Playing the Game

My sister Carolyn over at Carolyn's Cozy Corner tagged me in a game forever ago and has probably given up hope of my ever following up with it. I just had other things planned to blog about and it took me a while to get around to it. So here we go!

Here are the rules of the game:

1. Post these rules
2. Post a photo of you and 11 things about your life
3. Answer the questions set for you in the original post
4. Create 11 new questions and tag people to answer them
5. Go to their blog and tell them you've tagged them

It's true, I'm willing to put my son in a garbage can for the perfect picture...

Okay, now to think of 10 more things about me...

-I am my parents most accident prone child, having had to get more stitches than any of their other children. This includes staples on my head and stitches on my bum (don't let your children slide down an old splintery board, it doesn't yield fun results)

-I have visited 25 of the states, so I'm half way to having seen them all.

-I used to be able to locate more than 30 of the 88 constellations in the night sky, and even tell you the names of the prominent stars located in them. I'm a little rusty right now though, so I'm not sure how many I could do.

-Until this week my favorite ice cream was Blue Bunny's Peanut Butter Panic, but it may have been supplanted by their White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookie ice cream. I may have to go get some of the PB Panic just for comparison...

- I don't like Pringles

-I took ballet lessons for a couple of years.

-I have waded in the Pacific Ocean and in the Gulf of Mexico, but I've never seen the Atlantic (which I suppose technically includes the GoM, but oh well).

-I didn't get my driver's licence until I was 18. Driving scared me more than you can possibly imagine. I still hate driving in large cities or at night, but other than that it's not too bad now.

-I had braces on my teeth for three years, and part of that time I had a palette expander. If you don't know what that is, first count your lucky stars, then imagine a medieval torture device installed in the roof of your mouth.

-I can use my toes like fingers. Just this morning I picked a bobby pin up off the floor using only my toes. I have typed whole emails using my toes, and have even tied some one's shoe with my toes. And I can pinch REALLY hard with my toes, so don't think that just cause you're out of my arm's reach that you're safe :)

Okay, here's the questions Carolyn made for me. I haven't looked at them yet, so hopefully I haven't already answered any of them with my list of stuff about me.

1.  How is your dream kitchen decorated?

I actually have been thinking about this one lately. I've always loved the combination of blue and white, and thought that I would decorate my kitchen using delft tiles as an inspiration, but now I'm just not sure. I think I'd still do blue and white, but with a more modern kind of design (don't ask for anything more specific, I still don't know exactly what I want) and with some bright yellow thrown in.

2.  If you had to be born in a different decade/time when would you be born and why?
I've always loved to read about the 1800's, specifically around the time of the American Civil War. I'd love to see the great plantation homes as they were then, and then go north and see the World Fair in Chicago. I am pretty fond of my modern conveniences though, they would be hard to give up.

3.   What is your most cherished possession?
My family. I know it's not a possession in the traditional sense of the word, but they are what I cherish most. I'm sitting here looking around at all my things and trying to pick one that I'd be devastated to lose, and I honestly can't think of anything here that I feel that strongly about. I'd be sad to lose some of my things but mostly because I'm too poor to buy new ones, not because I'm attached to the old ones.

4. If you could go back in time and meet one famous person who would you meet and why?
That's a tough one. Maybe George Washington, because he was awesome. Or Abraham Lincoln, same reason. Or my great grandparents, because more than half of them were dead before I was born and it would be neat to get to know them.

5. Least favorite household chore.
Washing dishes or cleaning my room.

6.Favorite vacation you have been on: When, where, and why was it your favorite?
I'm not good at picking favorites. Are we talking about my favorite road trip? Are we talking about my favorite camping trip? Are we talking about my favorite family reunion? The times I spent in Oregon with my cousin Jessica when I was 14 or 15 were a blast. Our recent trip to the Gulf of Mexico was AWESOME. Our family reunion when I was a kid to Mammoth Lakes, CA is a great memory. Our road trip to Nauvoo, IL for the temple open house was SOOOOOO cool! How does one pick?

7. How do you eat a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup?
I just bite into it and savor every moment of it. I prefer the holiday editions (easter egg, halloween pumpkin, christmas tree, etc...), they seem to have more PB in them.

8.Favorite band/singer when you were 16 years old.
Again, I have trouble with favorites. To listen to while working on school, Jim Brickman. To listen to while working on a sewing or other type of project, Josh Groban or Glenn Miller. To dance to, anything country that was fun and fast, or anything you could swing to.

9.If you were given $500,000 how would you spend it?
I would pay for a nice vacation for my parents and in-laws. Next I'd buy some new clothes. Then I'd use whatever was left to buy a house for Ethan and I. It wouldn't have to be a huge house, just as long as it was ours.

10. Weirdest name for a pet that you/your family has had? We had a cow named Puppy. I wanted my own dog for a REALLY long time and begged and begged my parents for one for as long as I can remember. They tried getting me a rabbit, which bit and scratched whenever I tried to cuddle it, and then eventually broke its back and had to be destroyed. They got cats, but they had to be outside pets and I'm just not a big cat person. They got a Guinea Pig (who also had a weird name; Hershey), but who wants to cuddle with something that stinky and noisy and with such sharp teeth? One day Dad came home from work and said, "Get in the truck Diedre, we're going to go get your Puppy." Unfortunately for him, mom had already told me what was up, but I played along and got in the truck. We went to my Grandpa's winter pastures for his ranch, and picked up a little calf who was only a few days old and who's mom had died right after having her. Dad decreed that its name was Puppy, we threw it in the back of the truck and drove home. It was really cute. It drank a bottle, would play tag, would stand outside our bedroom window and call for us to come out and play, figured out how to open the front door and would try to come inside with us, and even chewed on everything just like a Puppy would, but it just wasn't a puppy. (Don't worry, I eventually got my puppy, so the story ended fairly happily.)

11.  What are 5 things you like about yourself?
-I like my eyes.
-I like that I can cook yummy things and am not afraid to try new recipes (if only they always turned out yummy).
-I like how I can use my toes like fingers.
-I like that I'm pretty hard to make mad.
-I like that I like to play the piano (that wasn't always true, but I like that it is now).

Okay, so I'm going to be really naughty and not do the last two steps in the game instructions. I've used up all of my creative juices coming up with everything already here and don't want to make 11 new questions and then have to find people to answer them who haven't already done this. Maybe someday I'll revisit this post and finish playing the game.