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Sunday, July 30, 2006

memes from Michael

1. Would you consider yourself to be flamboyant or fairly conservative?
um, yeah. Do I even have to answer this question? Conservative.

2. What is the most flamboyant thing about your appearance?
I sometimes wear red tank tops and sometimes my bra strap accidentally shows? My chin is prominent? I am kind of hard-pressed here.

3. Do you secretly wish you were more flamboyant? In what way?
No. Honestly I like that I am kind of an invisible uber-mom type who blends into the background pretty efficiently.

4. Where is the line between flamboyant and tacky for you?
I don't know. For some people to do a certain thing would just be part of their nature; for someone else to do the same thing it might be tacky. So maybe the line has to do with genuineness? No, because there are some things that I think are truly tacky no matter what the attitude of the person is. Not that I would announce such a thing. I know how it feels to be the tacky one and have people make an issue of it. Live and let live, tacky or not, is my fashion philosophy in a nutshell.

From Friday's Feast --

What's the funniest dream you can remember having?
I don't remember most of my dreams. Sometimes I'll remember one for part of the next day but generally I'll forget them by nightfall. For example, right now, I can't think of a single dream I've had in the past two weeks, except for part of one that I mentioned to T because it was scary. And I don't think I often have funny dreams.

If you were a dog, what breed would you be, and why?
I would be a mutt. A shaggyish, gangly, loving, friendly mutt. Like Ribsy but less skinny.

Continue this sentence: "I get confused when..."
...I hold the map upside down. Ordinarily I'm really good with maps and cities, even in complicated cities with a lot of one-ways, especially if I'm navigating rather than driving. Once, however, I got my directions a bit confused and forgot that while North was Up, it wasn't necessarily the direction that was directly in front of me, if you know what I mean, and I got really lost. In Fresno. On a cloudy day, so that once I was in an unfamiliar area my sense of direction got a wee bit shot Fortunately you can't throw a rock in Fresno without hitting a freeway, so I didn't stay lost long, and I got lost in a nice neighborhood. Still, no fun.

Name two things that need to be done, but you are procrastinating in completing.
I still have a laundry backup from our vacation. As for anything else, I know there IS something (probably many somethings), but I must be blocking it/them very successfully because I can't think of any.

When was the last time you tried something new, and what was it?
Probably recording for Librivox, about two weeks ago, and it's awesome, you should try it.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

5-things meme from Kristen

How could I resist?

5 Things in my Refrigerator:

(I almost accidentally left Kristen's comment about being a sick pregnant woman here. HA! Hee hee. That would have been kind of funny, considering that high on the list of things one needs to be pregnant is a uterus, which I left at the hospital over a year ago and haven't missed since.)

1. Spring green mix, which I buy in big plastic tubs at Costco every two weeks whether I have run out or not. It's so cheap that I can just throw out the leftovers (tossing them into the field for the deer, of course) and put in the fresh tub. CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION. I am so eeevil.
2. Peaches. Yum.
3. Strawberries. Yum again.
4. A super-enormous Caramello bar in case of emergency.
5. Unidentifiable scary things in the crisper.

5 Things in my Closet:

I will leave out clothes because that's boring (half a dozen dresses I never wear and don't really like, some blouses I don't wear because they need to be ironed, and four linear feet of my husband's polos, slacks, and work uniforms). OK, so maybe "list separately" would be a better term than "leave out." So sue me.

1. My husband's Darth Vader mask/voice changer.
2. A memory box for each of my kids.
3. A 12-gauge shotgun. (take that, creepy Internet stalkers).
4. Shelves for folded clothes (Shelves in the closet! happy thought indeed!)
5. Assorted rolled-up artwork from the kids that's too big to fit anywhere else.

5 Things in my Purse:

1. My wallet.
2. Prescription sunglasses I've had since 1998.
3. A landfill. Well, not really. But sometimes you'd think so.
4. My Dart keys with my Dart Swinger key fob, which I must confess I kiss occasionally.
5. Hair stretchies for C.

5 Things in my Car:

My car... is clean. My car... has never been messy since I have owned it. I know now what I need for motivation to keep things clean. I just have to love them. Get me a house I love and hey, maybe I'd even keep that clean. Or maybe not. Anyway, on with the list.

1. Sun shields, which are too big for my windshield even though they are the smallest size we could find. Apparently they weren't so lavish with auto glass in 1972.
2. In the trunk: My 12-CD changer. T has the job of installing my stereo mostly done; he just needs to mount the stereo unit itself now.
3. Wet wipes (in the glove box).
4. Also in the glove box, chargers for my cell phone and T's.
5. A DISTINCT LACK OF MESS. In case you missed that.

Monday, July 03, 2006

questions & answers

This originally had 100 questions. I deleted all the ones that I'd answered multiple times in various memes over the past three years (I've been importing old entries from Diaryland to here, partly so that I had my whole backup in one place, and oh my gosh have I done a ton of these. Another thing I discovered during the import process is that it's nice to have this as a record even if I don't feel like writing in it at the time. So I'm going to try to be better about writing more often, instead of figuring that I never write here so why pay money to keep it around).

ONE OF YOUR SCARS, HOW DID YOU GET IT?
This is actually hard to choose. I'll go with my biggest non-surgical scar which is on my shin, and I got it in 1993 when I was visiting Jenn in LA. We were waiting for a bus, only we were waiting on the opposite side of the street from the bus route we actually wanted because there was a bench in the shade. So when we saw the bus coming, we jumped off the back of the bench where we'd been sitting to dash across the street. Except that I smacked my shin against a fire hydrant on the way down, and when I looked at the wound you could see through the thin layer of fat on my shin (I'm sure it's thicker now) down to the muscle beneath it. I didn't get it stitched because I was 300 miles from my insurance card and my mother; when I got home a couple of days later we went to the doctor but he said it was too late to do anything about it, other than do cosmetic surgery after it had healed to get rid of the scar. Which obviously we never did, or I'd be telling you about the time I drove my bicycle into a pole when I was four, instead of telling you this story.

WHAT DOES YOUR CELL PHONE LOOK LIKE?
Um. It's silver, with a swoopy blue shape on the front of it and a little square LCD display that lights up in different colors. It's two years old now so I'm sure it's completely outdated.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME YOU WERE BORN?
12:15 AM, although the hospital staff put 12:45 on my birth certificate so that my parents wouldn't have to pay for the extra day in the hospital (they tried to hold off going in until after midnight but they gave in at around 11:30).

WHAT DO YOU MISS?
3 br 2 ba on 5 acres for $100K. Definitely.

WHAT IS YOUR MOST PRIZED POSSESSION?
THE NIKON.

DO YOU GET CLAUSTROPHOBIC?
When I'm under a lot of stress I feel kind of claustrophobic, and being in a small space makes it worse, but that's different, isn't it.

WHO IS THE LAST PERSON YOU MADE MAD?
I assume it was T. Or maybe one of the kids.

DO YOU SPEAK A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE?
Sometimes I feel like I definitely do.

(I know, I know, not what was meant. I can hold a very basic conversation in French as long as the other person speaks slowly and I can stick to present or present perfect tense; because I know French and live in California I can read very basic Spanish but don't expect me to understand it when it's spoken).

WHAT WAS THE FIRST GIFT SOMEONE EVER GAVE YOU (OF THE OPPOSITE SEX)?
I had a boyfriend when I was fourteen or so who gave me a ludicrously furry stuffed cat for Valentine's Day, with a little heart between its paws that said "I love you." I cherished this singularly stereotypical early-teen-boy gift; I hugged it and cried when he broke up with me. In other words, no, there wasn't an original bone in my hormone-laden body.

WHAT IS ONE OF YOUR DREAMS?
Lately I have this recurring nightmare where I find out that people have been making fun of my children -- at Sunday school, Awana, their friends' house, etc. Gee, the dream analysis on THAT one is just a stumper, isn't it.

WHAT IS THE ONE NUMBER YOU CALL MOST OFTEN?
Probably home, from my cell.

YOUR WEAKNESSES?
I think I've pretty much spent the last three years or so blogging about them; you should be able to find them out for yourself without too much effort.

WHAT WERE YOU DOING BEFORE YOU FILLED OUT THIS SURVEY?
Posting pictures to my photo blog and waiting for the ibuprofen to kick in and give my poor gluteus maximus some relief. I hadn't quite fully recovered from moving a refrigerator down a flight of stairs a couple of days ago when I went for a loooong hard walk today, which I should either do more often (definitely the smarter answer) or not at all. THE PAIN.

WHAT DO YOU GET COMPLIMENTED ABOUT MOST?
The way my children behave in public, and now my car.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF ALCOHOL BECAME ILLEGAL?
Remarkably, my life would be unchanged. Shocking, I know.

WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY?
happy fantasy: A trip to Morro Bay and a replacement 70-300mm macro lens (mine only works at 300mm now). Reality: some nice solid refrigerator magnets, books, and a ducky key chain. And, well, maybe the lens? :) (it IS nearly six months away).

WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
I was named after a Dolly Parton and Porter Waggoner song called "Sweet Rachel Ann". But my middle name's not Ann.

DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
When I take my time with it. I'm out of practice, though, so my hand gets tired fast.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
Salsa turkey, yum yum.

ANY BAD HABITS?
It's not so much that I have bad habits (except interrupting) as it is that I don't have enough good ones.

DO YOU UN-TIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
Depends on the shoe. If I don't have to in order to get it off, I generally don't.

WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
The fishtank bubbler, my own raucous typing, and blessed, blessed silence.

LAST THING YOU ATE?
A banana.

LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
Jenn. I was talking on the cell phone with the hands-free attachment and my son walked into the kitchen to stare into the refrigerator, growing-boy-style. I heard him kind of grunting, and after wondering what was up for about three sentences (I was relating a story about something but I can't remember what it was now), I asked him if he needed my help. It turned out that he thought I was talking to him, so he was making little "mm. mm-hmm" noises. I found this enormously funny at the time. Maybe you had to be there.

LAST THING YOU WATCHED?
The sunset. Oh, on the TV? The kids were watching the Gumby Movie this morning and now I totally have the theme music to it in my head.

WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING?
I'm reading Vanity Fair right now. I'm really liking it, which shows that my practice of putting a classic book aside if I can't get into it and trying it again later works at least some of the time.

Monday, June 26, 2006

two more memes because I'm still a lazy blogger

(actually I'm thinking about pulling the plug on this thing.)

I lifted both of these from Michael. The first one especially is really long, and I don't blame you if you skim it, but question 21 needs your input... :)

1. EVER BEEN GIVEN AN ENGAGEMENT RING?
yes

2. LONGEST RELATIONSHIP?
Married twelve years and three months to T. We'd been a couple for about seven months before that and been on the EDGE of being a couple for about six months before THAT.

3. LAST GIFT YOU RECEIVED?
C cut a red heart out of felt and gave it to me for a bookmark, a couple of days ago.

4. EVER DROPPED A CELL PHONE?
Geesh, all the time.

5. WHEN'S THE LAST TIME YOU WORKED OUT?
um. ah. I think it would be counted in years, unless you count a walk brisk enough to maintain an aerobic heartbeat for maybe ten minutes, in which case a week or two.

6. THING(S) YOU SPEND A LOT OF MONEY ON?
Well, basic necessities mostly. My main item for frivolous spending is dinner out.

7. LAST FOOD YOU ATE?
toast.

8. FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT THE OPPOSITE SEX?
Well, as Michael said, I'm a respectable married woman so I don't look. However, I LOVE that T has some breadth to his shoulders and depth to his chest and size to his arms. My boyfriends in high school tended to be the weedy skinny type (last I saw them both, within the past year, they still were) and oh my goodness do I prefer a more manly physique... mmm. yes.

9. ONE FAVOURITE SONG?
You can't make me. I won't. I will say that I've been addicted to Domenico Scarlatti's piano sonatas lately, but that's like 20 songs even on the one CD.

10. WHERE DO YOU LIVE?
Small town, California, blah blah blah.

11. HIGH SCHOOL YOU ATTENDED:
The one in the small town in the central California foothills.

12. CELL PHONE SERVICE PROVIDER:
Verizon.

13. FAVOURITE MALL STORE:
Hmm. There is no bookstore in the nearest mall.

14. BAKED OR FRIED?:
Depends. Usually fried, as my waistline will attest.

15. DO YOU OWN A PAIR OF DICE?
Who doesn't?

16. DO YOU PRANK CALL PEOPLE?:
I did a few times in junior high and I've been dreadfully ashamed ever since.

17. LAST WEDDING YOU ATTENDED:
Jennifer's, in September 2004.

18. FIRST FRIEND YOU'D CALL IF YOU WON THE LOTTERY:
My mom.

19. LAST TIME YOU SAW YOUR BEST FRIEND:
About fifteen seconds ago (doctor told him to stay home from work this week too, until his surgeon consultation on Thursday).

20. FAVOURITE FAST FOOD RESTAURANT:
Panda Express YUM.

21. BIGGEST LIE YOU HAVE EVER HEARD:
"Safe, legal, and rare." (My husband and I have a bet on whether other people will know who said this and what it refers to. So please comment and let me know, if you know or if you don't.)

23. WHERE'S YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE TO EAT WITH YOUR FRIENDS?
Probably one or the other of our houses.

24. CAN YOU COOK?
I can hold my own and keep my husband and myself heavier than we should be.

25. WHAT CAR DO YOU DRIVE?:
A green-and-white 1972 Dodge Dart Swinger with a 318. Woo hoo!

26. FAVOURITE FLAVOR JOLLY RANCHER:
green apple, then watermelon, then cherry. (I am leaving this because apparently Michael is a kindred spirit in even more ways than I previously knew.)

27. LAST TIME YOU CRIED?:
Dunno. A week or two ago.

28. MOST DISLIKED FOODS:
There are several things I don't like but for this episode I'll pick: anything with maple in it or on it that isn't pancakes or waffles or French toast. Maple-flavored oatmeal for example, or this new Eggo maple-flavored cereal which my husband has found to be worth a sugar crash on more than one occasion even though I steadfastly refuse to kiss him while he still tastes like it. Or maple doughnuts, blech.

29. THING YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT YOURSELF:
I'm an empathetic optimist, which means I give people the benefit of the doubt a lot.

30. THING YOU DISLIKE MOST ABOUT YOURSELF:
My habit of putting things off that shouldn't be put off. (Amen sister.)

32. LEAST FAVORITE BREED OF DOG
St. Bernards. SO SO SLOBBERY.

33. FAVOURITE MOVIE?
BBC P&P.

34. CAN YOU SING?
I sing well enough in a choir. I like to sing on my own as well and do it all the time when it's just me and/or my family, but I don't know if I have the voice or the nerve to sing alone in front of people.

35. LAST CONCERT ATTENDED?
The last one I sang in with the community chorus.

36. LAST KISS?
About twenty minutes ago.

37. LAST MOVIE RENTED:
We just rented a stack of six movies from the local rental place (6 movies, 6 days, $6). The last one we watched from that stack was The Terminal, last night after the kids were in bed. I thought it was just OK while I was watching it, but thinking back I like it a little better than that. It just wasn't what I expected.

38. 1 THING YOU NEVER LEAVE THE HOUSE WITHOUT:
My camera. Well, usually.

39. FAVOURITE VACATION SPOT:
Morro Bay.

43. LAPTOP OR DESKTOP COMPUTER?:
Desktop. Someday if more places are Wi-Fi equipped I'd like to have a laptop, so that I can put pictures online when I'm not at home, or at least empty a card onto a hard drive so I have more space for more pictures. But it's definitely not a high priority for me.

44. FAVOURITE COMEDIAN?:
hmm. Drawing a blank.

45. DO YOU SMOKE?
No.

46. SLEEP WITH OR WITHOUT A LIGHT?
We leave the hall light on so that we can move around without killing ourselves tripping over stuff.

47. WHO SLEEPS WITH YOU EVERY NIGHT?:
T. Of course.

48. DO LONG DISTANCE RELATIONSHIPS WORK?
I know people for whom they have. And of course long-distance friendships, thanks to the Internet, work really well for me, except that it's frustrating when I want to hug someone.

49. HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU BEEN PULLED OVER BY THE POLICE?
Well, technically, that would be zero, since they weren't police officers (no city police around here) but instead CHP or sheriff's deputies. :) (Um, hmm. About four times -- twice for not dimming my lights which I guess is a characteristic of drunk drivers but in my case it was pure absentmindedness. Once for popping on my brakes to tell the driver of the doggone truck with its brights on to get off my back bumper, only the doggone truck with its brights on turned out to be driven by a sheriff's deputy with an ego the size of his SUV -- I was seventeen or so and scared to death, but didn't get a ticket out of it at least. And once for speeding, for which I did indeed get ticketed.)

50. PANCAKES OR FRENCH TOAST?
French toast, if it's done right. T can't have it, though, because of the eggs.

51. DO YOU LIKE COFFEE?:
No. I like the smell of coffee, and I like the hint of coffee in coffee-sugar-flavoring-and-cream beveragy treats, but coffee itself, no.

52 HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR EGGS?
In an omelette, yum. Or over medium.

53. DO YOU BELIEVE IN ASTROLOGY?:
No.

54. LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?:
The doctor treating my husband's back injury.

55. LAST PERSON ON YOUR MISSED CALL LIST?:
I only have caller ID on my cell phone, and I think my last missed call was from my dad.

56. WHAT WAS THE LAST TEXT MESSAGE YOU RECEIVED?
I don't send or receive text messages. I usually don't see the point of it, although my husband has a text pager and when he's at work I will send him text pages rather than risk having his boss pick up. :)

58. NUMBER OF PILLOWS?:
Two.

59. WHAT ARE YOU WEARING RIGHT NOW?:
A khaki skort and a black tank top.

60. PICK A LYRIC, ANY LYRIC:
hee hee. Um. "I could sing of your love forever! I could sing of your love forever! I could sing of your love forever! I could sing of your love forever! I could sing of your love forever! I could sing of your love forever! I could sing of your love forever! I could sing of your love forever!" It didn't say it had to be a lyric I liked. And for the uninitiated, yes, that is a real song, one that drives me absolutely bananas, although my daughter loves it.

______________________________________

Twice Upon a Time--

Two Names You Go By:
1. Rachel
2. Rach

Two Parts of Your Heritage:
1. English (on the Mayflower, thank you)
2. German

Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now:
1. glasses
2. a wristwatch

Two Things You Would Want in a Relationship:
1. Genuine attention -- I need to be important to him. (and I am.)
2. Intelligent conversation.

Two of Your Favourite Hobbies:
1. Photography
2. Reading

Two Things You Want Really Badly At The Moment:
1. For the A/C in my Dart to successfully be fixed at minimal expense tomorrow
2. For the road from here to T's work to be in some form of working order by the time he has to go back to work.

Two pets you had/have:
1. A cat named Mary, who likes to pee on all my belongings.
2. A cat named Elizabeth, who particularly likes to pee in our closets.

Two things you did last night:
1. Watched The Terminal.
2. Took pictures of the thunderheads over the mountains at sunset.

Two People that live in your house:
1. My son (who, at 10, is too old for many childish things, but who is still young enough to be excited when he sees the space pajamas I made him in 2004 in his stack of clean clothes).
2. My daughter (who likes to set up a "café" on our front porch when anyone is working outside, to serve water and fruit).

Two things you ate today:
1. Toast.
2. Butter.

Two people you Last Talked To:
1. My son
2. My husband

Two Things You're doing tomorrow:
1. Getting the A/C in my car checked and recharged.
2. Feeding my family. (Didn't I cook yesterday?)

Two longest car rides:
1. Well, the summer after I finished eighth grade we took a car trip through nine states.
2. There's this stretch of road between Fresno and the Grapevine where I swear you get caught in a time warp. The same scenery over and over, the same cars, the same heat waves. You'll see a sign that says that Bakersfield is 50 miles away and then you'll drive and drive for what feels like days and then I SWEAR you see another one that says Bakersfield is 55 miles away. Or it seems like this, anyway. My gosh I hate that section of road.

Two Favourite Holidays:
1. Christmas
2. My children's birthdays.

Two favourite beverages:
1. Diet Cherry Coke
2. Really GOOD plain, cold iced tea.

Two Things You Can't Live Without:
1. Oxygen
2. Carbon

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things I Swore As A Child I Would Never Do

1. Buy generic. Mind you, it wasn't the quality of the goods I objected to; it was the horrifying embarrassment of being seen at the checkout with those dreadful black-and-white (or, very marginally less embarrassing, store-brand) packages in the cart. What if someone from school was there? Nowadays, especially since store brands have become really pretty good, there are very few purchases I make where name brand is a requirement. (Like Grape-Nuts.) For everything else I'm more than happy to plunk down less money (or... um... swipe my card for less money) for Best Yet or Western Family or Equate or Kirkland or whatever the store brand du jour happens to be.

2. Use the clothesline. When I was a kid and teen I hated the smell. I hated the stiffness. I hated the stickers and the extra work but even if I wasn't out there in the stickers doing the extra work it was just another of those things on the Cool People Don't Do This list. (more of those coming). Now, I actually like the smell, and the stiff towels especially are wonderfully absorbent. Not to mention: a) the fact that using the dryer costs something like 80c a load, and at two or three loads a day that adds up and b) I am guaranteed alone time at the clothesline. Quiet, sunshiny alone time, yet I'm not being lazy or neglecting the family, I'm actually saving money and being virtuously hardworking and all that. Yay clothesline.

3. Buy non-name-brand clothes. which goes along with

4. Shop for clothes at discount stores. There was a place called Family Bargain Center when I was in junior high which was simultaneously a life-saver (because from a distance, the clothes looked stylish) and the bane of my existence (because up close, people who cared -- read "pretty much the entire student body of the junior high" -- could easily tell the difference). People who are twelve, thirteen, and fourteen are, I'm convinced, capable of immeasurable cruelty about the most asinine, stupid things. Asinine and stupid, yet this was really a big huge major deal for me, on a daily basis. I swore that if I had to work two jobs and whatever else it took, my children would never have to appear in public in clothes that would cause anyone to make fun of them. (You homeschool? But what about socialization?). Mercifully we are free of the slavery of peer opinion about clothes and as long as they're clean, comfortable, and not ridiculous, they're fine.

5. Wear, or make my children wear, homemade clothes. See above, times about fifty zillion. At present, I don't have time to make everything for my kids (although in six weeks I will have my sewing room again and by golly I just might try ;), but I like to see them wearing things I've made, and they like wearing them.

6. Accept hand-me-downs. Are you noticing a theme here? As I was hanging clothes the other day I was noticing that we had bought maybe five percent of the things my kids wear. The rest comes from friends and family who were kind enough to have children a few years before we had ours.

7. Make my children go to church if they didn't want to. This actually hasn't come up yet, because it hasn't occurred to them to not want to go, and even if it did they know they can't stay home alone. However, as soon as it does come up, I'm pulling out Thing Number 8:

8. Assume that children have inferior knowledge and/or wisdom. Because, um, they do, which is part of the reason you don't know this when you are one. Sorry, guys. We try to put it as nicely as we can, really. Twenty years from now, you'll get it.

9. Tell my children that they'd understand something when they were older that made no sense at the time.

10. Tell my children to do something without giving them a reason why. This needs a note: I do actually tell them why, and in retrospect most of the time my parents did too. Sometimes the reason doesn't seem satisfactory to them, as it didn't to me (see #8), but that's generally because they can't see all the sides of an issue. Like say the future side.

11. Live in the country. For all my ramblings about my idyllic childhood riding horses and living miles from town (which I truly did enjoy almost all the time), there was a period in my early teens when I found it shameful and embarrassing and downright inconvenient. It didn't help that our house was in actual fact really kind of strange. OH how I longed to live in a normal new house with ordinary rooms that wasn't pink and green with red hook-and-loop carpet donated by a church that was replacing theirs, or loaded with sixty years of (human) pack-rat detritus. Currently, we live in town. It's a town of 2,000 people with no traffic lights and nothing open late and we live at the edge of it, but it is in fact a town and it's the most urban I've ever been. And we have been eagerly awaiting (for twelve years) the time when we would no longer live here.

12. Be strict about my kids' friends. I learned the fallacy of this when I was sixteen and had a pretty serious (for me) rebellion and took up with some people of whom my parents strongly disapproved. All the bad stuff my parents said would happen did happen. Right now this is not so much of an issue, but as time goes on it's fully my plan to know whom my kids are with and be in touch (HORRORS) with their friends' parents. See #8.

13. Be a religious fanatic. In other words, someone who took faith seriously and let it alter my life and decisions. Uh, whoops.
    

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

wedding pictures and a meme

Kristen said she thought I should post photos from the 19-Year-Old's Dream Wedding (ha ha) described in my last entry. Here's a shot of the wedding party, with appropriate labels:

And here's one with a clearer view of the irreparable black hair, the linebacker shoulders, the overabundance of sequins, and the Elizabethan ruff on the back of my head:

Bit of trivia: When my son saw that picture at around the age of three, he asked, "Who's Daddy kissing? That's not Mommy!"

Really it was a pleasant, memorable, exciting day. It was just not what I'd do if I were doing the whole thing at 31 instead of 19. Which, praise be to God, I'm not.

And now a meme lifted from Michael.

What do you do to get yourself out of a bad mood?
Generally I wait it out. I mean, I pray along the way, I take deep breaths, but there's no surefire thing except the knowledge that it'll pass.

What book are you currently reading? What's stacked on your night stand waiting to be read next?
I have bookmarks in Jane Eyre (the party including Blanche Ingram has just arrived at Thornfield), Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier (liking it OK, not going to be on my top ten or anything), and Persuasion (perfection as always). I have another Chevalier book waiting for me in case I feel in the mood for it when I'm done.

You are the owner of a store with a restroom that is kept locked and patrons must come to you for a key, what have you attached the key to in order to insure that it's always returned?
That would probably depend on the nature of the store. Or I might just use a slat of wood that says RESTROOM on it in black magic marker. Who knows.

Have you ever/would you ever sing karaoke?
At my high-school graduation "sober grad" party I did. It was fun.

What kind of lunch box did you have as a kid?
Almost always just brown paper bags, but I also had a Tupperware one for a while -- the kind where the handles came up from the sides and snapped together above the lid.

What do you do when your snack gets stuck in the vending machine? You know, you put your money in, make your selection, and the snack doesn't drop down --- what do you do? Shake the dang machine, hit it, and then walk away.

Have you ever slept in and missed an important appointment?
I've missed appointments due to absentmindedness -- a homeschooling field trip I signed up for once, I remember, good thing I'd paid in advance. But I don't think I've missed them due to oversleeping.

When playing Monopoly, which token to is your first choice? Do you have any special 'house rules' that you play by? (Ex: rolling snake eyes = $500; landing on 'free parking' wins the pot of money'; etc...)
I like the dog, and Free Parking TOTALLY means you get all the money from taxes, bail, etc., that is in the middle. I was dumbfounded when I discovered that that wasn't in the official rules. We have a Star Wars Monopoly game and there are special rules for all the doubles -- the coolest being that if you get double sixes you can challenge any other player to a dice battle for a property they own.

Do you ever have a hard time understanding the accent of people who are speaking the same language that you are?
Not really.

Do you think listening to books on cd is the same as actually sitting down & reading a book?
NO. NO NO NO. There's this whole near-magic thing that happens when you're reading -- you take this compact little thing off the shelf, open it, and the black marks on the page transform themselves into a story in your head. It's bliss. I can only tolerate books on tape/CD if I'm driving or crocheting (so that my hands and eyes are busy but my mind isn't).

Welcome to Sesame Street! You'll need a roommate though, which one of the residents of Sesame Street will you be moving in with? And why?
Grover. Hands down. Because he's Grover, that's why.

You've been given 3 parachutes, but there are 4 people who need them. Who will you not give one to: Brad Pitt, Heath Ledger, Hugh Jackman, or Johnny Depp? (Of course, all 4 of them are up really super duper high in the air, and the parachute is truly the only way to save them.)
I think I would let them choose partners and hug each other real tight. Otherwise -- there's nothing to give me any preference one over another.

Have you ever taken The Pepsi Challenge? Which did you pick, Pepsi or Coke? What do you drink now?
I am not entirely sure what that is but I think it's bananas that people think you can't tell the difference. If I had to drink a non-diet soda I would pick Pepsi, but I drink Diet Coke by the quart and can't stand Diet Pepsi which is like drinking paint thinner thank you very much.

Rock, paper, or scissors? When is the last time you've played it?
When we taught our kids how. They still don't quite get it. It's not something we do with any regularity. :)

How long was it from 'the first date' until the proposal of marriage? How long until the wedding?
Well, we were very best awesome friends and that proceeded to something more. As soon as it was "something more" we knew we wanted to marry each other, but the actual proposal and ring came along after about two months. ;) Then we were married about five months after that.

You are at Starbucks, what is your order?
Winter: caramel macchiato. Summer: Caramel frappuccino. I really don't like coffee, I like milkshakes. ;)

You open a bag of Starbursts. In which order do you eat them?
The order in which they come out of the package, obviously. I like the orange and lemon ones best, though.

What do you have in your glove compartment?
A flashlight; napkins; owner's manuals for the car, stereo, CD changer, and satellite radio receiver; pens.

Which do you dislike most: pop-up ads or spam email?
Oh geesh pop-up ads. Although the sexually-oriented spam bothers me a lot too.

What is your favorite gadget?
My cell phone. I LOVE being able to be in touch when I'm away from home.

In a spelling bee, what word would you hope you would NOT have to spell?
Um. I did a lot of spelling bees as a kid. "Perseverence" and "predominant" give me trouble sometimes.

What is your favorite day of the year?
I have several. I like my kids' birthdays. I like Christmas. I like the days when the seasons noticeably change from one into the other -- the first day I don't bring a jacket when I go out, the first day it smells like spring, the first day there's a nip in the air, the first day of shorts and a tank top.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

ABC meme

T's home with really terrible back pain -- flat on his back since Sunday afternoon, chiropractor yesterday, doctor today, CT scan tomorrow. Poor guy. I needed a little light relief so here's the ABC meme that's been going around.

Accent: I don't have one. (Does anyone actually think they have an accent?) Unless you count talking too fast to be understood as an accent.

Bible Book that I like: Romans. Difficult to get my head around at times, but wow, is there some impressive, amazing, pivotal, important, life-changing stuff in there.

Chore that I don't care for: Whatever one my kids choose to undo the quickest that day. Frequently this is laundry. Nothing sends me over my yell threshold faster than finding floor-dirty clothes, still folded, all over my kids' floors or in the hamper.

Dog or Cat: I like cats better, as far as owning one. Less maintenance, less noise. I don't dislike dogs, but we are certainly not in a place right now where I'd feel comfortable having one. However, if that darn cat keeps peeing on all my possessions I may rethink this. I spent four or so hours on Sunday afternoon (yes, happy Mother's Day to you too!) completely gutting the bottom of my closet and using Mr. Clean and Febreze on the hardwood even though I know that's a big no-no. I figure cat pee is a worse no-no, though. And I'm still trying to catch up with all the stinky laundry. Of course if I'd kept my closet floor clean in the FIRST place... ahem.

Essential Electronics: This dratted computer. My camera (although the last couple days I have been totally uninspired in that department).

Favorite Cologne: I like to wear Pleasures perfume when I get all dressed up. I like T to wear Aspen or Preferred Stock if he must wear anything to mask that wonderful man-scent. ;) He absolutely cannot wear Old Spice; Old Spice means my dad, so understandably T wearing it puts a damper on the whole Eros thing. :)

Gold or Silver: I have a gold wedding ring, and don't wear other jewelry. Gold really goes far better with my complexion than silver does.

Handbag I Carry most often: I only ever have one at a time. These days that's a fake leather backpack one.

Insomnia: No, sleeping is something I'm really good at. Too good sometimes. Only very rarely if I have Nameless Dread or WAY too much diet Coke do I have difficulty dropping off at night.

Job Title: Homeschooling homemaker with a (very small) side of transcriptionist.

Kids: LT is my son who just turned ten. C is my six-and-a-half-year-old clone daughter. Between the two of them we had a daughter, Natalie, who died at nine weeks of age. She'd be eight now.

Most Admirable Trait: Couldn't say. Ask my husband. :)

Naughtiest childhood behavior: Hmm. I was a dreadful tattletale. I was a bit of a goody-two-shoes. I was very, very untidy.

Overnight hospital stays: Tonsillectomy at age 9, one scary episode at 33 weeks with first child, three caesarian births and one hysterectomy.

Phobias: Just centipedes. But that's totally rational. So I don't have any. :)

Quote: I've got a frivolous one in my head right now. "Don't go looking for comfort in a bag of cookies. Cookies don't care. They just make you fat."

Religion: is man trying to reach God. Whereas Christianity is God reaching down to man.

Siblings: One older brother.

Time I wake up: Usually eight-ish.

Unusual Talent or skill: I don't know. Ask my husband.

Vegetable I refuse to eat: Lima beans. Unless someone else makes them for me and then I smile politely and get it over with as quickly as possible. :)

Worst habit: Laziness. Which is really more of an anti-habit.

X-rays: I've had dental x-rays but other than that I don't remember having had any since I broke my shoulder when I was three or four.

Yummy stuff I cook: Well, if I didn't think it was yummy, I wouldn't cook it. Except beans, which I make because I'm the only one in the family who doesn't like them, and they're cheap.

Zoo animal I like most: Monkeys.

Friday, May 05, 2006

two memes because I'm a lazy blogger

Ten years ago, it was 1996. Take this survey, post the results, and see how many things have changed since then.

(Apparently I am more a static character than a dynamic one. :)

1) How old were you?
THEN: 21
NOW: 31

2) Where did you go to school?
THEN: Wasn't going to school.
NOW: Am not going to school.

3) Where did you work?
THEN: I didn't.
NOW: I don't.

4) Where did you live?
THEN: The apartment over the garage detached from this house (for two more months until we moved into...)
NOW: This house.

5) How was your hair style?
THEN: Somewhere between my chin and my shoulders.
NOW: Waist-length.

6) Did you wear braces?
THEN: No.
NOW: No.

7) Did you wear contacts?
THEN: No.
NOW: No.

8) Did you wear glasses?
THEN: Yes.
NOW: Yes.

9) Who was your best friend?
THEN: T.
NOW: T.

10) Which of your pets were still alive?
THEN: Actually we had two cats named Chloe and Chelsea and they had each just had a litter of kittens. Fun times.
NOW: Have two different cats named Mary and Elizabeth and we have robbed them of their reproductive choice.

11) Who was your boyfriend/girlfriend?
THEN: Married to T.
NOW: Married to T.

12) Who was your celebrity crush?
THEN: Didn't have one.
NOW: Don't have one.

13) Who was your regular-person crush?
THEN: Didn't have one.
NOW: Don't have one.

14) How many piercings did you have?
THEN: One in each ear (the second hole in each ear may not have been COMPLETELY closed over by this time).
NOW: One in each ear.

15) How many tattoos did you have?
THEN: 0
NOW: 0

16) What was your favorite band/singer?
THEN: Tchaikovsky.
NOW: Vivaldi.

17) Had you smoked a cigarette?
THEN: A few during high school.
NOW: A few during high school.

18) Had you gotten drunk?
THEN: Silly twice during high school.
NOW: Silly twice during high school.

19) Had you driven yet?
THEN: yes
NOW: yes

20) If so which car?
THEN: At that time we were driving a 1972 Ford LTD (ugly ugly huge ugly car) and a 1966 Dodge Polara (OK except it had really odd-looking tail lights. Really powerful. Really awful gas mileage). T also had a truck, and his Charger which I think ran intermittently back then.
NOW: Daily driver is a 1991 Buick Park Avenue. We also have three other registered insured vehicles and a handful of project cars including the Charger.

21) Looking back, are you where you thought you would be in 2006?
Um, yeah, pretty much exactly, although I had thought we might own a home and have more kids than we do.

And another meme borrowed from Jenn:

I AM: up later than I ought to be considering that we're getting up at 5:30 tomorrow.
I WANT: to lose twenty-five pounds. Is that so much to ask, Rachel? Can you not stop stuffing yourself with Panda Express (YES AGAIN TODAY KRISTEN MMM YUM BLACK PEPPER BEEF) and apple pie long enough to lose twenty-five measly pounds?
I WISH: I had more discipline, and not just in the above area (and yeah, wishing is TOTALLY the way to make that happen).
I HATE: rip-off endings in books (yes My Sister's Keeper I am talking to you)
I MISS: Jenn. :) I miss a lot of people -- well, several -- but this is kind of a big time in Jenn's life right now and I really wish I could be there in person for it.
I FEAR: irrevocably damaging my children in some way.
I HEAR: silence. blessed, blissful solitude and silence.
I WONDER: if I will ever be the kind of person who just keeps a neat house all the time.
I REGRET: not buying this house for a hundred thousand dollars five years ago, because we could have sold it for three hundred thousand this year if we'd wanted to.
I AM NOT: tired, like I should be.
I DANCE: only when I absolutely know nobody is looking at me, and not often then.
I SING: constantly. decently.
I CRY: for every hokey romantic-comedy daughter-growing-up heart-tugging manipulative scene that comes down the pike. Well, not quite. But close.
I AM NOT ALWAYS: coherent.
I MAKE WITH MY HANDS: food. and baby blankets.
I WRITE: drivel much of the time.
I CONFUSE: the names Marian and Miriam. If someone's name is Marian I can only be sure of remembering that forever by picturing her as a librarian.
I NEED: some new summer shirts.
I SHOULD: do some laundry and catch up on Living Beyond Yourself.
I START: annoying people after only a few minutes in some cases.
I FINISH: crochet projects after many years have passed.
I TAG: I was going to say "whoever wants to do this", but Kristen, who doesn't do memes much, hasn't updated in too long. So Kristen, this one's yours. And Debi, you too.

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen things about my son (who turns ten in 54 minutes)

1. He has always loved having his head rubbed. When he was a newborn and we'd bathe him, he would scream the whole time because he hated being unclothed, but he would stop and look all little-introspective-mannish at us while we washed his hair. Nowadays he wipes off kisses but he will still snuggle up beside me and put my hand on his head, his signal to rub/scratch until I am permitted to stop.

2. When he was four he loved "bick hucks and tisses". He remembered what kind of huck each person in his family preferred -- whether that were a "pat huck" or a "squeeze huck" or both.

3. He is still better than anyone else I know at remembering people's preferences. I can ask him anything in this line -- "what does Nate collect? What is Charles' favorite color?" and he will know.

4. He likes to read the Hardy Boys, Beverly Cleary, C.S. Lewis, and books about ancient civilizations.

5. Over the past three years he has slowly grown from a boy who was afraid to be left at his friend's house four houses down for twenty minutes, to one who is miffed if he doesn't get to hang out there all day at least once a week.

6. He is such a big kid that we now have to look for his pants in the men's section. He wears a size 28/26, which is REALLY hard to find, I'm finding. But he's too big for size 16 boys' pants.

7. He adores, loves, is fixated and obsessed with elephants. African elephants are his favorites but he loves Asian ones too.

8. He has his own car, and has had for three or four years. (It's a 1967 Plymouth 2-dr, a drag-race style car, and it's next on the Major Projects list after his dad's Charger. It's to be a father-son thing. It actually needs less restoration than the Charger does.)

9. He was surgically removed from my body at ten in the morning after a failed attempt at an induction of labor, two weeks late, screaming like a banshee with angry trembling fists.

10. As an infant he looked like a little grumpy man with big curious eyes and with a "stork bite" birthmark that turned bright red when he cried.

11. He has a certain very cute silly grin that he makes at babies and he's over the moon when they smile back at him.

12. When his sister was born he thought she was the best thing ever. He cuddled and held her whenever I let him, and as she grew older, for years her kisses were the only ones he would not wipe off.

13. He wants to be an inventor when he grows up and he practices often.
    

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things I Could Have Blogged About This Week, But Didn't

1. Getting ALL CAUGHT UP WOO HOO on the Living Beyond Yourself study. And again I say WOO HOO.

2. How much I am hating the sight of my own face after ten days of this project.

3. The heartwrenching going-away party -- or at least the going away is heartwrenching, for the people they're leaving behind -- that we went to on Tuesday for a very good friend of T's and his family, who have also been good friends of ours.

4. The dadgumblasted nasty dull wet weather we've been having for like TWO MONTHS until today when I literally said THANK YOU GOD when I went outside and it was bright and sunny. If I wanted dull and gray for weeks on end I'd live in Washington thankyouverymuch.

5. The forty-eight hours or so during which a nasty-but-brief tummy bug made its way through (ha ha) all four of us.

6. The 1 a.m. puky-child episode involved with the above.

7. How expensive gas is here right now (between $3.09 and $3.29/gallon) and how the sight of our March gas bill made me want to claw my eyes out with my own fingers.

8. The fact that my son's 10th-birthday-party invitations say, "Bring your BB gun if you have one. There'll be shooting!" (yee-haw)

9. The way time has been going by so fast that something I 'feel' was two days ago actually happened two weeks ago. And let's not even get into the fact that I've been a mother (well, of a person outside myself, I feel compelled to add; I was a mother for nine months before he was born if we want to get technical) for one week short of a decade.

10. The excessive cuteness of my children.

11. The strength of the bond between myself and THE NIKON.

12. The fact that I decided I'd start taking night classes in the fall, and then got the college catalog in the mail and found that none of the things I will eventually need for a nursing degree are offered at our local campus extension that semester. See above re: gas prices and you'll know why that made me stick my lower lip out WAY FAR. :( <-- not illustrative enough since 80 or 160 miles/week for the sake of my higher education isn't going to happen right now. I had my hopes all up too.

13. This kid. Funnily enough, we've just been reading in LBY about how we should be forgiving and not keep an account of past wrongs and all that stuff. Otherwise, even though I am in a general sense really annoyed with our excessively litigious society, I might be inclined to say something along the lines of YEAH STICK IT TO THEM MAKE THEM PAY. Not that I have any bitterness about anything or anything. (cough).
    

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