Seven Random Things

Not much going on here crafty wise in my corner of the cornfields (well, that's not entirely true, I'm working on a couple of projects that I can't show and the weather stinks so no good pictures of the things I HAVE finished. UGH) so today you get a meme :0). KathieB over at Threadlines tagged me for this one yesterday. I have done it before, but since it's been a year, I figure you can put up with another 7 random things about me :0).


1. I started first grade when I was 4 years old. Yes, there's a long story here. Nope, I'm not gonna bore you with it. But since I was already reading chapter books by that time, I figure that starting school was a good thing.


2. Speaking of reading, I can, and often do, read a novel a day. BT (before Tinkerbell) I would often read more than one novel in a day. We're not talking War and Peace here people, but your average mass market novel, yeah. Your average trashy romance novel? Um, 2-3 hours tops. This has meant I've had a personal library of well over 200 books for most of my life, and currently means my public library folks look at me funny when I check out 5-10 books at a time.


3. My undergrad degree is a Bachelor's of Science in Political Science. This means I have a BS in politics. (go ahead, laugh -- I know you want to) And while, technically, the degree is a general one, 85% of my coursework was in US politics. And yes, I am finding the current electoral cycle interesting. :0)


4. At one point, I planned on being a professional musician. I was even accepted to college as a music major -- a flautist. Then I realized that while I love music, I didn't have enough talent to make a living at it without teaching music. Since I didn't want to do that, I went in another direction (see above). And no, I don't play anymore.


5. I'm scared of thunder. No, not lightning, just the darned thunder. The noise drives me nuts and makes me want to run for cover. I mask this well for my daughter and have learned to deal with it. This is a bit of a problem given that I live in the north eastern end of tornado alley and we have thunder storms all the time.


6. I am allergic to corn pollen. I live in a town surrounded by cornfields. You do the math.


7. I never memorized my multiplication tables. I got up to the 5's and realized that you can figure out all of the rest by doing simple addition so there was no point in memorizing it. I was a cheeky little thing, no? This means that to this day I still do a lot of silent adding in my head. You'd think I would have the darned things down by now wouldn't you?


So there you go, seven random facts about me (and if you feel the need to click on the link to last year's list -- seven more for you).


And since what's a post without photos, here's one I've been meaning to post since February. While I was at my Mom's house I unearthed (well, not so much unearthing as looking around in plain sight) not only quilts, quilts and more quilts, but also some of my early, middle and late period craft adventures. Mom is definitely the most constant recipient of my crafty efforts. So here you are, a piece from my early period, circa 1977. The very first counted cross stitch I ever completed. And since this photo doesn't show scale, that frame is, I believe, 2" x 3".


If anyone is interested, I've got a few photos of other finished stitched work to share as well. And since the weather report is saying I won't have decent light for photos of what I AM working on for another 4-5 days, um, you may get to see those pieces whether you want to or not :0).

MeMeMe...

Ok, so if you didn't get enough of me blabbing about myself in July, I've been tagged for another MeMeme by Nan over at Quilting in Doxie-Land (and yep, this was awhile ago -- but, well, I'm slow at responding to these things). So here it is, 4 things about me...


4 jobs I've held:

1. Migrant farm laborer. Ok -- so I wasn't so much migrating, but corn detasseling counts -- and I have the scars from the corn rash to prove it.
2. Waitress at a fast food chain pizza resturaunt. Lousy tips and don't get me started on the damage a softball team can do to a dining room.
3. Secretary to a freshman program in an academic university.
4. Indentured servant. Oh wait -- technical title was Graduate Assistant. In exchange for tuition breaks I taught freshman composition courses. On second thought, indentured servant is about right -- but I did love the teaching.

4 films I could watch over and over again:

1. The Princess Bride ("Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die")
2. The Quiet Man (John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, 'nuff said)
3. The Wizard of Oz (I no longer hide when the wicked witch shows up -- but love this movie)
4. Star Wars (no, not going to give the "new title" -- I grew up with it being Star Wars. The first one. Forget the numbering -- and, frankly, forget the tinkering that Lucas did to it -- it's my childhood memory darn it!)
5. A host of other films -- really, I love rewatching movies. I have many favorites, these are just some of the top picks.

4 TV shows I watch:

1. House -- LOVE Huge Laurie
2. Numbers -- Rob Morrow, Judd Hirsch, the cast in this is wonderful!
3. Bionic Woman -- Ok, throwback to my childhood again, but the new show is pretty good.
4. WWE Monday Night Raw -- don't ask, I blame a friend for this.
5. Again -- a host of others -- I haven't even touched on most of the shows I watch like Miami Ink and all of the Food Network shows I watch. Not to mention Heroes, etc. I'm a TV junkie -- I freely admit this.

4 Places I've lived:

1. Utica, Michigan
2. Fairfax, Virginia
3. Chicago, Illinois
4. Cornfield County, Illinois

4 favorite foods:

1. Sushi (tuna and salmon the two favs here)
2. Chocolate (in all its many forms)
3. Bread -- really, I love crusty good fresh bread -- a bit of butter and I'm in heaven.
4. Saganaki -- flaming cheese served with crusty bread, what's not to love?

4 favorite colors:

1. Orange
2. Pink/red
3. Lime green
4. purple
5. blue
6. brown
7. yellow
8. grey
9. Anyone get the feeling that I love color and am a color slut? You should.

4 Places I would love to be right now:

1. Right where I am with my daughter and husband
2. Desert south west with my Mom
3. Paris
4. Virginia

4 names I love but would/could not use for my children:

1. Robert (um -- had a girl, so not really appropriate)
2. Carolyn
3. Catriona (was a close call there)
4. Alexandra

4 people I would love to tag:

This one has made the rounds, so I'm not going to tag anyone specifically -- if you want to do it, consider yourself it!

Mi, Mi, Mi....

Oh, wait a minute, I wasn't supposed to SING -- I was tagged by Sue over at the Magpie's Nest for the MeMeme that Finn started. Oh, yeah! So, without further ado -- and a few days later than I thought I would get to this here it goes:

5 Things To Do Before I Die:

• See my daughter grown, happy, healthy, and relatively well adjusted


• Visit Paris again. I love this city.


• Visit New Orleans with my husband again. We got engaged there -- on the steps of St. Louis Cathedral at the stroke of midnight on Halloween. All around a magical night. And a magical city.


• Go to the British Museum (oh, and the rest of London too :0) )


• Live -- yes, kind of a prerequisite to dying but, I'm one who believes like Auntie Mame that life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!

5 Things I Can Do:

• Kiss "owies" and make them better
• Perform minor surgery on furry companions to "fix it"


• Balance my checkbook (not that I do it often enough, but I CAN)


• Multi-task -- not that special when you realize that any mother out there learns this one in a hurry, but I could do it before I had a child so, I'm gonna include it.


• Do minor plumbing and home repair (replace light fixtures, paint, install baseboards, replace doors, install shelving, etc.). While all of the fabric in the house is mine -- so are all of the power tools. Go figure.

5 Things I Cannot Do... Yet:

• Hand quilt. I am gearing myself up for this one -- but I think it will be a can do that soon.


• Crochet. Honestly. I can't. I can knit, sew, embroider, cross stitch, etc. But I can NOT crochet. I've tried. People have attempted to teach me. I'm a hopeless case. And ya know what -- I'm actually ok with this.


• Feel comfortable with balancing work, home, child. I'm working on this one. I have the feeling this one is also a continual work in progress thing.


• Applique. My feelings on this one are somewhere between my attitude about hand quilting and crochet.


• Parallel park well. This requires practice. Since there are darned few places where it is necessary around here -- don't know that I will get it.

5 Things That Attract Me to the Opposite Sex:

• Honesty


• Compassion


• Sense of humor (must be at least as twisted and dark as my own)


• Sense of adventure


• Snuggleability. No -- I can't explain it any better than that.

5 Celebrity Crushes: -- I've seen many people not answer this one, I told my dh about it and his first response was to laugh and then tell me my first answer. *G* I knew I married him for a reason!

• Orlando Bloom


• Johnny Depp


• Harrison Ford (this one goes WAY back -- Luke who? Give me Han!)


• Chris Jericho (if you don't watch WWE this will make NO sense -- and no, I find no contradiction in my intellectual side clashing with my enjoyment of wrestling)


• Hugh Jackman (he had me at *shnict* -- again, another weird cultural reference but watch the X-men and remember that I was a comic book junkie long and long ago)

5 People I'd Like to Do This (Tag! You're it!):

• Tracey at Ozcountryquiltingmum (this is because you seemed to want to do the last one :0) )


• Lisa at Stashmaster


• Bonnie at Rainy Day Quilts (Bonnie is one of my dearest friends and the mother of my goddaughter -- she's started her own blog, with her own lovely quilts, check it out and encourage more posts!)


• Valerie at Un Arc En Ciel Dans Le Lavabo


• Anyone else who would like to do this -- I'm so lousy at this part :0)

And just so this post isn't totally non-quilt related, a peek at my current project. Just a peek mind you -- this is one of those projects where it really isn't going to look right until the top is done. Luckily, it's working up fast!

Not very helpful? Ok -- one more hint. What could it be? What could it be? Hehehe. Sorry, that's all you're getting for now. More soon. I promise!

Catching up

Now that the school/work craziness has ended (for now), I've been playing "catch up." You know -- all the things that get pushed to the back burner until you have time. Laundry. Cleaning. Sleep. And now that my kitchen is no longer in danger of being condemned by the health department -- I've finally gotten back to my sewing machine. Hoooraaayyy!!! I finished dd's pants (pictures to come) and another UFO that I will post a photo of after the recipient has it. So no photos tonight -- but soon.

Now time for some more "catch up". Helen over at Patchy Work of Mini-Grey tagged me last week with the 7 things about you meme that's been making the rounds, and today Valerie over at Un Arc en Ciel Dans Le Lavabo tagged me again -- guess I should comply!

Since I haven't been blogging long -- there are all sorts of things you don't know about me but it's amazing how hard it is to list facts like this. Oh well, here it goes -- 7 random things you may not know (and possibly don't want to know) about me:

1. I don't drink coffee. Ever. Can't stand it. Love the smell, can make a pretty mean cup (so I've been told) but I just cannot get past the taste. And no, sugar and cream don't help. I don't even like coffee flavored ice cream. My caffeine of choice -- Diet Coke. I drink it morning, noon, night. I'm an addict. I know this and accept it.

2. I discovered my first grey hair when I was 23. As far as I can tell from the roots when I need to re-touch my hair, I'm now about 1/2 way to having totally white hair. Thankfully, I do not have to age gracefully -- I dye my hair regularly and really cannot at this point remember what my natural hair color is. I go to the salon -- say "red". When asked what shade -- I let the stylist have fun with the color and get some variation on red. I've been everything from auburn to my current "lighter red for summer" color.

3. I have been told I am intimidating. I don't personally get this one -- but then, I suppose that's because I know what goes on inside my head. I also find it funny that 5'4", overweight me is intimidating to others (especially since one of the last people to say this to me was over 6' tall, male, and physically way more intimidating than I will ever be). I also find it funny that while others find me intimidating -- my daughter laughs in my face and does what she wants anyway. *s* Guess that will show me.

4. I can walk by a black powder cannon being fired and not flinch. Really. I also like the smell of black powder weapons being fired. My father did American Revolutionary War reenactments while I was growing up. I dressed up too and went with. The "campgrounds" of my youth were the sites of historic battles and the museum/sites that contain them. It was a great way to see parts of the eastern United States (mostly the NE) and to learn about history.

5. Other than the US and Canada, I've only been to one foreign country -- France. (and ok -- I'm not really counting Canada. Sorry to any Canadian readers of my blog, but I grew up in the suburbs of Detroit in Michigan. I think traveling to Canada is like required or something. And since, at the time, it was a trip over the bridge or through the tunnel with some half-hearted questions from the customs folks, it hardly seems like "foreign" travel) I went on my school's French club trip my senior year in high school. I got to spend a few days in Paris, live with a French family for a week, and travel through the Loire Valley and to Normandy. At the time I could speak French, but now, um, now I mangle the language.

6. I am an only child from a large family. No, I am not discounting any brothers and sisters -- really, I am my parents' only child. But -- well, my mom has 7 (yes *7*) sisters. So, I am one of 17 grandchildren and at last count cousins and children of cousins (is that second cousins -- or cousins once removed -- oh bother) was up to 24 (and that doesn't include spouses). My oldest cousin and my youngest aunt are 1 year apart in age. My youngest cousin is 5 or 6. Yes, it makes for interesting family gatherings if you can get us all in one place (which well, just never happens really -- we come close, but usually someone can't make it). So, I grew up with lots and lots of cousins around and learning how to talk over/under/around other conversations. All the benefits of a big family, and I still got to be spoiled rotten.

7. I am a a geek. Really. I collected comic books as a teenager. I play video games. I will read video game magazines. I have written computer programs. I have created web sites. I like techno gadgets. I read/watch/consume science fiction. I've been to a comic book convention. I go to renaissance faires. Yep, geek. That's me. (now, I never said I was *good* at the computer stuff -- just that I've done it -- you can be a geek and not be *good* at it).

Ok -- 7 random things about me. If you are still with me, and you haven't been tagged already --

TAG --YOU'RE IT!

Now I'm off to finish off some mother's day presents -- yeah for the sewing machine!