1 I like not having more things than I need. I like to get rid of excess. If something is sentimental, yet useless, I will take a picture of it, then throw it away.
2 I also enjoy finding what things I do need in what I like to call the Magic Dumpster. Here's how it works, you make a wish on the magic dumpster and then in a few days it appears (its BY the dumpster, not IN it people). examples of dumpster finds: entertainment center, chair, bed, bookshelf, the list goes on and on.
3 I believe that safety is not "first" as many suggest, but is in fact second.
4 On a highly related note: I once was checking out at the grocery store with my then roommate Amanda and said to the clerk, "Just because we're buying rubbing alcohol and matches, doesn't mean we're up to something". We were. We were about to attempt to clean our toilet of all germs by lighting it on fire.
5 One thing you might not know is that I have an anxiety about being late. Symptoms include increased heart rate and marked irritability.
6 One odd thing in my life is that strangers ask me for directions at what I would say is an above normal rate. My guess is an average of 6-8 times a year. At one point in my life it happened with such frequency that I began a log of such occurrences and considered carrying an area map with me.
7 I do not like gossip and wish everyone would mind their own business. Sometimes I tell people this. I think it makes them happy.
8 I can stare at good photographs for a long time.
9 A bear once used my toothbrush at the beginning of a long hike. Did I use the recovered utensil? mmm mmm.
10 Once, early on in marriage, I asked Jerry to help me cook by cutting up an onion. He had not done a lot of cooking to that point in his life and asked me how he should cut it. I told him to cut it in small equal sized pieces. He raised his eyebrows and looked overwhelmed and said, "You're talking about spherical dimensions..."
11 One of the dumbest things I've ever done is try to dry my socks in the oven. Hey- I was in a hurry.
12 There were years of my life when all day every day, no matter how much sleep I got, I was tired. Those days are over now.
13 Public Speaking- most people hate it, I like it.
14 Jerry and I make financial decisions in much the same way. I would guess that we spend at least 1 minute of thought or internet research per dollar spent. It took us a long time to buy a car.
15 I once heard of a book called "Silencing Your Inner Critic". I thought, "Huh. My inner critic? I'm not even sure that we've met. Maybe my inner critic is asleep on the job."
16 As a child, Halloween was actually scary. My sisters and I would knock on a door to trick or treat and my dad would slip away and hide. And as we would leave and walk toward the next house, we never knew where he might be... somewhere waiting there in the shadows, a 6'2'' vampire.
17 I prefer the Suzuki method for cooking. It's like someone saying, "I play by ear." I don't read recipes, I cook by mouth.
18 Both Jerry and I thought parenting a small child was going to be 90% work, and 10% good times (which would presumably make up for the 90). We were pleased to find that the numbers are in actuality inverted.
19 The worst thing I've ever accidentally dropped in a toilet was my snowboarding goggles. So bad for so many reasons.
20 When I was young I had a tendency to ask for some less than traditional Christmas presents. Including, but not exclusive to: Ketchup packets (the kind you get at a fast food place), chickens, a banana cream pie to stick my face in. These are at least the ones I remember due to parental compliance.
21 On a directly connected note, I once owned a pet chicken. Named it "Pot Pie". Just wait this story gets better. I taught Pot Pie to walk with me on a leash. I painted Pot Pie's toenails. I taught Pot Pie to ride on the handlebars of my bike. That was one smart chicken.
22 The only bumper sticker I've ever had on my car was one about Ultimate Frisbee. I currently play twice a week.
23 Once, while riding my bike to work, I came across a group of boys beating up another boy. I jumped off and threw down my bike in a big crash and yelled, "HEY!". They stopped and turned to look at me. All I came up with to do was to stick up a finger at them and say "Be nice!".
24 I spent 10 months of my life in England living with 8 Chinese women.
25 I find stereotypes and categorizing myself or others intellectually uncomfortable. I think it marks the end of investigation and therefore the end of growth. This was a significant hindrance to writing this list. After every thing about me I want to add "sometimes".
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
Remember These?
Up too late last night, I browsed through these again. I thought they should be saved for posterity, so let's start w/ Rachel:
1) My name was Margaret for the first week of my life.
2) Mayonnaise, scorpions, and calling people on the phone all give me the heebie jeebies.
3) The most random job I've ever had was as a personal assistant for a man I know. I basically did anything he couldnt get to on his checklist- I painted the interior of his house. I rode his horses to get them into shape. I cooked his kids dinner. I drove him to San Jose. I cleaned out his closets and garage...and sold whatever I found on eBay (including motorcycles, airplane parts, and gas masks). It was a fantastic summer.
4) The coolest job I've ever had was as a nanny for my sister and brother-in-law as they traveled with their daughter. So I basically got two trips to New York and Korea in exchange for a little babysitting.
5) My goal in life is to be more like my sisters.
6) I have the talent/curse of being somewhat good at a lot of things, but not really good at anything. Thus I have lots of half skills, but nothing worth showing off.
7) I hate writing. Once in high school I was supposed to write a story about the word 'gibberish'. So, trying to be clever and sassy, I wrote two pages of meaningless words. I got a A.
8) I worry about getting old, about getting divorced, and about disappointing people.
....I hope you're not disappointed if I didnt tag you in this note...
9) When I was younger I had a rather uncanny ability to catch wild animals using only my bare hands- tadpoles, lizards, frogs, mice, fish, gophers, salamanders, crawdads, birds, snakes. I'm sad to say that this skill has declined over the years since I no longer spend 95% of my free time in my 5 acre backyard.
10) Along that line, I was a tomboy for the first half of my life. This is due in large part to my cousin Joel, who is also my best friend. We lived right next to each other growing up and entertained ourselves by trading baseball cards (I had over 2000), shooting slingshots, boxing, and knife-fighting with pvc pipes (which is a very bad idea).
11) Joel and I once tried to save the entire tadpole population in my backyard creek. The water in the creek was almost gone, and they were all going to shrivel up and die if we didnt do something. So we proceeded to catch hundreds of 4 inch long tadpoles and put them in buckets on my back porch. The next morning every single one had died.
12) There's a good chance I'm engaged to someone in Guatemala. I didnt understand much of the conversation, so I just nodded my head and agreed with everything he said, and he gave me a ring when we parted company.
13) I've been waterboarded.
14) Since I'm the youngest of 6 girls, I'm usually the one to get demoted to what my family calls the "Pish Posh". The Pish Posh is the trunk of the car when there's not enough seats. It's the couch when there's not enough beds. While my family has always thought of this as the short end of the stick, I've always rather enjoyed taking the small cozy spaces. Case in point- I am currently living under my sister's stairs and loving it.
15) I used to like jumping off really high things into water (piers, cliffs, bridges)...until one day when I did a back flop off a 30-foot cliff. Now I dont know if I will ever jump off anything higher than a diving board.
16) I once picked the winning horses in five straight races.
17) I love tomatoes. When I was little my mom would take me to the store and tell me I could get myself one thing as a treat. I would pick out the biggest tomato I could find. I was sad to find out, however, that tomato popsicles are gross.
18) In the first grade the song Puff the Magic Dragon made me cry so hard the school office had to call my dad to see if he could figure out what was the matter with me. My dad finally calmed me down by rewriting the end of the song for me so that Little Jackie and Puff could play together forever.
19) My favorite place in the world is a beach on the island of Chiloé. There, and Auberry, CA.
20) I'll come right out and admit it- I dont really like dogs. I have my reasons: When I was 6 I saw a great dane attack my friend's face. When I was 9 my cousins had a dog that peed on you whenever it got excited...which was often. When I was 13 my mom and I got attacked by a pack of dogs and we had to beat them off with sticks. When I was 15 I used my violin case to whack away the neighbor dogs every time I had to walk to my violin lesson. My family owned one dog during my life and it was my job to pull off the ticks. So no, I dont really like dogs.
21) Plucking my eyebrows makes me sneeze.
22) I got in trouble once in elementary school, and that was for eating Apple Jacks during class. I only got in trouble once in middle school, and that was for carving my initials into a tree. I only got in trouble once in high school, and that was for running on the rooftops of the classrooms. So I only really got in trouble 3 times...but that's because I only got caught 3 times.
23) I spent about 45 minutes in the back of a police truck driving around downtown Guatemala City last spring break.
24) I once had two mice. Two months later I had over 20. If you ever own mice, dont get a male and a female....they multiply like crazy.
25) I cant sleep right now because I have Bohemian Rhapsody stuck in my head. It's been stuck in my head for the past week.
2) Mayonnaise, scorpions, and calling people on the phone all give me the heebie jeebies.
3) The most random job I've ever had was as a personal assistant for a man I know. I basically did anything he couldnt get to on his checklist- I painted the interior of his house. I rode his horses to get them into shape. I cooked his kids dinner. I drove him to San Jose. I cleaned out his closets and garage...and sold whatever I found on eBay (including motorcycles, airplane parts, and gas masks). It was a fantastic summer.
4) The coolest job I've ever had was as a nanny for my sister and brother-in-law as they traveled with their daughter. So I basically got two trips to New York and Korea in exchange for a little babysitting.
5) My goal in life is to be more like my sisters.
6) I have the talent/curse of being somewhat good at a lot of things, but not really good at anything. Thus I have lots of half skills, but nothing worth showing off.
7) I hate writing. Once in high school I was supposed to write a story about the word 'gibberish'. So, trying to be clever and sassy, I wrote two pages of meaningless words. I got a A.
8) I worry about getting old, about getting divorced, and about disappointing people.
....I hope you're not disappointed if I didnt tag you in this note...
9) When I was younger I had a rather uncanny ability to catch wild animals using only my bare hands- tadpoles, lizards, frogs, mice, fish, gophers, salamanders, crawdads, birds, snakes. I'm sad to say that this skill has declined over the years since I no longer spend 95% of my free time in my 5 acre backyard.
10) Along that line, I was a tomboy for the first half of my life. This is due in large part to my cousin Joel, who is also my best friend. We lived right next to each other growing up and entertained ourselves by trading baseball cards (I had over 2000), shooting slingshots, boxing, and knife-fighting with pvc pipes (which is a very bad idea).
11) Joel and I once tried to save the entire tadpole population in my backyard creek. The water in the creek was almost gone, and they were all going to shrivel up and die if we didnt do something. So we proceeded to catch hundreds of 4 inch long tadpoles and put them in buckets on my back porch. The next morning every single one had died.
12) There's a good chance I'm engaged to someone in Guatemala. I didnt understand much of the conversation, so I just nodded my head and agreed with everything he said, and he gave me a ring when we parted company.
13) I've been waterboarded.
14) Since I'm the youngest of 6 girls, I'm usually the one to get demoted to what my family calls the "Pish Posh". The Pish Posh is the trunk of the car when there's not enough seats. It's the couch when there's not enough beds. While my family has always thought of this as the short end of the stick, I've always rather enjoyed taking the small cozy spaces. Case in point- I am currently living under my sister's stairs and loving it.
15) I used to like jumping off really high things into water (piers, cliffs, bridges)...until one day when I did a back flop off a 30-foot cliff. Now I dont know if I will ever jump off anything higher than a diving board.
16) I once picked the winning horses in five straight races.
17) I love tomatoes. When I was little my mom would take me to the store and tell me I could get myself one thing as a treat. I would pick out the biggest tomato I could find. I was sad to find out, however, that tomato popsicles are gross.
18) In the first grade the song Puff the Magic Dragon made me cry so hard the school office had to call my dad to see if he could figure out what was the matter with me. My dad finally calmed me down by rewriting the end of the song for me so that Little Jackie and Puff could play together forever.
19) My favorite place in the world is a beach on the island of Chiloé. There, and Auberry, CA.
20) I'll come right out and admit it- I dont really like dogs. I have my reasons: When I was 6 I saw a great dane attack my friend's face. When I was 9 my cousins had a dog that peed on you whenever it got excited...which was often. When I was 13 my mom and I got attacked by a pack of dogs and we had to beat them off with sticks. When I was 15 I used my violin case to whack away the neighbor dogs every time I had to walk to my violin lesson. My family owned one dog during my life and it was my job to pull off the ticks. So no, I dont really like dogs.
21) Plucking my eyebrows makes me sneeze.
22) I got in trouble once in elementary school, and that was for eating Apple Jacks during class. I only got in trouble once in middle school, and that was for carving my initials into a tree. I only got in trouble once in high school, and that was for running on the rooftops of the classrooms. So I only really got in trouble 3 times...but that's because I only got caught 3 times.
23) I spent about 45 minutes in the back of a police truck driving around downtown Guatemala City last spring break.
24) I once had two mice. Two months later I had over 20. If you ever own mice, dont get a male and a female....they multiply like crazy.
25) I cant sleep right now because I have Bohemian Rhapsody stuck in my head. It's been stuck in my head for the past week.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Lucy's Horrible Bad Day, by Lucy
1. I didn't get to wear the coats I wanted to wear.
2. My Dad couldn't drive me to school.
3. My computer teacher said Starfall is babyish.
4. I wanted to sit by Hailey but I couldn't.
5. I don't like salmon but I had to eat it.
6. Theo messed up my game.
2. My Dad couldn't drive me to school.
3. My computer teacher said Starfall is babyish.
4. I wanted to sit by Hailey but I couldn't.
5. I don't like salmon but I had to eat it.
6. Theo messed up my game.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
It sounded like a good idea...
I am an optimistic chef, with mixed results. It seems that my life philosophy of "oh, I'm sure it will work out" doesn't really translate well to the kitchen. Something to do with food science and chemical reactions not having as much leeway as they ought.
Vivian used to be the queen of creative substitutions, but then she gave it up for Lent one year and never went back. It's lonely now, in the 'sounded like a good idea' club. I thought it would be entertaining to make a list of various culinary adventures...please add your own, cause I don't have THAT many specifics:
1. tonight I was making an apple pie that called for apple juice...but I didn't have any apple juice. After briefly considering and then discarding cider vinegar, I found a juice box of fruit punch in the cupboard. Hey, this has apple juice IN it! No problem, right? But then as I was mixing it up, the filling clearly smelled like fruit punch. End result: happy. Fruit punch pie tasted just like apple pie. Yum.
2. Rachel reminded me of the time in Korea when we didn't have any vinegar to dye Easter eggs, so I mixed up the little pellets with a bottle of A1 steak sauce we'd inherited from the apartment's previous owners. Result: OK. The eggs did dye, but you had to leave them in for a long time and there were little red flakes all over them.
3. Making collard greens, I needed apple cider vinegar. Surely plain vinegar with apple juice mixed in will be the same, right? Result: Yes. vinegar + apple cider= apple cider vinegar.
4. In Puerto Rico I couldn't find any baking soda, so I decided to use baking powder instead to make cookies, figuring that baking powder has baking soda in it, so what's the difference?
Result: Bad. Very bad, very weird cookies. Do not recommend.
5. This list would not be complete without mentioning the time that Viv substituted chocolate chips for cream filling in cream puffs by simply mixing the chips into the puff dough. Result: infamously bad.
6. And also the time that Viv (pre-Lent) substituted granulated sugar for powdered sugar in the frosting of a homemade chocolate cake. Result: memorably gritty.
OK guys- your turn.
Vivian used to be the queen of creative substitutions, but then she gave it up for Lent one year and never went back. It's lonely now, in the 'sounded like a good idea' club. I thought it would be entertaining to make a list of various culinary adventures...please add your own, cause I don't have THAT many specifics:
1. tonight I was making an apple pie that called for apple juice...but I didn't have any apple juice. After briefly considering and then discarding cider vinegar, I found a juice box of fruit punch in the cupboard. Hey, this has apple juice IN it! No problem, right? But then as I was mixing it up, the filling clearly smelled like fruit punch. End result: happy. Fruit punch pie tasted just like apple pie. Yum.
2. Rachel reminded me of the time in Korea when we didn't have any vinegar to dye Easter eggs, so I mixed up the little pellets with a bottle of A1 steak sauce we'd inherited from the apartment's previous owners. Result: OK. The eggs did dye, but you had to leave them in for a long time and there were little red flakes all over them.
3. Making collard greens, I needed apple cider vinegar. Surely plain vinegar with apple juice mixed in will be the same, right? Result: Yes. vinegar + apple cider= apple cider vinegar.
4. In Puerto Rico I couldn't find any baking soda, so I decided to use baking powder instead to make cookies, figuring that baking powder has baking soda in it, so what's the difference?
Result: Bad. Very bad, very weird cookies. Do not recommend.
5. This list would not be complete without mentioning the time that Viv substituted chocolate chips for cream filling in cream puffs by simply mixing the chips into the puff dough. Result: infamously bad.
6. And also the time that Viv (pre-Lent) substituted granulated sugar for powdered sugar in the frosting of a homemade chocolate cake. Result: memorably gritty.
OK guys- your turn.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Easy to Please
You know you have done a little TOO good of a job on teaching your children not to be materialistic when this is the birthday list you get from your 12yr old daughter...
Presents:
a small statue from target
a lighter
feathers (for my collection)
my own ice cream
adventure books
back rub
Food:
spaghetti
chocolate/peanut butter cookies
Then she goes on with what she would like to give as presents to everyone else:
dad - chocolate/peanut butter cookies
mom - a chocolate/peanut butter cookie recipe
kids - cinnamon rolls
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
something to look forward too...
me: phew!! what are we going to be doing all day when we are 65?
let's daydream about that...
4:44 PM too old?
maybe 50.
4:45 PM Claire: hopefully reading
sitting on a porch
me: aahhh reading.
and walks.
Claire: yes
me: and some nice little hobby.
Claire: and cooking
for fun
me: ooohhh yes cooking
4:46 PM nice.
maybe yoga.
but only if we want too.
Claire: haha
me: and maybe a garden
Claire: maybe going on trips to north carolina or oregon and staying in bed and breakfasts
4:47 PM but not the kind where you have to talk to people
me: YES
and museums
and dinner parties. with no kids.
Claire: oh yes
4:48 PM and multi user video chats
me: and maybe plays.
ooohh nice
and concerts where once a year we pick one like u2 in ireland and we all meet there
4:49 PM Claire: haha
4:50 PM me: ok. thanks claire. when they talk about keeping the big picture in mind, that is what i will think about.
Claire: :)
i have one more to add
drinking chocolate milk
4:51 PM me: or expensive hot chocolate cuz we are in a b$b in oregon
Claire: haha
picking berries off the vine
me: and i have good shoes on.
Claire: right now? or in the "big picture?"
4:52 PM me: oh no, right now i am bare foot and my feet are killing me.
Claire: ah
yes
well, we could get foot massages, too
me: and we eat lots of vietnamese food
and buy jewlery that "gives back"
Claire: hahahaha
4:53 PM and we don't ever talk about mortgages, insurance, or health
4:54 PM and we sing
4:56 PM me: LOTS of singing
and crossword
Claire: oh yes
me: and time magazines
Claire: and vivian stays up late, and sarah sleeps in
Bad Spelling, No Advice
carrie: You've been invited to this chat room!
beth has joined
carrie: do you guys think I could run 10K?
by sept 18th?
8:16 PM yeah, me neither
| 24 minutes |
8:43 PM beth: hi
anybody?
carrie: yeah
8:44 PM me
beth: a K is WAY less than a mile, no?
carrie: ya
beth: you could totally do it!
carrie: WAY
beth: :)
carrie: no, i'm coming to you for real advice
beth: (that was for lucy)
oo ok.
carrie: :)
beth: i'm reaky
carrie: you are reaky
beth: readyu
carrie: you're cracking me up
beth: let me try again. i sound drund
drunk
8:45 PM carrie: hahahaha
beth: hahaha
carrie: you're going to give me terrrible advicce
you can't even spell reaky
beth: bad spelling, great advice
ready go.
carrie: that should be your motto
beth: hahaha
carrie: no, it's just about the race
beth: on my buisness cards
8:46 PM carrie: that's what, 6,7 miles?
beth: yeah
no problem!
are you serious?
carrie: I went running twice this week
beth: really!! wow
carrie: and for the first time in my life i enjoyed it
but I also walked a lot
beth: WOW i am so amazed and jealous!
carrie: and maybe it was just getting out of the house
beth: how far
carrie: maybe 2 miles?
beth: nice!
8:47 PM what was the date again?
carrie: maybe running 1 mile
walking the other, if I'm honest
sept 18th
my neighbor wants me to do it
but that's a stretch
beth: no good advice if you aren't honest
it is a stretch
carrie: hmmm
8:48 PM beth: you would feel m
aach
i can't even type ack
carrie: yes, very m aach
beth: can you video chat
?
carrie: no
too late
beth: right.
ok
patience please
carrie: in fat, i should go
beth: haha
who you callin fat?
carrie: me
8:49 PM beth: just cuse you are a runner now...
carrie: maybe i'll see if i can run more than two days or 1 mile in a row
beth: i do have an opinion about this. and some good advice...
carrie: ok tell
beth: but you are going to have to get it tomorrow on the p;one or videjo i
someone moved the keys , iswear
carrie: haha
8:50 PM ok
manana
beth: bye
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