Monday Morning Meme, A Day Late: September 7, 2010

I’m late getting to this meme.  Spent the latter part of last week and the weekend under the weather.  Also, I’ve been struggling to write anything lately as I don’t seem to have much to say.  Or much to say that I think anybody would find interesting.

September 6th Questions:

1. If you could take back something you did to someone, what would it be?

I would probably take back the fights BP and I had early on in our relationship.  Details here aren’t necessary, but I shouldn’t have been so hard headed and stubborn.

2. Would you describe yourself as spiritual, religious, or something else?

Right now, I honestly don’t know.  I struggle with spirituality and religion since loosing Freya.  Before, I was probably more spiritual though.  Now, I question everything twice, am a bit unhappy with any/all Powers that Be and cry every time we go to church.

3. Did you ever receive detention in school? What sort of kid were you in school – bookworm, smart kid, troublemaker, quiet … etc.

Yes, I received detention for skipping school after being pressured to do so by my then boyfriend.  I was pretty quiet in school, but I had friends in all the different cliques although I didn’t fit into any of them.

4. When’s the last time you ran a mile? How often do you exercise?

The last time I ran a mile was before we moved to Georgia.  It’s too hot here to run, at least coming from 52F and rain into 95F and humidity.  I’m playing it smart and waiting until it cools back down to take it up again.  And since there was limited space on the truck, we gave our treadmill to my mother.

I try to exercise at least 5-6 days a week, although I don’t always make that.

5. Bonus: Write a caption, poem or short story inspired by this picture:

No bonus answer from me this week, sorry.

Thanks Karen for the great meme!

Won’t you play along too?

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Monday Morning Meme: August 30th, 2010

August 30th Questions:

1. What would you say to your 16-year-old self, and why?

I would tell myself to ditch the guy I was dating because he was an abusive ass.  Then, I’d tell myself that I’m not fat, I am pretty and worthy and to focus more on horses than worry about having a boyfriend, especially because he didn’t treat me well.  And I’d tell myself to go to college.  Just go!

2. What are you avoiding?

The dishes.  I just don’t want to do them.

3. Describe a “Hah! I told you so” moment you had recently.

Can’t remember having one recently.

4. Do you think that back-to-school shopping is a big deal? How did your back-to-school shopping go this year?

I love back to school shopping!  Only this year, we’re not doing it.  Dude’s education will be happening here at home, online and the girls had to fly so there wasn’t room to do any for them.  Dude will need minimal amounts of things.  And frankly, with the move, the losses and the recent drama around here, I’m relieved he doesn’t really need anything!

5. Bonus: Write a caption, poem or short story inspired by this picture:

“Inside every woman is a fun, playful spirit waiting to come out.”

Want to play along?  You can see the Monday Morning Meme here every Monday!

Thanks Karen for hosting this great meme!

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Wordless Wednesday: In Red

 

day-old Ameraucana chicks under the heat lamp, newest additions to our farm

 

Just a reminder: I am trying out some new themes for my blog over the next several days.  Today’s is “Jentri” (it looked horrible in Windows, so I’m told)  “Green Marinee”.  Please feel free to comment on each theme in the day’s comment section.

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Wordless Wednesday

The puppy princess surveys her kingdom for the first time

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Training Thursday: New Addition

I know I haven’t posted a training blog in so long.  I just sort of hit a writing roadblock.

But now, I have a surprise!

Last night we adopted a 7 1/2 week old Doberman puppy.   She is a sweet little female and blue in color.   We have named her “Luna Blue Moon” but will be calling her Luna for short.

Freya and Copper are being good siblings and are thrilled with their new sister.  The cats, not so much.  But they’ll come around.

So, I will be starting up my training blog again.  I’ll cover a new topic every week as well as chronicle Luna’s journey to become a well behaved member of society and an ambassador for the breed.

Sorry, no pictures yet.  Luna’s only been home for about 12 hours so far!

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Monday Morning Meme

 

As usual, I got this from over at Karen’s.  Won’t you play along too?

1. Would you rather be extremely successful professionally and have a tolerable yet exciting private life, or have an extremely happy private life and only a tolerable and uninspiring professional life? Explain your answer, please.

So, do I want to be successful and have a terrible personal life or a great personal life and a mediocre professional life?  I don’t know of anyone that would intentionally choose a terrible  poor personal life.  So, I think the question comes down to, would you rather be happy or be successful.  Personally, I’d rather be happy.  However, success at work, where my social life also existed was great.  Home was for resting.  I get this isn’t a common condition, but it worked for me.  Now, I’d rather have a great personal life because being professionally successful isn’t a need I have.

2. What are you doing to help the environment? Tell us how you cut down on your environmental impact.

We have one vehicle, we recycle and we have cut back on utility usage.  I talk to my kids about the environment as well so they’re aware and starting to “think green”.  I also use eco friendly household cleaners.  And, we’re planning on moving closer to my husband’s work to cut down on fuel consumption.

3. Who would you not mind being stuck in an elevator with? Someone who’s handy could help get you out. Someone hot could help pass the time. List who’s in there with you.

My husband.  ‘Nough said.  It might get a little steamy.

4. How often does your family have their portrait taken? Is it professionally done? If possible, post your last family portrait. Now that I’ve got you thinking about it, when do you plan on having your next family portrait taken?

We haven’t had a family portrait taken yet because it can be hard to get both of the girls here at the same time and have everyone feeling well.  It’s been a challenge.  We have a few candids from a couple years ago all together, but as the girls are rarely together, it’s been difficult to accomplish.  And, those photos aren’t on this computer.  😦

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Monday Morning Meme

I got this from over at Karen’s.  Won’t you play along too?

April 13th Questions:

1. How long have you been blogging? Who is your target audience? How often, if at all, do you think about quitting or taking an extended break? What do you do when you start feeling burned out with blogging?

Originally?  I started blogging about 4 years ago.  That blog is now defunct.   I took a lot of extended breaks and eventually just quit it.  I don’t really ever feel burned out, I just start to struggle with interesting things to discuss. 

As for a target audience, I don’t really write with one in mind per say.  I write a training blog on Thursdays for readers with dogs and/or dog questions.  But, I’m still writing that for me.  I want to share my knowledge and get the info out there to make some lives better.  I write about the trials of Casey, my horse because he’s a big part of my life and I write about my family.  I don’t really target an audience.  I write for me and either you like it or you don’t.  

2. What’s on your mind now?

Random thoughts in my head…  My ears are cold, we have 2 months to find a house but I want it found right now, Freya seems to be snoring more and more in her old age, if Tasha thinks an Arab is a better fit for me, why did I move to a state where they’re less common?  How soon until Casey sells?  Is it too early to horse shop?  And lastly, Glad I cleaned up the yard first thing this morning for the lawn guys as it looks like rain!  Now I don’t have to pick up after the dogs in the rain!

3. If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the body or the mind of a 30-year old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you want? Explain your answer, please.

I already have the aches and pains of a much older person.  I can only imagine what it will be like to grow old in this body and I don’t imagine the aches will ease.  So, in that case, as long as I’m guaranteed to not become senile or get Alzheimer’s, I’d take the body of a 30 yr old so I could remain active.  Heck!  I’d take my body at 30 because I felt better!  I could be active for such a long time.

4. What would you constitute a “perfect” evening for you?

It would have to depend on my mood for the day as it changes.  At the moment, a “perfect” evening would be a nice, dressed-up adult meal out with a glass or two of wine, catch a movie or a play and just have kid free time.  That would be lovely.  If you want to add in coming home to a spotlessly clean house and kids all asleep, that would be perfect!

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Monday Morning Meme

April 6th Questions:

1. How has the economic downturn affected your spending? Please share with us the lessons you’ve learned from this economic downturn. Tell us about one positive experience that has happened to you as a result of this economic disaster.

I can’t really say that it has affected our spending.  We’ve been through some tough stuff in the past year and life has turned around.  I don’t think we buy a lot of frivolous things, all our bills are paid on time and our credit is getting cleaner.  Soon we’ll be saving a ton of money.  

However, the economy does suck.  Doesn’t help that American Express just up and decided to cancel many of their business accounts, including the card CP held for his job.  That tends to make the travel he must do for work that much harder for us as it will have to come out of our pocket first and then be reimbursed. 

2. What is your opinion on the death penalty? Let’s say the person is a serial killer and has admitted his/her guilt, and it is your job to sentence that person. Could you give that person the death penalty? Why or why not?

Yes, yes I could.  Apparently I’m a cold-blooded bitch at times.  A few years ago a close friend was killed by some punk who stole a car and was fleeing the police.  He t-boned my friend at more than 80 miles an hour and threw the car he was driving more than 20′.  The kid was also higher than a kite.   I had dated a guard at the prison where the kid was being held until sentencing.  It was nice to have some insider information.  The kid never showed or seemed to feel any remorse.  And, while I say kid, let me point out that this “kid” was 21 and was not a first time offender.  He’d been in and out of jail multiple times his entire adult life.  As far as I was concerned, being flayed alive, covered in salt and having lemons squeezed over his body wasn’t good enough.  Recreating Bastille Day wouldn’t have been either.  My friend left behind a wife, a two year old daughter and a newborn daughter.

3. List five things you want your children (or your nieces/nephews if you don’t have children) to know before they grow up.

How to balance a check book and to really understand how bank transactions work, how to clean their own house/do all the household chores, how to do minor repairs to their vehicle and know enough to keep from being bs’ed by a mechanic, how to find and keep a job and how to make good choices.

4. You are given the power to kill people simply by thinking of their deaths and twice repeating the word “goodbye.” People would die a natural death and no one would suspect you. Are there any situations in which you would use this power?

I would have a couple years ago.  For more of an explanation, see question #2.  But, having that power doesn’t mean it has to be used for negative purposes.  What about terminally ill patients who want to die with dignity?  Or people in severe and chronic pain?  We euthanize animals without a second thought.  We deem it the humane thing to do, yet we deny this to our own species.  How humane is that?  How humane is it to let people slowly die and suffer in the process?

I truly wouldn’t want this power.  I know myself well enough to realize I’d probably do in The Marine and his psycho wife during a moment of sheer rage.  I don’t want the karma for that.  I try really hard to not think negatively about them.  Heck, I try not to think of them at all just to avoid putting any negativity out there.

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Monday Morning Meme

I got this from over at Karen’s.  Won’t you play along too?

March 30th Questions:

1. Who would you rather be seated next to on a daylong bus trip: an irritating talker or a quiet starer? What’s your rationale? Tell us about your most horrifying and/or uncomfortable travel trip.

It would depend on how I felt that day and what mood I was in.  However, I think I’d rather sit next to a quiet starer because I’d be so much less irritated.  Better to be potentially bored than irritated.  And, I’d be able to get whatever book I brought with read.

2. If time wasn’t a factor or your physical health weren’t an issue, would you rather be a member of a world championship sports’ team or be the champion of an individual sport? Why? Which sport would you choose? Why?

I’ll pick a sport where you could be essentially both!  I’d be a member of USET.  And since this is fantasy, I’d be both a dressage rider and a jumper.  I think the answers are fairly self explanatory to anyone who has been reading this blog.

3. Would you accept $1,000,000 to leave the country and never set foot in it again? Explain, please. Is money or love more important to you? How much money would it take for you to step away from your current life?

I’m not so sure that a cool Mil would be enough to live on for the rest of my life.  Then again, maybe I’d move to Uruguay and it would be enough.  

Love is what’s important in my life.  I think I’ve already proven that in this marriage.  Just a year ago we didn’t have any money or a place to live as CP had been laid off and our rental had been foreclosed on.  We hit hard times, but we made it through to the other side, which has been more abundant than our life before those hard times.

I’d step away from my life, as long as my immediate family went with me.  I don’t have a set dollar figure, but there’s not a whole heck of a lot going on in my life right now.  As long as my family and I could have some adventures and there was enough money for CP to write full time for a couple of years, why not?  I’m not sure there’d be anything to hold us back.

4. Which sex do you think has it easier in our culture? Have you ever wished you were of the opposite sex? If so, list your reasons. If not, tell us why you like being the male/female you are now?

I haven’t enough time to really consider this question.  After all, it’s a Monday Morning Meme, not a Sometime This Week Meme.  So, I will answer the part that I have considered and is easiest for me.

For about 3 days, once a month I wish I were no longer female.  During this time, I’d not care if I was a guy, an alien or a parrot.  Just as long as I didn’t have to deal with cramps, I’d be a happy camper.

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Monday Morning Meme

March 23rd Questions:

1. If a new medicine were developed that would cure cancer but caused a fatal reaction in one percent of those who took it, would you want it to be released to the public? Why or why not? Do you think we’re close to curing cancer? Have you ever lost someone to cancer? If so, please write a short tribute to that person.

We already put children and adults on medications with an 8% chance of “black box syndrome”.  When Dude was on Concerta for his ADHD, our doctor made it very clear that the medication held an 8% chance that he could go into a coma or experience sudden death.  ADHD stimulant meds aren’t the only medications that carry this risk.  Any of the brain chemistry altering medications can.   Bipolar medications carry the risk too.

Medications don’t have to carry the risk of black box syndrome to be deadly either.  What about the diabetic that takes a little too much insulin?  The woman taking birth control pills that doesn’t realize she’s developed a blood clot?  The person on sleeping pills that takes cold medication and never wakes up?

So, if a cure for cancer held a 1% chance of death, those are pretty low odds.  Childbirth carries a greater risk than that.  I think we take greater risks each day by climbing into our vehicles and driving off to where ever it is each of us go every day.

I’ve lost a lot of family to cancer.  Unfortunately, I was pretty young when it happened and didn’t know most of them or don’t really remember them.  You all know I lost my mother to leukimia when I was 5.  To be honest, I barely remember her.  I don’t really feel I can write a tribute for her.

2. You discover your wonderful one-year-old child is, because of a mix-up at the hospital, not yours. Would you want to exchange the child to try to correct the mistake? Why or why not?

Tough decision.  I think the right thing to do is to find the other family and make the decision together.  Family medical histories need to be shared if there is to be no switch.  Switching is not just hard on the parents, but 0n the child as well.  It could be damaging in a way we haven’t fully comprehended yet.

3. Do you think that the world will be a better or a worse place 100 years from now? Explain your answer, please.

I would hope the world would be in a better place in 100 yrs, but we are talking about Man.  Would people from 100 years ago say the world is in a better place now?  Or would they see that we’re still stuck in the same cycles of war and famine and just have more powerful weapons?  Or would they think the world was in a better place during their era?  I highly doubt world peace will happen in the next 100 years because it simply goes against human nature.

4. How many pictures do you have on your living room walls? And what are they? (paintings, photographs, sketches, abstract, family, etc). Feel like taking us on a tour of your home? If so, post your video or photos!

I do not have any pictures, photos or even art on my living room walls.  None.  Zip.  Zero.  Zilch.  Haven’t found the right artwork yet.

As for a tour, I have plans for that in the future.

(I seem to be rather cynical this morning, don’t I?  Maybe I shouldn’t blog before coffee?)

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