I'm not sure I've ever filled out one of these...

That's right - I've been sent hundreds of these survey thingies from different people. I usually read it, leave it in my "in" box for weeks, and eventually delete the darned thing. At first I whole heartedly intend to fill out the survey and send it to all five of my friends, but then time gets away from me and I think, "I can't send that out now - it's been three weeks since I recieved it." [Side note: I still have an e-mail from a friend in my "in" box that I recieved almost two years ago. I still haven't responded for no particular reason. Yes, I will be late to my own funeral. No lectures, please.] Why am I posting this survey now? That's a great question. I don't know. Perhaps it goes with my new "leaving mediocrity" policy. Whatever. But here it is anyway.

1.WHAT COLOR ARE YOUR KITCHEN PLATES? Which plates? I have many sets of plates. I would like to get a set of bright aqua and a set of bright red plates.
2. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? I am in the middle of several books: Crossings, Captivating, Solitaire Mystery, Loving God with All Your Mind. On the side, I am re-reading German Ideology and Metamorphosis by Kafka.
3. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? I don’t have a mouse pad.
4. FAVORITE BOARD GAME? Scrabble – I also like Apples to Apples
5.FAVORITE SMELLS? Coffee, evergreen trees, Truth (my favorite perfume that CK no longer makes), fresh cut roses, lilies, fresh cut lavender, the nape of Poetroad’s neck, a horse barn, a pile of soggy leaves, a newborn baby’s head.
6. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING? “What time is it? Wait a minute – is it the morning or is it still the middle of the night?”
7. FAVORITE COLOR: I can’t pick just one. Black, pink, green, brown
8. LEAST FAVORITE COLOR: I am hard pressed to find a color that I don’t like. I wouldn’t wear burnt orange, but I love the way it looks on leaves.
9. HOW MANY RINGS UNTIL YOU ANSWER THE PHONE? It depends on where I am in the house…it takes as many rings as it takes for me to run across the house to get it.
10. FAVORITE CHILD'S NAME? My names of my daughters are my favorite – but there are two other favorites that I didn’t get to use: Carlie for a girl and Jesse for a boy.
11. CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA? Chocolate
12. DO YOU LIKE TO DRIVE FAST? Always
13. DO YOU SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL? Only if Poetroad eats a big meal before he gets into bed with me.
14. DO YOU LIKE THUNDERSTORMS? I LOVE them!
15. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAR? 1965 Mustang. Some day, I will get another one; it’s my all time favorite car. I have a strange and almost inappropriate attraction to Mustangs.
16. WHAT IS YOUR SIGN? “Will work for food” in crayon on tattered cardboard.
17. DO YOU EAT THE STEMS OF BROCCOLI? Yeah
18. IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY JOB WHAT WOULD IT BE? A professional people watcher.
19. IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY COLOR HAIR, WHAT WOULD IT BE? Brown with highlights.
20. IS THE GLASS HALF FULL OR HALF EMPTY? What glass? I don’t see a glass. I don’t care if it is full or empty as long as it is clean. I don’t really like to drink from glasses. I prefer plastic cups, really, and they are always half full in my house because I take a drink, walk away, forget where I put it or that I even drank from it, and then the process starts all over again until I run out of cups in my cupboard.
21. FAVORITE MOVIE? UHF, Princess Bride, Better Off Dead, Singing in the Rain, LOTR...to name a few
22. DO YOU TYPE WITH YOUR FINGERS ON THE RIGHT KEYS? I always do – except for with that top line with the numbers.
23. WHAT'S UNDER YOUR BED? My wedding dress (specially packaged at a bridal shop to preserve the dress), scrap-booking stuff, a few Christmas presents for my kids, and more.
24. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Football and soccer – although I am a recent golf-watcher convert.
25. YOUR SINGLE BIGGEST INTENSE PAIN? Post c-section recovery pain. I would roll out of my bed when I had to get up, and then curse up a blue streak until I could maneuver my body parts back into bed.
26. PERSON YOU SENT THIS TO WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND: No one, because I won’t send it.
27. PERSON YOU SENT THIS TO WHO IS LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Everyone that I don’t send this to
28. KETCHUP OR MUSTARD? I love mustard
29. HAMBURGER OR HOT DOG? Burger
30. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEASON? Fall
31. THE BEST PLACES YOU HAVE EVER BEEN? The Oregon Coast
32. WHAT SCREEN SAVER IS ON YOUR COMPUTER RIGHT NOW? Pictures of my family.
33. FAVORITE FAST FOOD? Do doughnuts count as fast food? If I buy fast food (which is a rarity), it’s Papa John’s pizza.
34. WHAT IS YOUR BIRTH NAME? I won't say, but my maiden name is something quite Scottish.

Bah

I have been on a vacation from myself and from thinking. New posts to follow soon...

P.S. Remember the door-to-door salesman who sold me the magazine subscription - you know, the one who had the sales pitch that sounded much like the one the door-to-door salesman gives in Office Space? Well, Tim (that is the guy's name) followed through. I got my first issue of "Better Homes and Gardens" last month.

my fun filled weekend

Lucky for you, I haven’t talked enough about barf lately. But stomach flu season is here, and I have been battling this round since Saturday. (Did I barf? C’mon, you know me better than that! My stomach doesn’t even know that’s an option.)

Anyway, last night, KC woke up in the middle of the night and barfed (that seems about right; always the barfing, always at night). Lucky for me, Poetroad got to watch – and clean up – the show while I lay in bed trying not to feel sick.

So today, Poetroad had to stay home and take care of all of us. He is such a trooper. I’m just a pooper.

i chose the one less traveled by

This was waaaay coool! It kinda hurt at the time, but the surrealness of it all made me think, "Wow, I can't believe I'm doing this!"

So I was cleaning my new piercing this morning (I know, I know, you guys have seen the pics and are getting bored with my crazy schemes already), and I was really concentrating on removing the crusties on the inside of my nose. Yes, it was disgusting, but I liked having a reason to pick my nose.

Anyway, back to my story...I am picking out crusties, and next thing I know, the piercing disappeared into my nose. As I stared at myself in disbelief, I thought, "Whoa, Mamma! What do I do now!???" There were two obvious solutions to my dilemma: push up from the bottom until the top of the stud shows again, or keep on pulling until the darned thing comes out all the way through the inside of my nose.

My first reaction was to push the stud back out the top; after all, it couldn't have wandered too far away. Then I decided to gauge by sensation whether the top of the stud was closer to the top of my nose or whether it was almost out through the bottom anyway. The fact is, I had no friggin' idea how either sensation might feel because I, well, have never been in this particular predicament before!

But when two paths diverge in the woods, you can't stand there staring at the trees all day. I hastily chose the total extraction through the inside of my nose path.

Turns out, this path was the painful path. I had gauged wrong - there was much more stud in there than I estimated.

The good news is that the stud easily, and painlessly, popped right back into its proper holding pattern.

Holy cannolies. Just as I mentioned, the entire experience was a little cool now that I look back on my morning, but should I find myself in this predicament again, remind me to just push up.

more piercing Pics

There was just a little blood, and I got a piece of candy (at the bottom of one of the pics) because I had to be pierced twice.

Weekend Fun

What am I, fifteen years old?!!! I went away to a ladies retreat last weekend (you know, the churchy type), and came home with more than new spiritual eyes. But let's talk about that later. I GOT MY NOSE PIERCED!!!!

I suppose some might think that it was because of the peer pressure from the fresh-out-of-college girls I was hanging out with that made me do it, but actually I've wanted to pierce my nose for the past ten years or so. Finally, it just seemed like the right time to get it done. Two of the four of my roommates for the weekend had a cute nose piercing, and when one of them suggested, "You should get yours done tomorrow. Do you want to?" I said, "yes" without hesitation.

Of course I called Poetroad the next morning to clear my plans with him. Of course he said, "No way. No, that's not a good idea. No, I don't like that idea at all." And like a good wife, I replied, "Honey, if the answer is no, then I won't do it. Love you; have a great day!"

Less then a minute later he called me back and said, "Ahhh, go ahead. Have fun with your friends, you wild child, you." (I found out later that as soon as he hung up the phone he got to thinking how sexy a nose piercing would look on me....)

Not to far away from our hotel we found a little, but sterile, tattoo/piercing parlor along the highway in that small costal town. The actual piercing was pretty uneventful - except for she had to do mine twice because something happened with the threading of the jewelry through the hole the first time. And I bled a lot. But neither piercing hurt really. It was kind of fun, in fact.

The best part about this story is that when I went into work the next day, NOT ONE PERSON NOTICED! None. No one. That's what I get for working in alternative education, I guess. They probably thought that my nose had been pierced all along.

ten things i did this week

1. Wore perfume to work and was almost caught by bertha...luckily it wasn't me - it was another lady who put on some stinky lotion. That was a close one. I'll have to update you my plan on avoiding changing my daily hygiene routine for bertha.

2. Had a phone conversation at work that I knew people were eavesdropping in from the other side of the cubicle. I needed to update said eavesdropper on the conversation, so instead of sending an e-mail, I outed her by yelling, "Did ya hear my conversation? Cause you need to know what's going on." I did that no less than twice.

3. paperworkpaperworkpaperwork

4. avoided some paperwork

5. ran around like a chicken with my head cut off

6. got a new set of tires for the familymobile

7. vet stuff for the dog - twice...it's a long story

8. avoided two trips to the doctor's office (one for the baby, one for myself) by "waiting it out"

9. and i was even able to squeeze in a few nice to very nice sessions with poetroad

10. packed for the trip to the coast i am taking this weekend

Be back on Sunday!

nanowrimo

November is "National Novel Writing Month." The idea is that every aspiring, uninspiring, perspiring, or whatever writer will write so many words a day, and then by the end of the month he or she will have written a novel of 10,000 words. Or something to that effect.

Last year, Selene and I committed to the adventure with PJD. I wrote a page, Selene wrote a few chapters, and PJD actually finished his work. This year, I actually have an idea for a novel, so I am planning on tackling this project again. I wouldn't go so far to say that it's a good idea, but, hey, it's an idea.

So are you in or out?

Suspicions Confirmed

You're a Freaky Kisser

When you kiss, you want to experience something new A new technique, a new partner, a new piercing... And your own personal kissing style is very unpredictable There's no saying where your tongue or hands will go

What Kind of Kisser Are You?

Freaky, huh. I always suspected as much, but now I have the test to prove it. A girlfriend of mine once asked if I would be interested in making out with her. I told her "no" - not because I wasn't interested, but because I don't really see the point of making out if it doesn't lead to sex. And, although she is sexy, I just didn’t want to go there with a girl. But if I ever decide to switch teams, she would be my first go to girl.

Trick O' Treat

I am still recovering from lack of sleep and a sugar hangover this morning, but I was able to stagger to my computer and sit long enough to download a few photos. In the trio pic, the girl on the far left is our neighbor. The other two girls are my oldest two. One is dressed as Padme from the "Reunion with Anakin" scene in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Daughter 2 is a cheetah princess. Below that is a pic of the whole princess crew. Darling!

I stayed up until 3 or 4 am sewing the costumes for the older two girls. Crazy, I know, but the results were stupendous. What's really crazy is that I know all year long that I will be making a costume for Halloween for at least one of my girls, yet I wait until the day before to begin working on them every year!