Another Boring Survey for High Schoolers

Just another boring question-&-answer survey. Answers in all caps are my friend Mimi's answers. I left the ones from her that I commented on.

How many people live in your house?
4. Me, hubby, kid 1, kid 2.

Do you like your siblings?
Sure.

Ever punch someone in the face?
Yes.

Where's your best friend?
Far away.

Last cigarette?
DON'T SMOKE, YUCKY!!!!--exactly

Are you currently texting anyone?
Not really, since I'm sort of typing on here. Typing takes two hands, you know.

What was the last movie you watched?
Hubby and I watched the 3 newest South Parks last night. I cracked up at the part where Randy Marsh came about 10 gallons all over himself. Okay, it's much funnier in the context of the show.

Have you ever showered with someone?
WELL YES I HAVE......HEHE!!!!--exactly

Do you have someone of the opposite sex you can tell everything to?
Yeah, he's called my husband.

What were you doing at 10:30 last night?
I don't pay much attention to time. Probably online.

Are you currently wanting any piercings or tattoos?
I've wanted ink for years, but I'll never get any. An eyebrow piercing would be cool, but I'll never actually do that either. Besides, nowadays you're more unique if you don't stand out.

How long can you go without your phone?
Quite a while, since I hate talking on the phone and usually avoid it.

If your ex said they hate you, you say?
I wouldn't give a fuck.

Who pissed you off yesterday?
Everyone else on the road.

Have you ever kissed anyone who's name started with a G?
NOT THAT I KNOW OF -exactly. Like I can remember the name of everyone I've kissed.

What do you currently hear right now?
Silence. It's golden.

Would you rather watch football or baseball?
Um. Um. Er. Um. Ah. Well.......baseball?

Did anyone see you kiss the last person you kissed?
Nah, unless someone happened to be hiding in our bedroom last night. Were you watching us? Tsk tsk naughty naughty.

Did you kiss someone before you were sixteen?
NO --yeah, me neither.

Do you have trust issues?
Eh.

First person under 'J' on your phone?
I have to go look, because I don't know....

Janice.


Were you happy when you woke up today?
NOT REALLY, CAN'T BE HAPPY IN PAIN --awww why are you in pain? :-(

Yeah, I was happy. I'm usually pretty much a morning person, and a late night person. My moods stay fairly constant all the time.


Do you have a mobile?
Mobile, Alabama? Auto-mobile? Mobile-home? Help me out here.


What swear word do you use too much?
I don't use any of them too much.

Would you ever get a tattoo?
Not realistically, no.

Last person you kissed with a tattoo, if so.. how many?
"Spaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhck!" Ha ha, mystery science theater 3000: the movie quote. (Spock).


How many times have you kissed the last person you kissed?
Let's see, married 5 years, dated 1, divide by pi, calculate the tragectory...
thousands?

Do you have a Facebook?
Yeah, and I'm even lazier with it than I am with this crazy thing.

Last person you rode in a car with under the age of 20?
My kids.


Do you mind sleeping on the floor?
Why, are you inviting me to a sleep over?

Where did your last hug take place?
This morning, as my hubby and kids left the house.


What are you looking forward to in the next month?
How about this month since it just started? I have a fun month planned. I have three plays to see this weekend. DH might go to one if we can get a babysitter. Next Thursday I'm going to Chicago to see Threepenny Opera. Saturday, my husband and I, his brother J. and wife T., and brother I. and girlfriend A. are going to Great America (roller coaster park).

Do you think you will be in a relationship 3 months from now?
Yeah, I don't really see divorce on our forecast.


Would you ever date anyone with tattoos?
UMMM, YEAH, LOVE TATS--I'd say that if I were single.

Did you ever date the last person you kissed?
He's the same guy I married.


Who did you last get into a big argument with?
No one.

Would you have sex with someone you had known less than 24 hrs?
I don't even think I've done that, not even in my wild days.

Have you had sex in the last 24 hrs?
Last 12 hours, baby!

Do you smoke weed?
No, but I am intrigued.


Have you ever watched a movie drunk?
Nope.

Where is the weirdest place you have slept?
AT THE MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY WHILE THE RACE WAS GOING ON--how on earth did you do that?

Ahhh, thinking...thinking. I really don't know. I have a hard time sleeping, so I don't fall asleep in weird places.


How many letters are in your middle name?
5

Have you ever dyed your hair an un-natural color?
Not all over. It's been streaked.


What are your thoughts on sex before marriage?
I think it's a wonderful idea, and have done it plenty.

Have you ever made out in a bathroom, where, how?
Sure. At home. With a bottle of tequila and a book of carpet samples.

Ever been to a bonfire party?
Um. Sure.

Do you get distracted easily?
What?

Have you dated people who weren't good to you?
No actually, I've been pretty lucky. Everyone I've dated has been really great guys, just not always right for me.


Have you ever slapped anyone, when was the last time?
No.

What did you do to get your first detention?
Danced naked in class while singing "Salty Dog", accompanied by Billy on Banjo, Timmy on Tambourine, and Susan "Sassy Pants" on Saxophone.

Organizational Skills

Wow. You know that when you can't figure out if you have $3 or $27 in your checking account it must be time to start keeping better records. I think I'll give my bank a few days to update online, then I'll start putting my account information into my cell phone. That phone is the best thing that's ever happened to me--from an organizational standpoint. Plus I can play bubble blaster on it. I love that game!

Speaking of resolutions--did I mention this is a resolution--I'm also resolved to keep the house cleaner (ha!), get in better shape (ha! ha!), and improve myself in some way.

What are your resolutions for 2009?

Foreskin Power!

Neither of our kids are circumcised. Now, most people wouldn't even think that our two year old daughter would be. After all, we are a typical American family. But they might be a little surprised to know that our four year old son isn't either. For my husband and I, the subject of infant circumcision came down to individual rights. We strongly believe that our son has as much right to keep every part of his normal and healthy genitals as does our daughter.

I do not judge parents who chose circumcision for their sons in the past. It's only in the last few years that there has been much accurate information about the foreskin, it's structure and function. I know that parents make the best decisions for their kids based on what they know at the time. I also fervently hope that as more people learn about the foreskin that they will realize that it's a normal body part and will make the decision to let their son keep everything he was born with.

Please take just a moment to sign up for Change.org and show your support for ending routine infant circumcision in US hospitals.

I'm Seeing the End (of Holiday Shopping!)

How is your shopping coming along? That's assuming, of course, that you even celebrate the holidays. I know not everyone does. Sometimes people are surprised that our family celebrates Christmas since I am a life-long atheist. I love the holiday season though, all the togetherness, peace, harmony, and giving. To be honest, it's really how I strive to live all the time. I just leave religion out of our celebration. We have a tree that's decorated with lots of red bells and some cute ornaments, but nothing Christian in nature. It's a good compromise for our family.

I also love the excitement of surprising people with gifts. I think I'm finally nearing the end of shopping--hooray hooray! I've spent a monkeyload of money on Etsy this season. It's been fun, but boy does it all add up!

I ordered a couple of toys for my nephew and second cousin last night, a pair of adorable cat stockings for my little boy and girl. I ordered a tin of cocoa for my BIL, Jason, and am still waiting on a few other things from there. I still have to bake cookies as gifts, and order some photos.

Gotta pack a bunch of stuff and mail a HUGE package to my family in Virginia. My husband offered to take the package by UPS on his way to work. I hope he doesn't pass out when he sees how much that will cost. **Gulp** All of his family is in Chicago so fortunately we can just drive their gifts up. :-)

I hope the rest of the stuff for my family comes in the mail today so we can get that shipped. I want it to be waiting for us when we get there. I'm having a dumb attack because I ordered earrings for my sister, Regina and can't remember if they came in or not. Knowing me, they came in and my crazy self has lost 'em.

Wow, busy! At least it's winding down. I'm going to start shopping even earlier next year...say January 1st! I thought I would be done by now since I started shopping before Thanksgiving, but man, the shopping just keeps going on and on. Still, it's fun! I'm going to miss the excitement once the season is over.

C or Better Equals Beatles!

I took my chemistry final this morning. It was the last of the three finals I had to take for this semester. The other two were Nature of Theatre and Sociology. Both Theatre and Sociology were fairly easy. They were just like normal exams and only went over a few chapters. Chemistry was much harder because the teacher decided to make it cumulative over everything we'd learned over the year. I studied a fair amount for that exam and there were still questions on the exam that had me scratching my head.

On a good note, I checked my grades. I have a 95 percent in chemistry lab. I'm really happy about that. I knew I'd get a good grade in chem lab because it was so fun but so easy. I'm fairly certain I should have an easy A in Theatre, and it looks like Chemistry and Sociology are hanging around low Bs. Those grades are from before factoring in the final exam grade so hopefully I'll stay at As and Bs. I've decided that if I have a C average or better I'll buy myself one of the few Beatles CDs that I don't already have. Either Meet the Beatles, Help, Yellow Submarine, Magical Mystery Tour, With the Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, Sgt. Pepper's or one of the other lesser known discs. I have an entire CD notebook (with a lock. Neat!) set aside just for my Beatles and members' solo CDs. Oddly enough, the only solo CD I have is a John Lennon greatest hits. You would think I would have something by Ringo Starr or Paul McCartney by now. McCartney had some really great songs with Wings, and I have Starr as a friend on Myspace.* Maybe passing grades next semester will get me either the Best of Wings or Ringo and his All-Starr Band.

* Myspace is annoying and I hardly ever go to it.

Overlooked

I've come to the fairly certain conclusion that most people who should like me most really don't like me much at all. Now, I'm not saying that they hate me, or that I hate myself. It's just that I've noticed that outside of my husband no one ever really tries to get in touch with me. No one ever sends an email to say hi, or calls, or texts messages. Yes, I know we're all living busy lives and are scattered across the country. The beauty of technology is that it allows you to keep in touch with your family and friends if you just take a few seconds to use it.

Here are a couple of recent examples. I went through the trouble of setting up a private message board strictly for my family and my husband's family to use. We could keep up with each other, discuss holiday and travel plans, maybe get into a book discussion. I described as being the modern equivilant to chatting on the back porch. Everyone likes to do that, right? Well, no, obviously not. Besides marginal interest by my mom and aunt no one else even said anything about it. Okay so scratch that idea for bringing up closer together.

Here's my other example. I have a friend who doesn't have any kids. I was up late with Ja one night, so I texted her. To my surprise she was awake and texted back. We conversed for a few minutes then she suddenly just stopped responding. She didn't bother to say goodnight, talk to you later, see ya, or even ttyl. It was late at night (around midnight) so I knew she didn't have to go to work. She has no kids or pets, or the responsibility that comes with them. And you know, I'm pretty optimistic, so I was thinking "okay she went to bed, maybe she'll respond to the last couple of messages I sent tomorrow morning." As you can guess, she did not.

Do I sound bitter? Eh, maybe a little. I'm not so much upset as I am just disappointed. What happened that taking the time for family and friends isn't even a priority anymore? Heck, it's barely on the list anymore. I don't ask for much, but I would really like to occaisonally know there is someone out there who thinks of me. Is that too much to ask?

Kids and Sleep

I'm standing hunched over the wooden chair I normally sit in while typing, just in case I need to run over to my two year old who is happily pulling paper coffee filters from the bag while "cooking" cereal in our toaster oven. Don't worry, the oven is unplugged. I'm on my second cup of coffee because it's twenty minutes 'til 11 pm and she is not even showing signs of being tired. That's after she woke up at 9:30 this morning and hasn't napped all day.

Sound unusual? Not for here. Somehow we ended up with crazy mutant kids who can survive with practically no sleep. While other people's toddlers and preschoolers take 2-3 hour naps and still go to bed at 9 pm, our kids are awake 18 hours a day. It is nice that the youngest is able to play by herself, even if her play means trashing the house. Our oldest is very clingy and likes to have someone with him at all times. That's just his personality though.

Oops! I just had to go rescue a certain little girl who climbed onto the kitchen counter. She managed to open a cabinet and grab the camcorder, which I barely managed to rescue. I gave her a wooden box of tea to play with instead.

Okay, well, those were just a few of the fun moments of my life parenting a couple of crazy, rowdy, fun kids.

Good night online world!

Gorgeous photo

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What's on Page 56?

I was tagged by the ever delightful Martha of the blog A Sense of Humor is Essential. It seems that I am supposed to go to page 56 of whichever book is closest to me and type the fifth sentence. I have final exams next week so the book closest to me is my Sociology text book. Hmm... unfortunately page 56 is the beginning of a chapter, so instead of words it is a picture of dancers in Cuzco, Peru. They are very nice dancers, dressed in very bright costumes.

Now it's your turn! What is sentence five of page 56 of your closest book?

No Reward for You

On most mornings, my husband takes our two kids to the babysitter's on his way to work. I either go to college or stay home to get things done depending on what day it is. Today was a little different. He left with our youngest to take her to the dentist and to Best Buy. I left in my own car with our son for the babysitter's.

Toe was buckled into his booster in the backseat. We were driving down a typical four-lane highway into Peoria. We're in Illinois, so there are patches of slushy snow on the roads. I was in the inner (slow) lane during the first few minutes. I noticed a convoy of massive SUVs coming off an exit ramp who needed to merge into traffic. There were six SUVs total, that's the most I'd seen in one place in months. I'm sure people are driving them again because of the gas prices coming down. I moved to the outer lane to let them all merge.

I had every intention of getting back into the inner lane as soon as I had a clear spot. I wanted to stop by Starbucks to get myself a hot chocolate and my son a box of chocolate milk, and the store is on the right side of the road. I glanced for an opening in between the train of SUVs, but wasn't in a huge hurry since the coffee shop was about five miles down the road. I was driving 60 in a 55, keeping up with the flow of traffic. I checked my rearview mirror to see that someone had gotten behind me and was so close to me that I couldn't even see most of their car in my mirror. Obviously, they were trying to intimidate me to either really speed to pass all the traffic, or to move into the other lane.

Now, as I said, I'm a parent, and practically any parent knows one simple rule. You do not reward bad behavior. This is because you don't want your kid--or total stranger--to think that they can get their way every time they throw a fit--or drive aggressively. So I did what I would have done if one of my kids had fussed for a toy I couldn't buy them. I ignored his behavior and just kept driving. After all, I wasn't about to drive 70, which is the speed I would have needed to pass everyone, and there were no openings in the inner lane. Those other vehicles were packed in pretty tight. He followed behind me for 2 or 3 minutes, as close as he could possibly get without just crawling into my car's trunk. Finally, I saw an opening and moved over, and he shot past me like a rocket.

I don't understand the need of some people to drive like bullies. Not everyone is willing to risk a ticket by going twenty miles over the speed limit. I think that he had just gotten used to people getting out of his way when he pulled his aggressive driving stunts that he figured he could "own the road", as the saying goes. Well, buddy, not with me because I don't reward bad behavior.

Pizza

Does anyone else think that Pizza Hut pizza is better as reheated leftovers? The pizza is two days old and tastes better now than it did yesterday or the day it was delivered. Nice and crispy from reheating in the toaster oven. I'm drinking grape juice with it. Unusual combination but it pairs well.

Today has been quite insane. From being interrupted five times by the kids while I was in the shower to my son having a screaming melt down at the post office because he had a small hurt (poor kid) I am just glad the day is nearly over. Good thing I baked two dozen made from scratch rich chocolate cupcakes with homemade icing. Yum. Or maybe that's a bad thing, since I'm an excellent dessert maker and have already had four cupcakes today. And...ahem...I do plan to have at least one or two more. Hey, gotta eat 'em before they get stale, right?