Taking a break for some frivolity

I haven't had a meme in ages. So I saw this one and thought it would be cute (and fast)

Five Things Found in Your *Bag/Purse:

1. Kleenex
2. post it notes with lines
3. lip balm
4. crayons
5. inhaler

Five Favorite things in your room (total stretch because our bedroom is fairly spartan):

1. my husband (thought he is in the kitchen right now)
2. children's books
3. my books
4. our bed
5. pillows

Five Things you have always wanted to do:

1. own a craft store
2. become a published author (and a good one at that)
3. make more of my own clothes
4. Be a good mom and wife
5. Have a superhero ability to heal people (well it didn't say that the things had to be realistic)

Five things you are currently into:

1. Quilting and stitching (must justify the huge piles of craft supplies)
2. house hunting (offer made, seller accepted, waiting for the bank [to which the seller still owes $] to approve the sale--all body parts crossed at this time)
3. Keeping the girl occupied so she causes less mischief
4. furniture hunting
5. Family & Home & Friends

In the extremely bad news department, my brother's fiance/wife had her last radiation treatment and was sent home from the hospital a few weeks ago. She was given only about two weeks and has outlasted that, but my parents called yesterday to say that my brother had called them out to the house as she was failing fast. When I called, she was sleeping. Yesterday I wasn't a particularly good wife or mom--my mood was a bit snapish. Well maybe more than a bit.

Chas's grandmother has returned to the hospital with additional heart problems. She was hoping to go to the rehab center so she was a little upset.

There are some major changes at work and I have to wrap up as much as I can before my job shifts in no more than two months.

Our plates and cups are overflowing.

Nerd Meme

What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Literature Nerd   Does sitting by a nice cozy fire, with a cup of hot tea/chocolate, and a book you can read for hours even when your eyes grow red and dry and you look sort of scary sitting there with your insomniac appearance? Then you fit this category perfectly! You love the power of the written word and it's eloquence; and you may like to read/write poetry or novels. You contribute to the smart people of today's society, however you can probably be overly-critical of works. It's okay. I understand.
Musician
Drama Nerd
Social Nerd
Gamer/Computer Nerd
Artistic Nerd
Science/Math Nerd
Anime Nerd
What Be Your Nerd Type? Quizzes for MySpace

I can't say that I'm surprised by the results.

I actually have thoughts and things i want to post, but I have no time.

A Bit Bookish

This meme is floating around the blogosphere so I thought I would give it a try. I'm not sure how they selected books for the list and I would quibble with the value of some of the titles appearing here. Well, it's a nice way to pass an afternoon.

Look at the list of (100) books below. Bold the ones you’ve read.Italicize the ones you want to read. Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in. (Movies don’t count.)

1.The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25 . Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel) (at least I think I read this ages ago)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

Because I Need Some Frivolity

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Dedicated Reader You are always trying to find the time to get back to your book. You are convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more.
Literate Good Citizen
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Book Snob
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

Well That's Nice

The Recipe For Holley

3 parts Understanding 2 parts Attractiveness 1 part Pizzazz Splash of Beauty Finish off with a little umbrella and straw

What's" the Recipe for Your Personality?

You know what's really exciting? All the buttons have vanished in my compose a post Blogger page. I can hover over empty spaces and see a little tag, but I've got nothing but blank spots and a big white box in which to type.

Guess who needs to re-boot her computer!

Awwww--I needed that....

You Are a Gingerbread House

A little spicy and a little sweet, anyone would like to be lost in the woods with you.

What Holiday Food Are You?

Very nice considering I feel that my personality has taken a nose dive due to being sick. Have I mentioned that both kids were running low grade fevers while Chas was in West Virginia with the boys?

(I pulled the quiz from Janet--Thanks.)

The materials list is out for the Celtic Mystery by Chatelaine. Allow me to say a heartfelt, OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

I have not peeked at the screenshot because I enjoy the slow unveiling of the design. As usual, I'm debating fabric choices--no white for me. I'm leaning toward a bit of green. I'd like to get the kit with my gift certificate, but I'm not certain I have any hope of keeping up with the parts. I have a fairly poor track record as indicated in the sidebar.

give a loose rein to your fancy,...

Take the Quiz here!

Interesting. I love Elizabeth Bennet, but I thought I would be Elinor Dashwood or Anne Eliot.

I'm Having an Existential Crisis

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 0 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Oh dear.

Tuesday's Terrible Twos

I found this at a Queen's Blog (she's only disguised as a ragamuffin):

Two Names You Go by:
1. Mommy
2. Hon (short for Honey)

Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now:
1. Kian
2. tank top

Two Things You Would Want (or have) in a Relationship:
1. Love
2. Trust

Two of Your Favorite Things to do:
1. Cuddle with Chas, Angie and Kian
2. Cross-stitch

Two Things You Want Very Badly At The Moment:
1. My children to be healthy
2. My children to live long enough to enjoy their grandchildren

Two people who will fill this out:
1. Nicki
2. Faye

(No pressure--you two are just my most frequent commenters.)

Two things you did last night:
1. Made a list of stitching to take on our trip to Pennsylvania
2. Read to Angie

Two things you ate today:
1. Pesto Pita Chips
2. Salad

Two people you Last Talked To:
1. Kian
2. Chas

Things You're doing this week/weekend:
1. Seeing relatives
2. Shoping at the outlets and /ikea

Two longest car rides:
1. Ohio to upstate New York, Vermont, Massachusetts
2. Ohio to Texas (accomplished in about 28 hours Yee-haw)

Two Favorite Holidays:
1. New Year's Eve--because it wraps up the old year and contains the promise and hope of the new year.
2. Christmas--because it is fun to watch the kids open presents.

Consider yourself tagged if you wish to be.

Heroic Meme

Your Score: Micah Sanders

You scored 70 Idealism, 37 Nonconformity, 50 Nerdiness

Can we play Scrabble tonight?Congratulations, you're Micah Sanders! You're good-natured, intelligent, perceptive, and naturally inclined toward technology. You're also quite innocent and loving. You've got a fondness for computers and Scrabble. Your best quality: You're extremely perceptive Your worst quality: You can be a little demanding at times

Link: The Heroes Personality Test written by freedomdegrees on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

I did not predict that result. So I'm a ten year old, albeit a super smart, level headed ten year old.

I do enjoy Scrabble. Chas and I played it frequently before Angie joined us.

I've been meaning to say this for almost a month: The last eight minutes of the Heroes season final was the best television I had seen since "The Doctor Dances."

Cool

Your Score: Katharine Hepburn

You scored 11% grit, 23% wit, 47% flair, and 28% class!

You are the fabulously quirky and independent woman of character. You go your own way, follow your own drummer, take your own lead. You stand head and shoulders next to your partner, but you are perfectly willing and able to stand alone. Others might be more classically beautiful or conventionally woman-like, but you possess a more fundamental common sense and off-kilter charm, making interesting men fall at your feet. You can pick them up or leave them there as you see fit. You share the screen with the likes of Spencer Tracy and Cary Grant, thinking men who like strong women.

Find out what kind of classic leading man you'd make by taking the Classic Leading Man Test.

Link: The Classic Dames Test written by gidgetgoes on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Yes, It's Monday.

I posted my finished ornaments at the SAL blog. I have two more started and have planned to start four or five more at the next SAL. I will not stitch on the ornaments until the next SAL rolls around so that I can focus on my other wips. There are a couple ornaments calling to me, beckoning me to stitch them now, but I can be strong. I'm curious to see how many ornaments I can complete if I stitck to just the SAL.

To Angi and anyone else who is curious. I will happily share my dress "conversion" for Midi 1:

Instead of the Rusty Amber, I used the Cerise Noir.
Instead of the Crimson Wood, I used the Rosewood.

I still haven't decided if I will change the Frosted Auburn to something else, but I'm thinking I will.

Tonight, if I can, I plan to stitch on the Snow Crystal. I'm still optimistic that I can complete it by Wednesday night, but considering I worked through lunch (although I did stop to eat), I'm not sure if that is realistic. The metallic bits can be very tricky and that is most of what I have left. Ah well, life will go on if I don't finish it until next month.

I haven't upgraded this blog to beta, but I've seen a few bloggers posting that they were finally forced to change. I wonder how that will go for me. I actually post this blog with a secret identity because at the time, blogger wouldn't let me use my regular identity. I've upgraded my regular identity for the Christmas SAL, but I haven't bothered with this one yet.

I'm grabbing the six weird things about me from Faye, since it seems to be the meme going around at the moment. For me the difficulty is limiting myself to only six. I'm sure Chas would have several examples of my weirdness, but here is what I could identify:

1. I love Wendy's Spicy Chicken Sandwich with cheese and pickles even when I'm not pregnant. Add cheese and dill pickles to most sandwiches and I'm a happy camper.

2. I love stitching with perle cotton or silk.

3. I once traveled from Cleveland, Ohio to Austin Texas in a rented SUV with four other women to see Russell Crowe perform with his band TOFOG. We were completely exhausted, but we had a great time.

4. I don't like to be late, I must be early, for live performances of any kind because I consider being late for a concert or theater performance to be very rude. I'm completely comfortable with being on time or on the edge of late for most other things in life.

5. I don't believe in "soul mates." I do think that I am incredibly lucky to have my husband and I have serious doubts about the likelihood of finding someone else who would be as good to and for me and who I could love in return. However, I do not believe we were "destined" to be together. I just think that we made very good choices in deciding to build a life with one another.

6. Even a sip of wine can trigger an immediate asthma attack for me. Therefore, although I enjoy the taste of wine, I don't drink it. Champagne is fine. MMMMMMMMM. Better than fine actually. ;oD

Anyone not already tagged can be tagged by me if you so desire.

And in other weirdness, my latest inhaler came with the following warning printed in red upon the box: "IMPORTANT Inhalers like this one are being discontinued due to environmental impact." Seriously? We can't do anything about the pollution from the factories or cars or trucks, and we don't do much to make alternative fuels practical, but my itty-bitty inhaler is being changed to save the environment?

Ummm. Okay. Sure.

Another quiz saying I found the right career

Your Dominant Intelligence is Linguistic Intelligence

You are excellent with words and language. You explain yourself well. An elegant speaker, you can converse well with anyone on the fly. You are also good at remembering information and convicing someone of your point of view. A master of creative phrasing and unique words, you enjoy expanding your vocabulary. You would make a fantastic poet, journalist, writer, teacher, lawyer, politician, or translator.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

Interesting. I was fairly good with foreign languages in college, but I'm so out of practice now. I'm not sure that I actually explain myself well though. Communication was a big hurdle initially in my relationship with Chas, but that is something we worked on together. I don't think we would have gotten married if we hadn't resolved it. I'm not sure that I can convince people either, but some of the attorneys tell me that I explain things and phrase them in the right way for a lot of parents.

I really need to look into this multiple intelligences thing. I've heard about it and it seems interesting. Found this at a thoughtful blog.