"Quirky"

I was tagged with a

meme
by Judy at Mid-Life Bliss.



How am I?

Oh man, did I have to think about this one.

Here are the rules....

1) Link to the person who tagged you.
2) Mention the rules.
3) Tell six quirky yet boring, unspectacular details about myself.
4) Tag six other bloggers by linking to them.
5) Go to each person’s blog and leave a comment that lets them know they’ve been tagged.

Let the begin.

1. When I make a tuna sandwich, I include almonds in the mix.
2. As a child I was allergic to chocolate, now I'm not, but it triggers migraines, so I might as well be.
3. I don't drink coffee, never have. Can't stand the taste. Won't even eat coffee ice cream.
4. I read between 100-150 books each and every year.
5. Can't tolerate stupid, never.
6. I collect sports autographs, which is unusual for a woman. Most people assume the collector is Bob, no, it's me. I have a huge collection of autographed baseballs, most are in the Hall of Fame. I also have Mohammed Ali, signed on a boxing glove, and Joe Montana, on a football.


There, all done; that wasn't so bad. I had to really think about it. Do I really have any quirks? Well I guess I do.

Now I have to tag 6 people. I tag....no one, play if you want.

Just Two Things

I have one niece, Shellie, she sent a meme via email, this morning. I'm not going to tag any one. If you want to do it, jump right in.

Two names you go by:
1. Jan
2. Janice


Two things you are wearing right now:
1. white tipped yellow t-shirt
2. dark blue crops

Two things you want very badly at the moment:
1. Lunch, it's 11 AM, and I'm ready
2. Diet Pepsi

Two people who will do this
1. Denise
2. Barb

Two things you did last night:
1. It was my late friend Ramona's b'day, 4 of us went to dinner to celebrate
2. Read, no surprise there.

Two things you ate yesterday:
1. Turkey Cheese Burger w/fries
2. Tomato Soup

Two people you last talked to:
1. Bob
2. Reta

Two things you are doing tomorrow:
1. Garden
2. Work

Two longest car rides:
1. CA to TX to KY to WS to NM then home.
2. CA to NC to WS to SD to NM then home.

Two favorite Holidays:
1. Christmas
2. 4th of July

Two favorite vacations:
1. Bermuda
2. Caribean

Two favorite beverages:
1. Tea
2. Diet Pepsi, the black can

So participate and tag if you want.

Message In A Bottle

This has been floating around the blog-sphere, and I snatched it from Pamela. Go here for the rules.


I tweaked the rules, and did two, and I'm not tagging anyone, but you should do it, if you want. I've included a 'blank' to help you.

This one, because my anniversary was a couple of days ago.

This one, because I love Will Rogers.

let's find out about each other...

If you have a moment fill it out and let's find out about each other...

Fill in the X's by all the things you've done and remove the X
from the ones you have not. Answer the 25 questions at the end. This is for your entire life!


( ) Gone on a blind date

( ) Skipped school

( ) Watched someone die

(x) Been to Canada

(x) Been to Mexico

(x) Been to Florida

(X) Been on a plane

(x) Been lost

(x) Been on the opposite side of the country

(x) Gone to Washington, DC

(x) Swam in the ocean

(x) Cried yourself to sleep

(x) Played cops and robber

(x) Recently colored with crayons

( ) Sang Karaoke

(x ) Paid for a meal with coins only

(x) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't?

(x) Made prank phone calls?

(x) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose?

(x) Caught a snowflake on your tongue?

(x) Danced in the rain?

(x) Written a letter to Santa Claus?

(X) Been kissed under the mistletoe?

(x) Watched the sunrise with someone you care about?

(X) Blown bubbles

(x) Gone ice-skating?

(x) Been skinny dipping outdoors?

(x) Gone to the movies?

1. Any nickname: Many

2. Mother's name: Grace

3. Body Piercing? ears

4. How much do you love your job? a lot

5. Favorite vacation spot: Bermuda, NYC, pretty much all of U.S.

6. eaten cookies for dinner - yes, chocolate chip/oatmeal, delicious and nutritious

7. Ever been on TV? yes, every day, twice a day

8. Ever been in a car accident? Yes

9. Drive a 2-door or 4-door vehicle: 4 door

10. Favorite salad dressing: Ranch

11. Favorite pie: apple

12. Favorite number: 8

13. Favorite movie: impossible to pick

14. Favorite holiday: Christmas

15. Favorite dessert: ice cream

16. Favorite food: Mexican

17. Favorite day of the week: no fave

18. Favorite brand of body wash: Crabtree & Evelyn, Caswell Massey

19. Favorite toothpaste: Crest

20. Favorite smell: clean, fresh baked goods

21. What do you do to relax? tai chi, reading

22. What is your #1 pet peeve in the whole world? people who are assholes

23. How do you see yourself in ten years? healthy, happy, active

24. Favorite music/band? R&R, baby

25. Bath or Showers? Showers

Wordless Wednesday With a Twist

ABC Wednesday - E

MrsNesbitt host ABC Wednesday, and I thought I'd give it a try. Today's letter is E. One of my favorite E words is Egret. Here are some photos of an egret I shot on our golf course a couple of weeks ago.

Recently when I pulled into our driveway, there was an egret walking down our sidewalk, away from our front door. He was tall, about 4 feet, and seemed to be just slowly strolling around. I stopped the car, and wasn't sure what to do. I'd already raised the garage door, so I left it up, I didn't want to unduly startle him. He walked in front of my car, totally ignoring me, the car with its engine running, and the open garage. He kept stopping to look at all the bushes and hedges. I just sat there, in my car, transfixed. By the time he'd strolled over to Reta's, Bob had popped into the garage, wondering why I hadn't come into the house. I motioned for him to come outside so he could see our visitor. We watched him stroll around in front of Reta's then move onto Barbara and Charlie's front yard.

Bob and I went inside, but I couldn't resist the pull of the egret, and I returned to the front to watch him. All the time he was walking, his long neck was undulating, as he crept on his navy blue legs. When he reached the next yard, Barbara and Crosby's, I discovered the purpose of this outing; he was lizard hunting! And he got one. It was very cool. When he got all the way down to Jody and Dick's yard, he got another one. After that I went back inside. I've seen egrets on our street before, but never this up close and personal. And I've never seen and egret hunt before, as I said, it was very cool.

Six Word Memoir

There's a new book, Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure by Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser. This is an interesting concept. What would your Six Word Memoir be?

I considered this one, but it was already taken:

"Well-behaved women

seldom make history."

--Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

I think mine might be:

Everything I've done,

I'd do again.

My life hasn't been perfect, whose has, but I think it has been great.

OR

Maybe this says it all:

Photo by [¯Ô¯] - Andy C

I like 'em both.

What would your Six Word Memior be? This could be a do-it-yourself meme.

One World One Heart - The winners

This has been rather exciting for me. I've had a huge numbers of entrants, 169! Even more visitors. Thank you each and every one. Also, I really enjoyed visiting the other bloggers who posted give-a-ways. They were wonderful, and I "met" a lot of new friends. I visited each participant, there were 426 this year, and each of my entrants. It really has been great fun.

I used the Random Number Generator offered by Violets are Blue. It sure saved my sanity.

Thank you, Lisa Oceandreamer, for dreaming up this event; and for all the hard work involved in One World One Heart.

Here are the three winners of my heart necklace:

chris & allie (The Chambers Fam)

jennifer (jen on the edge)

raesha d (mylove)

I'll contact them, or if they read this they can email me their shipping information.

Photos for the mosaic:
1. ♥Heart♥, 2. Heart, 3. Little Hearts, 4. The Shape Of My Heart, 5. valentines day, 6. Heart Hug, 7. heart pages, 8. Kiwi's heart, 9. A Snow Heart For You :) xoxox

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

Fun Monday

O0h, a shiny pen is hosting this week's Fun Monday. Ok, here is the assignment.

Music plays a vital role in most of our lives. It is everywhere. I want to hear the ONE song that is you. The song that whenever it is heard, you smile. I am not looking for the soundtrack of your life, just that one song. Your friends hear it and think of you. You can post the video, the lyrics, the wav file. However you want to post it is great.

I was born before Rock & Roll. I remember going to my Dad in 1956 and asking if it was OK to listen to Elvis. I told him that at least one of my girlfriends had been forbidden to listen to him, or any Rock & Roll. Afer brief deliberation, my great Dad, said it'd be fine. After all Elvis was just a country boy. Yeah, Dad.


So, I think "my song" is really this:

I've Got A Rock N Roll Heart

I've got a feeling
we would get serious girl.
'Cause right at this moment
I could promise you the world.

Before we get crazy
before we explode

There's something 'bout me baby
You got to know
you got to know.

I get off on fifty seven chevys
I get off on a screamin' guitar
Like the way it gets me
every time it hits me.
I've got a rock 'n' roll
I've got a rock 'n' roll heart.

Feels like we're falling
into the arms of the night
So if you're not ready
don't be holding me so tight

Guess there's nothing left
for me to explain

Here's what you're gettin'
and I don't wanna change
ain't gonna change.

I get off on ... (chorus)

Don't need no glitter
no Hollywood;
All you got to do is lay down
lay it down good.

I get off on ... (chorus)

I got
I got a rock'n'roll heart.

I couldn't find a single video of Clapton doing this on YouTube; so I just included the lyrics. By the way, I'm a hair older than Clapton, and if I were Mrs. G, he'd be my secret boyfriend.

Because of my Rock & Roll heart, my daughters received a Rock & Roll music education, not too well rounded. No classical or jazz, but Rock, Blues, and Reggae. I remember, once, when she was a teenager, one of them came to me wondering why she automatically knew the words to all the "oldies". Guess it's 'cause she heard 'em from the time she was in the womb.

Round Robin Challenge!

EAT YOUR VEGETABLES is the challenge. Here are the guidelines from The Round Robin Photo Challenges :

Jill, one of our newest members,who authors the blog, "Letting Crazy Take A Spin" recently submitted the idea, and here is what she says..."Anything veggie related. Veggies can be so interesting.

"So, does that mean you should take a photo of yourself eating veggies? No, of course not. But you could photograph one of your very favorite vegetables to have with dinner. Or maybe a lot of vegetables on display, like at the grocery store or market stand. How about your favorite salad? Sure, why not? As long as it is veggie related you will be on track. Even if you HATE vegetables, you can take a picture of the one you hate the most, and then tell us why. LOL. Personally, I love my veggies, and I can think of a thousand different ways this challenge can be done. But first, every once in a while it's a good idea to review the rules a bit, so lets do that now. There are a whole list of reasonable rules, please check 'em out at the link above.

Here are my pic's:

This is my front porch, decked out for autumn.

In case you aren't sure the pumpkins and gourds are vegetables.

As a bonus, this is my fav. vegetable soup:

Toasted Corn Soup
1/2 medium onion, finely diced
1 large carrot, finely diced
1 to 2 ribs celery, finely diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups frozen white corn, thawed
3 cups chicken broth

Heat the oil in a medium size heavy saucepan (preferably nonstick) on high heat. Add the onion and carrot and cook until the onion starts to soften. Stir in the diced celery ribs and corn. Let the mixture cook on high until the pieces start to brown, then stir and continue to brown the vegetables, stirring only when the bottom pieces start to turn color (this should take about 10-12 minutes).

Stir in the chicken broth and heat just until boiling. Serves 4.

As The Garden Grows, January Garden

I took these earlier in the week, before all the rain. The white are asslyum and the red are Heavenly Bamboo (nadina domestica).

5 Night Dinner Challenge

Tonight we had a simple dinner. Easy to make and great on taste.

Black Bean Burritos
4 Bean Salad
Mini Carrots
Gingerbread Cupcakes (leftovers)

Health Tip: Did you know that eating beans, 1/2 cup a day, is an easy way to lower your cholesterol, with out using drugs. Any type of beans (legume), not green beans.

5 Night Dinner Challenge

We are a great soup family, and tonight we're having one of my favorites. I last made it as the soup course for our Thanksgiving dinner.

This is what we're having tonight:

Toasted Corn Soup
Three Hearts Green Salad
Tuscan Boule Bread with Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar, for dipping
Gingerbread Cupcakes

5 Night Dinner Challenge ~ Join Me?

You can tell, I've been blog-reading today. Carrie at Sommer Designs had issued a challenge. This is what she has to say:

Here's my idea: I am challenging myself to making dinner every night this week. And it has to be something I haven't made in a long time. Each morning, I'll post the recipe from the previous night's dinner, with a picture, of course. I'm aiming for quick and easy over here.
I'm inviting you to do the same! Join me, and post your dinner recipes on your blogs. Hopefully, we can all get out of this rut and try something different.
We can start a blog dinner challenge revolution! Who's in?

I already made dinner tonight. This was my menu:

Chili
Shredded Jack and Cheddar Cheese
Warm Tortillas
Carrot and Celery Sticks

Let Carrie know if you're joining the challenge

Fun Monday

The assignment today was to show the view out your front door. There are several things to note:

• I'm not a regular member of "Fun Monday".


• I have always lived in an urban setting, and never had a spectacular front door view.


• Since retiring we downsized to a small house "cottage" on a small lot.

But this is the view out my front door.

As The Garden Grows, Betty Boop

I have 4 Betty Boop rose bushes, they form a hedge between our house and a neighbors. They are beautiful, and a neighborhood landmark.

One World One Heart

OK, I'm gonna pimp ya a little. I've decided to participate in a giveway. I read about it at ONE World ONE Heart. I'll post the details and my giveaway on February 1. I'm excited, I've never done this before.

As The Garden Grows, Lavender

I have a fragrant garden. Since I was a kid, some time ago, I've had allergies. I can't wear fragrance, but I can have a fragrant garden. I blanch when I read descriptions of roses as having no or little fragrance. This is one of my lavender plants. It's 9 years old and very large. When I took this, there were about 10 bees sipping at this great plant.

As The Garden Grows, Sally Hanson

These are my Sally Hanson climbing roses

7 Facts About Me

I have been tagged by my daughter Carrie at Carrie and the Koehmstedts.

The tag rules are:
1) Link to the person who tagged you.
2) Post the rules on your blog.
3) Share 7 facts about yourself.
4) Tag 7 random people and include links to their blogs.
5) Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. I was a Girl Scout, Mariner, almost until I was married, at 19. That's how I met my husband, Bob. He had been a Sea Scout. Even though we went to the same high school, Long Beach Poly, we didn't know each other, because he's 4 years older than me.

2. I managed a garage for years.

3. I managed a Victoria's Secret for years.

4. When I worked at Pennzoil, I was my mother-in-law's supervisor. Boy, she did not like that.

5. I am allergic to cats.

6. In 2008, I will read 150 books.

7. I had adult onset migraines, often daily, starting in my 30's. I had three experimental treatments with botox, and now I have 2 to 4 a month. What a change. (Botox injections hurt.)

Now I have to tag seven people and I'm new at blogging, so I'm going to tag some blogs I enjoy:

Amy
Gnightgirl
Nancy
Jen
Lora
These two are among my Fav's:
Tattooed Moma
Crystal at Boobs, Injuries & Dr. Pepper