). The cold weather is keeping schools closed.

5. What's the funniest movie you've ever seen, or at least one of the funniest?
Rat Race. I loaned it to a friend a few weeks ago, and she loved it!

6. In general, would you say you're clumsy?
No. I have my clumsy moments, but overall, I'm not. Not to give you the wrong idea: I'm definitely not graceful, but not clumsy either.

7. Elvis Presley was born on Hodgepodge Day (January 8th) back in 1935. Are you an Elvis fan? What's your favorite Elvis tune? If that's too hard, which Elvis tune do you dislike the least? Click here for a list of his songs.
Not an Elvis fan at all. I don't really care for his voice. "Can't Help Falling in Love" is just about the only one I can tolerate.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Have y'all seen this clip? The only thing that's missing is his southern accent!

I'm back from taking a Christmas/New Year Break. Today, I'm reveling in a snow day. Yep, I'm sitting here at 6:47 a.m. on a day when I don't have to be at work. I've already taken the ornaments and lights off of the Christmas Tree, and the tree is back in the box. And, that was before 6 a.m., thanks to a certain 14 year old schnauzer who demanded to go outside and then be fed at 4:00, followed by another quick trip outside.

If you follow me on Instagram (@tnslp), you already know how I spent my break. Here are some hints:

We went back to the exact same spot we went to last year in The Keys. This year, one of my sisters & her husband, and some friends joined us. It was just CH & I; all of the boys had other plans. Actually, YS & his girlfriend were going to come, but the gf had a family crisis, and YS wanted to be with her for New Year's Eve.
The sunsets weren't as spectacular as they were last year due to overcast skies most of the week, along with smatterings of daily rain. The rain didn't hang around long, so it was no big deal. It was warmer than last year, though.
The vacay started off a little rocky: we drove all night to get to The Keys Friday morning. No one was in our campsite, so we were able to get in around 6 a.m. (after taking a nap in the car just outside of the gate for about an hour). That night, when I looked at the LED lights under our easy-up, there would be a pain in my eye. The next day, my right eye was swollen, red, and it hurt to move it. I considered going to a walk-in clinic, but then decided to give it time. I wore my glasses the whole time (I very rarely wear my glasses out of the house!) and went to the drug store to get some sunglass clips. I almost got a patch as well, but the sunglasses worked like a charm.
We had a very relaxing time...Key Time is the best! We saw some of the people that we met last year, and even met a couple from Copenhagen! I enjoyed talking with them about how I love their city, and I told them my retirement plan: The Keys in the winter, and Copenhagen in the summer! We ate at some of the same places we ate last year, and tried a couple of different places.
We went into Key West one day and started off that day with a picture at the Southernmost Point:

That was followed by mojitos in a place that had dollar bills all over the place. Then we hit Fat Tuesday for a drink to carry with us as we walked down Duval.

(I'd love to have one of those machines in the house!)

You never know what you're going to see when you walk down that street:

(Just in case you can't read the sign, it says: Clothing Optional Beyond This Point.)

Whereas I used to spend New Year's Day in my pj's, this was the second time I spent it in my bathing suit. Nice trade! I spent New Year's Day riding a bike down the Old 7 Mile Bridge to Pigeon Key.