Random Dozen - January 6, 2010

Random Dozen
January 6, 2010

1. On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being a cranky-baby-hissy-fitter, how much of a complainer are you?

I guess it would depend on what I am talking about and to whom. I don't complain about the things that I can not change. I mean why bother? But don't get me started about things that I think are totally wrong and that are within my power to change. I am a hissy fitter complainer then.

2. When someone else is talking, do you listen, or are you thinking about what you're going to say in response?

Again, it would depend. If the person has been droning on for a while I might be trying to balance my check book in my head. If it is a friend I am listening intently. If it is a friend who has been going on for a while I am wondering when it will be my turn to talk.

3. I just deleted 1062 messages from my email account. Do you have any plans for a clean sweep this month--of anything?

Next week I am going to go through the pantry shelves. It scares me that I can't remember the last time I did that. I think it has been a couple of years. After that I am tackling the linen closet. It has become a catch-all place. Then comes my computer area. My word for the year is organization.

4. Tell us about your perfume. Was it a gift? What does it remind you of? Do you have a signature scent?

I was using Cool Waters but have just found Dancing Water by Bath and Body Works. It smells just like the first but at a fraction of the price. I like it because it has a nice clean fresh scent. I had also tried Sensual Amber by BBW but my son asked me not to wear it because his girlfriend did. I didn't mind the change at all.

5. What is your best organizing tip for the new year?

Purge. This is not my original idea but it really does work. Use the three second rule. You either have to decide to keep it, throw it, or donate it in the first three seconds of touching an item. Take bags or boxes to the area where you are purging so they are handy. Be brutal. It is amazing how much stuff can actually be
thrown out if you don't give yourself any leeway.

6. What is your favorite comic strip?

I don't get to read a comic strip in a paper too often but when I do I head right for Peanuts and Family Circle.

7. Do you sleep with a fluffy or flat pillow?

A flat hard pillow, cold only.

8. What color is your kitchen? Why did you choose that color?
I didn't choose my colors, they chose me. I have not had a kitchen re-do since we bought the house in 1989. I still have an avacado green stove. It is an ugly kitchen.

9. What’s the most interesting bumper sticker you’ve seen?

There are two of them.
ET phone home. Your mom is looking for you.
AND one I made myself when my state was banning public cigarette smoking. I don't believe it is the governments place to dictate (yes I said it) what a private business owner may or may not allow in their establishment. It said:
Legalize Cigarette Smoking.


10. Do you prefer an expensive writing tool or whatever is lying around? (Are you a Montblanc or a Papermate?)

If I could afford a Montblanc I would probably need that kind. I am picky about what I use to write with. My hands cramp up so easily that I often use 2 pens just to write my name. So when I can find a pen that allows me to use it without a cramp I keep it forever or until it runs out of ink. I really like the kind that have a little cushion at the end.

11. What chore doesn’t feel like a chore – you just enjoy it (at least most of the time)?

I really like to vacuum and to dust. When I vacuum I can immediately see the results of my good job. And when I dust I can handle my treasured items and remember when and where I got them.

12. If your parents often repeated themselves, what is something one of them said more than once?

"If they jumped off a bridge would you too?" My mom said this every time I said someone else got to do something she had said no to. And when I said, "Well her mom said she could." My mom would reply, "I'm not her mom."
The first time I said those words to my son I had to look behind myself to see if my mom was there because I could not believe that they had come out of my mouth.