It's Official

It's official. I have hopped off the blog-stalking track and jumped into my own blog. True, I only read three or four blogs, but I am a seasoned journaler, so the leap should be easy. I do not have the technology for pictures as of yet. I need to consult with my more technologically advanced Mom to see how that is done - and I will need to borrow her digital camera and downloading equipment and pots and pans and washer and dryer and...

Just kidding. I have all the stuff after equipment. Don't want to give the impression I am a complete freeloader. It doesn't help that when my dad wants a new "something", I get the old "something". It's good for things like lawn mowers, weed wackers, blenders, pasta makers, Christmas tree holders (from my childhood no less!) and the like. I swear my basement has become their second storage facility. But... I have to confess I still have stuff in their attic that I have yet to transport over to my house.

Here's a tasty platter of 20 "get to know me" hors d' oeuvres...

1) Describe one of your most embarrassing moments: I was in the 9th or 10th grade when I had the guy I had a major crush on over to study for a chemistry test. We were in the living room and I was trying really hard to be very "low-key" and not give myself away. I was in the middle of trying to explain something when I realized my dream guy was not looking at me any longer. He was looking at the doorway to the living room with a shocked expression on his face. I looked up and my father was standing there in a full-on chicken suit (feet, beak, red crest, breast, and tail). When I preceded to notice him, he started scratching at the floor and squawking. Needless to say, the rest of the study period was painful and school the next day was mortifying.

2) Describe your pet peeve fashion faux pas you have observed on others: I know that the big thing today is low rise pants, midriff-baring shirts, and thongs: but when a person wearing these items sits in children's chair at their place of work and the pants bunch out away from their back and the shirt rides up and one can see thongness - it's just wrong is so many ways. For men, it's the jeans that are a touch too short and do not rest on their shoes. Another for women is the too tight pants creating "camel toes" in the front. Panty lines are another big one, not to mention tight clothing and lack of underwear and jiggling occurs, again - not attractive by any means.

3) What were some of the fashion trends you fell victim to ('fess up, we all did at some point)? Guachos, legwarmers, big ass belts, 3 layers of shirts with matching 3 layers of socks, acid wash jeans, butt-ripped jeans, Spandex and crop tops, and last but totally not the least - BIG hair, big "sprayed to a freeze-finish salon magazine advertisement" hair.

4) Are you a letter writer, emailer, or phoner? Phoner, but if I ever get my ass in gear, I prefer to write letters.

5) How would you describe your handwriting? Font-size 1, cramped, and chicken-scratchy.

6) What is your favorite chore (we all have at least one that gives us a little obsessive-compulsive kick)? Re-arranging the furniture every 6 months or so which leads to my least favorite chore of deep cleaning.

7) If there was one thing you could change about yourself, what would it be? My nose.

8) What is the most grown-up thing you've ever done? Buy my own house.

9) What did you do that made you really proud of yourself? I taught a 3 yr old non-verbal autistic child to sign for "help", it took about 4 months but when he got it, WOW!

10) What is your favorite sound? Smell? a) A cat purring. b) A book, my mom's cooking, bonfire, freshly cut grass, thunderstorm, a fruity candle.

11) What is your favorite texture? Cat fur and velvet.

12) What is your favorite taste? Chocolate, really excellent pasta in a cream-based sauce.

13) What is your favorite sight? My three cats curled up on my lap, my home, and my friends.

14) Are you a "read-the-end-of-the-book-before-you-finish-it, to-find-out-what-happens" person, a "start-the- book-and-compulsively-finish-it-even-tho-it's-bad" person, or just a "read-from-start-to-finish-if-I-like-it" person? Read all the way thru if like it, but I do have to confess, if it is a very good writer and they have tense or suspenseful scenes in their book, I sometimes break down and flip ahead to see what happens so I can go back and read more calmly.

15) What did you think you'd be as an adult when you were a child? I used to think I wouldn't get to be an adult (and I guess that has come true in a way) but I would play "school" and be the teacher, play "Charlie's Angels" and be the blond one, play "Barbie" and dress her up and design dresses for her, play a brother and sister variety show and be a comic and an air-guitar player, and play "Nancy Drew" and try to solve mysteries. Some of these have come true ironically enough.

16) What animal part/talent do you wish you could have? I think fur would be cool to have in the winter. Retractable claws would be dandy in a pinch.

17) What's the most spur-of-the-moment, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants thing you ever did? I went camping up in Rangely with 3 other people, we got there at midnight, someone had to sit in the front of the boat with a lantern shining on the water to be able to tell the steerer where the rocks were, got to an island, had to move the next day (someone owned it and didn't want us on it), found a new island, camped for 2 days, came home and realized no one knew where we had been and none of us had had a cell phone.

18) What do you HAVE to do EVERY TIME? I have to lock my car every time I leave it, no matter where I've parked, even at friend's house out in the middle of nowhere :)

19) What is your luckiest find ever? On a cold winter day, I debated stopping to get gas and finally decided to get it before I got to my home town. I stopped, froze my butt off, and was looking at my front tires while my eyes watered from the wind. I noticed a paper by the tire that looked like a dollar bill. I looked away thinking it was one of those religious tracts that they print to look like money to sucker you in to picking them up (you typically find them in the library tucked into the speculative non-fiction sections or with the fiction authors who have "racy" material). I looked back and kept looking while the gas was filling the tank. After it shut off, I said "what the hell" to myself, and picked up the tract and unfolded it. It turned out to be an authentic one hundred dollar bill! I did look to see if anyone lost it, no one did, so it was free and clear mine. I felt bad for the person who lost it as it was right before Christmas, but I got myself a wonderful silver-plated silverware set at an antique show that had the initial "S" engraved on the handles with that hundred.

20) What is the funniest thing to happen to you? I was in college and was doing what the Education Dept termed a "field experience". I had to get up at the butt-crack of dawn and get dressed in the dark so I wouldn't disturb my roommate. I went to my first class and then we all carpooled to the school. I was teaching a small unit on the Greek alphabet and showing pictures of my trip to Greece when I was about their age. So I go thru my whole spiel and get to the question/answer part. One little guy raises his hand and asks me, "Miss S, why do you have two different colored shoes on?" I looked down and lo and behold I had a navy weave flat and a black flat with a bow on. Ever have that feeling that alot of time has gone by but it's really only seconds? that would be me thinking of what to say. I finally settled on a impromptu science lesson about dark and light and eyes. And I still had to go thru 2 more classes before I could go back to my dorm room and get changed.

Hope you didn't get too stuffed. Will be more entrees later. Toodle-oo!