1.  Italy.  Not particular on where exactly IN Italy, but Italy in general.  I’d love Venice, but again… not picky.

2.  Disneyland in California.  I’ve been to Disney World in Florida twice, but would love to see the California version.

3.  ALASKA!  I’ve been to Alaska before, but it wasn’t a very good time for me.  It was two weeks after I moved out of my dad’s house when I was 17.  I had just gotten my own apartment and I was ready to play Suzy Homemaker.  I spent the entire time I was in Alaska.. wishing I was home.  Plus, I’d love to show my girls and Will Alaska.  Especially Will, considering he was born in Anchorage.

4.  The San Diego Zoo.  I love animals, so it’s no surprise that I wouldn’t LOVE to visit this zoo.

5.  Denver, Colorado.  I’ve never skied, besides cross-country skiing at sixth grade winter camp, and would love to do it the right way (which is… not in Michigan).  If I’m going to do it, I’m going to go somewhere that is KNOWN for skiing.

6.  New York City.  Just to say I’ve been there.

7.  Mackinac Island.  Yeah. I’ve lived in Michigan for most of my life and I’ve never been on that island.  I’ve been on the bridge half a million times, but never been on the island.   I know it’s all overpriced, but it would be a great get-away vacation for Will and I when the girls are older.

8.  A Binder Park Zoo Weekend.  This one, I’m hoping will happen next summer.  Binder Park Zoo is in Battle Creek, MI.  Zoe and I have been there, but I would love to take Will and Erika (to see her reaction to the animals) and make an entire mini-vacation out of it, even though it’s only three hours from our house.

9.  London, England.  I’ve met many people online from London and would love to see their culture.

10.  Australia.  For the same reasons as why I’d like to see London.

1.  “Inappropriate Men” by Stacey Ballis ::  This is an hilarious book that made me laugh so hard I cried.  Easily a book that I read when I’m pissed off at the world or just need a good laugh.

2.  “The Homing” by John Saul :: I started reading John Saul in middle school because my dad had read them and said I should try them.  The Homing was close to the last book of his that I read, but it is easily a favorite.

3.  “My Sister’s Keeper” by Jodi Picoult :: First Jodi Picoult book I read, and I got hooked.  I bought this book when I lived in Wisconsin and was sick.  I read it in a day.

4.  “Hold Tight” by Harlan Coben :: Really confusing at first, but in the end everything comes together and it all makes sense.

5.  “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee :: The first book I read for an English class that I remember WANTING to read.

6.  “Persepolis” by Marjane Satrapi :: The first comic book type book I read for a class.  Maybe it was the professor’s explanation or something, but I really took to this book.

7.  “Cracked Up To Be” by Courtney Summers :: Saw it on the New book rack at the library and, even though it’s a young adult book, grabbed it.  Another book I read in one sitting.

8.  “Zoey Fools Around” by Katherine Applegate :: I got hooked on these books when I was at my mom’s house for a summer… I must have been around 12 or 13.  At that time, there were only 8 books in the series; now there are more like 20-something.  And yes, this is where I got Zoe’s name from.

9.  “Twilight” by Stephenie Meyer :: Yeah, yeah.  But the book is WAY better than the movie.

10.  “Comes the Blind Fury” by John Saul :: First John Saul book I read that my dad told me I should try.  A favorite.

And yep, I screwed up the daily thing already.  However, I have a good reason! I was diagnosed with severe bronchitis yesterday.  I spent a good chunk of the past few days in bed!!

1.  It’s falling apart faster than we can fix it.  We fix one thing, and something else breaks ten times worse.

2.  I absolutely HATE not having a shower that I can just jump into whenever I get a spare five minutes.  It’s a complete production right now for the three of us to take showers and I am so sick of it.

3.  Niagara Falls in the laundry room has lost its appeal.  The five gallon buckets that line the back wall of our laundry room to catch the water as it drips through the roof are an annoyance now, especially when it rains so hard that you can’t even get through an entire night without the buckets overflowing (hasn’t happened in a while, but oh the horror stories I could tell you).

4.  The floors are so outta-whack that the kitchen is a self-returning cat toy.  The cats have found that if they sit by the laundry room and hit a ball toward the entryway to the living room, that it will roll back to them without them moving.

5.  The bedroom floor annoys me more than the kitchen, because one cannot walk through the room without the entire room wiggling.  Do you know how many times I’ve woken Erika up, just by simply walking to the bed?

6.  The lack of closets is really getting to me.  When I first moved in, I liked the idea.  Nowhere to hide anything, so rather than shove it in a closet you must deal with it immediately.  Now, the lack of storage is annoying because it’s next to impossible to stock up on certain items because there’s no where to put them.

7.  The kitchen! This should have been number one.  I have NO counter tops at all.  No cupboards whatsoever. I have two utility garage-type storage units that hold everything from the microwave, to dishes, to boxed/canned food.  My counter space consists of the electric cooktop (of which only three of the four burners work) and an island on wheels that I insisted we buy with taxes in February.

8.  We don’t have paint; we have drywall.  Yep. Our house isn’t painted at all on the inside.  All you see is drywall.  Lovely, white, drywall. Blah.

9.  Don’t scuff your feet.  We have real hardwood floors, meaning the floors are actually made with slabs of wood rather than the cheap paneling-type stuff you can buy now.  Great, however, they haven’t been taken care of.  If you scuff your feet, you run the risk of getting slivers in your feet (and believe me, they are painful).

10. Because of the huge oak trees in the front yard (which are gorgeous), the front yard barely gets any sun.  No sun means no grass can grow.  Most of our front yard looks more like a sandpit than a grassy knoll.  Makes for a messy house when it rains/snows because dirt turns into mud and it tracks through the house really quick.

I have more, but I will save those for a later date because this is the Daily TEN.

The point of this blog will be to give a little insight into me without the need for a huge entry for me to write and you to read.  Face it. People are ridiculously busy nowadays.  Who has time to sit and read someone’s ramblings on a blog?

The Daily Ten will change on a daily basis (hopefully daily) and will include topics ranging from optimistic, to pessimistic, and everywhere in between.  You may learn my favorite top ten foods, or maybe you’ll learn what the top ten gripes are for a certain company (yes, I’m already drafting these in my head as I go).

I will say this often: IAW (Ideas Always Welcome).