Break time

Link: from Bzoink
Title: For the Book Lovers

What's the last book you read?:	The Bookman's Promise
How was it?:	Pretty good
What's your current favorite book?:	A Cloister Walk
Who's your current favorite author?:	Sue Grafton
What's the first book you ever obsessed over?:	Alien (the novel from the movie)
Who's your favorite poet?:	Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost
Your favorite short story author?:	Poe
What's your favorite genre?:	Mystery
What's your least favorite genre?:	"Boy books" (Clancy, Hemingway, et al.)
What's your "comfort book"?:	Any female p.i. book
Who are your five favorite authors?:	Sue Grafton, Sara Paretsky, Kathleen Norris, Kent Haruf, Anne LaMott
Do you ever skip to the end to find out what happens?:	Not usually, unless the book just sucks
What's the worst book you ever read?:	W-A-Y too many to list
The funniest book?:	One for the Money, by Janet Evanovich; or In a Sunburned Country, by Bill Bryson
The saddest book?:	The Book of Ruth, by Jane Hamilton
Has a book ever made you cry?:	Only a few hundred of them
What's the book you love to reccomend to people?:	anything by Bill Bryson
What's the first section you go to when you walk into a bookstore?:	...travel...or wherever they keep the crossword books
Do you buy books, or get them at the library or from friends?:	95% library, 5% purchased
What's the most you've ever paid for a book?:	$50 for some textbooks eons ago in college
Was it worth it?:	heh--probably, tho' I'm sure I didn't think so at the time!
Will you buy a book in hardcover or wait for it to come out in paperback?:	Depends on the use it will be put to. Novels, I can wait; reference stuff has to be hardcover
What's a book you bought on a whim, then regretted later?:	The Diana Gabaldon books; I still like them, but I don't need to own them!
How did you get turned onto your favorite book?:	My sister Lois recommended her
Do you/did you enjoy the short stories in English class textbooks?:	Yes.
What book have you read the most times?:	Alice in Wonderland
Do you ever finish a book and immediately start to read it over?:	Very infrequently anymore.
How do you feel about turning books into movies?:	Mostly it's a bad idea, with some exceptions.
What's the best book-to-movie?:	The English Patient
What's the worst book-to-movie?:	Most of the rest of them (almost all of Stephen King's!)
Have you ever gotten in trouble from reading when you aren't supposed to?:	Yeah. ahem
Have you ever made a new friend from noticing the book they're reading?:	...mmm, I don't think so...
Do you prefer books that take place in another world or time period?:	I don't prefer them; I like them, if they are well-written
If you could live in any book's "world", which would you choose?:	Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next books
Who's your favorite fictional hero?:	Spenser (Robert Parker)
Who's your favorite fictional heroine?:	Amelia Peabody (Elizabeth Peters)
Who's your favorite fictional villain?:	Sethos (Elizabeth Peters)
Is there a book character that reminds you of yourself?:	Many, but parts of Amelia Peabody's personality is awfully similar to mine.
What book character do you hate?:	Captain Ahab (Melville) and The Old Man (Hemingway)
Have you ever, for any reason, dressed up as a character in a book?:	No. Ick.
Have you ever written fanfiction or done fanart?:	No.
Do you have a website dedicated to any of your favorite books?:	No.
Are you into any big-hype books, like Harry Potter of Lord of the Rings?:	Like the HP books. I have to vet them for my kid, of course!
What book you have with you/next to you right now?:	I'm sitting at my desk in the library. Do you really want to know??

For the Book Lovers brought to you by BZOINK!

Warming up my brain

Link: The First Four

What are the first four things you think of when I say:

High School

1. Band. Dr. G. Tournament of Roses. Hard work.
2. Boyfriends. Or lack thereof. :-) [Because isn't that what high school really is all about? The opposite sex...]
3. Drama. Everyone has to have something awful or fabulous going on. All the time.
4. Best friends. I still have friends from high school, one of whom I've known for 34 years now. And that doesn't seem possible. Miss her.

I wouldn't mind transporting my current brain back to my high school self and doing it over.
Then again.
Maybe not.

"Because you're bored, it's Friday and the old blog needs updating..."

Link: The Friday Foofah
Title: Actions and Reactions

1. When upset do you: scurry off to a corner to recover alone, growl at the hapless people who're silly enough to be near you, or continue as if nothing happened while burning up inside?
Mostly choice one, especially that growling part. Sometimes I just sulk, but mostly I vent (and vent, and vent...). I've tried choice two. I'm not very good at it, but sometimes (at work, for instance) it's the only way to go.

2. One of your best friends turns out to be saying hurtful and untrue things behind your back. You don't want to believe it - but it's true. Would you confront them, ignore them, or wail and scream privately but act as if nothing happened to their face ? (Or any other reactions)
To start with I think I'd do choice two, at least long enough to get my ammunition lined up. But I doubt I'd be able to have a conversation with them; avoidance would be my choice. "Too busy to chat" kind of passive-aggression. If it was really bad stuff, I think I'd eventually ask them what they actually told the other people to see how it all matched up.

Y'know, some of the people I work with do this. Eventually, if they are doing it on company time, at the service desks, and I hear about it from friends who don't work here, I tell the boss. So we all got lectured yesterday about chit-chatting at the desks. And in the afternoon, the very people who are the major problem were saying, "Well, where ARE we supposed to talk??" Hel-LO--that's the point; don't DO IT AT ALL!

Ahem. Sorry. I think I'm better now...

3. When a situation arises where you're accused of being the party that's at fault, is your first reaction to: make an excuse to defend yourself, start analyzing your behavior to see if the accusation is true, or immediately accept that it must have been you?
Oddly enough, the more likely I am to have been at fault the more likely I am to denydenydeny. I've improved a lot on that. Now I just try to sit quietly and listen to everything the person says. Which is quite hard for me. Tortuous in fact. Once the defensive mechanism shuts down, however, I will then spend months beating myself up about it. Sometimes years (depends on how bad the issue is).

Summer....aaah

Link: Thursday Threesome
Title: ::Learning to Ride::


Onesome: Learning -- Hey, what would you like to learn how to do this Summer? Learn to ride a motorcycle (like Sarah)? Learn PHP? Learn how to chill out and vegetate properly (lessons available )?

What the heck is PHP? 1) I'd like to learn how to get CatMe hooked up on my computer, and 2) I'd like to learn how to use HTML better.

Twosome: to -- Too? Two? Okay, two things you are positively not going to learn how to do! Ever!

1) Shut Up [thanks Amy!] and 2) charm snakes.

Threesome: Ride -- Speaking of motorcycles: Do you ride? Did you ever ride? ...or do you just enjoy them? ...or maybe, "No way!"?

I don't ride. I'd love to learn how. I'd love to own a Harley. I have had two friends smash up on cycles with dire results, so I'm leerier than I used to be. But still ... riding a Harley across country: how cool would that be!

Hump Day

Link: Blogdrive Insanity
Title:Today is ... National Blueberry Cheesecake day.

01. You are battery operated - what are you? What size batteries do you require and how many?

A karaoke machine. Possibly a jukebox (more likely, actually). Maybe even a nickelodeon (if you know that a nickelodeon isn't a TV channel, you'll understand that reference...). I don't know about batteries: how about a car battery? Don't think even size D would work for me.
[It's too easy to go the bra size/battery size route. I had never even thought of it till now, actually. But believe me I'm not a D!!]

02. Ohmigosh! You're on the cover of the National [E]nquirer (or other trash magazine)! What is the headline? Give us an exce[r]pt for the inside story?

Librarian Arresting for Disturbing the Peace
The Cataloger was arrested today for picketing outsider her child's school and shouting at teachers and administrators while they were trying to organize the end-of-school pickup lines.
The principal, Ms. K____ M____, was quoted as saying, "We really have no idea why she is so upset. We have tried to explain that we can't do anything at all to stop other children from swearing at, hitting or otherwise making her son's life miserable. For some reason, she finds this unreasonable."
The Cataloger responded, through her attorney, "Could the teacher and administration be any more clueless? She has been told once a month that the abuse has continued. Two other children in the class, friends of my child, are in therapy. Both are clinically depressed. I don't want my child to head that direction, not at age 11."
The Cataloger has been released on her own recognizance to cheers from parents whose children have also been taught by this teacher in past years.

03. If you could be ANY sex symbol (living or dead) who would it be and why? What question do you think you'd most get asked?

Theda Bara. "Could you show us a little ankle, Theda?"

04. You are lighter than air, you float. C'mon, introduce youself - what are you?

A parachute. Don't know why; it just seemed a little less lame than a feather.

05. Your blog just won an award for being the best. What is it for? You've also also been given an "award" for being the worst. What is it for.

Best: most frequent color and font changes combined with sheer numbers of blogs created in the shortest amount of time.
Worst: see above.

Extra credit hump: In honor of National Blueberry Cheesecake Day, what's the most creative use for a blueberry you can conjure up?
I'm not very creative. But on a bad day, I could see forcing rude and/or obnoxious patrons' mouths full of blueberries, a la The Blue Man Group. They'd have to go outside though, so the juice wouldn't stain the carpets. ;-)
Otherwise, I think I'd just eat them, like in Blueberries for Sal.

More memes

Link: Tuesday Twosome
Title:End of May:

1. Name two things you will miss this summer:

Trips to Maine, and Galena. We promised 4 years ago that we'd go to Moosehead every three years, alternating with a trip to Colorado and a "Just Us" trip to anywhere. We missed last summer. And we're missing this summer. So much for planning. Technically we're going to Galena, but usually we stay a week; this year only 2 nights, because we're spending big $$ on a trip to a wedding.

2. Name two things that you won't miss this summer:

In the sense of "It's going to happen:" warm weather (hurrah hurrah) and bare feet. In the sense of "I'm glad we don't have to do that:" children's play and swimming lessons.

3. Vacation: "Planning on one" or "Don't have the time and/or money to take one":

Yep, we always manage some kind of trip. Even if it's just a short one. I love traveling, so does The Beast. We're going to England for two weeks. woohoo (my 5th trip, Beast's 3rd, the boy's 3rd)

4. Warmer weather: "Finally" or "Crap! I want cooler weather":

Are you kidding?? "Finally!!" I hate cold weather. I could live without humidity, though.

5. Memorial Day (USA): "A much needed day off" or "I have to work":

The library is closed, but I may stop in for a few hours of quiet. The boy has to march in the parade, so we'll probably go to the memorial services as well. Otherwise, nothin' much planned. Maybe we'll have some friends over...a low-pressure kind of thing. We'll see.

I'm only up for memes

Link: Tuesday is Chooseday
Title: Would you rather:

1) ...your best friend overhear you telling somebody else a deep secret about them OR your child overhear you venting your frustrations about your significant other?
Since I'm a bad mother/wife, I consistently do choice two, at least a couple of times a month! So, yeah, I'll go with that. I try really hard not to tell secrets.

2) ...learn an obscure language only spoken by 15 other people on the planet OR be able to guess somebody's exact birthdate, just by looking at them?
This is actually pretty easy: who cares about birthday, I'm going for the obscure language. Nothing quite like being able to swear at 99.999914% of the world's population without them understanding, right?

3) ...have eyebrows that grow in VERY bushy, daily, no matter how you try to prune them OR make a sound like a tuba whenever you blow your nose?
Heh, this is a little harder. But I guess I'll have to go with the tuba, since I hate dealing with eyebrows and all they entail.

4) ...have a job that makes $200,000 a year, but you only get to see your family once a week for 3 hours OR make just enough to survive from check-to-check, but be able to see your family whenever you want?
Right now, I'd rather not see part of my family. Choice one would be an easier sell this morning. But long-term and reasonably, the answer has to be "poorer but happy."
However, if this means Family of Origin, I've made chosen option one, based not on income but on simply living with an employed husband, as well as the fact that I get along better with my siblings and mom when they are at least an hour away by plane.

From Jenica

Title: Lists of Three

Three things I am wearing.
1) Museum of Moodern Art T-shirt (with cows; get it?)
2) jeans (the kind Lee has apparently stopped making. Rats.)
3) my glasses

Three things on the desk.
(I'm at home, FYI)
1) The "6 month punchlist, 6 weeks late" just created, ready to fax
2) About 8 CD-RW (no clue what exactly they are: one is sticky-noted saying "-Need CD Labels"
3) The Trading Spaces Ultimate Episode Guide

Three good ways to describe my personality.
1) loyal
2) generous
3) committed

Three bad things about my personality.
1) lazy
2) too quick to anger
3) proud

Three parts of my heritage.
1) Northern European
2) Presbyterian
3) "Good pioneer stock"

Three things I like about my body.
1) its sturdiness
2) my hair
3) my height

Three things I do not like about my body.
1) my weight
2) my fingernails
3) that clicking sound my knee makes

Three things most people do not know about me.
1) I used to be terribly shy, especially around boys; desperately and terminally shy
2) I worry about stuff constantly
3) I used to dance around my living room; and that was BEFORE A Chorus Line

Three things I say the most.
1) "OK" at the beginning of sentences, frequently followed by "...but..."
2) "I'm tired"
3) "Oy"

Three places I want to go.
1) Australia
2) Kenya; or anywhere really in Africa
3) The Smoky Mountains

Three names that I go by.
1) Cat. [edited 3/06]
2) Mom
3) Mrs. [my husband's last name] (which I hate)

Three screen names I have had.
1) Shady (my dog's name)
2) lrts
3) The Cataloger

Still more! (killing time)

Link: Unconscious Mutterings
Title: I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Finale:: Whew end of the show, thank God! [too many stage shows in my past]
   
2. Martial arts:: How can a kid flunk Tae Kwon Do?! I ask you... [along with a bit of free-floating Bill Cosby]
   
3. Flirt:: Too tired
   
4. Energy:: [see above] Obviously my emotional energy and my physical energy are linked.
   
5. Flavor:: Dr. Pepper [what I'm drinking now]
   
6. Guess?:: Jeans [are they still around]
   
7. Accomplishment:: Piano lessons. Flute lessons, for that matter.
   
8. Prom:: This weekend here in town. I skipped mine. The Beast took a 20-something married woman to his...
   
9. Diploma:: I have far too many of these!
   
10. Bloody:: damnitalltofuck [well, hey you asked!]
    

Boy, if that's a snapshot of my brain, I should be put on a Thorazine drip...!

Yet another

Link: The First Four
Title: What are the first four things you think of when I say:

Tom Cruise

Gorgeous
Fallen far from where, in my fantasy life anyway, he was 5 years ago
Rosie O'Donnell
Risky Business

Hmmm. I hadn't really realized how much I'm not thrilled with him lately. I'm not thrilled with Nicole either. But he has just weirded me out with dumping Nic and taking up with Penelope, then splitting with her...and you know what? I haven't cared about seeing him in a movie since Jerry Maguire! But he has a lovely face.

Sunday Brunch (about 8 hours late for that!)

Link: Sunday Brunch
Title:My Favorite Things

1. What is your favorite color? Blue. I think it's genetic: my oldest sister is really into blue too.
2. What is your favorite piece of clothing? Generally, T-shirts and broken-in jeans. Specifically...my We Can Do It! T-shirt (which I wore yesterday). Or my Old Navy cargo pants.
3. Where is your favorite place to eat out? Around here: El Niagra or The Old Mill. In the world: To Steki (sp?), Ydra.
4. What is your favorite meal? Really fine steak with really fine bleu cheese dressing, barely steamed veg and garlic mashed potatoes. And really fine cheesecake. Ugh. I'd need about 4 hours to eat all this though!
5. What is your favorite sport or recreational game? As a spectator: football. Actually, I'm really pumped about the Olympics (gymnastics! track/athletics! weightlifting! swimming!). Participating: I used to love volleyball, but I'm really out of shape. I'm too competitive for organized sports generally; I need to win too badly to enjoy playing.

Surprising how such easy questions got me thinking...and how hard it was to answer them. I'm feeling pretty subdued.

Bloggerseeds

Link: Bloggerseeds
Title: Random Questions; Random Days... Friday, May 20
Do you daydream? If so, what about?

Yesterday I was sitting on my front porch watching the storm clouds blow past and trying to figure out what direction they were blowing. Again, I'm in a house that doesn't face a straight direction! I think I was looking SE, but maybe SSE? Anyway, the clouds were blowing to my left. And I realized I'd had my brow furrowed for quite some time working this out, which is when I just laughed and realized I'm going to become a very dotty old lady.

Otherwise, I sometimes daydream about relationships: what I should have said, who I should be calling, reasons I love/hate the other person, stupid stuff I've done and so forth.

Other times, I'm daydreaming about my mental list of chores to be done: Vacation planning, hanging pictures, painting, reminding myself of other people's schedules, figuring out a mealplan for the week, inputting receipts in Money...

What I've also discovered is that if I daydream too long, I tend to end up asleep. Is this incipient middle/old age, or a sign that I really need to get more sleep?

I used to have a fantastic fantasy life; but then real life intervened. Maybe I'll get it back in a decade or so...

Friday

Link: Spark
Title:Seven Wonders

What are the 'Seven Wonders' of your world? What places, objects, people or accomplishments in your life would you herald as the most meaningful, life-affirming features of your existence?
Give a tour of your wonders. Describe them — perhaps as one would in a travel guide. What do you hope a visitor would learn from visiting and admiring each? Is there a notable distance (be it in time, space, or other ways) between them? Are they presented in a certain order, and if so, what does the journey as a whole signify?

1. The Rocky Mountains--I grew up with mountains everywhere. They are more than just cool scenery to me. Without them, in both literal and figurative senses I have to work very hard to figure out directions. Having lived in flat places for over 20 years now, it amazes me at how any mountains, anywhere, viscerally call to me. Even hills. The Yorkshire Dales, the area around Galena, mid-state Maine....these all are important areas because of the knobbiness of the land. I am beginning to appreciate prairie, now. But I crave being surrounded by rocks and scrub-grass and blue-white sky; it's almost like anti-claustrophobia.

2. Ellen--My second oldest sister, who was 17 when I was born. When I was 3, she took some illegally-prescribed meds that caused her bone marrow to stop working. In 1966, over 98% of the people with aplastic anemia died. Not my sister. She had transfusion after transfusion, in arms, legs, neck... She graduated college in spite of it, was told she'd never have kids (and had 2 in spite of it), loved life and people (in spite of it), and died the day before her 49th birthday in 1994 of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. She was diagnosed 10 months earlier. Every good book I read I still want to call and tell her about. She is my hero, because in spite of everything, she believed in God and people and herself.

3. My dad--Without him calmly telling me in 4th grade (I didn't want to go to school) that even he had to do things he didn't want to do--while tying his shoes on his way out to bankruptcy hearings [his]--I wouldn't get through most days. Not a big scene, but it has stuck with me, and reminds me that whining about my job, or anything else, is pointless unless I'm willing to work towards a solution. There's a lot of backstory here, but another thing that sticks with me is that he wore the same winter coat for 25 years. Because he had to, because educating his kids was more important to him than anything else.

4. The house I grew up in and the house in Ouray--Houses are important to me; I seem to define myself by where I live, or stay. If a house has no proper soul, I can't stand it. The house I grew up in was built by my father in 1946 after he was discharge from the Army Air Corps. When I say he built it, I mean from plans to landscaping. Himself and his dad. There is only one other house with the same floorplan in the world, and even the other one doesn't have the upstairs room over the garage (built because I appeared and they were out of bedrooms). He had to use whatever materials were available and cheap before the post-WWII production had geared back up for consumers. We had weird stuff, curved walls and--in the 70s--orange shag carpet in the bathroom!
The Ouray house was actually a service station that my parents bought, and then incorporated as a family corp. Dad redesigned it to fit in a small bedroom and kitchen, enlarged the bathroom, covered the oil pits (although they 'thonked' every time you walked over them), built a hearth for a Franklin stove, put a front bay window where the garage door had been. And painted the door red for my mom. When I was 18, he had the septic field dug up (it never drained right--we had lots of icky bathroom rules...), and then he and I dug a 15-foot deep pit for the new septic tank. We also installed a new drain field. He was 62. I was not going to be beaten by an 'old man' but he very nearly killed me that day.

4. College--Oh boy did I grow up! Just a list here: my roommate and her family, Jenny (who is still my soulfriend), hearing about my niece Elizabeth's first drunken debauch (she was 16, I was 21), my first drunken debauch (and second and third, after which I sort of figured that this wasn't really fun), Beast chasing my roommate and staying up all night in his dorm room talking, Jerry (ick), W*CC*X, N*CEP (USSR/China/Italy/Switzerland), all the good profs, the bad profs too (S!d J0nes playing with his pocket change while discussing Existentialism), Charl#s H0use, the language lab....

5. Psycho-Boss from Hell--My boss at my first full-time job. She was a great teacher of how not to live one's life. She was nuts (clinically), but she also had a really shitty personality. And she was a criminal, not to mention manipulative and (did I mention?) crazy as a loon. So I learned how NOT to be a boss, how NOT to treat people, how NOT to instill self-confidence in others, how to cause health problems in others, how to lie to library boards. BUT! I outlasted her, by God! She left before me. heh

6. Sparky--I'm not an advocate of the "everyone must have kids" school, since I never really wanted any, until I got married. All those Little House episodes with women in labor convinced me that this was something I could live my whole life without experiencing. Nope, adoption was the way to go. Then: tick-tock, biological clock. And all those trite things about doing anything for your kid, and getting between a mother and her child and so forth? Uhm, yeah, true. This person is quite honestly the only person I would lie down without a thought and die for. And he has no idea. And don't mess with him or you'll deal with me. Which is hard to curb now that he's old enough to have to start dealing on his own with reality. He is my star. And a surprisingly good teacher of patience, love, loyalty, honesty, and guilt.

7. Music--A cornerstone of my life. This is the only way I have found to consistently bring out my soul and get me to ME. I have extremely eclectic taste: Beatles to Marsalis, "South Pacific" to Gregorian chant, Shania Twain to Vinnie James. But it has to be something besides noise and banging gongs; there has to be some content, although I do like a good, mindless 'boppy' tune too. The main reason this is so key is because good music always brings me closer to God. Even the ranting "anti-Christian" stuff. And the big kahuna, the major overarching Wonder of my life is God.

So. God.--Well, yeah, without God I'd be a mess. Not the big scary dude with the robe and beard and the BIG STICK he's gonna use if you don't frickin' BEHAVE YOURSELF. And not the cherubs and effing angels and cuteness shtick, no way! And not the Big Daddy who knows all the answers but won't tell you, you minuscule piece of shit. My God is the God of music and mountains (and--grudge, grudge--prairies) and love and personal ACTION and doubt and tears and confusion and self-honesty and safety and peace. I can't explain more than that.

Threesome

Link: Thursday Threesome
Title:::Beginnings, Middles and Ends::

Onesome- Beginnings: Are there any television shows out there that you've watched regularly from the very beginning? Or for those of you not into TV, any book authors that you've read from the very beginning?
The last show I watched that closely was probably "Happy Days"...or "Laverne & Shirley."
Authors I've read since their first book: Janet Evanovich, Sara Paretsky, Sue Grafton, Patricia Cornwell (but no longer) and Kent Haruf (but he hardly counts since he's only written two books!). There are probably others but those are some that stick in my head today.

Twosome- Middles: What about shows that you came into in the middle of the season but immediately grabbed your attention and turned you into a die-hard fan? Again, for non-TV fans, have you ever begun reading a series of books in the middle and then just had to read everything else in the series?
I do like "CSI" (the original) and my guilty secret is watching "Trading Spaces" episodes over and over and over...
As for books, I actually have lists of authors and their titles that I go back and read. I've done so with J.A. Jance and several other mystery authors. I'm a little compulsive in this area, actually.

Threesome- And Ends: Recently, a number of big name shows have ended, Friends, Frasier, The Drew Carey Show, and the cult hit, Angel. Did you watch any of the big finales? Have you ever been really sad to see a show go? Ok, readers, here's one for you. Have you ever read the end of a book first? Why? ;)
RE the latest crop of shows: Nope. But I am sad that "Frasier" is gone as I do think it was a pretty good show, back when I had time to watch TV during the week!
RE books: Laura Moore did this all the time in high school. I tried it a couple of times, but never could figure out what the draw was. So I didn't. Even assigned books I hated I didn't and don't do it; and now I'm wondering why I never thought of it!

Librarian Meme!

Link: library_grrls via Ye Catalogue Blog, because I'm stealing EVERYthing from her today! :-)
Title: Librarian stereotypes meme

1. Own a cat(s)? Nope. Allergic. More of a doggy person anyway.

2. Drive small sensible, economical car? Nope. Truck. (but it is small...)

3. Wear comfortable, sensible shoes? Some days. Today I'm wearing new shoes so they pinch a bit. I love shoes. There was a point--young-marrieds, no cash--when I was not even allowed to be near a shoe store! I've given up on the 3-inch heels and mules, though. ;-)

4. Read constantly? Well, yeah.

5. Never goes out? Define "out." I go out all the time: to the store, to Little League games, to work, etc. OK, seriously...actually, I'm going to a bar this Friday. Otherwise, I don't have that much time to "go out." Because, see, I'm married. With a kid. And I work full time.

6. Sexually inexperienced? See the end of the last answer. Married. Kid. So....no.

7. Friend are all librarians? NO! In fact all my relatives are librarians....ok, only 2 others, the rest are teachers. My friends are bookkeepers (the $$ kind), chemists, small business owners, stay-at-home Moms, consultants, ComEd repair techs, and a few librarians.

8. Could care less about fashion? I like to laugh at fashion. I don't like "girly" fashion, but do like comfy fashion: cargo pants, Tshirts, hoodies, jeans...

9. Lean to the left when it comes to politics? Yep. Got me here.

10. Was a nerd in high school? Got me here too. Hopeless nerd. For which I thank my stars!

11. Wear hair in a bun? Sigh. I'd actually like to figure out how to do a bun... But no, although in almost every other style I can figure out!

12. Am constantly covered in dust? Cheetos dust only.

13. Librarian by day/Bacardi by night? Heh. I drink Bacardi. Not sure I have the tan for the ad campaign though...among other 'issues.'

14. Wear glasses? Yep.

15. Female? Yep. Last time I checked the DNA.

16. Abilities in the yarn arts? I can knit, but not particularly well. Don't know how to crochet. Or tat. Waiting till retirement to take that up... hah

Hump Day

Link: BlogDriveInsanity
Title: Wednesday Mind Hump

Let's warm up with a new exercise. Think of a cliché, a favorite saying, a sampling of your favorite lyrics or a snippet from your favorite poem or movie. For instance, "... the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth." Now, hump it up! Here's how the example would translate, " ... the hump, the whole hump and nothing but the hump." The possibilities are endless ... have fun with it! Ready? Hump it up! "A hump in time saves nine." ;-)

Okay, now that we're all warmed up let's move on to a little Mind Humping fun with "I say ___, you think ___." In response to the following list of words enter the first words, phrase, idea or thought that comes into your ever humpin' mind. Ready? Put on your humping caps.

01. lipstick :: Librarian (I think I've been blogging too much)
02. dust :: bunnies
03. scissors :: Don't run with...
04. balls :: ...oy, so many choices... Cheese. Yeah, that's my answer.
05. sponge :: Bob
06. bottom :: feeder
07. doodle :: Cheese. Again with the cheese. Hmmm....
08. bottle :: perfume
09. cheese :: I'm surrounded by cheese! I even brought some for lunch today: sharp cheddar.
10. queen :: Michael McKean

Monday

Link:BlogIdeas
Title:A family vacation gone wrong

Just about every vacation goes "wrong" somehow: a big argument, lousy weather, lost luggage, etc. But all this stuff eventually makes it into the potpourri that becomes The Great Family Story.

My favorite vacation gone wrong happened when I was 20 and met my parents in Minneapolis to fly to England to visit my sister. Memorable bad things that happened:

--We stayed in a former chicken house that had been prettied up as a B&B. It was actually quite nice inside, if somewhat low-ceilinged. But they had wrapped all the mattresses in plastic, so I slid around all night on top of the sheets. And it was cold. COLD COLD COLD. We had one electric fire in the living room. And I was sleeping on plastic with one blanket and a sheet.
--I dropped my 1 year old nephew on his face.
--My sister accidentally unplugged their refrigerator before they left for our week by the seaside. We came home to no food and ANTS EVERYWHERE. And by then we'd hit proper summer temperatures, so cleaning up was really icky.
--I missed my boyfriend tremendously.
--The day we went to Exeter it poured rain and dad's hearing aid was ruined.
--All I brought to read were books on the Soviet Union (to prep for my trip there later). Boring.
--My dad had his pocket picked in London, on the tube.
--Our flight home was delayed and then cancelled. When we finally arrived back in Minneapolis, it was too late to make any connections that day, so they booked us into a hotel. But our bags were checked through to Denver, so we had to go argue with the baggage people. By the time we had our bags, the hotel driver told us there were no rooms left. So we had to go back into the airport and find someone to get us chits for another hotel. We finally hit the sheets about 2 a.m., and had to be up at 6 to catch our flight.
--The $5 they gave each of us for breakfast at the hotel bought us an orange juice. Everything else was upwards of $10 or more.

However: I have pleasant memories of watching my two preschool neices splashing in the (COLD) water, eating pasties in the cafe by the sea, being assured by my sister that old people (her mother-in-law) could really be annoying, my dad telling me that my mom had a "classy chassis" (my dad NEVER talked that way!), shopping at the Leicester outdoor market, seeing Evita in London, staying at a wonderful hotel in London--in my own room!--buying fun records not available in the States, and Morag (from Scotland) working with us in Minneapolis to get the hotel issue resolved so my dad wouldn't have a heart attack, literally, in the midst of dealing with it. Oh, and my dad's best friend, Ken Hamilton, picking us up at the airport. That was the last time I saw him.

We survived. And it was fun.

Other memorable "bad vacation things:" arguing with my sister at my parent's 50th anniversary party and making Mom cry, Beast falling over the suitcases on an escalator in Frankfort, trying to get my camera fixed in Beijing, Shady (our dog) peeing in the hotel room instead of outdoors, having to change TJ's diaper in a prop jet bathroom, running with Sparky from one end of the Memphis airport to the other, being overseas when the plane went down near Long Island in 1996, nearly being mugged in Rome, discovering that our vacation home had been burgled, Aeroflot.

But they are all great stories!