Saturday 9

1. Has anyone ever told you that you resemble a celebrity? Nope.  I'm all me.
2. Is there an actress or actor whose movies you make it a point to see? Not really.  I used to like watching Nicholas Cage, but I got out of that phase.  
3. We're stopping for refreshments before we go in to see the movie. What's your refreshment stand order? A large soft drink (usually Dr. Pepper or, if they have it, Diet Dr. Pepper), a small thing of popcorn and some kind of chocolate candy.
4. When did you last consume an alcoholic beverage? What was it? A week ago.  I had a cherry coke and vodka.  I need another one today.
5. Are you jumpy? Do you startle easily? It depends on the mood I'm in.  Generally, I don't think so, but if I've read or watched something scary, I'll be really jumpy for awhile.
6. Do you wear a watch? No, though I wish I could.  My skin reacts badly with most metal and my wrist breaks out where the back of the watch touches it.
7. When was the last time you tried a new restaurant? Ummm.... I can't even remember when the last time we tried a new restaurant was.  It's been awhile.  
8. What color is your wallet? Black
9. How much does it have in coins right now? $1.25

Saturday 9

1) Can you recall a time when you danced and romanced like you "owned the night?" More than 10 years ago at a guess.  Gamed like I owned the night, much sooner.  But dancing and romancing... tough with kids!

2) Samantha Winters admits she earned the name "Crazy Sam" during her party girl days in the 1980s. But now she's in bed by 11:00 PM. Do you have a regular bedtime? I try to be in bed by 11, but I've got weird sleep patterns.  Sometimes I fall asleep around 9 and wake up at 3 or 4, other times I can't fall asleep until 3 or 4.  Other times I'm asleep around 10:30 and sleep through the night.  Just depends on the day.

3) Lady Antebellum is one of the most popular acts in country music. Do you often listen to country music? Not as much as I used to.  I grew up a country girl and listened to it fairly regularly into my late 20s, early 30s.  But I don't listen to as much music at all any longer.

4) Are you responding to this meme on a desktop or laptop or phone or tablet? Desktop.  My Kindle, as much as I love it, isn't good for updating Blogger, especially when I'm trying to copy questions.

5) How often do you check your horoscope? I get my horoscope delivered daily.  I actually read it about once a week.

6) Congratulations! You just won a trip to Switzerland! Is your passport up to date? Passport?  What passport?  Seriously, getting my passport is one of the things on my bucket list.  I've never been outside the US so I haven't needed it so far, but that's also something I'd like to do someday.

7) Do you know how to snow ski? Yes, though it's been more than 20 years since I went skiing.  I was always better at cross country skiing than downhill.

8) What's the first beverage you drink in the morning? It depends.  Sometimes I'll make a pot of coffee and have that.  Sometimes I need the caffeine but don't feel like coffee so I'll have soda.  Sometimes I'll grab a glass of milk.  And sometimes I'll remember that I need 8 cups of water for the day and I start of strong.

9) Are you a good speller? Relatively good, yes.  Though I'm ever grateful for auto-spell check in browsers these days.

Saturday 9

It's been awhile since I've done a Saturday 9, but getting back into the swing of things blogging means that I'm back and ready for fun!

1) Do you believe there's only one person (and there ain't no other) for you? Or do you think we can truly love several partners over the course of our lives? I tried writing a short answer to this question, but I couldn't.  If you're interested in my answer, you can find it here.

2) Do you have this, or any other, Christina song on your iPod/mp3 player? Nope.  I never really got into Christina Aguilera.

3) Christina Aguilera won a Grammy for her performance of this song. What do you deserve an award for? And who would you thank in your acceptance speech? The only thing that I can think of may sound silly to some of you, but it would be an award for making it through another day out of my bed.  I suffer from depression and anxiety and, even medicated at the moment, there are days that I'm not sure if I can face life.  But no matter how difficult it is for me, how low I feel, I manage to get out of bed.  I may not get much done, but I'm up and in the world rather than hiding away.  As for who I'd thank, mainly it would be Rich and the boys.  They're what keeps me going.  But I've also got a lot of friends off and online that support me when I'm having a rough day, and they deserve just as much thanks.

4) Christina Aguilera has her own brand of perfume. Do you have a fragrance or scent you regularly wear? Not anymore.  I need to be careful with the scents I wear because I'm asthmatic and stronger scents make it harder for me to breath.  One of the few that I've found that don't trigger my asthma is Love's Baby Soft.  I just haven't been able to buy any for awhile.

5) Do you have any allergies? Nothing beyond seasonal, really.  I have a lot of asthma triggers (including, strangely enough, drinking Pepsi) but I don't think those are true allergies.

6) There's an older lady who proclaims during a TV commercial, "I will give up beer, bread, wine or soda but I won't give up Life Alert!" No, we're not going to debate her diet. Instead the question is: What are some of the staples that are always on your grocery list? A side from the usual bread and milk (since, with four of us, we go through a lot), I've almost always got soda, ice cream, fruit (either fresh or canned), hot dogs and flavored creamer.  I seem to go through that far too quickly.

7) What's your favorite sitcom of all time? I've never been one that watched sitcoms as much as drama TV.  If I had to choose, though, I'd probably say Red Dwarf.  I used to watch it on PBS as often as they'd show them..

8) When it comes to your socks, do you prefer solids, stripes or prints? Prints, if I can.  I love cute socks. My favorite pair right now are purple with a penguin and snowflakes.

9) At what age do you consider a person "middle aged?" And when do they transition to "old?" That changes as I get older.  When I was a kid, 30 was middle aged and 50 was just old.  By the time I was in my 30s, I started thinking 40 was closer to middle age and 65 was old.  Now, (at 38), I'm thinking that middle age is probably still 40 (so I'm coming up on it fast) and old is probably around 70.

One Love or Many

The first question on the Saturday 9 meme is one that I can't answer with just a few sentences.  It's actually a topic very close to my heart.  The question is:

1) Do you believe there's only one person (and there ain't no other) for you? Or do you think we can truly love several partners over the course of our lives?

I firmly believe that you can truly love several partners over the course of our lives. I have.  And I probably will again.  Love is both easy and complicated, narrow and all encompassing.  Love is not a non-renewable resource.  You don't have a quota that you hit and then have no more love to give.  You can see it between children and parents, where the love between them is not lessened because of additional people in the family.  There is no difference, in my mind, between that kind of love and the love you can have for others in your life, whenever they may cross your path.

I think of love like a road.  You travel down it and sometimes, someone joins you for the journey.  They may be with you until the next exit or they may be with you all the way.  If they do need to stop traveling the road, you don't need to keep going alone.  Someone else may come and join your journey.  Or maybe even a couple other people.  But just because someone left the road they'd been traveling with you doesn't mean that they never traveled it.  It just means that they aren't on it any more.

When I was 16, I fell in love with someone.  We'd been friends for a year, then realized that we loved one another.  And I was convinced then that his was the only love I'd ever have.  My parents made me break up with him because of something that he'd done, telling me that if I didn't, they would move me to another school and make sure I'd never see him again.  My heart broke that day, and I cried harder than I ever had up to that point.  Over the years, I've been in touch with him off and on, and realized that the love never left.  It's been over 20 years, and I still have the love in my heart for him.  But it doesn't make me love my husband any less.

When I was 20, I met a man that became my everything for 7 years.  I wanted to spend as much time as possible with him.  The first year or so was good, but it became a bad relationship.  And I stayed with him because I loved him.  Eventually, love or not, I had to get out of the bad relationship and move on for myself.  Looking back now, while I don't love him still, I did truly love him then.  Love can fade and die, but that doesn't make the love any less just because it ended.

There was a time that I was a  practicing polyamoroist.  In the time I was poly, I had 3 different men that I loved (though more relationships than that). Everyone knew about everyone else, and because of that, I knew that I was loved in return.  My love for one did not diminish when I found someone else to love.  It increased, because each of these men were letting me be myself rather than trying to force me into a monogamous box (though each and every one of them was monogamous themselves).

Before I realized that I was polyamorous, I was miserable.  I would fall in love with someone new, which I was told meant that I didn't really love the first person I was with.  So I'd end one relationship, not because it was a bad relationship but because I was convinced that the love must have ended if I was having feelings for someone else.  So I jumped from relationship to relationship, unhappy when I fell for someone else because I'd have to give someone up.  A friend of mine told me that he was poly and explained what it meant.  And that's when I realized that every bit of misery was caused because I forced myself to make a choice that I didn't have to.  My love for one wouldn't diminish because I now loved another, any more than my love for Teddy would have diminished with the arrival of Peter.  For the first time in a long time, I was happy with relationships.

No one knows what the future holds.  There may be more loves in my future or it may be just Rich and I.  If something were to happen to him, I would hope to find someone else that I love as much as I love him.  If something were to happen to me, I know I would want him to find someone else.  Why travel the path alone when you have someone that wants to travel with you?

Saturday 9 for December 3, 2011 - Lies

1. “Everybody lies. But it's alright because nobody listens.” is one of Bud's Law's. What do you lie about? It usually involves not answering the phone.  I've got a strong phone phobia and even when people I know call, I'll not feel like talking.  So I'll let it ring and pretend I'm not around.

2. When you purchase a DVD, what besides the the movie itself, what do you enjoy the most? Is it the director's commentary, the deleted scenes, the bloopers or the behind-the-scenes documentary? I really love the bloopers.  I love to see the mistakes that are made and how the cast interacts with one another.

3. What would you most like to accomplish before the year is over? Finish cleaning my house - that includes going through every box and bag to get rid of the things that I don't use any more.

4. What is your current percentage of online shopping? Is it going to be more this year than last? Maybe about 10%.  I've purchased a few things online, but mostly I went to the stores to get what I wanted.  I think I may have purchased a few more items online this year, but only a negligible amount.

5. What's left to do at your place (or where you are going)? Is the tree up? ...or maybe you're just happy you found that fave Christmas coffee mug and are calling that good? I haven't done any decorating yet.  The tree probably won't go up until after my in-laws have come and gone because I don't know where I'm going to put it.  But I do want to get the other lights and things up.  I also need to wrap the gifts I've purchased and buy a few stocking stuffers.  Honestly, I'm much further ahead than I usually am this time of year.

6. If you could get worry free, cost free plastic surgery, would you? If yes, where? Not plastic surgery, no.  I'm pretty happy with the body that I have.

7. Do you think the child you were growing up, would like the adult you've become? I think she'd be surprised.  I am a mom, like I'd wanted to be back then.  But I'm not a teacher.  I'd hope that she thinks me a good adult.

8. What will you miss about 2011? Teddy starting school for the first time.  There's no way I'll ever be able to repeat that experience, even when it's Pete's turn.  Other than that, there's been a lot of not-good this year and I'll be glad to see the back side of the year.

9. What is something you'd love to see invented? A hat-style ice pack.  I get migraines that just about kill me and I often want ice everywhere on my head.  Unfortunately, trying to find a way to make the flexible ice packs fit everywhere hasn't been too successful.

Saturday Nine

In the hopes of getting back to a few things, I'm jumping in today (yes, Friday) with the Saturday 9 for this week.  I do still have the hope of blogging a bit more regularly about the things I enjoy, as well as these weekly glimpses into me from those who enjoy putting up ways to help you learn a bit more about me.

Without further ado, White Wedding

1. Tell us about the most recent wedding you attended.


Last summer, my mom got remarried.  She and my step-father had been together for over 15 years and they decided that now was the time to make it official.  It was one of the most laid back, enjoyable weddings I've ever been to.  Teddy and my nephew, Gabe, gave my mom away.  Her maid of honor from her wedding to my Dad was her maid of honor at this wedding as well.  Much of my family was there, as well as many of my mom's friends.  It was absolutely beautiful and fun and something I was proud to be at.

The happy couple.

Grandsons of the bride, getting ready to give her away.

2. Do you enjoy attending weddings, or do they bore you to tears?


Generally, I enjoy them.  Especially if it's someone that I know and it's someone that I'm happy for.

3. Does marriage in general make you feel confident and good inside, or skeptical?


Generally, it makes me feel good inside.  Because I honestly believe that most marriages happen because the two people love one another.  Sometimes I may think it's a mistake, but if the person that's getting married is happy... heck, I've been wrong before.

4. Do you have a photo blog? (If so, feel free to share the link with us.)


No, though I often wish I did.  But in order to have a photo blog, I'd have to actually remember to take pictures a lot more regularly.

5. Do you find yourself driving less due to the high gas prices?


Yes and no.  I've been cutting back on the long-distance driving - not going out to see my Dad as often as maybe I'd like to, things like that.  But I still have to get the boys back and forth to PDO and I still have to get us out of the house with some regularity before we go batty.

6. What's the high temperature today where you are?


It's downright cool - only 90 degrees.  Of course, this is after being 100+ yesterday.  We're supposed to have a storm system coming through, so that's probably why the drop in temperature.

7. "It's not the heat, it's the humidity." Agree, or no?


Agree whole-heartedly.  I've lived in Florida, where the humidity was constantly like a wet wool blanket enveloping you.  And I've lived here in Nashville, where it's more like a damp towel.  If I had to make the choice, it would be the damp towel.

8. What's the hottest you've ever been in your life?


For all that Florida would get hot and humid, the worst was probably here in Nashville a few years ago.  The temperatures were, if I remember correctly, in the 110s.  And it was nightmarish.  I didn't have to leave for work until around 4, but I hated even the walk from my front door to my car, then again from my car to my office.  Blech.

9. Non-temperature related last question: In your opinion... who's hot?

Besides my husband (who is probably only hot to me and others with discerning taste, but that's all that matters, right?), I'd have to say Ollie Queen (aka: Green Arrow - yes, I have the hots for a comic book superhero.  Deal with it.)

My dream guy....

Saturday Nine

Coming in a little early for the Saturday 9.  It should be my last one for today.  I hope you join me today for the




Saturday 9: The Remedy (I Won't Worry)

1. What's the remedy for you to stop worrying? Usually thinking about something else.  If I can get myself to focus on something that isn't whatever my biggest worry is, then I can put it aside (at least for a little while).
2. What is your favorite summertime beverage? Fruit tea.  I love the melding of flavors of different fruits and the sweet tea.
3. Do you use any freeware on your computer? If yes, do tell. I used to have a lot of freeware, but I've recently changed computers.  I don't remember what most of it is any more.  I do use a lot of add-ons for Google Chrome, though.  My favorites of those would have to be FeedSquares and Timer. FeedSquares is how I keep up with all of my blogs, and Timer is what tells me to get my butt off the computer.  In this day of online free sites (like Google Docs, Google Calendar, Mint.com) and extensions for browswers, there isn't as much freeware that's crossing my desk anymore.
4. What is one thing about your home that has to be just so or it drives you crazy when it comes to organization? The doors to the cabinets have to be closed.  It drives me insane to come into a room and see cabinet doors hanging open.  It doesn't matter if the things showing are neat or messy, I hate having open cabinet doors.
5. Is there a specific subject you're especially curious about? A person? A region of the world? An animal? A field of study? The answer to this changes regularly.  Often, it's something that either interests me because of a game that I'm playing or because I found it in a book that I'm reading.  I'm still pretty interested in Jack the Ripper, though I don't study the cases quite as much as I used to.
6. What do you consider your most interesting trait? My ability to give decent advice.  I may not be able to follow it myself, no matter how hard I try.  But I do manage to know how to phrase things to let someone else know a path they should follow.
7. What is something that really frightens you, and can you trace it back to an event in your life? Anything that flies.  Birds.  Insects.  You name it, if it has wings, it scares me to death.  I don't mind them if they're on the other side of a glass or in a cage, but when they can fly at me, I freeze.  I can't think of anything that happened to me to make me afraid of flying things - though I know my mom and my uncle are both afraid of them.  It's just this weird quirk that sometimes drives my husband nuts when I'm freaking out about a housefly.
8. Who do you want to yell at to “get a grip!”? Myself.  I worry too much about things and have a tendency to work myself up too much.  I need to learn to let go and relax because nothing good is going to come from over thinking things.
9. What do you wear to particularly look great for a party or event? A little make-up (it's about the only time that I do), this black-knit dress that I have, black pantyhose (the ONLY time I wear those) and these cute black ankle boots.  I look pretty darned good in it, if I do say so myself.

Saturday Nine (On Sunday)

And the last new feature for today... Saturday Nine from Saturday Nine with Crazy Sam Winters.  As with most of the features I've been finding and adding, I got this one from HAVFAITH as well.  Thanks, Tammy, for having so many great features on your site!



1. Have you ever felt that you were "made" for someone or some purpose? In some ways, yes.  My husband and I fit so perfectly together, it is like we were made for each other.  It's not that we don't fight or disagree... sometimes loudly.  But we compliment each other in so many ways.  It seems like when he's faltering, I'm there to boost him up and when I'm at my lowest, he can bring me back up.  I've never felt quite as much synergy with anyone else as I have with him.

2. What do you do when you have a problem that you can't do anything about it? Worry.  I know it's not the best thing in the world to do.  But it's part of who I am.  I have a really tough time letting go and I keep running a problem over and over in my mind in the hopes of finding some kind of solution.

3. If marijuana were to be legalized, do you think it should be taxed? Yep.  Cigarettes and alcohol are taxed, and I would put marijuana in the same league as they are.

4. What's one thing you could never do on a first date? Honestly, I don't think there's anything that I could never do (at least, not anything legal).  In my may years of dating, there's very little that I haven't done.

5. If someone (at gunpoint) forced you to receive a portrait tattoo of someone, who would it be? First, I don't know if it would have to be at gunpoint.  I've been wanting to get a second tattoo done for awhile.  Granted, I wasn't thinking of a portrait tattoo.  But if that's what it would have to be, I'd have one of my boys done.  Probably on my back.

6. Is tomorrow going to be a good day? I certainly hope so.  I'm trying to live more like Phineas and Ferb and make every day count.  Some days are more successful than others.  Tomorrow has a lot going for it though.

7. Anything fabulous happen to you last night? Yep.  Rich, the boys and I impulsively drove out to the dam at Percy Priest Lake to look at the moon.  Spending the time with my family under the big, bright moon was just fantastic.

8. For a few years in a row, you receive a nice tax refund: do you make an adjustment with your payroll deduction so they'll take less, or do you leave it that way so you can continue to receive the big check every spring? We leave it the way it is.  If we had more money with each paycheck, we'd end up frittering it away on little things.  With the big check, we can put a larger amount into our saving and buy a few things that we want that are slightly larger ticket (like the new computer and netbook that we purchased this year.)

9. When was the last time you had butterflies in your stomach? Umm.... I think it would be the last time I had an appointment with a new doctor.  (I think that was my meds psych doctor.)  Anytime I have to meet someone new in a professional capacity gives me butterflies.  Heck, anytime I have to meet someone new OUTSIDE a professional capacity gives me butterflies!