In So Many Words

Saturday 9: Friends

1. How many of your friendships have lasted more than ten years? Which of your current friends do you feel will still be important to you ten years from now?
I guess the number depends on how you define friendship. There are a number of people who I would still consider a friend, but I don’t necessarily spend time with them on a regular basis anymore.

In terms of who I still see or communicate with often from ten years ago, there are probably only a few – my husband, some couples from our first small group, our former pastor’s family who now lives in Nashville, and a few other people. I have two very good friends right now that I can’t imagine not being close to for the rest of my life.

2. When you look at yourself in the mirror, what’s the first thing you look at?
My hair. I have rarely been happy with it. I recently got it cut short and am much more happy with it now.

3. Who was the most recent person on your missed call list on your cell phone? What’s your relationship with the person?
My husband Bob. I am terrible about answering my cell phone, so that’s usually where everyone ends up.

4. What did your last text message you received on your cell phone say?
That I had a dentist’s appointment. I am not a texter and actually had to ask them to stop doing it because it costs me money!

5. How would you “label” yourself?
mom, wife, friend, advocate, bookworm, blogger

6. What was your favorite age that you’ve been?
This one.

7. What is your current desk top picture? What’s its significance?
Not sure if this refers to my computer desktop or my physical desk at work. At work, I have three pictures of my son at different ages because he is my inspiration.

8. What was the last thing you said to someone that you‘d like to take back?
Probably telling my son “No” or “Not now” when he wants my attention. I have to remind myself of what it was like to desperately want him to interact with us and be thankful for his ability and desire to spend time with me.

9. If you had to choose between a million bucks or to be able to go back in time and fix all your mistakes which would you choose?
A million bucks. (I could buy a nice apology gift with that!)

Saturday 9 is a fun meme that I used to participate in over at Another Piece of the Puzzle. I decided to check out this week’s questions on a whim, and they were right up my alley, so here goes:

Saturday 9: Bad Day

1. Is there anything that you tend to do to cheer up when you are having a bad day?
My favorite thing is to go off by myself and read a book. Peace and quiet combined with a little escapism is the best thing for me. Of course, a nice piece of chocolate doesn’t hurt either!

2. What’s the last card game you played, and with whom did you play?
That would have been Go Fish, although we played with a deck of Dora Crazy Eights cards. I know, we get wild around here – in this case, we being my son Michael and me.

3. What’s the last board game you played, and with whom did you play?

It was actually Mousetrap, but I would like to take this opportunity to share with you how cute the new Lego games are. We have the Race 3000 one, and you build the track first and then play the game. The interactive die makes the game different every time.

4. What’s the last computer game you played, and with whom did you play?
Boy, can you tell Michael and I are the game addicts in this household? I actually just heard about Superbook.tv on the 700 Club (which I rarely watched but happened to see part of today), so I showed it to Michael and the fact that they have games and there is a robot drew him in. The last game I played with him before coming in here to blog was Superbook Says.

5. Is there somewhere you’d like to visit but have not, and where is it?
Good question. There are so many places I haven’t visited. It’s been fifteen years since I moved East and the closest I’ve been to NYC is the Bronx Zoo, so I’d probably start there. I would also like to take my son to Disneyworld, but I was there when I was 16, so I guess that doesn’t count.

I would be willing to go a lot of places if I had someone to take me around and help me not get lost. I’m not really an adventurous person when it comes to that.

6. Think of your favorite movie (or a movie you really like, if you can’t think of a favorite). Some people say that the reasons you love your favorite movie are related to what you value in romantic relationships. How is this true or untrue in your case?

One of my favorite movies is Sliding Doors, despite the fact that the characters engage in a lot of activities which would be offensive to some of my readers and of which I do not approve either.

With that said, I love the idea of how one moment in time can change your life, and the way this movie takes you through what would happen depending on whether she catches the train or has to wait for the next one is fascinating to me.

As for the second part of the question, I guess that would be true to a large degree.

(What, you thought I was going to say the BBC production of Price & Prejudice? Yes, of course, that’s my true favorite, but everybody already knows about that one.)

7. What physical attributes do you find the most attractive?
Nice eyes and facial features.

8.How many people live in your house? Tell us about them.
Three people live in our house – my husband Bob, my son Michael and me. Michael would also want to include Wallace and Willow, our two white cats who are brother and sister.

Bob is a creative guy stuck in a boring job, Michael is a bright kid who is learning that it’s okay to be different, and I’m just trying to keep it all together.

9. Ever punch someone in the face?
No, but wouldn’t that make a great story if I had.

Saturday 9: Would You Take Them Back?

1. Think of all your exes. Would you take any of them back? No, I’m pretty happy with the guy I ended up with.

2. What was the first car you drove? What happened to it? The first car I drove was my mom’s sedan when I was learning how to drive. I wasn’t allowed to drive it anymore after I ran into a fence and ripped off the side mirror (actually, it wasn’t me, it was my 11 year old brother that I let drive the car down the alley, but it just seemed easier to take the blame myself).

3. What’s the longest amount of time you have driven a car non-stop? Eight hours one way to or from college (well, I guess I did stop to go to the bathroom, but that’s it).

4. Have you ever been stood up on a date? If yes, when? I don’t remember any, maybe I blocked it out.

5. What TV network do you watch the most? The Style Network (my son and I are addicted to Clean House, and are now in love with Peter Perfect).

6. Pick out a song you like that has special meaning to you. Share with us what song is it, and what’s the meaning to you. That’s hard because I like a lot of songs. I will say “God Is In Control” by Twila Paris. I have liked her for a long time and always love this song even when some of her other music might seem a bit dated.

7. Who was your first celebrity crush on? Sean Connery

8. What is your favorite romantic comedy movie? Sliding Doors, hands down.

9. It has been said, “First Loves Are Never Over.” Is this true for you? No.

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Saturday 9: Whistle While You Work

We are talking about jobs today. Pick any job of your career. Tell us when and where it was. Then answer today’s Saturday: 9.

1. Tell us which job your are telling us about, and when you had it. When I was in college, I worked in one of the academic offices for three semesters as a grader.

2. Where do/did you work? This was in the Bible Department at Evangel University (Evangel College at the time), and I worked for Milton Krans.

3. Tell us about that boss. Well, I will say that Mr. Krans’ favorite books of the Bible were Exodus and Deuteronomy, and he alternated them each semester for the Old Testament Book Study he taught. (Every student at the school was required to take one OT and one NT book study.)

4. Do/Did you find your work creative? If yes how? For the most part no. I checked papers and recorded grades. The book study students had to write out the Ten Commandments from the book they were studying using one of three different versions of the Bible. I got so that I would split them into piles and could skim down them, catching any errors without really thinking about it!

I did get to pre-grade the exegetical papers from his classes, however, so that was a bit more interesting, especially the time two students in different class sections turned in the exact same paper!!

5. Tell us about your favorite co-worker. The full-time secretary in the department, Lorraine, was the sweetest, most soft-spoken woman you could ever meet. She was also attending classes to obtain a library science degree, which in Missouri at that time required an education degree, including student teaching. I’m not sure why that was necessary, but I know that was the hardest part of it for her.

6. Tell us about the biggest jerk in that job. I really can’t remember anyone being a jerk. The professors were all great, if sometimes a bit quirky, and each student worker pretty much had their own separate tasks. It was a great place to work!

7. Where do/did you see yourself with this job in five years? I kept the job until my final semester of school, when I did my student teaching (and no, I have never taught professionally, although my current job is in training).

8. Tell us about your commute. I walked from my dorm, through the hallways of the barracks left over from when the campus was a temporary army hospital.

9. What hours of the day do/did you work? I worked during the day around my class schedule. It was very flexible and probably about 10 hours per week.

What a fun trip down memory lane! I think this is my favorite week so far. Visit Saturday 9 to find more participants and join in on the fun!

Saturday 9: Out to Lunch (or Dinner)

1. When you go to a restaurant, do you usually order the same thing? Pretty much, I have to really push myself to order something different once I find something I like at a restaurant.

2. What is your favorite fish dish? Coconut Shrimp at Red Lobster.  If that doesn’t count as fish, then I really like Tilapia and sometimes salmon.

3. What is your favorite meat dish? Nothing very fancy since I rarely eat steak or anything like that.  Probably some sort of chicken dish or a really good hamburger.  If I am cooking a special meal at home, it would be Chicken Teriyaki.

4. What is you favorite vegetable? Corn on the cob.

5. How often to you eat out? Maybe once or twice a month.  Depends on when I organize respite care or if we think our son will handle sitting through a restaurant meal.

6. Do you usual order dessert? If yes, what? My husband usually does, and I end up sharing it.

7. Do you like a particular after dinner drink? No, not really; I’m not a coffee or tea drinker, and we’ve already established that I don’t drink alcohol.  So it’s pretty much soda or water at a restaurant.

8. How far would you drive to go to a favorite restaurant? Maybe half an hour.

9. Do you like to dine with just one person or a group? Eating with one person is more relaxing, but a group can be a lot of fun if it’s the right group!

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Saturday 9: The Happy Labor Day Meme

1. What are you doing special this weekend for Labor Day?  I am actually looking forward to a bit of downtime and am working on a new blog project that I hope to unveil soon.  Today I worked four hours because, since I work part-time, Monday represents lost income for me.

2. What was your best vacation this past summer?  Spending a few days in West Virginia with my husband’s family.  The last two years Bob & Michael have gone by themselves since I was headed up to a conference the following week, but this year we all went.  It was nice to get away and relax a bit.

3. Did you do anything special for the 4th of July?  Wow, I can’t remember.  Oh, wait, that’s right, I can look it up on my blog.  The three of us went to see WALL-E in the theater and really enjoyed it.

4. What did you do special for Memorial Day?  Nothing really.  We generally like to just lounge around and be couch potatoes on these extra days.  Boring, really, but it’s what we like.

5. How was the weather? Tell us where you live and how the weather was as compared to summers past.  I live in South Central Pennsylvania, and the weather has been somewhat dry lately, although I don’t think it’s as bad as previous years.

6. Did you discover a new favorite summer drink?  Nope, still addicted to the Dew.

7. Did you enjoy this summer’s Olympics?  I actually didn’t watch them.  I saw about 20 minutes of the closing ceremonies.  Does that make me unpatriotic??

8. I am from New England (Rhode Island). Lobster rules supreme in the summer. Is lobster part of your summer ritual?  Afraid not.  I did make one trip to Red Lobster (which probably doesn’t count for New Englanders)!

9. What was the best single day of your summer?  I would have to say seeing my first post published at 5 Minutes for Special Needs.  Being a part of this site has been an awesome experience and I am so proud to be a contributor!

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This week my Saturday 9 will again be a bit different. Since my husband Bob, previously known on this blog as Happy King, is passionate about music and I can barely remember the names of songs that I like, I asked him to take a crack at this week’s questions. On the other hand, since my husband is so passionate about music, his answers are quite detailed. Hope you enjoy!

Saturday 9: Just Our Choices in Music

1. What was your first favorite song?
I’ve loved music for as long as I can remember, so I was thrilled when Trish asked me to sit in on her blog. Though I don’t recall exactly which was my first favorite song, I remember “Hey Betty Martin, Tippy Toe Tippy Toe” from my kindergarten class, which would have been in the fall of 1970. I recall everyone walking around on tip-toes when it was played.

I was one of the inaugural viewers of Sesame Street, and the first record I ever bought was from around this same time period. It was the 45 of “Rubber Ducky” with the flipside of “The Sesame Street Theme (‘Can You Tell Me How To Get to Sesame Street?…’).”

My parents sent me into the store to ask if they had a copy; I was four years old and it was the first time I remember doing something like that. The last record I bought at that store was John William’s score to Superman in 1978.

I have never stopped collecting music–it became a passion over the next 38 years. An early favorite song of mine was Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water. It was one of the few contemporary pop albums my parents had, and I still love the solo gospel piano that builds to that huge wall-of-sound and Art Garfunkel’s amazing vocal and those cannon-fire drums by Hal Blaine (who has played drums on many of my favorite records over the years).

2. Who was your first favorite female singer?
The other pop album my parents had at that time was The Carpenters self-titled third album by brother and sister Richard and Karen Carpenter. Karen’s voice was one of the most distinctive and beautiful I’ve ever heard and few people had the arranging skills of her brother.

Another early favorite was Patty Andrews of the Andrews sisters. I used to see them in some of the early Abbott and Costello films that aired every weekend on one of the New York City stations that our local cable company lined in to State College because the mountainous terrain made broadcasting impractical. Patty could sing anything and make it her own and when sisters Maxine and Laverne added their harmonies, they created a vocal sound that remains one of my favorites in all of pop music history.

3. Who was your first favorite male singer?
It would probably be Art Garfunkel‘s angelic tenor (see the answer to question number one).

4. Who was your first favorite band?
That would be the Beatles. I loved the animated film Yellow Submarine, which I first saw on the Penn State campus in the early 70′s. I remember seeing the film broadcast a few years later on our black and white TV set and the hair standing up on the back of my neck when I heard the harmonies on the chorus of “Yellow Submarine.”

I also recall racing home from school on my bike the day I knew their film “Help” was going to be on the Channel 16 Dialing for Dollars Movie out of Scranton. Keep in mind this was many years before the advent of music videos, so the chances to actually see footage of a favorite band performing were few and far between.

5. Who is your all time favorite band?
I don’t have a single favorite; I have many that I try to switch between because I tend to suffer from “overplay syndrome,” so I will only listen for a season and then come back to them after a time. I’ll give my dozen favorite bands but don’t hold me to them as some get edged-out over time and all of them have some songs I hate. I usually don’t like a band’s big hits – I generally will go for more obscure album tracks, but anyway here are 12 that I have returned to most often:

• The Beach Boys
• The Beatles
• The Byrds
• The Lost Dogs
• The Roches
• The Everly Brothers
• The Ramones
• Fleetwood Mac
• Buddy Holly and the Crickets
• Guster
• Steely Dan
• The Andrews Sisters

6. Who is your all time favorite male singer?
In his prime, I would say it was Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys.

7. Who is your all time favorite female singer?
On pure vocal talent alone I like Linda Ronstadt, but I also love:

• Natalie Cole
• Emmylou Harris
• k.d. lang
• Ella Fitzgerald
• Mindy Smith
• Cass Elliot
• Enya
• Shawn Colvin, and
• Marie Armenia

I should probably add that I think the quality of someone’s voice generally has very little to do with what I like about a song or why I would buy a disc. The emphasis on “singers” is why American Idol had contributed to an astounding decline in the quality of popular music and the toxically high levels of crap that make it difficult for me to listen to the radio. For me, it comes down more to the quality of songwriting or catchiness of the music. So I’m adding a sub-column that lists some of my favorite songwriters, many of whom also perform their own works:

• Brian Wilson
• Julie Miller
• Jimmy Webb
• Keith and Melody Green
• Terry Taylor
• Michael Roe
• Phil and Marie Armenia
• Bob Dylan
• Chris Tomlin
• Joni Mitchell
• Steve Fry
• David Crowder
• Twila Paris
• Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan
• John Lennon and Paul McCartney
• John Linnell (They Might Be Giants)
• John Flansburgh (They Might Be Giants)
• Phil and Marie Armenia
• Lindsey Buckingham
• Victoria Williams

8. What is your all time favorite LP/CD album?
I don’t have a single favorite so I’ll give you 12 that are near the top of the list:

• The Beach Boys Today!
• The Beatles The Beatles (aka The White Album)
• Julie Miller Orphans and Angels
• Keith Green For Him Who Has Ears To Hear
• The Lost Dogs Real Men Cry
• Jane Siberry The Walking
• The Ramones End of The Century
• Brian Wil
  son SMiLE
• Fleetwood Mac Tusk
• Lindsey Buckingham Out of the Cradle
• The Roches Speak
• Joni Mitchell Hejira

9. What was your first favorite radio station?
WMAJ in State College, an AM radio station that played the top 40 in the 70′s and put out little pamphlets that listed the top 40 singles and had pictures of the DJ’s on the front.

Thanks for indulging my husband on his stroll down memory lane! Visit Saturday 9 to find more participants and join in on the fun!

Hello to all my Saturday visitors. I am, ironically after last week’s questions, working today, so this post will be short and sweet. I was unable to find childcare to cover all of next week when my son is between his summer program and school starting, so I am working today and tomorrow to get my hours in. Thank God for a flexible boss!

Saturday 9: Children and Ages of Bloggers

1. Do you worry about your next birthday? No

2. Have you ever lied about your age in the recent past? If yes why? No

3. Have you ever lied about your age when you were young? If yes why? No

4. How much older have you been a person that you were romantically involved? N/A

5. How much younger have you been a person that you were romantically involved? Just under 4 years

6. Have you ever been considered a sibling, rather than parent of your child? No

7. If you have had children, did you factor in age when deciding to have a sibling? I only have one child.

8. If you have not had children, are you happy with your choice and/or fate? N/A

9. Do your siblings have kids? Are you close to them? Their ages? No, neither of my brothers have children.

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Saturday 9: Working in the Coalmines

1. What is your job and do you like it?  I work part-time for a promotional products distributor and yes, of course I like my job (what else do you want me to say – my boss has this URL)!  Seriously, they are very flexible with my schedule needing to work around my son’s changing placements the last few years, and that has been a lifesaver.

2. What to you do to unwind after work?  Read or blog or see if Peter Perfect is on the Style channel (we don’t get too many channels, and he is my newest favorite to watch).

3. Who have you known the longest of your friends?  I am still in touch with one person from my high school youth group, so she would be the winner of that contest.

4. Who do you go to for advice?  L. or R. and sometimes my husband!

5. Not counting your current relationship, how many times have you been in love?  3.14159

6. What is you favorite snack food?  Tostitos with the spinach and artichoke dip from Trader Joe’s

7. What is the best meal you ate this week?  My hubby and I went out to eat for lunch at Red Lobster yesterday since we had one more day off work.  I love their coconut shrimp and mashed potatoes, and the meal I ate this week came with glazed salmon, which was also very good.

8. What to you is the most important factor in romantic attraction? Trust.

9. What do you think is your worst habit?  Biting my fingernails.  I stopped once while I was pregnant and once after my finger got infected last year, but it didn’t stick, I am ashamed to say.

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Saturday 9: The Lazy Days of Summer

So I debated even doing this one because my answers are pretty boring today and because we are trying to clean the house and then go run a bunch of errands.  Hopefully we will move on from the vacation/water/drinking theme next week.

1. What is your favorite summer drink?  Same as always, Mountain Dew.  Although my son and I are fans of the various flavored waters and really like the Vitamin Water lemonade flavor.

2. What is the best summer sport to play?  Running through the sprinkler with my son.

3. What’s the best summer sport to watch?  See #2.  Seriously, it’s a lot of fun to watch my son because every time it’s like the first time.  He is hesitant to get wet but eventually does and has fun.

4. Do you like the ocean, the pool or the lake?  Of those three, the pool.  I have only been to the ocean once, and I never liked swimming in lakes.  I did enough of that while camping each summer with my grandparents and didn’t like the algae and other stuff floating around.

5. Some folks drink whiskey in the winter and gin, tequila (margaritas) or rum drinks in the summer. Does you alcohol of choice change?  Actually, I don’t drink alcohol, so my answer would be no, my choice doesn’t change.

6. What is your favorite summer song? I had to ask my husband for help with this one because I can never think of songs.  I’m going to say “Imagination” by Brian Wilson.

7. What was your best summer growing up? How old were you and why was it best?  The summer I was fourteen and had my first boyfriend.

8. Have you ever had a summer romance that you knew would end?  See #7.  There was no way it could last – he was a senior and I was only a freshman.  Plus he lived on the Iowa side of the river, and I was from Illinois, so we had that going against us.  Just kidding (sort of) but this lady knows what I mean!  If you are totally bored by this post and looking for something more interesting to read, go check her out:

9. How old were you when you first went skinny-dipping? Who were you with?  Wouldn’t you like to know!  Seriously, I have never done this.  See – I told you I was boring this week.

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