Eleventy-seven Questions

A little while ago Gill from Mojo Writin (Bright Blessings) tagged me to do this eleven-tag thing.  Being the colossal procrastinator that I am, I totally forgot about it kind of pushed it aside, until today, when I saw Beth (Word Nerd Speaks) take on this tag from about eleventy bajillion people.

Since today is pretty much a lazy day for me, I figured it might be fun to actually do it.  I'm going to do both Gill's and Beth's questions (since she tagged anyone and everyone!) but I'm not going to tag anyone myself.  This tag surely won't die with me and, honestly, I'm not feeling ambitious enough to come up with people to tag :-)

Eleven Things About Me!

1. In the last couple of months, we've adopted three senior cats.  Two girls, Big Mama and Bob, and one boy, Graphite.

2. Since doing this, I've discovered that I am actually a cat person.  More specifically--a fat cat person. I fell in love with Big Mama at first sight...she weighs in at 20 pounds!!  Bob weighs about 13 pounds.  I don't know...there's something about a fat cat that makes me smile.

3. I am making split pea soup for dinner.  I am a great soup maker.  I can make a tasty soup out of just about anything.

4. I've always hated mint.  Until very recently.  Lately I've been grabbing every chocolate/mint flavored item I can get.  Weird.

5. I do not own one pair of single color socks.  All my socks are wild crazy patterns.

6. Whales are my favorite mammal.

7. I absolutely love reading to my kids. 

8. I keep my spare change in an actual piggy bank,   She's a pink pig wearing a tutu and tiara.  I call her Priscilla.

9. I love perfumes that smell like food.  My recent favorite is called Un-Birthday. It smells like candy and it is awesome.

10. I have a job interview on Friday...send me positive vibes!

11. I am nowhere near interesting enough to come up with eleven things.

Now...for Gill's questions...

1. What is the first book you remember reading as a child? I read a lot of books!  The first one that comes to mind is the Sweet Pickles series.  I used to love those!

2. Have you ever owned a fad toy--such as a tamogotchi?  When I was a kid, I had cabbage patch kids and collected garbage pail kids cards.  That counts right?

3. What was your favorite childhood game? Clue.  Hands down.  I still love playing Clue.  Second would probably be word games like Scrabble and Boggle.

4. Can your body do anything strange--such as ear wiggling?  I can do the taco tongue thing.  My toes also can spread really wide apart.  I have pretty talented toes.  When I was young, I could flip the record I was listening to and restart it all with my toes.

5. If you had to spend the rest of your life in one room, who would you take for companionship?  I can't imagine anyone would want to spend forever with just me.  That's a punishment I wouldn't want to inflict...they'd go crazy for sure.

6. Do you have a friend who knows to wipe your computer should you suddenly die? No...and I don't think there is anything on here that I would be embarrassed for anyone to see anyway.

7. What is the worst grammar pet peeve that you have?  Oh but there are sooo many!  They're/their/there...your/you're....to/two/too...I see people say that they 'half to go to the store'  that irks the crap out of me.

8. You can go back and change one life decision--would you?  Nope...I'd keep it all the same.

9. You're coming back to this world as an animal--which one?  An orca whale.

10. Would you confront someone who was doing something illegal--such as littering or cycling on the pavement--if there were signs forbidding it?  I'd probably make some sort of obnoxious passive-agressive comment in a loud-ish voice.  I'm not big on confrontations.

11. What sound can make your heart miss a beat and a smile break out unbidden?  The sound of my children laughing and playing nicely.  

Now for Beth's questions.... 

1. When did you start feeling like a grown-up? I'm not sure I've reached that point yet.  I mean...I know I am...I'm almost 40...but it sure doesn't feel like it.


2. What celebrity made your heart go pitter-patter when you were a kid/tween/teen?  First it was Corey Feldman (my sister was the Corey Haim fan) then it was Donnie Wahlberg from New Kids On The Block.


3. What song do you and your sweetie think of as “your” song? We really don't have one.  There's been a few over the years that have been more like inside jokes but no real "our song".


4. Do you consider yourself patriotic? Why or why not? I wouldn't say that I'm overly patriotic.  That being said, when blatantly anti-American comments are being made, it does make me irritable.


5. What is something you once believed, but no longer do? Santa?  Tooth Fairy?


6. Jean shorts: Just fine or a sure sign of extreme dorkiness? I think it depends on the style of jean shorts.  They aren't my style but I've seen many people pull them off nicely.


7. Has an infomercial ever prompted you to make a purchase? If so, what did you buy? Nope, I can't say that I have bought anything. 


8. What snack do you have hidden in the back of the cupboard/fridge? Nothing especially decadent today.  I do have snap peas and salsa.  Healthy and tasty!


9. What book or movie seemed to speak to the masses, but didn’t do much for you? Fifty Shades of Grey.  It's just so badly written. I feel like it has an underlying message that risque sex practices and abuse/trauma are always linked.  That seems like a bad message to me.  And I honestly don't know how she got away with using "he smelled like Christian" that many times to describe his scent.  Ummmm....hello?  We can't really smell him...you have to do better than that!


10. What do you wear to bed?  Four days a week, I sleep at work.  I just wear whatever I put on to go to work that day.  At home, it's usually shorts and a t-shirt or some similar combination.


11. Is there a story of you as a child that your parents told so many times that it became part of your history? Something cute or funny you said or did, maybe? Care to share?  I can't really think of anything.  Maybe I was a pretty boring child ;-)

Slacker Stephtee Goes to School GBE2 #17 (Topic: One year ago...)

One year ago....

A lot has happened in this past year.  I've had my share of happy and sad....my share of sane and even a few doses of lock-me-up-and-throw-away-the-key insanity.  I think I might have even grown and matured in some ways (it still counts...even if you regressed in other ways, right?)

But what I remember most about this time last year is school.

I had just completed my first semester of nursing school.

And I got straight A's.

School was always fairly easy to me.  I was never the kid that had to study.  I was that kid that could sit in class and listen to the teacher and, with no other work, could easily snag a B on the exam--if not higher. 

When I was younger it was always higher.  When I was a teenager, I became a slacker a little less concerned.

My father would never settle for anything less than straight A's.  And I was more than willing to give them to him--not that I really had a choice.  It was who I was.  It was who I was expected to be.  I was the nerd...the smart girl...the one who was going to achieve great things.  Then he passed away and I gave it all up and embraced my inner laziness.  I would do just as little as I needed to in order to get by and that's all anyone was getting out of me.  I didn't have to attain academic perfection anymore and I relished my new found freedom.

This attitude carried over into adulthood.  I never went to college....never settled into a career.  Having my babies WAS my accomplishment.  I was a proud mommy but there was always that nagging feeling inside.  That little voice that said it wasn't enough and that I was wasting my life away by not trying to reach my fullest potential. 

But I was a slacker through and through.  I'm even a slacker mom!  I don't do PTO...I don't do sports.  I'm not a baker of special treats or a hostess of never-ending sleepovers.  I tend to specialize more in the let's cuddle up and read a good book together or talk about our day type of parenting. 

There was no way I could go back to school--I never finish anything that I start!

But once I got started, I fell in love with learning all over again!  I was embracing my nerditude and pushing for those straight A's--only this time they were for myself.  I haven't always gotten them but I'm working on being more accepting of the occasional B.

Graduation is in five months and I will be a Licensed Practical Nurse. (Well, I will be once I get licensed anyway...) 

I'm not sure what I plan on doing after that.  I love my job but I despise my company.  I love my co workers and the individuals that I help care for.  But I also want to make more money and have a 'better' job. 

Sometimes, I hear 'Slacker Stephtee' calling me.  She tells me that I've had enough school and that I should just go find a job and get back to life as it was before.  She tells me that I'm lucky to have a job that pays me to sleep and to hang onto it for as long as I possibly can.

But....I know that being an RN is where the real money and respect is at (or at least that is how it appears from where I'm standing right now) and I really DO enjoy going to school.  I used to know exactly where my life was heading and now I'm living in a constant state of uncertainty about it all.  I had no idea that so much would change in a year--that going to school would change me too.

There is a great deal of Slacker Stephtee still in me.

But I get to be the smart girl...the nerd girl too.

And who knows?  Maybe I can still achieve great things!