Hello There!

Well, it's not Monday...it's Tuesday (yesterday was one of those "recover from the weekend and rest a little bit, and then get ready to get busy all over again" sort of days, so I didn't post like I wanted to)...and since I often like to make my Tuesdays sorta random on this little ole blog, I decided to "steal" this pretty random questionnaire from Pam (one of my very favorite bloggers; Hey Pam!). If you want to join in the Random Tuesday fun, post this on your own blog (let us know in the comment section that you're doing it, so we can go visit you and give you some love!).

41 Really Random Questions and Answers about Me...

1. Do you like bleu cheese?
Not so much. Give me feta please (I can seriously sit there and eat an entire tub of feta. Yum!)

2. Have you ever smoked cigarettes?
Nope. (Tried them once in college and it made me pretty sick.)

3. Do you own a gun?
No. And, in fact, I'm a pretty strong proponent of gun control. Which, of course, makes for all sorts of interesting conversations with my conservative, hunting husband. (Probably the most "loving" thing I ever did for Gary was buy him a shotgun for his birthday one year. I don't like guns, but I know how much he loves to hunt. It was a compromise worth making, and it really made a huge impression on him. I still get kisses for that one!)

4. What flavor Kool Ade was your favorite?
It's always been Tropical Punch.

5. Do you get nervous before Dr.'s appointments?
I'm not a big fan of doctors, but I don't really get nervous. (Having three children pretty much gets you used to shots and needles and all that assorted stuff.)

6. What do you think of hot dogs?
If I'm gonna eat a hot dog, I want a whole bunch of stuff on top of it (onions, chili, sneaky pete sauce). But I'd much prefer a cheddarwurst or some polish sausage.

7. Favorite Christmas movie?
Absolutely, "It's a Wonderful Life." Not sure how many times I've seen it (probably 30), but it makes me a bawl like a baby every time. (We have a family tradition of watching it together each Christmas. It has the same reaction on everyone in the family!)

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning?
I'm not a coffee person--unless it's a frappacino from Starbuck's, and I don't have a handy, dandy Starbucks coffee person in my home in the morning--so my morning drink is usually sweet tea or Diet Dr. Pepper.

9. Can you do push-ups?
I can, but I don't. I'm not really an exercise kind of gal.

10. What's your favorite piece of jewelry?
My engagement and wedding rings. My pearl necklace, given to me by my grandmother, is very special too.

11. Favorite hobby?
It's hard to list just one. But some of my favorites are travel, reading, scrapbooking, writing, baking (and eating), blogging, sports.

12. Do you have ADD?
I'm actually a pretty calm person most of the time, although a good football game or a good party can really get me going!

13. What's one trait you don't like about yourself?
I tend to procrastinate a little too much. And I also wish I liked to clean more than I do.

14. Middle name?
Annette. (Although most of my things these days--my checks, my byline used on writing I do--uses my maiden name, Sloan.)

15.Name three thoughts at this exact moment.
"I need to send out some emails to some editors." "I sure would like a Smore right now." "I have a really sweet husband."

16. Current hate?
People who think I should vote for a certain candidate, just because of a "label" they want to put on me. (I don't like to talk politics on this blog, but I may have to let it loose sometime soon! LOL)

17. What's your favorite place?
Anywhere that involves family and/or friends.

18. How did you bring in the last New Year?
Gosh, let me think for a minute. Oh yeah...it was one of the best ever (how could I ever forget?) Gary and I actually went out on a date and had the best time. We had a great restaurant meal and then went to the TranSiberian Orchestra concert.

19. Where would you like to go?
There are SO many places I want to go, but tops on my list is Italy (I want to experience the art, plus the beautiful countryside and the food). I also really want to go to Ireland & Scotland, Australia, and any island (Hawaii would be nice)!

20. Name three other people who will post this.
I hope that a lot of you will!

21. Do you own slippers?
Nope.

22. What shirt you wearing?
A beige long sleeved, mock turtleneck. (It's actually supposed to get up to 85 today, but for right now there's a little chill in the air.)

23. Do you like sleeping on satin?
Not a big fan of it. It's sorta slippery.

24. Can you whistle?
I am sad to say that I can do it just a little bit. (It's something I've always wanted to do, but have never mastered it.)

25. Would you be a pirate?
I sorta like the idea of traveling to those exotic tropical islands, but I don't really care for the looting and pillaging. Aargh...

26. What songs do you sing in the shower?
Whatever happens to be on my mind--the Bee Gees, some Chris Brown, the Alabama fight song (I'm a diverse gal!).

27. Favorite girl's name?
I guess that would have to be McKenna, Delaney, and Sydney/Scout (although I lobbied for plenty of other names for Sydney, but Gary shot them all down. I'm still very partial to my first choice for her, which was Everly. And I recently came up on this one--Story--and LOVE it. How perfect would that be for me, who just happens to be a reader and a writer? Too bad I'm 40 years old and not having any more!)

28. Favorite boy's name?
McKenna was going to be Luke Austin; Delaney was going to be Dillon; and Sydney was going to be Aidan; so I'll go with any of those. I also like Atticus.

29. What's in your pocket right now?
One receipt from yesterday, and a dime.

30. Last thing that made you laugh?
I DVRed this new show called "The Ex List" and watched it yesterday. It was very clever, so I think I'll try it again this week. But last night, Sydney really got me. She seems to always complain about her softball games and practices ("they're too long"..."I don't want to go tonight"..."I'll play today, but I'm not doing it next time"), but last night I asked her how practice went and she said, "Oh...it was great!" and jumped up to give me a big ole hug. I asked Gary what he did differently, and he couldn't think of anything. The fickleness of four-year-olds!

31. Best bed sheets as a child?
Isn't that sad? I can't remember any particular bed sheets I had as a child. Certainly I had Wonder Woman or Holly Hobby ones, but I don't remember any! (I'll have to ask Mom about that.)

32. Worst injury?
Knock on wood. I have never had a broken bone (well, a broken toe that hurt pretty bad). So, I'm gonna go with the time I had to have hernia surgery (that was some pretty sharp pain up until the surgery), and then the back pain I had over the last month (it's really eased up in the last week or so, but I totally have an appreciation now for people who suffer from back pain. It's bad!).

33. Do you love where you live?
I really do love Alabama. People don't realize how beautiful it is.

34. How many TVs in your house?
Three. One in the den, one in our bedroom, one in the living room that is almost never used.

35. Who is your loudest friend?
You know? I think I'd have to say that I am my loudest friend. When I think about my best friends, I can't think of anyone who laughs louder than me.

36. How many dogs?
None. Gary and the girls would love to have one, but I'm not a big fan of dogs (they tend to lick my face, and I really don't like that). We do have three cats--Socks, Midnight, and Chit Chat Chatter Cat.

37. Does someone have a crush on you?
I hope Gary still does. :-)

38. What is your favorite book?
Sheesh...that's an almost impossible question. But some of my favorites are To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby, Love in the Time of Cholera, A Prayer for Owen Meany, The Kite Runner, The Sun Also Rises. I could go on and on...

39. What is your favorite candy?
I could go my whole life without eating another candy bar (although I do like Lindor chocolate truffles), but I can't hardly go a day without having something sweet (I'm partial to baked goods...cookies, muffins, pastries, cake. Yummm!).

40. Favorite sports team?
Well...duh! The Alabama Crimson Tide is #1 in my heart!! But I also cheer for the Texas Longhorns in college football and the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL. I'm a Braves fan, but since we offically sucked this year, I'm cheering for the Tampa Rays in the playoffs (Delaney's a big Red Sox fan, so we'll be at odds in the games starting tomorrow!).

41. What song do you want sung at your funeral?
Well, that's sort of a morbid question to have at the end of this questionnaire. But, let me see...at my memorial service (no funeral for me!), I would want some hymns (my very favorite is "Blessed Assurance"), some contemporary Christian songs ("Beauty of Grace" is my all-time favorite), and some others that would rock the joint ("Spirit in the Sky" and "Jesus Freak" could match the tone, but I'd probably have to put some Van Morrison and Beatles in there too). I tell Gary all the time that my memorial service will be a celebration with lots of music, good food, and laughter. He better stick around to make sure my wishes are carried out!

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And now....how about a few pictures from this past weekend, since I didn't get online to post yesterday? I had a Super-de-duper weekend!! On Saturday, I spent the day in Tuscaloosa...staring off by watching my nephew place soccer, then meeting up with my friend Angela. We hung out all day, eating an amazing lunch, then going to the Alabama football game together. Good times!




(I know this is a really goofy picture, with the dude's head and shaker in the way. But you should enlarge it and look at that awesome catch by our rookie phenon, Julio Jones. That guy can pluck passes out of the sky!)