Wee Bit of Me- and an update

Hey ya'll, sorry it's been a while again. I was in NYC for a vacation and as much as I love to travel, I hate the whole getting there and back part. I hate packing and getting the house ready to leave and then all the catching up when you get home. At any rate... I'm back and while I don't have a legit blogpost, I'll try to satisfy you guys with a Wee Bit Wednesday, which I haven't done in a while.

I've also got a ton of books that need reviewing and some writing updates, so those will come soon. The next few book reviews are going to be short because I just need to get them out there. Many of the books are ones that I'm sort of ambivalent about, and I think that's why it's taken me so long to write the reviews. But, some are great books and I just haven't set aside the time to blog. So... anyway... that's what's coming up! Now, on to more of things you probably never cared to learn about me. :)



{one} what is one food that, as an adult you love, but as a child you said you’d never touch?

 Blue Cheese. My mom always used to eat it and I thought it was disgusting, but I love it now!


{two} did you go to college? if yes, what was your major?
Yep. Undergraduate majors were English Literature and Secondary Education. Masters is in Literacy Education.

{three} what’s the most wild animal you’ve seen in real life (not counting the zoo)?
Um... elk? Wild boar? I haven't really seen that many wild animals in real life!


{four} have you ever been to a fortune teller?
Not a fortune teller, but a psychic... which was interesting.

{five} can you juggle?
Not any more. I used to be able to juggle; a coworker one summer in high school taught me.

{six} hardwood floors or carpet?
I have carpet now, but would like hardwood floors. I have mixed feelings about both.

{seven} is it called “soda” or “pop”?
soda

{eight} what was your first car?

A blue 1976 Jeep Wagoneer. Her name was Bessie and my parents bought her for $100. She was one of the crappiest cars ever! Here's a picture for reference (not my actual car). I really hated that car.

{nine} what is the most decadent dessert you’ve ever eaten?

Uh... there is this cake from Whole Foods... chocolate explosion or something. It's pretty delicious.  I also had an amazing goat cheese cheesecake from the Dessert Truck in NYC.


{ten} how often do you rearrange your furniture?

Rarely. Our place is pretty small, so there aren't really a lot of options for where things can go.

Wee Bit of Me

Every week when I do this, it feels a little self-indulgent... like there are so many people out there just clamoring to find out what my favorite condiment is. Alas... it will be good fodder for when I am actually famous and people really do care. :)

And so... Wee Bit of Me for the week:

{one} name one thing you worry about running out of.


Uh... I really don't know. I always have too much food in the house, but I've been known to run out of plenty of things.


{two} what is your favorite pizza topping?

Everything. Except pineapple, much to my husband's dismay.


{three} what is your favorite harrison ford movie?

Any of the Indiana Jones movies, although the last one is really pushing its luck.

{four} apple juice or orange juice?

Orange... low acid orange with no pulp to be very specific.


{five} what’s your favorite thing to do on a sunday afternoon?

Watch football, nap or knit.


{six} what is the wallpaper on your cellphone of?

A beach scene

{seven} do you have a favorite tv commercial?

I love the Allstate Mayhem commercials, and the Old Spice commercials.


{eight} what is the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?

Huh... I eat a fair amount of strange things because my mother always forced me to try everything. I guess the weirdest by common standards would be frog legs, escargot, and foie gras... all delicious I might add.


{nine} what is one piece of clothing you can’t live without?

Jeans. I live in jeans.

{ten} if you were a character from “lost”, who would you be?

I actually never watched Lost... so, from my best Google search and an online quiz... I am apparently Jack. Don't know if that's good or bad, but he looks sort of cute, so I'll take it. :)

Well then... that's enough narcissism for me for one day. Until next time. :)

Wee Bit of Me for the New Year!

Well, Leigh is back over at myleighashley with Wee Bit of Me, so without further ado... more information that you could probaby not care less about. :)

{one} have you ever been on tv?


Yes, more times than I care to mention actually. When I was a kid, I was on PBS a couple of times, doing these little spots they did about local attractions. I think mine was on the Tabors or something. I really don't remember. And Lord in Heaven, if someone finds that on YouTube... oy.
I was actually on TV a fair amount in college because I was in the marching band and basketball band at CU. So, I often ended up with a camera stuffed in my face being asked to cheer. My favorite was when the camera man was below me at a basketball game and my well-endowed rump got splashed across ESPN for all to see. Yay... or not. :)


{two} what was the best movie you saw last year?

I really liked Inception. The writing was excellent; the effects were cool and I thought the cinematography was fantastic.

{three} do you sleep with your sheets tucked in or out?

They start tucked in at the bottom, but rarely stay that way.

{four} do you cut coupons?

No... that's entirely too much effort.

{five} do you ever count your steps when you walk?

Not usually when I walk, but almost always when I go down stairs.

{six} what sauce do you dip your chicken nuggets in?

I don't really eat chicken nuggets as they are, by definition, covered in gluten, but when I did I loved Honey Mustard.

{seven} do you have any magazine subscriptions?

Oprah and The New Yorker

{eight} when was the last time you wrote a letter on paper?

Um... this morning. I always hand write thank you notes, and try to send letters to people on a semi-regular basis. Everyone likes getting something in the mail that's not a bill. :)

{nine} what’s your favorite fruit pie?

Probably blueberry or cherry, thouse I really like berry pies too. Honestly... it realyl doesn't matter. I love pie.


{ten} black olives or green olives?

Black, unless the green ones are stuffed with something awesome.


If there are questions that you would like to contribute to Wee Bit of Me, let me know in the comments!

Wee Bit of Me Wednesdays

Well, I'm back. I survived texturing the closet... albeit barely. Now I've moved on to full-fledged panic mode. We've got TONS!!! FRIGGIN' TONS! of cleaning/repairing/etc to finish before our new dining room table comes in a week, and before we have a party at our house in a week and a half. Yep.... had a full on panic attack last night. It was special. But, blogging is a nice distraction from all the stuff that I really need to be doing, so here we go! It's Wee Bit of Me again. :) As always, thanks to Leigh and Jumblemash for getting me blogging weekly.



{one} if you were granted three wishes, what would they be?
I'm going to assume that I can't wish for infinite wishes.... which would be awesome. I think I would wish for peace, happiness and tolerance throughout the world. Then, I would wish for an unlimited supply of money. I know that money isn't everything, but I think I could do a lot of good with a lot of money. And buy some killer shoes. And third, I would wish for a completely clean bill of health, including but not limited to: no risk for cancer, no thyroid problems, and being able to eat whatever I want while maintaining a healthy weight.


{two} who is your favorite author?

I refuse to pick just one favorite author... it's just so limiting. So, here are my top 3 or 5ish authors whom I love: Paulo Coelho- The Alchemist is one of my favorite books of all time. I love him and how kind and giving he is. His web presence is fantastic too. Isabel Allende- Yes, I have a thing for South American authors. Her works of mystical realism are breath-taking. I know that saying an author's writing is lyrical is quite cliche, but her work is the definition of lyrical. John Steinbeck- another beautiful writer whose work can only be described as sweeping. East of Eden is still one of my all time favorites. J.K. Rowling- I'm actually not a huge fan of her writing; she uses passive voice entirely too often, but she is an amazing storyteller. I hope that my own YA Fantasy novel can have the brilliant themes, characters and fantastic plot arcs that her work does.

{three} what crowd were you involved in during high school?
Oh... you're all still with me after that last marathon answer. Well then. I was sort of a crowd defy-er in high school. I was popular, a jock, hung with the punk kids, was in band and choir, and did a ton of volunteer work, and just regular work in general. I don't know that I could really be defined in high school. :)

{four} what is your favorite thing to do when you have time to yourself?
I love to read, watch bad television, knit and sleep.

{five} do you have any hidden talents?
Hmmm... I can knit, sing, play clarinet, draw and paint decently. My most hidden and random talent though is probably my awesome butchering skills. I can take apart a piece of meat like a pro.
{six} can you fake any accents?
Not really on purpose, though I've been told that I sound Southern sometimes and like I'm from Minnesota sometimes.

{seven} have you ever been mentioned in the newspaper?
Oh yeah, loads of times. One of the benefits of growing up in a small town I guess. I was always in the newspaper for sports and music and whatnot. As an adult I've been in the paper a few times for stuff in college and teaching.

{eight} have you ever been arrested?
No.. not yet at least. ;)

{nine} what is your favorite job you’ve had?
Um.... I really liked teaching skiing. It was all the fun of teaching without the stress. I Like my job now pretty well too, most days at least.

{ten} do you have any scars?
Tons! I scar really easily. I have scars on my forehead from a dog bite as a kid and chicken pox, scar on my back from having a cyst removed, scars on my knee from surgery, and a wide variety of scars from things like the cat, my razor, ski edges... I'll never win any perfect skin prizes.

Whew! That was a long one. If you made it all the way to the end I commend you for listening to me blather on for so long! As a reward, I'll be back on Friday with an amazing holiday cookie recipe! It's so easy! And Fast! And Delicious! :)
 

Wee Bit of Me Wednesdays.... or Thursday

Well then... I missed a couple of weeks of Wee Bit due to illness and it being Thanksgiving here in the states, and the ever important Black Friday. The hubs and I started shopping at 10pm and didn't stop until about 9 the following morning. It was insanity, but I'm a huge sucker for a good bargain. :)

At any rate... I'm trying to get back to regular blogging. I've finished a bunch of books that I need to review, so maybe I'll get to those this weekend. Though the weekend is currently slated for re-texturing the walls of our pantry if we can find an air compressor.... should be riveting. But, without further ado... here is this week's Wee Bit of Me, just a little late




{one} if you were going to a remote place and could only bring one CD, what would it be?

I totally suck at picking favorites... I would probably take a Now CD, or Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation.

{two} are you generally more of an optimist, pessimist, or realist?

I think I'm a mix of all three. I know... that's a cop out, but I am. Realist at home, pessimist and optimist at work, optimist in the rest of my life.
{three} have you ever picked up a hitchhiker? if not, would you?

No way... and never would. Though I've considered hitch-hiking myself.

{four} what spice or seasoning is your favorite?

Salt. Kosher Salt preferably.


{five} what’s your birthstone? do you like it?

Peridot. It's okay. Some peridots are really pretty, but I'm generally more of a blue person. 

{six} do you know what your name means?

From Denmark. It's not a particularly exciting meaning, though my parents were doing to name me Dana regardless of my gender.


{seven} what is your favorite breakfast cereal?

I'm not much of a cereal eater. Before being gluten-free, probably Great Harvest, Grape Nuts or any Kashi cereal. Now, my options are pretty limited, so just Rice or Corn Chex.


{eight} if there was an extra hour in each day, what would you spend it doing?

Realistically? Sleeping. Idealistically? Writing.

{nine} if you could turn any book into a movie, which would it be?

my own! Ha... actually the book I'm currently working on would make a great movie... someday. :)

{ten} if you could go back and play out one day of your life to watch (like scrooge), what day would it be?

That is a really tough question. I'm not sure that I would go back. If I was forced to choose a day though... probably my wedding day. It went by really fast, but was so beautiful and fun!


Well... there you are. More to come soon, unless I'm buried in texture in the closet. Wish me luck!

Wee Bit of Me

Well... at least I can do something regularly. :) Many thanks to myleighashley and jumblemash for their bloggy inspiration. I have finished a couple of books too; I just need to write the reviews. Those will be up later this week.... fingers crossed.

 

{one} do you collect anything? if so, what and how long have you been collecting?

 Nothing in particular... yarn I suppose and maybe jewelry.

{two} what is one cleaning tip that you swear by?

 Uh... clean stuff up? No, I wish that I had been born with the cleaning gene, but sadly I was not. I have been following Flylady recently, and that's helped a lot!

{three} who would you call for bail money?

 Well... the hubs, but if he were with me, probably my friend Pehle or Jenny

{four} what is one thing you miss about being a kid?

 Besides everything! I really miss just sitting in my backyard and reading away a summer day.

{five} name a few of your guilty pleasures.
I've got far too many! Television, knitting, shopping, wine and cheese

{six} how early do you start your holiday shopping?

I'm always shopping. I do a lot of it after Thanksgiving, but I usually have picked up quite a few things throughout the year. 

{seven} what is a family tradition that you would like to pass on to your significant other/children?

I love the Chili Supper that my family does the weekend before Christmas, Black Friday Shopping and Christmas Day itself being super low key.

{eight} what do you consider your greatest achievement?

Uh... surviving this long? No, I'm pretty proud of my wedding and my master's degree.

 

{nine} what do you do to pamper yourself?

I love getting my hair cut and colored and I try to paint my nails once a week. 

{ten} if you were to start your own restaurant, what would it be called?

Hee! When I was little I remember my best friend and I deciding that we were going to open a cafe. We made menus and everything. The name... Lizard Alley... I know, right? Terrible. :)

Well... until next time. Book reviews will hopefully be up soon!

Wee Bit of Me Wednesdays

Wee Bit of Me is back again... two weeks in a row of blogging. That's a record for me. :) At least as of late.

 

 

{one} do you still use a checkbook?

Occasionally. I never have cash, so if somewhere doesn't take a credit card, it's got to be a check.

{two} what size shoe do you wear?

6.5-8 it totally depends on the shoe, though I think my feet have been getting bigger in recent years.

{three} scary movies or happy endings?

Definitely happy endings. There is enough scary in the world without scary movies.

{four} do you prefer spontaneity or stability?

I'm an off mix of both. I like stability and predictability, but there's definitely a spontaneous part of me.

{five} what is the most embarrassing cd that you own?

I'm not sure I'd be really embarassed by any of my CDs, since all my friends know of my ridiculous love of pop music, but maybe some country CDs from my high school days.

{six} do you watch reality tv?

All the time. I get completely sucked into bad reality TV, but usually only the shows on VH1: Rock of Love, Tough Love, The Ultimate Catch... bad, crappy television.

{seven} what is your favorite home-made meal?

Hmmm.... that is hard. Probably Thanksgiving dinner, or White Chicken Enchiladas.

{eight} do you have any allergies?

No deadly allergies, but I don't do well with gluten or soy.

{nine} if you could open your own restaurant/store, what would it be?

I've thought it would be fun to open a one-stop wedding shop. Dress, planning, invites, etc. Everything wedding all in one place.

{ten} would you ever go skydiving (or have you been)?

Never been, and probably wouldn't go. I'm not much of an adreline junkie.


Well... that's all for today folks. I just finished another book, so I hope to have a review posted some time this week, but we'll have to see how it goes. :)

Still here- with a Wee Bit of Me Wednesday

Well... yeah... not a whole lot to say. :) I'm still alive, still reading, writing, knitting and panicking, but just not blogging about it. In an effort to get back into the groove of blogging, I'm going to start participating in Wee Bit of Me Wednesdays which I shamelessly stole from Jumblemash (who is awesome!) and who stole it from myleighashley (also awesome). I have read roughly one bazillion books since April, bought a Kindle, went back to work and have not been writing at all... so I do have quite a bit to talk about, but blogging just seems so daunting, for no particular reason. At any rate, I'm going to do Wee Bit Wednesdays so I can have something to write about. Hopefully it will get me back into the groove of blogging. I'll keep my fingers crossed. :) So without further ado...

{one} have you ever seen a ghost?

Oh, goodness... a complicated question to start. Yes, I believe I have seen a ghost. When I saw my mother right after she passed away there were a few moments where she was standing next to me before she left. An interesting experience to say the least.

{two} when was the last time you dressed up for Halloween?

Last year. I generally dress up every year, but the hubs was out of town last year and so I only sort of dressed up. This year we're going to a club themed party though, and I'll be rockin' a totally sweet 80's outfit. We'll see if I wear it to work on Friday as well. I may just blend in with all the retro 80's looks the kids wear.

{three} what’s your favorite candy?

That is a tough one. I used to love Twix, but since I can't eat gluten any more that's out. I do love caramel though, or Skittles.

{four} did you have a favorite costume growing up?

I think my absolute favorite costume was the black cat costume that my mom made me. It was a huge furry body suit that she accidentally stitched her thumb to in the process of making. It was warm and fuzzy (two of my favorite feelings) and perfect for cold Colorado Halloweens.

{five} did you carve pumpkins this year?

No. Halloween always sneaks up on me and I never quite remember to carve pumpkins.

{six} what’s your favorite scary movie?

I'm not a huge scary movie fan, but I did love Zombieland, though that wasn't really scary. The Shining  is good, as was the Aliens trilogy, but I don't really like hard core horror.

{seven} haunted houses or corn mazes?

Mmmmm.... not so much on either. Corn Mazes are fun, unless they have those ridiculous chainsaw dudes. And I really don't care for Haunted Houses. These aversions may also be due to the fact that both places are generally infested with high school kids acting dumb, which I get enough of at work. :)

{eight} are you superstitious?

Sort of. I'm not super superstitious, but I do knock on wood, throw salt over my shoulder, say rabbit rabbit, etc.

{nine} have you ever owned a black cat?

Yes, one of my favorite kitties, Ralphie. He was the sweetest cat.

{ten} what are you plans for this coming Halloween?

We are heading over to a friend's house for a Halloween Party. It should be fun! I'd like to hope that we'll get Trick or Treaters, but we've only had two ever in the six years we've been in the house, so I don't think I'll worry about it this year.