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!

I now have the movie "High Fidelity" on my brain So here have a Meme of my top Fives

Top 5 favorite towns
5. Stratford-upon-Avon, England. Ol' Willie Shakespeare's home town. Touristy, but beautiful.
4. Hot Springs, South Dakota. Beautiful Black Hills little jewel in the touristy trade, but also a nice place to live.
3. Sioux Falls, South Dakota. South Dakota's largest city, but small enough to find one's way around. One of my many "home towns"
2. Kalona, Iowa. Those who know me know why.
1. Sheldon, Iowa, will always be home no matter where in the world I travel.

Top 5 things that give me the creeps
5. zits/blackheads
4. maggots
3. Kanawha
2. Darkness after watching a scary film
1. Bridges-Seriously, I have a phobia.

Top 5 all time favorite songs
5. Reptile, by Nine Inch Nails
4. Du Hast, by Rammstein
3. Gravity, by A Perfect Circle
2. Christian Woman/Black No. 1, by Type O Negative
1. Heart of Glass, by Blondie

Top 5 favorite scents
5. cut grass/watermelon rind
4. Aspen for women (which they no longer make like back in the day)
3. coffee--smells like a warm welcoming house
2. My husband's neck-right after he gets home from work. I joke that he smells like work, but he also has an underlying scent that is subtle in a clean human odor kind of way.
1. breastfed baby's breath

Top 5 things and/or people that help me to be happy
5. my Aripiprozole
4. my friends
3. my family
2. my husband
1. my children

Top 5 things I'd like to be doing right now
5. I am happy to blog, so what I am doing now is what I would like to be doing now.
4. drinking coffee with my friends and laughing at each other laughing and trying hard not to spray coffee out of our noses.
3. driving. anywhere. just driving, even for my driving test to get my USA DL back.
2. arriving back in the States--if the telleporter was fixed I'd zap there now.
1. Hugging all of my children at once

Top 5 Worst recording artists/bands evah
5. tom petty--ugh loathe his voice
4. stevie nicks--she sounds like a billy goat
3. Vanilla Ice--need I say more?
2. the tom and stevie duet--blargh
1. new kids on the block--the epitome of boy bands-yuck!

Top 5 places I'd like to visit
5. egypt--pyramids dude!
4. oregon--portland and corvallis area to be specific
3. Utah--the salt flats with my hot rodded 64 Ford Galaxie 500
2. Highlands of Scotland--or just a loch or two
1. Norway-ja sure ja betcha doncha know!

So if you decided that you want to do a top 5 meme too, leave me a comment so I can look at your blog too! Feel free to add more categories!

Five things I miss about America

At Noble Savage, she wrote a post that sings to this American expat's heart. It also smacks of a top 5 list a la High Fidelity

Here is her list that she did expand on, but you will need to go to her blog to read expansions:
1.My family and friends
2. Wide open spaces
3. Autumn
4. Good, affordable food
5. That wondrous, zany American outlook on life

Mine actually follows closely:

1. I miss Miss MISS my family and friends. Although I call my mom just about every weekday, and my Hillbilly Duhn several times a week, hugging phones is NOTHING like hugging the real live human being on the other end of the line. I crave the day we all are reunited.

2. Driving. I love driving long distances and driving at night. I have been driving since I was 12 mminus the year between moving from the acreage and drivers Ed and the 2 years I have been in the UK making it 17 years in total I have been driving and loving it. I am such a car buff and as much as I am trying to be eco-friendly, I just can not stop loving cars, driving and driving long straight wide roads. Motor oil runs in these veins.

3. American food. I like an indian take away now and again, fish and chips and the tradional English sunday roast, but gosh darn it I want me a valasic dill pickle without any sugar, a corn dog, a miller genuine draft, a root beer float that doesn't cost $3 a can to make, as well as flavored coffees that you don't have to go to a specialty tea shop to buy, and tex mex foods. I would love an apple and a pumpkin pie, and a bone-in wood smoked ham. (I am hungry now, lol)

4. Halloween. Halloween is my fah-vorite holiday evah! I look forwards to Halloween like a little kid looks forwards to his birthday. Where I am at Halloween is barely celebrated and is more of a time where people hide away from trouble youth "yobs and hoodies", lock their doors, turn off their lights and pretend to not be home. Well crap, no wonder the youth are pissy, the candy that they sell to give out sucks. "Here have a packet of pink and white marshmallows!" bleeeh. So as another Halloween passed by like a much anticipated birthday that no one could be bothered to remember--I yearn for a fun filled Halloween with all the kids next year back in the USA.

5. Hearing my own Accent. Something about being able to not translate things in my head from British to American and back again is so nice. A trunk is a trunk, not a boot. Chips are chips, not fries, and toe-may-toe not toe-maah-oh for tomato.

I am going to be cheeky and put a sixth because it is actually a tie between number 5 and this one.
6. Affordable clothing that fits Plus size. I needn't say more than that.

Stolen fron Estelle

LAYER ONE:
-- Name: Lizz
-- Birth date: June 29th
-- Birthplace: Sioux Falls SD
-- Current Location: AmishLand IA
-- Eye Color: blue
-- Hair Color: whatever it said on the box
-- Height: 5'5"
-- Righty or Lefty: Righty
-- Zodiac Sign: the Crab

LAYER TWO:
-- Your heritage: Norwegian Ja surre ja betcha!
-- The shoes you wore today: Green slippers
-- Your weakness: my kids and my fiance'
-- Your fears: Dying and leaving my kids motherless
-- Your perfect pizza: Happy Joe's on my birthday when i was a kid
-- Goal you'd like to achieve: Become a High School Biology Teacher, I love biology and learning how things tick, I love to teach, combine the 2-Heaven with little hellions running about!

LAYER THREE:
-- Your most overused phrase on AIM: i lothe AOL-sorry Aol users- i think it is a virus
-- Your first waking thoughts: i hate waking, i like sleep
-- Your best physical feature: my brain, sometimes
-- Your most missed memory: High school sucked but i loved it, some of the funniest and best times mixed with the bitterness and hormonal angst of growing up

LAYER FOUR:
-- Pepsi or Coke: Yuck I lothe colas
-- McDonald's or Burger King: Wendy's 99 cent menu
-- Single or group dates: group
-- Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea: I drink Hot tea
-- Chocolate or vanilla: ice cream? Vanilla
-- Cappuccino or coffee: Cappuccino

LAYER FIVE:
-- Smoke: right now, i am the world's worst ex-smoker, a whiff of smoke will make me feel nauseous. If i am around people that are smoking i have to smoke too. Not to look cool, but my first hand smoke keeps me from feeling ill over second hand smoke. The last pack i bought has lasted me 5 months and i have 3 cigarettes left. Weird, but that is how it works for me.
-- Cuss: Actually i rarely swear, not for moral reasons, i just save it for when i really get emotional about something
-- Sing: i sound excellent by myself in the van and in the shower
-- Take a shower everyday: everyother day in the winter, every day in the summer
-- Do you think you've been in love: I am in love with my kids (motherly love) and in love with my fiance' M!
-- Want to go to college: I am classed as a junior right now, but college is on the back burner right now
-- Liked high school: Yes and no, see above at most missed memory
-- Want to get married: I Do
-- Believe in yourself: rarely
-- Get motion sickness: If i sit in the back seat and read
-- Think you're attractive: nope
-- Think you're a health freak: nope
-- Get along with your parent(s): yes
-- Like thunderstorms: OMG Yes! they make me horny
-- Play an instrument: i used to play tuba

LAYER SIX:
In the past month...
-- Drank alcohol: no
-- Smoked: 5 cigarettes
-- Done a drug: no
-- Made Out: no
-- Gone on a date: no
-- Gone to the mall: no
-- Eaten an entire box of Oreos: yuck!
-- Eaten sushi: yes, i love it
-- Been on stage: no
-- Been dumped: no
-- Gone skating: no
-- Made homemade cookies: nope
-- Dyed your hair: no, but boy do i need to, i have bad roots and you can see my white hair
-- Stolen Anything: no

LAYER SEVEN:
Ever...
-- Played a game that required removal of clothing: yup and then went skinny dipping--16 was such a fun stupid age
-- If so, was it mixed company: yes
-- Been trashed or extremely intoxicated:My 19th birthday i got so drunk i passed out in a running shower, and then had a hangover for 3 days. I promised myself that i'd never get that drunk again. twice i have come close, but have never passed out or gotten so stupidly drunk.
-- Been caught "doing something": yes
-- Been called a tease: yes
-- Gotten beaten up: no
-- Shoplifted: yup--dumb kid
-- Changed who you were to fit in: kind of
LAYER EIGHT:
-- Age you hope to be married: 30
-- Numbers and Names of Children: 2 Z and L
-- Describe your Dream Wedding: M and I at my grandparent's church, where my parents were married. I have lost 81763548762389728976451 pounds and i am wearing a Ivory Tudor dress with a corset that pushes my cleavage waaaay up. He is dressed in full Scottish regalia and says his vows to me in his Sean Connery impression. We have the meal and then go disco a-la saturday night fever.
----------------------OR-----------------------
a simple ceremony with just 9 people, his parents, my parents, my kids, the officiant, M and I, at a lovely summerday at Stonehenge England. He proposed to me there at the 2005 Summer Solstice. Alas, his parents and mine probably wouldn't come because that is where "heathens witches and devilworshipers" go. Phooey.
-- How do you want to die: never
-- Where you want to go to college: University of Birmingham, UK
-- What do you want to be when you grow up: do i have to grow up?
-- What country would you most like to visit: i despirately want to go back to England. I saw the good and the bad of it and i LOVED it all!

LAYER NINE:
-- Number of drugs taken illegally: 2 pot and crank Thank all that is good that i never became addicted! i FUCKING HATE the shit now! <--there swearing for something that i am emotionally charged about.
-- Number of people I could trust with my life: 4
-- Number of CDs that I own: 873465987635016504176358
-- Number of piercings: i have my ears pierced a total of 7 times, 4 of them are open, i have had my eyebrow done, bit it grew shut after having to take it out for job--i want it redone. I had my nipples pierced, but took them out when i was 2 months PG with my 2nd child, i knew i was going to breastfeed. i can still put hoops in my left nip.
-- Number of tattoos; 5 dragon, dragon, gecko in flowers, vampire bites and "the Crow" picture and brandon lee across my back
-- Number of times my name has appeared in the newspaper: dunno a few i guess
-- Number of scars on my body: a lot i was a klutz as a kid and just about as klutzy as an adult, but i have only needed stitches 2x. both were for surgical removals of troubles some lumps that grew when i was PG with my son. they were benign, thank all that is good
-- Number of things in my past that I regret: numerous--i was a naughty kid


i hope that all of this helps you to get to know me better. Lizz