I’m pretty sure there are much more IMPORTANT inventions out there, but these are ones that made life easier and therefore ones that I really like!

1. Computers. Seriously! I don’t know what I’d do without it. It keeps me in-touch with friends and family that are far away, keeps me entertained when I otherwise would be incredibly bored, and helps me with things that I have problems with.
2. Caller ID. Anyone who knows me well and calls me often knows that I’m a screener. I don’t like answering the phone unless I know exactly who it is, and I want to talk to them!
3. Tin Foil. I cook everything with tin foil. Baking something in the oven? Toss in some tin foil for easy cleanup. Grilling? Toss it in tin foil for maximum moisture retention. Just don’t stick it in the…
4. Microwave(s). I love having leftovers. I love cooking beforehand and saving meals so that I can eat them for lunch or for a quick and easy dinner on a lazy day. I know it can be done without a microwave, but who would want to?
5. Cars. Cars make so many things easier! You can get places faster, you don’t have to worry about hurting when you walk far, and you can go places you’d never be able to get without a car, unless you find a way to get a horse and buggy on the highway!
6. Showers. I know this is a weird one, but imagine if there were no showers, only bathtubs. I have long hair that’s really really hard to get clean even in a shower, so in a tub? I’d have such a hard time in a tub. Showers are quicker, too!
7. Cell phones. I don’t have one right now, and I miss it more every day. The convenience of having a phone wherever you are is often underrated. Forgot what someone wanted at the grocery store? Call them! Need to get directions when you’re hopelessly lost? Call a friend!
8. Alarm clocks. Now, I never wake up to alarms. I’m a really sound sleeper so I just don’t hear the alarm for whatever reason. However, these are wonderful. Can you imagine if we didn’t have alarms? So many people would be late because they overslept!
9. Email. While this COULD theoretically go under “computers” I prefer to have it separate because you can have computers without email! I use this for everything and 99% of the time prefer it to the phone. If I could live my life communicating solely via email and face-to-face conversation I’d be completely happy to!
10. Weight machines. This is weird, but I honestly think that if they didn’t have little machines telling you how to work out, that I’d never get anything done because I’d be too confused! Thank goodness for weight machines.

So there you have it, my list of 10 Inventions That Have Made Life Easier. Go make your own!

Today’s Ten on Tuesday is Ten Things You’d Fix in Your Home (if you had the time and money). For the purposes of this, I’m going to pretend I can do all of this stuff, since we live in an apartment and rent it. But we’ll pretend everything is fair game!

1. Fix all the doors, including the balcony door. Most of them don’t shut properly!
2. Redo the closets - put in organizers and shelves and replace the awful hanger rack that doesn’t work right!
3. Fix the plumbing. The bathroom sink drips all the time and the kitchen sink leaks horribly!
4. Add in overhead lighting in all rooms. The lighting in here kinda sucks, so I’d like to have it overhead for once!
5. Paint all the rooms. White walls aren’t so much fun if they’re in every room all the time.
6. New closet doors. They’re always stuck or broken or won’t open.
7. More electrical outlets. Especially in the kitchen. You can’t use the microwave and our foreman grill at the same time, or it blows a fuse.
8. New cabinets. The ones in the kitchen are just… boring.
9. Built in shelving in the rooms. There’s not a lot of room in our bedroom for anything so some wall-mounted shelving would be great!
10. Have the windows cleaned. We’re on the 6th floor of the building and they don’t ever have the windows washed, so it’d be nice to get the spots off of them for once.

Today’s Ten on Tuesday is hard! I don’t just have ten things that I want to do before I die! Heck, I’ve got 101 things to do in the next 933 days alone! But, I can narrow this down pretty well.

01. Have a child.
    Anyone who knows me well knows that I’ve had the worst case of baby fever for the past few years. I’m being as patient as I can, though!

02. Visit Spain again.
    I know my husband knows very little Spanish, but I know enough for the both of us! I went to Spain when I was a junior in high school, and I would absolutely love to go back and see the sights without the schedule of the group and tour guide.

03. Finally be content with myself.
    I’d love to be able to walk into a room and radiate confidence. I’ve got a very annoying inner struggle going on lately between the part of me that likes who I am, and the part of me that feels that I need a lot of improvement.

04. Find a job that I’m passionate about.
    Forget the retail life, working just for a paycheck. I want to have a job that I love, and that I’m good at, and where I don’t wake up every morning dreading what I’ll be doing for the rest of the day.

05. Celebrate our fiftieth wedding anniversary.
    My grandparents celebrated theirs a few years back, and one of the first things that I thought at the party was how rare it was these days to celebrate such an amazingly strong marriage and bond. My parents made it just a few days shy of their 20th when their divorce was finalized, and ever since then I’ve known that I want a marriage that lasts.

06. Own a nice home.
    I want Matt and I to find our dream home and live in it. Even if it’s just big enough for us and our family, I want us to own a place and have a yard, and pets, and paint on the walls. I want a place to call our own, with nobody around but us.

07. Find a strong group of friends to spend time with.
    I have a lot of online friends, and a few that I spend time with on occasion, but there are moments when I wish I had a very tight-knit group of friends that I could always count on to understand me and spend time with each other. Those are the times that I feel loneliest, I guess.

08. Take a vacation to somewhere tropical.
    All my life I’ve lived in places that get cold. I want to go somewhere warm for a change, kick up my feet, drink some cocktails on the beach, and just spend some time with the man I love.

09. Attend an event that requires a formal dress.
    I don’t mean a wedding. I mean some sort of party, or ball where I have to dress formally. Every year, for New Year’s Eve, I wish I was attending (or throwing!) some fancy party like you see on TV.

10. Learn to stand up for myself.
    I get a lot of people criticizing me for the choices that I’ve made, or for where I am. These are mostly from my family - the people that should support me no matter what, as long as I’m happy. I want to learn to stand up for what I’m doing and how I’m living and not feel guilty for not sacrificing my own wants and needs for what everyone else wants.

Today’s Ten on Tuesday is a hard one. “Brag about yourself” has never been my choice of memes to fill out, but I suppose I should do it. So, if I seem conceited (which I promise I never am!) please just move along and don’t tell me. All I need to do is think of ten things that make me proud, which seems like a daunting task anyway.

1. I have fantastic hair.
2. I am good at remembering things.
3. I have a knack for making connections - even if it’s just between actors on a TV show or movie.
4. I made a big change in my life, and it was for the better.
5. I’ve faced my fear and spent the past month sleeping normal hours, even though it was not easy for me.
6. I am a nice person. I’m almost too nice, but only sometimes.
7. I’m actually very intelligent. Most of the time I’m afraid to show it, for fear of looking like a know-it-all.
8. I’m very good with children. Most of the time they like me immediately.
9. I’m a good cook, when I can get over the fear of leaving my bedroom.
10. I’m very good with grammar and spelling. I’m also a fairly good writer, when I get a good topic into my head to write about!

Wow, I did it. Ten things that I’m proud of. Now let’s hope people don’t think I’m a snob for writing them!

Today’s Ten on Tuesday is your ten favourite photos that you’ve taken. So, here’s mine!

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