I should start this off by saying that when I started typing this I actually couldn't remember how old my son was.  It started out with me saying, "man seven is hard."  But then I thought, "wait, he isn't seven, seven is so hold, he must be more like five, but Codi is turning five so he can't be five, his pants are a size eight but I don't think he is eight yet is he? No he must be seven, but seven seems old enough to be graduating high school and surely I would have noticed if seven years passed by now right?"  Finally I gave in and used the calculator.  Brandon is seven.  I think. 

You guys seven is going to kill me.  Seven year old boys have an attitude that can rival any sixteen year old girl on her period.  Brandon has learned to back talk like no ones business.  Sometimes he will say something that will stop me in my tracks because I don't know if I should laugh at the smart aleck remark or punish him.  I can't tell you how many times my husband has had to turn away so Brandon wouldn't see him laugh at how bad I just got shut down. 

Seven and I are not getting along.  This child makes me want to pull my hair out.  He ARGUES. OVER. EVERYTHING. He will argue about the sky being blue or water being wet if he had the chance.

Not to mention apparently seven is the age where he now has to try clothes on before I can buy them.  No longer can I just go purchase clothing in the size of his age.  Nope. Now we have to try it all on.  He has to try out all of the buttons to make sure they work.  Some are too short, too long, too tight, too baggy.  Some just "feel weird."  Some have pockets in the wrong spot.  Also seven is the last age they put adjustable waist in the pants (technically a size 8 but he has now moved into the size 10 range of height) which means I have to hunt down pants that are long enough but skinny enough and OMFG they are jeans, he is a boy IT SHOULDN'T BE THIS HARD.  

Seven is also the age where shoes only fit for about a week before your kids foot grows thirteen sizes and he needs all new shoes and not just any shoes, but play shoes, PE shoes, winter shoes, flip flops, slippers (and okay maybe all the shoes are my fault since I didn't have a girl and shoes are the only cute things I can buy for boys but still).  Seven is also the age where they stop treating their shoes all nice and instead shred them up to an unrecognizable pulp making it so they can't be passed down to his little brother.  This means that when Codi reaches size eleven I will no longer have any shoes to pass down to him.  Brandon is currently in a 2-2.5.  Two more shoe sizes and he and I will have the same size foot.

Did I mention he only has about 9 more inches until he is as tall as me.  Not cool people.  How on earth am I supposed to put a kid in time out when I am looking up at him?  Don't even get me started on trying to carry a sleeping 64 pound seven year old to bed up ten stairs.  It's pathetic.  I tried once a few weeks ago.  I nearly dropped him.  He was slipping out of my arms, feet dragging on the ground and it took me about three minutes to get up two steps.  My husband finally walked out when I was on the last step and just laughed at me because I looked like I had just run a marathon when all I had done was carry a seven year old giant up 9 stairs.  He is no longer allowed to fall asleep anywhere but his own bed or he is going to stay where he falls asleep.  

Seven is also the age where boys turn into some sort of human garbage disposal.  Brandon is always hungry.  He eats well too.  We make him eggs and bacon and toast for breakfast (other things too but always complete meals), I pack him at least four snacks for school and a lunch big enough to feed two kids.  Every day I pick him up and the first thing he says is, "I'M HUNGRY."  If he is out of school he will eat lunch at work with me and then twenty minutes later declare himself starting and somehow woo my mom into buying him a second lunch.  I've had to start more then doubling the portions I cook for dinner because he now eats a portion equivalent to my husbands plate size and then an hour later will declare himself hungry again.  I don't know what to do with this.  I can't keep enough food in the house.  I try and buy all healthy snack, and avoid red 40, and high fructose corn syrup which just means I already spend an unreasonable amount of money on food but when my seven year old starts eating like he has a twin living inside his stomach, well hell  I'm going to have to get a third job.  

Y'all, everyone warns you about the terrible twos.  People mention the awful threes, but NO ONE prepares you for SEVEN YEAR OLD BOY!  

Consider yourself warned.

I work for a heating company.  Part of my job is to call my customers to schedule their appointments, or when my tech is on his way over to fix their furnace I need to call and make sure they are home.  This week alone I have been hung up on at least three times a day.  As soon as I say, "Hi is this____", or "Hi this is Shannon with" they hang up on me.  I had to call one lady back twice yesterday and finally I just rattled out, "WE ARE TRYING TO COME FIX YOUR FURNACE I JUST NEED TO MAKE SURE SOMEONE IS HOME."  She felt so bad for hanging up on me, and even admitted she just flat out hung up the phone thinking I was someone calling about voting.  Half of my clients phones go to voicemail now because they are screening their calls.  That means I have to leave them a message then my service tech has to sit there while we wait for them to call back and tell me they are home or not. 

I cannot wait for voting season to be over.  It's never been so hard to do my job as it has been this last week.  We never call a customer unless they have an appointment or they have asked me to call them.  I would think if someone had no heat they would answer their phone.  I cannot wait for people to stop hanging up on me.  

I can't even get ahold of my grandma right now because she won't answer her phone until the election is done.  She has caller ID but she has been getting so many calls she doesn't even check the caller ID anymore if the phone isn't near her.   

I voted today.  Voting is almost over, and then will the madness stop?  Because I'm so tired of my own home phone ringing, but more tired of being hung up on.

A big problem with me is that I have issues with sound.  I have incredible hearing.  I've had my hearing checked and I rate in the exceptional range.  The problem with that is that I hear EVERYTHING.  The second problem is that I cannot handle hearing repetitive sounds.  Pens clicking, shoes tapping, balls bouncing etc.  When things get really bad I cannot handle any sounds.  For example; my dog itching.  The sound of my dog itching drives me out of my mind.  This is a huge issue because my dog has severe allergies and itches about eleven hours a day.  I sleep with ear plugs in even if I am home alone because I can hear every car that passes outside, every tree branch that moves, every mouse that crawls around, EVERY. SINGLE. THING.  I don't get a lot of sleep. Especially living near a freeway.  If my husband taps his hand on the steering wheel in the car I freak out. I actually FREAK OUT.  I get mad.  If my son starts clicking his toy gun over and over and over I totally tense up and feel a break down come on.  If Brandon turns on any electrical gadget I cringe. When people close cabinets and they even slightly slam it, my brain hurts.  Because of that I close cabinets so gently that sometimes they don't even close all the way.  But it is better then hearing the cabinet close.  The sound of Ugg boots dragging around during the winter really really pisses me off.  People need to pick up their feet.  

To sum it up, I have massive sound issues.

So tonight I'm sitting at home in the dark in the silence trying to read.  I've had a long week at work having both kids in the office making noise.  Add in the kid noise to the sound of phones ringing, and the kids TV on, their DS or iPod in the background, people talking, the chickens squawking, boots dragging on the floor, doors opening, wind, and the freeway and come days end I'm just DONE.  I came home tonight and had the kids go downstairs so I could read after doing the dishes. I can still hear their TV and them fighting but I am trying to handle it.  Then the dog started itching.  Right by my ear.  I flipped out.  I got up and gave him Benadryl and sat back down to enjoy the peace.  That is when the damn dog went to find his chew bone.  He found his bone and then laid two feet away from me gnawing and chewing and gnawing and chewing for a good ten minutes.  The sound of a dog chewing on a bone, or licking totally pushes every last button.  I couldn't handle it.  I texted my husband telling him the sound of the dog chewing on his bone was going to actually move me to tears.  My ears started ringing and I could feel actual pain in them.  I finally got up and took away his bone for a while.  I'm sitting here now hyper aware of every little sound with my ears still hurting, my brain tense, my jaw clenched hard and my whole being just rigid in a tense little ball of sound.  

I hate this.

I wish there was a medication for this.  Or some sort of relief.

I wish I couldn't hear everything.

But I can.

It's hard.

Does this happen to anyone else?

For as long as I can remember I've had stomach issues.  When I was younger I used to throw up until I was bleeding.  I used to get these insane cramps.  I went to the doctor so many times.  They told me to cut out gluten, that I was lactose intolerant or that I was overweight (back when I was a size 5 at 115 pounds).  Finally they decided I had endometriosis.  Stage four.  The bad kind that needed surgery.  I was assured the pain would go away. 

It did not.

They did another surgery and found more endometriosis.  In fact I had three surgeries for it.  The final surgery they found the endometriosis had traveled from my uterus out into the lining of my bowels and urinary tract.  That surgery was done by a world renown doctor who also nicked my urinary nerves making me have to turn on the water any time I wanted to pee for about 5 years.  I still have issues with that and I still have pain.  

I suffered through a colonoscopy and they found nothing. Eventually I gave up whining about it because really how many times can people hear me bitch about the same thing? About six months after having Brandon the pain got worse.  So bad I ended up in the hospital.  Along with the pain was unending heartburn.  Heartburn so bad I was waking up puking yellow acid nightly. The ER doctor told me I had an ulcer.  I became irate telling him I don't have ulcers and DAMMIT find out what is wrong.  After an ultrasound or…something they discovered my gallbladder was full of sludge and super damaged.  So off I went onto my fourth surgery in five years.  

The pain remained. The heartburn got worse.  I tried eliminating foods.  I blamed avocado.  Then I blamed all stone fruits (peaches, plums, apricots).  Losing my gallbladder made it more difficult to digest foods that I used to have no trouble with.  Doctors told me to lose weight and the heartburn would go away. Then I cut out gluten and my whole life changed.  The heartburn went away right away.  I assumed I was fixed.  However slowly I noticed the stomach pain was still there, the bloating, the vomiting and other symptoms.  Such as going 5 days without having a bowel movement or having the opposite effect where I would go to the bathroom twenty times a day.  I would often find blood in my stool and even had lab work done on it (that was a fun collection). The lab work for those two days showed no blood in my stool so the doctor told me to leave it be.  

On top of it all I am severely anemic and low on B12.  The anemia was becoming so bad that the doctors decided I needed a hysterectomy.  They left me with one ovary.

The pain, bloating and vomiting were still there. I bothered my doctor endlessly until she sent me to a GI doctor.  I told him all of my symptoms.  I told him about cutting out gluten and how much it had helped with the heart burn.  The doctor said, "I doubt there is anything actually wrong with you I've never met a fat person who had allergies, there is no way you could be this fat and have a gluten problem."  I had to restrain myself from killing him.  He didn't want to do any tests and tried to dismiss me.  He gave me a diet called the FODMAP diet (Google it) and told me that I probably had a problem processing fructose.  His idea was for me to just do this diet and lose weight and everything would be fine.  I persisted and he agreed to do a stomach biopsy.  The day of the biopsy in front of the nurses he repeated that nothing would be wrong with me and this was all in my head.  The funny part is they weren't able to sedate me.  I have a shitty weight metabolism but I have an over active medicine metabolism.  I burn off medicine quickly.  After four shots of Verced when I was still wide awake he informed me he was proceeding with the biopsy as I was wide awake.  I was scared at first until I realized that being awake would allow me to hear him look in my stomach and say, "oh wow, this is bad, we have a problem here."

The results were eosinophilic esophagitis.  Here is where it gets interesting.  The immediate treatment for this is to get allergy tested immediately.  Secondly they should give you an inhaled steroid to stop the ridging and swelling.  My doctor went another route.  He told me to stay on the FODMAP diet because most likely something on that list was what I was allergic to and then I would lose weight and the problem would go away.  I got upset and asked why he wasn't going to do the follow up tests.  One was a stomach emptying test and the other was a breath test to see how my body was reacting to the stuff I was eating.  He refused both tests and told me to stay on the diet.  This diet restricted beans, onions, garlic, all fruits besides berries, tofu, nuts, avocado, dairy, asparagus, and so so much more.  The issue with this is that I'm basically vegan with the exception of a little bit of cheese and sour cream.  So, I don't eat meat, eggs, fish or dairy and now he's taking away beans, tofu, nuts, cheese, yogurt, sour cream and all healthy iron rich veggies.  I got very sick after that.  I was getting no protein, no iron, NO ANYTHING.  I started to get depressed about it.  I went to a nutritionist (which opened an entire other can of worms) and she got very concerned because if the doctor was so concerned with my weight he would have known that putting me on a diet that restrictive would cause my body to hold onto every ounce of fat and not lose any weight. She was pissed.  She put me on a lactose pill and told me to add the dairy back in.  She also told me to get to an allergist immediately.

Because my asshole GI doctor wouldn't refer it they put me on a month long waiting list.  When I finally got to the allergist and told him what the other doctor had said all hell broke loose.  He said the FODMAP diet was bullshit and that I should have had a rush allergy test done.  He decided that day we would start with food allergies.  Then the following week we would do environmental allergies.  He said he would bet I'm allergic to a local environmental pollen and that breathing it in daily is what is causing the bulk of the damage.  He said I should have immediately been put on medicine to repair the damage.  He also said that after all these years, all of my symptoms this all should have been handled much sooner.  

He did the first allergy test for food and it came back that I am allergic to peanuts, almonds, hazelnuts, brazil nuts, pistachios, barley and soy.  It appears I've been allergic to these things my entire life.  Most likely my first reactions would have been vomiting but since I was small the adults around me would have just chalked it up to an infant/toddler spitting up or being sick.  The doctor said I would have developed a sort of immunity to it preventing me from having anaphylaxis but not enough to prevent me from getting sick.  When Brandon became allergic to peanuts I cut them out of my life which would explain why later when I ate them again not around him I would vomit, my body was no longer used to it.  Then when the other doctor took me off dairy and put me on almond milk I was suddenly forcing almonds on my body far more then normal which would be cause for my recent excessive stomach issues.  Plus the fact that I just discovered Nutella last year.

I still have to have the environmental test done but for now I'm trying to learn a whole new diet.  I can now eat gluten, but gluten with soy in it brings back the heartburn and problems.  I was trained to not eat a whole mess of foods and now I have to relearn an entire new allergy and memorize all new food labels.  I feel sick about 70% of the daylight hours and at least 5 times a week I wake up with stomach issues.  I'm starting to lose faith in the medical professionals. I'm frustrated at how many doctors would just tell me to "lose weight" even when I was 15 and had a pretty rockin body. I'm exhausted by all of this.  All food is now scary to me. Going to eat anywhere without nutrition facts is scary.  Eating in public is scary because I never know when I'm just going to start throwing up or worse, have horrible stomach pains and swell up.  Sometimes foods bother me to the point my skin actually swells and I grow a dress size and sometimes I can eat the same foods and have no response.  

People are tired of hearing me complain about this phantom illness so I stop complaining which means they assume the problem is gone, which means when I do complain about it again they either think I'm pretending or just full of shit.  In reality I just stop talking about it because I know if I'm sick of thinking about it people have to be sick of hearing about it.  Wednesday is the environmental allergy appointment.   After that I should get some medicines to help the swelling in my stomach and throat and hopefully walk away with a clear idea of everything I'm allergic too.  But that still doesn't tell me what is wrong with my body, why I have trouble processing some foods and not others, why foods I'm not allergic to make me sick and foods I am allergic to, often do nothing to me.  I have to find a new GI doctor but in order to do that the old one has to sign off on it, and since he's still on his, "just lose weight and stay on this restrictive diet" kick he is refusing to sign me over to another doctor.

I give up on food.  I'm going to live on water and Tic Tacs.

I got this awesome new shirt last week. This is my answer to all politics right now.  

WAYLON FOR PRESIDENT.

I’ve had so much to say lately and it seems there is never the time to sit down and write it.  I wanted to do a whole post on the differences between my boys:

One sleeps under all of the blankets snuggled in a tiny ball, One sleeps under NO blankets spread out like a starfish, no matter how hot or cold out it is.

One eats all of his food, One eats about five bites of any meal and declares himself stuffed.

One eats with gusto covering his entire body in whatever he is eating, One wipes his hands and face after every bite and had a nervous breakdown at the idea of picking up his BBQ chicken and getting sauce on his hands last week.

One loves chocolate milk, One will only drink regular milk.

One loves red, One loves blue.

One can’t hold still for the life of him, One can sit without moving for hours on end.

One wants mommy to put him to sleep every night, One prefers daddy to put him to sleep.

 

Part of the reason I have no time to blog any more is because all of my free time is spent watching the Giants play baseball.  I’m addicted.  When I started watching baseball I used to only like watching my guys hit.  But now, the love has morphed into something where I even enjoy watching my guys play defense.  I truly love watching Pagan fly in the air catching balls in, and watching Crawford do Olympic status dance moves to catch a ball and bounce up and throw it, or watching Belt dominate first base, or watching Pence rip up another teams field in an amazing slide. I know almost every players name now, I know them all at a glance.  I know their positions, I’m learning their history and their beliefs, I love these guys.  The only problem I see is that if any of them get traded it’s going to really really crush my heart.  Not to mention, I have a very hard time accepting new players.  It took me almost three weeks to stop giving Scutaro the stink eye just because he was in Theriot’s spot.  I get mad any time I see that one of my players played on another team prior to the Giants.  Pagan in another jersey is NOT OKAY.  I know that if Wilson, Posey, Lincecum, Belt, Crawford or Vogie got traded I would probably have to be sedated for a few days because JUST NO THEY ARE GIANTS FOR LIFE.  

My husband and I have learned we cannot watch the Giants lose together.  He gets mad any time I open my mouth and I get mad because he starts trashing my players and gets an attitude.  It is just better now if he goes to my grandmas house to watch and I stay at home. Otherwise we don’t speak for a day or two after the game.  I have never really loved a team before.  I was raised to like the Raiders but football is nothing like baseball, it’s not nearly as awesome.  But being a part of this team and loving them has been so fun.  The fans are incredible.  The orange makes me smile anywhere I am now.  The players are so fun, and open, and wonderful.  I think the Giants have some of the most down to earth players of any team there is.  But watching baseball has really  made me feel like I’m part of something huge.  

 

I took some time off catering to be a mom, and do some private baking for a cousins wedding.  I worked a couple events again this week and I got so many compliments which I totally needed.  I’m really good at that job and it’s so fun to do something you love, get tipped well for it, and get great customer feedback.  However, if I ever went into catering on my own I have decided that Ginger would have to move back to Reno because I CANNOT function alone in the kitchen without her.  I don’t even need her to bake, she just needs to sit in there and keep me sane.  Don’t even get me started on how long I procrastinated baking last week because Ginger was in town and I was hell bent on soaking up every moment with here while she was here, logic tells me it would have just been better to have her IN THE KITCHEN WITH ME.  But somehow we ended up at sushi instead.  Oops!

 

That is all for now. I think.

I’ll be back after the Giants win the world series! 

Okay friends, let's play my favorite game;

"How many tattoos does Shannon currently have?"

The winner gets nothing but the privelage of being the winner and not the loser.  Leave your guess in the comments below!

This is my current travel reading.  It was written by Johnny's wife Vivian.  He approved the book and gave her permission to write the truth and all of their secrets.  Do you think it's possible that I will like him a little less at the end of this?  Or is my love strong enough that I won't care how big of a shit head he was to her?  Here goes nothin.  I've been dying to read this for months now.

I know what I'm about to say might make some of you unfollow me right away.  I understand.  But I have to say this. 

I HATE PUMPKIN FLAVORED STUFF. 

There.  I said it.  It's true though.  I do not get all excited for fall and pumpkin stuff.  I hate when everyone suddenly turns every good thing pumpkin.  Coffee, creamer, ice cream, cake, pasta, dessert, candles, and every other thing on the planet.  I don't like it one bit.

I don't like apple bobbing. It is gross.  Twenty people with their mouth open, salivating in the same bucket of water.  Excuse me while I puke in the bucket.

I don't like Demi Lovatto.  I know that she is every ones hero but I don't like her.  I don't like her music.  I don't like her shows.  

I hate putting the vacuum away. I will vacuum all day but for some reason I hate putting the vacuum away.

Same goes for laundry.  I can wash and fold but I loath putting it away.

I have never read Harry Potter.  Not only that but I refuse to just on principal.  I basically refuse to read anything by JK Rowlings.  I have no reason for this it's just a long standing decision I made years ago that I intend to stick to.

I feel the same way about the Hunger Games.  I have no desire to read or watch it.

When I read 50 Shades I pictured Christian as a brunette the entire time.  He is not a red head in my mind and I sure hope he isn't in the movie.  

Febreeze smells funny to me.  I would rather use a Salt City Grapefruit Vanilla candle.  

I hate spiders, but I can never remember to buy spider killer.  NEVER.  

I cannot sleep alone. If my husband is gone I am a disaster.  If he died, or we got divorced I would be so screwed.  I would probably have to hire someone to move in with me or pay Ginger to move home and move into my house because OMG people I cannot be alone at night in the dark.

I don't like murder mysteries on TV or movies.  I prefer love stories.  I will tolerate comedy but honestly I just really really prefer romance.

Murder mysteries are not the same thing as Criminal Minds or CSI.  I like those.  I do not like those…Lifetime movies where someone kills their wife, husband, baby sitter etc.  Those scare me for a year.

I do not understand Hawaiian pizza.  Pineapple on pizza?  WHY? In the end I mostly prefer cheese pizza.  On occasion vegetarian pizza works but when it comes down to it my pizza preferences match that of my four year old. 

I REALLY REALLY REALLY HATE PUMPKIN STUFF.

Do you remember the episode of Friends when Monica spent an obscene amount of money on new boots but then when she put them on they were the most uncomfortable shoes she had ever owned?  Later in the episode she made Chandler carry her home on his back and ended up forgetting the shoes at dinner.  She never went back for them.

I'm having that same problem.  A few years ago I found the cutest slip on flats ever.  I bought them in every color.  They made it three years and finally died.  So last year I bought a new pair of black flats.  You guys they are the most painful shoes ever.  They rub just above my big toe and they are so high in back they rub my ankle and make it bleed in under an hour.  

See look how cute they are.

Here is where I become conflicted.  I know these shoes hurt me yet I keep putting them back in my closet.  I made it one hour today before my ankle looked like this.

Ouch. (Also lease note that my jeans are as always too long and end up dragging on the ground getting dirty, some day I should order jeans in short length)

So what do I do?  Do I put them back in my closet again? Do I just throw the damn things away? I only paid about $15.00 for them so it's not worth it to put them on Craigslist.  I could donate them, but I'm not sure I want to inflict this pain on anyone else.  Is it going against the universal girl code to throw away perfectly functioning shoes?  For now they are sitting by my front door.  I'm worried if I put them back in my closet another month will pass and in a hurry I will think, "ooh cute black shoes lets wear those."  Then an hour later I'll be crying like Monica.  So tell me, what's a girl to do?

For years I've never had favorites.  If you asked my favorite color I'd reply, "I dunno." Favorite artist, "no clue."  It's taken me thirty years but I have actual favorites now.  

Favorite smell: Apple.  Since high school my favorite lotion was always Bath & Body's Country Apple.  They discontinued it for about six years and then one day they brought it back for a limited time.  I bought six bottles.  The response was so good they decided to keep it available online.  I had spent years looking for a signature scent, searching perfume counters without realizing that all along I had a signature smell.  My kids even recognize it now.  On the occasion I switch it up and use some vanilla Codi will notice that I don't smell like my usual apples.  As soon as I get out of the shower and put on my lotion Codi comes running in to smell me and then smiles and runs out.  When I change scents my husband always says something is, "off."  My laundry soap is Gains Apple Mango Tango. My dish soap is apple.  My sanitizer is Bath & Body's Fresh Market Apple.  My car freshener is a Fall Harvest Apple.  After 30 years I have finally realized a favorite.

Favorite Artist: Waylon Jennings. Hands down.  No questions asked.  I don't even have to think of it.  Once about a year ago a Waylon song came on and it touched my entire soul.  I just knew in that moment that he was everything I was searching for.  Then I stumbled on his book, and the honesty in it was disarming.  I fell even harder in love.  I've watched him sing on the computer and the way he moves, the way he interviews you can feel every word he is singing, feel the love in every stroke of his guitar.  I love him so much his guitar is now tattooed on my shoulder.  I love that no matter the mood there is a song. Happy, sad, mischievous, any emotion, Waylon has a song for that. 

Band: Duh, The Highwaymen. Waylon, Willie, Johnny and Kris all in the same place.  A huge no brainer!

Movie: For years I really liked the movie Pretty Woman.  I still really like it.  Maybe even love it.  But my favorite movie? Pride and Prejudice, (Kiera Knightly version).  I don't know why but that movie just does something for me.  I can watch it for hours on end. 

Food: This is so boring but my favorite food is potatoes.  I love them boiled, mashed, fried, baked, diced, shredded, covered in stuff, plain.  It doesn't matter I just love them.  I can eat them for every meal. I could eat mashed potatoes with a side of fries and an order of baked potato in the same meal. 

I still haven't settled on a favorite color.  I lean towards blue but if my mood changes my favorite color changes.  I can't decide on a book either.  I feel like it's a book from middle school called The Wind Blows backwards, but I can't be sure because my kids ripped up my 15 year old copy of it a few years ago and I haven't found one since to re-read and double check that I still love it.  I still haven't forgiven Brandon for that. I have yet to discover a favorite animal. A favorite place. A favorite drink, dessert or ice cream flavor.  I am proud of myself though.  Finally, after all these years I've been able to nail down a few actual real live favorites.  

Tell me, what are your favorite things?