Random Dozen - Thanksgiving Style

1. Are you sticking to traditional Thanksgiving foods this year, or are you being culinarily adventurous?

• I'm being adventurous, but not because I want to try this new recipe I found or that new recipe I found.  I have to follow allergy guidelines now, so some things like pie crust is out.  I am brining my turkey for the first time, which isn't something I have to do for allergies, so I guess that is adventurous.

2. Tell me something concrete that you're thankful for. (Something you can literally touch, see, etc., not a concept like "hope.")

• A pantry and fridge full of food.  So many people don't have that, and during the holidays, it must be especially hard.

3. You knew the flip side was coming: Share about something intangible that you're thankful for.

• Laughter.  I love, love, love listening to my children laugh.  When the whole family is going, it reminds me why I am doing the whole family thing.  A little laughter compensates for a lot of tears.

4. Share one vivid Thanksgiving memory. It doesn't have to be deep or meaningful, just something that remains etched in your memory.

• Our first year married, my husband and I hosted Thanksgiving for his parents and my brother and his wife.  We lived in a small tri-plex with a small kitchen.  For a tri-plex, the kitchen was actually good sized, but for hosting Thanksgiving, it was small.  Our kitchen table held two with food, or four without comfortably, but that year, we made Thanksgiving dinner in that kitchen (with a turkey that was still a little bit frozen), and squeezed six around that tiny table.  The placemats overlapped and our knees touched, and the dishes from the cooking were piled four deep covering all the counter space and more, but it was a great time.  We had so much fun.  I'll never forget that Thanksgiving.

5. What is one thing that you know beyond a shadow of a doubt is going to happen this Thanksgiving because it always does, year after year?

• I will eat too much, we will get the Christmas decorations down from the attic, and there will be football on all day long.

6. Do your pets get any left-overs?

• Nope.

7. Does your family pray before the big meal? If so, do you join hands while seated, stand, repeat a formal prayer or offer a spontaneous prayer? Who does the praying?

• Yes.  There will be a heartfelt, spontaneous prayer by whichever male has seniority.  This year it will be my husband.  We usually sit and hold hands.

8. Will you be watching football in the afternoon? If not, what will you be doing?

• Well, I won't, but my family will.  I usually read, knit, or sleep.

9. There are two distinct camps of people on this issue: How do you feel about oysters in the dressing/stuffing?

• Huh?  Never heard of it.  Sounds disgusting.

10. Do you consider yourself informed about the first Thanksgiving?

• Yes, thanks to homeschooling my kids!

11. Which variety of pie will you be enjoying?

• If there's pecan, it is always my first choice.  This year it will be pumpkin custard because of the no pie crust thing.

12. Do you feel for the turkey?? (This is a humorous throw back question related to the 12th question in another Random Dozen!)

• I guess I wasn't doing Random Dozen when that last question was given, but no, not really.  He was born to grace a table, and  he will fill his job well, I'm sure.

To read more Random Dozen posts, head over to Linda's blog by clicking on the Random Dozen icon above!

Random Dozen - Joanna

From Second Cup of Coffee

1. Tell me something about your favorite teacher.


My most memorable teacher was my 9th grade algebra teacher. He was very good at his job and made math fun. I haven’t liked math since.

2. Tell me about one pivotal moment in your life.

The day I met Del. My life hasn’t been the same since.

3. About favorite colors--a lot of people will ask you what it is, but I want to know why it is. What feeling or memory does it evoke?

Brown. It’s quiet, it’s deep and rich, it’s calm, it’s pretty. It’s safe. I am so thankful to God for filling my life with brown: brown hair, brown eyes…most specifically and especially my fabulously brown husband. Plus chocolate is brown…coffee is brown. Brown – what’s not to like?

4. What's a sure sign that you're getting older?

My knees are starting to hurt when I walk down the stairs and I’m getting lots of gray hair.

5. Please don't sermonize, but Halloween--is it a yes or no for you?

No.

6. What's your favorite musical?

I’ll be totally unpretentious and say The Sound of Music…I haven’t seen too many more and honestly I can’t figure out what the big deal is with musicals. I’d rather see a full symphony any day.

7. Are you more of a city mouse or country mouse?

Well, I’m not really a mouse, I’m a human. I’d like to be a country girl but I’m just not. I live in the city. I think I’d like to live a smaller life though. And grow some of my own food and raise some egg hens and slaughter my own cow. Okay, maybe I’m a country girl stuck in the city.

8. Did you know that it is possible, for a small fee, to name a real star after someone? (It's true! Google it!) If someone were to name a star for you, would you appreciate it for its whimsy and romance, or would you say, "Are you kidding me? For $19.95 we could have gone to the movie and actually bought popcorn."

Considering that these days you cannot go to the movies and buy popcorn for $19.95, having a star named after someone is just as much a waste of money as seeing a movie, in my humble opinion. Am I boring? I’d rather pay $20 for a couple bottles of wine or bubble bath and have some romance and whimsy that way. Hmmm, I wonder where my hubby is. Is this no longer G rated?

This question comes from Paula at His Ways Are Not Our Ways.
9. What's the craziest thing you've ever been doing and texted during it? I only thought of this b/c I was about to try to text during my walking video but I didn't. (Paula, you do know that this blog is rated G, right?)

Texting? What’s that? You know when I do text it’s almost invariably to Del and then it takes me about 10 minutes to type “love you” and figure out how to send it.

10. "It's not a party unless _______."

…there’s football involved. Okay but we do have tea parties and football doesn’t really mix in too well there. Presents? I’m not really sure what a party is anymore. I’m confused.

11. When you're stuck in traffic or a waiting room, what do you do to pass the time? PS: There are no magazines available.

I don’t like to talk to myself too much so if I know that I’m going to be stuck in a waiting room I always bring some crossword puzzles or a book. If I’m in the car I’m listening to talk radio. In fact I really don’t mind being stuck in traffic since that’s about the only time I get to listen to talk radio.

12. If you weren't yourself, would you be friends with you?

I’d like to think so. I talk too much and I interrupt and sometimes don’t let others get a word in edgewise. I don’t listen enough. But I know I have these problems and knowing is half the battle. So I figure I’d like myself since I’m willing to admit I have issues. Does this make me vain and arrogant? I think this is a weighted question. If you answer in the negative, you wonder why anyone is friends with you at all and you want to go jump off a cliff. If you answer in the positive you are an arrogant snob and want to go jump off a cliff. It’s questions like this that have people jumping off cliffs. I’m going to pretend I never read it and just be thankful that my friends put up with my not calling them and not emailing them and interrupting them and pray that God blesses them over and over for not abandoning me even though I’m such a poor friend and I’m sure they’d like to ditch me at times. Right guys? Guys??? Hello? You still reading?

Random Dozen

I have what seems like a dozen different posts swirling around in my head right now, but no time or energy to put them all together.  But I feel like posting something, so I am taking the easy way out and doing another Random Dozen.  Interesting questions this time, so here goes!  Oh, if you want to read more, head over to Linda's blog for some others!



1. Tell me something about your favorite teacher.
I have a few favorites.  My 5th grade teacher made everything we had to do fun for us.  I remember enjoying even the most mundane of tasks, like memorizing definitions, because she would make a song or a game. 

2. Tell me about one pivotal moment in your life.
The day I had my car accident 11 years ago.  I am still not fully recovered.  It really changed who I am physically, but also spiritually because I saw God miraculously restore feeling to my hands and feet that I was beginning to wonder if it would ever return.  It was a faith building moment that was so awesome it has been worth the lasting pain.

3. About favorite colors--a lot of people will ask you what it is, but I want to know why it is. What feeling or memory does it evoke?
My favorite color is red (clearly, since I'm using blue now, right?) because it is so bold and vibrant and bright.  It's what I want to be!

4. What's a sure sign that you're getting older?
The fact that I can predict a cold front or rain with amazing accuracy simply by the amount of pain in my hips and knees.  That makes me sound really, really old.

5. Please don't sermonize, but Halloween--is it a yes or no for you?
No.  But we do participate in our chruch's alternative, with costumes and all.

6. What's your favorite musical?
I'm not sure I've really seen enough musicals to have one.  I've seen Phantom of the Opera (I know that's not a musical, folks - work with me) and I love it.  I also love The Sound of Music.  Does that count?

7. Are you more of a city mouse or country mouse?
Country mouse.  I should have been born and raised on a farm.

8. Did you know that it is possible, for a small fee, to name a real star after someone? (It's true! Google it!) If someone were to name a star for you, would you appreciate it for its whimsy and romance, or would you say, "Are you kidding me? For $19.95 we could have gone to the movie and actually bought popcorn."
I'd love to have a star named after me.  That'd be cool.

This question comes from Paula at His Ways Are Not Our Ways.

9. What's the craziest thing you've ever been doing and texted during it? I only thought of this b/c I was about to try to text during my walking video but I didn't. (Paula, you do know that this blog is rated G, right?)
Um, I am soooo last millenium.  I don't text.

10. "It's not a party unless _______."
there's good food.  That's bad, huh?

11. When you're stuck in traffic or a waiting room, what do you do to pass the time? PS: There are no magazines available.
You know I'm spying on everyone, making up some background story about them in my head and imagining what their life is like. :)

12. If you weren't yourself, would you be friends with you?
I'd like to think so, but I don't know.  I can be a little bit self-absorbed and that's a quality I don't always appreciate in others...  Maybe my wit and charm would way overpower that yucky stuff and I'd be enamored with myself... :)

Joanna's Random Dozen

1. I've always wondered why we were taught both printing and cursive. Do you prefer to print or write cursive? (Keyboard is not a choice.)

My script is a mixture of both. Straight cursive is out the window. Now that I’m teaching Ella cursive I’ve been practicing and it is NOT pretty.

2. Are you a dreamer or a realist?

realist

3. Billy Joel or Elton John?

Really? I mean if you have to pick then Billy Joel but can I just go completely off and say someone rational like Scribblepotemus.

4. What is the scariest movie you've ever seen? Not just horror flicks but also ones where the tension or suspense is killer, for example, Flightplan (2005): A bereaved woman and her daughter are flying home from Berlin to America. At 30,000 feet the child vanishes and nobody admits she was ever on that plan.

Misery was pretty darn freaky, probably because of its realism. Movies that have aliens, scary monsters, blobs and stuff like that I find completely out of the realm of reality and I don’t watch them. I can watch some sci-fi and fantasy stuff as long as it’s not meant to be a horror flick.

5. Now what is the scariest real-life moment you've had?

The day Lily was lost. We found her asleep under Ella’s bed but for many minutes we searched the house and yelled for her and she never answered. I thought she has escaped outside and was lost or dead or kidnapped or something equally horrible.

6. What word do you misspell without fail?

I’m a pretty good speller. I make mistakes like: it’s vs. its. Even though some very intelligent people have explained this dynamic to me before I still have to stop and think and often erase and re-write when it comes to its/it’s. I don’t know why I can’t get it.

7. Name something you like to do but are not really talented or good at?

Photography, piano (not good at at all)

8. Do you get your emotional/mental batteries recharged by being around people or by having alone time?

Neither. Well, maybe the first. Mainly being with Del recharges my emotional/mental batteries.

9. Have you ever been on TV?

Nope and I will die happy if I never make it on TV.

10. Apple or pumpkin pie? (Don't be greedy.)

Brownies. Seriously, if you have to eat the calories then why not make it worth it?

11. How many magazine subscriptions do you have?

One – Everyday Food

12. What lesson do you have to keep re-learning?

That absolutely nothing in this world satisfies like Jesus (No change needed here. Why can’t I learn this and keep it in my heart?)

Also, you know the whole aperture/f-stop thing in photography. Well no matter how many people explain it to me or how many books I read or how many lessons I take, when I pick up my very high speed camera to take pictures I am still at a loss for how to fix the stop to make the kind of photo I want. It’s very frustrating. I understand it totally when I read it but I can’t recall it when I’m actually taking pictures. I can't understand why I can memorize the map of any town/city and make my way around like I've lived there all my life in a matter of days, but study photography for years and still futz around like a beginner. I think if I could just understand what the learning curve or style is then I could work around it but I'm still clueless.

Random Dozen

1. I've always wondered why we were taught both printing and cursive. Do you prefer to print or write cursive? (Keyboard is not a choice.)

I probably use print more than cursive, but I enjoy cursive when I'm writing for pleasure.

2. Are you a dreamer or a realist?

dreamer

3. Billy Joel or Elton John?

Neither, really.

4. What is the scariest movie you've ever seen? Not just horror flicks but also ones where the tension or suspense is killer, for example, Flightplan (2005): A bereaved woman and her daughter are flying home from Berlin to America. At 30,000 feet the child vanishes and nobody admits she was ever on that plan.

First of all, I hate scary movies. I am a very vivid dreamer - I dream in full color, very realistic, and in series (one dream can go on for days, continuing from one night to the next). So one scary movie can set me up for days of vivid nightmares. So I avoid scary movies like the plague, but I have seen one movie that gave me nightmares - "Misery." I saw this at a neighbor's house when I was 16 or so. It was horrible.

5. Now what is the scariest real-life moment you've had?

My car accident was pretty scary in the traditional sense, but I think when I took Ethan to the doctor when he was 8 months old and he was so sick he was just laying on my chest fighting for breath wins. The doctor told me that babies decline in order: first they stop playing, then eating, then drinking, then breathing. He was no longer doing the first three, so you can imagine the fear in this mommy's heart when he said that! By the way, he had RSV, and he still has breathing problems today from it. :(

6. What word do you misspell without fail?

I am a horrible, terrible, no-good speller. Which is shameful considering I was an English teacher. The Oxford American Dictionary is my friend (and the only dictionary worth owning, by the way.) I have to constantly Google words that I cannot figure out how to spell, and see if Google will kick out a, "did you mean..." statement so that I can see the right spelling! I am so excited about actually learning proper spelling rules while teaching my kids. That might be one of the main reasons I homeschool... :)

7. Name something you like to do but are not really talented or good at?

I like puzzles, like Sodoku. I have to go through and eliminate each number possible and can never see the bigger picture/patterns, but I still like to do them.

8. Do you get your emotional/mental batteries recharged by being around people or by having alone time?

Most often being around people. Of course, everyone needs some alone time now and then.

9. Have you ever been on TV?

Yep! When I was in high school, my vocal ensemble sang at a local National Day of Prayer meeting, and the news covered it. They did a close up of me singing in their report.

10. Apple or pumpkin pie? (Don't be greedy.)

Pumpkin. Cooked fruit is so overrated.

11. How many magazine subscriptions do you have?

3 - Reader's Digest, Cook's Illustrated, and Everyday Food. Unless you count the subscriptions I've ordered for my kids - then it'd be 5.

12. What lesson do you have to keep re-learning?

That absolutely nothing in this world satisfies like Jesus.

Random Dozen

1. On an average, how often do you splurge and buy something for yourself?

I splurge in spurts. Sometimes I buy something little for myself four days in a row, and then I go weeks with nothing. Probably on average, I get something 3 or 4 times a month - even if it is just a gourmet coffee when I'm at the grocery store!

2. What is the last creative project you began/finished?

If this has to be began AND finished...wow, probably a set of knit baby hats before Andrew was born almost 11 months ago! But I have started some socks (knit) and I've done lots and lots of creative cooking now that I found out we are allergic to food!

3. OK, Goldie Locks, do you consider your house too big, too little or just right?

I think my house is just right! There is plenty of room and I can still keep it all clean most of the time. When our kids are older, we might want a different layout, but I don't think I'd really want anything bigger.

4. What is your favorite outdoor chore?

I'm not sure I can put "favorite" and "outdoor chore" in the same sentence. I hate all outdoor chores. Fortunately, Jerry hates all indoor chores and so we happily do what the other hates!

5. If you knew that cigarette smoking was not bad for your health but would be a weight loss tool, would you use it? Why or why not?

I'd probably be tempted, but opt not to due to the expense and odor. And I'm vain, so the discolored teeth would be a turn-off, too!

6. On a road trip, would you rather drive or ride?

Ride and knit, baby!

7. What do you consider a trivial pursuit?

My biggest trivial pursuit is keeping up with a couple reality TV shows that I like. It is quite trivial.

8. This weekend, we downloaded the movie "Duplicity" with Julia Roberts and Clive Owen. Within 5 minutes, I was bored and annoyed, but I kept watching 5-10 minutes at a time hoping it would get better between small chores. I finally gave up and Jorge watched it alone, and then regretted wasting that time because he disliked it intensely, too. So ... how long do you watch a movie or read a book before giving up on it?

I used to not be able to put a book down once I started it out of some weird sense of duty to the book. I'm totally over that. If I am not hooked in the first chapter (book) or 10 minutes (movie), I move on.

9. Is there a song that you really love but are embarrassed to admit because it's not cool or it's racy or because it's by Hall and Oates?

"White Trash Wedding" by the Dixie Chicks. I don't know why I love that song, and other than Jerry, no one else knew until now...

10. On a scale of 1-10 (10 = extremely) how spontaneous are you?

4

11. Are you a food and/or beverage snob?

Yes. Except when it comes to junk food. I'll eat store brand Oreos with no problem.

12. Who/What are you trying to control in your life?

I'm so busy trying to keep up, I don't have time to try to control anything. I'd do a rotten job at it, anyway!