I live in Seattle, so the cloudy skies can drag on for weeks and weeks ... sometimes, I find this makes me SAD or gloomy and I have to make a real effort, find some friends or plan a fun event or turn on all the lights and turn up the music to get myself in a good mood again.
I have so many fun weather memories - I remember being a very little kid, and sleeping in the motorhome in Arizona while a huge lightning storm blazed in the desert outside.
I remember camping with the family, and we went for a hike. I remember running through the rain in a flashflood near the coast, we were all soaked to the skin within moments.
And right now I am frustrated with the weather because it has been snowing for a few days which is unusual for the Seattle area; so I haven't been able to run around and do my usual merry Christmas shopping, since I don't have a 4x4.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Movie Critic
Quantum of Solace (James Bond)
Iconoclastic addition to the empire; cars race, bombs explode, women.
Iconoclastic addition to the empire; cars race, bombs explode, women.
Game day!
You've inherited millions and are purchasing a professional sports team. What will be the team's new name?
Water Moccasins .... my deadly team of old folks who exercise in the pool.
Water Moccasins .... my deadly team of old folks who exercise in the pool.
Cuckoo
In what way are you a little (or more than a little) crazy?
I am very obsessive about lists and organization of the minutia... schedules, calendars, and checking things off ... it's my life, really!
I am very obsessive about lists and organization of the minutia... schedules, calendars, and checking things off ... it's my life, really!
Saturday, December 13, 2008
We shall never grow up!
Write a response to the phrase "growing older."
Years ago, when I was very young, I started realizing that as I grew up, I was changing quite a bit from what I always thought I would be.
So I composed this little rhyme and I have never forgotten it.
"If the little girl I used to be
Could see me as I am
She probably would be surprised
At what I have become."
Years ago, when I was very young, I started realizing that as I grew up, I was changing quite a bit from what I always thought I would be.
So I composed this little rhyme and I have never forgotten it.
"If the little girl I used to be
Could see me as I am
She probably would be surprised
At what I have become."
TV of not TV
You're starting a new television network. What is it called, and what kind of programming will you air?
Blair would air a show called Treehouse Kids. It would be about how kids in Sunday School misbehave during the service ...
I would document the lives of pilots as they go through training ... it would be called "Head in the Clouds".
Blair would air a show called Treehouse Kids. It would be about how kids in Sunday School misbehave during the service ...
I would document the lives of pilots as they go through training ... it would be called "Head in the Clouds".
Putt-putt
Describe your primary mode of transportation. Do you wish it was different?
A 2004 silver Kia optima, and I dearly love the darling. It's a good car, and I wouldn't want any other!
A 2004 silver Kia optima, and I dearly love the darling. It's a good car, and I wouldn't want any other!
What should I be when I grow up?
As a kid, what job did you dream you'd have as an adult? What job do you have now?
I always wanted to be a singer!
I kinda changed my mind over the years many times!
Now I am a Project Manager and absolutely love it sooo much ... I never dreamed I would be in such a "technical" job ... it was the type of job I, as a little kid, abhorred!
I always wanted to be a singer!
I kinda changed my mind over the years many times!
Now I am a Project Manager and absolutely love it sooo much ... I never dreamed I would be in such a "technical" job ... it was the type of job I, as a little kid, abhorred!
Contraptions
Write about the first item you remember saving up to purchase.
I was always, always saving my money for cooking contraptions. I would spend hours reading the Betty Crocker magazines, or the King Arthur Flour magazines, and just dream about the ice-cream makers, the popsicle makers, the waffle irons, pans, random dishes, spoons, and so many fantastic things. I bought a beautiful popsicle thing where you pour juice into the little cups and they freeze, it was so much fun and I hardly ever used it.
I was always, always saving my money for cooking contraptions. I would spend hours reading the Betty Crocker magazines, or the King Arthur Flour magazines, and just dream about the ice-cream makers, the popsicle makers, the waffle irons, pans, random dishes, spoons, and so many fantastic things. I bought a beautiful popsicle thing where you pour juice into the little cups and they freeze, it was so much fun and I hardly ever used it.
Carnivores...herbivores...omnivores. Create an "___ivore" word to describe yourself and your eating habits.
Grazeovore ... I do not like to eat very much at once because when I feel full, I feel fat and then I get depressed. So I tend to eat small amounts, spread out over the day, of whatever ... in the morning, vitamins and my meal drink thing, and for lunch, salad, and later an egg, and later cottage cheese, and then a sandwich for dinner, then later a cookie or 2. Yummmmm!!!
Grazeovore ... I do not like to eat very much at once because when I feel full, I feel fat and then I get depressed. So I tend to eat small amounts, spread out over the day, of whatever ... in the morning, vitamins and my meal drink thing, and for lunch, salad, and later an egg, and later cottage cheese, and then a sandwich for dinner, then later a cookie or 2. Yummmmm!!!
dochiloglossal
Write about one thing that makes you unique or even unusual.
My tongue =) I can lick my nose, eat yogurt or applesauce or pudding cups without a spoon (in fact, I never use a spoon for those dishes, I don't like to), and I can roll it, fold it, flatten it, do all kinds of crazy stuff!
My tongue =) I can lick my nose, eat yogurt or applesauce or pudding cups without a spoon (in fact, I never use a spoon for those dishes, I don't like to), and I can roll it, fold it, flatten it, do all kinds of crazy stuff!
My least favorite things
What is your least favorite food, and why?
Lima beans ... chili ... tomato soup.
Lima beans ... chili ... tomato soup.
CPAG
If you had $100,000 to give away, to what person(s) or organization(s) would you give it?
My church
They will use it to provide not only physical food and water
but the body and blood of Jesus Christ
to our community
everlasting life.
My church
They will use it to provide not only physical food and water
but the body and blood of Jesus Christ
to our community
everlasting life.
the Pièce de résistance
If you could have just one perfect minute today, what would it consist of?
Gary and I, just us, somewhere in the sun, quiet.
Gary and I, just us, somewhere in the sun, quiet.
Happy birthday to me
Describe a memorable birthday (yours or another's).
When I was little, maybe seven, then my mom and my sister got me the dollhouse of my dreams. Actually, they made it; it was a few cardboard boxes that my mom had cleverly cut away one side of, to be in the shape of a dollhouse; and then she had covered them with fabric, and gotten lots of little dolls (tiny little people whom I loved dearly, one of them fell underneath the deck and was lost there for years), and little furnitures. It was such a joy and I remember it because I loved playing with it, and my original memory of opening it is kinda overwritten with a home video of that birthday.
When I was little, maybe seven, then my mom and my sister got me the dollhouse of my dreams. Actually, they made it; it was a few cardboard boxes that my mom had cleverly cut away one side of, to be in the shape of a dollhouse; and then she had covered them with fabric, and gotten lots of little dolls (tiny little people whom I loved dearly, one of them fell underneath the deck and was lost there for years), and little furnitures. It was such a joy and I remember it because I loved playing with it, and my original memory of opening it is kinda overwritten with a home video of that birthday.
Rewind<<
If you had a "do over" button, what one event in your life would you like to have a second chance at doing better?
I would start planning my wedding sooner, hehe.
I would go back to when Gary proposed and show him better how excited I was when he asked me, because when he asked me I was so numb that I just sat there.
I would start planning my wedding sooner, hehe.
I would go back to when Gary proposed and show him better how excited I was when he asked me, because when he asked me I was so numb that I just sat there.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Home
You are designing your own house. Describe it.
All around are gently sloped hills, with sprawling lilacs and weeping willows hugging around the house to protect it from the wind. The ocean is less than a mile away - you can hear the surf crashing all the time. Sometimes we pick up crabs off the rocks. It is an old farmhouse, similar in style to the Eisenhower family home on Rhode Island. There is a very spacious wrap-around veranda with more than one swinging chair. There is a mudporch around the back, by the kitchen door, and there is a brick addition where we store food, like homemade preserves. On the opposite side of the house, there is a covered porch with screens and some plants, tomatoes and herbs. We sit there when it is stormy out, or too cold for the veranda. There are several steps, about five, leading up the porch to the entry. The front door is a double-door, with glass panes - frosted, so you can't really see through them, but the light glows through. Inside, there is a wood floor. It's a warm honey-brown color, you feel cozy just looking at it. The rooms are spacious, and some are elegant, some are homey. The elegant living room has bookshelves with scholarly tomes, a fireplace with a stone mantel and I think there is a painting of the Idaho mountains above it. There is a huge painting of a lighthouse in Oregon, with the surf roaring up around it, on the wall on my right. I can see through the windows, through the lilac bushes outside and the roses, where the real ocean is. How beautiful. Sunlight streams in, and dust motes float in the air. Back in to the main entryway, you can explore upstairs - a curved staircase, with a banister sturdy enough to slide down. There are so many bedrooms, bathrooms, a library, a study with computers, you could almost get lost up there. Doors open into walk-in closets ,some have secret passageways leading upstairs. The attic is warm in the summer, cold in the winter. Half of it has been built into a sweet little bedroom. Guests stay here sometimes. The other half is dusty, with some mysterious chests, some old boxes that ways 1911, or Oranges, or Soap Chips - we've never looked in those. They contain treasures ... there are papers, letters, photographs. Mysteries. Back downstairs to the main level, we explore the comfortable family living room. Less like the parlor, more casual, with big leather couches, and some sort of sloppy pillows where you can just pile up and be relaxed. There is a gas fireplace in here. We go down the hall and find a home theater, with thick doors to help muffle the sounds of the movies we watch in there. Then we go behind the staircase and find a dining room, complete with a china cabinet, a sideboard, a crystal decanter and a silver tray. The kitchen is just off the dining room. You could sleep behind the stove, there is such a space there. The stove is huge, with eight burners. There are three ovens, brick walls, brick floor. A huge wooden table in the middle of the room where we chop vegetables and eat sometimes; the refrigerator, and through the door in to the storage room we find a deep freeze and shelves and shelves of home canned goods. There is a trapdoor through the storage room, and downstairs there are frozen meats, cold dairy, apples, even some Christmas presents. back in the kitchen, we can find elegant wineglasses and comfortable tin mugs. It's all here ... home!
All around are gently sloped hills, with sprawling lilacs and weeping willows hugging around the house to protect it from the wind. The ocean is less than a mile away - you can hear the surf crashing all the time. Sometimes we pick up crabs off the rocks. It is an old farmhouse, similar in style to the Eisenhower family home on Rhode Island. There is a very spacious wrap-around veranda with more than one swinging chair. There is a mudporch around the back, by the kitchen door, and there is a brick addition where we store food, like homemade preserves. On the opposite side of the house, there is a covered porch with screens and some plants, tomatoes and herbs. We sit there when it is stormy out, or too cold for the veranda. There are several steps, about five, leading up the porch to the entry. The front door is a double-door, with glass panes - frosted, so you can't really see through them, but the light glows through. Inside, there is a wood floor. It's a warm honey-brown color, you feel cozy just looking at it. The rooms are spacious, and some are elegant, some are homey. The elegant living room has bookshelves with scholarly tomes, a fireplace with a stone mantel and I think there is a painting of the Idaho mountains above it. There is a huge painting of a lighthouse in Oregon, with the surf roaring up around it, on the wall on my right. I can see through the windows, through the lilac bushes outside and the roses, where the real ocean is. How beautiful. Sunlight streams in, and dust motes float in the air. Back in to the main entryway, you can explore upstairs - a curved staircase, with a banister sturdy enough to slide down. There are so many bedrooms, bathrooms, a library, a study with computers, you could almost get lost up there. Doors open into walk-in closets ,some have secret passageways leading upstairs. The attic is warm in the summer, cold in the winter. Half of it has been built into a sweet little bedroom. Guests stay here sometimes. The other half is dusty, with some mysterious chests, some old boxes that ways 1911, or Oranges, or Soap Chips - we've never looked in those. They contain treasures ... there are papers, letters, photographs. Mysteries. Back downstairs to the main level, we explore the comfortable family living room. Less like the parlor, more casual, with big leather couches, and some sort of sloppy pillows where you can just pile up and be relaxed. There is a gas fireplace in here. We go down the hall and find a home theater, with thick doors to help muffle the sounds of the movies we watch in there. Then we go behind the staircase and find a dining room, complete with a china cabinet, a sideboard, a crystal decanter and a silver tray. The kitchen is just off the dining room. You could sleep behind the stove, there is such a space there. The stove is huge, with eight burners. There are three ovens, brick walls, brick floor. A huge wooden table in the middle of the room where we chop vegetables and eat sometimes; the refrigerator, and through the door in to the storage room we find a deep freeze and shelves and shelves of home canned goods. There is a trapdoor through the storage room, and downstairs there are frozen meats, cold dairy, apples, even some Christmas presents. back in the kitchen, we can find elegant wineglasses and comfortable tin mugs. It's all here ... home!
The Folks
How do you strive to be similar to, or different from, your parents?
My parents homeschooled all of us kids out of an earnest desire to raise us up right, in God's way, with a deeper education of Him and of the arts, literature, classics, and sciences, then we could get in a public education. In that way, I strive to be like them.
My parents do not publically display their affection to each other, especially in front of us kids. In that way, I strive to be different. It should be public. Not gross, but public.
My parents homeschooled all of us kids out of an earnest desire to raise us up right, in God's way, with a deeper education of Him and of the arts, literature, classics, and sciences, then we could get in a public education. In that way, I strive to be like them.
My parents do not publically display their affection to each other, especially in front of us kids. In that way, I strive to be different. It should be public. Not gross, but public.
Paul
Write about an "online-only" friend you have not met in person.
This is Paulie of course. He is a pilot in Florida and I met him through an aviation site on Myspace a few years ago when I just began going to flight school. He and I would study a lot online, he would help me out over IM. Sometimes we would talk on the phone and it was a lot of fun, I got to hear about his girlfriend (claire!) and then she became his fiancee (!) and now in spring they will be getting married, and I am invited to the wedding! but it is in Florida and that is pretty far away from Washington so I don't know if I will be able to go ... but I am still so very happy for them!!!
This is Paulie of course. He is a pilot in Florida and I met him through an aviation site on Myspace a few years ago when I just began going to flight school. He and I would study a lot online, he would help me out over IM. Sometimes we would talk on the phone and it was a lot of fun, I got to hear about his girlfriend (claire!) and then she became his fiancee (!) and now in spring they will be getting married, and I am invited to the wedding! but it is in Florida and that is pretty far away from Washington so I don't know if I will be able to go ... but I am still so very happy for them!!!
Excessively
In what area of your life do you tend toward excess instead of moderation?
Taking photographs ... oh yeah ... I get criticized for it sometimes and people say I take too many but I just love having useless photos, hehehe! I can go back and look at them later and find funny little details that I didn't even mean to capture, and that is a lot of fun!
Taking photographs ... oh yeah ... I get criticized for it sometimes and people say I take too many but I just love having useless photos, hehehe! I can go back and look at them later and find funny little details that I didn't even mean to capture, and that is a lot of fun!
Monday, December 8, 2008
Mne
Write about one of your earliest memories.
My little brother Ryan was born when I was about four years old; I dimly remember wondering how babies were born with clothes on, if mothers somehow fabricated them inside their bellies or what. I remember he was crying and screaming, a blistering lobster red.
My little brother Ryan was born when I was about four years old; I dimly remember wondering how babies were born with clothes on, if mothers somehow fabricated them inside their bellies or what. I remember he was crying and screaming, a blistering lobster red.
Valence
Write about an item you own that isn't worth much money but has great value to you.
I own a little letter that Gary wrote to me the day I left for Hawai'i; I also have a second one that he gave me the day I came home. Those are so precious to me!
I own a little letter that Gary wrote to me the day I left for Hawai'i; I also have a second one that he gave me the day I came home. Those are so precious to me!
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