8 things tag

My friend Rebekah tagged me a while ago, and I am finally going to respond because it was so nice of her to think of me and because I noticed that I haven't been writing a lot lately, just posting lots of pictures, so here goes.

8 TV shows that I love to watch

This one is hard to answer because we mostly just watch movies because we don't have cable and don't get very many channels, but I will try my best (I'll try to leave kids PBS shows out of the list too)
Lost (watched all available DVDs from the library)
Super Nanny (really got into it before we moved, but haven't watched it since)
Frontline (PBS)
Oprah (that's what I used to watch in the afternoon when I folded laundry)
Martha Stewart (ditto)
(Now I am really running out of ideas, I really don't like all of the crime shows that are on in the evenings, what happened to sitcoms anyway? I used to love the Cosby Show and Growing Pains)
The Office (I can get it online from netflix)

8 Favorite restaurants (of all time)
Christos ( a fancy Greek place in Minneapolis)
Lemon Grass Thai (in Salt Lake City)
Bombay House (SLC)
East West Connection (Sit down, Chinese/Vietnamese in SLC)
Olive Garden is a good stand-by
Ichiban Japanese Steak House
The Red Iguana (SLC)
The Purple Onion (Minneapolis, I just really like the name)
Generally, the thing I like most about a restaurant is atmosphere, after great food of course. I like private booths with high walls rather than being out in the open like on stage.

8 Things that happened yesterday
I decided that kids books from Walmart were great party favors for Annika's birthday party.
I considered taking pictures in the park to be a good use of my time with my toddlers.
Nikolay came home really late from work. Weird. But he did call so it wasn't that big of a deal.
We didn't have a great dinner(due in part to aforementioned condition), although everyone did get fed.
Vacuumed the house (I really hope our real house will have more hardwood floors)
Balanced the budget.
Read with the kids.
Tried to stay positive with everyone.

8 things I look forward to
Governor Palin appearing on SNL.
Selling our house in Utah.
Thanksgiving with the Miners.
PETER'S WEDDING
Christmas.
Annika being totally potty trained. (we're getting there)
finishing the quilt I am working on
Buying our dream home

8 Things on my wish list
I wish I had a knack for interior design. I definitely know what I don't like, but I can seem to make my home look good to me.
I wish I had a gym membership again. (There is no Bally's out here and with small kids to only way I can really get in shape is to go to the gym where there are great classes and equipment and they watch my kids.)
I wish I was already there with my parenting goals, but I guess it is all about the journey, right?

I know that is not 8, but that's the best I can do tonight.

I tag: Emily, Erin, *Mary*, Jessica, The Hermit Mom, Carrie and my sisters, Maegan and Rebekah, but wait they would have to start real blogs first.

Tag

Erin did this tag and I haven't done on in a while so here goes:
Three things each:

20 years ago:
1. I had super long hair. The boys on the bus made fun of it and said it looked like a bird's nest and pretended to spit in it just to get me to turn around. It wasn't until I was 14 that I cut it in the middle of the night (much to my mother's horror) and was introduced to hair gel. (Thanks Matt Haliday)

2.I rode my bike to the mall once a week with my trumpet strapped to the back for trumpet lessons. A lot of the time I hadn't even practiced for a whole week.
3.My main sources of income were babysitting and selling friendship bracelets.

10 years ago
1. I was serving my mission in Gorlovka, Ukraine.
2. We started getting our monthly allowance in dollars because exchange rate was dropping daily and hourly becasue of the Russian economic crisis of 1998.
3. I received love letters from Nikolay.

5 years ago
1. We were planning our trip to visit Ukraine.
2. I was working part time for the Boys and Girls Club.
3. Adriana was only 3 months old.

2 years ago.
1. I was exercising regularly. Even going to a Capoeira class.
2. I grew so many tomatoes I gave them away by the bagfulls.
3. I was pregnant with Dallin.

1 year ago
1. Seems like yesterday.
2. Started blogging.
3. Went to the hospital a lot with Ariel.

This year so far
1. Spent New Years and the subsequent 10 days in Rady Children's Hospital with Ariel (and Dallin).
2. Ariel finished treatment in February.
3. Moved to PA.

Today
1. Going to write a talk for Sacrament meeting tomorrow.
2. Going to go grocery shopping for our dinner guests tomorrow.
3. Going to take the kids for a walk in Lock Ridge Park.

Tomorrow
1. Give a talk in Sacrament meeting.
2. Have dinner guests.
3. Relax.

Next year
1. Hopefully our house will be sold.
2. I will be wearing my skinny clothes again.
3. We will be planning our trip to Ukraine.

I tag anyone who wants to respond!

tag

I was tagged by Jessica, and it is perfect for Valentine's day, so here goes:

What is his name? Nikolay, although when I first met him he always went by Kolya (which he denies now) and for a few years he was officially Mykola, the Ukrainian version of his Russian name. So I can say that I fell in love with Kolya, married Mykola, and my husband's name is Nikolay.

How long have you been married? 8 1/2 years

How long did you date? We were actually engaged before we ever went on a date, but from the time that I came back to Ukraine and when we got married was 5 months.

How old is he? 31

Who eats more? Well he can eat more in one setting, but I eat more often. He usually doesn't eat breakfast, but eats his lunch at work and dinner when he gets home. I eat breakfast and lunch with the kids and snack all day long, then eat dinner with the whole family.

Who said "I love you first"? I know for a fact that he wrote it in a letter first, but I don't know who actually said it. Probably him because I remember wishing that he could say it in English. I wondered if it would feel different hearing it in English.

Who is smarter? Well that is a strange question. I'd have to say that we are both smart in our own special ways. He is smarter than me when it comes to math/science/engineering type things, like he has the square root of a million numbers memorized along with all kinds of formulas that I have never even heard of. He has a really great memory for facts, like he knows the capitals of most countries. We both really enjoy problem solving and when we were both preparing for the GRE there would be some problems that I could answer faster than him and visa versa on the logic problems. Sometimes I think I am smarter with language type things, but he is bilingual too, although he could never explain the grammar rules in either language, and I love (loved before my preoccupied mommy days) grammar rules and how they work.

Whose temper is worse? Thats a tough one, when I am under a lot of stress, and run out of patience, I can really lose my temper, but he can get really upset with the kids about things that don't seem like that big of a deal to me.

Who does the laundry? Me. He thinks I do way too much, but he has no problem with hanging clothes back up in his closet that smell. He thinks that I think everything stinks (it does). He also doesn't understand why I need to fold clothes. What else would I do with them, just leave them in the basket? How would anyone find anything?

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me. We did it that way when Annika was a newborn and her bassinet was next to our bed, it's just how the space worked out better.

Who pays the bills? The computer. Although I used to.

Who cooks dinner? I usually do, but he really like to cook meat, so he does quite a bit too, especially on Sundays. I like to relax from the kitchen on Sunday and he likes to cook, that is a change of pace for him, and he is usually starving when we get home from church.

Who drives when you are in the same car? He does. I would rather have him drive than listen to him telling me that I am driving too fast.

Who is more stubborn? That is a tough one. I don't think of either one of us as being stubborn. We can usually talk each other into things, sometimes it takes time, but we are both kind of push overs. Early on when we bought each other gifts we couldn't wait for the birthday or holiday for the other person to open it. (Literally couldn't wait: we made each other open presents early.)

Whose parents do you see the most? We see his mom the most because she lives near us, we see my parents a few times a year and we haven't seen his dad in 4 years.

Who proposed? He did in a letter.

Who has more friends? I guess I do, neither one of us keep in touch very well with people that we grew up with. My best friends are probably my sisters and there are lots of great ladies in my neighborhood who I consider my friends but mostly our relationships have to do with our kids, I don't have like close friends who know me super well here. yet...... Nikolay has good relationships with guys from work and he plays basketball twice a week with guys from church, but he doesn't have anyone who knows him super well either. I guess we are each others' best friends.

Who has more siblings? I do have hands down. I have 8 and he has 1.

Who wears the pants in the family? He does as much as a man married to a post-modern feminist stay at home mom can.

Well, I think I answered this tag a lot better than I did my previous one. I tag Carrie, Rebekah G, and Erin.