like a bowl of oatmeal

Life is like a bowl of oatmeal OR 10 things I appreciate this morning:

(This can be a new meme. I rarely do memes.)

• a good night's sleep last night
• a brisk 2-mile walk in the light snow (22 degrees - feels like 12)
• a few inches of fluffy, white snow on the ground to brighten things up
• a steaming bowl of oatmeal for breakfast (the real kind - not instant - cooked just the way I like it)
• coffee (okay, I'll try not to focus only on Maslow's hierarchy of needs)
• pandora radio
• a good book that I've just started to read
• playing Lexulous (it's like Scrabble) on the Internet with some very bright friends
• 5 more work days until some vacation time
• Last but not least, my family - and good health all around. Last year at this time, we had a scare with Tom. I won't forget that for a long time.

will you take me as i am?

From (the other) Nan over at Letters from a Hill Farm . . . a fun book meme:

-Grab your current read
-Open to a random page
-Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
-BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
-Share the title & author, too, so that other participants can add the book to their to be read lists if they like your teaser!

From: Will You Take Me As I Am: Joni Mitchell's Blue Period by Michelle Mercer (2009) -- Page 56.

[Sorry, but I have to include more than 2 sentences:]

The way a composer experiences nature can be heard in his music. When someone from the Canadian flatlands, like Joni Mitchell or Neil Young, puts native landscape into music, it doesn't come out like it does in the music of Beethoven or Vivaldi. Flatlanders' early perceptions of landscape are not set so far apart from themselves. So landscape in the music of Young and Mitchell is at once more subtle and manifest, because their feelings for the land have a sound less distinguishable from their feeling of the land itself.

This was one of my Mother's Day gifts from Tom and Matthew. I am half-way done with the book, and I am really enjoying it! The book is artfully written, thought-provoking, and is not your typical biography written by a "star struck" author. It tries to present Joni and her music, in all its complexity, as it really is. I highly recommend it to any Joni fan out there -- and to anyone who likes to think about art, perspective, and interpretation.

photo meme

There have been variations on a photo meme going around, and most have to do with finding the fifth file folder in your My Photos folder, and pointing to the fifth photo, and then posting it (with or without an explanation.) This post is a sort of new variation on the meme. When I located the fifth photo folder, it turned out to be Belize 2007. There are a lot of photos from that album already posted to this blog. The fifth photo within that folder was one of the three of us at the Belize airport upon landing -- after a very long day of travel -- and it isn't the best picture of me. So while it is in the album for posterity, I decided . . . nope, not posting it.

What I decided to do, instead, was close my eyes, move the mouse around and around, and land on a photo folder. Whatever it was, I would pick out a few of my favorites from that folder, and create a blog post. So, here it is. I landed on our trip to Disney and Seaworld back in 2005. I will be the first to admit that Disney is not my first pick for a vacation spot. It wasn't then, and I don't think it ever will be. But in 2005 when we had a 7 year-old child who was excited to go, and friends with two little boys ages 6 and 8 who were going, it really was a good vacation. (When you have just one child, activities that involve other children become very important. We were lucky to be able to travel with friends that we really enjoy, and whose children are like brothers to Matt.)

So here are a few of my favorites from this folder. The first is Matt reading the pool rules to see if he could do some jumps. Apparently he could, and I was able to snap this jump, mid-air. Disney is full of treats at every turn. I had told Matt he could have one treat at the parade. He looked at every booth before asking, "Mom, can I have some of that meat?" Cracked me up. Our little carnivore. Who could say no to that? A giant turkey leg it was. The last photo is Matt with Daniel and Philip at Seaworld. Matt had just finished 2nd grade. Now he is heading toward the finish line of 5th grade. Time flies.

Those of you with a blog or Facebook, consider yourself tagged, if you are so inclined. It certainly was fun perusing the photo folders from the past several years while I procrastinated and avoided other household chores.

(Remember, to enlarge a photo, just click on it.)

26 random notes - a meme

(Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. Anyone with a blog, consider yourself tagged.)

This is especially for those friends who tagged me with this on Facebook: Meg, Lynn, Cornelia, and Michele.

1. One of my favorite items is my green poncho/blanket. It is a green plaid blanket with a fringe all around the edges, and a zipper cut diagonally in the middle – so that it can be worn as a poncho or used as a nap blanket. I have had it since high school, and I still wear it to be cozy. People in college thought I was a little odd because of it.

2. I almost went to school for music performance. Used to be a fairly serious flutist. I was first-chair flute in the All-State Orchestra my senior year in high school, which was kind of a big deal.

3. The best thing that ever happened to me was becoming a mom through adoption. I feel like the luckiest person on the planet.

4. I was in the "dream ballet" in a summer production of Oklahoma when I was 14. The only other play I was in was Oliver, in 7th grade. I was in the chorus and was an orphan/dancer. (I took ballet as a little girl, but I just didn't have the body type for it. I can't really remember when I stopped.)

5. I used to love to play tennis. I wasn't all that good, but I was a fun "playground tennis player." I still have my Prince Woody racquet that I bought with all my babysitting money. I was on the JV tennis team for one year, and got cut the next (that is hard to do). I was told by the coach that I wasn't serious enough.

6. I am very happy reading what Tom calls my "wrist-slashing fiction." Give me a New Yorker short story any day, and I go to a different world.

7. Many people think I am a pretty serious person, but I have a wickedly irreverent sense of humor that comes out with the people I know really well. (I still try to be nice to people though, so they think I am pretty "normal.")

8. I'd love to some time channel Dorothy Parker and sit at the Algonquin Round Table. I've been there for cocktails, but it just wasn't the same…

9. I like to write haiku, and I keep a haiku journal.

10. I once sang in a talent show with a friend accompanying me on guitar. I sang "Day by Day," from Godspell, and Joni Mitchell's "Circle Game." The audience liked me, they really liked me!

11. I studied karate for about 20 years and earned a 2nd degree black belt, but am now an inactive student, who calls herself "retired." I miss it.

12. I love SU men's basketball, and I get very into watching the games. My favorite all-time player was Lawrence Moten. (Poetry in . . . )

13. Going out to dinner with friends and having a delicious meal and great conversation and laughs is my idea of a great night out. Icing on the cake would be to go out to a concert of some kind.

14. I once had (nearly all) my worldly possessions stolen out of a car in NYC. I had a very nice collection of sterling silver jewelry. I got over it.

15. Even though this was a Facebook tag, I am a bit wary of posting things like this on Facebook since I have a lot of work associates on it – so I'll be too shy to actually post this there and I am posting it here instead.

16. I LOVE music of all kinds. I have an enormous, eclectic, collection of albums, cassettes, CDs, DVDs, and mp3s!

17. I am very attached to blogging as a creative outlet, and I really enjoy the friends I have made through the blog.

18. I was raised in a household that was pretty interesting. My father was a devout Catholic who went to church every Sunday, and my mother was into yoga and macrobiotics. I used to go to a yoga camp with my mom and siblings every summer for a week, and I've done my share of chanting and meditation over the years. Om. (Truth is, I find truth in a lot of faiths, and am probably pretty close to a being a Buddhist.)

19. I follow a low sodium diet because it appears I have a variation of Meniere's disease that has landed me in the hospital a couple of times. Not fun. It seems to be under control.

20. My Myers-Briggs profile is ISTJ. That is apparently not a typical profile for a woman. I do believe that reflects my work-self more than my "home-self." I am a workaholic at work, and a great procrastinator at home.

21. I love going to the ocean, and I love going to Adirondack lakes, and I generally love beauty in nature. I have a real thing for trees and birds, and I try to capture as much as I can on my digital camera.

22. I have had a few psychic experiences, but not enough to make me pay serious attention to thoughts or worries that come to me out of nowhere.

23. My parents gave me a nickname as a toddler because I was apparently very inquisitive. They called me, "The Sheriff."

24. I am the oldest of four children. We were all born within 6 years. I most definitely have "oldest child syndrome."

25. I love to play board games: Mah jong, Backgammon, Othello, Scrabble, Boggle, Stratego, Mancala, Apples to Apples, and the list goes on.

26. I prefer dark chocolate to milk chocolate. I think I'll go have some now.

what have you done (lately)?

From E's blog, another fun meme. Copy and paste the following onto your blog. Bold/Highlight your living.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland (Disney World)
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (in general)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

create-a-jeopardy

I was tagged for another fun meme by E. over at Eclecticity. This one involves coming up with 6 Jeopardy categories (clever, creative, or just fun for you) that you might like. Here are "da rules" from E:

Now another opportunity for a meme (whatever that is). I will make up the rules as I go along. I’ll tag 4 of my think-and-thin non-readers and ask that they supply their categories to me in the Comments section of this post. I would ask that they tag four of their own etc. etc. etc. and link back to this post. Of course, post your own categories on your blogs too! Let’s begin shall we?

My categories are:


1. The Simpsons
2. Mah Jong Mania
3. Sushi
4. Joni Mitchell
5. Monty Python
6. What the Blog?

(runners up: The Wizard of Oz, This is Spinal Tap, The 1980s, Colleges and Universities, and Colors That Begin with R)


I am tagging: Lynn, Donna, Carla, and Joel.

who just gets me?

My friend E, at Eclecticity, has tagged his readers with a little meme. If you enjoy personality quizzes, this one is quick (40 questions) and pretty easy . . . and it has bubbles!

I will say that this little quiz is fun, but definitely a bit simplistic. The disciplined/casual measure seems pretty accurate for me. My thoughts and philosophies are definitely more alternative than traditional, but I live a pretty traditional life. The neurotic/unemotional measure is a bit misleading at first glance. It doesn't mean what most people probably think it means. I answered the questions on social/party behaviors honestly, but I still know that I am no extrovert! When I do socialize, I am completely comfortable in those settings and can be pretty lively. Shy, I'm not. But I do like the Myers-Briggs categorization based on how one gets one's energy -- by being alone or with others. My energy-percolation is most definitely in solitude, and I can only take so much social interaction before I have to retreat. I also know that I can be very competitive, but not when it comes to important things in life like in family relationships, working in the community, the workplace, etc.

To see how you perceive your own personality, visit "YouJustGetMe." If you want to save your "bubble chart" as an image, I can now tell you how thanks to E. and Ralph. You can capture a screen shot from an image online to convert it into a JPEG for saving or posting on your own blog. You will find some freeware at http://www.wisdom-soft.com/downloads/downloadfiles.htm -- scroll down to ScreenHunter 5.0 -free version, and download. Have fun!

a little intervention is in order . . .

67%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?
Thanks to Eclecticity, I was able to get a diagnosis on exactly how blog-addicted I am. The people I live with might disagree that my number only comes up to 67%. That seems so healthy! This little quiz asks 14 questions including how often do you post to your blog, how many blogs do you read a day, do you use a blog-aggregation site to read blogs, have you ever tried to convince others to start a blog, do you post to more than one blog, have you ever missed a deadline or something important because you were blogging, etc. It is very clever! You might be surprised at my answers.

Feel free to take the quiz yourself, but be sure to skip the dating-site ad that pops up before you can get your score (you can click "no thanks" to bypass the ad and just get your results). If you post your results on your blog, you can edit the HTML code to take out a reference to the sponsor of the quiz! All I can say is that my friend E came in at 77%. I am looking pretty disciplined in comparison. Holier than who?

a book meme

I was tagged with a meme by Days of Transition.

Here are the rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book.

2. Open to page 123

3. Find the fifth sentence.

4. Post the next three sentences.

5. Tag five people and post a comment to Mickey once you have posted it.

Just started, after having sat on my desk for several weeks now, is Michael Chabon's Gentlemen of the Road. The sixth, seventh, and eight sentences on page 123 are:

"Has he responded?" Filaq said. "It is -- we were told that Buljan would be sending out an emissary, lord, an old friend of yours. But in the end they have sent only an elephant."

Whom should I tag? Well, since they were so cooperative last meme, I will tag Lynn, Donna, and Carla. Not as cooperative (yet, anyway) were Joel and Fred. Granted Joel is "busy," and Fred is, well, there is no other way to say this, a "dog." Perhaps guilt will work on these guys?

the six word memoir

I've been tagged by Eclecticity (who was tagged by Rowan and so on and so on) to play along with this meme:

Write your own six word memoir. Post it on your blog, including an illustration if you’d like. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to the original post if possible so that it can be tracked as it travels across the blogosphere. Tag at least five more blogs with links. Leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!

So, here is my memoir:

listening

laughing

thinking

dreaming

breathing

alive

I'm tagging Carla, Fred, Lynn, Joel, and Donna

[P.S. Tom quickly came up with a *great* six word memoir for him:

When I travel my life changes.]

snapshot of a desktop

Carla tagged me for a meme. It's quite simple: post a photo of your desktop. Here it is. Not very neat, I know. But it works for me. I periodically change the background, and in fact, just last week I changed the fall leaves background to this one. Usually in winter, I have a reminder of summer greet me as my desktop background. This is a photo of sunrise over Blue Mountain, taken from the Kirby Camp at Camp Huntington in Raquette Lake (Adirondacks). Just looking at that lake, and the mist, and the sunrise, reminds me that even in the coldest, snowiest weather, summer is a memory inside by brain. The lake gives me a sense of calm.

It goes without saying that different people have different desktop organization styles. I'm not sure what this one says about me, but it was a fun and easy post to do. Thanks, Carla!

The snow storm that hit our area today seems to be dissipating. The schools closed early and the roads were pretty greasy. I'm not sure what the accumulation was, but I would estimate 8 inches or so! A nor'easter is forecast for Sunday. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Now whom shall I tag? Most blogs I read are special topics blogs . . . but I think I'll tag Lynn, Joel, Jack, Donna, and Amy. Okay folks, if you are reading this, "tag, you're it!"

the cruelest month

I am sitting down to write, although I really shouldn't, because I have some fairly significant portions of a paper to crank out today between laundry, shopping, and being a participant of my household. Matt and I have some egg coloring to do, and that is always fun, because he enjoys it so much. I will steal just a few minutes to blog so that I can do at least one post this weekend!

The talent show Thursday night went really well. Matt and Max were the very last act after 23 others. Most of the acts were adorable. A third grade girl, terrified, singing a sweet song along with a karaoke machine, or a fourth grade boy, terrified, singing a "cool" song along with a karaoke machine, or a painfully out-of-tune duet with a string base and violin, or a drum solo, juggling, or jokes. You could see a lot of tense parents in the audience just hoping all would go well. And it did. Matt and Max were on last. No flubbing of the lines, no problems with the card tricks, just sweet success and applause after their third trick. Matt opted out of the gold lame jacket at the last minute, no doubt smelling the actual odor of elementary school fear of being the object of a joke or a laugh. That was fine. All in all, I think the experience of getting up to speak or perform in front of a group is a great experience for a kid, and the audience was full of supportive and loving people - so that is a great way to start out.

In case anyone wants to feel sorry for us here in Central New York, we do indeed have snow on the ground and have had some on the ground for three days now. It is unseasonably cold, and has been since Wednesday, with temperatures in the 20s. If we are lucky later this week, the temps will reach the 30s. I find it a little bizarre to check the weather on April 7th, and see a temperature of "24 degrees, but it feels like 17." This is especially odd after having a green Christmas. Sometimes I feel very "hearty" living in this kind of climate. Other times, I just feel stupid. I hear people say, "well at least our summers are lovely." And they are! But we still get 95 degrees and humid, so I am just not sure about this climate thing. If it weren't for the importance I place on being in fairly close proximity to my family, I would be high-tailing it to somewhere else. Yet, the nagging "grass is always greener" refrain does ring in my ears. On the other hand, I sure did like San Francisco, Carmel, and Big Sur when I travelled out to California a few years ago...

So anyway, I was "tagged with a meme," this past week by my friend Carla. I am fairly new to blogging, and what this means basically, is that bloggers will "tag" other bloggers whom they read, with a pass-it-on idea about which to write that will spread on blogs as each person tags 5 new people. The meme is listing 5 things I am obsessed with and then tagging 5 other bloggers. Since I only read 6 or 7 blogs, half of which are on specific topics and less personal in nature, I only have 3 people to tag, but I'll do my best and maybe I'll get started reading more blogs before my next "tag."

Onto the meme. List 5 things I am obsessed with. What? Just 5?

1. Having a clean house for the weekend. (I love a clean house! I get a lot more done on my weekends when I can look around and feel good about where I live. I also can't relax unless the house is clean -- not that I really relax or rest all that often. Shame on me.)

2. Work - and trying not to be obsessed with work. (I have a bit of a workaholic streak that I know is unhealthy, so I am always balancing the obsession with getting everything done on time and perfectly, with the idea that obsessing about work is something I don't want to do. Leave it to me to obsess about an obsession.)

3. Checking my e-mail. (I realized last summer when we went on a few trips where I didn't have online access that I am indeed obsessed with checking my e-mail and keeping it "caught up." In fact, by this summer, I will have a blackberry so that I won't ever have to go into that withdrawal again. Tsk. Tsk. I should know better.)

4. Clipping Matt's fingernails. (Somehow I feel like if they aren't always neatly clipped and clean, I will be judged as the world's worst mother. He is getting to the age where he can clip them himself, but doesn't, so I am still obsessing on it.)

5. Wiping off our dining room table. (I often grumble that I am the only one who ever does it. If I walk by and see even a speck, I am wiping the whole thing to a shine, and probably do this 3-4 times a day.)

The good thing about this meme is that I realized that I am not nearly obsessive as I was a few years ago. There were lots of things that used to have me pretty tightly wound, and over the years I have just let them go. It isn't like I ran out of things I could list just now, but the fact is, I had to *think* about it, and it wasn't actually easy to come up with 5 things. Could I be making progress? I hope so.

I will be tagging Amy, Judy, and Meg ...

Well, have a nice weekend. I am looking forward to going to my parents' for an Easter get-together tomorrow afternoon. It will be fun to see the whole gang and enjoy a nice meal together. I hope to remember my camera so that I can have some updated photos of "the cousins." Tomorrow morning we will have our traditional hunt for plastic eggs, filled with good stuff, hidden around the house.

Onto the day! Have a nice one.