It was just a matter of time

OK, so I've been tagged by Pam for the 7 things meme. It seems like everyone has done this. The trick will be, can I list 7 things that aren't in the 100 things about me or in the last 6 weird things meme.

1. I would take baked goods (cake, cookies, sometimes even some fresh bread) over chocolate (candy bars or those fancy boxed chocolates) or ice cream, 9 times out of 10. Of course, if its all combined then there's no need to choose, right?

2. I don't like handling raw meat. For years I was a vegetarian but only because I couldn't get past the fleshy texture of raw meat. I have gotten over it and will cook meat now but it still makes me a little queasy sometimes (with chicken especially).

3. I have gotten over most of my food issues from when I was a child except for cauliflower. Its a texture and taste thing. The only time I will eat it is as the base puree for a soup, otherwise I will pick it out of my food.

4. You can tell what kind of day I've been having based on the state of my bed.

5. Even when I have written it down, I forget people's birthdays/special events. I've even come close to forgetting family birthdays (like my mom's or my sister's). I blame this on my parents--my father only remembers our birthdays because my mom reminds him and she usually forgets to get anything for us until that day, although she will remember to call.

6. My little sister and I share the same taste in romantic comedies and in "cute" clothes. If I think some article of clothing is really cute & trendy, I'll try it on and if its tight, I can send it to her and know that it will fit her & she'll like it. However, since she's 14 years younger, I probably have no business trying those things on in the first place.

I don't think I can do any more of these memes--I'm running out of things to tell you about myself.

If you were trying to post on the last entry and couldn't, I apologize, I didn't realize I had to set the options for each entry since I can't find where to change it globally.

I haven't done much knitting lately and have just been swatching and trying to find a good pattern for my sock pal. However, I signed up for this year's Stitches East and got my first-choices. I better get cracking on my purchases from the last trip so I can buy more guilt-free.

The Book List

The Book List

This one's been going around. I got it from Trillian.

Look at the list of (100) books below. Bold the ones you’ve read. Italicize the ones you want to read. Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in. Movies don’t count.

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien) [saw the movie]
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien) [saw the movie]
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien) [saw the movie]
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden) [saw the movie]
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible [various parts]
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares) [saw the movie]
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery) [in French no less which is why I hardly remember it]
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving) [saw the movie]
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White) [saw the movie]
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)


Hmm, only 26 out of these 100. However, this seems like a strange mix of books to me. I swear I used to have my nose in a book all the time growing up and many of those are not on this list.

Tagged

You know what is great about the blogosphere, other than finding answers to almost any question I can come up with, is how friendly everyone is. I just got tagged by Sande for a meme. I had not actually read Sande's blog before but since we are both part of the VLT KAL its like we're part of the same club, practically friends. Having tagged me, I have now read her blog and feel like I know her a bit and she's pretty cool. Nice how that works, huh? Of course, if this happened in "real life" I would probably be much more aloof and not willing to embrace a new "friendship" so readily. (Blame it on my New York instincts that I tend to be suspicious of people the first time I meet them.)

Now I'm not usually a huge fan of memes but this one is interesting.

"THE RULES: Each player of this game starts with the ‘6 weird things about you.’ People who get tagged need to write a blog entry of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave a comment that says ‘you are tagged’ in their comments and tell them to read your blog."

So, 6 "weird" things about me:

1. I have a tongue ring (basic metal barbell) but usually blush and get embarrassed if someone asks me about it.
2. My feet have to be at the absolute perfect temperature (give or take a few degrees) otherwise I cannot fall asleep. This usually means that my toes are sticking out from under the covers.
3. I like for things to be organized, am even known for my organization regarding work, but am very disorganized when it comes to my home life.
4. I was scared of dogs for many years, and only really got over it when I got a dog of my own. Now I have two dogs and am surrounded by 20+ dogs on a regular basis.
5. I doctor up my coffee (lots of milk and sugar) but like my tea straight.
6. Despite growing up in New York City, I don't really have an accent of any kind. If people ever do notice anything, they usually think it might be somewhat Southern! (All those years of living in the South have apparently left their mark.)

I prefer not to tag people--reminds me too much of chain mail--but you are welcome to join in the fun if you like. If you decide to do it, let me know and I'll add a link from my blog to your post.

The holidays are upon us and I have yet to buy any presents. Luckily, I didn't commit to making any presents so I don't have that additional stress. Today, I'm going out to buy hubby's present. I'm sure he knows what it will be but I'll be able to wrap it and put it under the tree before he gets home. Oh yeah, we got our first tree this year--I'm excited about it. We only got the tree (artificial), garlands and lights. I always wanted to have a memorable collection of ornaments so I'm asking my nieces and nephews to start making us some every year. The plan is to collect ornaments so that eventually each ornament will have its own story instead of having a bunch of matching store-bought ornaments. However, I don't think hubby can hold out that long to have a tree full of ornaments so I'll wait and see if he gives in to the temptation to just buy a bunch over the next few days.

100 things

OK, I have been knitting but just on the flower basket shawl and hubby's sweater. The progress does not make for very interesting photography so I figured I would take a shot at the "100 things" list. I know I like reading them on other people's blogs so hopefully you'll enjoy this one.

1. I'm the second child out of five.
2. Most people assume I'm the oldest when they hear me talk about my family.
3. I hate arguing with anyone, it will literally make me start trembling and I almost always immediately regret anything I say. (I can be quite mean when I get going.)
4. I'm 14 years older than my youngest sibling. She doesn't realize that many "new songs" are remakes from the 80s.
5. I only started seriously knitting about 1.5 years ago although I originally learned how to while still in high school.
6. My favorite color is dark, forest green.
7. I went to an all-girls school from 7th grade through 12th.
8. I didn't live in a coed dorm until my junior year in college. (Where are you supposed to look when the guys in the hallway are wearing nothing but boxers?)
9. I always wanted a pet cat but discovered as an adult that I'm deathly allergic to them.
10. We got a dog instead. (Genny is a somewhat neurotic, now 5 years old GSD mix.)
11. I wanted to be an artist for many years.
12. I quit taking art classes in high school after a "creative" disagreement with the school's art director and have never taken another art class since.
13. I love acquiring things that people I know have made (like jewelry or artwork)--it makes it personal in addition to being lovely.
14. Although I would never buy one and barely drive past the speed limit, I love cars that go really, obnoxiously fast.
15. As I've gotten older, I find that I like having "alone time" despite the fact that I grew up in a large family.
16. We have a four bedroom house: one room for me (crafts and movies), one room for my hubby (computer and books), a guest room, and our bedroom. I don't think I can go back to
having less space.
17. I have always been overweight--not huge but just enough to give me a complex.
18. I have a very hard time losing weight although I can build muscle pretty quickly.
19. I wear a bikini anyway. (I figure it will only get worse as I get older and if you don't like it, don't look.)
20. I stress out about my siblings' futures.
21. I managed to get through college without playing a single drinking game.
22. I dated my HS boyfriend until my junior year in college.
23. Despite my feminist tendencies, I really thought I was going to marry my HS boyfriend. (Thank goodness that one didn't work out.)
24. I didn't date again until I was in grad school.
25. Did I mention that I was a late bloomer?
26. Over the last year, I have become a yarn snob but am trying to get back to my yarn roots because it is way too expensive.
27. These past 7 months is the longest I have been unemployed since I was 16.
28. I once worked for an acupuncturist.
29. The following year I worked for the only female in the antique oriental rug industry in NYC. (She was a hoot.)
30. I've had some friends longer than my little sister has been alive.
31. I love to drink coffee, not just because of the caffeine (which is key) but also because I enjoy the ritual.
32. I grew up in NYC, Manhattan actually. This seems to really freak people out who are not from the northeast. I once had someone tell me that they didn't think anyone actually lived in Manhattan.
33. I have two tattoos--neither one of which I have told my parents about even though I've had them for many years.
34. My mother cried when she found out I had pierced my tongue. It led to a very ugly argument regarding "how I could do such a thing". Then she begged me to never tell my father.
35. I think my dad actually knows about the tattoos and peircing and just chooses to never acknowledge them.
36. I was scared of dogs as a kid and never really was a "dog person".
37. I wish I could be as cool as Cesar Millan.
38. One day I would like to open my own store that sells handmade crafts and, of course, beautiful yarn.
39. I would like to wind up in North Carolina to live.
40. I have most of my adult live in the south (North Carolina for college, Texas for grad school, DC for a few years, and now Florida).
41. #39 is a little scary to me.
42. DC is a southern city, I know people like to think that it isn't but it really is. Talk to the people who actually live there as opposed to the transitional, political types and you'll see.
43. I wish I could knit faster to keep up with my dream list of projects.
44. I hate bugs. I mean really hate bugs.
45. I never thought I would have to learn to do yard work. The bugs and I are trying to work out a truce.
46. I bake when I'm stressed out.
47. One of the first things I learned to bake was cookies (not the cut and drop on the baking sheet kind) because I felt cheated that my mother never baked cookies for us when we were kids.
48. My paternal grandmother lived with us from the time I was two.
49. I was devestated when she died and regretted all the mean things I had said to her when I was a kid.
50. Despite 20+ years in the US, my grandmother never learned English so we all had to speak Spanish to her.
51. My Spanish skills are deteriorating since the only people I ever talk to in Spanish are my parents. (My parents speak English, they just prefer Spanish. My siblings and I all speak English to each other.)
52. I miss having my family near but at the same time I'm glad they are not too close.
53. I never thought that I wanted to have kids. Now that I'm married, I'm not so sure--I keep going back and forth about it.
54. I love other people's kids.
55. It was a shock to my family that I wasn't married by the time that I was out of college and that my older sister got married years before I did.
56. In college, I guy I liked told me that I wasn't the kind of girl guys dated but rather married.
57. Despite having my heart broken a few times, I'm glad I didn't marry any of the guys that came before my husband. Obviously, I love my husband to pieces but I can also look back and see why those other relationships would not have made me this happy.
58. My husband and I eloped after dating for about 7 months. (For context, I averaged about 4 years with a boyfriend beforehand.)
59. We didn't live together until almost a month after we got married.
60. We were long-distance throughout our entire dating relationship and after we got married we were worried that we would get on each others' nerves when we finally lived together.
61. I used to joke about trading him in after a few years. I was mostly kidding. (I don't joke about it anymore.)
62. We didn't tell anyone we'd gotten married until almost 2 months later.
63. I don't really have any girlfriends here.
64. The knitting events I have checked out are all attended by women who are older than my mother.
65. My immediate neighbors are retired and have kids older than me.
66. I dislike going running but always feel better after I've done it. (Now dragging myself out of the house is the tough part.)
67. I always wanted to be tall but maxed out at 5'3". My little sister is 5'8"--so not fair.
68. I'm only about an inch taller than my older sister but look much bigger than her because she has a petite build.
69. When my older sister was pregnant, I still weighed more than she did. (talk about depressing and bad for the self-image)
70. I have naturally curly hair that I have finally come to accept. It also helps that the beauty products people have started making decent stuff for curly hair.
71. When I was a kid, my mom got tired of straightening my hair and fighting me to get a comb through it and cut it real short--think butch-short which can be kind of traumatizing when you're an 11-year old girl.
72. I was glad when I my boobs started to come in the following year so the neighborhood boys stopped saying that I looked like a boy.
73. My mom thought I just wanted glasses, so she didn't take me to the eye doctor until the teacher sent home a note saying I couldn't see the blackboard.
74. I was recently diagnosed with high-blood pressure and I'm not quite 33. Its very depressing to realize that you will have to be on preventative medication for the rest of your life at this age.
75. There are almost no pictures of me from the time I was about 13 until about 22. I still hate to be in photos.
76. There are no photos of me and my husband from our wedding day. (We showed up at the courthouse in street gear and didn't even have rings to exchange.)
77. We are not a very romantic couple but are very much in love.
78. I am very organized about work but not my personal life.
79. The summer I spent in New Mexico for field work was one of the loneliest times of my life.
80. I get very worked up over people who present statistics as hard facts without telling you how they have arrived at those numbers. (I have a statistics background.)

I know that I still need 20 more things to complete the list but nothing else comes to me right now. I'll revise and repost when I can come up with more stuff.

ETA on 2 May 2006

81. I'm ABD (all but dissertation) in Sociology. I defended my proposal, got my data, and even wrote a few chapters. Then, I left to start working full-time.
82. I don't regret not finishing and I don't plan to go back.
83. I would be willing to go back to school but definitely in a different field.
84. I played field hockey in high school and really liked it.
85. I was too scared that I wasn't good enough so I never bothered to try out for the college team.
86. I learned to row while I was in grad school and thought it was great. It was the only thing I would happily give up sleep for on a weekend.
87. Although I am not an outdoor person, I find that quiet moments in nature are breathtaking.
88. I've been camping once and would really be OK if I never went again. (Did I mention I don't like bugs? Also, I'm not real good with the whole "roughing it" concept.)
89. I love cheesy movies--we're talking seriously chee-zee and the teeny-bopper ones are the best. I figure life is hard, I want my escapism to be complete brain candy.
90. I was a co-founder of the Latino student organization that still exists today at my alma mater.
91. I took French, Italian, and Latin at various points in my life and remember almost nothing other than my professors.
92. I have always wanted to read Paradise Lost but in a classroom setting so I don't miss any of the nuances.
93. I hope to run a marathon before I turn 40.
94. People often think I'm introverted or shy but I'm not. I just like to take my time to assess a situation and figure out how I fit in.
95. I become horribly mortified if I think I have done something wrong or someone points out that I have done something wrong.
96. I prefer tech-y gifts (think TiVo or PDA) to traditionally sentimental ones (like roses or candy).
97. I believe Valentine's Day should be celebrated as an affirmation of all the people in your life that you love-friends and family, not just lovers.
98. Whatever I do in life, I hope that I enjoy it and make a positive impact on others in the process.
99. I cry over sad stories and hate that I can't stop the tears.
100. What does it say about me that it was so hard to come up with 100 things to post?