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Tuesday, February 21, 2006
reality check
Denise is one of those people who says what I so often feel, only miles better. She's been going through a rough spot emotionally, and she's in my prayers. She also put up this "reality check" meme today. I needed a little humiliation (who doesn't?) and, well, you know me and memes.
How many overdue library books do you currently have? None. I think the family altogether might have about a dollar in fines. Or maybe we're still caught up on fines.
When was the last time you changed your cat's litter box? Today. We only have the one, for two cats, and if we don't keep it relatively clean they start using corners of the kids' rooms instead. It hadn't been changed since early Friday morning when we left for our beach weekend, so it really needed it today.
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Oh wait, do you mean fully CHANGED? Because we have this schmancy litterbox where you take it apart and it basically sifts everything out of the litter and then you put it back together and the litter's pretty much clean, if you have good hard-clumping litter. When I think of changing it, I think of doing that, which we usually do every other day or so. We actually dispose of the old litter and put in fresh new litter once a month or so.
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How many things do you currently have in your house that you borrowed more than a week ago and have not returned? Um, about a dozen? I don't know, off the top of my head I can think of a book of Bach chorales and a James Galway flute CD that I borrowed from my music teacher in high school. Do I win some sort of slacker prize for that? We also have some DVDs borrowed from one of T's friends. I can't think of anything else offhand but I know there must be more.
How many checks have you bounced this month? None. We've never had a check actually bounce, but maybe five times in our marriage, our bank has covered checks for us and fined us for the privilege. Also, we have a line of credit for overdraft protection, but it's usually at its limit from other stuff.
When was the last time you said something unkind to someone? I bit my daughter's head off today when she stuck her finger in a pitcher of dyed hummingbird-food syrup and then wiped it on her jeans. A capital offense, no? Anytime you want with that Mother of the Year Award.
How many people are you holding a grudge against? I think... three. Two of those grudges are about twenty years old.
How many loads of laundry are waiting to be done? I'd say six. This is not usual; I caught us up completely while T was gone on the fire. Usually there are more like twelve or fifteen.
When was the last time you changed your sheets? Um... about three weeks ago.
When was your last mammogram? Never had one.
How many days' worth of dishes are in your sink? Hmm. Well, I have some miscellaneous stuff sitting by the sink like placemats, water bottles, and a few pans I picked up at a yard sale over the weekend. But our daily dishes are in the dishwasher. Which, come to think of it, I'll have to remember to start before I go to bed.
How many articles of clothing are lying on your bedroom floor? No way I could count them without actually going through and gathering them up one by one. And that's after I just picked up about half a dozen things (not counting the handful of socks) from my side of the bed and put them in the hamper.
How many of your bills are currently past due? I was going to say none, and then I remembered that we have an outstanding dental bill. The dentist has been my mom's boss for over twenty years, and when we got the work done (um, four years ago or so) the plan was for me to work off the bill in web design work. That never happened, through no real fault of my own. One of these days -- maybe if T gets another fire this year -- we'll just pay it off.
When was your last dental appointment? Probably three years ago. Maybe five.
How many points do you have on your driver's license? None, thanks to traffic school.
When was the last time you scrubbed your toilet? Probably, ugh, two weeks. And that's certainly not the longest it's ever gone. I should get in the habit of doing it whenever I change the litterbox.
Have you ever said you'd pray for someone but knew you wouldn't? Ouch. Unfortunately yes. Well, to clarify, I didn't know at the time that I wouldn't, but sometimes it just slips my mind and I move on without doing it.
What's the oldest thing in your fridge and how old is it? This is a bad time to answer this question, because I cleaned out the fridge while T was gone last week. At that time there were several containers in there whose contents were unidentifiable and whose age was unknown. Probably I'd guess Mesozoic or Pleistocene. ;)
When was the last time you read your Bible? Ouch again. Um. We kept not doing our family reading while T was gone, and we didn't do it over the weekend even though we should have. I'd say two weeks ago tomorrow, when I did my last chapter summary. Although I looked up some verses in our Bible program for a couple of discussions. Still. OW.
When was the last time you backed up your important files and photos? I backed up my photos at the beginning of this month. Before that it had been since last July. I've never backed up the rest of everything.
How many bags/containers of snack foods do you have in your house? Bad time to ask this; T always comes home with a grocery bag full of this stuff from fires. (let's see, can I possibly squeeze that concept into a few more answers? I don't think I've mentioned it often enough. DID YOU KNOW THAT MY BELOVED, HARDWORKING HUSBAND WAS AWAY IN ARIZONA FOR A WEEK, WORKING TELECOM FOR FIRE SUPPRESSION TEAMS? YOU DIDN'T? WOW! WELL, HE WAS!)
Do you know where your keys are? They're in my purse.
Well, that wasn't so bad. It was actually a little heartening. Somehow the creator of the meme managed to avoid asking about the really bad stuff at my house. Like: How many archaeological teams would it take to find your piano? at least three. How much time did you spend on the computer today? probably at least five hours total. How often do your kids sit down and do all seven of the school subjects on your list in one day? maybe five times this school year. How long ago did you tell your husband it would be 'just a few more minutes' before you were in bed? twenty-five. How much credit-card debt do you have? I am absolutely not telling.
So now you have something to look down on me about. As if the toilet thing and the thirteen-year CD loan weren't bad enough, right?
Comments
Hey, those were some good ideas. I might have to add those. :-)
I'm impressed with your cat litter habits. ;-)
Posted by: thicket dweller at February 22, 2006 05:44 AM
ED!!
"...Bach chorales and a James Galway flute CD that I borrowed from my music teacher in high school."
Yeah, Rachel. That's called stealing.
(Not that I've ever done that. Oh, that old quilting video? Yep, I'm still going to return that. I only borrowed it about ten years ago.)
Posted by: Kristen at February 22, 2006 07:34 AM
Hee, hee...I have to do this one today. Kristen is so funny too!
Posted by: jenn at February 22, 2006 12:36 PM
I'm totally stealing this meme :-) Watch out for it later today.
Posted by: Maria at February 22, 2006 11:06 PM
I liked that meme!! good questions
Posted by: debi at February 26, 2006 10:17 AM
Hi Rachel~
Loved this meme, thanks for sharing. And thank you for your advice the other day, trying to help me out with my 'puter probs. Now, it's not kicking me off, I dunno why not? I haven't done anything brilliant, that's for sure. I'm wondering if maybe it was something up with blogger vs. firefox?
Anyways, I just did some reality blogging of my own today... come and visit. *smiles* ...many dirty socks on your side of the bed? My kindred spirit sister, you'll feel right at home at my place, think I'll share about my bedroom next...
blessings~
Posted by: beth at February 27, 2006 10:10 PM
