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Friday, March 31, 2006
Friday Feast
I actually am posting this on Saturday morning. I had it written and was about to post it last night when my monitor had a Great Big Freak-Out(TM). It has since gone to the big components store in the sky, and I am using a really awful fuzzy old spare that we just hadn't got around to shooting at yet. Good thing we're just rolling in dough, I'll just cruise down to Best Buy and pick up a new 30" flat-screen...
(um, that was a joke.)
Without further ado, the Friday Feast:
Appetizer
Name 3 things that you think are strange.
1) Fish with both eyes on one side of their heads.
2) That more people aren't skeeved out about eating lobster. IT'S A REALLY BIG BUG, PEOPLE.
3) Modal music.
Soup
What was the last ceremony you attended?
Can it be Jenn's wedding? I actually had to sit and think about this for a long time. I haven't gone to any graduations or other weddings, and I don't think I've been to any funerals, or even the Memorial Day ceremony in town. So yes. Jenn's wedding. A year and a half ago. Wow. I guess I don't get out much.
Salad
What is one lesson you have learned in the past year?
I must remember not to squinch up my face when I take pictures. It looks horrible. Also. Always Check The White Balance Setting.
Main Course
Tell us about one of your childhood memories.
Hmm. The thing is, I have zillions of childhood memories, but they're like little snippet-memories -- not much of anything that plays out like a little story. Even the things I could tell as stories are really, in my head, just the snippets with the details filled in by what I know happened without necessarily remembering it. Like, say, when I think of the day we bought my horse, when I was nine years old, I remember the anticipation beforehand. I remember the checked pants that either my dad or my grandpa wore. I remember sitting in the stands at the auction and watching my grandpa bid. I remember the horse that would be my horse at the end of the night walking around the ring, and I remember after we trailered her we noticed that someone had tossed a beer bottle in the trailer, so my dad pretty much crawled under my horse to get it out and she didn't bat an eyelash so, according to Grandpa, we knew she was A Good Horse. I remember sleeping on the way home in the truck and waking up and seeing cornfields lit up by the headlights beside the road. I remember waking up the next morning and remembering I had a horse and how that was quite possibly the happiest moment of my life up till that point. But I couldn't tell it to you like a story, really.
Dessert
If you could extend any of the four seasons to be twice as long as
normal, which season would you want to lengthen?
Spring. Double the flowers to photograph (evil cackle), double the joy of having the sun set a little bit later each day, double the nice fresh green grass and double the lack of stickers in my socks.
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Thursday Thirteen
- I freak out easily about odd things. I've written about this in here before. (just search 'jump car battery' or 'bleach ammonia', as examples.) Added to this list just tonight: I was attempting (unsuccessfully) to photograph rays of light coming off a visible-line laser pointer refracted through a prism, and I'm quite sure I managed to blind myself in the process because now my eyes feel tingly and cold. Because of course tingles and coldness are the first two symptoms of oncoming ocular failure, right? (seriously, I don't recommend trying this. You DO get a lot of little lasery beams bouncing around. Maybe I AM going to be blind.)
- I'm thirty-one years old.
- It has been so long since I had a job or similar situation where I had to be up at a certain time and out the door whether I liked it or not on a daily basis that I secretly (well, not so secretly anymore, apparently) fear that I will totally fail at it if I try to live like that again.
- I feel like I am really bad at being a friend. I'm pretty good at being a mom and a wife but somehow I always manage to be a poor substitute for a friend to the few friends I have. (I WILL write to you all soon, I promise. I might even call.).
- I spend a great deal of time and energy taking photographs, and I love doing it. However, even though I haven't played an instrument with any regularity in nearly thirteen years, I still consider myself more of a musician than a photographer.
- If I have spent more than two minutes talking to you "live" at any point in our relationship, rest assured that I went away from the interaction(s) kicking myself over having said something stupid.
- I really, truly, completely hate my feet and toes. I mean, they're very useful, but they are absolutely at the bottom of my list of my favorites among my own physical features. I would rate the spider veins in my ankles and knees above my toes, just as an example.
- I type 105 words per minute when I'm properly warmed up.
- I don't miss having newborns (ogling and holding other people's babies is enough for me), but I do miss nursing and being pregnant.
- If you asked me to describe myself in just one word, at this point in my life, that word would be 'mother'. But please don't ask me to, because that IS leaving out a lot of other important stuff.
- Because my entire mental image of myself as a child and young teen is based on the many, many photographs I have or have seen of myself with a vacant facial expression and scrungy hair, I am borderline obsessive about my children having clean faces and tidy-ish hair before I take their pictures, and unless a photo captures an absolutely unique moment, I will delete it if it shows them in a way that they might be embarrassed to see later on.
- I long for a house with a 10-foot white ceiling (bounce flash, of course).
- I prefer shopping for food and household necessities to shopping for clothes.
Links to other Thursday Thirteens
(leave a comment with a link to yours and I'll add you here)
Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged. If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun. Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well. I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to his or her 13 things. Sorry, trackbacks are turned off.
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Monday, March 27, 2006
It's Monday again
...and time for Monday Positives.
This means I can't dwell on stuff like how hard it is to get my son to rake leaves off the lawn, doesn't it. (Yes, in March. This is California. Also, we are not the most outdoorsy gardening family, hence there have been leaves on our lawn pretty much since November.)
OK. Here we go.
- My weekend transcribing job was done on schedule.
- The data-entry job I'm doing is past the most mind-numbing stage (checking a database against a printout looking for differences) and I have moved on to straight data entry which is not so bad. I just turn on some music, sip a Diet Cherry Coke, and tappity tap away.
- The two abovementioned jobs will be contributing quite helpfully to our household economy, at a time when that's needed rather badly.
- XM Radio has been having a really good day (on its Classics stations at any rate).
Ah. Until just now, that is. Oh well, Yahoo Launch hasn't gone anywhere while I've been having this affair with XM's online player.
- Apple pork for dinner, yum. Recipe:
Apple Pork (the no-Trader-Joe's-required, non-Mac-using/non-granola-eating version)
- about six cloves of garlic
- about a tablespoon of really coarsely ground black pepper
- a sprinkling of ground thyme
- a couple tablespoons of salt
- enough oil to make the above four items into a paste -- about 2 tablespoons or so. The original recipe called for olive oil (it also called for fresh and not ground thyme, fennel seeds you were to toast and grind yourself, and rosemary. We don't live at Trader Joe's and T hates rosemary, so, you know. Improvise, adapt, overcome, grunt grunt). I've personally never owned any olive oil. Vegetable oil works fine in this recipe.
- a good-sized pork roast (today's is 5 lb)
- six apples (I wouldn't think Red Delicious would be much good but I've used Granny Smiths and Fujis with good results)
- A large yellow or white onion
- A couple more tablespoons of oil
- Some more salt and pepper
- 1 c dry white wine (What kind of Freudian thing does it say about my day that I originally typed 'whine' there?)
Make a paste of the first five ingredients and spread it all over the pork roast. Marinate this overnight, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap or sealed in a big plastic zipper bag.
About four hours before dinner, preheat the oven to 450 degrees, slice and core the apples, and slice the onions. Toss the apple and onoin slies with oil, salt, and pepper. Spread them out in the bottom of a roasting pan, and put the roast on top. Roast uncovered for 30 minutes. Turn the heat down to 325, add the wine, cover, and cook for 2 1/2 or 3 hours, until meat is falling-apart done. Mash up whatever solids still exist in the apples and onions, and use like gravy. Just do yourself a favor and don't weigh yourself for a few days.
There, now I've spread the joy.
- about six cloves of garlic
- Our Bible study meeting last week was cancelled, so we don't have to do summaries tomorrow, assuming we haven't lost last week's in the intervening six days. This is not necessarily a safe assumption.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Rachel: The Owner's Manual
1. How can I tell if you are angry?
a. I slam things around.
b. My mouth does this... thing. It does the Angry Mouth.
c. My angry body language is pretty classic.
d. I'll eventually come out and discuss what I'm angry about but it takes me some time (minutes or hours, generally not days) to formulate my thoughts sometimes.
2. How should I behave around you while you are angry?
You can't win. If you act all rational and calm with me, then I know that you're just doing it to show your superiority (I get angry and you do not). If you mouth off to me, well, that's no good either. Actually a hug, and an 'I love you' can really help to defuse the situation. Also, once I've got those thoughts all formulated and ready to go, let's have a nice rational discussion so we can make up after.
3. How do you want me to behave when you are hurting emotionally? (How is best to comfort you?)
Just be nice to me.
4. Are there things we should ~not~ discuss?
If there are you'll know when I evade those particular topics. (not really. but I don't like confrontational discussions with people in that middle ground between can-call-at-2-am and relative strangerhood.)
5. How should I treat you if you are physically ill?
Well, hmm. Make food for my family and wash my dishes. :-D (actually, with my entire immediate and much of my extended family living within half an hour of me, illnesses are pretty well covered. Just be nice, I guess.)
6. What makes you happy? (that may be in my power to grant, as a friend?)
Hmm. Paper letters. But I'm really, really bad about reciprocating, I'll let you know right now. Remembering things that I like. Inside jokes.
7. How would you like for us to recognize your birthday?
Just a 'happy birthday' is fine. (It's Christmas, so you get bonus points if you tell me Happy Birthday before you tell me Merry Christmas.)
8. Are there any standing categories of presents that would be inappropriate or unwelcome?
That depends on who you are. Nothing flirty from males who are not my husband. Nothing risqué unless you are one of the few people who could get away with that. Nothing "dirty" or with foul language or potty humor. Other than that, I'll be glad you thought of me. :)
9. Are there times of the year that are difficult for you? (please explain if you are comfortable.)
Not so as to require people to walk on eggshells around me or anything. I wouldn't even say hard anymore, really, just... poignant? Natalie was born on December 26th and she died on March 2nd. Her funeral was March 6th. The time of year when the almond orchards are in bloom in the Valley, I find myself thinking about her death a lot. Breezy days with cloud shadows and green grass do the same thing.
10. Are there important anniversaries that we should recognize in your life?
My wedding anniversary is March 19th but you don't need to do anything about that if you don't want to.
11. Who are the most important people in your life to whom we should defer when making plans on your behalf?
Making plans... on my behalf? Like I'm incapacitated? Or -- ooh, a surprise party! you're planning a surprise party, aren't you?! Definitely my husband and kids, and then probably my parents.
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.
******Edit********
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.
*******************
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?
Friday, February 03, 2006
counting down from ten
lifted from Michael again
TEN Random Things You May Not Know About Me:
After two and a half years of online journaling, there's a pretty serious likelihood that if you don't know it already, it's because I don't want to discuss it in a public forum, but let's see if I can come up with anything.
- Until I was twenty years old I didn't know that "Another One Bites The Dust" was a Queen song.
- I have acne and wrinkles at the same time. This is patently unfair and if anyone had told me this would happen I might have filed an injunction about getting older.
- I smoked a pack of cigarettes in about a week when I was fifteen. Jenn and I were friends with this girl Nicole, and Nicole and I had a fight with Jenn, and Nicole and I were hanging out, and she was a bad little influence. :)
- Up through high school I was really possessive of my friends (and especially my boyfriends). If one's number was busy, I would call the others to see whom s/he was talking to. Even as an adult I sometimes feel a tiny residual twinge of envy when my friends talk about their other friends.
- If I eat Grape-Nuts I measure the serving size with a measuring cup even if I'm not trying to lose weight.
- I can't chew gum anymore because it hurts my jaw too much. This is the same reason I hate going to the dentist.
- If I'm limbered up I can put my feet right next to my ears.
- My hands are the same size as my husband's. They're so large that I usually have to wear men's gloves.
- I live about 300 yards from the very spot where I was born.
- I still have my wisdom teeth, but my twelve-year molars were removed when I was eleven.
NINE Places I’ve Visited:
- Flintstone's Bedrock City (Arizona, summer 1989)
- Chaffee Zoological Gardens, Fresno, CA (often, since babyhood)
- Morro Bay, California (every summer and assorted other times, regularly since 2001 and occasionally in childhood)
- The Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Colorado (summer 1989)
- Kissimmee, FL (February 2004)
- Great America, back when it was Marriott's Great America, early 80's, when the Demon was the scariest roller coaster they had
- Lick Observatory (most Father's Days since 2000 or so)
- Golden Gate Park (July 2005)
- Yosemite National Park (more times than I could count, since birth)
EIGHT Ways to Win My Heart [or at least my affection, or gratitude, or fond remembrance, or... something]:
- Compliment my photography :)
- Compliment my cooking
- BUY ME A LENS FOR OUR ANNIVERSARY, thank you so much, sweetie
- Give me flowers
- Compliment my children's behavior in a restaurant
- Compliment my children, period. :)
- Let me see an unexpected (but pleasant) personality quirk
- Make me laugh
SEVEN Things I Want to Do Before I Die:
- Learn to keep my house clean enough that I'm not embarrassed when people stop by
- Read the complete works of Dickens in chronological order
- See my adult children living fulfilled, happy, Godly lives
- Wear a size 10 again
- Get a flattering haircut
- Grow old gracefully
- Ride a(nother) rollercoaster; it's been a long time
SIX Things I’m Afraid Of:
I try not to dwell on these things or let them eat away at me, but they do pop into my head from time to time.
- permanently damaging my child(ren) emotionally
- someone ELSE permanently damaging my children emotionally
- my husband being killed or seriously injured on the job
- something happening to one of my children
- my dad dying, especially my dad dying alone
- centipedes. Really not so much fear as loathing, squirming, shuddering aversion.
FIVE Things I Don’t Like:
- horehound candy
- black licorice
- the media
- the smell of a dairy farm
- getting stuck behind a tourist who speeds up for passing lanes but slows back down to a crawl as soon as the curves start again
FOUR Ways to Turn Me Off:
- Tell me about a long dream in minute, numbing detail.
- Fish for compliments.
- Whine.
- Be rude.
THREE Things I Do Every Day:
- eat more than I should
- love people
- use the computer
TWO Things That Make Me Happy:
- holding hands
- taking pictures
ONE Thing on My Mind Right Now:
- It's a mistake to give everyone in the house but me ice cream with Splenda in it. Oh my gosh is it a mistake.
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
crafty/miscellaneous sort of survey
lifted from Michael.
1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand?
Oh dear me no. I don't think I've ever owned anything other than Red Heart and Lion Brand, except for whatever the generic yarn is that Mary Maxim sells. (honestly I didn't like that; the texture of it gave me the chills. It was just too acrylic-y). Oh, wait, I bought one $5 skein of Christmas yarn to make C a stocking a few years ago.
2. Do you spin? Crochet? Knit?
I crochet. I can knit -- that is, I know how to do the stitches, but ugh. I am bad at it. Knitting is much less tolerant of mistakes or over-tension.
3. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
I do. I'm kind of bummed, though, because I accidentally deleted my main wishlist a month or so ago, and I had to rebuild it. I KNOW I'm missing some things I really liked having on there. Ah well.
4. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, etc)
As long as it's not overpowering or noxious I like just about anything.
5. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
Oh gosh yes. I like caramel and chocolate best (lately I've been in love with Goetze's "bullseye" caramel creams), but I also like fruity candy or anything that will make me fat and rot my teeth.
6. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?
I sew decently and when I can do it I really enjoy it. I had a sewing room for a year and THAT was bliss. I could get a project out and not have to worry about putting it away every time I had to quit working on it to keep it from looking untidy/keep it safe from the cat/keep it a secret from its intended recipient. BLISS I TELL YOU. Ah well.
7. What kind of music do you like?
I like lots of kinds. I mostly listen to classical again these days, although I like some 90's alternative/rock, lots of 80's rock (nostalgia), old country music (nostalgia again), good a capella choral music, praise and worship songs -- the list could go on and on.
8. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer?
To wear, I like red. Also black. I'm supposed to wear autumnal colors; I just don't own very many of them. For painting rooms I like rich, subdued colors. Just to look at, I like just about anything but I think navy blue is probably my favorite. Or red.
9. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
No, only when I have to, no, and no. I do have a couple pairs of nice gloves, including one baby-soft leather pair lined with cashmere that T bought me for our first Christmas together. I have a pair of cheap imitation Isotoners that I keep meaning to replace with the real thing, for photography in the cold.
10. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?
Interesting combination of questions. I'm having a hard time thinking of a favorite animated character. For favorite animal I'd have to say horses. I'm a ten-year-old girl at heart when it comes to horses.
11. What is your favorite holiday?
Christmas. There's a big shocker.
12. Is there anything that you collect?
Turtles. Books. Bookmarks. Messes. Clean but unfolded laundry (I generally have an extensive display of this particular collection available for viewing in laundry baskets throughout my house). Unmated socks.
Saturday, December 31, 2005
year-end survey
lifted from KiwiRia...
1) Was 2005 a good year for you?
Yes, it was.
2) What was your favorite moment of the year?
Oh, geesh, one favorite moment? Most of my life is made up of my favorite moments. Which means I'm truly blessed, but it does make it difficult to answer questions like this.
3) What was your least favorite moment of the year?
I had some bouts of near-depression and some days when I felt very unlike myself.
4) Where were you when 2005 began?
Home. I think I might even have been awake.
5) Who were you with?
The cat. I think everybody else was asleep.
6) Where will you be when 2005 ends?
Home.
7) Who will you be with when 2005 ends?
The cat again. At least I'm consistent.
8) Did you keep your new years resolution of 2005?
I kept one (to keep track of the books I read) and shattered two (to lose weight and get/keep the house organized and tidy). I also started a list of 101 things to do in 1001 days, and although I haven't kept up with actually marking things off it or blogging about the things I've done, I do sort of have a lot of them in the back of my mind. I should pull that out and go over it and post it. Hmm.
9) Do you have a new years resolution for 2006?
I think T and I are going to read through the Bible together. And (drumroll please) I'm going to stop yelling.
10) Did you fall in love in 2005?
I fell more deeply in love. (side note: you know how when you've been married a while, the love is stronger and things are even more blissful but you don't often have that initial heady butterflies in the stomach and weak knees thing going on? Don't you love it when out of the blue that feeling comes again? The other day T and I were talking about how I always associate the texture and scent of wool flannel shirts with falling in love with him, because he wore them a lot at that time, and he replied that he always associates them with the way he would put one on on purpose when he knew he was going to see me because he knew that I liked him in them. And bingo -- butterflies in the stomach and weak knees. It felt like a gift)
11) If yes, with whom?
Um, my husband. (And my Nikon).
12) If yes, does he know?
I tell him all the time, just to make sure.
14) Did you have fun in 2005?
Oh goodness yes.
15) Did you breakup with anyone in 2005?
No.
16) Did you make any new friends in 2005?
Kristen! I made a couple of friendly acquaintances IRL, but no call-at-4-am kind of friends. I did grow closer to several people and meet a lot of nice people online, too.
17) Who are your favorite new friends?
You know, asking about favorite friends is kind of problematic. You can't rank friends on a scale, you know? All my friends are wonderful and I'm not in high school so I don't have to pick a 'best friend'. Even though that means I don't write 'YBFFAE!!!' on the bottom of any letters.
18) What was your favorite month of 2005?
I liked the spring, and the summer. For once. The evenings were long and I was having a heady and passionate affair with my camera, so that provided lots of time to indulge it. (you didn't think I could pick just ONE, did you?)
19) Did you travel outside of the US in 2005?
No.
20) How many different states did you travel to in 2005?
I did not venture out of California. California's BIG, though. :)
21) Did you lose anyone close to you in 2005?
I don't think so. Of course, because my mind is like a steel sieve, the possibility exists that I did and as soon as I've posted this I'll hate myself for forgetting. But I don't think so.
22) Did you miss anybody in the past year?
Yes, several of my dear friends live quite far away.
23) What was your favorite movie that you saw [for the first time] in 2005?
hmm. HMM. I didn't watch a whole lot of new movies, or movies new to me. Maybe Ocean's Eleven, or The Phantom of the Opera, or the new Pride and Prejudice (the second time I saw it I did a pretty decent job of forcing myself to forget I'd ever read the book, and voila, it was a beautiful movie, except when Donald Sutherland was on the screen or when the actors had lines that were glaringly anachronistic. Still like the BBC version better, though.)
24) What was your favorite song from 2005?
I don't keep up with new music so I've no idea on this one.
25) What was your favorite record from 2005?
Ditto
26) How many concerts did you see in 2005?:
Well, I saw a couple of community chorus concerts...
27) Did you have a favorite concert in 2005?
Could this survey be aimed any more sharply at people in an entirely different phase of life than I'm in?
28) Did you drink a lot of alcohol in 2005?
Ah, no.
29) Did you do a lot of drugs in 2005?
I took some Tylenol with codeine when I had surgery...
30) How many people did you sleep with in 2005?
[steals/adapts Ria's answer] Literally sleep, 3. Have sex with - 1 (hey, we're married, you'd be surprised if we didn't ;-) )
31) Did you lose anything important this year?
Nothing that couldn't be replaced, I don't think.
33) What was the worst lie someone told you in 2005?
If anyone told me terrible lies, I didn't know it.
34) Did you treat somebody badly in 2005?
I think maybe I did.
35) Did somebody treat you badly in 2005?
Yes, a guy ripped off one of my pictures and then weaseled out of paying me for it, and I let him. I'm a softie. This is why I'm not in business.
36) How much money did you spend in 2005?
Too. Much.
37) What was your proudest moment of 2005?
Well, there were a lot of proud mother-moments, I know this, but honestly, I can't remember any of them right now. The only specific things that stand out are a) seeing a 'best of show' ribbon on my crocheted baby outfit at the fair b) hearing a couple of people enthuse about one of my pictures (also at the fair) when they didn't know I was the photographer, and c) THE CRACK-FREE CHEESECAKE.
38) What was your most embarrassing moment of 2005?
Sometimes I feel like my life is an embarrassing moment, but nothing specific springs to mind right now.
39) If you could go back in time to any moment of 2005 and change something, what would it be?
I am not sure if I would go back and continue sticking it to the photo guy or not. I didn't feel like myself when I was doing that, but at the same time, he shouldn't be allowed to continue to rip people off, either.
40) What are your plans for 2006?
Hmm. Mostly little stuff -- looking forward to a visit with Jenn in January and maybe a trip to San Francisco with her, probably going to take my nephews and kids on a day-long outing in the spring, hoping to buy a D70s with our tax return, planning a week at the beach in the summer. I'd also like to lose twenty pounds, and go to the ladies' retreat in the fall, and the mother/daughter camp at the same place in the spring would be fantastic but I don't imagine we can afford it.
41. What did you do in 2005 that you'd never done before?
Took an average of 27.33 photos a day for ten months. Had a major organ removed. Bought my own domain (that sounds so cool and powerful. MY DOMAIN. BWA HA HA HA.). Oh, wait, I did that in 1998 also. whoops. Um, installed Movable Type. Used Photoshop.
42. Did anyone close to you give birth?
My sister-in-law and my husband's lifelong friend's wife.
43. What would you like to have in 2006 that you lacked in 2005?
Discipline. (I think in 2040, if I'm filling one of these out, I'll have the same answer.)
44. What date from 2005 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
June 12th-- my nephew was born.
March 3rd-- my Nikon arrived.
April 14th-- I had a hysterectomy.
45. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I'm having a hard time thinking of anything specific. Oh, wait, THE CRACK-FREE CHEESECAKE. And my kids are smarter than they were this time last year, so that's something. I finished a few crochet projects that had been hanging over my head for ages.
46. What was your biggest failure?
I didn't completely quit yelling at my children (although I do yell less) or keep my house clean. sigh.
47. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Had surgery.
48. What was the best thing you bought?
Well, The Nikon was bought for me, so I'm going to say... the spare battery for The Nikon. :)
49. Where did most of your money go?
The usual -- rent, bills, groceries, etc.
50. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Anything that would make a really excellent photograph. :) The ladies' retreat (and was a little disappointed). The Nikon. Our very brief beach vacation (and was, again, slightly disappointed due to weather).
51. Compared to this time last year, are you:
happier or sadder? Neither.
thinner or fatter? Fatter.
richer or poorer? Maybe a bit better-off financially but not by much.
52. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Housework, and playing with my kids.
53. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Sitting in front of this machine, and kind of losing it emotionally.
54. What was your favorite TV program?
Didn't watch TV.
55. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2005:
Spiritually, I learned never to give up on my relationship with God or on what He can do.
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Seven sevens
I must be feeling a little bit better; I can at least do a meme now. This is a sort of hybrid of a few of these "Seven" things I've seen going around.
Seven things I'm good at:
- Cooking. I'm not brilliant at it, but I manage to keep myself in size twelves. And my husband in size 36s.
- Sewing, and a very few assorted other craft-ish things.
- I usually say 'mothering', but I have not felt like a good mother lately. I have felt like Joan Crawford might feel if she were less obsessive and more lazy. And also far less physically attractive. OK, not THAT bad. But I've been a bit grouchy, maybe. I'm sorry, children.
- Typing
- Spelling
- OK, I will say it, I think I'm good at taking pictures. That sounds so -- so full of myself. I will qualify it: I'm good at taking pictures that I like to look at afterward. Whether anyone else wants to look at them is perhaps a separate issue.
- Physical labor. I can mix concrete and haul it around in five-gallon buckets. I can clear brush and haul wood. I can paint a room all by myself. I can string the Christmas lights on the eaves. I may not be very ornamental, but at least I'm useful. :)
seven things I'm terrible at
- Keeping my house clean
- Inspiring my kids to keep their parts of the house clean without losing my cool
- Making quick decisions. Give me time and I can make a good plan for most anything, find the holes in it, and fix them. Give me five seconds to decide whether to go to Burger King or Applebee's and I may just cause a traffic accident.
- Shopping
- Writing fiction
- keeping my temper under stress
- Budgeting
seven things I'd like to be very good at
- taking photographs
- debating
- mothering
- loving
- keeping my house clean
- playing the piano (again)
- keeping my temper under stress
Seven A partial list of novels/series I've read more than twice and will probably read several more times, at least, over the course of my life (I had to stop or this would have taken all night):
- Jane Eyre (almost time to pull this one out again) by Charlotte Brontë
- Pride and Prejudice (and everything else) by Jane Austen
- Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
- Into the Wilderness and those following by Sara Donati
- A Christmas Carol and David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
- The Narnia series by C.S. Lewis
- Up the Down Staircase by Bel Kaufman
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
- The Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
- Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Richard C. O'Brien
- Watership Down by Richard Adams
Seven favorite movies:
- Pride and Prejudice (1995)
- Return to Me
- The Black Stallion (for pure eye-candy reasons, if nothing else)
- Monty Python and the Holy Grail
- Persuasion (with Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds)
- While You Were Sleeping
- Amadeus
Seven things I'd like to do before I die:
- See my children grow into Christ-loving adults who lead happy lives and bring up Godly children
- Spend a long, comfortable, relaxed retirement with my husband
- Live in a place we own and love
- Watch the Nutcracker at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House
- Spend more time with my friends who live far away
- Further my education, possibly earning a degree and taking on a career, post-children
- Travel outside the United States
seven role models
- My mother, who is the one who taught me how to be a mom
- My husband, who has so much faith in God, and love for Him, and willingness to serve Him and others -- and is just generally the perfect man for God to have sent into my life to help me grow closer to Him (and have a really blissful life in the meantime)
- My children, each in his or her own way
- My dad, who is always in pain and yet always has a cheerful attitude and is so generous with his time, labor, love, and resources
- Jesus (no, really?)
- My maternal grandmother, who raised seven children on a shoestring, has worked hard her whole life, and never complains about anything as far as I know
- My paternal (step-)grandmother, dead now, whose voice I hear telling me to stand up straight and tuck in my tummy every time I slouch, and who loved us with a tenacity that I never understood or believed until after she was gone
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
childhood survey
Lifted from KiwiRia, bien sûr!
1. What was the first car your family had?
The first one I remember was a light-green Maverick. We owned a series of old rattle-trap sorts of cars until I was ten or so, when they started getting better.
2. What was the name of your first pet and why?
Again, the first one I remember was Belle, an old black mutt of a dog, who was very sweet-tempered.
3. What did you want to be when you grew up?
A teacher, most of the time. A mom, all of the time.
4. What was the name of your elementary school?
It was just [name of our town] Elementary School. I'm sure if you're interested in stalking me (because I totally am stalking material, no? with my vivacious personality and ravishing good looks?) you could put stuff together and figure it out. But I'm not going to just hand it to you.
5. Who was your first best friend?
In fourth grade there was a girl named Lawana Hayes. She and her sister April were my best friends for a year or two.
6. Are you still friends today, and if not, what happened?
No. They moved away. This was like a disease with me in elementary school. It was hard enough for me to make friends, and when I did, right away they'd move away. This happened like four times in a row. April and Lawana started the trend. Maybe they knew something I didn't.
7. What was your favorite board game?
Hmm. Payday, I think.
8. Did you play house or other make believe games?
Yes. Plenty of 'house', and also army, and fort, and school, and lots of horses with April Hayes and our friend Amber R. (who also moved away, and then back, and then away, and then back, and then away). We would gallop around the school field, neighing. Sometimes on our hands and knees. In case you ever wondered why I was so popular with my schoolmates as a child, that was probably a small part of the reason.
9. Were you a Dungeons and Dragons geek?
No. I was lots of various other kinds of geek, though.
10. Did you sleep with stuffed animals as a kid?
Mostly I slept with books. Not so comfortable but a lot more useful.
11. Do you still sleep with stuffed animals?
I still sleep with books. :D
12. Who was the first person you looked up to when you were younger?
Aside from family members, I had a sort of friend-crush on my fourth-grade teacher, Mrs. A____. I wanted to be JUST LIKE HER.
13. Who was your favorite relative?
My mom and dad. We had a huge extended family and I really liked some of those, but you said 'favorite'.
14. Were you short or tall in elementary school?
Tall. I was 4'10" in 4th grade, 5'0" in fifth grade, 5'3" in sixth grade, and then I reached my adult height of 5'8 1/2" in eighth grade. I was elephantine.
15. Were you teased in school?
Oh dear me yes. That was among the major defining facts of my life, especially in elementary school and junior high.
16. What was the name of your favorite teacher?
After Mrs. A____ in fourth grade, my favorites in high school were probably my AP English teacher, my French teacher, her husband who taught physics, chemistry, and geometry, and my music teacher.
17. What was the name of your least favorite teacher?
you know, I had several whom I disliked at the time, but living in the same small town my whole life, I like or respect pretty much all of them as adults. I did not get along at all well with my second- and third-grade teacher, but I've lived in her neighborhood my entire adult life and I like her just fine now.
18. What was your best subject in school?
In early school, when there was such a subject, reading and spelling. Later on, I was pretty good at most subjects, but just about the only ones to which I really gave a real effort were music, physics, English, and French. So those were the only ones where I got consistently good grades.
19. What was your worst subject in school?
Analytic geometry, eleventh grade. It was the class where my awful study habits finally caught up with me, and I couldn't do well enough on the tests and quizzes to make up for my utter failure to do homework. I FAILED IT. As in, WITH AN F. Plus there were all these rose curves, and I was SO BAD at them, because they involved drawing these pretty, perfect shapes, and I can't even write my name the same way each time.
20. Did you do well in Physical Education?
Most parts of it. I wasn't a star, by any means, but I could do well enough to get good grades in the classes.
21. Were you clumsy when you were younger?
Yes. I was the cousin who spilled her Kool-Aid at every meal at Grandma's house. (I am still clumsy, but not AS much.)
22. Who was your favorite band as a kid?
Oh, I was such a nerd. I liked Roger Whittaker. I liked classical music. I liked choral music. I liked 70's easy listening. You can again perceive how it was that I attained such dizzying heights of popularity.
23. What was your favorite movie as a kid?
You know, I don't remember. There was a series on HBO called "Dot and the Kangaroo"; I got really obsessed with that for a while when I was really young. When I was in sixth grade, "Top Gun" came out, and I was quite fixated on that.
24. Did your parents read to you?
Yes, lots.
25. Did you have a favorite book?
I had tons. The Little House books, the Narnia books, Beverly Cleary, Trixie Belden, the Hardy Boys, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh, Anne of Green Gables etc. And many many more.
26. What was your favorite restaurant as a kid?
The Sugar Pine. It was a little diner in town. I still miss it. It was my favorite from the days of brunch between Sunday School and church with my grandparents where I would order a "Fish Wish" because I liked the name, up through high school, when it was the restaurant I was in the first (and only) time I ever wrote my phone number on a napkin for a guy. You could get a big, sharing-size order of fries and two delicious chocolate milkshakes in tall glasses (with the remainder in their frosty metal canisters) for $6.31 including tax but not tip. Let's have a moment of silence for The Sugar Pine, shall we?
27. What TV or movie star did you have a crush on?
I don't remember having real crushes on any. I kind of made myself have a few -- on Johnny's cousin Billy in Dirty Dancing, on Goose in Top Gun (did I not consider myself good enough to fabricate crushes on the actual stars?) because it seemed like The Thing To Do and because my cousin Becky always had a crush on one celebrity or another. Whereas I just had crushes on book characters.
28. Do you now wonder what you were thinking?
No, as you can see above, I now know what I was thinking. :)
29. Who was your first crush in school?
Jenn is going to keel over if she remembers who this is. Likewise Debi. It was Chad Benson. In first grade (he was in second).
30. As a child, what kind of car did you want when you grew up?
I have no idea.
31. Did your parents spank you?
Yes, but not much. They were more into talking-to. And I was easily disciplined without spankings because I wanted so badly to please everyone.
32. Did your parents fight a lot when you were a kid?
They went through a couple of stages where there was a lot of arguing, but overall, no.
33. Did your parents get divorced or stay married?
Still married after 34 years, and I think they're more in love than ever.
34. If they got divorced, how old were you when it happened?
n/a
35. Did you ever run away from home?
Not exactly. I packed my things several times when I was a little girl and made a big show out of preparing to Run Away. And when I was a teenager I got so mad at my mom that I walked (barefoot) five miles to my best friend's house and spent the night there.
36. How old were you when/if you first got glasses?
I was fourteen.
37. Did you need braces or a retainer?
No.
38. If you're male, how old were you when you had your first wet dream?
um, n/a. Gross.
39. Both sexes when did you start shaving?
Eighth grade, I think.
40. Girls when did you start wearing a bra?
Ditto with the eighth grade.
41. What was your first kiss like?
My first real kiss (because there were guys who kissed me before this but I didn't know what I was doing really, and didn't like it) was when I was fourteen and my then-boyfriend and I went on a little date to the movies. If I remember correctly, Jenn was there as well, and she pretended to time the kiss on her watch.
42. What did you do on your first date?
I just described it.
43. How old were you when you first drank?
well, before I was born I drank a little amniotic fluid... (seriously, alcohol-wise, aside from occasional sips of Kahlua or beer when Dad was having some, I drank a couple of beers on a couple of different occasions the summer I was sixteen and that's pretty much it. Ever. Cause I am so virtuous and all. [Really, I disliked the taste and after that, just never saw the point.])
44. Where was your first house?
When I was born, my parents lived in a little trailer park. It's about two miles down the road from where my husband works now, although our particular house is gone, I think.
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