Monday Quiz About Me

Another Monday, and I'm back again with Heather and Wayne for Monday Quiz About Me! If you aren't familiar with their weekly meme, they give us four questions to answer and then ask us to come up with our own 5th question. It's always a lot of fun!

So, here are the questions for today:

1. Are you good about going to the doctor? Most of the time, I am. I know that it's what I need to be healthy.  But, oddly, when I'm feeling worse I actually am less likely to want to go to the doctor.  I'm worried that I'm not as sick as I think I am so I worry that the doctor will wonder why the hell I'm doing there.
2. What do you think about the practice of restaurants adding automatic tips for large groups or specific events? I'm really torn.  On the one hand, I know how easy it is for the tip to be forgotten when you have a big group.  Everyone thinks that someone else has taken care of it. And when the waitstaff's pay is made up mostly of those tips, I hate to see them screwed over.  But on the other hand, I don't like having the ability to choose whether to undertip for bad service taken out of my hands.  Generally, we tip 20%, with sometimes more if we're given exemplary service.  But we have had occasions where the wait staff has practically ignored us from the time we entered the restaurant, treated us rudely, and just made the experience bad all the way around.  I don't care how large the party is, that's never called for.  And the fact that they'll be automatically getting 18% just bothers me.
3. When was the last time you went out for dinner? Dinner's been awhile.  Before Christmas, I think.  But we did go out for lunch to T.G.I. Friday's on Saturday.

Teddy's chicken and oranges

4. What is your best budget saving tip for recovering from an unexpected expense or planning for one? I'm really not good at this at all.  I should be better, I know.  Particularly when we have had so many unexpected expenses lately.  But I never seem to get on top of it.  About the only thing I can think of that I do regularly is putting at least half of the money we get back from our taxes each year into our ING account. That helps us have money set aside for the big things.
5. Do you have any podcasts that you listen to regularly?  How did you find them?  What do you like about them? I used to listen to a lot of podcasts.  It was what helped get me through the night at my old job before I was able to start downloading audio books.  But I got out of listening to them when I started listening to audio books instead.  I do have one that I listen to now though - SF Signal Podcast.  I started listening to it because a good friend of mine, Paul Weimer of Blog, Jvstin Style, is a regular contributor to the podcast.  I listen to it, even the weeks he's not a part of it, because it's a SF/Fantasy podcast that is a lot of fun.  The topics are always something that interest me and the guests that they have are just great.

Monday Quiz About Me

Once again, I'm joining Wayne and Heather for this week's Monday Quiz About Me.  Feel free to grab the four questions they provide and add a fifth of your own!  It's always a lot of fun!

1. On a long road trip do you prefer to be the driver or a passenger? Or do you prefer to travel a different way all together? I actually prefer to be the driver, and it's usually the way it goes when we travel from Tennessee to visit our family in NJ and NY.  Part of it is that I get motion sick - and it's not nearly as bad when I'm driving as it is when I'm the passenger.  I also generally drive further than Rich seems to without needing to stop.  (He's not as comfortable with the long distance driving as I am.)  Finally, I've got short arms and two boys that regularly drop things on our trip.  It's a whole lot easier for Rich to reach things as the passenger than it is for me when I'm the passenger!
2. Do you use a slow cooker? Favorite thing to make? I love my slow cooker.  It means that I don't have to spend long periods of time cooking at the stove.  And my favorite recipe, far and away, would be crock-pot lasagna.  (You can find the recipe in the first comment here).
3. Which type of festival would you rather go to... Wine and Food, Music or Sports? If I had to choose one of those, it would be music.  I love to hear different bands, different music, and just let my soul soar.  (Weird, then, isn't it, that I live in Nashville where there are at least two music festivals every year and I've NEVER BEEN.)  If I can go outside the box a bit though, my favorite would be a gaming or sci-fi convention.  I used to go to both with semi-regularity, but parenting has made that not happen as much as I'd like.
4. What is your favorite fallacy? It took me a little digging to decide.  I couldn't really think of any off the top of my head, though I KNEW that I should should be able to.  So I did a quick search and realized that my favorite is one that is used by far too many people without strong arguments - the slippery slope.  It amuses me to hear people that saying one thing will automatically lead to another is a good reason why we shouldn't allow X.  We can't allow homosexuals to marriage because, obviously, it's going to lead to people wanting to marry their dogs. Or we can't let women serve on the front lines in the military because it is going to mean that, obviously, we're now going to let anyone, regardless of their physical condition, do the same.  I just shake my head when I see such arguments and chuckle to myself because it seems as though the person is, more often than not, being reactionary rather than really thinking things through.

And now for my question.

5. I was chosen this week to be the spotlight dancer for Monday's Music Moves Me. Along with my blog being spotlighted, I also get a chance to choose a future theme.  I've got a few ideas myself, but I'm curious - if you were given the chance to choose a theme, what would you choose? Right now, I'm tossing up between "Favorite songs from three different generes" and "Get Your Geek On" - Choosing songs that show off whatever you're geeky about.  (Expect lots of songs from my geekery mix there!)

Can't wait to see what you'll be bringing to the party!

Monday Quiz

Once again, I'm back with Heather and Wayne (of Acting Balanced and Touristic, respectively) for another week of Monday Quiz. They'll list four questions for you to answer in your own blog, then ask you to add a fifth of your own.

Here are the questions:

1. What was your favorite lunch this past week? It would have to be today's lunch.  I had pasta e ceci, fresh sugar snap peas and an apple, along with a large thing of water.  Healthy, yummy and filling.
2. Do you shop online? Quite a bit, yes.  Sometimes it's because I can't find what I want locally.  Sometimes it's because my social anxiety has flared up and I can't face going into a store.  
3. Do you get the "Winter Blues"? Yes.  I don't get out into the sun often enough, being much more a homebody, so it's easier to let my depression wash over me that way.
4. Slippers, Socks, Shoes or Bare Feet? Usually, I prefer bare feet.  If I'm trying to get things done, I wear my shoes because it puts me in more of a working mode.  But today, I'm wearing my favorite red slippers.  I've had these things for years (you can tell, the bow is off of one of them) but just recently found both of them again.  So they are getting reacquainted with my feet.




5. What was your best moment over the last week? Ok, I have two.  First, it was watching Pete name Pokemon evolutions while we were watching Pokemon this weekend.  I listened to this and thought, "This boy is so much like his brother."  The second was last night at dinner, when Pete was getting really upset about something.  Teddy took his hands and said, "Peter, you know you've got to come down.  Watch me.  This is how I calm down." And he proceeded to show him.

Now it's your turn! 

Monday Quiz About Me

Back again with Monday Quiz About Me! It feels good to join Wayne and Heather once again in letting you know a little more about me!

Here are this week's questions, along with my special fifth question and all the answers:

1. What is your favorite animal? Zebras.  I don't quite know why, but I absolutely love them.  Here's a picture I took at the Nashville Zoo last March.  I don't get out to see them nearly as often as I would like.
   
   
2. What is your favorite quote? This is a tough one.  There are so many great quotes out there.  But my favorite right at this moment would have to be from my favorite author, Neil Gaiman.  

   "May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself." ― Neil Gaiman

3. What is the one trait that you have that definitely comes from one of your parents? My height.  My mom is 5', my dad 5'3".  I never had a chance of being anything but short!
4. If you had a choice between going to a tropical island or a ski resort which would you choose and why? Definitely the ski resort.  I'd much rather be in colder weather than hot.  And cold weather just makes me feel more snuggly.
5. If money were no object, what would you choose to spend your time doing? Strange as it sounds, I'd go back to school and study whatever struck my fancy at any particular moment.  I love to learn and I'd love a chance to do that regularly.

Come back next week to see what Wayne and Heather ask, and what I have to answer!  (And please, click the button above to stop by and see who else has answered the questions and what they have to say!)

Monday Quiz About Me

Yesterday was filled with busy, so I didn't get my blogging done the way I'd wanted to.  But that doesn't mean I can't take the time to blog today.  Starting with

1. What is the most interesting fact you have learned recently? I think it would have to be the way that my former middle-and-high-school English and Spanish teacher met his wife.  As much as I thought I knew the man, and his family, from his kindness to me and my friendship with his oldest daughter, I also found how much I didn't know and how much more I would have liked to get to know him.
2. The alarm goes off on Monday morning. What is your first thought? "Why can't the kids get themselves ready for school so I can sleep long?"  Or something to that effect.
3. What is the most memorable movie line of all time? This is a tough one.  I love movie quotes and there are so many great ones from so many wonderful movies.  But if I had to choose one, it would be from the NBC mini-series, The 10th Kingdom. In this scene, Wolf has surprised Virginia with an elaborate dinner in the hopes of wooing her to stay in the Nine Kingdoms rather than trying to buy back the mirror that would take her home.  He wants to marry her and hopes that this will help her decide to stay with him.  While the two of them are alone in the restaurant, Virginia makes this admission:

I have a hard time trusting people. I just never wanna jump unless I'm sure somebody's gonna catch me.

It's Wolf's reply, however, that I love more and which , in my mind, is a statement of what love really is.

Oh, I'll catch you. And if I miss for any reason, I'll sit by your bedside and nurse you back to health.

I absolutely love it.

4. Describe a situation that always seems to try your patience. When Pete is in a silly mood and I'm trying to get things done, my patience is at it's absolute end.  Because I know that he's not trying to be bad, but he also isn't doing the things that I know he should and can be doing.  Like when we've got to get ready to pick up his brother from the bus stop and he's running around the house naked.  It should not take 20 minutes to get a 4 year old boy to put on pants!

And my magic question 5...

5. What is the best book you've read in the last year?  This is often a difficult question for me to answer because I read so many books in the course of a year (don't pay attention to the numbers on the sidebar... I've been bad about updating GoodReads this year).  And there have been a lot of great ones, from The Iron Druid series by Kevin Hearne to Everything On It by Shel Silverstein.  But my absolute favorite would have to be True Strength: My Journey from Hercules to Mere Mortal--and How Nearly Dying Saved My Life by Kevin Sorbo.  It wasn't a tell all book, nor a feel good book.  It wasn't a poor-pity-me biography.  It was an honest look into the most difficult portion of his life, how he his aneurysm and stroke, through the devastation that resulted from it, and back out on the other side.  He admits how difficult he was at the time and painted such a human portrait of himself that I was truly touched.

Monday Quiz About Me

I'm back again, joining in on Monday Quiz About Me from Acting Balanced and Touristic.  Here's a chance for you to get to know just a little more about me.

The Questions, and My Answers

1. What is the nicest thing someone has ever done for you on your birthday?

This is actually one of my favorite stories and it's not a short one, so sit back, grab a drink and get comfy.

It was early March, 2003.  My 29th birthday was fast approaching (and yes, this was my ACTUAL 29th birthday, not the third or fourth of such birthdays) and I was talking on the phone with my friend Dave.  He was mentioning that he planned on surprising his wife with a get-away weekend to a bed and breakfast somewhere in New York or New Jersey.  And the weekend he planned it was the weekend of my birthday.

"Great!  You'll be getting some on MY birthday weekend," I joked at him.  And somehow, this comment turned into the germ of an idea.  There was no reason he couldn't bring his wife to Philly that weekend for the B&B away.  After all, she was (and still is) my heart-sister and there was a group of us that were pretty close.  One of our cadre of friend, Sal, lived in Harrisburg but had family in Philly and he'd come our way somewhat regularly.  So it was decided that Dave would surprise his wife, Barb, with a trip to Philly, Sal would come out for the weekend, and we'd all get together at the Restaurant School near Rich and my apartment for a birthday dinner for me.

There were two other people that were part of our little group - Cristi, who lived in Michigan, and her boyfriend, Patrick, who lived in Rhode Island.  I wanted them there, but Cristi had a money crunch and Patrick didn't often join us without Cristi.  I talked with Cristi a few times in the upcoming weeks, telling her how much I'd miss her being there and that I would make sure to take plenty of pictures so she could see the fun we were having.

The week before our party, Rich tried to make reservations at the Restaurant School, only to find out they were having a special thing going on that night and weren't taking reservations.  So we moved it to another location, one we had never been to before but had the advantage of being close - Rx.  It was just the right kind of kitsch for our little group.  It was a former pharmacy and it had a lot of trappings from those days on the walls, in the bookcases and hanging from the ceiling.  Plus, their menu changed daily depending on what they were able to get at the markets that morning.  So we figured we'd give it a try.

The Friday night of the dinner arrived.  The plan was for Dave to head out of town with Barb and call me when they were driving so I could tell her the surprise.  And that part went off without a hitch.  She was not only surprised but pleased that she'd have a chance to spend time with all of us.

What I didn't know, however, was that my wonderful husband-to-be and my fantastic friends were sneaky as could be.  Because they had a surprise for me, which Dave let Barb in on after she was off the phone with me.  And I got the surprise when Sal showed up.

He'd been running a little later than expected, but we weren't in a time crunch, so I didn't think anything of it. He came in, gave me a big hug and chatted for a couple of minutes.  Then he told me that my birthday gift was in the hall.  I walked with him to the door and opened it, expecting a gift sitting in the hallway.  Instead, standing in front of me were Cristi and Patrick.  They'd gotten together to fly her in for my birthday so we could all spend the time together.

I laughed and cried, hugged her so tight.  It was the absolute best birthday surprise ever.  Dave and Barb showed up a little while later and we drove the short distance to Rx.  It was the best birthday night in my life and I was so glad that I got pictures.  Especially since the next year, one week before I turned 30, Cristi had an epileptic seizure and died.  For the last 8 years, my birthday has been bittersweet - bitter, because it will forever be linked to the loss of one of my best friends.  But sweet because I had a chance to have one special birthday with all my special friends one last time.

2. What is the funniest thing that ever happen to you while you were on a 'date'?

I honestly can't think of anything funny that happened while I was on a date.  But then again, I can't remember many dates in the specific.  I never really "dated"... usually, I jumped into relationships too quickly.  So... yeah. Nothing is coming to mind.

3. What is your favorite backhanded compliment?
"The apple really didn't fall far from the tree, did it?"  Usually said to one of my children when they do something particularly boneheaded that reminds me of either myself or their father.

4. Have you ever had someone guest blog for you? If so, how was the experience?
No, though I wouldn't mind it.  I don't have a large readership at the moment, and I haven't really branded myself enough to have a guest blogger.  Plus, I've got some self-esteem issues that make it hard for me to ask people.

And now for my question to you:

5. What is the funniest thing you've ever said to your children as a parent, or heard a parent say to their child?

We've actually got a list going of "I never would have said this before becoming a parent."  There are some doozies there, including, "Well, next time don't hit yourself in the privates," "Your brother is not a ladder," and "I don't care if Hariyama  did it. You're his trainer and you're responsible for helping to fix his mistakes." But my absolute favorite has to be "Stop poison jabbing people!"

For those of you who are not familiar with Pokemon (which, I'm guessing, is about 98% of my readership), Poison Jab is a move used by some of the Pokemon.  You see it fairly regularly in the anime being used by Croagunk to subdue Brock whenever he goes goo-goo eyes over a girl.  Peter, however, decided that it needed to be his signature move.  So he would go around holding his fingers together, out straight, and jabbing people in the side while screeching "Poison Jab! Poison Jab!  I'm poison jabbing you!"  Which meant that Mommy had to start saying, with far more regularity than I'd ever expected, "Stop poison jabbing your brother!" (since Teddy was, of course, one of the more regular recipients of Pete's Poison Jabs.)

Being a parent just isn't what I thought it would be some days.

Monday Quiz About Me

It's time for me to, once again, join in the Monday Quiz About Me from Acting Balanced and one of my new favorite blogs, Touristic.  Here are the rules, ganked directly from Wayne's page:

Here are FOUR QUESTIONS that everyone can answer and then you have the option to add a fifth question of your own for those who are visiting your blog to answer in the comment section, along with commenting on the four standard questions you answered! Grab the badge for your post if you like:

Get ready to learn just a little more about me!

1. What is your favorite Autumn color? I love the deep red that some of the leaves become.  It feels so rich to me.

2. If you could go back and change something about your high school days what would it be? As a general rule, I don't like to think about going back to change things because it would change who I am now.  Even the bad things (like being teased about so much my freshman year before I moved to Florida to live with my dad) have taught me things.  But if I HAD to go back, I would probably join a few more clubs or do a few more activities.  I was a big part of my choral department, but that was about it.  When I was in middle school, I'd been part of my marching band's color guard and loved it.  I was too shy to try out when I got to Florida, so it became a small regret.

3. Name something that you tried because you thought you'd like it, but in reality didn't meet your expectations This is a difficult one for me.  I'm trying to think of something and nothing is coming to me - not food, not TV shows, not music, not movies.  Not even any books that I was really expecting to like.  The closest I can come is the new show, The Mob Doctor.  The premise sounded really interesting to me, but when I watched the pilot episode, I just couldn't get into it.

4. Do you have a favorite "Monday" song? "I Don't Like Mondays" by Tori Amos.

I haven't actually heard the Boomtown Rats' original of this song, but Tori's is so haunting.  But then again, I love everything that Tori has ever done.  Her covers always bring something new to the song (and if you haven't heard Strange Little Girls, her album of nothing but covers, check it out.  Brilliance.)

5. This weekend, I watched the Ponds' farewell on Doctor Who.  Have you ever had a good-bye for a fictional character affect you deeply?  If so, what?

Well, of course the Ponds' good-bye devastated me.  I knew it was coming, but that didn't make it any less heart wrenching for me.  I still get tears in my eyes thinking about it.  In part, I think, because there were so many twists that we didn't expect.

For those who don't mind spoilers, or who want to watch it again, here's the last ten minutes of the show:

But if I had to choose another, it would be Wash's death in Serenity.  This one, I never saw coming:

Oh, and I can't forget Ianto's death in Torchwood:

And, of course, there was the death of Sirius in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.  I stayed up until 2am to read this book the day it came out (which also happened to be the day of my bridal shower) and woke Rich up sobbing.  He held me until all the tears came out.  Which seemed like it was forever.

Yeah.  death scenes as good-byes.  They seem to be the big ones for me, aren't they?  But I do love a good cry.  It's very cathartic.

Monday Quiz About Me

I'm a couple days late on this one, but I'm hoping that by regularly participating in this meme, you'll find out even more about me!
On with the questions!

1. What room in the house do you try your hardest to keep clean?

I really have to try hard with all of them.  But lately, it's been the living room.  This is the first place people see when they come to my house... even if they're just delivery people dropping off a package or yummy, yummy food, they can see inside to my living room.  And I don't need it to be perfect - I have two boys.  Perfect isn't in my vocabulary.  But if I can keep most of the things off the floor and the carpet cleaned, I'm feeling like I've accomplished a lot.

2. How do you describe your blog to someone you just met?

It's a little bit of this, a little bit of that and some of the other.  I just post what feels right at the time.  Though often, my posts are driven by various memes.  Oh.  And I really need to work on updating a few things, so please don't hold that against me!

3. What was your lie from last week? (If you didn't play, What was your favorite cartoon you watched as a kid?)

Since I didn't participate last week, I get to talk about my favorite cartoon.  That would be Dungeons and Dragons.  I didn't role-play as a kid (that didn't happen until college), but the story of these kids that rode a roller coaster and ended up in a world of sword and sorcery just drew me in.  Loved it!

Here's the intro:



I always loved Presto.  But I had a thing for geeks even then.

4. What is your favorite kind of salad? (post a recipe if you got one)

I like a simple spinach salad with cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and carrots with a raspberry vinaigrette dressing.  I've never been much of a salad eater, but this I can eat.

Bonus Question 5: What was the high point of your weekend?

We had a weekend packed full because Nonni and Pop  were in town for Pete's birthday, so there were a lot to choose from.  But if I had to pick just one, it would be watching Pete play Pokemon with Rich at League.  It was a 20 card starter deck, but it was the first steps to letting him play regularly with Teddy and anyone else at League that catches his attention.  He loved it and I loved sitting back, watching it.