Finally Friday

Things I am thankful for this week:

  • snow days: eating waffles in your pajamas
  • a wonderful husband who doesn’t mind clearing up all of the snow
  • health insurance
  • living within an hour of one of the best hospitals in the country
  • being recognized by my boss for what I am doing
  • my adorable son running into the room when he comes home after not seeing me all day or for two hours
  • hedgehogs
  • fresh water

Hoo Are You Tuesday?

1. Did you make any New Year’s Revolutions?

Yes.  My standard resolution is try harder, but this year I have added declutter the first floor, establish routines, and save money.
2. What are some goals you have for 2011?

My goals for 2011 are in line with my resolutions. I hope to declutter my kitchen, living room, dining room, and office to feel more comfortable inviting people over.  I hope to establish better routines to keep my house clean and my life running more smoothly.  My husband and I would both like to budget better and save money to pay down our debt.

3. What is something that you got for Christmas?

I told my husband I wanted something I wasn’t expecting.  So he went on my Amazon wishlist and got me a new camera.  It is water, dust and shock proof.  I am also hoping it is toddler and klutz proof.

4. Did you see any good movies over the holiday season?

Movies? Who can watch movies?  No actually, we did watch several holiday themed movies, both kid-friendly and adult themed.  But on New Year’s Eve we watched Wild Hogs.  I had never seen it and thought it would be kind of dumb, but I really liked it.

5. Do you do your own taxes or have someone do them for you?

I don’t do our taxes, but my husband does.  We are hoping for a refund this year, but I doubt it.

NightOwlCrafting

Hoo Are You? Tuesday

1. Do you prefer to write in cursive or print?

I prefer to type.  But I don’t really write in cursive or print, I scrawl.  Except in my classroom.  I have to print slowly and well in my primary grade classroom.

2. Do you prefer to shop online or go out and actually go to the stores?

I prefer to shop online, but sometimes it is nice to go to the stores.  I hate trying on clothes in a store, but I am terrible about returning things I get online (case in point: 6 bras and a pair of capris in a box in my living room right now).

3. Would you prefer to go camping or stay in a motel?

Motel-schmotel, I need an all-inclusive resort.  My idea of “roughing it” is a motel.  But I do keep thinking it would be fun to have an RV or pop-up camper.

4. Do your prefer going to the movies or staying home to watch one?

My husband and I love to go to the drive-in.  It has been especially good that we love drive-ins now that we have a kid.

5. Do you prefer a shower or a bath?

I would love to take a bath, but I don’t fit in the tub.  I don’t really care as long as I have the opportunity to be clean.

NightOwlCrafting

Hoo Are You?

1. Do you sing in the shower or car when no one else is listening?
I sing all the time.  In the shower, in the car, in the store…where ever.  It is easier now that I have a little kid cause I can pretend I am singing to him.  I have never been one of those who sings into a hairbrush, but I sing all the time.

2.  Do you have a nickname you go by now or growing up?
My mommy called me Big D.  Some of my high school friends called me Dawnothan and some of my college friends called me Dawnald.

3. Do you speak another language?
I studied French for 3 and a half years in high school and 2 years in college, so no.  I can fake it in Montreal, reading not speaking though.  Right now I wish I spoke Baby.

4. Where is you favorite vacation spot?
Star Island.  In 4 days I will be sitting in a rocking chair smelling ocean breezes, drinking lime rickeys, thinking of nothing.

5. What do you cook the most for dinner?
I don’t cook much of anything for dinner.  The thing I cook the most part is homemade macaroni and cheese.

NightOwlCrafting

Hoo Are You Tuesday

1. Have you ever broke a bone or anything on your body?

When I was in my twenties, I had a terrible cough for weeks.  One day I was playing with my daughter’s 4 year old, picking her up and swinging her around.  The next day I could barely get out of bed.  I coughed, my chest hurt and I could barely roll over.  I suffered for about three weeks before I finally went to the doctor.  The cough had subsided, but the pain was still there.  As she pressed on my chest she confirmed what I feared: broken rib.  And of course there is nothing you can do about broken ribs.  All told I think I lived with it for over 2 months.

2. What is your favorite drink?

Drink-drink?  amaretto sour, light on the ice
Soda? root beer and ginger ale
Juice? fresh squeezed orange juice

3. When is your birthday! You don’t have to tell the year you were born!

I was born on May 16.  I turned 34 this year.  My 33rd birthday present was my son, born nearly 10 hours after the moment of my birthday.

4. Do you have an allergies?

I learned a few years ago that I am allergic to amoxicillin.  I had a sinus infection and the doctor gave me a scrip.  After 24 hours I was covered with hives.  They were worse than the sinus infection.  I also think I have seasonal allergies, but I have no medical confirmation.

5. What is one of your all time favorite movies?

As a little kid I would have said The Muppet Movie.
As a preteen I would have said Girls Just Want to Have Fun.
As a teen I would have said Say Anything.
In college I would have said Jerry Maguire.
As an adult I could watch just about anything with Reece Witherspoon over and over.

NightOwlCrafting

Hoo are you Tuesday

NightOwlCrafting

1. Do you prefer sweet or salty foods?

It really depends on my mood, but mostly sweet. I love French Fries, but I would rather have cake or cookies.  In fact right now I am eating Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal for breakfast.

2. Name your 3 BEST personality traits!

I am a patient with others.  I am persistent, I will keep trying something until I get it.

3. Name your 3 worst personality traits!

I am a terrible procrastinator.  I would rather put things off and be stressed at the last minute than do them now.  I am always running late.  About the only thing I am not late for is theater.  I hate late-comers at performances.  I am a hoarder.  I hate getting rid of things.  I am a “what if I need it later” kind of person.  Looking at all those things together, I suspect they are all related.

4. Do you collect anything?

Yarn.  I have so much cotton dishcloth yarn I could make a dishcloth for every day of the month.  I also have a large collection of postcards of my town, college, and vacation spot.  I try to get a squashed penny whenever I have the chance.

5. What is your favorite season of the year?

Spring, no question.  My birthday is in May.  The grass is green.  Flowers are blooming.  It smells nice.  It means the end of school is coming.  Second best is fall.

Now you:

Here are this weeks questions!
1. Do you prefer sweet or salty foods?
2. Name your 3 BEST personality traits!
3. Name your 3 worst personality traits!
4. Do you collect anything?
5. What is your favorite season of the year?

Hoo Are You Tuesday

1. What is your favorite restaurant?

Nearly every Thursday my husband and I take Tumblebug for Family Night at The Chelsea Royal Diner. The Chelsea (as it is known) has traditional diner fare and some slightly more exotic things, but we get the same thing every time.  I get a foot long hot dog and macaroni and cheese with a side of fries and he gets spaghetti marinara with no meatball.  We know all the evening waitresses and they love our little one.  From April to October we go outside for dessert because they have the best ice cream.

2. What kind of music do you like?

I listen to a lot of different music.  Mostly I like the Barenaked Ladies, They Might Be Giants, Kasey Chambers, and Broadway musicals.

3. What do you watch on TV?

A lot.  I watch way too much TV.  I like reality like Survivor, The Amazing Race, and Big Brother.  I also like scripted television like How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory, Parenthood, CSI, Criminal Minds, and Lie to Me.

4. Do you enjoy reading and if so what kind of books do you read?

I love to read.  I have been reading for as long as I can remember.  I don’t actually remember learning how to read.  I haven’t finished a book since my son was born last year though.  I am about 2/3 of the way through The Time Traveler’s Wife.  I also like to read The Outlander series, Harry Potter, and anything by Anne Rivers Siddons or Jodi Picoult,.

5. What is your favorite color?

Green


If you could go back in time and meet your 16-year-old self…

what three things would you tell yourself?

Only 3 things?  Wow!

  1. Sweet Briar is a great college and you will have a terrific four years if you go there…but…look around New England a little more.  Can you get into Mt. Holyoke?  Is there a small college nearby that has a great teacher’s program?  And take some classes at Keene State over summers.  And if you do go to SBC?  Room with Candice in Manson your sophomore year.
  2. You have a condition called vulvodynia.  As soon as you graduate from college and Brattleboro Ob/Gyn opens in Brattleboro go see Dr. McBean and get her to fix you.  You will be so glad that you did in 2000.
  3. And that guy, that one that has the funny hair, he is going to have the part of the dad in Bye, Bye Birdie.  And in the future?  You will love him.  No seriously, stop laughing.  Really, you will.  Stop laughing!  You will love him. You will even want to have babies with him.  And they will be soooo cute.  But only if you remember the second thing I told you.

If I had a million dollars…

You’ve just been given a million dollars. You are not allowed to keep it or give it to anyone you know personally. What do you do with it and why?

No one I know personally…hmmm…that’s hard.  I would have to give the money to someone I know, but for them to pass it on to a stranger.

I would love to give a bunch of money to my college to help a girl from New England go to college there.  I had such a great time at college, but I think college would be so much better if you didn’t have to worry about money.

I would give money to my Star Island conference to help pay for kids to come out to the youth conference.  I would specify it would be for kids who had never been out to the Island before.  That was another amazing experience of my youth and it costs 3 times as much now, 20 years later.

Lastly, I would give some to the NVA so they can find a cure.  I hate that other women have to go through the pain and stress I went through.   I would love to have had 2 children by now and have a normal marriage, but such was not my luck.  I was so lucky to be diagnosed at my third doctor (the average is 7) and find a man that is understanding and supportive.  I still hope for a pain-free life, but for now I am happy with the life I have.

Do you owe an apology to anyone? Why?

It’s probably not a very good apology if you say, “I am sorry you are so high maintenance and difficult to deal with I can no longer be friends with you.”

How about, “I am sorry your pettiness and immaturity caused me to choose others to be my friends”?

Or maybe, “I am sorry you blame me for your mistakes.”

Nope.  Those probably aren’t good apologies.

I do owe apologies -and thank you notes- to nearly everyone who got me or my baby something last spring and summer when he was born.  I was just so overwhelmed by life I didn’t write most of them and now it feels like it is too late.  I am going to get started on Christmas and birthday and then maybe work my way backwards.

I owe an apology to some of my former students for not doing a good enough job as their teacher to help them improve.  For not knowing enough to teach them better.  For being too embarrassed to ask for help.

I owe an apology to my son for being a crappy housekeeper and limiting the space he can crawl in.  For not moving him into his own bedroom until he was 11 months old.  For still not cleaning out that room.  For the pink rose wallpaper that is still on the walls.

To my friend who has passed away for not being a better friend.

To my friends I have lost touch with for not being better at keeping in touch.

To my body for not taking better care of it.

To my blog readers for being a poor blogger.