Random Facts

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE Middle name after my mother's college friend 2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? When Vicki died 3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? yes 4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Pepper turkey 5. What should you be doing right now instead of answering these questions? editing a manuscript 6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? I think so. 7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? Unfortunately. I'm trying to be funny but I have such innocent friends, I think I hurt their feelings. 8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS Yes. 9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? This is the number one thing that keeps me from applying to the Amazing Race (that and the idea of having every ugly thing I say broadcast to the world.) 10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Lately, steel cut oats with maple sugar and fresh berries 11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? No, but I have to untie them before I put them back on. 13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? This is not a fair question. 14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Probably height (and weight) though I'm in denial about both for myself. 15. RED OR PINK? blue, please. 16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF ? My inability to keep a clean house and a good attitude at the same time. 17. who do you miss the most My team and the person I am when I'm with them. 18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? If you want :-) 19. WHAT COLOR SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? barefoot! 20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? Broccoli and cheese soup. 21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? The dog's toenails on the kitchen floor. The shower running. 22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Periwinkle Blue 23. FAVORITE SMELLS? Chocolate Chip Cookies, Chai Tea (with the smoke from a wood fire), pot roast, gardenias 24. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? My mom 25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Love her! 26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? gymnastics 27. Hair Color? Plain old brown 8. EYE COLOR? Grey-ish blue 29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? not any more 30. FAVORITE FOOD? anything from my garden 31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? happy endings 32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Julie and Julia... brilliant! Let's do a girls' night out and see this one together. 33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? blue. duh. 34. SUMMER OR WINTER? Please can't I choose eternal spring? 35. Hugs or kisses? comfortable hugs 36. FAVORITE DESSERT? a bite off of whatever is on my friend's plate. 37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Sandi 38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND You know who you are. 39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW The Help 40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? No mouse pad 41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT? Season 4 of the West Wing 42. FAVORITE SOUND? the ocean 43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? neither 44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME??? Mombasa, Kenya 45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? What, like being able to tie a cherry stem with my tongue? Nothing like that. 46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Alaska 47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING TO GETTING BACK? my friends

I NEED...

This was a game going around Facebook a couple of months ago, but I didn't want to be too much of a follower. After a couple of months, it's a retro game, right? So that's cool?

How to Play: Google your name and the word NEEDS. (So I google "Patty needs.") Check out the top ten results. Share them here if you want. Or don't.

Here are mine.

1. Patty needs no introduction.

2. Patty needs to understand that there are three objectives she must stick to or else her planning will fail.

3. Patty needs Jenny Craig, weighs "2254 lbs."

4. Patty needs to know that God's judgment is not based on popularity.

5. Patty needs a job that overpays!

6. Patty needs a home.

7. Patty needs to grow up and rethink her friendships, her ethics and her ability.

8. Patty needs a drinking gang.

9. Patty needs help with new glasses.

10. Patty needs to fill out her profile but is not feeling sassy enough to do it.

BBC's Big Read!

In 2003, the BBC asked British citizens to name a favorite novel. Here are the top 100 (updated a couple of times since 2003)

Apparently the BBC reckons most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here. I've read slightly more than that (54), but I bet not as many as my dad.

Instructions:
1) Bold those you have read.
2) *Star the ones you loved.
3) Italicise those you plan on reading.

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. *The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4. * Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5. *To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6. *The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. *Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare (major plays, sonnets, but not everything!)
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. *The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19. *The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. * The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. *Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. *Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. *Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. *The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37. *The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
39. *Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. *A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
47. The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
48. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
49. Atonement - Ian McEwan
50. *Life of Pi - Yann Martel
51. Dune - Frank Herbert
52. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
53. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
54. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
55. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
56. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
57. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
58.  The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
59. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
60. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
61. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
62. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
63. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
64. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
65. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
66. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
67. Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
68. Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
69. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
70. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
71. Dracula - Bram Stoker
72. *The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
73. *Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
74. Ulysses - James Joyce
75. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
76. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
77. Germinal - Emile Zola
78. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
79. Possession - AS Byatt
80. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
81. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
82. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
83. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
84. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
85. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
86. *Charlotte’s Web - EB White
87. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
88. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
89. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
90. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
91. *The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
92. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
93. Watership Down - Richard Adams
94. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
95. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
96. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
97. Hamlet - William Shakespeare
98. *Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
99. *Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Oh, dear. I seem to have lost #100. Please fill in with the book you think should be on this list.

Bucket List

Just one more game of tag. And then - I promise - back to real life! So much still to do! Where should I begin?

Things you have done during your lifetime:

( ) Gone on a blind date
(X) Skipped school
(X) Watched someone die
(X) Been to Canada
(X) Been to Mexico
(X) Been to Florida
(  ) Been to Hawaii
( )Gone Skinny dipping
(X) Been on a plane
( ) Been on a helicopter
(X) Been lost
(X) Gone to Washington, DC
(X) Swam in the ocean
(X ) Cried yourself to sleep
(X ) Played cops and robbers
(X) Recently colored with crayons
(X) Sang Karaoke
(X ) Paid for a meal with coins only
(X) Been to the top of the St. Louis Arch.
(X) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't.
(X) Made prank phone calls
(X) Been down Bourbon Street in New Orleans
(X) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose
(X) Caught a snowflake on your tongue
(X ) Danced in the rain
(X ) Written a letter to Santa Claus
(X) Been kissed under the mistletoe
(X) Watched the sunrise with someone
(X) Blown bubbles
(X) Gone ice-skating
(X) Gone to the movies
(X) Been deep sea fishing
(X ) Driven across the United States
( ) Been in a hot air balloon
( ) Been sky diving
(X ) Gone snowmobiling
(X ) Lived in more than one country
(X) Lay down outside at night and admired the stars while listening to the crickets
(X) Seen a falling star and made a wish
(X) Enjoyed the beauty of Old Faithful Geyser
(X) Seen the Statue of Liberty
(X) Gone to the top of Seattle Space Needle
(X) Been on a cruise
(X) Traveled by train
(X ) Traveled by motorcycle
(X) Been horse back riding
(X) Ridden on a San Francisco CABLE CAR
(X) Been to Disneyland OR Disney World
(X) Truly believe in the power of prayer
(X) Been in a rain forest
(X) Seen whales in the ocean
() Been to Niagara Falls
( ) Ridden on an elephant (Does a Camel Count?)
( ) Swam with dolphins
( ) Been to the Olympics
( ) Walked on the Great Wall of China
(X) Saw and heard a glacier calf
( ) Been spinnaker flying
(X) Been water-skiing
(X) Been snow-skiing
(X) Been to Westminster Abbey
(X ) Been to the Louvre
( ) Swam in the Mediterranean
( ) Ran a marathon
(X) Been to a Major League Baseball game
( ) Been to a National Football League game

Maybe I Do Need to Get a Life

A friend posted a list of movies on Facebook and said, "If you've seen at least 85 of these movies, you don't have a life."

You know me. I couldn't resist filling out the form. It didn't take long to see that the list was heavy with horror flicks, sci-fi, and chick flicks. Guess which ones I've seen.

Who decides that 85 is the cut-off? Is the person who's seen only 84 of the movies busy and fulfilled while the guy who's seen 86 is a schlub who sits on the couch with his beer and popcorn and can't bother to pick up his own kleenex. If he even uses kleenex.

About half way through the list, I was thinking... 

If you fill out this form, you might not have a life. ( no offense.)

A third of the movies I've seen because my husband wanted to see them. A third because my kids wanted to see them. And then there's the rest.

And, no, I haven't seen 85 of them. So I must have a life. I MUST!

Name Game

And now a short interruption from the February blues. Play along if you want.

1. YOUR SPY NAME (middle name and current street name)
K-125

2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME (grandfather/mother on your dad's side and your favorite candy):
Alta Reese

3. YOUR RAP NAME (first initial of first name and first 3,4 or 5 letters of your last name):
P SlaK

4. YOUR GAMER TAG (a favorite color, a favorite animal)
Green Giraffe

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME (middle name, and city in which you were born):
Kay Juno

6. SUPERHERO NAME: ("The", your favorite color and the automobile your dad drives)
The Blue Astro

7. YOUR ACTION HERO NAME (first name of the main character in the last film you watched, last food you ate)
Toby Pizza

8. YOUR MOBSTER NAME  (Name of your first pet and the name of the street you grew up on)
Yo Yo Mendenhall

5 Things Tag

For once, I think I'm the last one to play!

5 Things I Was Doing 10 Years Ago

1. Doing step aerobics at 6 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday

2. Translating a children's Bible study book into French and Ewe.

3. Teaching "Wednesday School" to MKs.

4. Making tortillas, salsa, sour cream, and guacamole from scratch.

5. Growing bananas, mangoes, pineapples and coconuts in my garden.

5 Things On My To-Do List Today

1. Help the kids with their school work.
2. Buy stamps.
3. Teach a violin lesson.
4. Email the French homework to my class.
5. Take the gang swimming.

5 Snacks I Like

1. Red Vines.
2. Triscuits and Sun-dried tomato hummus (thanks, Sara!)
3. Biscotti with tea.
4. Greek Style yogurt (thanks, Lori!)
5. Popcorn with ranch dressing flavoring.

5 Things I Would Do If I Were A Millionaire

1. Travel!
2. Buy a little bit bigger house with a little bit bigger yard.
3. Invest.
4. Go back to school.
5. Give a lot away.

5 Places I Have Lived (For Various Lengths Of Time)

1. Albertville, France
2. Togo, West Africa
3. Juneau, Alaska
4. St. Louis, MO
5. Searcy, AR

5 Jobs I Have Had

1. Speech Therapist for Home Based and Migrant Head Start
2. Recreational Director for kids in Group Homes
3. Missionary
4. French Teacher
5. Fiction Review Editor for New Wineskins Magazine

5 People I Tag (to post a "5 Things . . . " on a blog or facebook or in my comments or just in casual conversation)

1. Sandi
2. Shelli
3. Lori
4. Angel
5. Jackie

50 things about me

This one's from Shelli. Play along if you want.

1. Do you like blue cheese? yes
2. Have you ever been to Yellowstone Park? Yes
3. Do you own a gun? no.
4. What are your favorite songs? Be Thou my Vision, Blessed be Your Name, Before the Throne of God Above
5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? no
6. What do you think about hot dogs? It's my goal in life to never eat one again.
7. Favorite Christmas song? O Come, O Come Emmanuel
8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Irish Breakfast Tea
9. Can you do push ups? the girly kind
10. What was the name of your first pet? Yoyo
11. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? the necklace my husband got me in South Africa
12. Favorite hobby? writing, scrapbooking, gardening, reading... how am I supposed to choose?
13. Secret weapon to get the opposite sex? apparently, all I had to do was exist :-)
14. Do you have ADD? nope.
15. What one trait do you hate about yourself? lack of self discipline
16. What's your middle name? Kay
17. Name 3 thoughts you are thinking at this exact moment? my foot itches, I need to call the massage therapist, how did our bank account empty so fast this month?
18. What did you buy yesterday? Nothing!
19. Favorite vegetable? anything fresh out of the garden
20. Current worry right now? next week's writing conference commute
21. Current hate right now? the constant mess
22. Favorite place to be? on foreign soil
23, What did you do to bring in the New Year? pretended it was Christmas Eve
24. Name three people who will complete this? Sandi, Dad, Lori
25. Believe in God? Absolutely
26. Do you have an unusual skill? not really
27. What shirt are you wearing? blue t-shirt
28. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? I don't think I ever have
29. Can you whistle? yes-but not a dog whistle, which I'd love to learn
30. Favorite color? greens and blues
31. Would you be a pirate? no, but my kids would
32. What songs do you sing in the shower? it varies
33. Favorite girl's name. I'm not allowed to show favorites on this one.
34. Favorite boy's name? right now it would have to be Elijah Hugh
35. What's in your pocket right now? no pocket
36. What made you laugh last? sliding down the water slide with my daughter
37. Best bed sheets as a child? well-worn
38. Worst injury you've ever had? I might have broken my ankle, but it's up for debate
39. Who is your loudest friend? Shelli :-)
40. Do you like where you live? mostly
41. How many TV's do you have? 2, soon to be 1
42 . How many dogs do you own? one
43. What would you do if you hit a deer while driving? I've done this while driving a borrowed car. I think I waited to see if the deer would get off the road (she did), then I drove to where we were staying muttering "Oh no, oh no, oh no" or something like that until I saw my husband and then I started bawling.
44. What is your favorite book? I can't choose.
45. What is your favorite candy? I like a bunch of kinds, but right now, Whoppers
46. Favorite Sports Team? the USA in the upcoming Olympics
47. What were you doing at 12 am last night? reading
48. What was the first thing that you thought of when you woke up this morning? Good-bye Honey
49. What songs do you want played at your funeral? You choose. Do you think I should donate my body to science?
50. Does someone have a crush on you? I hope so.

My Life In Six Words Challenge

I've been hearing about the six word autobiography challenge here and there. The challenge: to sum up your life in six words.

Here's mine.

Journey between now and not yet.

What's yours?

One Word

Play along if you'd like. Only one word answers allowed.

1. Where is your cell phone? purse
2. Your significant other? Priceless
3. Your hair? healthy
4. Your mother? networker
5. Your father? Knowledgeable
6. Your favorite thing? story
7. Your dream last night? quest
8. Your favorite drink? tea
9. Your goal or dream? novelist
10. The room you're in? messy
11. Your kids? female
12. Your fear? broke
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? content
14. Where were you last night? Yelm
15. What you're not? extroverted
16. Muffins? toppers
17. One of your wish list items? Trip
18. Where you grew up? Mendenhaven
19. The last thing you did ? groceries
20. What are you wearing? gray
21. Your TV? fuzzy
22. Your pets? cool
23. Your computer? grouchy
24. Your life? eternal
25. Your mood? even
26. Missing someone? always
27. Your car? dented
28. Something you're not wearing? earmuffs
29. Favorite Store? Powells
30. Your summer? open
31. Like someone? guess
32. Your favorite color? blue
33. When is the last time you laughed? Tonight
34. Last time you cried? Today
35. The person who sent this to you? Shelli
36. Who will/would resend this? Sandi
37. A good book? Tisha
38. A good movie? Enchanted
39. A good song? Holy
40. One word to share? Peace

I will never...

1. Go Bungee Jumping.

2. Be a TV, Movie or Stage Star.

3. Fit in my wedding dress again.

4. Jump out of an airplane.

5. Be as sure of myself and my abilities as I was at the age of 17.

6. Tire of learning.

7. Climb Mount Everest.

8. Be an astronaut.

9. Visit all the places I'd like to go.

10. Like the smell or taste of oysters.

How would you complete the sentence?

10-20-30

An acquaintance in the writing community, Mary DeMuth, is doing a blog experiment to see how far-reaching blogs can be. She tagged 12 people and asked them to tag others to see how far this can go. If you decide to answer her question, either leave it as a comment on this blog or answer it in your blog and link back to hers. (http://www.relevantblog.blogspot.com/)

The question is, what were you doing 10, 20 and 30 years ago? Here's my response:

10 years ago-

I lived in Togo. The hot season was just beginning. This is the week of the year when the heat rolls in with sweaty splendor. The bright-hot sun burned overhead, but only we Englishmen and the mad dogs knew it. Everyone else sat in the shade of palm-thatched paillottes.

20 years ago-

This one dates me. 20 years ago I was a sophomore in college in Arkansas, which was of secondary importance since I was also engaged and about to get married. I wore a trench in the sidewalk between my dorm and my (now) husband's. I would pace from his ground floor window to the bike rack by the front door and back again, waiting for him to emerge and walk me to class, to the library, to dinner... anywhere he wanted to take me.

30 years ago-

Let's see. I would have been in Mrs. Norm's 4th grade class where I learned to do the bamboo dance and got to be in the Chinese New Year parade. I'm sure the termination dust was well down Thunder Mountain, a sure sign that another Alaskan winter would soon begin. Was 1977 the year we had snow on Halloween?

How about you? I tag Sandi, Cheryl, Mom, and whoever else wants to participate.

I couldn't resist

You know I can't resist a chance to answer questions and to ask them of you. AND, when this activity includes a new vocabulary word, I'm SOLD!

So, when Cheryl Cash posted this meme (pronounced meem), I had to look up the word and then respond.

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate?
Anything but egg nog. Mom's hot chocolate is the best.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree?
Sets them under the tree. When I was a kid, he set the big one under the tree unwrapped and had smaller presents wrapped, but now he only brings one gift for each kid (and a stocking full of goodies for everyone).

3. Colored lights or white?
White. Colored lights bring back memories of the 1970's. One year we had a 3 foot tree with a rotating lighted base that made the whole room glow in technicolored glory. What could Mom have been thinking?

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
No, though I always think it would be a nice touch. Mistletoe brings back memories of climbing trees in northern CA to collect the bunches of fungus. I couldn't believe mistletoe was a real plant, not just a piece of beribboned plastic.

5. When do you decorate for Christmas?
About a week after Thanksgiving. If I pull out the stuff too early, I start feeling crowded way before the holiday is over. I love taking out my angel collection and arranging each one. And this year I did something I've wanted to do for years. I bought a pre-lit tree. Gone are the temptations to succumb to swearing at the wads of tangled lights!

6. What is your favorite holiday dish, excluding dessert?
Fondue... and Mom's cinnamon rolls, a Christmas morning must.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child?
Not my favorite at the time, but we used to tape our Christmas for Grandma Alta. Audio cassette tape. It was brutal. each package had to be described in detail before, during and after opening, then photos were taken and the gift was described again before anyone could move on to the next gift. After that, the time Santa left ashy footprints from the fireplace to the tree.

8. When and how, did you learn the truth about Santa?
What are you talking about?

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
The kids open one gift on Christmas Eve after BEGGING their dad to remember this tradition. Begging is part of the tradition, as is the father's apparent memory lapse that it's always been done this way.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
Every ornament has a meaning-- most are handmade by the kids. Others are mementoes of places we've been (a seashell for our 10th anniversary cruise, Togolese carvings, a few from my childhood). Lots of felt and foam shapes and handprints cut from cardstock, each more beautiful than the last.

11. Snow. Love it or hate it?
Love it. Except when it gets balled up on the end of your corduroys and drips down inside your boots.

12. Can you ice skate?
Last time I tried skating was at the Olympic ice rink in Albertville, France. At the time, I'm sure someone asked me to never do that again, though I think I could still make my way around the ice.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
It's a tie between the hamster and the violin (but since the $ for the violin came from my own bank account, I guess I'll have to go with the hamster).

14. What is the most important thing about the holidays to you?
Jesus. Family. Secrets. and Fun.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?
What isn't? I love them all.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Fondue on Christmas Eve. Hot chocolate. Stockings.

17. What tops your tree?
This year, a golden wire angel playing violin. I keep saying she's only temporary, but she's been up there for several years now.

18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving?
Giving... no question. Though I love to get a thoughtful gift, too.

19. What is your favorite Christmas song?
We're all humming "I Want a Hippopatamus for Christmas" this year, though I doubt it will stand the test of time. Kind of like "the 12 Days After Christmas". I'll have to go with "Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel."

20. Candy canes. Yuck or yum?
Ho-Hum. I'll eat them, but there's no great pleasure there. There are plenty of other super delicious treats to have.

So there you go... a meme from me to you. Wanna send one back?

I Have...

I have a super husband who works hard and doesn't complain.
I have three beautiful daughters who are growing faster than I can believe.
I have a basset hound.
I have three library cards.
I have lived in 4 states and 3 countries.
I have touched the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian and Arctic Oceans.
I have worked as a preschool teacher.
I have been a speech therapist for migrant workers' children.
I have tutored online.
I have been a missionary.
I have ridden a camel.
I have swum with stingrays.
I have a wonderful prayer group.
I have many loyal friends.
I have visited 40 states.
I have traveled to 23 countries.
I have learned 3 languages other than English.
I have walked on a glacier.
I have hiked the Chilkoot trail.
I have written 2 novels (unpublished as yet).
I have a mother whose book has sold 500 copies so far.
I have about 30 kinds of tea in my cupboard.
I have a heart for missions.
I have friends all over the world.
I have waterskied in Alaska with no wetsuit.
I have been pregnant twice.
I have given birth to three children.
I have a budding harpist, a beginning pianist and an eager-to-be-a violinist at my house.
I have a very small garden.
I have had hot chocolate in an igloo.
I have met President Reagan.
I have given blood.
I have exercised my right to vote.
I have read a gob of books.
I have feet the same size as my 11-year old daughter.
I have a craving for dark chocolate.
I have a major sweet tooth.
I have plans to go book shopping in the morning.
I have made a mess of the office while trying to clean it.
I have a computer that thinks it lives in France.
I have walked through the tree tops in the Ghana jungle.
I have almost finished a Christmas stocking for my youngest just in time for her 5th Christmas.
I have several other unfinished projects to get to.
I have a huge stack of gingerbread cookies to frost.
I have been married almost 19 years.
I have a yellow belt in TaeKwonDo.
I have 2 terrific brothers and a loving set of parents.
I have only one more thing to think of after this.
I have tagged whoever is willing to play along.

books, books, books!

Book tag-- now that's more like it! And at such a great time. The very first copy of Mom's book arrived yesterday. It's beautiful. I am so proud of her. For those of you who are waiting to buy your copy, we've got to comb through this one for errors first. I'd say within a week or two she'll be ordering her first batch to sell.

And now, on with the game!

BOOK THAT CHANGED MY LIFE (BESIDES THE BIBLE):
Jessie: the story of a genteel lady in frontier Alaska by Betty Wyatt
Healing Grace by David A. Seamonds
Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey


BOOK I'VE READ MORE THAN ONCE
Letters from Togo by Susan Blake
Edge of Eternity by Randy Alcorn
Where There Is No Doctor
Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel (and a host of other picture books)


BOOK I WOULD TAKE WITH ME IF I WERE STUCK ON A DESERT ISLAND
Foxes Book of Martyrs
1,001 things you can do with palm leaves

BOOK THAT MADE ME LAUGH
Dave Barry's Only Travel Guide You Will Ever Need


BOOK THAT MADE ME CRY
God's Smuggler by Brother Andrew
Sayonara by James Michener
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

A BOOK I WISH I HAD WRITTEN
The Great American Novel


A BOOK I WISH HAD NEVER BEEN WRITTEN
Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler

BOOK I'VE BEEN MEANING TO READ
The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay
Hercule Poirot Quitte La Scene par Agatha Christie


BOOKS I'M CURRENTLY READING
Rebecca's Heart by Lisa Harris
The Taking by Dean Koontz
Detours by Bette Nordberg
How To Read the Bible for All Its Worth by Fee and Stuart

OTHER FAVORITES
Tisha
Mister God this is Anna
When Choice Becomes God
Anne of Green Gables
The Hiding Place

I TAG
Dad, Entropy, Sara, Lori, and Shelli. If you don't have a blog, post your list in my comment box. I want to add your favorites to my list of books I'm intending to read!