Thursday Thirteen – Question and Answers #2

I thought I would take this opportunity to answer some questions from my Monday Morning Meme. Don’t forget to check back Sunday afternoon for fresh questions!

1. If you mixed up the letters in the name of your blog, what new name would you come up with? (Anagram fun website – http://wordsmith.org/anagram/) Now take your favorite anagram and tell us what sort of blog it might be based on that title.

Actually, there are a few that amused me:

Freak Worriment – OMG, this describes me exactly.

Marine Fretwork – thinking big beefy, hunky Marine dude with issues on this one.

Firmware Trek On – I won’t even tell you what I’m thinking on this one. (Hint: it’s dirty. *ahem*)

Fake Writer Norm – But this one, THIS one is what my blog should be called. Fake writer is definitely the norm around here. Unfortunately.

2. What is it about you that makes everyone want to know you? Wait, you’re not done yet. Now tell us WHY that one particular thing? What makes that element of yourself so special? (Come on, don’t be shy. This is your opportunity to write about something positive about yourself).

My sense of humor. No, it’s my sarcasm. Actually, it’s my sarcastic sense of humor. No seriously, I know that’s hard to believe, but I have a knack for saying off-the-wall, probably-shouldn’t-be-saying-that-in-mixed-company things that make people either burst out laughing or sputter embarrassed chuckles over. (My MIL sputters, a lot. I like to sort of shock her. hehe)

WHY my sense of humor? I think I resort to humor because I simply don’t know what else to say around people a lot of times and because honestly? People amuse me. And it’s so much more fun to be around people who can laugh at themselves, you know?

Actually, I’m a pretty fun person to be around.

What. I’m serious.

3. What is the oldest thing you own? What is the newest?

Oldest thing … let’s see. I have my old high school yearbooks. Those are always fun to bring out and laugh over at parties.

I used to have some old Golden children’s books … I’m not sure if those are still in the attic or not. Kevin has a tendency to “organize” me and I can never find anything after that happens.

I still have my wedding dress. That’s pretty old. Almost 19 years old. It’s hanging up in my closet in a white garment bag. I really need to look into getting that thing professionally stored.

4. Tell us about your childrens’ (all ages!) first day of school, walk us through it. How did you handle it? How did your children handle it? Do you have a picture?

The boys had two years of preschool before they started kindergarten, so both of them were prepared, and excited, about starting.

They also both had the same teacher so by the time MK started, I was a little more prepared.

GD was a little hesitant about being left behind, but MK embraced the experience and practically pushed me out the door. I purposefully cut the departure short because I knew that if I lingered and allowed myself to get too nervous about it, they would have to call security guards to remove me.

I quickly walked back out to my car and promptly burst into tears for both boys. In fact, I’ve been crying on their first days of school for years. I think this past year might have been the first time I DIDN’T cry.

It was a pivotal moment, as I’m sure a lot of parents can relate to. There aren’t many opportunities to actually SEE the fork in the road of life, but the first day of school is definitely one of those moments. It’s a scary, exciting and quite sobering moment.

5. What is your greatest consumer mistake, something that you are shaking your head at now, saying, “Boy, I wish I wouldn’t have bought _____”? So, why did you buy it? What happened to it?

Don Lapre’s “tiny classified ads in the newspapers.” Do you guys remember this infomercial?

I honestly have no idea why I fell for this scam. I think I thought Lapre was hot or something. But his voice … he just hypnotized me. And at the time, I was thinking of quitting my job to stay home full time with the boys and I wanted to try and find something that I could do from home and make money.

I ordered the “kit.” Looked it over and promptly forgot about it. What a total waste of money! Kevin STILL makes fun of my crush on Don Lapre. Later, I read that he had filed bankruptcy, TWICE.

Whee! Look at me! I’m a total sucker!

When I was researching the video for this, I found a funny spoof. You’ll have to watch the above video to really get an appreciation for the spoof.

6. What advice do you have for a new blogger?

Be careful and don’t get sucked in by the pretty widgets. Or the flashy graphics. Keep your blog simple and concentrate on writing good content. (HA! Like I do that, but it sounds good, right? *grin*).

Blog for yourself. Write what and when you want to. Have fun and try not to be intimidated by the “old timers.” We were all newbies at one time.

Be friendly and if you have time, visit other bloggers. Though comments are great and we all love them, don’t comment unless you have something to say. There is nothing more annoying than commenting on someone else’s blog simply to promote your own blog. Don’t do it. Resist the temptation. Trust me on this.

7. How did your car get that little scratch/dent? (Because let’s face it, we ALL have car stories, right?

The first scratch I got was on the back bumper. I have one of those bumpers that aren’t really a bumper but part of the car so when it was scratched, it was pretty noticeable.

MK put that scratch there. He accidentally scraped his saxophone case against it when he was putting it in the back of my car after school one day. I was sitting in the driver’s seat and though I didn’t see it happen, I felt it. It was like someone running their fingernails down a chalkboard.

And I felt sick to my stomach because I hadn’t had the car for very long. But I was sort of relieved, too. It was like I didn’t have to walk on eggshells just waiting for that first scratch anymore.

8. In your opinion, what is the worst-tasting candy? Now, what is the best-tasting candy? How often do you eat candy? Do you keep it around your house? Do you allow your children to eat very much candy?

The worst: Licorice. OH. MY. GOSH. That stuff is freaking NASTY!! The black kind. I can handle the red kind. In fact, I can’t handle taking liquid Nyquil at all because it tastes so much like black licorice. I do the cat trying to hack up a hairball thing whenever I force myself to take it. *shudder*

The best: Wow. This is a tough one because other than licorice, I pretty much love ALL candy. But I really dig Kit Kats. I can (and sometimes do!) eat a whole bag of Kit Kats before I come to my senses. My family often catches me by surprise after consuming hundreds of those delicious stick bars with chocolate all around my mouth. It’s embarrassing, but I don’t care. I swear, I get high eating that stuff. (Hence the reason there are Kit Kats in my header. *Homer Simpson voice* Mmmm, Kit Kats).

9. I can’t live without my _________. Now, please tell us why you can’t live without it.

I can’t live without my nose spray. No seriously, I’d be a walking migraine if I didn’t have my nose spray. Whenever we travel, I pack like ten bottles just in case.

I get killer sinus headaches.

10. What is the cheesiest movie you ever saw, and secretly enjoyed? Why did you enjoy it so much?

Footloose. I know. I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I love that movie. One, because Kevin Bacon, RAWR. Two, because I love the message behind the movie. And three, the music is so fun!

For all you young whipper-snappers – you really must watch it. Share the cheese! That’s what I always say. (Okay, not really. I just now said that for the first time. But it’s late, and I’m getting tired so .. roll with it, mmkay?)

I DARE you not to chair dance to this. I DOUBLE dare you!

If you’re really curious, you can watch more clips on YouTube.

11. How do you define happiness?

a: a state of well-being and contentment : joy b: a pleasurable or satisfying experience

Oh, wait. That’s the technical term. But you know. It applies. I AM content. I AM satisfied with my life.

Happiness to me is: God. Family. Love. The little moments in life.

12. On a scale of one to ten, how sick are you of the presidential campaign? Do you talk about politics on your blog? What about in real life? Why or why not?

Old question, but I’ll answer it anyway. By the end of the campaign, I was in the negative numbers. I knew Obama would win and I knew that might not be a good thing in the long run.

I talk about politics on my blog, but not very often. It’s hard to be fair and unbiased when I talk about it here when what I really want to do is vent and rant like a crazy person. But it’s also good for me to force myself to slow down and look at all the angles/options.

But the vent/rant, crazy woman thing? Yeah, I do that in real life. NEVER ask me about politics in real life.

Seriously.

13. What about your life today would surprise your teen-aged self?

That life is not all about me. That being self-centered and selfish leads to unhappiness.

When I was a stupid young woman (as opposed to now, a stupid old woman), I thought that men existed to make me happy. Everything was about me. And if I wasn’t happy, then it was because of some outside factor – my job, my lack of money, my crappy car, my b*tchy girlfriends, my weak, clueless boyfriends, etc, etc.

I bought into the whole feminist attitude that I will do what I want, when I want and screw anyone who gets in my way. I am female. Fear and respect me. (At least, that’s how I defined feminism back then).

But when I got married, and refused to budge on these idiotic ideals, to compromise with my spouse, to accept the fact that to be truly happy I needed to be fair, compassionate, humble and yes, even submissive (at times), then I finally began to understand what happiness truly was.

I’ve learned a lot about myself these past decades – some good, mostly bad, and I’m a better person because of these lessons. I was honest with myself and I actively worked on being a better person.

But the lessons I learned over the years aren’t something I can just tell you. They are lessons that you simply must live yourself.

I will tell you one thing though – pay attention and prepare for change. Big change.

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It’s fun!