Random Tidbits

Because I needed to write about something completely different. Nicked from Hip to be Squared, by way of Stitch Bitch and Brave Astronaut.

What is in the back of your car? An emergency kit and some jumper cables.
What color is your toothbrush? White and red.
Name one person that made you smile today? Kamal, 13 y.o. son of one of our contractors, to whom we introduced Le Tour de France this morning. He’s totally fascinated.
What were you doing at 8 am this morning? Talking to our contractors.
What were you doing 45 minutes ago? On a work telecon.
What is your favorite candy bar? Minature Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.
Have you ever been to a strip club? No.
What is the last thing you said aloud? “Good-bye.”
What is the best ice cream flavor? Mint chocolate chip.
What was the last thing you had to drink? Orange seltzer.
What are you wearing right now? T-shirt, jeans shorts, shower shoes (hey, I’m in my own house).
What was the last thing you ate? Muffaletta pizza from Franklin’s. Yum.
Have you bought any new clothing items this week? No.
When was the last time you ran? Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
The last sporting event you watched? Le Tour de France.
What is your favorite flavor of popcorn? Flavor? Salt and butter only, thank you.
Who is the last person you sent a comment/message on Myspace? I don't do Myspace. I sent Sarah a birthday message on Facebook.
Ever go camping? Yes. I was even a camp counselor one summer.
Do you take vitamins daily? Yes.
Do you go to church every Sunday? No.
Do you have a tan? Not really. I've barely been outside this summer.
Do you like Chinese food over pizza? No. I’m a pizza girl.
Do you drink your soda with a straw? Rarely.
What did your last text message say? I’ve only ever sent and received four messages. I think the last one was last August when Brave Astronaut sent me the results of the Yanks/Sox game for NJM, as she and I were sitting at Wrigley Field.
Are you someone's best friend? I think so.
What are you doing tomorrow? Working.
Look to your left, what do you see? A mound of filing that needs to be done.
What color is your watch? Purple. It’s a sports watch that I rarely wear.
What do you think of when you think of Australia? Kangaroos, koalas, and DH’s evil ex-girlfriend.
Do you use chap stick? No, but I use lip balm regularly.
What is your birthstone? Peridot
What is your favorite number? 24 – it’ the day of the month on which I was born.
Do you have a dog? No
Last person you talked to on the phone? DH
Have you met anyone famous? Yes, several. Most recently, two of my hubby’s college classmates, basketball star David Robinson and astronaut Sunita Williams. Both were incredibly nice.
Any plans today? Trying to reduce my stress levels, working on cleaning up the house a bit, watching today’s stage of the Tour, and maybe some Nationals baseball.
How many states have you lived in? 6 States and one District. New York, Massachusetts, Iowa, Virginia, Rhode Island, California, New York again, and Washington, DC. I’ve also lived in two other countries.
Ever go to college? Yes.
Do you dye your hair? Highlights, although not recently.
Biggest annoyance in your life right now? Stress.
Last song listened to? I have no idea.
Can you say the alphabet backwards? Probably. I haven’t tried.
Do you have a maid service clean your house? I have a person who comes to clean the house biweekly. I wouldn’t call it a “maid service”.
Are you jealous of anyone? Yes, but I would say “envious”, which to me is the more positive version.
Is anyone jealous of you? I have no idea.
Do you love anyone? Yes.
Do any of your friends have children? Many of them. I find this an odd question, as I’ve almost always had friends of all ages, and at least one of them would’ve had children.
Do you eat healthy?Not as much as I should.
What do you usually do during the day? Work.
Do you hate anyone that you know right now? No, although there is someone I strongly dislike.
Do you use the word 'hello' daily? Probably, but I think I'm more likely to say "Hi" than "Hello".
What color is your car? One’s red, the others are green.
Do you like cats? Yes. I currently co-habitate with two.
Have you ever been to Six Flags? While they’ve been under Six Flags management, no, but I’ve been to two amusement parks prior to them being obtained by the chain, Darien Lake and Riverside. Interestingly, Darien Lake is once again no longer part of the Six Flags franchise.
How did you get your worst scar? I was showing off on my bicycle a few weeks before I turned 7. I was trying to ride hands free and fell. I put the fender into my lower left leg. The injury didn’t really bleed much, nor did it hurt initially. It resulted in my first trip to the hospital and required 7 stitches. My second worst scar involved me, a bicycle, some wet grass, and running into a garage door when the brakes didn’t work. The glass from the door fell on me, cutting my left arm, and requiring 4 stitches. This happened a couple of weeks before my 14 birthday. The year I turned 21, I stayed in another state to avoid coming home and having a car accident. :-)

Swap Cards

Well, I was planning to participate in this month's card swap, but the events of Thursday and Friday prevented me from doing so. I did manage to make my swap cards. The theme was "summer fun". All the coordinates in the printed papers made me think of the phrase, "Changes in latitude, changes in attitude."

I designed them so that they could be used in either direction, although if I wanted to send the upright one, I'd probably add some leaves to the stem.

What do you think?

Kreativ Blogger Award

Jennifer at Sweet Pea Stitching has gifted me with the Kreativ Blogger Award. The condition on it is to pass it along to 5 bloggers, presumably crafty ones, who inspire me.

Well, first has to be Anna. Hers was the first blog I read at all, and she continues to inspire me. Plus, I enjoy her snarky side.

Next is Lee. I'm amused by her current fascination with scissor pockets. I haven't ventured down this road, but maybe now I will, after I finish the Bride's Tree SAL.

Third comes Aury, because I adore her monochromatic designs. So simple and quite beautiful.

Fourth is Maria, who stitches beautifully and has me reading blogs in Portuguese, a challenge I needed.

Fifth (but not last) is Donna. We share an interest in baseball as well as stitching and she's fun to read.

Stolen Purse and other news

So my purse was stolen from my house on Wednesday WHILE I WAS HOME around 3 pm. I thought I'd heard our front door open, but when I went downstairs, I didn't see anything and thought maybe it'd been the wind or something. Until I received a phone call from my credit card company Thursday morning asking if I'd tried to buy gas four times that morning. Yikes.

The good news is that criminals are stupid. Really stupid. The thief used my credit card at gas stations, which have surveillance cameras. The police were able to retrieve at least one tape of the jerk. Since the house across the street from us was robbed at the same time, the police are eager to catch this guy. Unfortunately, I won't be able to help the police identify him, as I (fortunately) didn't encounter him.

As much as I'm annoyed about having had to call the card companies and replace all my photo IDs and freaked out about having had a thief in the house, I'm also annoyed about losing the purse itself and the other contents. The purse and wallet I bought on our last vacation to Crete, the photo of DH I've had since we were first dating, and the item that my stitching friends will most understand -- the full punchcards from my LNS, including the one that would have gotten me a nice discount on my next framing order. Sigh.

I'd like to be able to shrug it off and say that at least no one was hurt, but I can't. I've been having a stressful month. There's been a lot going on personally and professionally. I bit off a bit more than I can chew in terms of my professional commitments this month (two papers and a report -- and formal writing tends to make me stress). I haven't really had time to stitch or do much else that's really relaxing (although I've been watching bits of Le Tour de France-- go, Cadel, go). Plus I'm still trying to get our house in order post-renovations. Well, last night all this stress caught up with me, and I got to spend several hours at our local hospital. All's fine now. I've been ordered to take it easy and go see my regular doctor again in a few days. So I rested most of today, and I plan to do the same tomorrow, while trying to figure out how to get some stuff done while not increasing my stress again.

Re-reading a Classic

Last night, I couldn't get to sleep. I think it was the excitement of besting JAL in Word Twist finally. So I did what I usually do - I read for a while. After I finished one of the books* I'd been working on for a while, I was still wide awake. At that point, I went looking for a comfort read, something I'd read numerous times before and therefore would be less likely to be sucked in completely since I knew how it ended.

I ended up with A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. I first read this when I was in the 6th grade and immediately fell in love with her universe. It also launched me into reading not only the rest of her books, but the Narnia series and many other classics of children's and young adult literature. These are books I continue to love to read. They bring back that sense of wonder and adventure that meant so much to me during my early teen years. (Yes, I needed to escape, even if it was just into a book.)

Over the years, I've continued to read children's and young adult novels. When I was in my library science program, I took a Children's Literature class, which was fabulous and connected me to some new authors. Unfortunately, since then, many of my books have been in storage due to the house renovations. I haven't had the opportunity to revisit many of my favorites. Plus, other than the Harry Potter books, I haven't found newer books that appeal to me as much. I think it's just that I'm experiencing them for the first time as an adult.

Be that as it may, it's been a delight to re-read Wrinkle. Since it's a short book, I was able to finish it this morning. It reminds me of the lost arts of both concise writing and good editing for many books that make it to market today. I think of it as being a timeless story, but I wonder if that remains true. When do the childhoods portrayed in all my favorite books become dated because they don't reflect the modern, technological world? Can you imagine From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg happening today?

* I finished A House in Corfu by Emma Tennant. I'd give it a score of 3.5 out of 5. There were occasionally great descriptions of Corfu, Greek food, etc., which is why I wanted to read the book, but for a memoir, it was strangely detached. I think this may be due to the house being her parents' rather than Emma's. She wasn't the one struggling with the day-to-day challenges of building and maintaining a house as an ex-pat.

Another Friday Feast

Appetizer: When was the last time you had your hair cut/trimmed?
I had my bangs trimmed about 4 weeks ago. I need to get a full cut in the next few weeks.

Soup: Name one thing you miss about being a child.
Lazy summers.

Salad: Pick one: butter, margarine, olive oil.
Olive Oil.

Main Course: If you could learn another language, which one would you pick, and why?
This one's tough. I've studied French and Portuguese, but not really learned either. I've always thought I should learn German, but haven't. I really *should* learn Portuguese, but just to be different, I'll say Luxemborgisch.

Dessert: Finish this sentence: In 5 years I expect to be…
The last time I answered this question was 9 years ago in an interview for what turned out to be my first job with my current employer. I was completely wrong then, so I think I'll pass on this one for now.

Baking or Cooking

I haven't been stitching much or working on anything else that lends itself to pictures lately. I've mostly been working on getting our kitchen in order and moving stuff back into other rooms in our house. Not terribly exciting or blog-worthy.

We did have some friends over for an Independence Day lunch. Nothing like some beef ribs and broccoli slaw to say "Happy 4th", especially when followed by a homemade strawberry-rhubarb pie. Yum.

Which leads me to my question: Do you prefer to bake or cook? Or do you prefer some other method of food preparation altogether?

I'm a baker. If I'm going to fuss with food prep, I want something substantial at the end. Stove top cooking just doesn't get me there most of the time. I'm also sort of a one-bowl and one-pan sort of person. I don't want to end up with a whole lot of bowls or pots dirty at the end, and I seem to be better able to control this when baking. If I do need to cook, I prefer to grill or throw things into a crockpot. It's just easier.