Useless Information

Stolen from Margene

10 Random Things about Me…

• I love a woodstove
• I make a mean spinach lasagne, thanks to my mother
• I think I'd qualify for some sort of advanced degree in American folk music, should such a thing exist
• I know a song lyric for every conceivable situation
• I really like listening to the radio, and don't really like watching tv
• I was a New Year's baby
• I was in an incubator for the first 24 hours of my life
• I recently started wanting an iPod
• I'm sometimes embarrassed by my taste in books, movies and tv
• I'd like to get over that

9 Places I’ve Been….

• The Meteor Crator near Winslow, AZ ("I was standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona, such a fine sight to see/It's a girl my Lord in a flat bed Ford, slowing down to take a look at me")
• Carhenge, Alliance, Nebraska
• The Crazy Horse Memorial in Custer, SD (can you imagine a more ironic town name for this monument?)
• Interlaken, Switzerland
• Amsterdam
• Apalachicola, Florida
• Grass Valley, California
• Amarillo
• Key Largo

8 Ways to Win My Heart….

• Think I'm smart
• Be good at real things
• Take care of me
• Don't want me to be different than I am
• Tell me the truth
• Take me new places
• Help me fall asleep
• Love me

7 Things To Do Before I Die….

• Visit the 8 remaining states I haven't yet been to
• Fall in love
• Graduate college
• Write a book
• Raise sheep
• Lose the pregnancy weight
• Accept myself the way I am

6 Things I’m Afraid of….

• Frogs
• Big cities
• Liars
• Running out of money
• Environmental degradation
• Death

5 Things I don’t like….

• Bananas
• Commercialism
• Being cold
• Arguments
• Traffic

4 Ways to Turn Me Off….

• Be a know-it-all
• Wear cologne
• Be mean
• Drive aggressively

3 Things I Do Everyday….

• Laundry
• Drink tea
• Floss

2 Things That Make Me Happy….

• Woodfires
• My daughter

1 Thing On My Mind, RIGHT NOW….

• College application is still not done!

The Good and the Bad

The good news: Someone is finally very interested in the house, and Jan (realtor) thinks they're definitely going to make an offer!

The bad news: M.M. has come down with pneumonia

The good news: It's a mild case, she seems to feel fine, just has a bad cough and antibiotics will likely clear it right up.

Bad news: I feel a suspicious heaviness in my chest and I've started developing a cough too.

Good news: I got some free firewood and using the woodstove has made me very, very happy for the past few days.

Bad news: I didn't get very much.

What Will They Think Of Next?

BrightFeet Light Up Slippers : slipper with headlight

One Sock Down

I'm late with my blogging. I actually finished the first sock last Monday, which was one day longer than my two week goal. Pretty good. The second sock is well along now, I've gotten about half the leg done, and I'm on track to complete it much more quickly than the first. For one thing, I didn't have to knit the first three inches half a dozen times, so I'm way ahead of the game.

In other news, M.M. graduated out of her high chair today. It was a poignant moment for me, but she took the whole thing in stride. Since she was able to climb in and out of it at will, and she was getting tall enough to make it increasingly difficult to stuff her legs in there under the tray, I decided it was time. We took the tray off and now she can sit at the table like a regular (tall) chair. It's kind of nice to have her there at the table with me, I admit.

Thanksgiving went as well as I could have expected, and I am thankful for many things, including:

• M.M., the beautiful, joyful, healthy, smart, wonderful child of my heart
• A good place to live. Even though I am desperate to get this house sold and get out of here, if you have to live in limbo, this is a very nice place to do it.
• Friends and family, of course. The good ones are very, very good.
• A measure of financial security... I'm more or less constantly scared these days about how long I'll be able to make ends meet, but so far so good, with the help of an incredibly flexible job that allows me not to have to buy child care, some child support, minimal though it may be, and a little bit of rent income from an impoverished tenant. I don't know how long I'll be able to swing it if the house continues to not sell, but so far we're still here.
• Books
• Music
• Living in a time and place where I can enjoy Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms: Freedom of Speech, Freedom from Want, Freedom from Fear, and Freedom of Worship

Happy Thanksgiving!