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 ;-)

A Mysterious Recipe: GBE2 #25 (Nature vs. Nurture)

Some people believe that everything we are comes from our genetic makeup. 

Others believe it's all in how we are raised.

The nature vs. nurture argument has always fascinated me.  I don't pretend to have any answers--in fact, I'm pretty much winging this.  My opinion on the matter is this:  how we are nurtured can be very influential to our personalities and temperament, but some things are just in our nature.
My mother died when I was two years old.  Her name was Riki and she was named by taking the first two letters of my grandfather's first and middle names (Richard Killington).  Growing up, I didn't have much more information than that.  Her death was very hard on my father and he remarried quite quickly after her passing.

I did know that I looked like her.  Everyone said so.  My maternal grandmother once sent me a box full of my mother's childhood photos.  As children, we were practically identical.  Looking at those pictures was like looking in the mirror.  The only difference was that I had dark reddish hair and greenish eyes, like my dad, while she had been a fiery red head with blue eyes.

As an adult, the similarities aren't as shocking but I still strongly resemble her.

My mother holding an oh-so-adorable me circa 1976


Me, goofing around with an oh-so-adorable Bear circa 2010

When I was about twenty, my father's best friend told me some stories about my mother.  He described a woman who was extremely sensitive and emotional...a woman who would cry over just about anything....a woman who held her anger inside as best that she could but, if pushed too far, would be a force to be reckoned with.  He told me about a woman who was slightly scatterbrained, disorganized, and sloppy. 

My childhood home was very emotionally conservative.  I was often criticized for being too sensitive and crying over trivial things.  I was never quick to lash out in anger....unless I was pushed just that wee bit too far.  Then, I was a force to be reckoned with.

We lived in a very tidy home and I was usually yelled at for being sloppy, disorganized and for being an outright slob (It's true, I was a slob...but I'm reformed...now I'm just messy and disorganized!).

It was often said to me "I don't understand how you can be so smart, and yet so stupid at the same time"--in regards to my flighty, scatterbrained ways.

For the first time, these parts of my personality made sense. 

It's amazing that I could be so much like a person that I can't even remember and be so very different from the woman who raised me.  I love my (step)mom and I feel that she did a terrific job with me.  There are certain values and morals that she instilled in me....but overall, she and I are vastly different people.

Then I look at my own children.  I see myself in every single one of them.  Even Nathan, who isn't biologically mine.  I've nurtured some of what I consider to be my most annoying qualities right into that kid--and it drives me nuts!

I guess at the end of the day we're a product of a mysterious recipe:  take a bunch of nature, a handful of nurture and a few dashes of life experience....mix well....let simmer for years upon years....

Each of us will turn out different than the next.

And that's what keeps life interesting!