Saturday 9: Easter Parade

Saturday 9: Easter Parade ("In Your Easter Bonnet") (1933)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) This song is about a special Easter hat to be worn with your "Sunday best." Will you be getting dressed up this weekend?

A. I don't think so.

2) Sam is not crazy about hats because she cannot stand "hat hair." Do you have a lot of hats or caps?


Me with my
bridal hat.

A. No. I have a few ball caps but I seldom wear them. When I was in high school, I had a horrid leather hat that my mother hated that I wore. And I married in a hat instead of a veil. I refused to be married in a veil.

3) This song was inspired by New York City's Easter Parade. Does your community host a similar event?

A. The local parks and recreation department has an easter egg hunt, and some of the churches have events. I am not aware of any easter parades.

4) On April 6, President Obama and Michelle will host lucky children for the 137th White House Easter Egg Roll. Which are your favorite eggs: colored hard-boiled eggs, chocolate marshmallow eggs, or plastic eggs with coins inside?

A. Actually, my favorite is the original Cadbury crème egg.

5) How about Peeps? Would you rather have yellow chicks or pink bunnies?

A. I don't like Peeps.

6) The biggest chocolate Easter egg was made in Italy,  measured 34 feet tall and weighed a staggering 15,000 lbs. Do you thinks it's possible to have too much chocolate?

A. Yes, I'm afraid it is. A diet consisting of mostly chocolate would be quite unhealthy. Even I couldn't even 15,000 lbs of it. Though I might give it a try.

7) Jelly beans are also popular this time of year. A 2013 poll tells us that red is by far the favorite jelly bean color, with yellow a distant second. Do you have a preference?

A. I don't like jelly beans, either.

8) We've been talking a lot about sweets this morning. The only holiday that generates more candy sales is Halloween. When do you eat more candy: Easter or Halloween?

A. I have no idea. I've never considered it.

9) Easter is considered the season of rebirth. What makes you feel refreshed or rejuvenated?

A. A good sleep. Interestingly, hard work well done can also make me feel rejuvenated. Or at least tired but happy.


Check out the link at the top to read other Saturday 9 players' answers. Join in, if you like! The more the merrier.

Thursday Thirteen

Happy April, and happy spring! I don't know what to write about today, so let's see what comes out, shall we?


1. I don't like spiders, snakes, and mice.

2. I'm not fond of stink bugs, ants, or roaches, either.

3. I do like puppies, baby calves, and fawns.

4. I like the idea of leprechauns, unicorns, and griffons.

5. I think the hidden object video games that are currently popular, particularly the ones with a story line and additional puzzles, are rather like those old King Quest's video games. Does anyone remember those?

6. I dislike it when people lie to me. If you can't tell me the truth, then say nothing at all.

7. The grass is not greener on the other side. It's just greener where the fertilizer has been spread.

8. April showers bring May flowers that we like to pick. Here the rain drops on the roof top. You can hear it drip drop drip drop drip! That is a song from elementary school that I remember singing. Do they still have music classes?

9. A friend recommended that I try some cream called Two Old Goats for aches and pains. Yes, really. That's what it is called. My husband and I have had some laughs over that title. He wants to go into the store and ask "Do have any cream for two old goats?" and point at himself and me.

10. The most interesting thing on my desk right now is a bottle of Bach Rescue Remedy. This is homeopathic tincture that is supposed to relieve stress. It is made of flower essences and brandy. I strongly suspect it is the brandy that actually relieves the stress.

11. The best book I have read so far this year is The Signature of All Things, by Elizabeth Gilbert.

12. We hope to have a small garden again this year, but so far we are moving slowly with the prep work. For one thing, my husband can't get the tiller to start.

13. A large forest fire is burning in the northern portion of my county. Windy conditions have hampered firefighting efforts. Be careful out there!



Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 389th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

An April Fool

Looking back over my half-century of living, I try to recall what might have happened to me in previous Aprils.

During my school years, this would have been the time when I ventured outside with classmates. There I would have watched them race about and have a good time while I sat in the shade with a book until a teacher forced me to "go play."

Or maybe it would be the year I was 11, sixth grade, I think, and Ann Jones and I would be singing while we sat on the swings. Our favorite song to sing together? Seasons in the Sun. "We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun, but the hills that we climbed were just seasons out of time."

Now it's my freshman year of high school, and as I approach my bus, a girl steps out nowhere and accuses me of stealing her boyfriend. He has asked me to the prom. I tell her I didn't know he was seeing anyone else. She slaps my glasses off my face and they skid across the parking lot. I hit back, and the next thing I know we are in a fight, punching, kicking, hair-pulling, the whole bit. Kids gather in a circle, urging us on, until two bus drivers pull us apart. Some nice girl I do not know hands me my glasses, now scarred and scratched. My attacker apologizes the next day, apparently having had a discussion with the boy in question, and informs me that I packed quite a wallop when I punched her in the stomach.

Now it's my junior year of high school, and me and my band are jamming it out on a Friday night, playing at some moose lodge or another. Too young to drink the beer, but old enough to entertain.

A year later, and I'm thinking about graduation. I'm an honor student, graduating 4th in my class, and chosen to be a student speaker on this most auspicious day. I'm worrying about upcoming tests, lazing about on the front school yard on a nice day with Advanced Placement English Class, vying for English honors as well as overall honors. I get them, too.

It's 1982, and I am dunked in the lake at Camp Fincastle as I am baptized into the Church of the Brethren. The water is freezing.

Now it's 1983. I'm dating this fellow I met the previous October, wondering what he is waiting on. I'm taking night classes at the local community college and working part-time at a law office. I've recently recovered from a bad case of mononucleosis.

A year later, and that fellow and I've been married a few months. Our main goal: get out of this freezing four-room old summerhouse we spent the winter in. We luck out and move into one of his grandmother's rentals.

Now it's 1987. We've found house plans we like. Interest rates are 13 percent and the economic gurus say "they will never be lower" (shows what they know, eh?). We take out a loan. Construction begins.

It's 1989. There's pain in my abdomen, again. I go in for another surgery. The odds of us having children dip. Surgery will follow surgery for the next several consecutive years, until 1992, when a hysterectomy ensures I will be childless.

Now it's 1993. I'm finishing up at Hollins College, the first in my family to obtain my B.A.  

It's 1995. My husband is working hard at his three jobs - farming, firefighting, and septic tank installation. His dad has had a heart attack, but he keeps working. I start freelancing from home.

Four years later, my mother takes a trip to France. Upon her return, she complains of stomach pains. We think it's from being overseas.

The following year, in 2000, my mother is living via a feeding tube, having had a surgery to remove cancer from her pancreas. The chemotherapy isn't working. The cancer spreads; she dies that August.

It's 2007, and my maternal grandmother is in a nursing home, having progressed from assisted living. She's had a few small strokes, and sometimes she doesn't know me when I visit. She dies in June.

Two years later, my editor at the newspaper I've written for since 1985 calls me and asks to come to see me at my home. He tells me the newspaper is in financial trouble; I no longer have any work from him. We sit in my living room in a silence palatable with grief.

Another year passes. It's 2010. My father-in-law's health has declined; he's on oxygen. I see a black swan on the pond and wonder if it is an omen. My father-in-law dies in July.

Two years later, I'm once again preparing for a graduation. This time I will receive my masters degree from Hollins University (same school but it underwent a name change). I am studying hard and wondering what, exactly, I will do with this degree.

It's 2013, and I am dreading turning 50 in a few months. Something in my heart tells me it won't be my year. I have lunch with an old friend, a former teacher from my high school years, who listens to me whine about growing old.

And now here it is, April 1, 2015. I'm almost two years recovering from what was supposed to be a simple surgery in July 2013. I walk with a cane; I can't lift heavy objects or vacuum my own house. I still write some, but I move around frequently, unable to sit or stand for long spells. Up and down, up and down, that's how my day goes. My time is now spent in the physical therapist's office. I do a lot of reading.

This April I am grateful, though, that I have what health I do, that I have good and loving friends, and that two of my healthcare providers are working with me to improve my health. My husband of 31 years has recovered almost 100 percent from a horrific farm machinery accident last summer, something for which I am very thankful. My brother has proven to be a great ally, and I am grateful for that, as well.

So if you must play jokes on me, April, then play away. I have survived 51 Aprils. I can hardly wait to see what this April has in store.

The Dolly on the Stove

When I was about four years old, I had a huge stuffed cloth doll that I carried around with me. I don't remember her name or even really what she looked like, now. I recall only that the doll's leg had stripes and the hair was yellow.

She was mine and I loved on her and played with her frequently.

What I do remember is that one day the neighbor's dog attacked my dolly and tore up her leg. Apparently the dog mistook the doll for a chew toy. My mother took the doll and sat her on the kitchen counter, saying she would fix her later. Then she left the room.

In my mind's eye I have a vision of watching in fascination as my little brother, who would have been about one and probably not long in walking, began pushing a chair over to the stove. With great effort, he managed to climb up on the chair. His goal was to retrieve the doll, which he could not reach.

Somehow he turned on the oven eye, and the doll's leg was near the oven eye . . . and I'm sure you can see where this is going.

The doll's leg flamed up, and I screamed for my mother, who ran into the kitchen and threw the doll into the sink and extinguished the blaze.

My brother was chastised for turning on the oven and told not to ever go near the thing again (maybe this is why he is now a wonderful chef, as we've always had a tendency to do the very thing we shouldn't, he and I), while I sobbed about my now-dead dolly.

I doubt the dolly was repairable after all of that, the poor dear. To be first eaten on by a dog and then set aflame does not bode well for a long life. Even if my mother did fix the doll, I doubt I ever  played with her again. As far as I was concerned, that dolly was dead.

After that, as you may imagine, I did not play too much with stuffed dolls.

Dear Guitar

To my dear guitar,

I just wanted to let you know how much you mean to me, my Takamine beauty. You have a wonderful sound and I use you for more than the classical music you were made for.

With your versatility, I can jam and rock out all I want. It helps, of course, that no one is listening, but even so, you hold a special place in my heart because you allow me a different mode of creativity.

My Takamine, you are also the first guitar that I picked out for myself. Prior to you, my guitars had been given to me by others, but you, my dear, were my choice. I remember sitting down in the Fret Mill in downtown Roanoke over 20 years ago and playing you. Your neck felt good, I loved the feel of the nylon strings, and I even liked the fact that as a classical guitar you lacked the little neck markings of a western. That meant I'd really have to learn the fret board if I wanted to play you well. I loved the smaller body and your gorgeous sound.

Over the years, you've developed a little bend in the neck and the strings do not lay quite so well near the guitar body as they once did, slowing the action of the neck, but that only shows you've aged well. You're not marred with scars or other markings because I've taken good care of you, though there are places where I've played you so much that you can see where I've touched you. I've given you polish and shine, changed your strings, and lovely caressed you, much as I might caress the cheek of a lover.

My fingers find their places on your neck without my thinking of it, and then sound rings out softly or strongly, depending on my mood and my song. You have hummed quietly while I worked out the chords to a new song, or attempted a different strumming rhythm. You've patiently sat there while I wrote the words to my own songs, few though they are.

You have caught my tears when I've sang Starry Starry Night, a Don McLean tune that always makes me cry. You've felt the beat of my heart as I've driven home the last refrains of Stairway to Heaven. You've winced, I'm sure, as I've attempted Sweet Home Alabama and never yet successfully figured it out.

My dear, sweet, lovely guitar, you have and continue to bring me much joy. You sit patiently, sometimes for months, until I remember you, and you are always there. Sometimes you've gone a little moody on me and are a little out of tune - weather will do that - but with a twist of a key, you forgive me and the sounds again sing out.

You know, my dear little guitar, that I am not and never will be, the most accomplished of players. I am dabbler, a jill-of-all-trades, but I love you as an instrument and as an extension of my soul. I hope, my little Takamine, that you have enjoyed your time with me, and will continue to be my darling little guitar, always.

My sweet little guitar.

Sunday Stealing: The Dirty Dozen

From Sunday Stealing

The Dirty Dozen Meme

Stolen from: The Archives

1. This weather is really . . . like a three-year old boy throwing a temper tantrum because he lost his favorite toy truck.

2. You think you've seen it all, you should see me . . . walking through an April forest, my eyes alight with Spring and the beauty of the trillium and may apples.

3. I'm sure you would still love me even if . . . you found out that I am as scarred and battered as a beat-up ol' 1963 pick-up truck.

4. I think I have finally realized . . . that joy is not found in shopping bags.

5. Since the last time we linked up . . . I have worked hard at my physical therapy, attended a government meeting, seen a chiropractor, and lost two pounds.

6. I get super embarrassed . . . when all eyes are on me as I stand in front of a group of stuffed shirts who are only thinking of themselves.

7. I really thought by now . . . the world's people would have figured out how to be humane and more like a Star Trek episode than a cruel and vicious dump for humanity.

8. If I thought no one would read it, I would write about . . . the secret thumpings of my heart and the pulsing of my blood rushing in my ears when my passion calls my name.

9. I knew I was in the wrong place . . . when the guy offered me drugs and the world turned sideways and upside down, and the buildings began to walk on water.

10. I am so not above . . . cleaning the toilets at my house.

11. Let's pretend . . . that Jeremiah was a bullfrog, and happy creatures are dancing on the lawn.

12. Just you wait . . . until I get my mojo back. Then you'll all be wondering just who you've been reading all of this time.

Saturday 9: Thinking Out Loud

Saturday 9: Thinking Out Loud (2014)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) This week's featured artist, Ed Sheeran, was discovered by Elton John. Tell us your favorite Elton John song.

A. Gosh, I don't know if I can name only one. Candle in the Wind, Your Song, Tiny Dancer, Rocket Man . . . he's had a lot of hits. He was the last singer I saw in concert, and that's been 10 years ago or more.

2) Ed's arms are covered in tattoos, so clearly he doesn't suffer from trypanophobia, or the fear of needles. Do you get nervous when the doctor gives you a shot?

A. Not when I get a shot, but I have tiny, rolling veins and the blood vampires have a terrible time drawing blood or installing an IV. Once it took 10 tries to get an IV in me. I looked like a pincushion.

3) One of his tattoos depicts a Heinz Tomato Ketchup label. What condiments are in your kitchen right now?

A. Heinz Ketchup, which is the only kind my husband will use, French's mustard, Miracle Whip, Duke's Mayonnaise.

4) Spotify named Sheeran the most-streamed artist in the world for 2014. Do you use Spotify? Pandora?

A. I use Pandora. I also listen to the old-fashioned radio stations that still play music around here.

5) Ed celebrated his success by purchasing a farm near Suffolk, England. Would you prefer to live in a rural, suburban or urban area?

A. I live in a rural area and generally like it, but as I age I think I will need to move closer to services. That 45-minute drive to the city gets old.

6) In this song, Ed sings about kissing "under the light of one thousand stars." Were you able to see the stars last night? Or was it it too cloudy or overcast?

A. It was partly cloudy and breezy, so I could occasionally see a twinkle.

7) Ed is a natural red head, a trait he shares with only about 2% of the population. Does red hair run in your family? 

A. No, it does not.

8) One of Clairol's most popular shades is a red (Nice 'n Easy Natural Light Auburn). Have you/would you dye your hair?

A. I highlighted my hair a time or two but I react to the chemicals so I have simply allowed the gray to come on through. I call it a "soft white" gray and it blends in with my lighter brown.

9) Random question: Look at the windows in the room you're in. Are they covered in curtains or blinds?

A. I have a valance with a blind over each window. The valance for the color, the blind because the sun shines straight in one window in the morning and straight in the other in the evening.

Thursday Thirteen

Last week I did bad habits, so I thought this week I'd see if I could come up with 13 "good" habits. I strongly suspect I will find this more difficult.

1. I shower daily. You might think, so what, but if you've ever been around someone who doesn't, then you know this is kind of important.

2. I moisturize. This is important for good skin health. I use a jojoba oil on major body parts. It is odorless and I am allergic to most fragrances.

3. I care about others. I don't have a huge cadre of friends, but I have a fair number, and I worry about them all. I also worry about people I don't know and make donations to worthy causes that I have investigated and found to be helpful to others.

4. I am honest. Of course I am going to tell you that you look good in that horrid puke green, but little white lies like that don't count. Aside from common courtesy like the example above, I am an honest and decent soul.

5. I have a good work ethic. If I say I'm going to do something, 99 percent of the time, it will get done. If it doesn't get done, you can be assured I have had a car breakdown or experienced some other major inconvenience that kept me from doing my work.

6. I am punctual. Being late is not something I find attractive in myself or others. I am usually five minutes early, and will sit in the car listening to an audio book to be right on time.

7. I like learning. I enjoy learning new things and having my brain challenged. Once you stop learning, you might as well stop living, is my motto. So I try to learn something new all the time.

8. I keep a clean house. This has become harder since my health issues but I still try to keep the place as clean as I can. It isn't up to my standards at the moment but it is the best I can do right now.

9. I try to eat healthy foods. Well, aside from chocolate. I have a terrible time with chocolate. But otherwise, I do okay. I don't eat fried foods hardly at all, and I don't indulge in cookies and cakes and such very often. Even so, I am overweight and while I know some of this is caused by a hormone issue, it is still frustrating.

10. I exercise. Right now that too is limited by a health issue, but I am doing my physical therapy exercises and that counts. I need a cane on uneven ground which means walking around the farm is out for the moment, but maybe things will improve. I keep hoping.

11. I kiss and hug my husband. I think touch is something vital to our well-being and in the U.S., people don't get enough of it. We're not a touchy-feely people but I think we need to be. There is healing in the hands of everyone.

12. I am grateful for what I have. I try very hard not to want more than I need and be grateful for all I do have. My health makes me grumble but even so I am still standing upright and not bedridden, so it could be worse. We are not millionaires but we are paying the bills. I am grateful for all that I do have and try to remember to be thankful daily.

13. I respect the environment. I don't litter, I recycle, and I plant things. We practice best methods of farming on the farm, and have worked hard to improve the water quality and run-off issues that come from having cattle on hilly pastures. I also complain about pollution issues and write my legislatures (which is a useless endeavor because most of mine are Republicans but I do it anyway) about the things that concern me.


Not as hard as thought it would be. Had to puzzle out the last few but there you go. It is good to remind myself that I have my good qualities. How about you? What are your good habits?


Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 388th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

Turkeys in the . . . Front Yard

Turkey Dance

Turkey Tail!

You talkin' to me?

You never listen, anyway.

Turkey love

Turkey Gangsters!

Turkey Strut!

Turkey Indignation.

A Little Yellow

Working the Cows

My husband corralled the cows yesterday so he can "work" them this morning. Working the cows means giving them the shots required by the state in order to sell them and putting tags on them so we can keep track of them. Some will be hauled off to market this morning, as well. That is how it goes on a farm.

I took these shots last night when we stopped by to make sure the animals had plenty of water. I was using my "car camera," which is a Nikon Coolpix S3200 that I picked up for about $50 on a Black Friday sale several years ago. It's a tiny little camera but very handy for having something to take pictures with when my good cameras are at home.

Sunday Stealing: I I I

From Sunday Stealing

The I Meme

I am . . . smarter than the average bear.

I want . . . social and class equality.

I have . . . been resilient in overcoming misfortune.

I wish . . . people would learn to disagree without being hateful, mean, and spiteful.

I hate . . . feeling like I am worthless.

I fear . . . growing old and not accomplishing anything worthwhile.

I hear . . . the ticking of clocks.

I search . . . for answers to questions that have no response.

I wonder . . . if the world really exists, or is merely the figment of some other being's imagination.

I regret . . . not taking better care of my body when I was younger.

I love . . . my husband.

I never . . . expected to end up unable to work at my age.

I ache . . . for the sister I never had.

I always . . . believe in the best in people.

I usually . . . discover that my good intentions fall flat.

I am not . . . the best at reading the needs of others.

I dance . . . when no one is watching, and then I do it badly.

I sing . . . songs from the 1970s.

I sometimes . . . walk into a room and forget what I went in there for.

I cry . . . when I see man's inhumanity to man.

I am not always . . . happy.

I lose . . . my temper, sometimes.

I am confused . . . when people give me mixed signals.

I need . . . a hug!

I should . . . stop saying "I should."

Saturday 9: It's Not Unusual

Saturday 9: It's Not Unusual (1965)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Check here.

1) In this song, Tom sings that "it's not unusual to go out at any time." Will you be "out and about" this weekend?

A. As I write this, I think we will probably go out to dinner once this weekend, and I may make an impromptu run to the market.

2) Before his music career took off, Tom supported himself and his young family by working as a vacuum cleaner salesman. Could the room you're in right now benefit from a thorough cleaning with a vacuum?

A. My whole house could benefit from a thorough cleaning with a vacuum. I live on a farm and dirt accumulates within an hour after dusting.

3) You can purchase a verified Tom Jones autograph on eBay for $299 (or the best offer). When you were growing up, did you collect signatures and sayings from your friends? (Autograph book? Yearbook? Cast?)

A. I seem to recall having some kind of little autograph book when I was around 8 or 9. And I have my yearbooks, which have some signatures and sayings in them, but not many. I was not "Miss Popularity" though the teachers loved me.

4) At the height of his popularity, female fans would throw their panties onstage at Tom Jones. Sam can't imagine doing this, and not just because she's not that crazy about Tom Jones. She'd be embarrassed because her underwear drawer could use a serious refresh. If you could choose one new article of clothing to add to your wardrobe today, what would it be?

 

A. A really nice warm coat. The one I wore this winter fell apart.

5) "Tom Jones" is also the name of character in a famous 18th century novel. Tell us about a character from a book you wish you were friends with in real life.

A. I would like to be friends with Gandalf. He is the wizard in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit. Gandalf is wise and ancient. He has seen a lot of things but yet he has a great sense of humor and knows that he doesn't know everything. He is a humble wizard. I would like to know him and have him come and drink tea with me in my backyard on a warm summer's evening, and hear his tales and legends. Who knows, maybe he'd teach me a little wizardry.

 
6) When this song was popular in March 1965, Sarah Jessica Parker of Sex and the City fame was born. Do you share your birthday with anyone famous?

A. Frank Lloyd Wright.

7) Also in 1965, when this song was a hit, Americans were riveted by the Gemini space program and children all over the country wanted to be astronauts. Think back to your childhood: When you were in first or second grade, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A. At various times I wanted to be an archeologist or a geologist. At one point, my career goal was to grow up and fly or sail across the Bermuda Triangle until I disappeared so I could solve the mystery. Writing, however, has always been my main career goal. I told my mother when I was about 10 that I would grow up to write for the local newspaper, and so I did. I also wanted to write Nancy Drew novels or something similar, and be a hack like Carolyn Keene, but that has yet to happen. I have never really wanted to write the Great American Novel but I do feel like people expect me to write the Great American Novel. It's a lot of pressure, particularly when all you really want to do is make a living telling stories, somehow or another. I'd still like to be a hack. Anybody know how you go about being a lucrative fiction hack?

8) Fifty years ago, the most popular headache reliever was aspirin, and you could buy a bottle of 200 tablets for just $1. Do you have any aspirin in your medicine chest right now?

A. I keep a bottle of aspirin in my bedside dresser expressly for heart attack emergencies. I buy a fresh bottle once a year or so. Otherwise, we take acetaminophen.

9) Random question: You've just entered a public restroom. Would you rather find a paper towel dispenser or hot air hand dryer?

A. Paper towel dispenser, along with a trash can for disposal. I used to think hot air hand dryers were better until I read a study that said they harbored tons of germs.

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

My grandmother on my father's side turns 95 years old today. She lives in California

This is, I think, a picture my father took of her yesterday. I swiped it from my brother's Facebook page.

This picture was taken I think 5 years ago, when she turned 90. I think she looks younger at 95!

My grandmother grew up in West Virginia and married when she was very young (still in her teens). She had four children, two of whom have already passed on. I honestly don't know how many grandchildren and great grandchildren she has. She may even have great-great grandchildren.

She and my grandfather, along with my father's two brothers and his sister, moved to California when I was six months old. I have only been to California once to see them, and that was when I was 12. When my grandfather was alive, they traveled back here several times. However, I have not seen my grandmother in person since about 1989, so I am sorry to say I don't know her as well as I would have liked, nor do I know all of my cousins.

My grandmother and I used to talk on the phone frequently, until she lost her hearing; now I send her cards and notes, though I never know if she gets them or if someone reads them to her at the nursing home. I hope so.

Anyway, I hope she has a special day. Not everyone reaches the age of 95.

Thursday Thirteen - Bad Habits

We all have them - bad habits. They're the crazy things we do that we know we shouldn't, but it seems we can't stop. I started wondering if I had 13 bad habits, so let's see what I can name:

1. Nail biting. Yep. I have chewed those suckers ever since I was a wee lass. Nowadays I keep them clipped close and try not to bite them but let me get a little hang nail and see how fast that fingernail finds my teeth. I can't tell you how many times I have tried to break this habit.

2. Overeating. I'm a stress eater, and I tend to reach for something when I am alone and feeling bored. Give me a great article to work on and a deadline, and I can work all day without thinking about eating, but on days when the things to do are boring and unappealing, then the 'tater chips beckon.

3. Procrastination. I think sometimes I am the Queen of Procrastinators. I have a long list of things I should be doing but I don't do them. Mostly I don't write on long projects that I think I should be doing, but don't.

4. Avoidance. I prefer not to engage in angry anythings, including arguments, fistfights, or yelling of any kind. I stay away from difficult topics not because I don't have an opinion but because I don't want to have to stand up for myself. I mean, isn't it enough that I exist? Why should I have to defend what I think, too?

5. Playing video games. This probably falls under the procrastination and avoidance umbrellas, but I also really enjoy video games. I am particularly prone to play games that have puzzles to solve. Quests also intrigue me. However, I have been known to put the video game first and the housework second.

6. Not exercising. I have always been sedentary. Even in elementary school, I seldom made the straight "A" honor roll because I always received a "B" in gym. These days my exercise is physical therapy whilst we try to straighten out my issues from my 2013 surgery - going on two years now. I am doing better with the exercising at the moment. I hope it's not a phase.

7. Cursing. Yep. I have a foul mouth. I come by it honestly - both of my parents, at least when I was growing up, tended to curse like sailors. My mother in particular could let loose a string of words that would make the Pope run and hide. I try very hard to control this but let me get a little angry or worked up and the words roll out like a wave in a hurricane.

8. Sniffling. I am afraid I do this more than I care to admit, and maybe more than I realize. I have horrible allergies and while I keep tissues with me at all times, it seems there is an uncontrollable urge to sniff the stuff back up. This is especially true when I'm driving or both of my hands are otherwise occupied (such as typing).

9. Checking the curling iron. This probably is a bit of an obsessive compulsive behavior, but I always have to come back in the house and make sure I've turned off the curling iron. I do this even though I have a curling iron that turns itself off! Sometimes I have driven a mile away before I turn around and come back to check. It is always unplugged.

10. Buying (and eating) chocolate. I go to the store with no intention of buying chocolate, but it ends up in the basket anyway. It's like a magic beast follows me around and slips it into the cart.

11. Trying to be perfect. This is another lifelong issue. I have tried all of my life to be the perfect daughter, the perfect sister, the perfect student, the perfect wife, the perfect employee - you name it, and I've tried to be perfect at it. I hope I am getting over this one, because obviously I am not perfect, and the idea of "perfect" is subjective, anyway. Still, perfectionism often leads me down the path to procrastination. I can't mess it up if I don't do it to start with.

12. Negative self talk. I can cut myself to pieces in a heartbeat without even thinking about. My inner voice fusses at me constantly. "Why haven't you done the dishes? So what if you're in pain? Get up and do it?" And yes, there are curse words in there.

13. Taking too long to make a decision. I can think about something until the issue has past, if I am not careful. I listen to all sides, weigh the consequences. It's like when I play solitaire on the computer, I sit and figure out the moves to seven or eight places before I decide if I should move a card. I win most of the games but my deliberation is a sight to see.

How about you? What are your bad habits?


Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 387th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.