wearing 3 shoes....who knew?

Ok, I guess I was wrong.

There was yet another shoe to be dropped after the last post.

Monday I had to put 2 new tires on the van and have it aligned before it was safe to take it on the road.

DANG! Just when I thought 3 was the magic number....(here we're making the sign to ward off the evil eye, hoping this new event isn't the beginning of a new 3 some!)

This time I was ticked off enough about the cause of the problem that I fired off a hot letter to the dealership about the total incompetence of who ever did the vehicle inspection before we bought the van (unless, of course, they just lied to us about that happening).

Seems this month we can't catch a break {sigh}

Looking for a window...(the other shoe has dropped)

Ever notice how "bad" things come in threes?

Maybe I'm just nuts (ok, we'll discuss that another day), but it seems that bad things always happen in clumps.

I've now had my 3 in the last week, and I can say, I'm glad the clump is over now we can get on to recovering.

Item 1

Last week we went out to go some where, and the van wouldn't start. Nope, battery dead as a doornail (what DOES that phrase mean?), and this was the 4th time we had found this condition. And since I had already used up all of my alloted AAA calls, I had no choice, I called the dealership and told them that we had "the issue" AGAIN!

Much to their credit, they sent one of their techs with a booster box and got me started, then I took the van to them to figure it out.

Over the few months we have had the van I have gotten to know a lot about it. Through some miracle, the folks that owned it before us had left a receipt in the glove box that had a phone number on it. I got bold, I called the guy and asked him if they had ever had this issue with the van. He said yes, so I questioned him further about the DVD player that had been installed in the van. He had put that in the weekend he bought the van, so he couldn't answer my next question which was -- did you have the problem before the DVD player went in.

So, my thought was that the folks that installed the DVD player (Circuit City) had installed it with the electrical connection ahead of the starter so it was always on and draining the battery.

Well, after 24 hours and a lot of testing, the dealership found the problem ... guess what ... I was right.

So, the wiring for the DVD player has been REMOVED!, and I got to write a check for $311 to the dealership. (At least now the problem is fixed!)

Item 2

Then we had the furnace issue. Waking up to a COLD (even by our standards) house and getting to spend just under $200 to have the ignitor unit replaced on Monday.

At that point I knew there would be something else ... its that clump of 3!

Item 3
The other shoe dropped yesterday. (that's another phrase I'd like to know the origin of)

Since August I've been doing bank recons and account analysis for a small business locally to help them try to get onto a corporate basis from just being a small "mom & pop". The guy has been paying me at the rate I had originally asked him for, and I was making enough to cover the increase in payments going out for the van and my health insurance.

Yesterday when I delivered the December recon, he told me that they had some friend of theirs that was a Quick Books guru working on the inventory and other things, and for now at least he doesn't have anything else for me to do for them.

NUTS!

So, there we are...now I need to find some way to make up that difference......

We believe that when a door closes somewhere a window opens.....so, I'm looking for a window

Slaying the Dragon....

I've done it again.....submitted something for publication.

Two things actually -- one is a sheet of paper dolls that I just finished, and the other is an article about a teddy bear's make over.

These both went to an online magazine. I was emboldened by receiving a notice from the self same Ezine that an article I had submitted back in December is going to be used in the upcoming issue......WHOOOPPPEEE!!

I don't get paid for these other than the free publicity about my work to a much larger audience than I can reach any other way, so its pretty good!

As soon as the issue comes out, I'll post links here.

Now, I just need to keep at another writing project I'm working on.....

Letters from home......

I have a dear friend in California that sends out an email about once a week to a long list of folks that I am blessed to be a part of.

Usually she writes it and sends it out (actually her daughter does the computer part) on Sunday afternoon, and I get to start my week by reading what I consider to be "news from home".

Even at this point, I have still lived more years in California than anywhere else, so it really does feel like home.

I should also add that this charming lady is an accomplished artist, so she notices things an artist would notice and shares them with us all.

This week's letter included the following: "The hills to the East have a green tinge to them." ...and... "The hummingbird (or another one) has returned. She is sitting in last year's refurbished nest on two eggs"

Oh, to have the hills in any direction from us have a green tinge! I am well and totally sick of winter, as we cleaned another 5 inches out of the driveway yesterday for a total of about 8 inches for this weekend's storm. (and I see in the long range forecast another storm for NEXT weekend --- please! say it isn't so!)

I love reading her letters and hate reading her letters....wondering how many days this week I'll feel homesick......Bless you June, for helping me remember that spring will come -- eventually!

Do I seem like an atheist to you?

Recently someone said to me "I sometimes think you are an atheist, its like you don't believe in anything".

Now this is troubling.

And since there was no specific example of what I had said or done that was cited to give me some opportunity for explanation, I'm now left wondering what it was I did -- or didn't do -- that gave someone that impression.

I will admit to having had doubts. Its not that I don't believe that God exists, or that He knows what's going on down here. But I can say that I've never had that "flash of lightening" feeling that people talk about. I guess that's reserved for folks that are already WAY ahead of me on this level.

So to a large extent I guess I feel like I'm sort of stumbling along, trying most of the time to be a good person tho' I'm not always, to give back to folks with less than I have.

I'd like to have that "I'm sure of it all" feeling that some folks say they have, but I guess I've taken too many detours along the way.

Administrivia and trouble makers

I'm beginning to wonder if there is an active brain cell left among the administrative employees in this area.

Example #1:

Early in December, the DH was given a form by his doctor to get a handicap placard for the car. When we started filling in our part of the form, we discovered that the doctor's office had not had her sign the form, so it had to go back to her office to be signed.

After the form came back to us, we didn't get over to the DMV because of the 3 storms back to back.

Well, yesterday seemed like an opportune time, so off we went to the DMV, form in hand to accomplish the deed. But NOOOOOOO, there was a number missing! So I called the doctor's office, from the DMV and asked for them to give me the doctor's medical license number (required on the form by the State), and was told by the administrative employee that she could give me that information over the phone because it was "private information" --- HUH!? Then she told me she'd have to check with the office manager and call me back.

She finally did call back, an hour and a half later, after we had given up waiting and returned home.

So today the form is in the mail box waiting for the post man to carry it back to the DMV. I hope we've finally got it right.

Example #2:
This morning we got a phone call from the office of the specialist that the DH is supposed to see tomorrow asking us if we had the referal paperwork. WHAT?

Here's the deal here: when we first called (back in early December) to make an appointment we were told they needed the referal. I contacted the primary care doctor and asked them to take care of that for us (its SUPPOSED to be their job). About 2 weeks ago, the specialist's office called and said they had the referal and we made an appointment.

Ok, whose wires are crossed here?

On second thought, maybe it isn't all administrative employees, maybe it just the medical ones -- what do we expect from a system so seriously broken?!

And my second "rant" for today has to do with troublemakers.

Why is it some people are just not satisfied unless they are stirring up past history and flinging accusations?

Having just had an encounter with this issue, I am mightily tempted to reply point by point with both barrels (preferably of a shot gun full of rock salt!)

And of course that response makes me unhappy with feeling that way, having been told as a child that someone always has to be the "bigger person" in a disagreement, and that it should be me (why me always?)....

But sometimes it seems a little righteous indignation and a setting of the record straight might go a really long way to putting a halt to this kind of assault in the future.

Maybe I'll get to have my say someday.....

tax screaming

I've spent a good deal of time the last 2 days working on taxes.

First we organize all the little pieces of paper into piles of what they are: medical, business, contributions, sales tax, income

Then its on to the spread sheets -- I should note here that effective Jan 1, 2007, I am converting all my business stuff into QuickBooks, so there will be less of this next time, but there will still be medical

And then there is the reviewing to be sure I didn't duplicate anything

and the downloading of forms from the IRS.gov site where I can take just the pieces I need (including from the instructions) but even so, I have a hefty stack of paper to wade through

I may run screaming from the room!!! (how did I do this at work for all those years without being certifiable --- oh, yeah, now my secret is out!!)

how did I write that?

yesterday, as we're driving off to the store to pick up a few things, the DH says to me "why don't you see if there is some place that you could submit a short story"

hmmmmm, well, uuuuhhhhh .... here's the issue my friends: when I was in high school (yes, low, nearly 40 years ago) I wrote short stories, and plays and poetry and newspaper articles. Thing is, I just wrote whatever was floating around in my head (or the assigned topic in the case of a newspaper article). I never took a class then, or in college, that gave me any really idea of how to create a believable character, or structure a plot, or whatever.....I just "did it"

so, do I still have a story or two to write? well, maybe, but I have no idea anymore how to start.

Can I blog? Well, yes, it appears so, since I have 3 of these running and I seem to be able to write a recipe and a few paragraphs about its source, or keep up a running commentary on the other art work I'm creating, but I don't seem to have the faintest idea of how to start a story.

is it possible to write a story without knowing at the beginning how it will end? how is it that the idea for that civil war era novel is still floating around, but I have no clue how to start (ok, I have done a brief character description for ONE character, but I don't seem to know those other people)

and so I'm puzzling about this....how is it you can "forget" how to do this, or was it simply that when I was 17 I didn't even think about the structure, I read a lot and I wrote a lot......

having read several of Julia Cameron's books, I know that if you're going to write, you have to do it every day, and I'm managing to do that by blogging (I don't miss a lot of days), but that is not giving me any real direction....NUTS!

hmmmmmm, perhaps having some direction is the problem......

and so I consider this rambling a sort of "asking the higher power" as Cameron puts it, and thinking that perhaps someone in blogland will run across this and drop me an idea or two.....

On being thankful to live in this century

In doing family history, I've also read some other source material about the experience of living on the plains in the 1800s.

For the past 3 days, we've had clouds, snow, and almost constant wind.

Imagine living in those conditions out in the middle of the plains, no neighbors for miles, no electricity, no internet, no cable --- nothing but a little cabin, a fireplace and the sound of the wind howling around (or through) the cabin.

No wonder those women looked so dour in those pictures. How did they keep from going literally crazy in those conditions?

They obviously were made of very sturdy stuff -- I'm not sure I would measure up.....here's to our great grandmothers --- what great ladies they were!

A wonderful Christmas was had by all......

As I write this, I'm sitting in a pool of lovely full spectrum light from the new lamp my DH got for me. After having "burned up" two smaller lamps that were full spectrum bulbs but used a transformer in the power set up, I had hinted broadly that a more efficient lighting system was probably a good idea. TA DA! I now have wonderful light to work under!!

He had quite a story to tell about one of the other presents he got for me too, and it goes like this.

Not long ago on Mason Dixon Knitting, there was a lengthy review of a Rowenta iron. Now the iron I've been using is about my daughter's age, and has seen me through many projects, but after reading the review of the Rowenta, I went on at length about its virtues, especially since it was clear that an heirloom quality quilt for our daughter's wedding was in our future.

So, the ever faithful DH set out on his quest to make it happen. Off he went to the store where he picked out a very nice model of the Rowenta, one with a very "pointy" sole plate which will be great for all that quilt work!

He goes to the check out, and is his usual thing, he was telling the clerk how this is a present for his wife for Christmas. Well, he nearly couldn't get it out the door until he made a long explanation about how thrilled I'd be to get it for the quilting. She simply didn't think an iron was a good Christmas gift! What a hoot!! BTW -- I am thrilled!! Can't wait to get started on the next quilt project and get to use it.

Today's picture should probably be labeled "Queen Elphie". She's pretty much taken this chair as her personal "throne". At the time I took this picture Christmas morning (before we tore into the presents as you can see from behind her), she was keeping our daughter's dog from getting into "her" chair.

I hope all of you had a great Christmas too!

Snow pictures and household projects

The snow and the wind made lovely scuplture! This is our back yard, where the wind blew the snow around into a kind of "half pipe".....it really looks amazing......I'm wondering if there's some way to capture this look with beads.....something to think about

The picture below is an icicle hanging from the blue spruce tree in our front yard.....the storm decorated the tree for Christmas!

And these would be the latest knitting adventure. Both knit from the same pattern, but in one the texture runs vertically and the other it is horizontal.

These are covers for my "Swiffer" which I love using because it picks up the dog hair so well, but I'm not thrilled with the "use the cover once and throw it away" issue.....

The reason I knit these two different directions was to do a semi scientific test.....which pattern picks up the most stuff before it must be changed? After a test use to figure it out, I will be making a few more of these.....in the most efficient pattern of course!

Why can't we play nice?

I keep wondering about that question as I keep hearing the replays (over and over ad nauseum) of Rosie and Donald slinging insults at each other.

What ever happened to a civilized nation?

I'll give Donald the benefit of the doubt here, he's giving a girl a chance to clean up her act and turn her life around. I'll forego that he probably has a financial motive here (see, even I'm cynical), but I can't for the life of me understand what Rosie can be thinking.....

Has our national culture so deteriorated that everything must be negative? Is this the legacy of living in fear?

It makes me want to stand on the street corner and scream at people "just play nice"!!

Ouch!

One of the side attractions of having anywhere from 1/4 inch to 7 feet of snow in your yard is the fun you get to have clearing it out.

Today's excursion was done in 2 stages.....we had been asked by the post office folks to clear a path to our mail boxes so they can resume delivery service tomorrow, so we did that first.

It took a while to clear the knee deep drift across the sidewalk right next to the garage, but then we chugged along down the driveway on one side of the car, and on to the front walk to the edge of the post box.

By the time we had recovered and returned back outside to do the second stage, the neighbor on one side had run his snow blower from his property line to where we had cleared in front of the mail box, so we didn't have to do that piece (we thanked him profusely!!)

So, we concentrated on clearing out the rest of the driveway.....so now when our daughter comes down for Christmas, there'll be someplace for her to park.

I can definately say I got my exercise today, but this evening my back is letting me know I over did it....OUCH!

So, its off to the alternating hot and cold and a good dose of advil before bedtime..........maybe I should just go lay in a snow drift!!

Meantime, I'm trying to find out how I can get some help for my folks to get dug out.....my dad was talking about going out with a shovel to dig out the truck and make a path to the wood shed, but he really should not be doing that.....my mother says she thinks she can get some one from the city to help, but I worry about them decided to do it for themselves.....its hard for them I know to admit they can't do everything for themselves --- we're having some of those issues ourselves -- but I worry about it anyway.

It's not time yet!!

I'm yelling that actually to all the folks that are currently celebrating the 12 days of Christmas.....being a bit of a purist is a pain I guess, but just in case someone is actually interested, the 12 days of Christmas are AFTER Christmas....like until Ephifany......Ok, I'm done with that rant for now.

I'm in a semi pre Christmas funk.....working away on the last of the Christmas presents that must get finished post haste and really wanting to work on a whole lot of brand new things that I've got all set up to start on (see the studio blog from early in the week) and having a couple more new ideas floating around in my head.....nuts!

Meantime, I can say that my Christmas shopping is done (just waiting for another package to arrive in the mail); all of the cards are mailed; the first package that had to go out of town was mailed yesterday and the last one goes tomorrow. We're deep into gift wrapping, which at some point every year looses its attraction, and becomes a chore, but we aren't there yet (see if we would only buy one present for each person.....ha, like that will ever happen!)

Anyway, I'm meantime worrying a bit about my sister (a 5 day migrane is a BAD, BAD thing); my brother in law (he's having surgery on his shoulder next Thursday); my dad (bronchitis on top of COPD is another BAD idea) and my husband (he fell on his knee 2 weeks ago today and is still having a lot of pain and the knee looks seriously like he needs to scrub off the mud, except its all discolored beneath the skin -- he's going to the doctor tomorrow). This is an official request for prayer for all of them!

Today is the 3rd Sunday of Advent, what glorious rose colored vestments in evidence, I enjoyed listening to the mass from Notre Dame this morning. We are reminded here to rejoice, the Lord is coming!

Today is also the 3rd day of Chanukkah, and we honor the Jewish traditions that lead to our transformation into Christians.

May all of you, whatever your belief be blessed.

The decorating is done!

Actually, its been done since Sunday, but it took me a while to get the pictures taken, and then it took me a while longer to figure out how to load these up on the "new and improved" (NOT) blogger.

Anyway, here is a little "tour" of all the Christmas crazyness......

This is the family room tree, complete with all the hand made ornaments from my friend in California, and the pictures of my daughter with Santa, and the ornaments she made as a little girl. This one has bubble lights and shaped bulb lights (bears and snow men)
Right inside the front door this little table is the place I set the envelopes waiting to go out to the box for the next day. I've had the little mail box and the lantern for a really long time.

This is the little wall tree in the kitchen with its wooden jumper toys around it.

Going up the stairs the banister is wrapped with greenery and lights and tied up with green, gold and burgandy ribbon. Between each rail is a wooden jumper toy and there is a little wood sleigh and a candle on each step.
Candles and Russian style art (there is no place in our local parish church to light a candle, but I can do it here). The Icon in the middle is St Nicholas, and the egg on the left has a nativity scene inside.

This is what we call our Russian tree -- really its an Eastern European tree as all of the ornaments and figurines under it are in that style. There are a lot of real eggs that have been painted or otherwise decorated on this tree. This tree is on one side of the buffet in the dining room.

This tree stands at the other end of the buffet in the dining room. Every ornament on it is hand blown glass, there are a lot of Radko ornaments and a number of Italian blown glass pieces.
The top of the stereo cabinet, all decorated with tin toys, santa mugs and candles.
Its not yet the night before Christmas, but the stockings are hung by the chimney with care! I have done the knitting of 3 of these in the last 2 months.
In the family room on the wall opposite the big tree is this little wall tree that is all decorated with Disney ornaments and keepsakes from our trips to Disneyland.

This little tree is on top of a doll case next to the piano. The star on top is the last rennant of the decorations my grandmother used to hang in the windows when I was a child. The ornaments on this tree are the little ones that would get lost on a big tree. There is also a fiber santa that my DH made as a child on this one.
Not exactly a tree, but we count it anyway. The Lladro bell and ball ornaments are a little heavy for a regular tree, but they look good on this stand. And I like the look of the other bisque porcelian pieces under it.
The top of the curio cabinet always has this clock (it was made by my DH's grandfather), but at Christmas we add some ceramic and porcelain figures too.
Decorating the coffee table with greenery and candles has been a long time thing, but this year I added some eggs with inside decorations too.

Under the living room tree, the bears are all dressed up and ready for the occasion.
The Crystal Tree. Every ornament on it is clear glass, most of them lead crystal. This is the tree my daughter is still afraid to touch, but now days she adds to my 30+ year collection every year.
Standing next to the piano is the Bear Tree. Every ornament on this one is a bear, and that means there are a lot of Coca Cola bears on there!
The nativity set is in its usual place on top of the piano (some day soon I'll have to find a new place when the piano goes to my daughter). We use some traditions from other places when we set it up. The 3 Wise Men are always to the East, not right at the stable (I believe this is a French custom), on top of the stable is the angel and a rooster (the rooster is a big symbol in the Russian chruch) and there is no baby in the manger until after midnight on Christmas Eve.

Yes, that's the end......there really are NINE trees!!

And now you know why it takes us 2 weeks to get it all set up.....

Consider this my Christmas Card to you all. May you have a wonderful Christmas, and may the world find Peace in the New Year.

Having been "tagged"

by Jason (see his blog at http://clarityofnight.blogspot.com/) here are some little known things about me.

Five Little Known Facts About Me

1. I taught myself to play the piano. I wanted to be able to play Moonlight Sonata, so that is where I started. At one time I actually could play it all the way through. (its been a few years, and it would take a lot of practice to get it back)

2. When I was in high school I wanted to be a fashion designer. I worked for a while with two guys and made outfits for rock bands. I wonder sometimes where I would be now if there had actually been money for me to go to college and pursue this.

3. I have only 2 or 3 memories of my mother before I was 5 even though I remember a lot of things clear back to when I was 2. I spent most of my time with my grandmother (my mammy, as I called her), and she had a profound impact on my life -- teaching me to sew, knit, crochet, cook, iron, and all those other "girl things" she also taught me to love flowers and poetry. At one time after her death I had a dream about her that was so vivid I could actually feel her touch. (ah, a truly mystical experience)

4. Most of the time when I was in school I felt I had more in common with the adults than with the kids my age.

5. The dream to be a published author has been with me since I was about 10.


And there you have it......there are probably at least 5 more, but some things are better left in their dark little closets!

the insurance company's annual greeting

arrived today.....the health insurance company that is, and why they feel its neceassry to ruin my Christmas every year is beyond me....

This year's greeting.....the premium for the health insurance for just me is an increase of 25%!! Yeah right, like our income will keep pace with that....ha!

The sad thing about it is that basically I'll be paying the $350 a month to have the insurance just in case I fall and break my leg or something since they will not pay for my blood pressure medicine, so I'm footing the bill myself for my meds.....

I have to admit that in a way I'm looking forward to being old enough for medicare.....at least the monthly premiums will be less because I'll actually finally be part of a group

now I'll just be wondering where that extra $$ will come from every month.....{sigh} guess I have to sell more jewelry or animals or another magazine article every month

writing Christmas letters and other frustrations of a non-speller

yes, its my annual incursion with writing a Christmas letter that goes out to folks near and far to keep them updated on what is happening in our lives since I don't talk to them every day/week/month.....

This year's "remembering" has been easier because I have been blogging (and keeping copies) all year .... my way to keep a journal --- I'd never do it any other way

this also brings me to why my Webster's Dictionary is falling apart --- even with it, I CAN NOT SPELL!

To those of you that can hear a word and simply plunk it into whatever you are working on I can officially say I HATE YOU!! Ok, maybe hate is too strong a word, but it does express my frustration.

Much of the time I end up either spending HOURS with the dictionary (yes that's spelled right but only because I LOOKED!) or just using a lot of synonyms (you know, those words you use when you can't spell the other one!) But most of the time that means that what I put on paper (or in cyber blog land) may not really be what I exactly meant to say (but I'm too afraid of being perceived as stupid to just let fly and ignore the spelling and hope folks will "get" what I'm saying)

And don't tell me that I can always "look it up"!! The problem here is that the dictionary is organized by how things are spelled, which is not necessarily how I hear it. I worked myself into a near tizzy the other day because I was writing something that included the rather innocuous word "auxiliary".

Sure, I can type it now, but I ended up having to ask my DH to look it up for me. (And along the way he's saying to me "its about the derivation of the words" -- yeah, this from a guy that at one time could carry on a complete conversation in LATIN!!!)

Here's why: that word to me sounds like it should be spelled "augzilary" -- now do you see my point?

What is this magic that lets people hear all those words and be able to tell what the letters really are? Is there some sort of special kind of dyslexia at work here? And so, I am a frustrated writer.....wanting to say what I want to say and afraid to say it because I can't spell it.....ARRRGGHHHH!!

Ok, now that I have that out of my system, I'm going back to work -- perhaps tomorrow a rant about why I can't do math in my head (or not!)

Have I mentioned lately

that I hate winter?

Well, that's not really an accurate statement. I hate being cold (I also hate being too hot, but then that just proves there's no pleasing me!).

Here's a little back ground on my current complaining:

Item 1 -- the cost of heating our house in the winter has almost doubled in the almost 5 years since we moved here.

Item 2 -- we live on a fixed income

Item 3 -- last year, in an attempt to cut the cost of heating, we used our fireplace and turned the thermostat down to 58 degrees

Well, after several tests and consulting with our doctor, we have now concluded that we just can not continue with that. So, this week we turned the thermostat back up to 62 degrees.

It is amazing what a difference 4 degrees makes.....I can walk around the house without my feet and hands always being cold. I can take a shower without dreading getting out. I can wear just a t shirt and a sweat shirt instead of a t shirt and a sweat shirt and a sweater....but I'm already dreading that heat bill.....

And a further issue is that we are discovering that the lung issues that DH is having (which started last winter) are being aggravated by the cold, the dry climate and the altitude. All of which probably means major changes in our lives in the future.....

So tonight I'm contemplating what we might do next....thinking about houses all on one floor (no more up and down stairs every day for DH) and a moister climate with less altitude....but where?

{sigh}

Just for fun .... 48 things

Okay, its Friday morning, I didn't finish anything yesterday, I have to load the van later today to do a show tomorrow, and I just feel like fooling around.

So, on another blog that I read were these 48 questions, and I've decided to give them a go too:

48 things

1. FIRST NAME? Bev

2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Yup, family friend

3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? when my daughter told me she was engaged

4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? well, that depends on the day -- it can be like some illuminated manuscript, or it can look like a chicken ran over the page with inked feet

5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? ham

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? yes -- I'm interesting and quirky

7. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? 3 actually, this being one of them

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? not since I was 3

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? No, no a thousand times no (why would anyone jump off a perfectly good bridge, mountain, building, etc.....or out of a perfectly good airplane for that matter)

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? oatmeal with lots of raisins

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? nope....no strings!! (I wear Crocs about 99% of the time)

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? I consider myself a survivor, so I must be

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Chocolate!

14. SHOE SIZE? 9 wide

15. RED OR PINK? Red

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? the self doubt that sneaks in when I least expect (or need) it

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? friends that are now gone beyond the veil

18. WHAT FOOD WILL GET YOU OUT OF BED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT? Nothing

19. WHAT COLOUR TROUSERS, SHIRT AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? grey sweats, grey sweat shirt, black t shirt, grey Crocs

20. LAST THING YOU ATE? crackers at 10 pm last night

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? the sound of the rock tumbler rumbling along polishing the stones that might end up in the next beading project, Josh Groban CD

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Red

23. FAVORITE SMELL? Coffee, roses, chocolate, fresh bread baking

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? my daughter

25. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? their hands

26. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON YOU STOLE THIS FROM? we've never met, but I enjoy her blog

27. FAVOURITE DRINK? ice tea

28. FAVOURITE SPORT? football to watch.....to do... you've GOT to be kidding!

29. EYE COLOUR? Hazel.

30. HAT SIZE? no clue....usually wear a sweatshirt with a hood

31. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? EWWWW! put my fingers in my eyes, NO WAY!

32. FAVORITE FOOD? hmmmmm, cheese burgers, french fries, shrimp and pasta, chocolate cake (these are basically a big NO NO now days....too much fat)

33. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Happy, scary movies give me nightmares and I have enough of my own, thanks!

35. SUMMER OR WINTER? neither....too hot, too cold.....spring and fall are great

36. HUGS OR KISSES? Both, depending on with whom, of course

37. FAVOURITE DESSERT? angel cake

38. WHAT SIDE OF THE BED DO YOU SLEEP ON AND WHY? The right because I've always slept there

39. IF YOU DIDN'T MAKE THE DECISION TO GET MARRIED AND HAVE A FAMILY, WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING TODAY? probably a lot of the same things I'm doing, or not. I'm a firm believer that you wouldn't be where you are if you hadn't made every decision you did, so I just can't imagine what I'd be doing

40. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? Witness to Hope, George Weigel (tho' reading is not really the right word...more like savoring and studying)

41. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Wizard of Oz characters

42. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? Shark

43. FAVORITE SOUNDS? rain on the roof, my daughter singing, the voice of a friend on the phone

44. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? neither -- The Moody Blues

45. THE FURTHEST YOU'VE BEEN FROM HOME? Washington, DC

46. WHAT'S YOUR SPECIAL TALENT? making do

47. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Denver

48. WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Nobody - I appropriated it from another blogger!

So, my readers, how about your answers!