tagged and stuff....

1. What is your funniest childhood story?
Must have been the time when I was about 8 or 9 and I was out playing on a low roof of a stairway to a basement house. I was using as a slide even thought the shingles were rough. Well they sand-papered my behind and I ended up with abrasions to my bum and back of my legs and sitting was horrid for the next day or so. That isn't the worst though--the cute guy in my class, Ronnie E, and my cute neighbor boy, Brian J, saw me walking back home rather stiff legged with my jogging pants shredded in the back and my orange clock underwear hanging out. Embarrassing enough, but I was wearing the last pair of clean undies in my drawer and I absolutely loathed my blue, pink and orange underwear with a clock print on them. I never wanted to go to school again, lol!


2. What would your dream dress look like if you could design it?
This is the base of my dress that I will wear for our American wedding/blessing ceremony/vow renewal. I am going to have a shawl or something over my arms.

My friend, T., borrowed it for her wedding 2 years ago and she looked lovely in it.

3. What weird habit does your other half have? Bruxism--he grinds his teeth in his sleep.

4. How many cookbooks are in your kitchen? 3, one Marks & Spencers British foods and 2 Gordon Ramsey cook books


5. Granny panties or loyal Victoria Secret girl? sexy drawers in my drawers no longer exist--heck I only have 4 pair of underpants (I am always doing laundry)


6. My favorite memory from 2008 so far is? Duh, birth of Alex


7. I secretly... check the toilet paper. every. time. Gross I know, but I have done it ever since I was 10 and my 12 year old friend told me what a period was, as she was having hers and I was horrified. I had thought a period was the punctuation mark at the end of a sentence. So I started obsessively checking. A 22 year old habit is hard to break.


8. I could really go for... Pumpkin pie with cool whip


9. We are going to have a big snowstorm and you will find me... In the states-finding a safe place to mess around driving in the snow. I used to spin cookies with my 1964 Ford in the snow--I loved it!

Here in the UK-bwahahaha! A mere dusting of snow and everyone panics and car pileups are common. Think of Florida getting snow then replace the bright warm sunny weather with dark dreary grey misty rainy weather.

10. I knew s/he was the one...
I have 2 life-partners:

My Beloved Husband--Almost right away when he talked about loving to hug and cuddle and I announced on the other side of my monitor "Awww He's a cuddler, aww, I could love him." 10 days later I wrote "I love you!" and that I love you changed our lives. No regrets, *Sigh* He makes me happy and all warm and fuzzy. We are mushballs!

My best friend--Ha honestly, ready for this K? I knew that we'd be friends back in high school because she was a "smoker", I knew her family had very little money like mine, and she was cool enough to be dating the guy that I had a crush on. Birds of a feather flock together, right? Added bonus that she was artistic and we shared having the hots for our Art teacher. We weren't super close friends in high school, it was after, like June 2nd, that I knew that we'd be forever friends and then the night she and her 1st hubby left for Cali and stopped to see me and my roomie before they left. I gave them all my money and my blessings as they started their new life together. When she came back from Cali and her hubby was stationed overseas was when even though we were far apart, we were and are inseparable.

Now to tag 3 more people. I choose...

I hate choosing so if you read this and feel like you want to do it, leave a comment and a link back to your blog. Thanks!

The Newest Member of the Family

With the help of my folks', and some wonderful sellers, we have a pretty green minivan back home. She's got all the bells and whistles and a good motor and transmission. I can't wait to drive again.

phobia

I have a fear of bridges and it actually has a name-- gephyrophobia
http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=12355 and the following short blurb is sooooo me.

"Fear of bridges: An abnormal and persistent fear of bridges, especially crossing bridges. Sufferers of this phobia experience undue anxiety even though they realize their fear is irrational. Their fear may result partly from the fear of enclosure (claustrophobia) or the fear of heights (acrophobia). Phobic drivers may worry about being in an accident in busy traffic or losing control of their vehicles. High bridges over waterways and gorges can be especially intimidating, as can be very long or very narrow bridges....."

I am ok with driving over and under regular overpasses on interstate roads..as long as they don't curve at all. But wooden country bridges around here give me the heebie jeebies something fierce. As do old bridges,yuck! I hold my breath over them and actually try to squish my legs together and my arms into my body as much as I can. Any bridge that will take longer than 2 seconds to cross will start to give me an anxiety attack...............however, *knock on wood* I am an excellent driver and have never been in an accident, and driving in heavy traffic, including Semi-trucks does not bother me at all....just those damn bridges. Driving through Cedar Rapids IA is a doosy for me as the entire interstate through town is curved bridges. As long as i don't see any accidents, and stay in the middle lane, as it is no where near the guard-rail, I am nervously ok.

So, Estelle, If M and the kids ever come and visit, the journey will be planned with crossing the least bridges as possible. And the Sunshine Skyway Bridge will have to be avoided at all costs EEK! Are there ferries there?

I used to cross a toll bridge from Ia to MO that had a metalmesh road, not one bit of cement, and the tires would make a scary noise going across it. I was white knuckled and scared shitless! needless to say, I have a rerouted my drive and have very few creepy bridges to cross.

December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge collapsed claiming 46 lives and injuring 9

These bridges are archtetually beautiful, but if I HAD to cross them, i would have to get out of the car and crawl across.


















...and would you look at that! there is road construction!!! narrowing the road even further!!! and narrowing my trachea even more!





How about that for a weird but true phobia?....now if I could find out if the fear of aging has a name.

After all of that---I am NOT afraid of airplanes or flying, at all, in fact it is fun and exciting for me...eh, go figure...my brain is weird!

Childhood Memories

You know those little snippets of our childhood that we tuck away safely into our memory, the idyllic days where all thet you worried about was how late you could play outside, or how far down the sidewalk you could ride your bike before a parent came out to tell you that you went to far. I got to travel back in time last evening and relive one of those idyllic memories, with the help of my 5 year old daughter. The backyard isn't the same as in my youth, but the smells sounds and feel was about what it was like about 21-24 years ago.

The day had been hot, and we played at the city park until sunset, when the air starts to cool. We took off our sandals and walked barefooted in the thick cool freshly mown grass. she played on some equiptment that was much like what I played on as a child. I dug my toes in the hot dry sand, and as i dug deeper, it cooled and became damp. There was a little legue baseball game going on at the other side of the park, and the sound of the *THWAK* of a bat meeting the ball and the cheers from the parents in the stand sounded the same as from my youth.

It was getting dark and time to go home, and so we climbed into the van. When I was a kid, my dad would let me "drive" while sitting on his lap. this was of course before seatbelt laws. but since we were less than a block away from home, I let her "drive" we went no faster than 3 miles an hour and even got passed by some bikeriders.

Small town midwest life, where we give directions to get somewhere in town by relation to where it is from THEE only set of traffic lights. Where we don't lock our doors-ever because we know that the neighbors will watch over the house while we are gone. The gas stations are the place to hear the latest gossip as well as the best place to sell your old car/dishwasher/camper/sofa or give away puppies or kittens.

After my daughter had taken a bath and had supper, we went out into the backyard and chased fireflies. My daughter's giggles, bringing giggles of my own bubbling up, as we ran breathlessly around catching and releasing these bioluminescent creatures. it was a beautiful snippet of life that I know that I have filed away, and i hope that my daughter does too.

Tornadoes Suck!

On Thursday April 13, Iowa City was hit by at least one tornado. Where was I? Huddled in the back room of a gas station right across the interstate from where it touched down.

Oddly enough i wasn't scared, i was strangely calm, even though it has been a reoccuring childhood nightmare to be chased down by a tornado. I knew when the tornado landed by the pressure in my ears, and i had to pop them like you would in an airplane, and then i felt faint, hot then cold and then was fine. I wanted to see the thing but my daughter and mother were in the backroom too and i felt that i should stay with them.

We had just gone out to eat at my favorite chinese buffet (mmmm they have a mongolian grill and sushi there mmmm) and it began to rain, hard. But i wanted that one last plate of shrimp and sushi. By the time that we left, it was still pouring but manageable. Mom asked for me to turn on the radio to weather. there were tornados being sighted in the county north and west of us. I wasn't too concerned and kept on driving. we got to the highway that in 12 miles would bring us to our town. It began to lightly hail. Then heavier hail, and all i could think of was "Oh Sh*t! My windows!" My van has a massive expanse of a windshield and bu-ku expensive to replace. So we turned around and went to a gas station with an awning. I just wanted to wait out the hail in the van, but after Mom went inside and came back to the van and highly insisted that we all go in.

Oh and the warning sirens were going off all this time as well.

there was a lull in the rain and weather after the tornado, and Mom went out to the van and my side door window got sucked out and shattered. So Mom duct taped a black plastic bag on the window and we waited for a little while more to see what the storms would do. nothing really happened and i just wanted to get home. So the 3 other families that were from our town decided that they were going to follow us back. Choo-Choo! I got elected to be the leader in the train that went home. oh well, we made it.

My brother was in the center of town where it was most hard hit. He and his friends made it to a basement and were safe. but the area around them was a disaster and later officially declaired one. He stayed up until 3 am helping people get tree limbs off of their cars and other debris. Mom's bonneville got another broken window and dents on top of the broken back window that happened about a month ago.
http://community.webshots.com/album/549484930difYkW
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"The Stiffy-Mobile"

I have a 1964 Ford Galaxie 500 four door. It is my dream to one day hotrod this baby and make her PURRRR like she used to. As for now, she patiently waits for me to have enough cash and time to pull her out of my grandparent's barn. she's sad, i see it in her headlights when i go visit. and well in this picture, her tail lights too.

this is not my first '64. My first was a goldflecked silver. It had Swing Away Steering Wheel, Power Front Seat, Power Steering, Power Brakes, Padded Dash and Visors, Backup Lights, Deluxe Wheel Covers, Spotlight Mirrors and Select Aire Conditioner. That's right, a chrome covered air conditioner in 1964. A power front seat--well the bench seat could move back and forth when the motor worked. It had the original AM radio in it. And the engine?!?! A 390 V-8 engine at 300 horsepower!! (insert Tim Taylor man grunt Oha ahu uggh ughh!)


It was a Diamond in the rough. I got it for my 17th birthday from my parents, and it had been the family car since i was 7. Stupid stupid me sold it for $100 bucks after i hit a deer with it. The only thing wrong with it was a busted motor mount! I could fix that simply in a few hours now. Doh Doh Doh!!! but that was then. It was shortly thereafter i realized what a gem i had and kicked myself. I promised myself that one day i would own another one.

I own another one, since 1998 for the hefty price of $300.00. But my new baby doesn't have swing away (you put the car into park, and then the steering wheel could be pushed towards the center of the car to lock it into park). it doesn't have power seat, or air conditioning, or power steering or power brakes and i am not even sure what is under the hood, other than a lot of work, although mu suspicions are that is may have a 390 (I am keeping my fingers crossed on that one) It doesn't even have A radio in it, after market or otherwise.

But when i took it out for the first test drive, and heard the rumble of the engine (and bad exhaust) I was in love! I was sexually "energized"! I brought it back to the seller and she asked what i thought, and before i could censor myself, "It gave me a STIFFY!" fell out of my mouth. "Humm, Lizz? Is there something that you aren't telling me about?" was her reply. I said that i wanted the car and yes, indeed, i am female. She became my friend, i became "Stiffy", and my '64 dubbed "the Stiffy-mobile"